¹⁸ Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. ¹⁹ Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. ²⁰ Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you. (Deuteronomy 16:18-20)

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. ² One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. ⁸ If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. (Romans 14:1-12)

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Thanks for tuning in to GLOBAL REACHOUT. I am Sister Angelie, and starting from November, we have launched the program called the "Kingdom Business Culture". This program is based on the workplace training course by GLOBAL JIREH entitled, "Christ-centred Entrepreneurship". This course was compiled by Pastor Tony TAY Meng Hiang to help brothers and sisters live out Christ in the workplace.

We encourage brothers and sisters to sign up for this course, so that they will not only have the opportunity to communicate directly with the instructors, but also establish long-term and close contacts with the kingdom business operators in the group, learn from each other and encourage one another, and put the theory into practice. Living out Christ in the workplace. For those who are interested, you can refer to the end of the manuscript and register by email.

In today's program, we are going to explore "how to overcome the temptation and challenge of corruption". Corruption and bribery are the biggest obstacles to economic growth. In the process of becoming a developed country, developing countries must first solve this problem. A company cannot avoid this problem if it wants to grow.

Isaiah 54:14 mentions: " In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you." The "you" here refers to Jerusalem. A city is unshakable because of righteousness, and because of righteousness, this city is also prevented from oppression, so that people living in the city feel safe and not frightened. Psalm 89:14 says, "Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne, love and faithfulness are before you." The reason why God's throne is indestructible is because God rules all things with righteousness, justice, love, and faithfulness. God acts righteously, which reflects his kingship. God's righteousness meets the standard of fairness, which reflects his prophetic nature. God is full of love in righteousness and justice, and this love meets the standard of faithfulness, which is the manifestation of His priesthood. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne, and love and faithfulness are His throne. God's throne is strong because of righteousness; God's throne is eternal because of love.

Corruption and bribery will inevitably lead to people distorting justice, which is an act that God hates. Here, the temptations and challenges that entrepreneurs need to be vigilant about can basically be divided into three categories: bribery, extortion, and boycott.

The word "bribe" occurs 25 times in the Bible, and is sometimes translated as "gift." It has a negative connotation, except in Proverbs 17:8 and Proverbs 21:14 which are more positive. We know that gift giving can be an act of kindness or a bribe, depending on the motivation of the giver. As for "extortion", that is to force others to achieve their own goals by means of threats. It may be to threaten the safety of others, or it may be to make huge profits by taking advantage of others. "Boycott" refers to the exclusion of a person or group, not only by refusing to interact with the other person, but also by encouraging others to do the same. What we should note here is that there are indeed some teachings about resistance in the Bible, such as: we must not be friends with the world; we must not love the world and its things; we must not be with those who are called brethren, but who are sexually immoral, or covetous, or idolaters, or abusive, or drunken, or extorting fellowship, not even to eat. But at the same time, the Bible also reminds us that for things that are not principled, such as Romans 14:1-12, some people believe that they can eat anything, some people only eat vegetables; some people think that one day is better than that day. Some people see that every day is the same... We should not resist it. We are free in Christ, but we cannot force others to insist that everyone is strong or weak in faith, or resist it. Each of us should act according to conscience and faith, but more importantly, we should act out of love and be careful not to stumble upon weak members.

When facing with complex corporate ethics issues, especially those in the gray area, we really need wisdom from above. James 3:17 says, " But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere." Here, we can see the order of the truth—the scriptures tell us that true wisdom manifests, first of all, purity, without any filthy thoughts, which is prophetic; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, which is priestly; in the end, there is no prejudice, no hypocrisy, which is the manifestation of kingship.

To overcome the temptations and challenges of corruption, Christian entrepreneurs need to follow three principles (we call them PHD combinations by their initials).

The first principle is Personal Conviction, "Personal Conviction". This is on the kingship level. Romans 14:23 says, "Everything that is not of faith is sin." This means that if we do something without knowing whether it can be done or not, it is our sin. As servants of God, each of us should act according to our conscience and be firm in our own will. In the process, answer the call with faith and remove obstacles to complete the mission.

The second principle is to honor God in all things, "Honoring God". This is on the prophetic level. No matter what we do, we must act according to God’s will and according to God’s truth. Only then can we honor God and be pleasing to God. Furthermore, no matter what the circumstances are, we are grateful and do not say anything that disrespects God. Finally, if we respect God, we won't do anything that might stumble others, thus God will surely value us.

The third principle is a fully dedicated life, "Dedicated Life". This is on the priestly level. First of all, we are willing to sacrifice ourselves for the glory of God, and we are determined to live and die for the Lord, and we are the Lord’s people; secondly, we are willing to love others as ourselves for the benefit of others, and we would rather choose to give up our own freedom for the benefit of others.

To sum up the above message: Christians must never take part in corruption, because it is contrary to justice and sins against God. The challenges we face can be divided into three categories: corruption, extortion and boycott. In the face of complex ethical issues, we need to uphold the following three principles to overcome the temptation and challenge of corruption. These three principles are: 1. Personal beliefs, do not do anything that goes against your conscience; 2. Honor God in everything, and do not do anything that does not please God; 3. and lead a fully dedicated life, determined to live a life of loving God, loving self and loving others..

Dear friends, this is where we end today's episode. I hope to see you again on the next episode of Kingdom Business Culture!

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Discussion 

1. There are many "gray areas" in the real business environment. Please list a few examples to illustrate.

2. Have you ever faced the temptation of corruption and bribery at work? How did you deal with it then?

3. Through today's study, what will you do differently from the past when you encounter the same challenge next time?