1 Corinthians 6:1-9 (NIV)
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? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 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? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!
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? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.
Another of the issues in the Corinthian Church that shows that things have stalled is lawsuits among the believers. Paul is completely dismayed by this, because it points not only to a lack of unity in the church, but a lack of maturity and righteousness among the believers, and it results in severe damage to the reputation and witness of Jesus.
Paul is scandalized that disagreements between believers are not settled quickly and in love before they grow and cause damage. But even more scandalous in his eyes as the fact that those disagreements are being taken before pagan judges for resolution! He wonders aloud how it is that those who will one day sit in judgment over the world and over angels are not capable of judging disputes between believers.
Paul’s solution is simply to stop this nonsense. If two believers have a dispute, even the least significant Christian in the Church should have enough wisdom by the Holy Spirit to settle the matter. So, nothing in the church should ever be taken before a pagan judge.
Paul goes one step further. Instead of taking the matter before a court of the pagan Roman Empire, it would be better to simply drop the matter, to simply be wronged or cheated, and move on, leaving the final resolution in God’s hands, for He sees all things that are done and will hold the guilty accountable.
But instead of that faith-full and godly attitude, the people of the church are letting things escalate and spiral out of control until lawsuits are filed, and the cause of Christ sullied. Paul had a hard time grasping the depths to which the people of the Church had fallen to allow those kind of things to go on.
Father, a lot of this kind of division and anger in the ranks seems to come from the Church forgetting who we are. We are not “mere men” (1 Corinthians 3:3) who have been saved and now must simply live out our lives until we wash up on heaven shores. We are people who have been transformed from mere human beings into genuine saints of God, filled and indwelt by Your Holy Spirit, and acting as Your representatives here on earth, tasked with doing the work of Your kingdom until we arrive victorious at heaven’s gates with scores of souls arriving in our wake, the fruit of our labors. When we understand who we are, that will go a long way toward keeping us on track, and not letting ourselves get caught up in petty squabbles and side issues, while souls all around us are sliding unhindered into hell. Help us, Lord, to see ourselves as we truly are, for Your name’s sake. Amen.