In 1991, terrorists
hijacked a Bar Association charter flight. The terrorists issued a press
release that said that until their demands were met, they would release
1 lawyer per hour.
Ken Morley, a burly construction worker, watched in horror as a heavy
beam fell from the crane and landed on a well-dressed passerby. Morley
rushed to the victim, carefully removed the beam and said, "Are you
badly hurt?" "How should I know?" snapped the victim, "I'm a doctor,
not a lawyer."
The following is an actual transcript from a real trial: "Doctor, before
you did the autopsy on Mr. Dennington, did you check for a pulse? No.
Did you check his blood pressure? No. Did you check to see if he was
still breathing? No. So, then it is possible that the patient was alive
when you began the autopsy? No. How can you be so sure, Doctor? Because
his brain was setting on my desk in a jar. But could the patient have
still been alive nevertheless? It is possible that he could have been
alive and practicing law in this particular case."
The reason we laugh at jokes and stories about lawyers is because those
who once practiced what used to be considered one of the most honored
profession have become some of the least trusted people in the world.
Part of the reason for that is because of all the crazy lawsuits that
are going on in our nation. The church of Corinth was experiencing the
same thing-v. 1.
This is not the happy family Jesus intended his church to be. Paul couldn't
believe that the people were putting self on center stage to the point
that the desires of self were pushing aside the love of Christ, along
with the unity of the Spirit. When that happens it's only a matter of
time before the church characterizes the nature of the old man instead
of the new creation we are in Christ. As we see in this passage, the
nature of the old man was being manifested in the fact that the members
of the church were suing each over trivial matters.
The word "dispute" shows that the type of cases Paul is referring to
here have to do more with matters over property or possessions then
the types of things that would be considered criminal cases. Since Paul
uses this word we need to make sure that we don't misconstrue Paul's
statement to where we think that it is never right for a Christian to
use the courts at all. In fact, as we see in the Book of Acts, Paul
used the court system to ensure that he got to Rome. There are cases,
especially as it relates to criminal behavior, where it is out of the
hands of the body of Christ to be able to settle the problems.
What happens if a believer is abusing his/her spouse either emotionally
or physically? Not only may that individual have to be ex-communicated
from the church, but it also may be prudent for the other spouse, in
order to protect themselves, to contact the authorities and have a restraining
order issued. Also, if a child is being sexually or physically abused,
the police have to be notified.
But, there are also cases where criminal behavior is not the issue.
For example, even believers are not exempt from the issue of divorce.
I'm not condoning divorce, but if the two parties will not reconcile,
and they decide to separate permanently, it's out of the hands of the
church and it now becomes a legal problem the courts have to deal with.
Or suppose a Christian family has a swimming pool and at a youth group
party one of the teenagers slips and gets hurt. Even though the family
who owns the pool has liability insurance, the insurance company won't
pay unless they are sued. I don't believe Paul would say that there
is anything wrong with filing a lawsuit against the family, because
in actuality the suit is against the insurance company.
To bring some of this problem of bringing fellow-believers to court
into perspective, we need to understand the judicial system in the Greek
world at the time this letter was written. For most Jews this would
not have been a problem. To them justice was far more a thing to be
settled in a family spirit than in a legal spirit. God, during the Exodus,
set up the principle of settling things before a group of elders.
But this wasn't the case with the Greeks. In fact, litigation had become
a form of entertainment. They were just as fascinated by the proceedings
of the legal system as we are today. Which is why we have so many TV
shows about police & lawyers. During those day, since they didn't have
any TV, they would go to court and watch real life Law & Order. In fact,
if a Corinthian had a day off, he would go to the courthouse and sit
in on the proceedings.
In those days, the parties would first try to settle a dispute through
private arbitration. Each person would tell their side of the story
to 2 neutral arbitrators. If they couldn't work it out, then they took
the dispute to court, where the case would be tried in open court before
2 randomly picked arbitrators. If that failed, the case went before
a jury that was composed of from several hundred to several thousand
jurors. And since very citizen over the age of 30 was subject to serving
as an arbitrator or a juror, most of the Corinthians would have been
involved in legal proceeding.
It is not hard to see how this issue is relevant in our lawsuit-happy
society. In one of my seminary classes a lawyer came and talked to us
about the legal matters that the church faced. He told us that every
year there are more lawyers graduating from law school than there are
already in practice. And guess what's the main area of law they are
learning? Litigation! Scary, isn't it?
Our national motto has changed from "In God we trust" to "See you in
court!" Schools are being sued by students because they didn't study
hard enough to get a good education. Victims are being sued by criminals
because they got hurt in the commission of a crime on their property.
MacDonald's is being sued because their coffee is hot.
Not surprisingly, Christians are being caught up in this frenzy of lawsuits
as well. In the past several years there have been numerous examples
of parishioners suing their church for being disciplined. Numerous pastors
have sued their church for wrongful termination. Church members are
suing their denominations over who owns the building and property when
they decide to slit away from the denomination. And Christian musicians
are suing churches for using copyrighted songs, that the musicians say
God gave to them, without permission or payment of royalties.
In order to move us out of the realm of the courthouse, Paul takes us
into the realm of the future. First, Paul tells us that one day we will
help Jesus settle disputes and keep the peace during His Millennial
Reign-v. 2.
During the thousand year reign of Christ, there are going to those who
were saved during the Great Tribulation who will start to repopulate
the earth. Not only will those people still have their sin nature, but
so will their children who are born during that time. This means that
there will still be the tendency to rebel against God's authority. But,
in God's sovereign plan, he is going to use you & me to help Jesus to
ensure that the peace he brings to this earth during those days will
stay in tact.
This is huge because for the most part none of us will ever reach any
kind of social status during our lifetime. None of us will probably
ever do anything for God that will make us a household name. But there
is coming a day when we will sit in power over those who may now be
some of the most famous & influential people of our world. Perhaps we
can one day say to Donald Trump: "You're fired!"
Not only are we going to rule along side of Jesus during his Millennial
Reign, but one day we are going to make up the jury of God's Supreme
Court as all of the fallen angels are finally brought to justice-v.
3. Since Paul doesn't use a definite article before the word angel,
it probably means that the angels he is talking about are the fallen
angels. If he had used a definite article it would have meant that the
angels he is talking about are superior to the rest of the angels. And
we know that in God's mind, the fallen angels aren't more superior to
those who remained loyal to him. So what Paul is saying to us is that
one day in the future, we will have a part in judging the devil and
the fallen angels.
Won't it be great to cast a vote to send the angel to the Lake of Fire
who planted an evil thought in someone's mind that caused that person
to want to do you harm? Won't it be great to cast a vote to send the
angel to the Lake of Fire who planted an evil thought in your children's
minds that caused them to rebel against all you taught them? Won't it
be great to cast a vote to send the angel to the Lake of Fire who whispered
lies into your mind that caused you to doubt God's love for you, or
that caused you to doubt your own importance in God's kingdom?
And won't it be great to cast a vote to send Satan to the Lake of Fire
for all the pain & suffering he caused you to go through? Every financial
setback you've experienced, every ache & pain you've had to endure from
physical sickness, every heartache you've suffered from broken relationships
or rebellious kids, are all because Satan was successful in introducing
sin into the world.
I'm sure that when Paul wrote these words he had in mind the vision
that Daniel had when he saw as the "Thrones were put in place, and the
Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair
of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels
a burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him.
A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. And
judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came
that the saints possessed the kingdom." (Daniel
7:9-10; 22)
The members of the court, the saints that Daniel saw are you & me. Paul
believes that since we're going to be given such a tremendous privilege
in the age to come then surely we can handle the disagreements that
arise in the body of Christ in this present world-v. 4-5.
This is the 1st time Paul has used such strong language in this letter.
Previously, he has praised them for being saints. He has bragged about
their zeal for the lost. He has boasted about the gifts of the Spirit
they have been given. But now he says that he is ashamed of them for
not looking internally for someone to help them handle the problems
that were going on within the family. Paul is of the opinion that even
the dumbest believer is more competent to make judgments on disputes
between church members than even the dream team of Johnny Cochran &
F. Lee Bailey can come up with.
Now usually when one contemplates a lawsuit, he makes sure he obtains
the best lawyer money can buy. Often little attention is paid to the
attorney's character or ethics, because everyone knows the ultimate
result often depends more upon his cleverness, oratory skills, and experience,
than upon the legitimacy of the case. Johnny Cochran was able to convince
a jury that O.J. was innocent with the simple phrase, "If it don't fit,
you must acquit!" However, biblical justice does not focus upon cleverness
or oratorical skill or emotional manipulation, but rather upon truth
and fairness.
The point Paul is making is that even if a person isn't a legal scholar,
if he will seek out the wise counsel of God's Word & God's Spirit, he
will find the wisdom he needs to make sound, biblical decisions. In
fact, he will make wiser decisions than even the most brilliant legal
scholar of the day who is devoid of divine truth. We know this is true
by simply looking at what's happening in our nation today.
Some of the supposedly most brilliant legal minds in the world have
stated that abortion is not murder but simply the exercise of a woman's
right over her body. They are saying that homosexual marriages should
be allowed. They are saying that they can't tell whether or not something
is obscene. The supposedly most brilliant legal minds in the world are
passing laws, that if we don't stand up against them, might just cause
God to remove his hand of blessing & protection from our nation.
Since we have these kinds of idiots passing judgment, Paul says that
it is a lot smarter to look within the body of Christ to settle our
disputes. Furthermore, Paul knows that when it comes to believers taking
each other to court, there is no winner. Sure, someone may win the case
in the court of the land, but they will lose in the court of heaven.-v.
6-8.
Think of what happens when a person goes to court and wins. Generally
he ends up resentful that he didn't get more, or he is arrogant because
he won. From start to finish the process is a grim, bitter, analytical
battle of wills and wit, and even when it's over, the offense is still
there. There may be momentary happiness as the "spoils of victory" are
divided, but while the head swells, the heart hardens.
You seen this on the People's Court or Judge Judy? The two sides are
interviewed after the judgment is made, and rarely do they speak or
even look at one another. And those are just small claims! Multiply
that by the seriousness of the issues and the size of the judgments
sought in modern lawsuits, and you can understand the bitterness and
hatred the courtroom produces.
Paul says there is a better way for believers, look at the end of v.
7.
The way Paul suggests is in complete agreement with the teachings of
Jesus. Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and
tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone
wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to
the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to
borrow from you." (Matthew
5:38-42)
Jesus also said, "If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and
if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in
a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,'
you shall forgive him." (Luke
17:3-4)
If you are going to live by these principles then you've got to see
that as a Christian your rights are not as important as your responsibilities.
Our nation is going down the toilet because it is being preached that
everybody has their rights. And if our rights are violated, we will
take you to court.
If you yield your rights, and focus more on upholding your responsibilities,
the Bible promises that your heavenly Father will look after your rights.
After all, God is in control. He is the owner of the cattle on a thousand
hills. And since he is, then we don't really need to break our necks
trying to protect our rights, our property, and our reputations, because
God can and will take care of all that for us. Frankly, I don't know
of any truth harder for most of us to believe and live by than this
one.
But the Bible gives us a story out of Abraham's life that provides a
beautiful example of how this works. Abraham had a dispute with another
believer and decided that it was better to be wronged than to demand
his rights. Here's the story: "Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram,
also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support
them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great.
And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot.
So Abram said to Lot, 'Let's not have any quarreling between you and
me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the
whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll
go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left.'" (Genesis
13:5-9)
Lot chose the best land and Abraham was left with the hill country of
Canaan. Abraham could have complained that since he was older he had
rights to the best land. But he was willing to forgo his rights for
the sake of unity.
But that's not the end of the story. Look at what God did to correct
the wrong doing: "The Lord said to Abram, 'Lift up your eyes from where
you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you
see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your
offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count
the dust, then your offspring could be counted.'" (Genesis
13:14)
I don't know anyone who is a descendant of Lot today. But the descendants
of Abraham are everywhere. Abraham didn't lose anything by giving up
his rights, instead he actually gained a great deal. I don't know of
any reason to believe why God doesn't still operate that way today.
Let me close by saying that our key concern is not to protect our rights,
but to preserve our relationship with the Lord Jesus, and those who
make up his body. God wants us to see that is far better to lose financially
or emotionally than it is to lose spiritually. It is far better to live
as though eternity was a reality, and today is just a breath, then it
is to live as though today is a reality and eternity is just a myth.
If we can only start living in light of eternity, then we can let things
go because we know that one day all accounts will be settle.
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