FollowFamily Trouble: Judgment of Interpersonal Issues
© 2024 C. O. Bishop
1st Corinthians 6:1-8
1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
Introduction:
We have spent six weeks talking about the topic of Judgment. We have not done so because it is enjoyable (it isn’t!) but because it is necessary. The Church at Corinth had some serious problems, requiring a great deal of corrective teaching. As we study through the letters to Corinth, we cannot escape the topic of Judgment.
Paul addressed them as genuine believers. But they were largely “carnal” believers, as he said in 1st Corinthians 3:1-4. They were not living by faith, or walking with Christ in obedience. They were making decisions in their fleshly minds and according to their fleshly desires. Their behavior reflected the results, in every area.
Safety Training
We don’t enjoy reading about all the messes they were making of their lives. Please see this as “training in what to avoid.”
I used to teach Industrial Safety at the company where I worked. I recounted numerous injury accidents, errors, and fatalities that had occurred. Some had happened right there in that plant, or nearby companies, or affiliated companies.
Someone in the Human Resources department scolded me, saying I was going to frighten away potential employees. But, the best way to teach safety is to explain the hazards and explain how to avoid those hazards.” There are hundreds of “potential ways to die,” in heavy industry. My goal was to make sure everyone went home alive, safe, and uninjured.
God teaches “Safety Training” by the same method. Jesus spent far more time and gave far more teaching about the reality of Hell and Eternal Judgment than He spent describing Heaven and the Eternal Joy awaiting believers. Yet some people scold us, and say that such “negative teaching” will turn people away! If that is the case then we need to take it up with the Savior, because He is also the Judge. And He went to great lengths to warn us away from the eternal “hazard” associated with sin, and the lurking enemy who will try to ensnare us there.
Please take the twin books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians as “Safety Training.” It may not be very pleasant, but it could keep us out of trouble, both as individuals and, as a church.
So, What Was the Problem, This Time?
When conflicts arose, the believers in Corinth were quite willing to take one another to court. Today we say such people are “lawsuit-happy” or, “litigious!” They were making no attempt to follow what Jesus said about personal conflicts. The people knew nothing of forgiveness, nor of simply accepting the wound or the loss inflicted by a fellow believer. They were taking one another to court before the unbelieving judges of their society. They were shaming the Church and shaming Jesus as well. (Notice, we are still talking about judgment!) Do you see what Paul points out regarding judgment, here?
1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? 2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Through Paul, Jesus commanded us to judge. He commanded that this judgment not be left to the unbelievers. It is a shameful thing when the Body of Christ requires unbelievers to tell us how to live. Hopefully, when conflicts seem insurmountable, a pattern of coming before the church for spiritual judgment will prevent the more drastic judgment from unbelievers.
Limits of this Judgment
[By the way, this is about civil matters: If it were a matter of criminal offenses, then the situation is already completely out of hand, and the sin has crossed the line into matters where the world takes over and exercises judgment. And God says (Romans 13:1-7) that He put the civil authorities in place for that specific purpose. We just want to avoid that necessity, by obeying His Word all the time; not just when we are in trouble.]
When God says the believers at Corinth are “Saints,” it does not mean “super-spiritual Christians.” It means that they have been claimed by God as His Personal Property. This is true of every single believer. The moment you trusted Christ as your Savior, several things happened:
- You were born again as a legitimate Child of God.
- You were indwelt by the entire Godhead, in the person of the Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit placed you (literally, “baptized” you) into the Body of Christ, by that Spirit.
- You were Redeemed: “bought back out of the marketplace of sin, to be set free.”
- Your sins (past, present, and future,) were forgiven.
- You were washed clean by His Blood.
- You were declared His personal property: Holy, for His use alone… A Saint.
Did you “feel” any of that? I seriously doubt it. But all of it is a fact, and there is much more. I only listed these few to show why He could call this mixed-up circus of spiritually immature clowns in Corinth “Saints!” Guess what? It includes us!
Yes, the Church is Qualified to Judge!
And, because we also fit into that category, He says that we should be able to deal with the ordinary conflicts of life without screaming to the unbelieving world for “justice!”
I knew a couple who faced such a dilemma: their house was damaged by fire, and another Christian couple (whom they considered friends) invited them to stay with them for a few months while the repairs were being made. They gladly accepted, and they offered to pay rent, but the other couple refused. But, when their repairs were done and they went to move home, their hosts demanded steep payment for having lived with them…and then threatened a lawsuit.
The couple I knew submitted to this scripture: they sadly paid what was demanded, though it seemed unreasonable. They suffered loss rather than open the church to criticism by the ungodly.
Judge The World? And Angels?
2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
So—When will the Believers “Judge the World?”
So far as we can see in the Bible, the only time in Human history when believers will be judging the world, on Earth, will occur during the Millennial Kingdom. Jesus told his followers that faithfulness would result in rewards. And, that one of their rewards during the kingdom age would be increased responsibility…rulership over cities, etc.
And I’m sorry, but I do not at all know when we will judge angels. However, consider that God says you are already “in Christ.” According to Ephesians 2:6, you are already seated in the throne with Him. So, possibly, in whatever way Jesus exercises judgment, because we are in Him, it could also be said that we are part of that judgment.
So, when Jesus exercises and pronounces judgment on the fallen Angels, we will be there for the occasion, and we will be part of it. Perhaps that is part of what this is about. If not, then I simply don’t know.
But, regardless of whether we fully understand his premise (that we will “judge angels,”) we can easily comprehend his conclusion: “We are worthy to judge the smallest things.”
One does not have to be “certified smart” by an ungodly institution before being competent to discern good and evil, or truth and fiction, or to give good counsel and exercise sound judgment.
Paul says that, as the children of God, we have been given His wisdom in the Scriptures, and that we should be ready to exercise that wisdom and judgment in the everyday affairs of normal life. And, if we cannot, then there is something seriously wrong.
Just How Serious Is This?
4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
According to Paul, (speaking by the Spirit of God,) we would be better off to set up as a judge the person least qualified in the church, rather than to go before unbelievers and shame the church and one another.
Even that believer whom we consider least qualified (for whatever reason) still is indwelt by the Spirit, of God, and thereby is better qualified to give counsel than any unregenerate person. And, honestly, that is pretty serious!
5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
“I speak this to your shame” is an old-fashioned way of saying “Shame on you!” They regarded the indwelling Holy Spirit and the Wisdom He offered too poorly. They did not even consider dealing with interpersonal personal matters privately. In that way, they would bring no dishonor to God .
He challenged them to look around them and pick an arbitrator: there has to be someone you can trust to make a fair decision, based on the facts! Is there no one at all, among God’s people, that you would trust to make a good decision?
Or, is it All About “Winning?”
Are you so hung up on “getting your own way,” or “getting some money” out of someone else, that questions of “right and wrong” no longer matter?
In Ephesians 4:31, 32, God says “Let ALL bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor be put away from you will ALL malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you!”
Does that no longer matter? Have you assumed that there must be some sort of “exception clause,” so that the “ALL” in that passage somehow does not really mean “ALL?” (Here’s a tip: “all” means “ALL!” Forgiveness requires that we absorb the loss, not seeking either retribution or revenge. Jesus accepted the full weight of the wrath of God, to satisfy the Righteousness, Holiness, and Justice of God, to provide forgiveness for us. Can’t we absorb the comparatively insignificant hurts and injustices we experience from one another, and accept one another on the same basis by which we have been accepted by God?
Give that some thought!
Paul’s Conclusion:
6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
Paul concludes by pointing out that in taking one another to court, they were not only completely wrong, but in a form of wrong far worse than whatever injustice they had suffered. He said that they would have been far better off to have just “backed off” and accepted the loss at another’s hand. They would be better to forgive the wrong, “losing the case,” (so to speak,) to “win” the approval of God, in an attempt to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Wronging the Church
He reminds them that they are “wronging the brethren” by taking their opponent to court. They are not only wronging the other party. (One might argue that “No! They are wronging us!”) The fact is, they are wronging all the believers by their behavior, and shaming all the believers. And, they were dragging the Name of Jesus in the dirt, in the eyes of the unbelievers.
In Romans 2:24, Paul pointed out that the unbelievers blaspheme the Name of God, because of the behavior of people who claim to be believers. We do not want to be part of that tragedy!
Lord Jesus, free us from our ego so that we can shine as your lamps in the darkness of this world. Keep us from covering our light with such dirt and shame that Your light can no longer be seen. Fill us with Your Love for the believers around us and Your compassion for the Lost, so that we reach out as Your hands and behave as Your ambassadors, loving as You love.