A Corrupt World Doesn't Mean a Corrupt Business
Updated: Aug 19, 2021
Back in 2007, I got into some huge tax problems. I had hired a bunch of employees, but I wasn’t sending their personal taxes to the IRS like I should have been. It turns out I needed $14,000 to repay the IRS or I could face more penalties or even jail.
I had no idea I was breaking a law at the time. It wasn’t until my accountant pointed it out that I realized what I was doing was not only wrong, it was illegal. I was basically stealing from my employees and the government.
I was in big trouble and I needed $14,000 quickly or the trouble was going to get worst.
Embarrassed and ashamed, I told my parents about the issues I was facing. Without hesitation, they agreed to pay the debt off for me. I was now free from that weight on my shoulders! The price of my mistake was paid by my loving parents. Of course, I promised I had learned my lesson and I wasn’t going to let that happen again.
We all have areas in our business life where we break the law, bend the rules, or even unknowingly do something wrong that eventually catches up to us. And if those sins we commit aren’t exposed and brought to justice, we will continue to do them for the rest of our business careers.
Some of us are stuck in a pattern of sin in our businesses that we don’t have the power to break free from. We have a client that’s paying us illegally, but it works out because we’re saving money. We have business coming in from places that don’t honor God, and still willingly do it, even though we know it’s wrong.
This is called sin. And until sin is put to death, we are dead businessmen transacting in a corrupt world.
But… The bible says
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life". (John 3:16 NIV)
The death of Jesus stands at the center of the solution to the very sin that traps you. On the cross, a sinless man pays the price of your sins in business so that you can be alive and free from all the sins that hold you down.
Jesus’ death on the cross is both the most tragic evil done, but the greatest good of all time.
All the sins you commit in your business have a penalty. And for every crime caught, there is a penalty. Like when I got caught not paying taxes when the penalty was paid, you say that justice has been served, and that’s a good thing.
Whether you’ve been caught or not, our sins are a rebellion against God. Those sins still trap you in a world that God didn’t have planned for you to operate your business in. This sin that you have carries a penalty by God – death. It’s not just physical death, but a spiritual one too. When we’re spiritually dead, we’re separated from God, and we continue our sinful existence until our physical death.
But like my parents paid my $14,000 IRS debt, Jesus paid the penalty for your sins in business when he died for us. This doesn’t mean you stop sinning, it means that the penalty of the sin was incurred for you, payment was made by Jesus himself, and you are now free to draw closer to God so that you can be freed from the grip of sin.
Now you can begin the journey of letting go of the sins you’ve carried for years in your business because the price was paid.
I remember when I found out about my IRS problems I was afraid, scared, and I didn’t even want to go into work. But when my parents paid the debt, I was free from those thoughts and able to take my business to new levels that God wanted to show me.
Jesus’ death is one of the most important concepts a business owner must understand. I didn’t fully understand its significance, this is why I’m trying to illustrate it in different ways.
See, I had committed a crime in my business and the penalty for that crime was $14,000 that I could not pay for. However, my parents could pay the penalty on my behalf. The penalty was paid. The IRS was restored. The cost was real. Yet because of the generosity and sacrifice of my parents, I’m not bound to pay the penalty.
So, Jesus died for our business sins and paid the penalty for them out of His love and generosity, allowing us to avoid paying the penalty ourselves if we accept that.
I believe the message of the gospel for entrepreneurs will be the hardest to do or understand because we’re the authority in our businesses. The bible says “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich [a successful businessman] to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25 NIV). As entrepreneurs, we tend to act on our own authority to choose between good and evil in our businesses instead of submitting to the ultimate authority of God.
This rebellion is what curses us, causes us to sin, and we fall short of what God has planned for us. But we love our sin, we trapped, we’re separated from God, and we deserve to get caught and pay a price.
But God, rich in mercy and love, pursued and saved us by substituting his Son in our place.
For me, this means that now I’m free to do what I was Born to Do. And although I still sin, I’m not trapped because I’m forgiven and I can get up and continue to pursue my calling.
So to us Godpreneurs, Jesus’ death is the best news in the world for our businesses. It’s the gospel—the good news that though we substituted ourselves in the place of God, God substituted his Son in our place that we might draw near to him in righteousness and continue to uncover and pursue our purpose and calling here on earth.
If all of us business owners repent and believe in this, we can receive new life in Jesus, be reconciled to God, our business dealings cleansed from shame, our brands restored to honor, and given an eternal inheritance in the family of God!