I Corinthians 6:1-11
“Loving a Brother: Part 2”
Sermon by
Mark A. Horne
I have been a juror only once in my life and it was on a Federal Court case. It was a few years ago, but an executive for a large corporation was fired and the company did not honor the contract. It was a very interesting case that lasted one day. The deliberations lasted all morning. The jurors were fed lunch. Closing arguments were right after lunch. And our process of decision making began around 2:00.
After reflecting on the case, I think the best part of the case came during our deliberations. We only took an hour to make our decision. The easy part was deciding in favor of the fired executive. That took about five minutes. The hard part was deciding on how much money to award him – keeping in mind that it was to punish the corporation for breech of contract. There were several debates over this.
This morning we are looking at a passage where Paul discusses the issue of lawsuits. However, he is not concerned with the legal aspect of what was occurring. He was not even concerned with the justification of the lawsuits. What Paul was concerned about was the heart of the believers with-in the church. He was concerned with their intentions. He was concerned with the ethics involved amongst believers. He was asking the question we all should ask before we do anything, especially against a brother in Christ – are we displaying the mind of Christ or are we displaying the wisdom of the world?
There are six points for us to see from this passage:
1. Disputes among brothers and sisters should be kept among brothers and sisters.
2. If the matter at hand becomes the matter of the world, then dishonor and shame is brought to the name of Jesus Christ.
3. Sufferance is the remedy.
4. God will judge the wicked.
5. Do not deceive yourselves.
6. We should always be reminded of the change the gospel and Grace of our Lord has made in us!
Disputes among brothers and sisters should be kept among brothers and sisters. Notice the tone of the question in verse 1. Paul was not stating any facts that the Greco/Roman Law system was bad. It had its good points. In fact it should be remembered that the Greek and Roman law gave its sanction to the decision pronounced in a litigation case by arbitrators privately chosen. This would have allowed the possibility for Christians to obtain a just decision of their mutual differences without resorting to the Heathen tribunals. The Jewish residents were very accustomed to refer to their Jewish arbitrators. In fact the Jewish historian Josephus, gives a decree by which the Jews at Sardis were permitted to establish a “private court” for the purpose of deciding “their misunderstandings among one another.”
What Paul was trying to tell his church is that if there is ever controversy among believers, we should decide that controversy among us, not before those that are ungodly. When this occurs, disgrace is brought upon the gospel, and the name of Christ is held up to for the unbeliever to scoff at. We all know that the secular world always look for opportunities to tear the name Christ down along with the church. We see it every day where people like Larry King and Katie Couric take issues the Church is dealing with and try to dismantle the truth and validity of what we believe.
When we take each other to court over such trivial issues, issues that we can at least handle among ourselves, then we treat our brothers and sisters in a manner that isn’t very respectful.
Do you get a sense of what it did to the character of those Christians? Paul has addressed how much they have exalted themselves because of their wisdom. And I have learned when you give someone enough rope, he or she will usually hang themselves. This is what these Corinthians were doing. They boasted about how much wisdom they had, but they could not make simple decisions for the peace of the Church. Notice that Paul explicitly warns them not to do anything that brings reproach to their name and profession.
There is a story of a man who once dreamed he was in hell. When asked to give an account of what he had seen – if there were flames there, and suffering there, and wrecked and maligned creatures with whom he had to associate, and if the place resounded with oaths of blasphemy – he said, “Yes, but there was something far worse than that: I was compelled to face my influence. I knew that I deserved punishment, for I had scorned and rejected Jesus Christ; but my sorest pain was to see what the effect of my life had been upon others.”
As I have stated if the matter at hand becomes the matter of the world, then dishonor and shame is brought to the name of Jesus Christ. In verses 2 and 3, we see an argument by Paul from the less to the greater. Paul wants the Corinthians to understand what type of injury is brought upon the Church of God - when judgements on matters of dispute connected with earthly things are carried before unbelievers - as if there were no one in the society of the godly that was qualified to judge. They have inflicted injury upon themselves because they have resigned into the hands of the unbelievers the honor that has been conferred upon them by God.
The Corinthians dishonored their Christian character by forgetting their real dignity as saints. And we especially should not forget this because we can read of those declarations of Christ himself in Matthew 19:28 where He says, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel;” also in John 5:22 He says “Moreover the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgement to the Son.” Now in its context, Matthew was describing the Apostles. But from both passages together we see that even we, as followers of Christ and grafted in Him, are able to participate in the judgement of the world. And the Corinthians did not exercise that. When one shall judge something like an angel, what accountability does it show of a believer who can not make a judgement with another believer? We are given the gift of Christ’s qualifications. Though we will not make the judgement as a partner with Christ and the Twelve – we will participate and give approval of those judgments made. If we are allowed to do this, as Christ clearly states we are, how can we not decide trivial issues? When we do not love a brother or sister enough not to uphold them in the community, then we dishonor our Lord and prove how much we really do not love him.
In verses 4-6 we have Paul’s argument for dealing with such cases. First, because such matters are private, we as Christians should seek all possible remedies before going to court. Paul’s comment is not to detract in any degree the authority of a judge. Paul is simply stating that this church did have competent individuals to make such judgements and they should be ashamed. They should be ashamed for letting matters get so out of sorts that they did seek a sufficient means to show love. It was shameful that matters got so high that no one intervened for the good of the church. Prudent Christians should prevent their disputes if possible and not let courts decide them.
How far should one go? How much should one take from a brother or sister in Christ before going to court? Verses 7 and 8 state all the way to where we even suffer loss. If nothing else works, even sufferance is the remedy. Paul says that a Christian should put up with a little injury than tease himself and provoke others by a contest of litigation. Paul is saying that the peace of mind we gain, and the calmness of the neighborhood, are worth more victory than such a contest, or reclaiming a right.
The Greek word in this verse that is translated as “defeated” has much more connotation than we see. It really signifies a weakness of mind, as when one is broken down by injuries, and cannot bear anything afterwards. Paul is condemning the Corinthians of harassment. They were harassing each other with law-suits, and in so doing – they were not prepared to bear the afflictions dished out. No one was willing to bear patiently, like our Lord, wrongs given. No! They wanted vengeance.
Jules Verne in his Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was a prophet of the submarine, with its cruel devastation and destruction. Possessed with hatred of mankind, Captain Nemo ranges the seas in his submarine, the Nautilus, and takes fearful and titanic vengeance upon the human race. The book comes to a close with a description of a sinking man-of-war, with the swarm of seamen, like an ant heap overtaken by the sea, struggling in the waters and clinging to the hull of the sinking ship, until the dark mass disappears and is sucked down into the depths.
A seaman, a prisoner on the Nautilus, viewing the tragedy, turned to look at Captain Nemo. He saw that terrible avenger, a perfect archangel of hatred, whom was still looking. When all was over, he turned to his room, opened the door and entered. The young prisoner followed Nemo with his eyes. On the end wall, beneath his heroes, was the portrait of a woman still young, and two little children. Captain Nemo looked at them for some moments, stretched his arms towards them, and kneeling down burst into deep sobs, and exclaimed; “Almighty God! Enough! Enough!” And then the Nautilus was sucked down into the sea.
The anguish and solitude of Captain Nemo are a powerful parable of the wages of hatred, of what happens to us when we try to get the best of our enemies, more so, our brothers and sisters in Christ, by hating and destroying them.
The Corinthians wanted to retaliate wrong for secular justice. Paul wanted the Corinthian church to see, and I think we should see from this passage when one goes to secular court the defeat is accompanied by corrupt dispositions. That is why there is defeat. “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?” We ought to realize through Christ the mutual love we should share with one another and not injure one another with such petty malice.
In verses 9-11 Paul warns the Corinthians about heinous evils. God will judge the wicked. Those that are corrupt and unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The meanest person in that church must understand that he or she shall not be owned as a true member of the church on earth and will not be admitted into the glorious kingdom of heaven. The person that sins and persists in sinning is among the meanest. Paul is telling them, and we have to understand, that our actions to our brothers are judged as these unrighteous sins are. All unrighteousness is sin; and all reigning sin that is committed deliberately and not repented of shuts one out of the kingdom of heaven. The scum of the earth is in no way fit to fill heavenly mansions. Those who do the devil’s work can in no way receive God’s wages, at least no other than death, the just wage of sin. Though conversion is ground to pardon, no one is reconciled to God but those who repent.
So, do not deceive yourselves. The verb here is a type of reflexive verb called a middle. Paul is saying do not deceive and be deceived by yourself. Do not flatter yourself with vain hope. God is not like us. As much as we may want to think he is. God does not judge like mankind does. God does not slap on the wrist and then let you go to do it again. One cannot live in sin and then die in Christ. We cannot sow with the world and then reap everlasting life. No poison is more dangerous than those allurements, which encourages us in our sins. No! God will not allow it. That is why he gave us Christ, and inheritance as adopted sons and daughters. We don’t do these things - because we know what Christ has done for us, and the penalty he has paid for us – and we love him for it.
That is why we should always be reminded of the change the gospel and Grace of our Lord has made in us! As verse 11 so eloquently states. All of us in our sin were monsters before our conversion. How much we learn every day the glorious riches of grace. Grace changes the vilest men and saints into saints of God. We become something that we were not. Christ’s blood has washed us clean and has purged all guilt and defilement. Our justification is owing to the merit of Christ, our sanctification to the operation of the Holy Spirit; but both go together. All who are made righteous in the sight of God are made holy by the grace of God.
If God so graciously does this through the work of Christ, how much more should we forgive the sins of a brother and suffer loss instead of making vengeance. Through these terms we see a contrast of holy living. There is contrast between washing and defilement – sanctification and pollution – justification and guilt. Once one is justified, we must draw upon ourselves a new condemnation – that having been sanctified, we must not pollute ourselves – that having been washed, we must not disgrace ourselves with defilement. But, aim for purity, persevere in true holiness, and abandon our former pollution. God justifies when he frees us from condemnation, by not imputing to us our sins; he cleanses us when he blots out the remembrance of our sins. For by faith we receive Christ, and have his graces applied to us. The author of faith is the Holy Spirit. As Christ did for us, so we must love each other the same way.
Paul wanted his church to understand that in his fellowship with Christ he could make a bold statement that Christ suffered for him…Scotland has given many martyrs to the church and to civil liberty, but there is no tale of such martyrdom which touches a Scottish heart as that of two Wigtown martyrs, Mary Wilson and Agnes McLaughlin, who perished in the Solway tide. For refusing to retract their Christian declarations the friends were condemned to drown. The elder woman was fastened to a stake much farther out than the younger, with the thought that when the younger saw the suffering and death struggle of her friend she would recant. Quickly the inexorable tide of Solway came in – first to the older girl’s ankles, then to her knees, then to her waist, then to her neck, then to her lips.
The executioners called to the younger girl, “Look! What seest thou?” Turning her head a little, she saw the struggles of her drowning friend, and then made her calm answer, “What do I see? I see the Lord Jesus suffering in one of his members.”
I have to ask today, are you the one suffering in love with or for your brother, or are you the executioner?
Let us Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, help us to see today how you want us to live our life in the light of Jesus Christ. Father I ask of you that if anyone hear has a dispute with a brother or sister that they will go to that one in private, at least the privacy of this church to work out their differences and not allow emotions to reach a high level of sin. Father I ask that you will not allow the matters of this world to affect us, your children, in such a way that shame and malice is brought to the name of Jesus Christ. Father; help us to seek sufferance as a remedy if such is in effect. Father, we know that Christ will be the judge of all at the last day – by your grace impart mercy to your children. For those who are wicked will be judged. Help us to see that we can’t live a life of a sinner and be called your child. Help us to be reminded of the change the gospel and Grace of our Lord has made in us. In your Holy and most Precious name, amen.