Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Opening Illustration: Feud Online
Every interaction we have in public represents your King.
Recently I was scrolling through Twitter and I saw something that surprised me.
Two young Christian men that I deeply admire (well known).
One of them had said something pretty hurtful about the other one on Twitter.
The other one, who usually is the more aggressive guy, said, “Whoah!
What did I do to you.”
It soon erupted into this comment after comment by other users.
Then some nonbelievers came into the thread, and I’m sitting back going, “what a terrible witness this is.”
I think these men saw that taking place, and one of them typed in, “Hey, I’m going to call you so we can talk this through.”
The next day, a new tweet with the two of them on it, “We were able to talk last night.
I said I was sorry, and we encouraged one another in the Lord.”
Personal
Family, Friends, in the church… Handling conflict as Christians is a vital skill to learn.
The way we handle conflict ought to be a direct reflection of who we are in Christ, and what our ultimate aim is.
Our conflict resolution ought to be radically different than our nonbelieving friends.
How do you handle conflict?
What do you do when you are wronged?
Are you able to see the faults in yourself before seeing the faults in others?
When was the last time you said, “I’m sorry” even when the other person was more at fault than you?”
Context
If you recall from our Sermon Series through 1 Corinthians so far, one of the primary themes that Paul has been working through this book has been what we have called Counter Formation.
Counter-Formation applies to us as much as it applies to our 1st century counterparts.
Throughout this book Paul is reaching into the life and practice of the Church in Corinth and exposing areas where they have become a bit too friendly with the practices of the pagan world around them.
And he’s challenged them to live according to their true identity.
They are saints of God, redeemed by Jesus Christ, filled by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore don’t drag the ways of the world into the Church with you, but rather establish entirely new ways of doing things, built upon Christ and His Word.
In today’s passage Paul specifically works this idea of Counter-Formation out in light of disagreements, arguments, and lawsuits that might come up among Christians.
How are we to behave when these things take place?
Context & Setup of Verse 1
1 Corinthians 6:1 “1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?”
The Situation
Paul is appauled to discover that two Christians from the Church have gotten into such a disagreement with each other that one is suing the other in a public court.
The language is quite extreme in this verse when he says, “does he dare to go to law before the unrighteous.”
It’s almost as if he is saying, “How dare you think of such an action!
The main problem he has is not that disagreements have arisen in the Church.
But the problem is that they’re going to nonbelieving courts to get their issues settled.
Biotikos “Matters Pertaining to this Life”
What issues is Paul talking about.
In verse 3 he uses a very specific Greek term for the word that is translated “matters” in “matters pertaining to this life.”
That term is not referring to criminal cases but to matteres of daily life, the more common, civil cases.
Context of the Corinthian Courts
In order to have the best understanding of this passage, we need a bit of additional background context of Corinth.
When Paul gives advice to this Church of how to handle lawsuits, he is not speaking into a vaccuum.
The courst and taking others to courts over any number of daily issues were a part of Corinthians culture.
Corinthian Court Was a Public Theatre
Remember that Corinth was in Greece but culturally it was a Roman city.
While Roman criminal law was fairly well developed, their civil law was a bit of the wild west.
The Corinthian culture was one that celebrated lawsuits as a public theatre.
Litigation was a part of everyday life, so much so that public trials had become a form of entertainment in the city that would often draw crowds of up to a thousand spectators.
The culture of litigation in Corinth had developed in such a way that going to court was the first response anybody had for any issue with another person.
The city had a quite well developed set of rules for who could serve as jurors to help with all the cases.
Corinthians Court Was a Chance to Gain Prestige
Further, it was a way to get prestige in culture.
So the wealthy class of the Corinthians would look for excuses to sue others, so as to gain higher standing and higher applauses among the people.
It was a popularity contest.
Corinthian Court Was Highly Unjust
Secondly, the courts in Corinth were highly unjust.
They favored the wealth and those with prestige.
Depending on who you were, who you knew, and how much money you were able to give for a bribe, you could almost get away with anything in these courts.
Essentially, the poor almost always had the cards stacked against them.
Here are a few examples of writings from that day.
Dio Chrysostom said that the Corinthian courts had, “lawyers innumerable perverting justice.”
Cicero said, “The courts will never convict any man, however guilty, if only he has money.”
Petronius, an author of the time, writes into one of his plays, “Of what avail are laws to be where money rules alone, and the poor suitor can never succeed?…
So a lawsuit is nothing more than a public auction, and the knightly juror who sits listening to the case approves, with the record of his vote, something bought.”
In light of all of this, consider with fresh eyes the situation.
Within this Church in Corinth, one Christian man is dragging another Christian man to a court.
All sorts of questions begin to get asked.
What is the motivation for going?
Is he intending on using a bribe?
Is he seeking justice?
Is justice possible?
Into that context Paul gives three reasons why Christians ought to keep minor issues out of public courts.
And all three are connected in this fascinating trail of wisdom from Paul.
Reason #1: The Wisdom to Settle the Matter Ought to Be Within the Church Already
The first reason Paul gives is that ‘The wisdom to settle the matter ought to be within the Church already.
1 Corinthians 6:1-3 “1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 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!”
Paul’s First Concern Is Their Low View for Church Authority
Paul makes a case here that is so compelling.
His first move here is less about the public court’s ability to discern the issue and come to the right conclusion.
His first move is to look inwardly and ask how it is that they have such low regard for the Church’s authority and ability to settle disputes.
We Will Judge the Angels
Verse 2 says that believers are going to judge the world, and verse 3 says that we will judge the angels.
What does this mean?
The truth is we don’t know the fine tuned details.
But what we do know is that after we die, we humans will have the most exalted role in heaven.
Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, became a man, not an angel.
And in the final days we will rule and reign alongside Him.
Perhaps we will be involved in the judgment that takes place over fallen angels.
The book of Jude speaks a bit about that particular judgment
Jude 6 “6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—”
Or perhaps there is some kind of judgment or governance that we will have at the final days over the angels who obeyed and have served him faithfully throughout the millenia.
We know that in the end, when God merges heaven with Earth, humans will reign over everything alongside Christ.
His Point: Raise Their Eyes
Paul’s point is not to try to give us all the details of what role we will have in judging the angels.
That will remain a bit of a mystery.
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