1 Corinthians 6

May 2, 2012

Lawsuits Among Believers

Now Paul brings up another issue, and that was the taking of a brother before the pagan courts.

 ¹ If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? ² Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world?

Matthew 19:28  ²⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? ³ Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! ⁴ Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? ⁵ I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? ⁶ But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

Paul here declares that disagreeing Christians should not have to go to a secular court to resolve their differences.  As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ, so why should we turn to those who lack God’s wisdom?

 ⁷ The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

Matthew 5:39-40  ³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.

⁸ Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.

1Thessalonians 4:6  ⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.^[a] The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before

⁹ Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men^[a] (The word here in Greek is male prostitutes.)

a) effeminate (KJV)

1) of a catamite

2) of a boy kept for homosexual relations with a man

3) of a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness

4) of a male prostitute

nor men who practice homosexuality (ESV)

nor those who make women of themselves, nor who abuse themselves with men, (Darby Translation)

  ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul, writing to the Galatians in chapter 5, declares, "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh which are manifest are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft [which is in the Greek pharmachia, the use of drugs], hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of the which I've told you before, as I've also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:17-21).

¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed (by the blood), you were sanctified (by His death, SET APART), you were justified (by His resurrection) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (NOT GUILTY!)

Though that may have been a part of your past life, that's where it should be, in the past life. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation, and the old things are passed away. But what do we say if the old things are not passed away? Don't be deceived. Do not be deceived in taking the grace of God as a cloak for lasciviousness, thinking, "Because the grace of God is covering my life, I can live as I please after the flesh."

Matthew 7:13-14  ¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  Beware then," He said, "of false prophets." Right after warning about these two gates. "Beware of false prophets, who will be there as wolves in sheep's clothing" (Matthew 7:15). The false prophets who say, "Hey, it doesn't matter. God loves everybody. It doesn't matter how you live." Beware of false prophets.

Sexual Immorality

 ¹² “Everything is permissible for me”—

That is a very, very broad statement. It is as about as broad an ethic as any man could ever express. The Epicurean philosophy came close to it; they said, "All things are lawful for me if they bring me pleasure." It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it brings me pleasure it's all right to do. So you talk to them about some horrible thing you did, "Well, did you enjoy it?" "Oh, yes." "Well, it's all right as long as it brought you pleasure."

but not everything is beneficial.

Look, as a child of God I'm to be a goal-oriented person. My goal is to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is by the law, but the righteousness which is of Christ through faith. My goal, one day I'm going to stand before Jesus Christ, and you are going to stand before Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive for the things that we have done while we are in these bodies, to receive the rewards for our faithfulness for our stewardship in our lives, what I have done for the Lord. Because I have only one life and it soon will be past, and only what I do for Jesus Christ is going to last.

And I'm going to stand before Him to receive the things done in my body. My works will be judged by fire, what sort they were. And my goal is that when I stand before Jesus in that day of judgment, He will look upon me and say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in a few things, now enter into the joy of the Lord. I'll make you ruler over Kauai.

1 Corinthians 10:23  The Believer’s Freedom - ²³ “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 

“Everything is permissible for me”— but I will not be mastered by anything ¹³ You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?

Romans 12:5  ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”^[b]

Genesis 2:24  ²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.  (Matthew 19:5, Ephesians 5:31)

¹⁷ But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

John 17:21-23  ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The Message version: ^20-23 I'm praying not only for them but also for those who will believe in me because of them and their witness about me.    The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—  Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so they might be one heart and mind with us.  Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.   The same glory you gave me, I gave them, so they'll be as unified and together as we are— I in them and you in me.   Then they'll be mature in this oneness, and give the godless world evidence that you've sent me and loved them in the same way you've loved me.

 ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality.

Hebrews 13:4  ⁴ Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

Romans 6:12  ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

Paul, writing to Timothy, said, "Flee youthful lust. Run from them, Timothy."

Oh, God help us to run from temptation, to be like Joseph who, when Potiphar's wife grabbed hold of him and said, "You're going to go to bed with me," wriggled loose and ran naked out of the house rather than to succumb to her charms. God help us to flee sexual temptation and sexual immorality! Amen?!

All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. ¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

Romans 14:7-8  ⁷ For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. ⁸ If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Revelation 5:9  ⁹ And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

"Don't you realize this?" Paul said. Your body is the temple, and again, this is the Greek word naos, which is the Holy of Holies. It's the dwelling place of God. It's a place of divine activity. It's not the hieron, the whole temple precinct. It's the naos, the inner sanctuary. Your body is the inner sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, which you have of God. You are not your own.

That's what redemption is all about. You see, I was a slave to sin. I was a slave to my own flesh. I did those things because I was bound by my flesh. But Jesus Christ set me free, free so that I don't have to do those things anymore. And my body, which I once abused, I now offer to Him as the instrument through which He might work, the temple in which He might dwell. And thus, it becomes a holy place, a sanctuary.

Table Talk Questions

1.      “but I will not be mastered by anything.”   Reflect on that verse, what’s it mean to you?

2.      How’s your Holy of Holies?  In need of a little spring cleaning?

What do you need prayer for that seeks to master you? Spend time in prayer for your brothers.

1 Corinthians 5

Dealing With a Case of Incest

 1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning...   (Or grieved over this condition that was existing.)

Leviticus 18:8

 ⁸ “‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father.

Deutoronomy 22:30  ³⁰ A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.

As bad as the sin itself was, Paul was more concerned that the Corinthian Christians seemed to take the sin lightly, and they were unconcerned (have not rather mourned) about this behavior.

 ...and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?

Clearly, this was Paul’s solution to the problem – to take this notoriously unrepentant man away from the protection of the fellowship of God’s people. Yet, the Corinthian Christians were not doing this. Why not? How could this kind of thing be allowed?

Remember that Corinth was a city notorious for sexual immorality, and the pagan religions did not value sexual purity. It wasn’t hard for a Corinthian to think you could be religious, yet still act any way you pleased when it came to sex. Greek culture could matter-of-factly say: “Mistresses we keep for the sake of pleasure, concubines for the daily care of the body, but wives to bear us legitimate children.”

 ³ For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. ⁴ So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, ⁵ hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

I TIMOTHY 1:20  ²⁰ Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

How could they deliver such a one to Satan? By putting him outside the church, into the world, which is the devil’s “domain.” The punishment is a removal of spiritual protection and social comfort, not an infliction of evil.

Jesus said that if your brother sinned against you, that you should go to your brother and deal with him. And if he receives you then you have gained a brother. But if he will not receive you, then you should take some witnesses with you and you should go to him in order that the sin might be dealt with. But if he will not receive then the witnesses, let him be as an outcast, let him be as a heathen or a publican unto you.

The first thought always of the brother in sin within the church is restoration, going first seeking to restore, seeking to bring about a rectifying of the bad situation.

The fact that so many can leave many churches without a second thought shows how weak those churches really are. Shouldn’t they be places a person under discipline, put outside the fellowship, would miss?

But doesn’t also say something about a Christian if they can willingly neglect the assembling together of the saints – and prefer their isolation?

The goal of the discipline is clear: the salvation, not the destruction, of his spirit. Though this man’s conduct was clearly sinful, and needed severe correction, Paul does not write him off as forever lost – the effective use of church discipline may yet see him to salvation.

Galatians 6

 ¹ Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

 ⁶ Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? ⁷ Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are.

Matthew 16:6, 12  ⁶ “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”   ¹² Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Leaven is used in the scripture always in an evil sense. Because the leavening process is actually a putrefying process, the air that gets into it by the rotting process. And a little starter into the new batch of dough will work its way through the whole batch of dough. A little leaven will leaven the whole lump.

And it is such a classic picture of sin, how that just allowing, tolerating, a little area of evil, it can permeate the whole life of the body. It can affect the whole body.

… For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Exodus 12:14-15  ¹⁴ “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance. ¹⁵ For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 

As we meet together, let us meet together in sincerity, let us meet together in truth, let us worship together in sincerity and truth. Let us love one another in sincerity and truth. Within the body of Christ, we should not have the malice; we should not have the strife, the wickedness, but there should be a purity of heart before the Lord when we gather together to worship Him.

2 CORINTHIANS??!!

Now Paul refers to an epistle that he wrote to the Corinthians which we do not possess. So we call this I Corinthians, but it really is II Corinthians or maybe even more. We do not know how many letters Paul wrote to them. But he does refer to a letter that he had already written to them.

 ⁹ I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—

Ephesians 5:11  ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

¹⁰ not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister^[c] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

2 Thesalonians 3:6, 14  Warning Against Idleness

 ⁶ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching^[a] you received from us.

In the culture of that day (and in many cultures today), eating with someone is an expression of friendship and partnership. In some cultures, if a man eats at your table, you are bound to regard him as a friend and a partner. Paul is warning the Corinthian Christians they cannot continue in Christian fellowship with a notorious sinner who calls himself a Christian.

 ¹² What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ¹³ God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

Church Discipline

Taken from Life Application Bible, NIV Translation

Steps  (Matthew 18:15-17)

1.      Go to the brother or sister, show the fault to him or her in private.

2.      If he/she does not listen, go with one or two witnesses.

3.      If he/she refuses to listen, take the matter before the church.

After these steps have been carried out, the next steps are:

1.      Remove the one in error from the fellowship  (1 Corinthians 5:2-13)

2.      The church gives united disapproval, but forgiveness and comfort are in order if he/she chooses to repent  (2 Corinthians 2:5-8)

3.      Do not associate with the disobedient person; and, if you must, speak to him/her as one who needs a warning  (2 Thessalonians 3:14, 15)

4.      After two warnings, reject the person from the fellowship  (Titus 3:10)

TABLE QUESTIONS

1.       HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN A CHURCH THAT HAD TO DISCIPLINE A MEMBER?  WAS THE PERSON RESTORED?  DID THE CHURCH FOLLOW SOMETHING CLOSE TO THE ABOVE  METHOD?  WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME? WHY?