Settling Disputes Among Brethren — 1 Corinthians 6

0:00 Heavenly father, we we give thanks here for for this day. We're thankful for your word. We do recognize this as a as a living as a living word of god. We recognize you as an all powerful god and father, we we know that your words profitable and even in in the midst of our situation this morning as as that with the confusion that's been made about a selected passage. We pray that you might use these this passage and that you may minister to all of our hearts today.

0:36 The things that may be needed and and and helpful to us. So, so father, we commit our time to thee. We're asking for help. We appreciate the the graciousness of ones that that, may be reviewing this this material and also the the fact that we're out of order and and and sequence with the other study but father, commit these things to thee and pray this in the name of our lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1:08 First Corinthians chapter six, well, there's 20 verses there and we will we'll we'll read we'll see read the first 11 verses as we as we look at this. First Corinthians six eleven. Read it reading to verse 11. We'll begin reading in verse one. Dare any of you having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints.

1:38 Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that that we shall judge angels. How much more things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

2:04 I speak to your shame. It is so that there is not a wise man among you, no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren. But brother goeth to law with brother and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore, there is utterly a fault among you because ye go to law with one another. Why do you not rather take the wrong?

2:31 Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, you do wrong and defraud and and that your brethren. Know you not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor infamant nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetousness nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. So we have this this this before us.

3:19 Now that we've read it, do you want to continue on? It's not a passage that a lot of people would probably pick out and say, hey, I want to speak on this, right? It's not one of your go to passages, but that's definitely a benefit of tracking through and doing book studies. This as we look here, we could take this fairly matter of fact and say, okay, don't go to law, you know, don't sue. Right?

3:50 And that's a that's an appropriate conclusion to draw on on some of these things that maybe just as a as a as as we glance at the passage. But let's let's make a few observations here as we as we get into this. Paul is writing to the Corinthian church and he uses this word dare. It's kind of that that's a strong word. It's there's an emphasis being placed here.

4:26 Dare any of you go having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints. And so he's making this clear distinct distinction between people that are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and would be in the church and versus that people are unbelievers and would be, we'll just let it represent the world system. So, he's saying, you've got, he's bringing up an issue. You've got a disagreement and now you you you've got a choice to settle this agreement or this this disagreement between the... Before the world or before the church.

5:03 And you guys are choosing to to do this before the world. He's saying, dare dare you do this? Do you not know in verse two? Throughout the chapter here, he's gonna he's gonna repeat this phrase several times, do you not know? If you go through and count the little question marks in this chapter, there's there's several questions that are being asked and and so he makes a statement, do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?

5:31 That's a pretty lofty position in it. That's a pretty high high order, a tall a tall call to order to judge the world. He's saying, don't you know you're gonna judge the world? And look how he contrast it. You're gonna judge the world and yet if if there...

5:50 If the world is gonna be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge these small matters, these smallest matters that are happening? We're not told what the matters are, we're just told that it's a disagreement. But he does he does indicate here that it's a that it's a small matter and and making that point that hey, one day you're gonna judge the world. Why don't you... Why can't you take it among yourselves right now to to settle these disputes among yourselves?

6:21 Verse three goes, it kind of... He's building on this whole matter. You know, we've got this we've got this situation where there's a disagreement and there's really kind of a mishandling of how the Corinthian believers are choosing to handle these things. He first says, he first says, you know, you're gonna you're gonna rule with Christ. You're gonna you're gonna judge in the future.

6:43 Verse three, know you not that you shall judge angels, right? You're gonna judge there's gonna be a judgment worldwide or or be able to judge the world. There's also gonna be angels to be judged. How much more than things pertaining to this life? So he's talking about a spiritual realm, a future day to come.

7:05 Why not be able to settle these matters here and now? Then look at verse four, the the... He continues on this on this thought. If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life and we'll say that's a reference to the temporal, then you set to judge them who are least esteemed in the church. I think he's making a reference here to what they were doing.

7:32 The least esteemed in the church, well, are people that aren't even here in the church, right? We don't regard the ones right here, the unjust or the unbeliever and they were they were taking their matters outside the church to someone why if you have these judgments, why are you taking em? Why are you taking these these things to be settled outside the church? And then verse five, says, I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise person among you?

8:03 Is there not, no one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? So you see how all this is kinda... These verses are are building on themselves or they're dealing with the same topic. Verse six, he comes out and says, but brother goes to law with brother and that, before the unbelievers. So, he he kinda works his way up and and and building on the same topic.

9:19 Okay? There's a disagreement, a dispute. That's the first problem we see. The second problem that we see is that they've chosen to go outside the church, go outside the local body to get some type of resolution on it, alright? That's the second problem.

9:37 Now, in verse seven and eight, he's gonna give us a a little bit of of a potential solution. There there's multiple solutions here. The second part of seven, why do you not rather take the wrong? That's a potential solution. To stop the fighting, take the wrong.

9:57 He's... He asked... Repeats the question in a different... A little different way. Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

10:04 The word defrauded means to be taken advantage of or to take a loss. Why why don't... That's one way to solve the issue. Nay, verse verse eight, nay, you do wrong and defraud and that your your brethren. Another is we're we're pointing out potential solutions.

10:27 One would be to take the wrong. The other obvious solution perhaps as we read through this would be don't go outside the church to handle the dispute, but rather handle it with among yourselves. Right? Handle it among among the church. Now, as we read through this passage, and we've kind of laid this just on this observation of of what he's dealing with right there.

10:54 I hope we're getting a little bit of a feel for it. I... I'd like to read you something here that, will be used as somewhat of an illustration, and it's the beginning of a novel. Alright? Not going to read the whole novel, so don't get don't get worried.

11:13 But the beginning of the novel to try to help illustrate some of the things that that Paul is dealing with in this chapter. When I left my office that beautiful spring day, I had no idea what was in store and what was about to happen to me. To begin with, everything was too perfect for anything unusual to happen. It was one of those kind of days when a man feels good, he feels like speaking to his neighbor. He's glad to live in a country like yours and he's proud of his government.

11:44 You know what I mean, one of those rare days when there's everything is going right, nothing is wrong. I was walking along whistling and I heard a dog fight. At first, I paid no attention to it. After all, it isn't anything to get excited about, just another dog fight in a residential section of town. As the sound grew nearer, I could tell that there were quite a few dogs mixed up in it.

12:07 They they bolted out of the alley and turned headed straight toward me. Not wanting to get bitten or run over, I I moved to the edge of the sidewalk. I could see that all the dogs were fighting one. About 25 feet from me, they caught the dog they were chasing and down he went. I felt so sorry for that unfortunate one.

12:30 I knew if something wasn't done quickly, the sanitation department would have to come and pick up a dead dog. I was trying to make up my mind to help or not to help when I got a surprise. Up out of that snarling, growling, slashing mess reared an old red bone hound. For a second, I saw him. I caught my breath.

12:53 I couldn't believe what I had seen. Twisting and slashing, he'd fought his way through the pack and backed up under a low low branch of hedges. Growling and snarling, they formed a half moon circle around him. A bird dog, bolder than the others, darted in. The head shook as they as they tangled with the hound.

13:15 The bird dog came out so fast he fell he fell back backwards. I saw that his right ear was split wide open. It was too much for this dog and he took off down the street squalling like a scalded cat. Then a big ugly Kerr tried his luck. He didn't get off so easy.

13:31 He came he came out with his shoulder laid open to the bone. He sat down on his rear and let the whole world know that he knew knew that he had been hurt. By this time, my fighting blood was boiling. It's hard for a man to stand and watch an old hound fight against such unrealistic odds, especially if he has memories in his heart like I have in mine. I had seen the time when an old hound like that had given his life so that I might live.

14:21 Memories. Let's talk about the first thing first. We got a dog fight going on. What's going on in first Corinthians chapter six? We got fighting going on.

14:34 Are there similarities? Yes. We say, what's the big deal about a dog fight? We, you know, in this situation it was won against several dogs. One dog was getting taken down.

14:48 One dog, the onlooker says, he's potentially going to be left for dead. The onlooker says, I want to help. There's a there's a compulsion. There's something in there saying, this is unfair. This is unjust and I want to step in.

15:02 I want to help. You know what? You and I experience these things in real life, right? In real life, in in family situations, in work situations, in church situations, we all experience the observation of somebody else doing wrong to another person. And and we we sometimes are the ones doing the wrong.

15:26 Sometimes knowingly, sometimes we're the bird dog. Right? The first to go in. Sometimes we're the guy that we think we can't be beat, we're going to go in. Sometimes, we're the guy fighting against unmeasurable odds.

15:39 So, all that, all that's happening. Paul writes to the Corinthian believers and says, you know what? You shouldn't be fighting. The dogs, they shouldn't have been fighting. Right?

15:55 I mean, come on. Can't we get along? Right? So fighting. Some sometimes it's serious, sometimes it's silly.

16:07 Right? And I don't know how much we'll get into that today, but I mean, there's a reason to fight. And so I'm not saying, please understand that. But what what he's drawing attention to is that there was disagreement, there was conflict, and really, if you think about it, we should be able to get along, right? We're told to preserve, to maintain, to keep the unity.

16:33 How good and pleasant is for for us to dwell together in unity. I'm to love my my neighbor. I'm to love my wife. I'm to love my enemy. So love is present.

16:50 And so like the love and fighting just don't kind of mix. Right? So the first thing is, let's avoid the fighting. Okay? There's a way to avoid it, and that's where these memories come in.

17:07 That's where I want to talk about memories for a minute. As as you read the story, as we as we started this story, this fella, he saw this red boned hound and it and it it triggered memories for him. In fact, he makes the statement, that he's he's compelled to help even more because he's got a memory, an affinity to to a dog much like this one. All of us have memories. Right?

17:40 All of us have memories. You got good memories, you got bad memories. So here here here's what we we maybe consider today with the passage that's before us. Paul is writing and says there's there's there's conflict. There's there's fighting among you, and and, you know, you're taking this outside the church and you're you're taking this before unjust judges.

18:13 As I as I talk about conflict, as I talk about family dispute, interpersonal disputes, whatever. As I say that, it jogs memories, right? It jogs memories for you. It jogs memories for all of us because we've all hit up against it, right? And most of those probably aren't so pleasant memories to have.

18:42 The dispute, the falling out, the contention. Now, maybe some of you are are like me and have a similar experience. I grew up in a Christian home. I went to a Christian school. Homeschooling wasn't popular, okay?

19:03 I mean, what can I say? But well, no matter how you're schooled, but I went to a Christian college. I studied finance at Liberty University and so one of the things as we evaluated or as it came up even in my studies, as it came up, should you sue or what do you do when you hit up against a problem? This principle, people would cite, First Corinthians chapter six, we shouldn't go to suit. We shouldn't go to lawsuit with another believer.

20:04 Right? He says, dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before the unjust? He doesn't say you made a mistake by going to the law. But but, know, do... And not before the saints.

20:23 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world and and if the if the world be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know you not that you shall judge angels, how much more the things pertaining to this life? If you then have the judgments of things pertaining to this life, the temporal we mentioned before, set them to judge set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. So really, when I when I was old enough, like I said, I described to you my college experience, when I was old enough to hit up against the thing where I could actually have an experience where I probably could have rightly sued somebody, you know, I I didn't take it lightly.

21:12 I I prayed about it and, you know, I probably recalled on some of my previous conditioning of like, hey, suing's bad. This is really serious. I go to sue an unbeliever, is or to go sue a believer, this a serious matter. And, you know, I concluded not to sue, right? But I think a further study of the passage would, you know, I chose that track, but a further study of the passage is I had more options available to me that I missed.

21:48 Right? I just, I really didn't, I overlooked them. While that principle is there that we don't sue a believer, you know, what could I have done? I could have taken it before the church. I didn't do that.

22:04 Right? It didn't say don't settle the matter. That would be an opportunity to settle the matter. I'm just curious here in in our group, being that we're brothers and sisters in Christ. And and we can feel a little bit of a comfort level.

22:28 Let's just do this for our own benefit, okay? And not trying to single anybody out and so I hope you don't feel that way. If I was gonna single somebody out, I would choose Jim. Alright? But I won't do that.

22:46 But think about this for just a minute, this little little exercise among among a group like ourselves. Can... Have you personally... Have you ever personally got into some type of a disagreement or argument or some type of a rift and brought it before the church to have it settled. Has anybody ever done that?

23:14 Missus Weeks, it's not a common thing. Right? I think that's the point Paul is trying to make. You are... Well, let me ask this question.

23:28 Has anybody got into a contention or an argument that would... That you couldn't settle by yourself? Raise your hand. Now, I want to see everybody's hand up on this one. Right?

23:39 I'm raising both of my hands. Ain't it true that we've all hit up against things in life that we could not handle or settle ourselves and we've probably... Well, let me just talk about me. Alright. Here's my tendency.

24:00 When I hit up against that, I just... It wasn't even on my radar to take it to the church, to have it settled. You know, he's writing this. What I get out of this passage is don't sue a believer. I missed altogether that I could have taken the matter before a church body and and been willing to abide by their assessment.

24:23 That's a good way to go. Now I know there's loopholes, okay? I know there's things that can knock this off the rails. But you know what? I think it says a lot that if we in a group of this number that we we don't experience this.

25:19 Don't you know that you're gonna that you're gonna judge angels, these principalities and and and host and spiritual beings? Don't you know that? Don't you know that you can rule? You can you could come up with an assessment? You can come up with a with a ruling?

25:36 Now, I said I was gonna draw your attention to memories. Right? Are there things are there things that we remember that we wish we would have handled differently? Right? Are there things we remembered that we wish we would have handled differently?

26:00 And and I'm... And let's let's just make it a little bit narrow. Are there things that we would... That we remember, that we recall to mind, that we have this memory of this memory of, that we would have handled differently in regard to a dispute or a disagreement? Thank you, Bob.

26:16 You're welcome. Appreciate that. Anything for you. Yeah. Alright.

26:19 So, and that that's potentially the case. This is this is where I love, you know, love the the scripture and the fact that, you know, we don't have to talk about we don't have to talk about the details of what the of what the memory was. You know, you could stand up and give testimony of how you were done wrong or or how you made this mistake or whatever the the settlement was and or or the the disagreement was. But let the lord right now just speak to your heart regarding, you know, you're thinking like, hey, I I recall this this time in my life. I I recall this circumstance, this personal experience, and I wish I would have handled that differently.

27:17 I wish I would have thought about the other options that were available to me to avoid broken relationships. Maybe I should have taken the wrong. Maybe I should have brought it to the local church. Maybe I should have taken it to court. I think all of those could have been viable options to bring a resolve to the matter.

27:43 Sometimes, we just leave it unresolved, dangling. It'll get better with time. You know? Don't believe that. Alright?

27:55 It will get better with resolution. And everything in scripture everything in scripture points back to having the matter resolved. And so as we as we look down through this, look at at verse nine. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Now what's he dealing with?

28:38 Back back in back in verse eight. You you've done wrong. You've defrauded, and that your brothers and sisters, your brethren. You've done wrong, and that is unrighteous. That is that is an unrighteous thing to do.

28:54 Be not deceived. And so in connection with that, he list... He gives us list of things that we may... We think we don't have issues with. Fornicators or idolaters, adulterers, infinite...

29:06 Infinite, the abusers of themselves. This is references to... Potential references to homosexuality. And it's it's wrong. Right?

29:17 Nor thieves, covetousness. Now he starts to hit closer to home that we potentially would issue... Deal with issues of covetousness nor drunkard... Drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners. These people shall not inherit the kingdom of god.

29:32 And so what he's saying here is that if if... As you continue in these things unrepentant, right, as you continue in these things unrepentant, then these are these are ones that are not following after god. They are not showing repentance. They're not showing evidence of a spiritual nature, but rather pursuing their own their own lust, their own their own things going away from god rather toward god. And so now look at verse 11.

30:02 This is this is making that connection back where I asked the question, what if we what if we think back in our own life and we think, boy, I mishandled that situation. I would like to do better next time. Look at verse 11, and such were some of you, but you're washed. You have been sanctified. You're now justified in the name of the lord Jesus by the spirit of our god.

30:28 You see, in this great that god allows for growth, he he can minister to each one of us in all of our individual circumstances. You know, and he he reminds us that before Christ, we were we were the unrighteous. We were the unjust. He also... This passage reminds us that even in Christ, we do some unrighteous things.

31:00 We do some unjust things. But we can look back the former things such were some of you. But now we can say, we can come to god and ask for help, ask for forgiveness, show repentance, and be be on a be on a track of growth, of forward, of of making progression. And so that's where we have the opportunity. Now, we can evaluate, particularly concerning what he's dealing with here.

31:32 As I as I experience my next disagreement. Maybe I can think, hey, wait a minute. The Corinthian church was experiencing some disagreements. I I've got like a new some new options to solve disputes. I've got some new options to to solve matters that that are gonna end up in just a broken or severed relationship.

31:58 We can we can enlist some of the things that he's trying to to bring out to the to these believers here. So we have we have these things that have... That he's that he's dealing with as we as we progress through the through the chapter. He he continues to say, well, let's see. We we read through verse 11.

32:24 Let's read the balance of the chapter and then and so we'll we'll we'll cover that. Because I don't wanna leave the next guy with chat... Was it Knight? It's gonna be... Dwight Knight's gonna cover chapter seven next week, you know.

33:06 I said before, you know, some of these things that we might consider them silly. Some of these things that that cause disputes, you know. You you've no doubt experienced times in your your own life when, you know, you hear about a a falling out in your family over your grandmother's clock or, you know, something just kinda bizarre, you know, or like you were supposed to go first. You know, your dad told you you could go first, but now he let your brother go first, and now there's an argument, you know, some of we say, oh, that's that's ridiculous. That's silly.

33:39 Get over it, you know. Then the other things are pretty serious. I mean, we could there's some pretty serious things that that cause division or contention and and so when he he says all all things are lawful, Right? And all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient. There's a principle I think here is that, like even if we have the right to do something, even if we have the right to do something, it doesn't always best serve the situation at hand or preserve a testimony for Christ.

34:16 We should evaluate what will bring the Lord the most glory in this situation. Is it for me to exercise my right or to withhold my right? And so, Paul starts stating some things here in in the chapter. He goes through, meats for the belly, verse 13, and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them. Again, kind of a reference to temporal things.

34:44 Now, you know, he hits hard on this this issue. In the previous chapters, he's been dealing with, fornication and he he starts to bring that back out. The body is not for fornication, but for the lord and and the lord for the body. God hath both raised up the lord and will also raise us up by his own power. Know you not that your that your bodies are members of Christ.

35:10 Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that that he which is joined to a harlot is one body? For the two he saith shall be one flesh.

35:26 But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What know you not that your body is a temple of the holy ghost, which is in you, which you which you have of god and you you are not your own. For you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

35:57 And so he he blends in this other topic of of really, some issues of of morality, that that are being brought up. But he makes this connection with unrighteousness. And then then he also, there there's a couple of things that that that that do surface. And and we noticed that he he noticed when he says all things are lawful, but I will not be I will not be brought under the power of any. I will not be brought under the power of any.

36:31 That's a reference to to the fact of you and I are to be controlled by the spirit. Right? We are indwelt by God's holy spirit, therefore we are be controlled by the spirit. Not to be brought under the control under any kind of vice. And again, you make the list.

36:49 You're gonna you're gonna you're gonna struggle with different type of vices than I'm gonna struggle with. You're gonna be tempted by different things than I'm gonna be tempted with. We're all different in that regard, but we're not to be under the control of anything else other than the holy spirit. And so, you know what? We're not even to under the control of disunity.

37:13 Right? Who are you serving when there's division? We're not under... To be under the control of of any other. The the concluding remarks that that he that he that he kinda ends the chapter with is where we'll we'll stop with here today.

37:34 What know ye not that your your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you are not of God and you're not your own. And that reminder that we've been bought with a price. We've been bought with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. Not only have we been we've been purchased. Right?

37:53 We we've been we've been purchased and we are his. There's a reference to to the fact that we are part of his body and that's another connection for the unity that we should experience. What if the what if the hand would wanna sue the foot and it would take it outside the body to settle the matter? Right? I mean, so, he he's saying that that you've been purchased.

38:20 I I've paid. I brought you into my family. I've I'm I'm creating a a bride, a church, a people for myself. And so, there... Therefore, glorify God.

38:35 Glorify God. Division, strife, contention doesn't bring God any kind of glory. Doesn't bring him any any kind of honor. It it it brings shame. And that's what Paul said.

39:26 Even people that we think would never do us harm, we we we get surprised. And so, father, we're praying today knowing that we all have a tendency to be the root of the problem, we all have the tendency to do wrong, we all have the tendency to set our attention on our self and not on that of others. We we just... We pray for for an understanding about how to not let matters, come to the point of, well, to be to be handled early. Right?

40:02 To be handled early so that they're... They don't come to a point of of creating that division. We pray for an understanding of the scripture and the direction that's given here that maybe we would have the wherewithal not to not to fight, not to even fight, that we would get along as brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray that we might have the understanding to know that if we can't handle it ourselves, that there's help and resources available to us. We pray that we would not mishandle our liberties, that we would that we would be before thee.

40:39 We're praying for being an ability to be spirit led. And father, we know that if we're spirit led, we would be able to benefit the body. We would be able to to bring honor and glory to to god our father. And so it it it... These things that we're praying for and asking for help with, we we pray these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

41:04 Amen.