In this day when the gospel is considered offensive, how can I work without losing my job?

That’s a question you need to go and ask your pastor or minister really. That’s not the kind of question that can be answered just in a blanket way.

But one of the things I would say to people is, please read through the New Testament, moving from the Gospels and also to the letters. You will find in the New Testament a phenomenal amount of instruction about how to live in a world that’s antagonistic to the gospel.

If you think about it, the New Testament world was a pre-Christian world. We are now living—certainly in the United Kingdom, we are really living in a post-Christian world. People get angry when you speak about Christ and the gospel. It’s very similar and, therefore, in a way we’re really living in parallel times to the New Testament. And there’s a lot of counsel in the New Testament about how you live your life in a world like this.

First Peter is a great illustration of that. A friend who had been a servant of the Lord in a country that was very hostile to the gospel recently told me that Christians there found 1 Peter was the book that spoke to them in a very special way. The other book I would really encourage people to get to know is the book of Proverbs. Because the book of Proverbs is full of wisdom about how you negotiate living a godly life in an ungodly world.

But if there are specific questions about a particular job or vocation, then I think that’s something to talk through with people who know you locally.

I do believe myself that, certainly in the United Kingdom, given the present trajectory, it will not be too long before there are certain elements in important vocations that become closed to Christians. Because if they follow through with that vocation, they will be required by their employment clauses to engage in actions that Christians regard as unbiblical and ungodly, and ultimately also inhuman.

This transcript is from a live Ask Ligonier event with Sinclair Ferguson and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.