Sermon Tone Analysis

A Tale of 2 Farms

Just outside the city, are two farms.

On one side is a very successful sheep farm called Franklin Farms and on the other is a small poor little hobby farm run by a man named Jake.

yeah not a very good neighbour… farms.

On one side is a very successful sheep farm called Franklin Farms and on the other is a small poor little hobby farm run by a man named Jake.

Just outside the city, are two farms.

On one side is a very successful sheep farm called Franklin Farms and on the other is a small poor little hobby farm run by a man named Jake.

Parable of the little lamb

one day Jake had gone into Brandon and with a small amount of cash he managed to scrounged up he had bought a little lamb from the Keystone Center Livestock Sale.

Jake loved this little lamb, from the moment he brought it home his kids played with it, it ate from his table scraps since he had very little money to buy proper feed.

He even let the little lamb sleep in his arms on cold nights.

Meanwhile back on the Franklin Farms, Papa Franklin had just finished up a deal that would secure a new business client.

This new client just happen to be of Jewish descendant and has been known for his devote religious views.

So in order to ensure good relations with his new client Papa Franklin had did a little research and found out that one of the Jewish festivals was coming up.

Wanting to please his new client, Papa had planned a huge gathering.

But Papa didn't want to use any of his hundreds of lambs for the upcoming feast so he called up one of his farm hands and told him to sneak over to the Jake Farm and “Borrow” his little lamb that had started to grow quite plump.

That night while the little lamb was sleeping on the deck the farm hand had took it and brought it back to the Franklin Farms and prepared it for the feast the next day.

Transition - How many of you were expecting this to be a nice ending?

The next day

We

yeah not a very good neighbor…

How dare Papa Franklin just take that poor helpless lamb… and to boot he had hundreds of lambs to choose from but he was too selfish to use any of his own he had to go out of his way to steal this poor guys little lamb that he loved like his own child.

If you were in Jake's shoes would you want justice?

I don't care how successful Papa was, what he did was wrong and deserves to pay for what he did… Right?

What if I told you that Jake and Papa Franklin both go to the same Church and both confess to be true followers of Christ?

Lets say for a moment you happen to be driving by when this took place and you saw a strange man on Jake's porch taking the little lamb and then heard about how someone stole the lamb on church the next Sunday.

what would you do? does Papa Franklin who happens to be an elder of the Church and a very “Good man” deserve justice?

What do we do when a brother or sister in Christ wrongs or cheats us?

Transition - Turn with me to

I want justice!

God

1 - If any of you has a dispute against another, how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

2 - Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world?

And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?

3 - Don’t you know that we will judge angels—how much more matters of this life?

4 - So if you have such matters, do you appoint as your judges those who have no standing in the church?

5 - I say this to your shame!

Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between fellow believers?

6 - Instead, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers!

7 - As it is, to have legal disputes against one another is already a defeat for you.

Why not rather be wronged?

Why not rather be cheated?

Transition - Some strong words by Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth.

But he does deal with an important foundation.

The Foundation of Christian Justice.

How Christians Should Conduct Justice

How Christians should conduct justice

So, lets take a look today at “How Christians should conduct justice”

You cant help but notice that Paul in this part of the letter seems kind of stressed out.

The language can be hard to hear, it sounds angry and frustrated… But he does have a good reason for this.

He had spent a good amount of time in Corinth setting up a church only to get reports back saying how they are no longer acting like Christians.

This part of the letter Paul deals with Christian Justice.

Just like last week we had focused on one part of forgiveness, and this week is not much different we are going to explore an important growth point in our walk with Christ, for some this will be a refresher for others its another milestone to help you grow further in Christ.

I can be cool and calm when talking to others but when It comes to writing oh boy look out ha ha!

In a lot of ways I tend to be the same way.

I can be cool and calm when talking to others but when It comes to writing oh boy look out!

Now, we as followers of Christ will at some point be faced with a situation that is going to cause us to first exercise our forgiveness and justice, since they are both really close relatives to each other its best that we learn “How we as Christians should conduct justice.”

Transition - Lets start first by looking at the problems this church faced and see how we can learn from their ways.

Transition - The first thing we learn about Christian Justice is that “Its Not About Revenge!”

The Problem - Verse 1 “If any of you has a dispute against another”

“If any of you has a dispute against another”

Last week covered the topic of forgiveness.

And for anyone who missed last week or needs a quick refresher we learned that “We as Christians MUST forgive others when they come to you seeking forgiveness”

“ever since the fall of mankind we have this idea that every time someone offends us we have to take actions against the offender.

We have this natural reaction to seek revenge in some form or fashion and most of the time we call it JUSTICE.”

WE have this mentality of “you hurt me, so I will look for a way to get back at you.”

But that is not the true natural way things should be done.

since the fall of man until Jesus was born it has been like that.

But when Jesus came his teaching says we are not to confuse justice with personal revenge such as insults, we are not to take justice in our own hands.

We are commanded by the Word of God to “Wait on the Lord, and He will rescue you.”

Paul reinforces this in his letter to the Romans by saying:

“Friends, do no avenge yourselves; instead, leave room fro God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”

As you can see we as Christians must first be willing to forgive others but we must also not seek out vengeance against anyone who wrongs us.

Notice how I didn't say Justice but I said vengeance, we are not to seek out revenge for any wrong doings but as Paul says in verse one of today’s text “if any of you has a dispute against another” at this level we can see that the Church in Corinth needs some maturing to do.

In-depth look at the problem

Actually there is a two part problem here, the first problem is that they failed to seek out anyone within the church itself to be the judge for them so they can settle the dispute.

Reminds me of this picture I got hanging my basement it says “Never tell anybody outside the family what you are thinking again.”

- Veto

(Godfather Pic)

okay so this is not the Godfather we are talking about but...

Paul says “how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?” and goes on to say that we as followers of Christ will, some day when Christ returns, stand with Him and judge the world.

Paul also says that will judge angels.

Since we are destined to be the judge of such things why then would we as followers of Christ have people who are not followers of Christ be the judge over us to help us settle our own accounts.

What Paul is telling the Church here is that the unsaved people who live around these STRANGE Christians would say things like:

“Look at these followers of Christ.

They preach a great message of forgiveness and justice but they come to us who they call “lost” and want us to be the judge for them?

How can this Jesus be so powerful if his followers cant even work out small disputes?”

In Paul's mind when he hears about this he is mad.

It makes the Christian faith look like a joke to those they are trying to reach with the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

So to correct this, Paul gives them a teaching that should help them figure out the disputes until they reach maturity.

He commands them to seek out someone within the Church body that has the wisdom and maturity to work out the dispute.

To be the neutral party so they can figure it out.

It kinds of reminds me of when I was a young boy.

I would get into an argument with my older sister about the “Special Fork” the “Big Bird” fork that we use to fight over all the time.

We would end up going to my mother to settle the dispute on who gets to have the fork.

My mother would work out a deal that each of us would get it.

I would get it today and my sister tomorrow.

Imagine if I had gone to the police over such a dispute?

Paul suggests that we as the church should appoint someone who is wise to help settle our disputes

(Picture of Child Christian)