Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 6-7
Meditation Verses: 6:8-10
Thought
Believers should never have cause to sue one another, whether inside the church or outside of it. On the one hand, we should not be taking advantage of or defrauding each other. On the other hand, we should not so love our rights and our possessions that we would care if we are taken advantage of or defrauded. So any time we do find ourselves taking each other to court, whether in the church or outside of it, it is a sign and should be a warning that we love the things of things of this world more than the things of God. Paul warns that the covetous, thieves, revilers and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God, just as surely as drunkards, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, the effeminate and homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom. All of these things and anything else God considers evil should have been put off by those who belong to Christ. Anyone who still practices these things will not enter into God's kingdom, but eternal torment. That is a sobering truth! A believer who walks away from a fellowship because someone cheated him or her, or did some other evil thing, is just as in danger of judgment as the one who did the wrong, he values his rights more than the holiness of the people of God. There should be no suing, nor should there be cause to sue. Better to overlook an offense, even better to never harm another believer, best to call out any sin for the sake of the repentance of the one who sinned and the restoration of the holiness of the people of God.
Application
Fighting another believer to uphold my rights is not from God. It is from the world. When a brother sins against me, I need to point it out to him alone, not to get my revenge or to justify myself, but to save that brother from God's judgment. God takes up offenses against His children, and we should want to secure the repentance of our brothers and sisters so that they do not remain under God's wrath. If they refuse to repent, we should bring in another witness and confront the sinning brother again. Only if they still refuse to repent should we bring the matter to the church leadership and call them to do what is necessary to save that soul, not for revenge or for justification, but for the salvation of that brother. If for revenge or justification, I'm just as in danger of Hell as that brother, because we both still love ourselves and the world more than we believe and trust in Christ.