HOOK

Good morning, everyone! Hope your Sunday is excellent. Pastor Joel sends his love from a Calvary Chapel in Mexico that he is visiting with this morning. We have lots to get through today, so we’re going to get right into it. If you need a Bible to follow along in our Bible Study, hands up high. I’ll let the ushers do their thing while I tell a quick story 

[EXPAND] A young boy in Korea was a houseboy for some American soldiers. Sometimes they thought it was funny to play harmless jokes on him. They would tease him. They would tie his shoe strings together. They would lock him out of the house.

Eventually they realized that their practical jokes were not viewed as funny by the boy so they apologized. He said, “That’s okay, I will stop spitting in your soup now.”

Why do we laugh? Why is it funny that this kids was spitting in the food of these American GIs? Let’s pop that in our pocket for the end.

BOOK

1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then you have [a]judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? 6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [b]homosexuals, nor [c]sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were [d]sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

PRAYER

(Pray for God to do His work through the passage)

LOOK

Let’s go through this passage verse-by-verse as is my way.

(Verse 1) Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

Nowadays the United States has a reputation for being extremely litigious. The land of the free and the home of the lawsuit. This is the situation in Corinth as well. Sometimes lawsuits would even be filed for their own sake, just to inconvenience the person being sued!

Now, I should say for the sake of crystal clarity that this passage is referring only to what we would today call civil matters. Matters where neither plaintiff is the state. This is not meant to be a way for the church to cover up illegal activities like rape or child abuse. You can cross reference Paul himself in Romans 13:3–4. No, these are civil court matters over things like property, possessions, money, and the like.

So then, with that out of the way, let dig into it, shall we?

Paul comes in hot for this section. Right off the heels of telling the Church that they should not tolerate immorality (as a lifestyle) among their membership, but they should instead cast out the one who willfully chooses to remain in sin.

Start Tangent Town

Now what’s interesting to me is that Paul makes this wild shift from sexual immorality through chapter 5 to lawsuits in the first part of chapter 6, and back to sexual immorality in the last part of chapter 6. Why would Paul shift from 5th gear, to 2nd, back to 5th?

Well… maybe he isn’t. Maybe it’s all related. Now, I’m not sure I’m willing to bet my reputation on it, but I can’t help but wonder if the guy who was sleeping with his father’s wife was being sued by his father.

If that’s the case, much of what is written in the following section takes on additional weight, and it ties all 3 sections together thematically. I’m not sure I’m ready to stamp this theory with my Pastoral Seal of Quality, but I certainly think this is on the table and worthy of additional research and discussion.

End Tangent Town

Paul’s opening salvo is essentially, “How dare you!?” The inter-family issues that arise should also be dealt with in the family. Paul told the Corinthians in verses 13 & 14 of chapter 5 that the Christians should not judge outsiders, and now he also says we should not go to outsiders to judge us.

Why shouldn’t we take these matters before secular courts? We’ll come to that in verse 6, so [[[for now, we’ll put that in our pockets.]]]

Well then what should we do? Actually, we’ll talk about that near the end. [[[So that also goes in our pockets!]]]

(Verses 2 & 3) Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?

Some of us hear this and immediately get excited. Oooh! Who do I get to judge? Just point me at them. I got you, bro! Easy cowboy. Let’s dig into this a bit. It seems weird coming off chapter 5 where Paul says not to judge outsiders to just a few verses later telling us how we will soon be judging outsiders. So what do this mean?

There are a great number of verses that pertain to the saints judging with Christ.

Mt 19:28 & Lk 22:30 Has Jesus telling the disciples that they will judge with Him.

Jude 14–15 is less specific, simply saying tens of thousands of the saints will come with Jesus. The Greek word use in Jude is the root from which we get the modern word myriad. Really, there is likely no specific number in mind.

Rev 2:26–27, 3:21, 20:4 are contended by Biblical scholars and arguments have been put forward for everything from the 12 Apostles to the whole host of saints possibly implied by this verse in 1 Corinthians.

Now it would be easy to go off the rails and get deep into the weeds on this one, but the fact of the matter is that some portion of the Saints, the Church, the Body of Christ will be called on to judge matters of eternal significance. Some among us will stand with Christ in judgement of angels! Angels! Remember the ones held in chains in Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4?? And yet we cannot settle these small, internal squabbles among ourselves? We need to go to the infidel? To the faithless? To the hopeless? 

Twice now Paul has asked… Do you not know? This isn’t a sincere question. There is an expectation of knowledge here. Paul is essentially giving us that ‘Disappointed Mom’ look and saying “I expected better from you.”

(Verse 4) If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge?

I found this one tricky to parse. Maybe you find this quite straightforward. It seems to say, “If you have non-eternal things to judge, would you really go to unsaved to arbitrate them?” Now, this is a totally viable interpretation, which is why the New King James renders it this way… BUT I think there are two problems with it. Firstly, question marks did not appear in the Greek language until around the 8th century, well after this was written. So that question mark is am editorial decision which is not present in the original text. In fact, if we look at the original King James, it reads quite differently.

“If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.”

Ohhh. I get it. So what the text says then is probably “If you have non-eternal things to judge, even the least among your membership is fit for that task!” … right?

Well, there’s a problem with that interpretation as well. See that word gently rendered as “Least Esteemed”? Well, the actual word is much, much stronger. It means “despised”. Well, certainly we don’t despise those in our congregations? We are sisters and brothers in Christ. So it is the outsiders? No, I don’t think so. We are not supposed to DESPISE the outsiders. We are to love them and win them to Jesus.

So… wait… what does this mean, then!? That was my thought as well. I spent a couple hours digging through this verse, word-by-word and trying to understand it. Worth noting is that this word — “least esteemed” — which means “despised” or “contemptible” is the exact same word Paul uses in chapter 1 and verse 28. Let’s quickly read that chunk.

(1 Corinthians 1:26–29) For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Do you see it? Who are the despised ones? The ones that God has chosen, called, and set apart! So, if you’ll permit me, the CUV (Conrad’s Unofficial Version) says, “If then you are to judge the things of this life, sit these men who are despised with whom you have been called out.”

Turn to your fellow Christians to settle these small squabbles. Why give the people who already hold you in contempt even more reason to do so!?

(Verse 5) I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?

I should say from the outset that while the terms “wise man” and “brethren” are written here — and unambiguously refer to males — there is ample evidence in the ancient world that these terms were used to address mixed company. In the same way today that a room of women might be addressed as “ladies”, the presence of even a single man would change it to “guys”. But this isn’t a sermon on sexism or representative language. I think Pastor Joel is going to do that next week…

The point being that as Chiristians — both men and women — we can go to eat other to address these conflicts. But I’ll talk more about that later, since it’s already in our pockets.

And what make this sentence so sharp and cutting for the Corinthians is that they think themselves quite wise, but here Paul says that they have demonstrated the very opposite! This small, itty bitty tiny newborn baby issue couldn’t be solved with ALL the GREAT WISDOM of the Corinthian church?! Wow. So wise.

So rather than feeling prideful about how super awesome they are, Paul admonishes the Corinthians to feel the weight of the shame that they are bringing on themselves! What do I mean by that? Well, let’s spend some time in verse 6 and discuss it.

(Verse 6) But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

Here is the crux of Paul’s argument. And we’re going to pull that question [[[out of our pockets – Why NOT bring these matters before secular courts?]]] There are two key reasons:

1) The legal system is — by its very nature — adversarial. It is LITERALLY called the adversarial system! Do you see the problem?

The goal in this type of dispute should be reconciliation! A wound has been created and we want to bring healing to that wound. We want to come to a resolution and restore those relationships. 

But the fact is that when you get into a scenario like this the drive to “win” the push for “victory” quickly and easily becomes more important than the desire for reconciliation. When a rift forms between Christians both sides should come seeking clarification, not wielding accusation. Our desire should be healing the wound, not seeking to place blame for its existence.

“But Conrad, you purveyor of best-case scenarios”, I hear you object, “What if the other side is unreasonable!?” Great question! We’ll address that in verse 7.

But first, let’s look at the second reason why we ought not bring these matters to a secular court.

2) You know what people didn’t have in the ancient world? Endless entertainment options! No internet. No Netflix. No television. No newspaper. No magazines. Not even books! But since the law courts were so active in Corinth, this would have been a constant source of entertainment. Like watching TMZ or reading the latest gossip rag today. So even though lawsuits were commonplace in Corinth, they were still a source of gossip and scandal!

Juicy Christian gossip.

Can I make a small diversion into Hebrews 12:1. I’ll give you a second to turn there, but keep your finger in 1 Corinthians. This passage is one of my favourites and one that I think is constantly misunderstood. It reads:

(Hebrews 12:1) Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

So often people talk about this passage, imagining the Christian running an Olympic race with all the saints of days past cheering from the stands, encouraging them in their goal. And it is a powerful and inspiring visual… there’s just one small problem… I don’t think this is what the author is driving at.

That word “surrounded” (Greek: perikeimai) is used 5 times in the Bible. Just five. And each one refers to being bound. With proverbial chains, with a millstone, with illness. In the same way, I believe this word refers not to being encircled by spectators, but being bound together with fellow racers. See, this cloud of witnesses is not witnessing US, but rather witnessing TO US. Encouraging us to press on in the same way that they themselves did. Sometimes those witnesses crossed the finish line with arms raised in victory, and sometimes they dragged themselves across the finish line broken and bleeding. But just as they finished, they call us to finish. 

Why am I telling you this? Because just as they were witnesses to us, so to will we be witnesses to those who come after us. And friends, do not miss this.

DO. NOT. MISS. THIS.

Our witness is key. If we want people to look at us, at the church and say, “I want that!” We simply cannot be effective witnesses if what we say and what we do are in misalignment!

Listeners to DC Talk in the 90s will be familiar with this quote by Brennan Manning:

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

Let me paint a picture for you. One Christian feels they have been cheated by another Christian. Christian 1 files a lawsuit against Christian 2. They both go to court armed with a portfolio of evidence and a bloodlust for revenge. 

1 tells the judge that 2 is a cheat. 2 responds that 1 is a lair. 1 snaps back that 2 is abusing their power. 2 retorts that 1 had always been greedy! And back and forth they go brandishing slander like a broadsword. Tearing each other down to demonstrate to the judge who is the worst and most guilty between them.

And after the judge’s decision comes… the losing party, worked into a frothing anger hollers expletives at the court and the winning party goes to the judge and asks, “Would you like to come to my church?”

Does this reflect the love of Christ? At the end of such an action, do you expect God to nod with approval and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”???

So then, what happens when the other side is unreasonable?

(Verse 7) Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?

Hopefully after our discussion on verse 6 is it clear why even going to court is a failure. It is Christ who comes out looking bad regardless of the verdict.

So what are we to do? Paul accept the wrong. Let yourself be cheated. That word, “wrong” means to hurt, to injure, to offend, to treat unjustly, to act wickedly, to sin. And the word “cheated” means to rob, to steal, to deprive, to defraud. 

Are you catching this? It’s gotta be more than just me in here today finding this hard to hear. We should ALLOW someone who calls him or herself a “Christian” to hurt us, injure us, offend us, treat us unjustly, act wickedly toward us, sin against us, rob us, steal from us, deprive us of that which we are due, and even defraud us rather than bring Christ or his Bride into disrepute!

I wonder if Jesus has anything to say about this.

(Luke 6:29–30) To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.

The Gospel of Matthew renders it this way:

(Matthew 5:40) If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.

And let me say this, just in case after all this you think… I could bring a fellow Christian to court and preserve both my witness and theirs. You still run the very real risk of bringing division into the Body of Christ as people take sides. 

“Oh, I think Wilber is right to sue! Go Wilber!”

“Not after the way he treated Ethyl! Team Ethyl!”

Wouldn’t it be funny if there really were an Ethyl and Wilber here today and they were having a fight? If that’s the case, I promise I didn’t know. I’m not picking on you. But also; knock it off. In love.

(Verse 8) No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!

Paul has already covered why the lawsuit thing is bad, that’s not what this is addressing. Rather Paul is contrasting what should be happening and what is happening.

We should be the ones seeking reconciliation when we are wronged. We should be the ones turning the other cheek when we are defrauded. But instead this very thing is happening within the walls of the church?! Not only are we NOT doing what we SHOULD, but we ARE doing what we SHOULDN’T!

As our boy Charlie Brown would say… good grief!

But Paul has a stark warning for those who engage in such behaviour against our brothers and sisters in the faith. And don’t miss this part.

(Verse 9–10) Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul says we should be the ones setting the gold standard for living peaceably as brothers. And that word brothers means family. Blood relations. That’s what I am with each of you here today. And that is how you should view each other as well.

However, rather than setting the gold standard, we allow ourselves to be influenced BY the culture rather than the other way around. And here in Corinth we have at least one such incident that Paul is confronting head-on.

Rather than doing what you should, you do what you should not!

Rather than doing what is righteous, you do what is unrighteous!

And don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God!? Don’t be fooled Paul warns! Don’t be fooled by your “wisdom” that comes from this world, while ignoring the true wisdom the comes from God.

If you willfully choose to abuse your brothers and/or sisters in the faith you are no better than the litany of the damned Paul lays out across verses 9 and 10.

And for what it’s worth, the people represented in this list are the very lost souls that we are called to share the Gospel with. We want to point them to a Jesus who will stand in the gap for them… and yet… in this case we want them to stand in the gap for us?

(Verse 11) And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Paul ends this section warning the Corinthians (and maybe a few of us in this room today) that this is the life we were saved OUT OF. We ought not return to it. Which brings all all the way back to verse 1 where we asked so what should we do, then? Let’s pull that out of our pockets as we bring this plane in for a landing.

TOOK

One of our fellows Christians has wronged us. What do we do?

You know, during my first interview with Pastors Joel & Steve almost 2 years ago, they asked if I had any questions. And I did have a couple. One of the most important, and one I ask every church I have interviewed with is a deceptively simple one:

When someone comes to you to complain about me, what will you do?

There was only one answer I was willing to accept. Anything else would have ended my interest in the position. I needed to hear “Matthew 18”. Let’s read that together:

(Matthew 18:15–17) “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

Jesus tells us to go to the person who has wronged us 1-on–1. We don’t go to someone else and we don’t bring our posse with us. 1-on–1. And go humbly. Ask questions and seek clarification. Remember the goal here is reconciliation, restoration of the relationship.

If that is ineffective, bring a couple of witnesses. These people should not come with a secret agenda, but rather their goal should be to hear our the side and ‘establish every word’.

If that still is ineffective, then the wider church becomes involved.

If even that is still ineffective, then the one who refuses to repent of acknowledge their sin should be removed from the fellowship until they, too, desire unity. Unity. I’ll tel you, as a pastor few things concern me as much as someone who gleefully throws their old church or pastor under the bus.

And notice, there is no step 4 where we take it to Judge Judy.

And this brings us back to our Korean houseboy. Let’s pull that soup back out of our pockets. Don’t spill. You remember the GIs were teasing the kid who — turns out — was spitting in their soup. And we all had a good laugh? Why?

Because we LOVE revenge. It’s so tasty. Our love of revenge stories is literally the only reason Liam Neeson is still acting.

We so badly want the bad guy to get what’s coming to him! Don’t we?

This is because God has built a desire for justice into us. But don’t forget, revenge is NOT a synonym for justice. Just as Jesus showed us mercy while we were still enemies of the Kingdom of God, we should show mercy to those who wrong us. Undeserved grace. This is the love of God.

I want to read one more passage to you, this is Romans 12:19–21. I’m reading from the New International Reader’s Version — the Bible our Kids Ministry gives out — because I love the way they phrase it:

(Roman 12:19–21) My dear friends, don’t try to get even. Leave room for God to show his anger. It is written, “I am the God who judges people. I will pay them back,” says the Lord. 20 Do just the opposite. Scripture says, “If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. By doing those things, you will pile up burning coals on their heads.” Don’t let evil overcome you. Overcome evil by doing good.

Amen. Let’s worship the Lord our God together.