Settling Our Differences God's Way (1 Corinthians 6:1-8) - 2/27/22

INTRO

• The Big Picture – How to handle disagreements within the church body. (problem solving within the church)

• Jewish Culture – They had the authority to settle disputes

  • Not capital punishment… Roman authority only

  • Remember… the crucifixion of Christ

• Greek culture loved to debate and solver problems

• In Corinth the church had forgotten they were different from the world. They were letting those that were part of the world decide issues within the church body.

• The external issue is allowing outside courts to resolve issues, yet the eternal issue (the heart of the issue) was the church forgetting who they were as the Church.

They Forgot Their Identity and Calling – v.1

1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?

They were the church

• 1 Cor. 12:27

Called with a specific purpose

• Love the Lord

• Make Disciples

  • Reaching Out and Building Up

Exalt the Savior, Equip the Saints, Evangelize our Community

They lost their focus

• When we keep our heart and mind (our life) focused on the Lord and His Kingdom…then our little empires as not as important.

Rather than dealing with things biblically (Matt. 18:15-20), they dealt with things from a worldly perspective.

They Didn’t Embrace Their Standing – vv.2-4

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! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?

The church was unable to discern and handle differences within the body. The church of Corinth was taking their disputes to the courts…rather than to the Lord and His Church

Rev. 3:21 – Believers will judge with Christ

• Authority, position in the kingdom

Their standing

• Before the Lord

• Within the world

We have all we need to judge/discern right from wrong

1. The Bible – 2 Tim 3:16

2. The Spirit – John 16:4-15

3. The ability to apply both – Col. 1:9-14

We are the Lord’s Church and Christ is our Head.

• All authority has been given to Him

They Lost Their Witness and Influence – vv. 5-8

5  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, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!

To their shame / To their defeat

When the church is divided, we have lost our witness and influence.

• I wish the twitter/Facebook world could understand this.

• ALL THE WORLD CAN SEE

Think about it this way:

• Two believers claiming to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

• Both parties claiming to be part of the Church that has Christ as their head

• Standing before a secular court helping them resolve an issue.

What is this saying to the world?

• Our faith is not enough

• The Gospel is not enough

• What we believe is not enough

• The Word of God is not enough

• Jesus is not enough