The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 11: 1 Corinthians 6: 1-11; "Unrighteous Judges"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 11; 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 The Unrighteous Judges There was a popular song back in the early 80’s called “Dirty Laundry.” According to one comment about the song, “it’s about the callousness of TV news reporting as well as the tabloidization of all news. Don Henley sings from the standpoint of a news anchorman who "could have been an actor, but I wound up here", and thus is not a real journalist. The song's theme is that TV news coverage focuses too much on negative and sensationalist news; in particular, deaths, disasters, and scandals, with little regard to the consequences or for what is important.” If it was that way in the 80’s it is so much more so, now! It’s no secret that according to their own words, many, if not most journalists see their job as not to report the news but to form and shape public opinion. I recently heard a comment about this: “those who control the narrative, controls the culture.” Today, we are not going to bash journalists, but we are going to talk about hanging dirty laundry. The Corinthian Christians did so back in their day. In last week’s message where we covered 1 Corinthians 5 we saw that some of the laundry they hung was filthy. It was like they were competing with the pagan culture around them to see who would be first to get to the bottom of the moral slime pit. Paul said that he heard some reputable news reports about them regarding a sin that even their pagan neighbors did not engage in: a man had sexual relations with his stepmother--and they were proud of that--puffed up. And they let the world know how welcoming, how inclusive they were about this sinning couple. We saw how Paul was livid and told them to wash their laundry with strong soap through exercising church discipline: 1 Corinthians 5:13: “Get rid of the evil person among you.” In our passage for today, we see Paul dealing with some more dirty laundry. Only this time it wasn’t immorality. But it did contribute to the same thing that he had been addressing since the opening words of this letter: disunity. Remember how Paul was very pointed about their preferring one spiritual leader over another, and the leaders of the groups were putting their guy on a high pedestal. It was becoming intense in their fellowship, so much so that the church showed signs of splitting into groups: the Paulites, the Apollosites, and the rest. And Paul told them in no uncertain terms: “Stop it!” “Your boasting in man is no good.” “You exist as a local church because the Lord Jesus set you apart. He is the Lord. If you are going to boast in anybody, y’all with one voice ought to boast in him.” In today’s passage, 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, we find Paul telling the Corinthians to deal with their dirty laundry among themselves. Behind their closed doors. It wasn’t just the spiritual leaders which the devil tried to use to split the church, now it was the difficulty Christians had regarding civil matters. Things that they could not reconcile over. And so what did they do? What many do, even today: they found arbitration—pagans outside of the church fellowship. And so Paul deals with their inviting “Unrighteous judges” to settle the disputes of the saints. In this passage we see Paul make 2 points. In vv.1 to the first part of v.9 we see Paul’s description of the problem: taking their disputes to the pagans rather than to other Christians to be voices of wisdom and reason as the Christians seek to settle their differences. Then in the second part of v.9 through v.11 we see why Paul considered it a problem: primarily, pagans don’t have access to divine wisdom. And so that begs the question: why would Christians hang out their relatively minor differences in front of the watching world? They are showing the unsaved how disunified the Christians have become. Remember Paul’s question he raised in the first chapter of this letter when he asked: “Is Christ divided?” Of course the answer is no. But throughout the Corinthian correspondence so far, it sure seemed as though Christ is. So let’s read v.1-the first part of v.9 of 1 Corinthians 6: When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 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? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life?  So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers.  To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers! Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? If you followed these verses carefully, you would be struck by sheer number of questions Paul asked. Let me list them: 1. When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? 3. If you are going to judge the world, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 4. Do you not know that we are to judge angels? 5. Why do you lay them, as in matters of this life, before those who have no standing in the church? 6. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7. Why not rather suffer wrong? 8. Why not rather be defrauded? 9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Like a prosecuting attorney, Paul brings the issue up close and personal to the Corinthian church, and spits out 9 questions related to, as he calls them, trivial matters. Matters pertaining to this life. To be sure, these are not minor disagreements and hurt feelings. They are most likely issues that were civil in nature, as one commentator says, “legal possessions, breach of contract, damages, fraud and minor injuries--civil matters rather than criminal.” In other words, there were things that happened between brothers in the church that needed to be taken care of. And the Corinthian believers apparently thought that they needed to operate in default mode: civil court. Looks sensible, logical on the surface. One person suing another over damages that require some kind of settlement. But for Paul, these lawsuits are mere symptoms of a bigger problem: disunity among themselves. He sees these kinds of things in a much different light than the Corinthian believers do. Paul sees their disunity before a pagan world as a much bigger issue than even the settling of civil disputes between them. Paul here unfolds profound insight into the lives of the Corinthians. I see here Paul implying 2 things: First, the Corinthian believers forgot what he and others taught them about their new life in Christ. Part of their new life came with a reality: God was grooming them to actually judge nations during the millennial reign of Christ. In other words, this life is not all there is. Paul’s second insight is at the heart of the issue of their disunity throughout this letter: their failure to empty themselves of themselves. In other words, self-interest. In these 9 questions in this chapter, 3 of them begin with “do you not know”? The way these are put together imply a reminder of what they already knew--and may have forgotten. “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” These were issues that Paul and others taught the Corinthian believers. Jesus actually told his disciples that his people will judge the world. Matthew 19:28: Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Because the saints will rule and reign with Christ, it was understood in those day that his people will judge angels, as in fallen angels. In Daniel’s vision, we see that God’s saints are going to rule and reign and judge the world: Daniel 7:21–22: As I looked, this horn--commonly interpreted as the Antichrist--made war with the saints and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom. In v.9, Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians of their new nature. They were righteous. They were set apart unto the Lord. But the civil judges were pagan--they were unrighteous. They lived lifestyles that were wicked--as did some of the Christians in their B.C. days. What was Paul’s point to the Corinthians? Simply put: “Why do you, Christians, future judges of the world and of angels, take your civil matters to pagans? Can’t you figure these things out? Can’t you settle these things among yourselves? You have access to divine wisdom. They don’t.” So, Paul gave them a strong reminder of their future role—they will judge the world. He also gave them a strong reminder of how inept the pagans were to fully and wisely arbitrate their issues. Paul now turns to some practical matters of fleshing this out, beginning with the first question: “if a brother has a grievance against his brother, how dare he bring it before the pagans instead of the saints?” In essence Paul told them, “Christians, since you are going to judge the world, why are you entrusting the judgment of your issues to those who you will eventually judge?” “Guys, we are going to judge far more significant issues than these every day, ordinary matters. Isn’t there a wise person anywhere among you that you can entrust to help you get through your civil differences?” Paul gave them a much bigger picture of spiritual reality than they saw. But tragically they were so caught up in this life, and considered their issues so important that they lost sight of the reality that this life is not all there is. They also seemed to forget how important it was to set a unified witness to the world. And here is where Paul hit them the hardest. In fact, he said he deliberately wrote what he did, the way he did, to shame them. Notice in vv.5-6: I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?  Then he hits them in their heart. Remember how they lived in a culture that highly valued honor and they practically ran from being shamed. Vv.7-8: To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers! Paul wanted to shame them--and if I lived in that culture, and he was writing that to me, I would feel profoundly ashamed. I would realize that I was putting my own self-interest ahead of that of Christ’s interests: a holy, unified witness before the watching world. That would have made me hang my head. Paul would have labeled me as part of those who utterly failed in our mission to show unity and love among ourselves to the watching world around us. First was proudly displaying sexual immorality of the most repulsive kind. And now disunity--this dirty laundry for all to see. So, how to plug up the holes of this sinking ship of witness failure? Deal with the challenging questions Paul posed to them: “Why not rather suffer wrong?” “Why not rather be defrauded?” Ah, but listen! Can you hear them? Those are the voices of protest from across the miles and down through the centuries. “Paul, do you mean that you would actually have me prefer to suffer wrong? To be cheated out of what is rightfully mine? Are you kidding me?” Well, Paul was not kidding. See, he detected the heart of this issue regarding lawsuits, that of fullness. Fullness of self. Fullness of exercising one’s rights. Fullness of “me being in first place.” They heard from Day 1 the true Gospel, that of “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” They heard that in order for their sins to be forgiven and put right with God, the Messiah, the God-man, the Lord Jesus, had to go to the cross as the perfect Lamb of God, and offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. Most wonderful news! Though the gospel is the most wonderful news ever, it is our response to it that is often the most difficult. I think of Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23–25: And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” Is this not what it means to believe? One thing I have been struck with lately in my devotional reading and meditation is how important we understand the identity of Jesus. It is our trust in the person of Jesus that is most important. John tells us the purpose for writing his gospel in John 20:30–31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Notice that salvation is found in who Jesus is. The fact that it took his death to forgive us of our sins is obviously significant. But salvation is found in the person of Christ. Who he is. The authority he has. And that certainly applies not for the Corinthian believers only but for us as well. See, Jesus told us what to do--deny ourselves. Take up our cross. Follow him. Obviously that does not mean that we need to take up, necessarily, physical crosses, though he may require it of us, as he has required it of many of his choice servants down through the ages. But Paul describes what taking up our cross looks like among believers in Philippians 2:1–8: So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus, who is our life, is also our living example. Jesus, the Second Person of the blessed Trinity, emptied himself and became a servant to even the least of mankind. He allowed himself to be punished, and killed. And gloriously God raised him to life after 3 days. Hallelujah! Now, let’s apply the challenging questions posed by Paul to the Corinthians, now to Jesus. Do you think Jesus was wronged? Was he defrauded? Who wronged and defrauded him? Was it his enemies? Of course. How many pages of the gospels do not have a record of the Pharisees and scribes plotting to arrest, mistreat and even kill him? Let’s go farther. What about his closest companions, his apostles? Did they wrong him? Defraud him? It goes without saying, doesn’t it? So, what is Paul getting at here? Painful circumstances, even at the hands of our fellow Christians challenge us, even reveal to us, how much farther we have to go to be like Jesus. Let’s forget the trite saying, WWJD. It’s not about doing what Jesus would do. It’s more like what character would Jesus display during the painful times, even times of betrayal by brothers and sisters--or possibly false brothers and sisters? See, trials don’t make or break us. They reveal us as to who we really are. But back to the text. Here is Paul’s bottom line: work out your differences in the body of Christ, for the sake of your witness to the world. Let’s experience the power of going beyond the meme of the day--the meme that we as Americans practically have ingrained in our DNA: “I don’t get mad, I get even.” Paul’s reasoning for keeping the civil disputes in house is not only to preserve the witness of unity to the pagan world, but just as important, the pagans don’t have access to divine wisdom. In his 9th question in this passage, remember Paul asking: “do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” When it comes to the practical matter of the pagans deciding civil disputes, this is a sober warning. Paul’s reasoning here is one of wisdom. In essence he’s asking, “How can you, as God’s people entrust your issues to those who see the things of God as foolishness?” Even in our day, we see how uncertain things are in the court system. Take the issue of child custody. A Christian couple with 3 kids goes to divorce court. The wife has been committing adultery for years. In spite of his faithfulness, his and his kids’ pleading, and application of church discipline, they wind up in front of a thoroughly non-Christian, female judge. She is new in town. Few people know her. But she has a past. She has been horribly abused by men and that has resulted in her always siding with the mother, regardless of how irresponsible she is. When this case is presented, with all its ugly details, the custody of the kids is awarded to the mother. We say, “Miscarriage of justice” and rightly so. But the judge does not have access to divine wisdom. And hearts are broken even more than what would be otherwise if the judge was a committed Christian and decisions are made based on divine wisdom. I’m not saying that all judges are bad. I’m not saying that there is no room for courts, even among Christians. But let’s make sure we do everything we can to reconcile our differences with our brothers and sisters in Christ. It was the failure of Christians in the church in Corinth to see a bigger picture, or worse yet, their refusal to see, that unity before a watching world is to be a top priority. And tragically the Corinthian believers were so caught up exercising their rights in this life that they forgot that they were being groomed for bigger and better things in the life to come. Let’s be about the business of truly seeking the welfare of one another, even if we find ourselves on the short end of being wronged. Of being defrauded. And by the way, when we wrong and defraud one another, how do we take care of things? Instead of going to court, we handle it through church discipline, just like most every other grievance in the body of Christ, except for criminal matters—a completely different subject. Let me touch on vv.9-11, and then I want to speak briefly about government and our response to it, particularly in regards to COVID-19. Paul tells the Corinthians, Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. 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. Here we find Paul reminding the Corinthian believers of the lifestyles that some of them had in their B.C. days: sexually immoral both in the heterosexual and homosexual worlds. They were idol worshipers. They were thieves, greedy, drunkards, abusive and mean spirited -- this is what a reviler is. Some of them were swindlers — they made it their business to think up ingenious ways to cheat people out of their resources. Quite the list. And he reminds the believers that those in the pagan world, who have no access to divine wisdom to settle civilian disputes, are by nature no better than they. As it has been said, Christians are not better than a pagan, they are just better off. Christians then and now have been washed by the blood of Jesus. We have been set apart and declared holy. God has declared us to be in a right relationship with him. All because of who we are associated with--God has saved us by the name of Jesus and the Spirit of God--the Holy Spirit. So, Corinthians! Empty yourselves of yourselves. Continue to take up your cross and continue to follow Jesus. For the sake of love among yourselves and the witness to the watching world, refuse to hang your dirty laundry out for all to see. Take care of it in house. And at this time it is appropriate for me to say a few words about COVID-19, the government, and our response as the people of God. I won’t be long, but I think we need to keep in mind who the ultimate authority is: God himself. Psalm 24:1 is still in effect--always has been and always will be: The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. In other words, God is in charge. His almighty power takes care of everything that is his--and he owns everything! Nothing escapes his notice, even this current pandemic. Our God is good and kind, especially to his people. Our God is holy and righteous as well, not wishing that any perish, but that all come to repentance. Since the first days this virus has been unleashed on the world, through whatever means, there has been one panic story after another. People are indeed dying by the thousands world-wide. Governments at all levels have made declarations, ordinances and have forced compliance. From total lockdowns to social distancing, most every person on the planet has been affected by government at some level. Of course this has impacted economic concerns in every country in the world as well. Most of us are now watching our bank accounts and mailboxes for government printed, 4 digit figures to come to us at some point. Many people are beginning to feel the sting of layoffs. Next week, Kitty and I will be celebrating our 40th anniversary. But we will not be able to go a nice restaurant. And the celebration of 40 years’ marriage only comes around once! All of this and so much more is old news--and none of us can escape it. How can we? We have the 24 hours news cycle! But in the midst of all the panic and horror stories, I want to empower you to cling to the hope that the Lord gives. And I want to do it by making 2 points. First, we are to pay attention to what our governmental agencies and officials tell us, unless they tell us to disobey the Lord. As we know, in many countries it is illegal to preach Jesus. I read just the other day that the NY Times reported that Christians are to blame for this virus. For me, I laugh it off and say, “Par for the course” when it comes from the NY Times. But the point here is that there could come a day when people with power to enact laws could take this rhetoric seriously and outlaw all things Christian as hate speech. And should that happen, we continue obeying the Lord, and as it has been said, “smilingly wash our hands of the consequences” and keep on serving our king, even if it cost our freedom. Or livelihood. How this applies is that we are to obey the laws of the land that have been enacted regarding COVID-19. No more than 10 together. Social distancing. etc., until at least for us in Virginia, the Governor rescinds the order. Second, and here is where hope lies. Let’s keep separate who we are to believe and what we are to obey. Scripture tells us to obey the government. Romans 13:1-6 is all about that. But just because our government makes laws, does not mean we must implicitly believe what they tell us. We obey them. But we don’t have to believe everything they tell us about the virus, for example. And why is that? Simply put, government as an entity does not have access to divine wisdom, like the pagan judges of the first century. But what we are all tempted to do is to wholeheartedly believe what a government official tells us merely because he or she is a government official. And the more shrill and sensational the news article, even produced by Fox, in conjunction with government, the more we tend to believe it. And before we know it, after seeing panic story after panic story, we begin to assume that we are going to die by the millions. But that is not true. Is COVID-19 something to be concerned about? Yes. Do we need to take care of ourselves and not expose people to it if we know have it? By all means. But does COVID-19, by itself prove as deadly as the seasonal flu? No. Let me give you just two stats. During the last seasonal flu season, 2018-2019, according to the World Health Organization, about 20% of the world’s population contracted the flu. That is about 1.4 billion. Out of that 1.4 billion, 260,000 died. And 2018-19 was a typical year. These are typical figures. But we as a planet were not nearly as concerned about the 260,000 then as we are with the roughly 30,000 that have died with the COVID-19 so far this year. And by the way, 36 million contracted the seasonal flu and 23,000 have died from it in our country, this year alone. And let’s not forget the 56 million people world-wide who have died at the hands of the abortionist in the past year alone. But we say nothing about this—we celebrate a woman’s right to choose. So, I am saying as your pastor, in the midst of the panic and chaos, we can have hope. How? Choose to believe God and his goodness. Just because a government official says that we must panic, refuse to do so. Believe God and what he gives to his people. Isaiah 26:3 tells us, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” And Paul instructs us in Philippians 4:6-7: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. When it comes to informing ourselves about the pandemic, we are to do our homework. There are enough trustworthy sources to get at the truth of the matter. And can I let you in on a secret? The government does not have a corner on the truth when it comes to COVID-19. I say this because of the conflicting information even among government officials. And let’s not assume that governmental officials always have our best interests at heart or their motives are as pure as the driven snow. House Majority Whip Representative James Clyburn reportedly told more than 200 members of the House Democratic caucus on a recent conference call that the party should exploit the coronavirus stimulus: “This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.” Also, apparently, House Speaker Pelosi tried to provide funding for Planned Parenthood at one point in the process of putting together the $2 Trillion aid package. And there is even talk of yet a phase 4 COVID-19 aid package. Even with the package that President Trump signed into law, it took both the house and senate and the president to all sign off on it. Will this one package bankrupt us? We don’t know at the moment. The point is that we don’t need to fear, even with everything we hear. Let’s take a clue from the early Christians and how they responded to the massive plagues of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was said of them that they had a “casual disregard for death.” And I will add, not they were not nervous about dying--they were people after all. I’m talking about the fear the cripples a person into self-preservation or inaction. But why were they ultimately not afraid? Because they knew where they were going. What was then and still is the devil’s most powerful weapon? The fear of death. Jesus has taken away the fear of death in the Christian, as he or she walks closely to the Lord. And with the fear of death taken away, the Christian can then run into the danger, not foolhardy or to show how spiritual he or she is. We don’t let the fear of death cripple us into not helping others in the name of Jesus. We need to do our homework, make our own conclusions, take needed precautions, obey the laws which don’t conflict with the Law of God. And above all, we exhibit the confidence that our Lord is over all. And we can even obey the command that God, through Paul gave us when he himself was in not so pleasant circumstances in Philippians 4:4: “rejoice in the Lord always.” And just so the reader would not miss it, Paul repeated the command: “and again I say, rejoice.” Let’s rejoice in Him. And let the world know that the true and living God reigns. We will choose to believe this. For the glory of God and for the sake of Christ.