MPC
27th April 2008.April 27 - 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 - "Why not Rather be Wronged?"
MPC
27th April 2008.
Phil Campbell
I've got to apologise to anyone who's a regular here at MPC, but I've found it impossible not to mention the headline on the front of Thursday's Courier Mail, which you may have noticed yourself. I know there are people who think I'm too fond of American political analogies. But this one just can't be avoided.
It's a headline that sums up America's Democrats in five simple words. The Democrats who are right on track to lose the unlosable election by tearing themselves apart.
"Democrats rue cost of slugfest." The Democrats, with their long drawn out primaries to decide who's the best candidate for President. So busy tearing strips off one another state by state, so busy berating and criticising one another, that in the end no one will want to vote for either of them. And their real enemy - the Republicans - will walk away with the prize.
Let me quote from the article. "This is what I feared," said the Democratic governor of Tenessee Phil Bredesen last night. "They are going to just keep standing there and pounding each other and bloodying each other, and no one is winning."
Whereas Republican nominee John McCain says of course that his rivals should take their time, and not rush.
Democrats rue cost of slugfest. I wonder if they really do? Or if they'll just keep at it?
More importantly today as we come to one Corinthians chapter 6, I wonder if we Christians ever stop to rue the cost of our slugfests? Because we have them, don't we? Small scale and large scale. Public and private. I wonder if in cases when you're feeling aggrieved, when you're feeling you've got a point to prove with another Christian, when you feel your rights have been infringed and when you go public about it... I wonder if you've ever stopped to count the cost? And to see it as it really is... a sign that if nothing changes, you're facing looming defeat.
That's exactly Paul's sentiment when it comes to this church... in the city of Corinth. A church that we've seen over the past few weeks is full of spiritual pride. A church full of people who think they're spiritual kings - and yet they're not. A church so caught up in the world's ideas of what it meant to be impressive that they're not impressive at all.
A church where as we'll see today, they're even taking each other to court... in trivial lawsuits.
Now we live very much in an age of litigation; so I guess it's not hard to imagine. We live in an age where if something goes wrong, you sue.
And it was the same in Corinth. I've been reading one of Bruce Winter's books about life in ancient Corinth, and he paints a vivid picture. The public courts were a spectacle. They were fun to watch. Like Judge Judy on TV. It was a litigious society. And especially if you were rich; you wouldn't hesitate to take even the most minor grievance to court. To get even richer.
Now Paul's clearly talking about those kinds of minor grievances here. The word he uses in verse 1 is a pragma, a pragmatic dispute, a small matter of business. The end of verse 2, he calls them trivial cases... insignificant. The Greek word Paul uses, he says this stuff is smaller than microscopic. The smallest of the small.
The end of verse 3 Paul in the original Greek uses the word bio-tika. Which means the small things of this life. The trivia. Which is the same word he uses again in the Greek in verse 4. Daily trivia.
And you know what they're doing? This kind of day to day trivia, this kind of minor disagreement, these matters of business pragmatism... they're taking them to court. against one another. To such minor grievances, they're having major reactions. And instead of sorting it out like brothers. Verse 6, he says, one brother goes to law against another. And this... verse 6... here's the real sting in it... and this in front of unbelievers.
Here's a church where one Christian backs into another Christian's car in the carpark. And the guy with the damaged bumper bar shakes his fist and says, I'll see you in court.
Now verses 1 to 3, Paul's so steamed up, he just hits them with a barrage of questions. Four in a row. Rhetorical questions; one on top of the other. Number 1: how could you dare do what you're doing? It's impossible for him to get his head around.
And then this one in verse 2. Don't you know what your future holds?
There's an old saying, and it's a good one. "When you soar with the eagles... you don't feed on the blowflies." Paul says, get a glimpse of how significant you are, get a glimpse of the dignity you're heading for... and stop stooping so low. When you realise you're going to judge the world, it just seems ridiculous, says Paul, that in the here and now you'd run off to the unrighteous, that you'd run off to the unbelieving world... to get judgments on your petty quarrels. He says, remember where you're heading. And act accordingly.
Do you not know, he says, verse 2, that the saints... will judge the world? And if you're going to one day judge the world, aren't you competent to judge this sort of trivia for yourselves? This sort of petty business squabble that you're taking to court?
Don't you know, verse 3, that we're even going to judge the angels?
Now I don't know about you, but that's not exactly something I've often thought about. But the fact is, angels are just God's messengers. We are God's family. And that on the last day, we're going to be standing with the Lord Jesus. As the world and the angels and everything in all creation comes under his judgment. We'll be there with him.
If one day you're going to judge angels, how come you can't sort out a trivial disagreement without turning it into a public spectacle?
So isn't there someone in the church who can help sort it out in these petty brother-to-brother disputes? Isn't there someone in the church who can play the role of mediator?
They don't even have to be the important people in the church.
I mean, appointments to the judiciary, there's lots of pomp and ceremony. So you swear in three new Queensland judges a couple of weeks back, and it's wigs and gowns and a lavish function and headlines in the news. We appoint important people as our civil judges. But Paul says, this stuff you're fighting over is so trivial, you're better off appointing anyone in the church... than taking it public in the world. And showing off what petty stuff you're fighting over.
Verse 4; "Appoint as judges even men of little account in the church. I say this to shame you." Or is it possible, says Paul, that things are so bad in Corinth... that there's nobody among you wise enough to judge a petty dispute between believers? That you can't even sort out such minor life challenges among yourselves without asserting your rights against one another?
And that's the hard part, isn't it? That even in the smallest thing, we get steamed up about our rights. We live in the days of road rage, the days where a dispute over a parking spot can lead to violence. Where even the most trivial legal matter can lead to a life long feud. And sadly, even in the church. I know of one church in Queensland where there's a family that simply won't speak to another family because of a legal technicality over a farm that both of them wanted to buy back in 1976. As far as I know, they haven't gone to court over it; but they won't let go of it.
And it's exactly that sort of attitude that's got them in the mess in Corinth. Paul says in verse 7, "You're worse than the Democrats." He says, "The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already." Absolutely failing to be what a church is meant to be.
Now in virtually every dispute like this, there's a person with a grievance. And there's a person that's caused it. There's a person being wronged. And there's a person doing the wrong. Paul's going to speak to each of them.
And first off it's a specific word first of all to the one who's been wronged in one of these trivial but hurtful ways by a brother. And I think they're the hardest words in the passage for us to hear. He says "You might be legally entitled to go to court. You might have been aggrieved. Someone might have done you wrong in a business deal or trod on your foot and not apologised. But surely the honour of the Lord Jesus and his church in the eyes of the world is worth more than that. He says, why not rather be wronged? Verse 7. "Why not rather be cheated?"
Why not say, I'd rather be cheated a thousand times... than to see the name of Jesus disgraced. I'd rather lose my house than have crowds in the market place cheer and jeer over these two so called Christians having it out with one another in public.
Why not rather be wronged... than going to law against one another - in front of unbelievers.
I wonder if you ever think that through... in all sorts of areas? What your actions and attitudes are doing as an advertisement for Jesus Christ. As a demonstration of what the gospel is on about.
Because the fact is, there's no better way to showcase the gospel... than in the way you handle being wronged in the sort of petty day to day life disputes Paul is talking about. There's no better visual aid of the innocent Christ who died for sinners... than the innocent party who's been wronged... letting it go gracefully.
Which is what Jesus actually said, isn't it? If someone slaps your cheek ... offer them the other cheek as well. If the Roman soldier demands your coat, say, look, I've got this really nice shirt and tie that go with it, take them as well.
Quentin Bryce spoke to 3000 schoolkids about Anzac Day last Wednesday. And she made a very simply point. That made it into another golden headline through the week.
She said let the ANZAC legend of sacrifice... be an example for your lives.
Maybe it's time we Christians learned the lesson of sacrifice as well. From the example of Jesus.
It's at the very heart of what's meant to be different about Christians. Why not rather be wronged?. On the sports field. On the school P & C committee. But most especially in the context of church where it's far better to absorb a minor offense or to ask someone else in the church to help sort it out... than to go public. Which Christians so often do.
And yet emotionally, it's a big ask, isn't it? Especially if you're carrying a pile of hurt and frustration because you know the way you've been treated just wasn't fair. You're right. It wasn't.
But in the sort of petty legal squabbles Paul's talking about, in the sort of life situations where you've been wronged and you know you just want to assert your rights against a brother Christian, Paul says, bite your tongue.
Now that's difficult even on tiny things, isn't it? And I know there are people here carrying great hurts and great offense from things that come in a different category altogether. And in the kind of stuff that's so constantly in the news about churches turning a blind eye to paedophiles and churches that sweep criminal offences under the carpet, Paul's told us already back in chapter 5 that he's not saying to deal with that stuff in house at all. Though it again brings terrible shame on the name of the Lord Jesus, when there's someone involved in that kind of stuff, or in criminal activity, the thing to do is disassociate them from the name of the Lord Jesus as soon as you can. The irony in Corinth is they've got it double wrong. They're tolerating what's clearly illegal sexual immorality in the church, and they're taking one another to court over trivia.
We saw last week Paul said put the sexual offender out of the church. Until he repents. And presumably let the law courts deal with him as well. But it's not just about sexual immorality.
Because there's a word here as well for the fraud and the cheat. Because just because your Christian brother might take Paul's advice and overlook it and not take you to court doesn't mean you'll get away with it in the end.
Paul's spoken already to the wronged party. So here's his word to the one doing the wrong.
Pick up in verse 8 and 9. See, here's someone who instead of preferring to be cheated, they're doing the cheating; verse 8, Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers. Do you not know, verse 9, that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?
You might make a few bucks at your brother's expense. But if things don't change it's going to cost you your eternity. And do you notice, while we tend to get so caught up in critiquing sexual sins if they're the kind we're not keen on ourselves, the exclusion list from the Kingdom doesn't stop at sexual morality by any means. You've got the sexually immoral and the adulterers and the male prostitutes and the people caught up in homosexual practices in verse 9. Any of which aren't fitting for a Christian. But as well as that in verse 10 you've got the more socially acceptable white collar kind of stuff that we just tend to justify. Nor thieves. Nor drunkards, nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And if you're going to keep swindling your brothers, says Paul, then you're not going to be part of the kingdom. Because the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of repentance from that stuff. From cheating one another. From taking advantage of other people's good will.
I mean, that's why there are lawsuits going on, isn't it? There wouldn't be an issue... there wouldn't be a court case if there hadn't been swindling and greed in the first place. There's no place in the kingdom for people like that.
Verse 11, Paul says, and that is what some of you were. That's the kind of life they've come from. But the new reality is meant to be far different.
There's no problem about the fact that there are people in the Corinthian church with all sorts of pasts. There's no problem that you'd be sitting in church with a former male prostitute on your left and a former embezzler on your right. It's just that as Christians, they're meant to be former. Coming into the Kingdom means leaving your past life at the door.
Friends, be warned by these words. If you're continuing in sexual immorality, if you're continuing in adultery, if you're continuing in homosexual practices, if you're continuing in your greed, if you'd take the opportunity to treat your brother or sister anything other with absolute purity and absolute fairness, Paul says you're deceiving yourself if you think that kind of behaviour fits in the kingdom of God.
You might have been that way once.
But you were washed, says Paul. We're still in verse 11. But you were sanctified. Set apart by God to be different.
But you were justified. You were put right. Made righteous. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 11, and by the Spirit of our God.
God's spirit is at work in you. Why turn back to what you were for a few measly bucks? How could you possibly take financial advantage of a brother?
Look, this is a tough area to be dealing with. With all sorts of hurts and histories that you'll be weighing up against God's word. But can I draw things together by saying let's make sure as a church family we don't get to the point where we look back and rue the cost of our slugfest. Let's not ever let things get to the point where the need to win outweighs the ultimate prize itself. Let's as a church family resolve to not bring the name of the Lord Jesus into dishonour by the way we treat each other, but to bring him honour by our unity and our love for another instead. Let's resolve to live as what we are. We might have been swindlers once. But as members of the Kingdom, that's what we were. And now there's no way we should cheat and do wrong to our brothers and sisters.
But when it comes to the petty stuff, when it comes to the trivial disputes that so easily come up in daily life, let's resolve that we'd rather be wronged than to dispute with one another... and see it as a great opportunity to advertise Jesus in the way we forgive rather than stand on our rights. It's a great opportunity to be what we are and not what we were. To remember we're eagles... who don't feed on flies.