Title: Stop Bribery
Contents
1. Words that begin
There are three things that wield great power over people. Money and achievements. There are people who claim honor or fame, knowledge or wisdom, ideology or thought, art or religion, ethics or etiquette, etc.
People live in pursuit of money, achievements and advancement. But the strange thing is that the more you pursue them, the more your personality and life are ruined by them. Of the three that wield great power, the most powerful one is money, or wealth. Sex cannot wield power over the frail or infirm. Success requires smart thinking, ability, hard work and effort, and riding a rope, so it cannot show its power to those who are not. But money is what wields power to the death of all people of all walks of life.
2. Do not dine with an unrighteous ruler
In the world, especially in the modern capitalist world, money is a powerful force in life. Therefore, people do not choose the means and methods of all kinds of evil in order to obtain wealth. Fraud, theft, robbery, and embezzlement of public money for the sake of wealth are considered by everyone to be a blatant sin. However, a bribe for a great advantage or a bribe after obtaining a great advantage tends to be viewed as a kind of reward or gratification.
Therefore, in any country, this vicious bribery is common among the president and other officials and some businessmen. Of course, it is also happening among some commoners. The author of Proverbs, who was well aware of this earlier, said: “When you sit down to eat with a ruler, take heed, considering who is before you.” Think of it as a person in power holding the key to a tremendous and unfair advantage, and watch with a vigilant eye so that you do not fall into the temptation of sin.
Also, the author of Proverbs said, “If you are a glutton, you will become a sword around your neck.” If you are a glutton who covets high-quality food as well as a lot of money, you should not consider how high the person in front is in the power hierarchy and how much you need to provide. It's all about having a knife around your neck. Knowing that bribery is the path to spiritual death and the path to ugly death.
Also, the author of Proverbs said, “Do not covet their supper, for it is a deceitful offering.” On the outside, they laugh and eat and have fun like a big person, but on the inside, they say that it is a supreme feast given for a cunning purpose such as the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Bribery, such as food or sexual entertainment, is not a pure gift or a pure gift, but a deceitful sin that makes each other sick and harms others. Do not eat the food of those who have evil eyes, and do not covet the sacramental feast. People who have evil thoughts are like human beings, so their mouths tell them to eat and drink, but their minds are elsewhere, such as launching missiles and unifying armed enemies.
This article is titled “Living Like A King”.
A single e-mail is causing international disgrace to the Korean financial industry. A Korean employee of the Carlyle Group, an American investment company that took over Hanmi Bank, received an email boasting to 11 American friends, “I am living like a king, receiving all kinds of entertainment after being dispatched to Korea.” Some of the world’s leading companies such as Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley After it was delivered to the investment bank of , it was reported in the media such as the Dow Jones News, causing a stir. “I live in a large apartment building in Seoul with a view of the Han River, and I receive hospitality, such as golf, dinner, and drinks from employees of various banks almost every day.” Every day I get 5-8 phone calls from young Korean women, and on average I get offers to spend the night with 3 women, and the bedroom in the apartment was used for 'Harlem of the Spirit World',” he wrote in the email. In the end, Mr. C recently resigned and resigned due to this commotion.
Proverbs 23:8 says, “You will vomit even what you have eaten a little, and your beautiful words will return to vanity.” There will come a day when you will vomit even if you have received entertainment for an unjust and evil purpose, bribery, and there will always come a day when the beautiful words exchanged at the reception will be in vain.
3. Abandon wisdom for wealth
The author of Proverbs, who warned against sharing hospitality with an unjust ruler, gave a very important lesson. “Do not seek to be rich, but put aside your private wisdom.”
“Don’t try to be rich” doesn’t mean to be poor or beggar. The Bible does not condemn wealth, or great wealth, itself. Obviously, wealth is one of God's blessings. If you work hard for your work, whether it is academic or artistic, athletic, commerce, or business, the result can be fruitful, rich in heart, or rich. God makes you reap what you sow.
But the problem is that he knows that being rich is the ultimate goal of life, and he is doing everything he can to become rich. So, if you want to become rich, don't you sell your position, your body, your conscience, your personality, your soul, and your life that cannot be changed even if you give it to the world? Do you not even take the lives of others who do not change even if you give the world to them? In 1 Timothy 6:9 we read, “Those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which plunge men into destruction and destruction, for the love of money is the root of all evil. those who have been deceived and have departed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many sorrows.” The purpose of the author of the proverbs is to guard against the serious harm of making life's ultimate goal not to fear God and follow his commands, but to become rich.
Before anyone can become rich, he must first learn that the true value of all possessions lies in being used for love.
Elder Kim of Jamsil Bethel Church, run by a new superintendent, donated 7 million won for sportswear and tournament expenses for this Seoul Southern Banquet Workers and Couples Sports Day. The ministers, wives, and all those who worked hard were grateful and moved by the hospitality.
“Abandon your private wisdom” means to give up your own wisdom that you squeeze in order to become rich. It's about putting money aside to value everything above everything else, being rich above being any human being, and making money above everything else. In a word, it is to abandon the worship of the golden god.
What is the decisive reason for abandoning the private wisdom of making money, the worship of the golden god? The author of Proverbs said, “How can you pay attention to vanity? Surely riches will make wings and fly like an eagle in the sky.” At some point, who can catch the riches that fly away like an eagle? At some point, when death comes, don't all of those riches help you and fly away like an eagle?
Wealth is very important to life in the world, and it is clear that it exerts great power over people, but it can never exert a decisive force on life and death. Not only that, but many riches also have the negative function of making their non-owners sick with pride, giving them a false sense of security, and nailing the hearts of the poor. Ecclesiastes 5:13 says, “I have seen great evil under the sun, that is, the owner keeps his wealth against himself.” Another disadvantage is that no matter how much you love and long for wealth, you cannot be satisfied with it. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, “The lover of silver is not satisfied with silver, and the lover of abundance is not satisfied with income. This is also vanity.”
4. Conclusion
Jesus saw through the fact that riches are as powerful as God in the human world. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other, for ye cannot serve both God and riches.” Said. The Bible does not condemn wealth, or great wealth, in itself. I do not condemn because I am rich. It is not to accumulate wealth by means and methods of sin such as bribery, and it is to condemn the rich who keep their wealth from harm but do not use it with love for the glory of God.
We earnestly pray that all of us will focus on prayer and the Word, receive spiritual blessings and riches, serve God to our heart's content, and love our neighbors.
(Poongseong Methodist Church. Book: Complete Commentary on 27 New Testament Books/ Interpretation of Difficult Scriptures I, II/ Salvation Before Jesus Came/Paul’s Understanding of Man/ Prosperous Prayer/ Seasonal Sermonbooks/ Sermonbook 18. T. 426 -3051)