The Court Report

Stovall Weems is the founding pastor of Celebration Church in Tennessee. Unfortunately, he was proven to have misused church’s finances. He was forced to resign in April, and now is using Celebration Church for defamation.

If you do a simple Google search, you will find that pastors are beginning to sue their congregations for defamation. I am not planning on doing that.

What happens is there is a allegation for sexual abuse or for financial mis-dealings, or something else. The pastor, instead of working through channels within the church, immediately turns to secular courts and sues for defamation.

That is troubling for me.

What adds to this troubled feeling is the amount of congregation members who are suing each other. Something bad happens, and the immediate response is the court.

Should this be?

Paul says “no.”

He holds up two mirrors to the Corinthians. The first mirror is who they are in their sin. The second mirror is who they are in Christ.

Let’s read the passage.

1 Corinthians 6:1–11 NIV

If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Two mirrors. Who they are in their sin. Who they are in Christ. This week we will talk about the first mirror. Next week, we will talk about the second.

Pray

Do you know what the purpose of a mirror is?

According to Wikipedia, A mirror reflects light waves to the observer, preserving the wave's curvature and divergence, to form an image when focused through the lens of the eye.

That’s nice, but what is the purpose of a mirror. The purpose is so that you can see what you look like and see where you need to change.

Paul holds a mirror up to the Corinthians, and us, showing us what we look like and where we need to change.

What We Look Like

Let’s talk about what we look like.

If you don’t want to know, you can walk out right now, without any judgment.

Sinners

We look like sinners.

Paul says first, that the Corinthians look like sinners.

1 Corinthians 6:8 NIV

Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.

That is the human condition. We naturally, when left alone, do things that hurt others. Most of the time, we do it without thought. Other times, we do it with a lot of thought. Either way, we are sinners and we hurt each other.

Here in Corinthian, someone hurt someone else. There is a dispute. Someone was cheated, something worthy of going to a small claims court. And, it happened a lot.

I am not so naive to think those sort of things don’t happen in churches today. I’m not so naive as to think that doesn’t happen here.

If you flip through the history of Calvary Bible Church, the minutes of the congregational meetings reveal some fascinating stuff. People were pretty mean to each other. One pastor resigned because he did not feel adequate to lead the church in becoming nice to each other.

Now, we probably wouldn’t willingly defraud each other, but we might unintentionally steal from each other, as someone loans us something and we don’t return it. I have a stack of DVD’s placed by our piano that I found while reorganizing our collection that do not belong to us, and I need to return.

We might say some things that hurt someone else, unintentionally or sometimes intentionally abusing each other.

Perhaps we are wanting to speak the truth to someone, but we forget gentleness, as Paul writes:

2 Timothy 2:25–26 NIV

Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Maybe we hear something about someone else, and we pass that tidbit along to another person, engaging in Gossip, and slandering a person, without knowing whether that tidbit was true or not.

Whatever you want to say about it, we are sinners. We hurt each other.

John says it this way:

1 John 1:8 NIV

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

We look in the mirror and see that we are sinners.

Unforgiveness

Not only are we sinners, but we are steeped in unforgiveness.

So, the Corinthian man has been hurt. Something happens, and he wants to be justified, righted, etc.

He brings the fellow to court.

1 Corinthians 6:1 NIV

If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?

This is a man who is so intrenched in his selfishness, that he wants the person who has hurt him to feel hurt also.

Now, I know, this is only human. And yes, I know there is someone who is saying, “But, shouldn’t the guy be held accountable?”

That will come. Don’t worry. What we are talking about right now is forgiveness.

Think about what it means to be a Christian.

We believe that we are sinning, that we have eternally hurt our Creator and our God. Our actions deserve in eternity in the Lake of Fire, doomed to forever separation from all the blessings that come from the nearness, care, and protection of God.

God would have been completely just and righteous to condemn us to our fate without another fault. Because, in all honesty, that is what we would have done if it were us.

God, however, forgave us. He sent his son to die for us, taking our punishment on himself, allowing us to walk scott-free. Not just that, but guaranteeing us an eternity in His presence.

And, we do not have to do anything to earn this gift. We just have to accept it.

That’s what God did for us.

Why are we not willing to do it for each other?

If we believe that Jesus Christ died for our sin, paying the penalty for our sin, so that the Holy God cannot hold that sin against us, why do we refuse to believe that Jesus Christ died for the sin of the person who hurt us, that the Holy God does not hold that sin against him, so we should not either.

Who are we to hold those around us to a higher standard and a higher punishment than God himself does?

Paul said in Ephesians

Ephesians 4:32 NIV

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Forgiveness means that we release the person who has hurt us from the debt they owe us.

A Christian looks at a fellow Christian and says: “I acknowledge that what you did was wrong and deserves God’s judgment. And I realize that the judgment fell on Jesus. He willingly paid the price for that action. Therefore, I cannot hold this wrong against. I cannot make you pay a debt that has already been paid.”

Is this easy to do? Not at all. Which is why the Corinthians were not practicing forgiveness. Which is why, when the rubber meets the road, we don’t practice it either.

We look at the mirror and see that we are sinners, steeped in unforgiveness.

Disunity

The natural end result of sin and unforgiveness is disunity.

When we continually hurt each other and we continually hold those sins against each other, fellowship meal times are really empty. Pretty soon, one church splits and another church dies.

Truly, the Corinthian church is showing a blueprint for the process of a church’s death. I’ve seen it. You’ve sin it. Our church was spiraling down this path. By the grace of God, that process stopped. But, every church has the potential of getting on this slippery slope and crashing on disunity.

We spent several weeks talking about the need for unity in a church. Instead of regurgitating all those sermons, I will merely comment on what Jesus prayed in John 17:

John 17:20–23 NIV

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

When a church seeks unity, the world sees that Jesus came from God and loves them. If a church becomes disunified, the Gospel is denied. People don’t want to have anything to do with it.

Every person who attends church will reach a point where they have to willingly choose whether to leave the church or stay.

Something will happen which will cause them to want to ditch it all. It happens in churches. It happens in friendships. It happens in marriages.

We naturally want to cut people off instead of working through issues. We have our little meetings and vote each other off the island. And those who have been voted off the island, say “good riddance, I didn’t like you anyway.”

We look in the mirror and see that we are sinners, steeped in unforgiveness, crashing on disunity.

Reliance on unsaved wisdom

Why do we keep going down this path? Why do so many churches seem to be stuck in a self-sustaining grind of sin, unforgiveness , and disunity?

Because we have a reliance on unsaved wisdom.

Listen to what Paul says:

1 Corinthians 6:1–6 NIV

The Corinthians said: We have this disagreement. We need help. I need justification. You want innocence. So, let us who have the Holy Spirit living in us go and seek help from those who do not have the Holy Spirit, who are followers of Satan, and who are doomed to an eternity in hell because of their actions and choices in life. They will tell us how to live.

I know that we never actually say that. But, when we take disagreements and small claims cases to court, that is what we are doing.

When we wonder what we are to do in a situation, and we take advice from unsaved family and friends, that is what we are doing.

Paul says two very interesting things:

He says that we as Christians will judge the world at the end of time and that we will judge angels.

John saw in Revelation 20 4

Revelation 20:4 NIV

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Somehow, at the last time, God will use us to judge the non Christians and the fallen angels.

If we are equipped to judge those things at the end of time, Paul says that we are equipped to judge a dispute among brothers and sisters in Christ. We shouldn’t have to outsource those decisions or judgments. God has placed someone or several people in every congregation who has the wisdom to push us to Christ.

Paul holds up the mirror, showing us who we are in our sin. We are sinners, steeped in unforgiveness, crashing on disunity, relying on unsaved wisdom.

Where we need to change

So a mirror shows us what we look like, but it also shows us where we need to change.

If this is who we are, generally or just at times, where do we need to change?

All of the areas that we see in the mirror can be boiled down to living two questions: Does this action or these words lift up my brother or sister in Christ? Does this action or these words boost the reputation of Christ?

If we honestly answered these questions and lived accordingly, what an amazing life we would have.

So, what does this look like?

Repentance

Well, instead of being people of sin, we are to be people of repentance. We are to be people who willingly say: I have sinned and I want to do better.

When we borrow DVD’s from someone and we have held onto them for several years, we return them and we apologize.

When we have said something hurtful, or we have spread gossip, we acknowledge the hurt we caused and we seek forgiveness.

We don’t hide behind a desire for innocence, and we definitely do not sue because of perceived defamation. Please, do not sue me for defamation.

How would our community change, if we as Calvary Bible Church were known as people who repented?

I’ve talked a lot about this concept in the last few weeks, so I will let it be, accept for this final concept. Repentance always lifts up our brothers and sisters in Christ, and repentance always boosts the reputation of Christ.

We are to be people of repentance.

Denial of Rights

Instead of being steeped in unforgiveness, we are to deny our rights.

Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 6:7–8 NIV

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.

When faced by a brother or sister in Christ who has hurt us, we forgive them, which means we do not hold the action against them. They do not have to pay a debt to us.

Sometimes when weighing the consequences of their actions, we realize that it is better to deny our rights and not seek restitution. It is better to be cheated and wronged than to have the reputation of Christ drug through the mud and a brother or sister in Christ pushed down.

We in America are enamored with a concept of rights. We are angry when our rights are denied. We seek legislation. We sue. We protest.

But, do we ever ask whether we should do that?

I think about Paul.

He was a Roman citizen, which brought a great deal of protection, and a lot of latitude for what he could do before he was thrown into prison. However, sometimes he gave up those rights, because he knew that he would have a great chance to share the Gospel without those rights.

He cared more about the Gospel than anything else.

Think about Jesus. God himself, living in the perfection and riches of Heaven. He gave up those rights to come to earth and die for us.

A missionary to Indonesia, Mabel Williamson, wrote a book in the 1970’s, “Have We No Rights?” In this book, she talks about the call to a missionary is a call to give up one’s rights, “The right to what I consider a normal standard of living; the right to the ordinary safeguards of good health; the right to regulate my private affairs as I wish; the right to privacy; the right to my own time; the right to a normal romance, if any; the right to a normal home life; the right to live with the people of my choice; the right to feel superior; and the right to run things.”

Mabel wrote the following poem about Jesus:

He had no rights:

No right to a soft bed, and a well-laid table;

No right to a home of His own, a place where His own pleasure might be sought;

No right to choose pleasant, congenial companions, those who could understand Him and sympathize with Him;

No right to shrink away from filth and sin, to pull His garments closer around Him and turn aside to walk a cleaner path;

No right to be understood and appreciated; no, not by those upon whom He had poured out a double portion of His love;

No right even never to be forsaken by His Father, the One who meant more than all to Him.

His only right was silently to endure shame, spitting, blows; to take His place as a sinner at the dock; to bear my sins in anguish on the cross.

He had no rights. And I?

A right to the “comforts” of life? No, but a right to the love of God for my pillow.

A right to physical safety? No, but a right to the security of being in His will.

A right to love and sympathy from those around me? No, but a right to the friendship of the One who understands me better than I do myself.

A right to be a leader among men? No, but the right to be led by the One to whom I have given my all, led as is a little child, with its hand in the hand of its father.

A right to a home, and dear ones? No, not necessarily; but a right to dwell in the heart of God.

A right to myself? No, but, oh, I have a right to Christ.

All that He takes I will give;

All that He gives I will take;

He, my only right!

He, the one right before which all other rights fade into nothingness.

I have full right to Him;

Oh, may He have full right to me!

Sometimes, for the sake of our brothers and sister in Christ, for the sake of the reputation of Christ, we must give up our rights.

Unity

So, we are to be people of repentance, we are to give up our rights. We are to pursue unity.

The Corinthians were not unified.

Paul has been pushing the Corinthians back together after their rocky relationship. We’ve talked about unity before.

If was I extremely evil, I would ask you all to link elbows and sing Kum Ba Yah. But, I won’t.

When a church continually practices repentance and is known to give up rights for the sake of Jesus Christ, unity happens. It just naturally does.

When I came here, 6 years ago, Calvary Bible Church was a disunified church. They were reaping the result of decades of bad choices, selfishness, and pride.

But, then, we started praying. Some people started repenting. Some people started giving up their rights.

Now, when people come, they talk about how we feel like a family. We love each other and want to be around each other.

At Ruth Ann’s funeral, one of her family came up to me and said: “This doesn’t feel like a church. This feels like a home.” That is one of the best compliments someone could give. If we are truly following the teaching of Scripture, we will be a family, and where does a family meet, but a home?

Unified.

Understanding of God’s perspective

So, we are to be people of repentance, we are to give up our rights. We are to pursue unity.

Finally, instead of relying on unsaved wisdom, we are to understand God’s perspective.

Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 NIV

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

We will be diving more into this next week as we spend a week unpacking verse 11. After several weeks of depressing sermons, we will have a nice uplifting one.

What is God’s perspective on the world?

He created us to have a relationship with him. Through that relationship, we experience blessings upon blessings, such love, hope, peace, beauty, comfort, endurance.

Unfortunately, we as humans decided to turn away from him and do our own thing, follow our own passions. By doing that, we separate ourselves from all those blessings, we separate ourselves from God himself.

In this passage, he lists some prominent sins that the Corinthians and other Roman colonies were indulging in. He says that these sins, as well as all others, removed oneself from God’s blessing, for eternity.

Just as several weeks ago, when we discussed the list of sins in 1 Corinthians 5, the perspective is not on individual actions, but on continued unrepentant action. These are people who say: I know what God says, but I refuse to change.

God says that he will bring judgment on them.

He is not referring to losing salvation. Once we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we are sealed for eternity. Nothing can take that away. The follower of Jesus Christ will not live in unrepentant sin, but will turn back to Jesus.

Paul defines the believer as someone who is washed, sanctified, and justified in Jesus Christ.

The Corinthians were sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, verbally abusive, swindlers. But, in Christ, they were able to change and live in a way that shows His glory.

God’s perspective is: he created us to have a relationship with him. Through Christ, we are able to have that relationship again and live in a way that shows that relationship.

God’s perspective is: if we need wisdom, let us seek it from those who have a relationship with the creator of the universe, rather than those who are doomed to an eternity apart from him.

If Paul looked at the American church today, he would be appalled. He would have a lot to say about us. He would lift up his mirror and show us what was wrong and where we needed to change.

He would call us to repent, to deny our rights, to seek unity, and to understand God’s perspective.

Then, as we will talk about next week, he would remind us of who we are in Christ.