Chapter 6 is all about unrighteousness, what a patter of sin says about our salvation, and the importance of rejecting sin in our lives. It extends the discussion in chapter 5 about how churches must deal with sin inside the church rather than tolerating, celebrating, or ignoring it.

It begins with financial sin – cheating one another and failing to settle disputes in a Christ-like or Christ-obedient manner. Then it addresses broad categories of sin that believers indulged in prior to coming to faith, before concluding (next week) with a particular focus on sexual sin.

Tonight’s discussion will address some topics of particular sensitivity and controversy within the church in 21st century Corinth – Satan is using these issues to rip churches and families apart, drive people away from the Word of God, and drive people away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How we handle these issues will be critical to the survival of the church in America!

Following Christ in 21st Century Corinth – Week 7

presented 17 October 2018

1 Corinthians 6: 1-11

AUDIO

Lecture Handout

Handout Week 7

Lesson Notes

Lawsuits in the Church  (1 Corinthians 6: 1-8)

  • Chapter 5 ended with discussion about judging others within the church, and our responsibility to do so.
  • Verse 1 – There’s an issue of not looking within the church for help settling a dispute
    • When there’s a grievance, “does he dare go to the law”
    • Based on verses 7-8, Paul is probably describing financial/property issues – lawsuits, fraud, etc.
    • Not a prohibition on calling the police in the event of a crime (Romans 13)!
    • They should not go before unbelievers in court rather than going within the church for help resolving their dispute
    • Jesus gave us all we need for Christian conciliation through His word and the example of His life
      • I shared Matthew 18 last week on confronting and reconciling sin
      • Philippians 2: 3-8 addresses how Christians ought to negotiate settlements and resolve disagreements with consideration for others’ interests
  • Verses 2-3 – The saints will judge the world
    • So saints are competent to handle worldly cases
    • We will judge angels – not a lot of explanation in Scripture, we take at face value
    • Remember, we reign with Christ – Ephesians 2: 6
  • Verses 4-6
    • Why lay cases before people who aren’t under the authority of the church?
    • An inability to handle our own disputes demonstrates a lack of love and disunity
    • The opposite of John 13: 34-35
    • Paul is intentionally writing to shame them into changing their behavior
      • Christian mediation -> Christian arbitration
  • Verse 7 – The mere presence of lawsuits in the church should break our hearts
    • It represents a total failure of fellowship – a defeat for the body of Christ!
    • It’s better to choose to be wronged in this life – following the example of Christ
    • Err on the side of suffering unjustly to glorify God
    • That’s more important than “getting what you deserve,” which is condemnation for any of us!
  • Verse 8 – Worse, they are actively seeking to wrong and defraud one another

The Issue of Ongoing Sin (1 Corinthians 6: 9-11)

  • These verses touch on very sensitive issues
  • But we cannot shy away – we need to address these honestly, graciously, and in a manner that glorifies God
  • Chapter 5 already talked about the corrosive effects of permitting sin to go on within the church
  • Verses 9-10 – The unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God
    • That’s a basic theological truth – but we must  hold it in context – none are righteous, not one!
    • But we must not be deceived into thinking that excuses ongoing sin, which is what Paul is addressing here
    • there will be confusion and attempted deception, both inside the church and outside, and we see that with respect to two items within this sin list: sexual immorality and homosexuality
    • These are the wedge issues being used by Satan to attack and divide the church by redefining sin altogether, as he always has
    • And being used to hold faithful Christians back from ministering the gospel to people who desperately need to hear it!
    • This is an interesting sin list – it uses nouns based on behaviors, it’s describing people by their habitual behaviors and actions
    • So this isn’t about occasional slip-ups for which a person repents appropriately, but about habitual ways of life
    • Sexual immorality – porneia – is any sexual expression outside of marriage between a husband and wife. Pornography, adultery (called out separately), and fornication. Broadly any of the heterosexual sin that the modern church is often slow to call out, even when we’re vociferous about homosexual sin!
    • Idolaters – worshippers of anything we place above God. We’re constantly having to battle this – Calvin: the human heart is an idol factory!
    • Adulterers
    • Men who practice homosexuality – the language here references both men engaged in a homosexual act, there is no getting around the point Paul makes
    • Thieves
    • Greedy – a form of idolatry that’s particularly infectious in modern America!
    • Drunkards – alcoholism, substance abuse more generally
    • Revilers – gossips, attackers of others, verbally abusive, poison tongues
    • Swindlers – defrauding others
  • They will not inherit the Kingdom of God – if these things are your habit, you clearly haven’t accepted Christ’s Lordship over your life, you’re clearly out of God’s will and design for human flourishing – you remain condemned to separation from God
  • 1 John 1: 5-10, 3: 3-10
  • There’s no hierarchy in these sins – they’re all damning sins, none are better or worse
  • If you’re in these, you aren’t in Christ
  • These aren’t context-sensitive – the prohibition on thieving, reviling, or greed isn’t limited to a special category of people in Corinth 2000 years ago
    • Neither are any of the others, including homosexuality
    • No matter how much some people wish these were contextual
  • But you cannot, in good conscience, rattle on about verses 9 and 10 without IMMEDIATELY proceeding to verse 11, which is the GOSPEL
  • Verse 11 – And such were some of you
    • What wonderful words of encouragement and hope!!!
    • Each of these sins is forgiveable!
    • The Corinthian Christians came from these backgrounds and ugly histories
    • But you were washed, sanctified, and justified in Christ and by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3: 5)
    • Total forgiveness, and right-standing with God
    • That’s what makes us righteous and distinguishes us from the unrighteous in verse 9 – not our good behavior, but the work of Jesus Christ, accepted by faith
    • That hope is available to every single person in the world, regardless of their current habits, practices, lifestyles, or self-identification, and we need to be offering that hope indiscriminately
    • All of us were sinners and sin is sin – there are no bigger or smaller sins
  • Only Christ makes us righteous
    • But there should be change in our lives after we accept Christ – genuine repentance and turning away from sin
    • Yes, we might fall sometimes, but  Scripture is clear: you really can’t believe Christ while happily embracing the sin He died to free you from!
  • This means we must be honest, loving, and sensitive toward t hose who don’t yet know Christ
    • Yes, they’re different, yes, they sin, but so did we!
    • We aren’t better people, Christ changed us
    • Our sin wasn’t less -> it nailed Christ to the cross just as firmly as someone else’s sin, so stop thinking about special classes of sins!
    • As Christians we must turn away from and reject sin in our lives, whether it’s adultery, greed, fraud, or homosexual acts
    • Note that homosexuality is on par with heterosexual sin and financial crimes
      • To deal effectively with the challenges of the LGBTQ revolution, we must treat all these sins consistently rather than singling out the sins we particularly don’t like while turning a blind eye to the ones we enjoy
      • Nonetheless, we can’t soft peddle, back away from, or explain away the clear intent of these verses
      • Every item on this list is a flat out, bald-faced, unqualified sin
    • With respect to the sexual items on this list – since that’s the hot topic of the day
      • Celibacy is the biblical mandate for anyone not married to a person of the opposite sex
      • You don’t have to flip a switch and become heterosexual, you don’t have to run off and get married
      • The opposite of any sexual sin isn’t heterosexual sin – the opposite of sin is to live in greater holiness and commitment to Christ

 

Discussion Questions

  1. How do we move Christians away from the litigious mindset that characterizes many Americans in 2018?
  2. How should individual Christians engage with their neighbors who are unmarried and living together or who are practicing homosexuals?
  3. How should the church respond when a homosexual couple comes in to worship?
  4. Should a church permit a practicing homosexual to join?

Next Week

1 Corinthians 6: 12-20