1 Corinthians 6:1-20
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Paul again is dealing with the issue of how a church handles conflict. Last week we talked about the problem of the Metrokoit and about Church discipline. Today we are kind of continuing that thread.
Lawsuits Discouraged
Lawsuits Discouraged
Today’s problem is that the church couldn’t handle conflict within its own walls. The people were arrogant and stubborn and rather than work out issues civilly, they were making minor disputes into legal battles.
Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?
Paul’s problem with this is that the church should have wise leadership within it to handle these types of things.
Is Paul saying the church should handle major conflicts?
Abuse? Assault? Pedophilia?
What are the dangers of a church handling those types of things in house?
Why should a church be able to handle small disputes?
Rather than dealing with each other in humility and grace the church was slandering itself in a secular court. Paul puts an emphasis on how the church carries itself in a secular world. The church is a shining city on a hill that cannot be hidden. We are to be salt and light in the world.
What kind of testimony does a dysfunctional church have to the world around it?
Is dealing with minor disputes within the church dishonest? Hypocritical?
Paul says we will judge even the angels. Resolving conflict is part of working together as a team. By taking it to the courts they were inviting a secular world to make decisions about God’s house. The church isn’t anti law enforcement or anti judicial system. We are pro justice. Judges and law enforcement is how we hold law breakers accountable. The thing about a secular world is that they don’t hold to the same ethics the church does. Sometimes what is considered moral in the world is immoral in the church and so the church is held to a higher standard of accountability.
Corinth didn’t have any wisdom in their leadership to be able to handle these disputes.
Paul addresses a major concern that affects our church today. The church is lacking competent leaders. It feels at times there is no one in the church honest enough, with enough integrity, and wisdom to handle disputes within the church. It is a shameful thing when a church has no wisdom in their leadership. Especially since wisdom is given freely. When everyone is wise in their own eyes the church becomes blind people leading the blind. We must be dependent on God’s wisdom in everything. Just like I said last week with church discipline. Leadership in the church demands radical humility and a desperate desire for God’s wisdom.
Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.
Paul says the church in Corinth has already taken an L in this because they are so unwilling to be slighted in any way. Paul isn’t saying to just let people walk over you and treat you poorly, but these people were so prideful and selfish that rather than give an inch they made fools of themselves in court publicly. They couldn’t feel like they were being defrauded so instead they doubled down and took advantage of other people.
Hypothetical: Two neighbors have a dispute about property lines. One decides to build a fence but rather than stay completely on his property line he stretches it a little to claim an apple tree that was on the border of the line. The other neighbor is upset because he claimed that tree was his so he picks all the apples so the 1st neighbor can’t have any. In response the 1st neighbor chops the tree down so the other neighbor can’t have any more apples. In response this neighbor tears the fence down and shoots the other neighbor.
You can see how slippery of a slope this is. Their unwillingness to humbly serve and care for each other created a cycle of escalating violence. This is the church. These are God’s people. Like chapter 3 says they are discontent and jealous of each other and it is creating strife within the body.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
The problem with Corinth is their dedication to sin and unrighteousness. Paul lists just about every sin. Something that is interesting when we think about New Covenant freedom. We are free from every law in the New Covenant. Under grace we are free from every law, but we are still called to be obedient to all that the New Testament commands. What does the New Covenant see as sin? Here is a good list to shape a moral ethic around. Wear your mixed fabrics, don’t worry about killing animals or going to Jerusalem for festivals, but make sure when the New Testament affirms a moral law you take notice.
Every one of the ten commandments is affirmed in the New Testament outside of the Sabbath day. That commandment has been fulfilled in Jesus who is our eternal Sabbath rest. Every day is Sabbath for a Christian. Take a second and think through each sin listed here by Paul.
Fornication
Idolatry
Adultery
Transgenderism
Homosexuality
Theft
Envy
Alcoholism
Slander/hateful speech (Murder in your heart)
Swindling
Is this a comprehensive list? No. There are plenty of other sins not mentioned here. This is a solid list though. What would be the opposite of each of these things?
Paul says all of these words used to describe Corinth but they have been saved by grace. Verse 11 is one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard.
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
That is good news!
The Body is the Lord’s
The Body is the Lord’s
How then shall we live?
If Christ has transformed us how do we honor God with this new body?
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
Paul says that he will not be a slave to his desires. The people were living in slavery to sin as Christians even thought hey had been set free. They were living for their flesh and Paul warns that God will do away with the flesh and its desires. We were not made for sin, but for the Lord.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
I think sexual sin is devastating to our souls. It effects us in ways that no other sin does. It numbs our conscience, it makes us see people made in God’s image as objects for our gratification, it is addictive and highly damaging to our souls. Paul calls us to flee sexual sin, but to only see this section as Paul talking about sexual sin takes away from the overall point he is making. The problem isn’t just sexual sin. It is all sin. They are sleeping with sin like a temple prostitute and making themselves one with sin.
In Christ we are raised with Him to new life through His power. We are member of Christ. Shall we take this new body of life and lay it down in death? No. Paul says we are free from sin to live in Christ. He warns the Corinthians of the Spiritual danger of the physical sin of temple prostitution. When we entertain the lust of our flesh we make ourselves one with sin. Just like sleeping with a prostitute when we sleep with sin there is a part of us that is never the same. When we cheat on Christ with another there is a part of us that is scarred by sin. We can never turn back time and un-see the things we see or undo the things we have done. Making ourselves one with sin tears our soul to pieces but when we make ourselves one with Christ we find healing for our souls.
We are married to Christ. Paul calls us to remain faithful in that marriage.
These next few verses are worth memorizing.
Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Paul calls us to run away from sin specifically the practice of immorality. There comes a point when sin becomes habitual that we aren’t just hurting other people, we are hurting ourselves. I don’t know how to explain it but I guarantee you know what I mean. When we bury ourselves in our sin, when we make sin a practice when it becomes an obligation we are killing ourselves. Sin can be suicide but this body is not ours to kill. The good news is that the freedom of Christ is readily accessible to all who call on the name of Jesus. We have been bought by God through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. When we begin to glorify God with our body. When we begin to grow in intimacy Jesus begins to resurrect the parts of our soul that we killed in our sin.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
I’ve killed a lot of my soul in my life. I’ve torn myself to shreds and tried to bury myself alive. But I am thankful that despite all I have done in my past Christ is still at work in my life healing those parts of me that were once dead.
