Introduction
It is time for peacemaking, time for us to consider how to have peace in our lives and how to be instruments of peace for others. I daresay that if I set aside sixty seconds for us to list the names of people with whom we do not feel at peace with, everyone in this sanctuary could list one or more names. If I really gave you time to think and encouraged you to dwell upon the hurts that you have received, everyone would walk out of this sanctuary depressed and angry. All of us have been hurt and have done our own share of hurting others. For two weeks, we are going to focus on what needs to be done to receive healing and become healers.
This morning, we will study our text to understand what it has to say about conflict, specifically how one church failed to handle it well. Next week, we will consider how to be peacemakers.
Text
Chapter 5 presented a case of sexual immorality that the Corinth Church failed to address and even seemed to boast about. Chapter 6 opens with a case of one church member suing another. Whereas in the previous instance the church showed a remarkable lack of concern about a peculiarly fragrant sin, in this case church members are overly anxious to take action when they are personally offended. They demonstrate the character of the human heart: As long as your sin doesn’t affect me, my sense of justice will not be aroused. But if it involves me, I will not rest until I have vindication! Let’s see what is happening in Corinth.
When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
The Corinth Christians are evidently resorting to the civic court system to resolve disputes between them. Considering the church’s refusal to deal with the incestuous church member, this is not surprising. The leaders and members are reluctant to “get involved” in settling disputes.
What are the grievances? We are not told, but considering the list given in verses 9 and 10, they may include taking advantage of one another through deception and force. The offenders are motivated by greed and immorality. The Roman world during this time was as known for being litigious as our American society, so the cases may easily range from serious offenses to trivial matters.
What irks Paul is the means by which the church members are settling their differences: does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? By the “unrighteous,” Paul means people outside the church. “Saints” is his favorite term for Christians. These are theological distinctions for Paul, not his moral description of these groups of people. Everyone is unrighteous, i.e. failing to meet God’s just law and being under his judgment. In Christ, however, believers are made righteous, i.e. placed in a right relationship with God through Christ’s righteousness. Thus, the believers become saints – people set apart from the unrighteous to a right relationship with God. The saints ought to be living good moral lives, at least better than the unrighteous. But as the Corinth saints themselves are demonstrating, that is not always the case.
Why is Paul so troubled with Christians going outside the church to settle their disputes? Does he disapprove of civil law? No. Paul believes that civil authority is ordained of God and the authorities placed in their positions through God’s appointment (see Romans 13:1-7). In 1 Timothy 2:1,2 he urges Christians to pray for civil authorities because of their role in providing stability. He availed himself of civil defense to protect his life from unjust accusations. Paul’s problem with civil authorities was not that he found them to be particularly corrupt or inept, but that the Christians could not discern the implications of their new status as saints in Christ.
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
Don’t you understand who you are? Your destiny is to judge the world, even to judge angels. What is Paul talking about? He is referring to the Judgment Day. We are not only to be judged, but to take part in God’s judgment of the unrighteous – both man and fallen angel. To describe how this will happen would be to speculate. What Paul wants Christians to understand is that now we are in Christ our status with God and with the world has changed. We are no longer citizens of the world, but of God’s kingdom. What distinguishes us from our neighbors is not merely that we are forgiven of our sins, but that we have joined up with the people belonging to God.
Israel is our model. To be a Jew did not merely mark a person as having certain religious beliefs but as belonging to the covenant nation of God. The Jews of ancient Israel (as do many today) understood themselves as being set apart from the world by God to be his people. They were in the world and yet not of the world. They belonged to the kingdom of God. It was not a coincidence that their theology of the future during Paul’s life also included the concept of judging the world; nor was it a coincidence that the Jewish communities throughout the Roman Empire handled their own legal cases.
Now then, given your status and destiny before God, are you incapable of handling the trivial problems of life? That raises a question: what does Paul consider to be trivial? Does he mean that compared to the eternal matters of God’s kingdom, these earthly matters are trivial? Possibly. In the next letter to the Corinthians, he refers to his sufferings, which he listed as afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger (2 Corinthians 6:4,5) as “slight momentary affliction” (4:17). It can be safely said that there was no man more zealous for serving God’s kingdom and less interested in possessing the pleasures of this life. He could mean, however, cases that even for this life would be considered trivial. Just as in our day, the people of Corinth instigated lawsuits that in themselves were frivolous or could have been resolved through peaceful means. Paul could be admonishing the saints for not being able to handle these personal disputes.
Verse 4 is open to two interpretations. Depending upon the Bible translation you are using, you will read this verse in one of two ways. The one I am using, the ESV, as well as the RSV and NASV, asks the question of why the saints are turning to judges outside the church to settle their differences. The KJV and NIV translates the phrase as a command for the saints to appoint the least among them as judges for their disputes. Thus, Paul is saying that even the least among the saints serve as better judges than those outside the church. As for the NKJV, it seems somehow stuck between the two interpretations, and I am not sure what it means. Keeping within the context that Paul is complaining about the saints going to outside courts, the question seems more appropriate. Besides, in a letter in which Paul will later argue that every church member ought to be honored, it would be odd for him to refer to “least esteemed” members.
5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?
Paul is really upset. Back in 4:14, when he is admonishing them for their pride, he still notes that he is not trying to shame them but only trying to correct them as a loving father. Lovingly or not, he is trying to shame them now! Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers? Paul did not bring up the word “wise” by accident. He is quite aware of the irony of the situation and is putting it right up in their faces. What were the Corinthian saints priding themselves in? Wisdom. Well, if they are so wise, why can’t they use their great wisdom to settle these issues?
I think I know what they would say. Paul, our wisdom is a spiritual wisdom. These worldly matters don’t apply. So you see how twisted their thinking has become? Yes, we realize we belong to another kingdom. Our spiritual gifts and wisdom belong to that kingdom. As for the earthly part of our lives that belong to this world, we let this world handle those things. Isn’t that a tidy way to handle things? That is also how the Corinthians will justify their sexual immorality.
Ah…where would we be without rationalization? Christians, as the Corinthians demonstrate, can be the best at it. By pretending to be spiritual, they are able to avoid justice and charity. They are able to indulge in pride without the slightest twinge of discomfort.
But for the Christian, being spiritual means that all of life is made spiritual. Belonging to the kingdom of God means that the ethics and the laws of that kingdom control our behavior in this world. We may not departmentalize our lives: our spiritual lives are controlled by God’s kingdom and our earthly lives by this world. God, far from being disinterested in how we live in this world, is even more keenly concerned with our behavior now that we belong to his kingdom. Whatever gifts and wisdom he gives us is not reserved for the “spiritual” aspects of our lives, but for every aspect of living.
In verse 6, Paul brings up the embarrassment that the Corinthian saints conduct is causing: brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? That’s a great testimony! That brother is going to law against brother is bad enough; to do it before unbelievers is adding insult to injury to the name of Christ. I can picture the scene. Two of them come before the judge.
He says to them, “Aren’t you members of that church that follows Jesus Christ?”
They reply, “Yes.”
“What is that you believe?”
“That God loves us so much, he sent his Son to die for our sins.”
“Did this Jesus leave you with any direction about following him.”
“He said that we were to love one another as he loved us. This would be the way that people know we are his disciples.”
“I see. Why are you coming before me?”
Did I mention that court was held publicly in the market square? It would be like holding court at the food court in the local mall.
7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!
Verse 7 reveals the otherworldly mindset of Paul. To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. How can that be? The purpose of lawsuits is to determine who is in the right. Its intent is to gain a victory. Indeed, many of the Corinth Christians would reply to Paul that he must not have known good lawyers! They are quite happy with the victories they have won. Some probably have gotten nice monetary settlements and property.
But they are missing the point! It is not money or property that matters, nor for that matter a good name. What matters are: that God be glorified, that Christ be exalted, that the gospel be proclaimed with integrity, that Christian brothers and sisters are united in Christ and are demonstrating sincere love before the world, that our citizenship in heaven is shown to be more important than our citizenship on earth, that the real values of the disciples of Christ are found in love and virtue rather than comfort and wealth. Their lawsuits are spelling defeat for everyone of those essential values. So someone gets the money he thinks he deserves. Is it worth dumping the commandment that defines who is a true disciple of Christ? Is it worth dragging the name of Christ into the mud?
I love Paul’s questions: Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? This is the kind of logic that leaves you speechless because it seems so ludicrous. Why not rather suffer wrong? I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that question. If I came to you venting about how I had just gotten cheated by a Christian brother, I would be taken aback if you replied, So what? Why don’t you just accept that you got cheated?
“But…”
“Are you going to be financially broken?”
“No, but…”
“Do you have a good conscience before the Lord?
“Yes, but…”
“Do you trust the Lord to take care of you?”
“Yes, but…”
“So, what’s the problem?”
Paul is not unsympathetic to being unjustly treated, and he turns his anger on the ones causing the problems in the first place: 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers! This leads him into a stern lecture that goes through verse 11. We will consider those verses in a couple of weeks.
Application
Let’s take a moment to learn from the error of the Corinth Church how to avoid the mess her people had gotten themselves in. Their primary problem was a failure to understand who they were in Christ individually and as a people. We, like they, need to get straight some fundamental principles.
One, we’ve got to understand that the gospel applies to every aspect of our lives. We tend to regard our Christian faith as one aspect of our lives. It may be the most important, but it is but one, nevertheless. We have other aspects such as family life, student life or job life. There may also be an area set aside for relaxation and recreation. Thus, in church settings we have one set of rules for behavior, in the family another, and yet another for job and legal matters. Thus, we are able to discuss in Sunday school or a small group Bible study the Sermon on the Mount with ease and then during the week break all the rules discussed without any qualms.
But that is not how God’s system works. To be a Christian is to be Christ’s witness all the time in every area of life. Especially in the matter of our treatment of one another, we must apply Christ’s command to love one another under every circumstance and aspect of life.
Two, we’ve got to somehow grasp what it means to belong to a covenant community and to identify ourselves as together belonging to Christ. That may be the hardest concept to get ingrained into our mindset. I will say it again. Church is not a service organization that exists to meet our spiritual needs. By biblical definition it is the body of Christ, the family of God. We are united to one another in Christ, and we can no likely break that connection than we can break blood relationships. Just as we naturally accept that the relations among kin are different than the relations outside the family, so we are to accept that in the Christian family. This may sound like a contradiction to what I said earlier, but the point is simply that we are to go even further in our efforts to show sacrificial love to one another. If it is good to overlook an offense, it is even more incumbent on us to overlook the offense of a brother and sister.
Three, we’ve got to get a handle on what really matters in life. If we were to draw up lists of our values, most of them would look something like this: 1) relationship with God, 2) relationship with family and friends, 3) job or school. Number 4 might vary: financial security perhaps, a good house, comfortable retirement, successful kids, good health, etc. Our happiness tends to be based on what happens to us. Thus, when we are wronged in some way, our happiness is shattered. Money or property is taken; we are cheated, taken advantage of or imposed upon. Now we are miserable, and we cannot be happy until our wrong has been righted.
But what if items such as the following were on our lists: winning others to Christ, helping the poor, ministering to the needy, being a dependable Christian brother or sister? How different would our daily lives be? How different would our attitude be when someone did something offensive?
Our philosophy of life – our real philosophy – shapes how we handle adversity. To have peace in our lives; to become peacemakers, we’ve got to start by readjusting our perception of who we are and what matters in life. We’ve got to go beyond the old concept of seeing ourselves as people of a certain religious view about salvation. We’ve got to get beyond seeing life as something to get through as comfortable and successful as possible. We’ve got to learn what it means to belong to Jesus Christ and to belong to one another through him. This is the real matrix to learn and the one that will make all the difference.
