WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.220 You didn't know Paul had so much power, did you? 00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:04.679 He comes out here and points at the screen, and 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:07.759 like that, it's happened. He does that with the 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:14.880 choir every Sunday. By the way, the greetings 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:17.579 from the youngsters last week, I noticed that 00:00:17.579 --> 00:00:22.399 one, Kirky Livingston. Now, we have a family 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:24.280 in our church, the Kirk Livingston's. I didn't 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:25.899 know I had a child named Kirky. So you might 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:28.670 just want to ask them if they have... another 00:00:28.670 --> 00:00:31.670 child that we've not met before, and see if they 00:00:31.670 --> 00:00:34.490 would introduce you to Kirke Livingston. Would 00:00:34.490 --> 00:00:36.850 you do that, please? I would appreciate that 00:00:36.850 --> 00:00:40.289 very much. Now would you open your Bible with 00:00:40.289 --> 00:00:44.570 me, please, to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. As we 00:00:44.570 --> 00:00:46.869 look today at our text in the first 11 verses 00:00:46.869 --> 00:00:52.429 of this chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, entitled, 00:00:52.689 --> 00:00:57.020 Take it to Court. Does any of you, when he has 00:00:57.020 --> 00:01:00.600 a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:03.299 before the unrighteous and not before the saints? 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.700 Or do you not know that the saints will judge 00:01:06.700 --> 00:01:10.780 the world? And if the world is judged by you, 00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:14.579 are you not competent to constitute the smallest 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:18.480 law court? Do you not know that we shall judge 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:24.239 angels? How much more matters in this life? If 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:26.519 then you have law courts dealing with matters 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:29.280 of this life, do you appoint them as judges who 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:32.879 are of no account in the church? I say this to 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:36.180 your shame. Is it so that there is not among 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:40.420 you one wise man who will be able to decide between 00:01:40.420 --> 00:01:44.099 his brethren that brother goes to law with brother 00:01:44.099 --> 00:01:48.060 and that before unbeliever? Actually then, it 00:01:48.060 --> 00:01:52.340 is already a deceit for you. that you have lawsuits 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:55.760 with one another. Why not rather be wrong? Why 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:59.560 not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:03.939 worship you yourselves wrong and defraud, and 00:02:03.939 --> 00:02:07.480 that your brethren. Or do you not know that the 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:09.719 unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:13.979 God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators 00:02:13.979 --> 00:02:17.879 nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor 00:02:17.879 --> 00:02:21.259 homosexuals. nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:25.340 drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:29.240 inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:33.919 of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:37.060 but you were justified in the name of our Lord 00:02:37.060 --> 00:02:42.599 Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God." A 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:45.419 popular television program a few years ago used 00:02:45.419 --> 00:02:49.699 to end it shows that were based around the court 00:02:49.699 --> 00:02:53.939 with the notion that if somebody does you wrong, 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.120 don't take it into your own hands. Take it to 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:01.699 court. Remember that? That was the attitude in 00:03:01.699 --> 00:03:03.879 Corinth long before that television show was 00:03:03.879 --> 00:03:07.139 around. The Christians in the church in Corinth 00:03:07.139 --> 00:03:09.740 who were very tolerant of immorality in their 00:03:09.740 --> 00:03:15.729 church were quick to go to court. over some relatively 00:03:15.729 --> 00:03:20.409 minor problem that arose. In the paragraph we've 00:03:20.409 --> 00:03:25.530 read, the apostle Paul actually rebukes them 00:03:25.530 --> 00:03:29.909 for their insolence and their arrogance. He says, 00:03:30.110 --> 00:03:37.189 does any of you dare to go to law? If Paul could 00:03:37.189 --> 00:03:40.009 say that to us and not write it in the letter 00:03:40.009 --> 00:03:42.389 as he has, I think we would hear something in 00:03:42.389 --> 00:03:46.629 his voice approaching anger. So this is another 00:03:46.629 --> 00:03:51.069 example of the leaven of sin from their old way 00:03:51.069 --> 00:03:53.629 of life that they have brought into their new 00:03:53.629 --> 00:03:57.750 relationship with God. Now I say it's from their 00:03:57.750 --> 00:04:01.379 old way of life because of the manner in which 00:04:01.379 --> 00:04:03.639 those people lived in the city of Corinth and 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:06.900 frankly throughout the Roman Empire in that day. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:09.659 John MacArthur summarizes it pretty well when 00:04:09.659 --> 00:04:13.219 he says the legal situation in Corinth probably 00:04:13.219 --> 00:04:16.199 was much as it was in Athens where litigation 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:20.839 was a part of everyday life. It had become a 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:25.800 form of challenge, even entertainment. When a 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:28.600 problem arose between two parties that they could 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:32.699 not settle between themselves, the first recourse 00:04:32.699 --> 00:04:41.740 was arbitration. Each party was assigned a disinterested 00:04:41.740 --> 00:04:45.860 private citizen as an arbitrator, and the two 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:49.100 arbitrators, along with a neutral third person, 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:53.089 would attempt to resolve the problem. If they 00:04:53.089 --> 00:04:55.930 failed, the case was turned over to a court of 00:04:55.930 --> 00:05:00.610 40 who assigned a public arbitrator to each party. 00:05:01.889 --> 00:05:04.250 Interestingly, MacArthur says, every citizen 00:05:04.250 --> 00:05:07.089 had to serve as a public arbitrator during the 00:05:07.089 --> 00:05:11.689 60th year of his life. If public arbitration 00:05:11.689 --> 00:05:15.569 failed, the case went to a jury court composed 00:05:15.569 --> 00:05:20.610 of from several hundred to several thousand jurors. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:24.100 Can you imagine how long it would take to pick 00:05:24.100 --> 00:05:28.279 that kind of a jury under our legal system? Every 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:31.680 citizen over 30 years of age was subject to serving 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:37.939 as a juror. Either as a party to a lawsuit or 00:05:37.939 --> 00:05:41.399 as an arbitrator or as a juror, most citizens 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:44.300 regularly were involved in legal proceedings 00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:48.480 of one sort or another. That's an interesting 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:51.920 snapshot of the pagan legal system in the Roman 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:56.860 Empire. Very wavy and complex and far -reaching, 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:01.120 and one in which many people were involved. Now, 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:05.079 along with that system of law and courts, the 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:08.259 Jews had their own thing going underneath Roman 00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:11.420 law. The Romans allowed them to carry on this 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:15.269 way. For centuries, Jews... has settled all their 00:06:15.269 --> 00:06:19.189 questions and disputes privately or in synagogue 00:06:19.189 --> 00:06:23.389 courts. It was considered a form of blasphemy 00:06:23.389 --> 00:06:27.470 for the Jews to go before the Gentiles. Both 00:06:27.470 --> 00:06:30.089 Greek and Roman rulers have allowed the Jews 00:06:30.089 --> 00:06:33.589 to continue that practice of having their own 00:06:33.589 --> 00:06:37.889 court system even outside of Palestine. Under 00:06:37.889 --> 00:06:41.329 Roman law, Jews could virtually try every offense 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:45.939 and give almost any kind of a sentence except 00:06:45.939 --> 00:06:49.420 the sentence of death, as we see in the case 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:53.279 of Jesus Christ. Because Christians were considered 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:57.199 by the Romans to be a Jewish sect, the Corinthian 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:00.399 believers will probably flee to settle their 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:03.819 dispute among themselves as the Apostle Paul 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:08.399 suggests here. What I want you to grasp here 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:13.139 in this paragraph that we've read, is that believers 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:17.000 are called out of the world to a lifestyle that 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:21.540 is distinctive and holy. The apostle Paul in 00:07:21.540 --> 00:07:25.259 chapter 5 dealt with the matter of immorality 00:07:25.259 --> 00:07:30.360 in the church. Now he goes on to deal with another 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:34.160 kind of leaven, of sin, that was in the church. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:39.689 It was the disgraceful kinds of lawsuits that 00:07:39.689 --> 00:07:42.490 they would bring against one another as an expression 00:07:42.490 --> 00:07:47.649 of their selfishness, showing that their lifestyle 00:07:47.649 --> 00:07:52.910 was unfit for that of a child of God. The Apostle 00:07:52.910 --> 00:07:56.149 Paul yanks them as it were out of their lethargy 00:07:56.149 --> 00:07:59.889 about this. He wants them to know that God has 00:07:59.889 --> 00:08:04.029 called them to be saints. God has called them 00:08:04.029 --> 00:08:07.990 to be separated from the world. to a lifestyle 00:08:07.990 --> 00:08:11.410 that is distinctive, that is different from what 00:08:11.410 --> 00:08:17.790 they had lived in the past, to a holy life. And 00:08:17.790 --> 00:08:20.670 so he expresses the problem, first of all. The 00:08:20.670 --> 00:08:22.990 problem that he addresses in this paragraph is 00:08:22.990 --> 00:08:26.509 that of them taking other believers to court 00:08:26.509 --> 00:08:31.189 for merely petty causes. Christian brothers were 00:08:31.189 --> 00:08:34.789 seeking legal remedy, it seems, for these minor 00:08:34.789 --> 00:08:39.970 offenses. within the pagan legal system. The 00:08:39.970 --> 00:08:42.649 issues were not spiritual issues. They were very 00:08:42.649 --> 00:08:46.690 temporal issues. He calls them things pertaining 00:08:46.690 --> 00:08:51.169 to this life. You know this. The word he uses 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:55.149 there is the Greek word pragma. And I say that 00:08:55.149 --> 00:08:57.549 word so that you can hear the word pragmatic 00:08:57.549 --> 00:09:02.000 in it. They were suing one another over the pragma, 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:06.480 the pragmatic things of life, unimportant things 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:11.159 relatively. And while Paul does not belittle 00:09:11.159 --> 00:09:14.700 the secular courts here, while he does not show 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:18.860 disrespect for the pagan court system, he shows 00:09:18.860 --> 00:09:21.860 that the believers have no reason really to take 00:09:21.860 --> 00:09:26.320 these things to that system. So what were they 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:29.830 to do? Well, he tells them what they were to 00:09:29.830 --> 00:09:34.409 do. They were to set up their own system to handle 00:09:34.409 --> 00:09:38.830 these kinds of issues. He warns them that if 00:09:38.830 --> 00:09:40.730 they went out to the pagan court system, there 00:09:40.730 --> 00:09:43.009 would be certain detrimental results in their 00:09:43.009 --> 00:09:46.309 lives, at least four of them. The first result 00:09:46.309 --> 00:09:49.970 was that it degraded their testimony. We see 00:09:49.970 --> 00:09:52.870 this reflected in what he says in verses one 00:09:52.870 --> 00:09:57.240 and six. He says, how dare you go out there before 00:09:57.240 --> 00:10:00.899 the world, as it were, and air your dirty laundry. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:05.580 It degrades your testimony to do that as believers 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:09.259 in Jesus Christ. Imagine how the unbelievers 00:10:09.259 --> 00:10:14.860 would have interpreted their actions. A second 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:18.179 result of their taking their issues to court 00:10:18.179 --> 00:10:21.820 was that it exposed their greed, as he suggests 00:10:21.820 --> 00:10:25.879 in verse 8. He says, you yourselves wrong and 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:31.940 defraud your own brothers. You do wicked things, 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:35.740 you wrong them, and you cheat them. It exposes 00:10:35.740 --> 00:10:40.600 your greed. The third result of their taking 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:43.000 their issues before the court is that it dishonored 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:48.629 their position, verses two through five. He reminds 00:10:48.629 --> 00:10:51.149 us, in essence, that the saints have been seated 00:10:51.149 --> 00:10:55.129 with Jesus Christ on his throne and identified 00:10:55.129 --> 00:10:59.450 with him in his position as the ruler. And he 00:10:59.450 --> 00:11:02.009 says, there is coming a day when the saints will 00:11:02.009 --> 00:11:06.190 judge the world. That's the position that we've 00:11:06.190 --> 00:11:09.669 been given in Christ. What Paul is saying here 00:11:09.669 --> 00:11:12.470 seems to reflect the return of Jesus Christ when 00:11:12.470 --> 00:11:16.559 he comes again. that we will share with him in 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:20.460 judging the world and sitting over it. As it 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:23.720 says in Revelation 20 and verse 4, I saw thrones 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:27.519 and they sat upon them and judgment was given 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:32.620 to them. Jesus says regarding the apostles in 00:11:32.620 --> 00:11:35.919 Matthew 19, truly I say to you that you who have 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:38.120 followed me in the regeneration when the Son 00:11:38.120 --> 00:11:41.759 of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you also. 00:11:42.120 --> 00:11:44.980 shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:48.279 tribes of Israel." And not only is that true 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:50.860 of the twelve apostles, but by extension it seems 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:55.960 to be true in some sense of every believer. For 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:58.919 them to take their brothers to court was to dishonor 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:02.059 their position. He says things were also going 00:12:02.059 --> 00:12:05.980 to judge the angels. Now this was not mentioned 00:12:05.980 --> 00:12:08.220 anywhere else in the scriptures, only a brief 00:12:08.220 --> 00:12:11.049 reference here. It's hard to understand exactly 00:12:11.049 --> 00:12:13.769 what Paul is saying. Is he talking about saints 00:12:13.769 --> 00:12:20.409 someday judging the holy angels of God? Well, 00:12:20.490 --> 00:12:23.789 we wonder why would they need to be judged? Are 00:12:23.789 --> 00:12:27.129 they not always perfectly obedient to their Creator? 00:12:28.750 --> 00:12:31.210 Then is he saying that we will someday have a 00:12:31.210 --> 00:12:33.710 part in judging the fallen angels and judging 00:12:33.710 --> 00:12:38.070 demons? That seems to be the better option of 00:12:38.070 --> 00:12:43.279 the two. It does say that the Lord has not spared 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:46.779 the angels that sinned, but has cast them into 00:12:46.779 --> 00:12:49.120 hell and committed them to the pits of darkness 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:53.779 reserved for judgment. Talking there in 2 Peter 00:12:53.779 --> 00:12:56.360 2 ,4 about the particular angels, that all of 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:59.220 the fallen angels will one day face judgment. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:02.779 Perhaps that's what Paul has in mind. But his 00:13:02.779 --> 00:13:06.019 point is, look, Jesus Christ has given you a 00:13:06.019 --> 00:13:10.120 position of dignity. You yourself are destined 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:16.679 to be a judge. Now why, as one having that position, 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:20.139 would you be graded by taking your issues before 00:13:20.139 --> 00:13:25.539 the pageant? Then there's a fourth result that 00:13:25.539 --> 00:13:29.940 he gives for their error. When you do this, Paul 00:13:29.940 --> 00:13:32.139 says, that is, when you take your case to the 00:13:32.139 --> 00:13:38.299 court, it deceives your case anyway. You're already 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:41.399 defeated when you get there, verse 7. You've 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:44.279 already suffered a loss. Oh, yes, I know one 00:13:44.279 --> 00:13:46.399 of you may win the case and the other lose it, 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:49.500 but you have both been diminished spiritually. 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:54.000 And therefore you have both had loss of respect 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.659 and fellowship and your testimony. And so you're 00:13:58.659 --> 00:14:03.399 already defeated. And so Paul lays out for them, 00:14:03.629 --> 00:14:06.590 What he believes are the disastrous results of 00:14:06.590 --> 00:14:08.809 the problem that they were having in that city, 00:14:09.769 --> 00:14:13.929 in that church. Secondly, he lays before them 00:14:13.929 --> 00:14:17.049 his proposal. He tells them what they can do 00:14:17.049 --> 00:14:21.230 as an option. The proposal is, in the first place, 00:14:21.370 --> 00:14:24.809 to settle with arbitration. The last part of 00:14:24.809 --> 00:14:29.049 verse 5 suggests this. Some of the language in 00:14:29.049 --> 00:14:31.110 the middle part of the paragraph is a little 00:14:31.110 --> 00:14:35.799 difficult. to translate, not only to say interpret, 00:14:37.019 --> 00:14:39.399 but what Paul seems to be saying in verse 5 is, 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:42.200 look, you can't appoint arbitrators among yourselves. 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.059 In verse 4, there seems to be a bit of sarcasm. 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:50.179 He says, there it seems, that it's better to 00:14:50.179 --> 00:14:53.100 have even the weakest member of the church settle 00:14:53.100 --> 00:14:57.019 disputes than to take the issue to the court. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:00.620 He says you're better off with even the weakest 00:15:00.620 --> 00:15:04.639 one among you setting in judgment, rather than 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.679 taking it out there to the pagans. Now why is 00:15:06.679 --> 00:15:09.860 that? Because the pagans have no appreciation 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:14.220 for the spiritual reality. But what's really 00:15:14.220 --> 00:15:18.580 behind some of the dispute? And so he says even 00:15:18.580 --> 00:15:20.860 the weakest among you could be the arbitrator. 00:15:22.580 --> 00:15:24.840 So he seems to be saying here, isn't there at 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:29.360 least one wise man? He can stand up and judge 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:33.500 and make a decision between his brethren. But 00:15:33.500 --> 00:15:37.000 he says in verse 7 in his proposal, suffer loss 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:40.519 if necessary. Settle with arbitration, but if 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:44.700 that doesn't work, then suffer loss if necessary. 00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:47.860 I don't think Paul is really saying in verse 00:15:47.860 --> 00:15:53.179 7 that we ought to have a separate church -related 00:15:53.179 --> 00:15:57.740 court system. But what he is saying is that The 00:15:57.740 --> 00:16:02.600 church may appoint mediators who can make declarative 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:06.379 judgments. They can't make punitive judgments, 00:16:07.539 --> 00:16:09.860 but they can declare who's right and wrong and 00:16:09.860 --> 00:16:12.559 what would be the righteous way to settle it. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:17.200 And he says even if that doesn't work perfectly, 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:21.220 it's better to experience the loss or the wrong 00:16:21.220 --> 00:16:24.889 that might come out of that if need be. and to 00:16:24.889 --> 00:16:27.450 keep harmony in the church and your testimony 00:16:27.450 --> 00:16:31.269 before the world rather than taking it to the 00:16:31.269 --> 00:16:36.429 court. The basic problem that underlies this 00:16:36.429 --> 00:16:39.309 whole thing is that the Corinthians were demanding 00:16:39.309 --> 00:16:43.190 their rights, their personal rights, rather than 00:16:43.190 --> 00:16:47.110 yielding them up to God. Paul speaks about that 00:16:47.110 --> 00:16:49.409 essentially in Romans chapter 12, where in the 00:16:49.409 --> 00:16:51.789 middle of that chapter he says, look, don't take 00:16:51.789 --> 00:16:55.860 vengeance for yourself. But the Lord says, Vengeance 00:16:55.860 --> 00:17:01.019 is mine, and I will repay. What Paul is essentially 00:17:01.019 --> 00:17:06.660 saying there is, give your right to God, and 00:17:06.660 --> 00:17:11.880 let God justify you in his time. If there is 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:16.119 to be punishment, if there is to be vengeance, 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.839 then let the Lord be the one who brings it, not 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:24.660 you. Let the Lord take care of your rights for 00:17:24.660 --> 00:17:29.859 you. How that flies in the face of the culture 00:17:29.859 --> 00:17:34.599 that we live in today. For if you are a real 00:17:34.599 --> 00:17:39.400 American, you will demand your rights. Whether 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:43.299 it be on the highway as you're driving, or be 00:17:43.299 --> 00:17:47.920 in the court system, or be in the workplace, 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:52.829 you demand what more? You've got it coming to 00:17:52.829 --> 00:17:56.490 you. And if you don't get it, somebody else will. 00:17:57.329 --> 00:18:00.029 And there's all kinds of other little clichés 00:18:00.029 --> 00:18:03.710 that people use. Paul isn't saying here that 00:18:03.710 --> 00:18:06.089 we ought to lie down and be the rug for everybody 00:18:06.089 --> 00:18:11.410 either. But he is saying, when it comes to enforcing 00:18:11.410 --> 00:18:15.509 your personal rights, just give them to God. 00:18:17.349 --> 00:18:20.359 And let God bring about your righteousness. Let 00:18:20.359 --> 00:18:24.400 God vindicate your righteousness. Let God show 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:30.420 that you're right in His time. The proposal is, 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:35.400 settle with arbitration. Suffer loss if necessary. 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:40.480 Let me bring the question to mind. If you're 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.140 thinking through this chapter with me, you may 00:18:43.140 --> 00:18:47.539 be asking the question, is it always wrong for 00:18:47.539 --> 00:18:53.289 a believer to go to court. I'm talking about 00:18:53.289 --> 00:18:56.549 the pagan court. Is it always wrong for a Christian 00:18:56.549 --> 00:19:00.210 to go to court? I believe the answer to that 00:19:00.210 --> 00:19:04.029 is no. It is not always wrong for a believer 00:19:04.029 --> 00:19:08.049 to go to court. Charles Windall has four helpful 00:19:08.049 --> 00:19:12.349 guidelines that will direct our heart as we think 00:19:12.349 --> 00:19:16.549 through the issues that we ourselves face. These 00:19:16.549 --> 00:19:19.009 are guidelines that I offer to you today. not 00:19:19.009 --> 00:19:20.890 only for your sake, but for the sake of someone 00:19:20.890 --> 00:19:24.450 that you might counsel. Sindahl says in the first 00:19:24.450 --> 00:19:27.589 place, we might go to court when the dispute 00:19:27.589 --> 00:19:30.130 with a fellow Christian is not related to the 00:19:30.130 --> 00:19:37.009 local church. Secondly, he says, we might go 00:19:37.009 --> 00:19:40.630 to court when the motive is not pride, and I 00:19:40.630 --> 00:19:48.500 might insert, or greed, but justice. Thirdly, 00:19:48.539 --> 00:19:51.099 he says, we might go to court when the issue 00:19:51.099 --> 00:19:54.599 does not bring fame to the Church of Jesus Christ 00:19:54.599 --> 00:20:01.779 in the eyes of the world. And fourth, he says, 00:20:01.940 --> 00:20:05.980 we might go to court when you're absolutely confident 00:20:05.980 --> 00:20:09.259 that it is the will of God and have complete 00:20:09.259 --> 00:20:15.519 peace in the inner person. Now this is not a 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:19.480 moot. issue that we're dealing with today. One 00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:22.140 of our local Christian colleges has been sued 00:20:22.140 --> 00:20:26.619 by a family, a Christian family in another church, 00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:31.680 in a church here in the Twin Cities. There are 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:38.240 Christians suing Christians. There are people 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:42.099 who are facing divorce, some who don't want divorce. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:47.930 What are they to do? How do they respond? What 00:20:47.930 --> 00:20:52.710 do you do if you have an accident, let's say, 00:20:52.829 --> 00:20:58.329 at a brother's house, and in order for his insurance 00:20:58.329 --> 00:21:05.950 policy to pay off, you have to sue him? I mean, 00:21:06.089 --> 00:21:09.650 these are issues that people face. These guidelines 00:21:09.650 --> 00:21:13.230 can help you think through what your response 00:21:13.230 --> 00:21:17.609 ought to be. It is not always wrong for a believer 00:21:17.609 --> 00:21:22.210 to go to court. Frankly, I think it ought to 00:21:22.210 --> 00:21:28.369 be rare. It ought to be extremely rare. But there 00:21:28.369 --> 00:21:33.309 are times when we have to. You see, what was 00:21:33.309 --> 00:21:35.650 happening in the Church of Corinth, and that 00:21:35.650 --> 00:21:39.210 which Paul was addressing, was an abuse of lawful. 00:21:40.609 --> 00:21:44.230 So they were simply playing a game in some respects. 00:21:45.250 --> 00:21:48.390 taking one another to court almost for entertainment, 00:21:50.250 --> 00:21:53.430 or to enforce their personal rights over little 00:21:53.430 --> 00:21:57.490 petty things that didn't really matter. And that's 00:21:57.490 --> 00:22:01.130 what Paul is reducing. And notice how closely 00:22:01.130 --> 00:22:08.869 he ties this together with immorality. He moves 00:22:08.869 --> 00:22:12.519 from one right to the other. And in Paul's mind, 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:16.400 there is really no distinction between the kind 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:20.119 of effect on the testimony of the church, between 00:22:20.119 --> 00:22:24.140 the sinning man who is in the church, and the 00:22:24.140 --> 00:22:26.779 way that they were frivolously taking one another 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:32.200 to court. So that brings us to the last part 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:34.960 of our paragraph where we deal with the principle. 00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:38.680 The principle that we started out with, and that 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:41.259 is that a Christian is called out of the world 00:22:41.259 --> 00:22:47.019 to a lifestyle of distinction and holiness. Twice, 00:22:47.779 --> 00:22:51.079 in verses 1 and 2, Paul uses the word think. 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:55.559 Then later in the chapter, he uses the word sanctified, 00:22:55.660 --> 00:22:59.059 which is related to the word think. They all 00:22:59.059 --> 00:23:04.200 mean to call out, or one who is called out. Paul 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:07.799 says that we have been called out of the world 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:12.339 with its value system to a lifestyle that is 00:23:12.339 --> 00:23:20.180 to be different and holy. Notice that he says 00:23:20.180 --> 00:23:23.599 that no person who is characterized by an unrighteous 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:28.099 lifestyle will inherit God's kingdom, that is, 00:23:28.500 --> 00:23:34.500 will enter into the theater of salvation. And 00:23:34.500 --> 00:23:38.480 he gives a list of ten specific lifestyles, the 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:40.700 way that people were living in that day, and 00:23:40.700 --> 00:23:44.519 did people live today. But some of these we dealt 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:47.980 with last week, as Paul listed in chapter 5. 00:23:49.940 --> 00:23:53.319 Do not be deceived neither fornicators, that 00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:58.559 is those who are sexually immoral, nor idolaters, 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:04.359 nor adulterers. This is the first time in this 00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:07.559 context that he's mentioned that word. It is 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:09.759 a more specific word than the word fornicators, 00:24:09.819 --> 00:24:12.819 which refers to any kind of sexual sin outside 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:17.339 of marriage. Here in adultery he's talking about 00:24:17.339 --> 00:24:19.720 those who have been unfaithful to their marriage 00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:26.640 vows. He says adulterers will not enter the kingdom 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:31.359 of God, nor those who are effeminate. a word 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:36.660 that means dainty or luxurious living, and it 00:24:36.660 --> 00:24:40.839 refers most likely to male prostitutes, which 00:24:40.839 --> 00:24:43.279 were very common in the city of Corinth because 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:49.019 of the pagan rituals that were involved in their 00:24:49.019 --> 00:24:53.420 worship of their false deities. Apparently there 00:24:53.420 --> 00:24:55.700 were some in Corinth who thought that it was 00:24:55.700 --> 00:25:02.049 still okay to visit these male prostitutes. He 00:25:02.049 --> 00:25:05.970 goes on to mention homosexuals, making it very 00:25:05.970 --> 00:25:08.930 clear what he's talking about. Now, I realize 00:25:08.930 --> 00:25:11.589 that there are those today who are coming back 00:25:11.589 --> 00:25:14.369 to the Bible and trying to revise interpretations 00:25:14.369 --> 00:25:18.089 over the last 2 ,000 years. We're trying to say, 00:25:18.190 --> 00:25:19.950 yes, that's what it says, but that's not what 00:25:19.950 --> 00:25:22.390 it means. Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible means 00:25:22.390 --> 00:25:27.750 exactly what it says. That is not an unloving 00:25:27.750 --> 00:25:32.019 thing to say. It is an honest thing to say. It 00:25:32.019 --> 00:25:34.500 is to me a great tragedy when there are religious 00:25:34.500 --> 00:25:37.599 leaders who are coming to the Bible trying to 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:41.359 twist it in order to shift the cultural values 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:47.299 of our day. That is wrong, and it is wrong not 00:25:47.299 --> 00:25:50.460 only before God, but it is wrong to the individuals 00:25:50.460 --> 00:25:53.380 that they think they are pleasing because what 00:25:53.380 --> 00:25:56.279 it does is to give them a false sense of security 00:25:56.279 --> 00:26:00.740 that their lifestyle is okay. when in fact God 00:26:00.740 --> 00:26:03.759 condemns it, and that is not a loving thing to 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:10.240 do. He mentions thieves. First time he's mentioned 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:13.779 that in this context. And the covetous, that 00:26:13.779 --> 00:26:17.400 is, those who are greedy, drunkards, those who 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:20.740 are practicing addictive kinds of things, whether 00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:24.339 it be wine, as was the common case in Corinth, 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:30.690 or if it be drugs, in our day, as well. A reviler, 00:26:31.069 --> 00:26:34.130 that is, those who use their tongue to destroy 00:26:34.130 --> 00:26:39.630 others, and swindlers, people who are cheaters. 00:26:40.930 --> 00:26:44.250 That's quite a list, isn't it? And he says, don't 00:26:44.250 --> 00:26:47.930 be deceived. You see, there was deception at 00:26:47.930 --> 00:26:50.470 work even in that day, so that people were made 00:26:50.470 --> 00:26:54.890 to think that these sorts of things were okay. 00:26:56.850 --> 00:26:59.869 God says people who do these things will not 00:26:59.869 --> 00:27:05.210 be saved. They have never entered into the portals 00:27:05.210 --> 00:27:08.829 of salvation, and their unrighteous lifestyles 00:27:08.829 --> 00:27:13.369 show this. Does it mean that a Christian can't 00:27:13.369 --> 00:27:17.250 be a thief? Well, he can't be a thief. He may 00:27:17.250 --> 00:27:22.250 steal. A Christian can still steal. A Christian 00:27:22.250 --> 00:27:26.190 can still get drunk. A Christian can do any of 00:27:26.190 --> 00:27:29.329 these things, I suppose, as an isolated act, 00:27:31.390 --> 00:27:34.369 but he cannot and he will not do them as a lifestyle. 00:27:37.930 --> 00:27:41.009 For a lifestyle reflects what the heart is, you 00:27:41.009 --> 00:27:45.710 see. An act may reveal a flaw in the character. 00:27:47.690 --> 00:27:50.569 An act may reveal a moment of disobedience in 00:27:50.569 --> 00:27:55.259 a person's life. So when we talk about a lifestyle, 00:27:55.480 --> 00:27:57.039 we're talking about something else, and that's 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:00.019 what Paul is dealing with here. He says, anyone 00:28:00.019 --> 00:28:03.640 who is living out an unrighteous lifestyle characterized 00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:10.099 like these things is not a Christian, has not 00:28:10.099 --> 00:28:19.220 entered into the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived 00:28:19.220 --> 00:28:22.700 about this, he says. These things are not normal 00:28:22.700 --> 00:28:28.000 within the Christian life. He says something 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:31.099 happened to you that made you different. He says, 00:28:31.319 --> 00:28:35.359 oh yes, you were these things. Some of you did 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:37.599 this and some of you did that as a lifestyle 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.500 before you came to Christ. But something happened 00:28:41.500 --> 00:28:48.299 to you. Something changed you. He says you will 00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:52.599 watch. That is, they were cleansed completely 00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:56.900 of the stain and the defilement that had been 00:28:56.900 --> 00:29:00.359 brought on by their past lifestyle. He says, 00:29:00.539 --> 00:29:03.980 you were washed from death. Not only that, he 00:29:03.980 --> 00:29:08.859 says, but you were sanctified. That is, you were 00:29:08.859 --> 00:29:13.019 set apart from sin for God. God gave you a new 00:29:13.019 --> 00:29:17.170 position before Him, a holy position. so that 00:29:17.170 --> 00:29:21.410 now you can live righteously in his eyes. He 00:29:21.410 --> 00:29:24.950 says, but you were justified. That means you 00:29:24.950 --> 00:29:28.210 were declared righteous in God's eyes. God made 00:29:28.210 --> 00:29:31.990 a legal decision about you. He made a decree. 00:29:32.490 --> 00:29:36.190 He cleared you of your guilt before the law. 00:29:38.470 --> 00:29:42.009 And he says all of this was done in the name 00:29:42.009 --> 00:29:45.130 of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, with the authority 00:29:45.130 --> 00:29:49.589 of Christ. Christ himself brought this. It's 00:29:49.589 --> 00:29:52.029 unquestionable. It's irreversible what he did 00:29:52.029 --> 00:29:55.049 for you. You were washed. You were sanctified. 00:29:55.509 --> 00:29:59.730 You were justified. Because how then possibly 00:29:59.730 --> 00:30:03.470 can you think to go back to the lifestyle that 00:30:03.470 --> 00:30:06.910 you were a part of? No, he says you were in the 00:30:06.910 --> 00:30:10.400 spirit of God. The Spirit of God has made all 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:13.380 of this a reality to you, and now if you fall 00:30:13.380 --> 00:30:15.940 back into your old ways, the Spirit of God is 00:30:15.940 --> 00:30:18.180 going to be there to convict you of your sins 00:30:18.180 --> 00:30:23.259 and to bring you back. That's why I'm saying 00:30:23.259 --> 00:30:27.720 this morning that the point he is making in this 00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:30.099 paragraph is that those of us who are called 00:30:30.099 --> 00:30:33.920 into Christ's Kingdom are called to live with 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:38.089 distinction and holiness. There's a certain dignity 00:30:38.089 --> 00:30:41.049 that besits the position that we have in Jesus 00:30:41.049 --> 00:30:44.490 Christ, and we are to live that out in the world. 00:30:45.170 --> 00:30:49.089 And to think otherwise is absurd. It's ridiculous. 00:30:51.289 --> 00:30:54.049 God has called it out from the world society 00:30:54.049 --> 00:30:59.549 to belong to His new society. And so the question 00:30:59.549 --> 00:31:01.730 that we have to ask ourselves this morning, whether 00:31:01.730 --> 00:31:05.019 it be the example of lawsuits, or be the other 00:31:05.019 --> 00:31:07.819 potential applications that he mentions in the 00:31:07.819 --> 00:31:13.319 last part of this text? Are we making the choices 00:31:13.319 --> 00:31:16.759 about our behavior that are consistent with who 00:31:16.759 --> 00:31:21.680 we are? For you see, we have a choice to make 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:25.099 about how we live. The unrighteous do not. They 00:31:25.099 --> 00:31:28.339 are captivated and enslaved in lifestyles of 00:31:28.339 --> 00:31:32.180 sin. But something has happened to us. We're 00:31:32.180 --> 00:31:34.819 different in Jesus Christ, and now we have the 00:31:34.819 --> 00:31:39.099 ability to choose to obey God. And on the whole, 00:31:39.299 --> 00:31:43.740 the Christian will. He may fall back now and 00:31:43.740 --> 00:31:46.779 then as events or occasions in his life, but 00:31:46.779 --> 00:31:49.980 on the whole, he will have a lifestyle of obedience 00:31:49.980 --> 00:31:53.960 to God. What are the decisions that you're making? 00:31:57.309 --> 00:32:01.670 When an opportunity comes to you to go back to 00:32:01.670 --> 00:32:05.569 what you were before, are you choosing to say 00:32:05.569 --> 00:32:08.829 no to that and yes to obedience to Jesus Christ? 00:32:12.430 --> 00:32:14.609 When the devil comes knocking at your door with 00:32:14.609 --> 00:32:17.230 the temptation to say, come on, you remember 00:32:17.230 --> 00:32:21.609 how much fun this was, can you at that moment 00:32:21.609 --> 00:32:25.750 by the Spirit of God say, no, I have been called 00:32:25.750 --> 00:32:31.099 out of that? to belong to Jesus Christ, and I 00:32:31.099 --> 00:32:35.619 want my life to be different. What Paul is saying 00:32:35.619 --> 00:32:38.000 to these people is what he is saying to all of 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:43.380 us today. Stop living for things that you have 00:32:43.380 --> 00:33:02.200 been saved from. Father God, this message cuts 00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:10.579 across the heart of each one of us. Because all 00:33:10.579 --> 00:33:14.579 of us in here also were like those Corinthians 00:33:14.579 --> 00:33:20.240 before we were built. In one way or another, 00:33:20.539 --> 00:33:29.180 our lives were filed after sin. And there may 00:33:29.180 --> 00:33:32.859 be some of us today who have thought that we 00:33:32.859 --> 00:33:39.180 have been saved because we prayed a prayer sometime, 00:33:39.220 --> 00:33:44.359 or we went forward and asserted. And there's 00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:49.359 been no cleansing, no sanctifying work of your 00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:55.660 spirit, and we're not justified. I pray that 00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:59.259 You would not allow us to continue on deceived 00:33:59.259 --> 00:34:05.640 if that be the case. But show us exactly what 00:34:05.640 --> 00:34:12.239 we need to repent of. Show us our guilt, that 00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:15.840 we may bow the knees and truly receive Jesus 00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:22.380 Christ, and find in Him the transformation inside 00:34:22.380 --> 00:34:28.380 that will make us new people. And Father, for 00:34:28.380 --> 00:34:31.840 those of us who have done that, and who truly 00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:36.400 are changed, who have been called out, but who 00:34:36.400 --> 00:34:40.420 have forgotten that we are to live holy lives 00:34:40.420 --> 00:34:45.960 distinct from the world, different than our peers. 00:34:48.219 --> 00:34:50.559 I pray that this might be a reminder, a wake 00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:55.860 -up call to us today to be holy. Lead us to repentance 00:34:55.860 --> 00:35:01.730 as well. and to renewal of our vows to walk after 00:35:01.730 --> 00:35:12.130 you in newness of life. In Jesus name I pray, 00:35:12.389 --> 00:35:12.710 Amen.