This week, we are asking a fundamental question: should Christians sue other Christians? Should followers of Jesus file lawsuits against one another? Is it ever O.K. for one Christian to take legal action against another Christian? And who wins when one Christian sues another Christian?
In a section of a letter to a church that we have been looking at recently, we see that a man named Paul had a lot to say about this issue of Christians suing Christians. In 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, Paul explains to the members of the church at Corinth, and to us today, that when Christians take other Christians to court by filing civil lawsuits that appear before nonchristians, we reveal four things about our day to day lives as Christians.
Yesterday we discovered that when we take one another to court before nonchristians, we reveal a faulty family. Paul then continues by explaining to the church at Corinth, and us today, that Christians filing lawsuits against Christians reveals a faulty perspective:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Paul introduces a third well known and generally accepted fact in the form of another rhetorical question: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? In other words, Paul is reminding the members of the church that those who act in an unjust or crooked way before God instead of acting in a way that is right before God reveal the reality that they have a faulty perspective as to their place as part of the kingdom of Heaven.
Paul then encourages the members of the church at Corinth not to be deceived or mistaken in their judgment so as to have a faulty perspective that would cause them to be moving away from instead of closer to the kingdom of God by unpacking the practices that reveal the reality of a life that is moving in the wrong direction through unchristian behavior with a list.
In this list, Paul includes worshiping something other than God as God, which is idolatry. In addition, Paul explains that those who practice sexual intercourse outside of marriage, which he refers to as fornication, or those who are unfaithful to his or her spouse by having sex with others in addition to their spouse are acting in a crooked or unjust manner. Paul then states that homosexual behavior, whether as the one who is the passive participant, which is what the word effeminate means, or as the dominant role in the relationship are deceiving themselves. The person who steals from others or who desires more than they are due is headed in the wrong direction. In addition, the abusive person, either verbally or through alcohol reveals the reality that through their unchristian behavior have not come into possession of their place as part of the kingdom of Heaven.
Now here can be our tendency when we look at a list like this in the Bible; we can tend to pick out particular sins on this list and focus on those sins as being especially heinous and offensive. The reality, however is that engaging in an unrepentant lifestyle that is marked by any of the behaviors on this list could very well mean that you have deceived yourself into thinking that you are right with God when in fact you are not right with God. And all of the behaviors on this list can result in civil lawsuits being filed against one another.
Paul then explains that many of the members of the church at Corinth used to live a lifestyle that was marked by such behavior. However, as a result of God’s gracious and generous activity in their lives through Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, they had been purified from their selfishness and sin and had been set apart as belonging to God. The members of the church of Corinth had been be declared not guilty and made pure as a result of believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.
And because of the reality of what Christ had done for them to bring them the forgiveness of their sin and the relationship with God that they were created for, Paul was calling them to live out the reality of their relationship with God in their relationship with one another. Instead of being a community that was marked by conflict and lawsuits that failed to reflect Christ and advance the kingdom mission they were given, the church is to be a community that is marked by the transforming grace of God that results in a life that is marked by the pursuit of unity and faithfulness to God and one another in community.
So what does you relationship with others reveal about your perspective? What does the church reveal about its perspective when it is involved in conflict? What needs to change so that the church can have the perspective that reflects the unity and faithfulness to God and one another?
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