The Law of Agency and Jesus

 

My business career was in property management. I held a real estate broker’s license in Maryland and Virginia and primarily worked in the multifamily industry, though I also dealt with homeowners’ associations and commercial property. I also taught continuing education for real estate agents and property managers. 

A key element of my career was understanding and living within the Law of Agency. This was also a vital element of pastoring, and it is a key element of my life, including writing. 

Within the Law of Agency is the idea of having a fiduciary duty to clients. There is no higher duty in English common law than having a fiduciary duty to someone. A fiduciary owes a duty of absolute loyalty and truthfulness to his or her principal. A fiduciary must always speak and act in the best interests of the principal. A fiduciary may not speak or act on his own authority, or in her own interests. A fiduciary must always keep the goals of the principal in mind and act in accordance with those goals. 

The exception to the above is when issues of morality, ethics, and legality come into play. In such instances the fiduciary ought to terminate the relationship if the client will not change his goals and behavior. A fiduciary must not lie for the principal or do anything that is not honest toward others. 

An agent, you see, is not his or her own, an agent is a fiduciary and is called to act as a fiduciary. Sadly, even though real estate agents must know this to pass their state licensing exams, many promptly forget this once they begin working as agents; whether as agents in the selling and buying of single-family homes and condominiums, or in property management. 

When I was taking industry certification courses early in my career, it was emphasized time and again, “Know your client’s goals. What does your client want?” Consequently, when I first met clients I would spend time asking them questions, trying to understand just what they wanted from their property. Did they want to sell their apartment community within the next five years? Did they want to pass it on to their children or grandchildren? What capital improvements did we need to make and how might we best implement them? 

Also, in order to serve my clients, I needed to understand not only real estate law, but also health and safety codes, employment law, building codes, environmental law, accounting, finance and the financial markets, elements of the federal tax code, contract law and negotiation, marketing, and many other things. Thankfully I worked with great teams and we tended to complement one another. 

I mentioned above that while real estate agents needed to have some understanding of the law of agency to pass state exams, that many promptly abandoned that understanding when they began their careers. I know this from my experience in teaching agents, and from working with agents in both the multifamily industry and in buying and selling our own homes. 

I have observed countless agents disclosing information that was detrimental to their clients. Such as a seller’s agent saying to a buyer, “I think my client will take less if you offer it.” I have also observed managing agents of properties forgetting the goals of their clients and substituting their own goals, putting their own profits ahead of the welfare of their clients. 

This breach of fiduciary duty also extends to keeping the principal (client) fully informed, and, once again, always telling everyone the truth – everyone. 

The Law of Agency requires that an agent always remember, “I do not belong to myself. I belong to my client; I owe my client absolute loyalty. I must not, I cannot, substitute my goals and my wants and my needs for that of my client.”

This calls to mind a similar principle that we find in the military. Once a man or woman takes the oath of induction, that woman or man no longer belongs to herself or himself – from that point until the time of discharge, she or he is the property of the U.S. Army, or other branch of service. 

Therefore, if a soldier goes to the beach and gets sunburned, so that he cannot report for duty and fulfill his obligations, that soldier can be discipled under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for damaging government property. Who is the government property? Why the soldier is – he no longer belongs to himself. 

Jesus was constantly saying, “I do nothing of Myself. I do what I see My Father doing. I speak what I hear My Father speaking.” 

Paul styled himself a slave of Jesus Christ, and he taught his people that they were not their own, but were bought with a price, the blood of the Lamb. 

When Paul wrote, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,” he wrote this because he had no other warrant from Jesus Christ. 

No matter our place in the Body of Christ, we also have no other warrant. Whether we are teachers and professors, pastors, musicians, butchers, bakers, or candlestick makers, we have no other charge, no other commission, than to know and to represent Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

The message of our Father to us today, and always, is “This is My Beloved Son, hear Him!” 

The faithful servant of Christ will have one desire, to betroth the Church to One Husband, so that to Christ we may be a pure virgin, lest we be corrupted from the “simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:1 – 3). 

As so I wonder how those who are called to facilitate such betrothal can be seduced into inviting other elements into the marriage bed. How have we convinced ourselves that we need more than Jesus? That we need more than the Person of Jesus Christ? How can we be faithful agents of the Bridegroom while encouraging the Bride to have relationships with other suitors? Who, of course, are false suitors; who would destroy the purity of her devotion to the Bridegroom.

Our Bridegroom has called us to a fiduciary relationship in which we represent Him and Him alone, in which we are faithful to Him and His Bride, and yet we invite others in the Holy Bedroom. How have we convinced ourselves that this is good for our people, the people who Jesus has entrusted to us? 

If Jesus has captured our hearts, then we will want the hearts of our people to be captured by Jesus. Can we be honest enough to see this? Have we forgotten our calling in Jesus Christ?

Are we not like the people of Haggai’s time, who were set free from captivity to return to Jerusalem to restore the Temple, and yet, having returned, they built their own houses? 

Where is the pastor, the professor, the seminary, the congregation, that will be faithful to Jesus, that will teach us to see Jesus, and only Jesus?

And if you are offended by this, how could you possibly be offended by a poor fool who only wants Jesus, and who only wants Jesus for you? 

Can we ever have enough of Jesus?