WWUTT 1497 I Say This to Your Shame (1 Corinthians 6:3-5)

You know, when it comes down to it, we know better than to sue each other, right? Like that's not a good thing in the church.

For brother to go to court against brother. But when we are told not to do that, may that rebuke sting when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in 1 Corinthians 6, and I'm going to once again begin by reading the first eight verses out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, Does any one of you, when he has a case against another, dare to be tried before the unrighteous and not before the saints?

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you not worthy to constitute the smallest law courts?

Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

So, if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint those who are of no account in the church as judges?

I say this to your shame. Is it really this way? There is not one wise man among you who will be able to pass judgment between his brothers?

On the contrary, brother is tried with brother, and that before unbelievers.

Actually, then it is already a failure for you that you have lawsuits with one another.

Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud.

You do this even to your brothers. We finished up yesterday with verse two.

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not worthy to constitute the smallest law courts?

So, we're not talking about capital crimes here. God has given authority to the governing authorities.

They wield the sword not in vain, but as an avenger, punishing the wrongdoer.

So, if we're talking about some sort of criminal offense, that's going to go before the governing authorities.

But these small things here that are not crimes, these are things that should be able to be handled between brothers.

Verse three, do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

So, consider the thing with the angels. We were not there when the angels fell.

We were not in the heavenly realm to see everything that happened there. And yet, on the day of judgment, when

Satan and his demons are cast into the lake of fire, along with everybody else who followed them instead of following Christ, on that day of judgment, we will be judging even those angels who rebelled against God before we were even there to see any of this.

So, we're going to be issuing judgments about things that have happened in a spiritual realm. If we're going to be issuing judgments there, even against fallen angels, how much more are we responsible for the matters that happen in this life?

We should have at least enough wisdom to be able to handle these disagreements, these smaller matters that aren't criminal offenses.

We don't take our brothers and sisters in the Lord to court to be tried by unbelievers.

We can deal with this among ourselves. And this is showing that we have brotherhood in the church, that there's brother and sisterhood among us, when we can consider these things as family and not take these things to be tried by those people that, on the day of judgment, we're going to be judging.

We're going to be sitting on thrones or with Christ on his throne issuing judgments to the nations.

So, why would we subject ourselves to be judged by them? And again, this is not talking about criminal activity, crimes that God has said is wrong and the government has said is wrong.

If we are committing offenses against God and against the government, well, that's going to go to the governing authorities

God has given authority to. Those matters are to be tried by those courts.

But these smaller things, we should be able to handle these things ourselves. Jesus also discouraged taking these smaller matters before the courts.

Consider in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, beginning in verse 38, You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Now, that's very good. Jesus is in no way overthrowing what was established in the law regarding just weights and measures.

Exodus 21, Deuteronomy chapter 19, It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

And that was so justice would be done. And when a wrongdoer is punished, they're not punished excessively, but that the punishment fits the crime.

So, Jesus is not overthrowing this here. And many people think that he is, because what we read in verse 38 is

Jesus saying, You have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And then in verse 39, he says,

But I say to you. So because Jesus follows it up with that, some say, well,

Jesus just overthrew the whole eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth thing. No, he did not.

Because remember what he said earlier in chapter five, I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law.

I believe it was Gandhi who said, or at least it's attributed to Gandhi. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, right?

So because we've heard that and Jesus says, but I say to you, some people think that he's saying we should not abide by the whole eye for an eye tooth for a tooth thing.

What was going on in Israel or in Judah at that time was that the Pharisees were abusing that standard of just weights and measures, and they were using it to sue one another over every little thing, not just the

Pharisees, but other people in Judah as well, following the lead of the Pharisees, what was being taught to them by the teachers of the law.

So this standard was therefore being abused. And anybody who did any little thing where, well,

I'm supposed to be doing a little thing back to him. Mercy is not being practiced here.

It's that I feel wronged. And so I'm going to make sure that this other guy is feeling what

I feel. It's it really is trying one another based on feelings and not as a matter of justice.

So Jesus says in verse 39, but I say to you, do not resist the evil person.

But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also don't retaliate.

And if anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your garment also.

And whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him to give to him who asks of you and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

So Jesus, likewise, here is discouraging people from suing one another and taking one another before courts that are being headed by unbelievers, because this is what was going on in the

Roman Empire. I mean, all these things that were being judged and handled, all this kind of stuff, they would go before these Roman courts.

And sometimes the Roman courts would say, I don't have anything to do with you guys. You handle the matter on your own. This was what happened in Corinth when

Paul was there preaching the gospel. And then the the teachers of the law of the synagogue, they seize

Paul and they took him before the proconsul. And the proconsul is going, what do I have to do with you guys? You can handle this matter yourselves.

And then the leader of the synagogue was beaten. If you remember that story from the Book of Acts. So you have people who were letting themselves be tried by pagans, by unbelievers.

And Paul is discouraging that here among the Corinthians as well. And they were certainly experienced with this, again, because Paul was taken before unbelieving courts or courts that were being headed by unbelievers while he was there in Corinth.

So they've certainly witnessed this. And he knows it's going on in the church in Corinth where brother is suing brother and over little trivial things, things that if there really is a wrong that's happening here, then you should be able to handle it among yourselves.

And if you can't handle it, if it's not a brother goes to brother and brings up the offense, takes one or two others along, even following the pattern of church discipline that's given in Matthew 18, 15.

Even if that's not resolving the matter, you should be able to at least find somebody who is able to weigh this.

Somebody in the church is able to see what's going on between you and is able to issue some kind of a judgment or a resolution.

Verse four. So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint those who are of no account in the church as judges?

These guys who are presiding over these cases are not Christians. They're pagans who had been appointed by the

Greek judicial system or the Romans, Roman pagans. They're not Christians that are serving in those courts. And Paul says in verse five,

I say this to your shame. Is it really this way? There is not one wise man among you who will be able to pass judgment between his brothers.

This is shameful. It's shameful that this is going on. That brother is suing brother.

My dad used to work for a very large Christian organization and he got fired from his job.

He was forced to resign. He got fired and they gave him a good severance package.

But then as that severance package was running out, well, he needed to go on unemployment. And so that's what he did.

And then the organization did not want him to go on unemployment. They felt like he was double dipping.

So they decided, no kidding. This is a Christian organization. Again, they decided to sue my dad to get back everything they paid him for his severance package.

And it went to the court. My dad showed up in court and did not have a lawyer with him or anything.

And the judge thankfully sided with my dad and said, no, what you're trying to do to Mr.

Hughes is just flat out unfair. And the guy who was the chairman of the board of directors that was taking my dad to court, he said he was going to contact the governor of the state of Kansas.

All this other kind of thing. I mean, it was so incredibly unreasonable and it was very painful for my dad when all that was going on.

This was an organization that he gave many, many years of his life to and even sacrificed quite a bit to ensure that all of his employees were going to be paid.

It was a not for profit organization. So he worked very hard for everybody else's paycheck and even made sacrifices, not taking as much as a person in his position would normally get paid so that all the rest of his employees would be paid what they were worth.

He was a great boss. And I would know because I worked for him for a while. But the board of directors of that organization, they all worked secular jobs.

They did not understand what the job entailed working for a Christian not for profit organization like that.

We were just passionate about sharing the gospel. We just wanted to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the area that we were impacting.

But sometimes that work was hindered by these kinds of quarrels that were going on and brother taking brother to court.

That's what was going on here in Corinth. There was quarrels among them. There were people who were in sin that were not being dealt with.

There were matters, small matters that should have been handled among brothers. But no, they're taking each other to court.

So the gospel is not spreading and sanctification is not happening. And Paul says,

I say this to your shame. Is it really this way that there is not one wise man among you is able to pass judgment between his brothers?

On the contrary, brother is tried with brother and that is going on before unbelievers.

What kind of a witness? What kind of a testimony is that? They're in Corinth when these people in these courts know, oh, the

Christians over here, they're suing each other. I mean, who wants to go be a part of a church like that?

What kind of a witness is that when the Christians are going out talking about you're a sinner who needs to be forgiven?

I've been forgiven by Christ. I have the grace of God, which has forgiven me of all my unrighteousness and the life

I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

As Paul said to the Galatians, Galatians 2 20 is what I'm quoting there. So you go out sharing the gospel.

Jesus died for sins. He rose again from the grave. If you believe in him, you too can be forgiven. Oh, but not too forgiven because my brother wronged me in this matter.

So I'm going to take him to court. What kind of testimony is that before unbelievers and not just the people who are presiding over the court?

There were other people in Corinth that would have witnessed this, too. They already knew about the sexual immorality that was going on there with a man who was sleeping with his father's wife.

Even the pagans are going, yeah, we're not that bad. I mean, even we know that's bad Christians and and you don't have it in your own commands from your savior that you shouldn't be committing incest.

I guess you're not really that much better than we are. So these were the kinds of things that were going on before the unbelieving

Corinthians. It was shameful for the Christians to be treating one another like this in the church.

Brother tried with brother and this before unbelievers. Shameful, Paul says.

It is already a failure for you. He goes on to say in verse seven, you've you've already failed at this.

At brotherliness, at unity in the body of Christ, where's the fruit of the spirit?

Where's the the patience and the kindness, the gentleness and the self -control?

Where's the love? Paul is going to confront them in the way that they think about love or that love is not being practiced in their midst.

That's coming up in first Corinthians 13. Yeah, that which we call the love chapter of the Bible. That is a very stern rebuke.

It's not some lovey dovey romantic chapter. It's Paul rebuking the Corinthians for not loving one another the way that we should love one another.

I say this to your shame, he says. But he's being very pastoral here, too.

He's not writing them off and he's he's being harsh. They need to hear these words.

They need to hear harsh words that they would be convicted over their sin and realize that how they're treating one another is not

Christlike. But he's not writing them off and saying, you aren't really a church. Close your doors.

Stop pretending you've already failed. The Holy Spirit is not among you. That's not what he says. Now, if after issuing this rebuke, nothing changes.

Well, then, yeah, they demonstrate that Christ is not actually among them. But Paul knows that he is that he is there and he is certain that they're going to respond to this rebuke and they're going to repent of their sin and they will affirm their calling and election, the unity that they have in Christ, being of one mind with Christ and with one another if the

Holy Spirit is in their midst. And we're going to talk about more about being a temple of the

Holy Spirit as we continue on here in chapter six. But sticking with this rebuke that he's making of these

Corinthians, taking one another to court in the church instead of handling these matters among themselves and saying this to their shame.

And I think one of the reasons why Paul puts it that way, like this is shameful for you is because we understand.

I mean, when it if we were to stop and just kind of evaluate this, you just think about this. We understand without having to be told this is wrong.

This is not the way that we're supposed to treat one another. We would not have to have first Corinthians six, one through eight.

I'm not saying cut it out, throw it out of your Bible. I'm just saying we would not have to come to first Corinthians to read this and know that it's wrong for a

Christian to take another Christian to court. That is not the way brothers and sisters in the body of Christ are supposed to treat one another.

A couple of years ago, there was a woman in my church that had to be disciplined. She was lying about members of the church.

She was lying about the elders. Sometimes she wouldn't even attend worship. She would go be in another part of the building with somebody else and just be spreading gossip.

She said that she didn't like my wife. So that already put her on my bad list. I know some of you were going, how can you not like Becky?

Well, yeah, there you go. And she would not listen to correction. She was handling disagreements in an unbiblical way and would not listen to anybody tell her to stop this behavior.

So finally, it came before the church and she was removed. Well, she started attending another church and that pastor contacted me to ask what were the things that were going on that led to her excommunication.

And so I shared with him about what happened. And I think I even gave to him a statement that was made to the church.

Here's the final thing that was read to the church when she had to be disciplined.

And somewhere in the midst of those conversations that we were having, as I was talking with this pastor, this woman tried to sue me.

She sent a letter through a lawyer to my house and to the church saying that if we were to talk about with anybody the things that led to her dismissal.

So even this conversation that I was having with this pastor qualified, if we were to talk about this with anyone, we would get sued for damages.

Now, I don't know that she could have actually done anything. It could have just been a threat to make sure that I didn't talk about it with anyone else.

But but I shared this with the pastor. I told him, OK, we've been talking about this woman that you're considering for membership at your church.

She's threatening to sue me. And his response to me was really quite surprising.

He said to me, I would prefer that Christians not sue one another.

And I responded to him in a very rebuking tone. I said, brother, you know, you know what the scriptures say about this.

This isn't a matter of preference. Paul says, I say this to your shame.

Brother is tried with brother and that before unbelievers. And it is already a failure for you.

My brothers and sisters in the Lord, this is not the way that we are to treat one another.

In fact, for the benefit of our witness, it is better to just be defrauded. Then to take one another to court, and I'm going to share some examples of that, too, when we come back to this lesson tomorrow.

But point being, we know better, we as Christians should know better. Think of what

Paul said to the Philippians in Philippians two, verse three, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each one of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. And I also want you to consider these words that Paul shared in in Philippians later on regarding two women who were disagreeing with one another.

This is Yodia and Syntyche. So in Philippians four, two, I entreat Yodia and I entreat

Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, talking to the whole church, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and with the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

So if we see something like this going on in the church, we should want to help one another resolve these differences that the grace of God would prevail over us and would even be observed by the world.

The grace and goodness that God has given to each one of us, we're showing to one another that it may be a testament to Christ.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the goodness you show to us. We thank you for this good word that we have been given.

And I pray it would be rebuking and sharp right down to the very core of our spirits that we understand the way that we need to be treating one another is with the grace, the measure of love and mercy that Christ has shown to us.

There is nobody doing anything to us greater than what we did to God in our rebellion against you.

And yet you have been merciful and patient and kind to us. And may we demonstrate that very kindness to one another, even to people in this world that they may see and know the goodness of God demonstrated in Christ our

Savior. It's in his precious name that we pray. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word, when we understand the text.