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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Why don't you turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 6
this evening? First Corinthians chapter #6
This preacher is grateful to be out of First Corinthians chapter
#5 No doubt. And we are in First Corinthians
chapter #6. You know, when two people in the
world argue about something and maybe it gets a little bit
heated and maybe there's a little bit of a back and forth,
it seems like the trump card that somebody wants to throw
out. If they just want to kind of end
the conversation and the debate, they'll say something like this.
Well, you know what? I'll see you in court.
You ever hear somebody say that? Maybe you've had to say that to
somebody. I don't know.
But you know, when there's some irreconcilable differences, what
is the ultimate thing that you can say that will end the
conversation and really kind of take it to the next level?
It's something on these lines. I will see you in court now.
You understand why the world does this, right?
Because the world is, well, the world of the world used to do
things on a handshake, used to be able to make an agreement
with somebody just by looking them in the eye and shaking
their hand. That's not the way it is
anymore. Contracts are really written to
be made to be broken more than anything.
And the world is double dealing. And the world seeks inequitable
justice. And what I mean inequitable, it
means like more for me and less for you.
You know, that's the way the world works, isn't it?
They want more and they want you to have less.
So we understand when the world deals with these kind of things,
we know that the world, as I've said many times before, is going
to act like the world. That shouldn't surprise us.
But what happens when believers find themselves in the same
position and they can't handle conflict amongst themselves and
they find the only way that they can handle a conflict between
them is to take one another to court?
You say, pastor, Has that ever happened at Liberty Baptist
Church? By God's grace, it has never
happened at Liberty Baptist Church, but there is a church I
know of that it has happened at. Before and it's this the church
at Corinth. Or we've covered a laundry list
of problems the church at Corinth has had, and it's not
done yet because Paul is going to address here in First
Corinthians chapter #6 the very grave issue of the church at
Corinth taking one another to court.
And so we're going to find this evening about why Paul explains
that it's wrong, why Paul explains that it should not
happen. And really a Christian shouldn't
sue another Christian because Christians are supposed to be
peacemakers. We're going to see that tonight
that we as Christians are called to be peacemakers.
And if two people, I'm talking about two people within the
confines of a church are committed to being godly in a
difficult situation, peace can be found.
I'm not saying that aren't difficult situations that can
happen in the life of a church. I'm not saying that there isn't
someone that could be wrong within a church, whether it was
for an accidental reason or maybe even for a purposeful
reason. But I would say if two people
are committed to being godly in the midst of a difficult
situation, peace can be found. James 4 chapter 4 verse one says
from whence come wars and fightings among you come They
not hence even of your lusts that war in your members.
So the question tonight is this, What happens when I'll see you
in church ends up to be this, I'll see you in court.
What happens when I'll see you in church ends up being I'll see
you in court. We're going to see what Paul
says about it here in First Corinthians here tonight.
So you remain seated, going to read the first 8 verses, First
Corinthians chapter #6 and it says this.
Dare any of you having a matter against another, go to law
before the unjust, and not before the Saints?
Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world?
And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge
the smallest matters? No, ye not that we shall judge
angels. How much more things that
pertain to this life. If then ye have judgments of
things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are at
least esteemed in the Church. I speak to your shame.
Is it so that there is not a wise man among you?
No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brother.
But if brother go to law with brother, and that before the
unbelievers, now therefore there is utterly a fault among you,
because you go to law one with another, Why do you not rather
the wrong? Why do you not rather suffer
yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud.
And that your brethren, excuse me.
Paul has launched a new attack this evening on a new area of
ungodliness within the Church of Corinth.
We talked about wisdom and pride and arrogance and grouping
themselves into different factions, pitting themselves
against one another, all in the name of godliness, saying I'm of
Paulos and I'm of Paul and I'm of Cephas and I'm of Christ.
We've saw sexual immorality in chapter #5 and now here's the
issue. Christians in the Church of
Corinth are taking one another to court.
Now let's be clear about something as we start here
tonight. Paul was not at all against
legal action. In fact, I would say this as a
Pharisee and as a Roman citizen, Paul was very aware of what his
rights were. I can give you 3 examples this
evening. You can bring that up here.
Thank you all. That's very nice.
If you want to be really nice, you can get the clicker out of
Dad's office because I forgot it.
All right, so why don't you go do that?
She says I don't have to listen to the sermon.
All right? No, you got to come back all
right. I'll give you 3 examples very
quickly. Paul is in Philippi.
He gets thrown into prison. Well, he's beaten first and then
thrown to prison with Silas. Of course, we understand that
God makes a miraculous jailbreak where Paul and Silas are able to
be brought out with this earthquake that they lead the
jailer and his family to Christ. And the very next day, the
magistrates come and they say, oh, she, she liked the
attention. All right, thank you very much.
You can be seated. That big smile.
All right. The magistrates say, hey, why
don't you just go ahead and be released?
We'll just let you go. And Paul says no, no, no, no,
no, I don't think so. He says if the magistrates want
us to be released, they can come into this jail and releases
themselves. So why do you say that?
Because he was a Roman citizen and he was not supposed to be
bound. He was not supposed to be
beaten, and he was not supposed to be jailed as a Roman citizen
without first having a trial. And so he knew his rights.
You can go to Acts chapter #22 and they were going to flog him
in Jerusalem. And he said the same thing.
He said, are you going to flog me?
Are you going to beat me as a Roman citizen?
And the, the man who was in charge all of a sudden got very
afraid because he realized he shouldn't even have bound him,
let alone being able to flog him as a Roman citizen.
You can go to Acts chapter 25. And when Paul, dealing with the
same legal issue, makes his appeal unto Caesar, he
understands that the way he can get a free trip to Rome to be
able to preach the gospel is just to make his appeal unto
Caesar. No, Paul was very understanding
of the legal system, and Paul was not making a blanket
condemnation upon Christians understanding and partaking in
the legal system in general. This is not an issue of a
Christian foregoing all legal action.
It's the impropriety of believers taking one another to
court, particularly believers of the same church.
It's important for Christians to settle disputes among themselves
according to God's principles. This can be done through the
church. This can be done through, I
would call Christian arbitration or an arbiter who is a Christian
would be able to use Christian principles to be able to handle
and settle differences between believers within a church.
You say, well, is there some kind of Christian arbitration
principle that we could use within the church?
Well, we read it a couple weeks ago.
It's Matthew 18. Go to the brother and talk to
him. Then bring a witness, and then
if necessary, bring it before the church.
Yes, God has given us the way that Christians can handle
problems within the assembly without having to take one
another to small claims court. Paul does not say that
Christians should not have their own system to handle criminal
law. We're not talking about criminal
law here tonight. You might have heard of Sharia
law before and how Sharia law in Muslim countries will overtake
the law system. It is the law.
And I would say that as Sharia law goes into other nations that
are not Muslim exclusive nations, that Sharia law desires
to overtake the legal system in the nations of which it's
implemented, whether that is in Great Britain as it's been seen
there, or even here in the United States of America.
No, that's not some tinfoil hat conspiracy by a crazy
independent Baptist preacher. That's just the fact of the
matter of seeing what's happened in other places in the world,
seeing what the Quran says, and not wanting it to be implemented
in the United States. What I'm not saying is that we
should have our own Christian criminal system where we are to
take care of those things outside of what the parameters
legally are for US here in our towns, here in our counties,
here in our state, and with the federal government.
In fact, quite the opposite. You can go to, in fact, turn
there real quickly. Go to Romans chapter #13 you've
read this before. No doubt it's just a few pages
away, but it's important for us to look at this again.
Romans chapter #13 it's appropriate for the state to
handle criminal cases. However, Christians among
themselves should be able to handle handle civil matters.
Look at Romans 13 verse one. Let every soul be subject under
the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers
that be ordained of God. Paul saying this, there's no
authority that can be in place without without God allowing it.
You say, well, pastor, there's some really wicked leaders that
are around the world and we've had wicked leaders even our own
nations at times and places. And that the answer to that is
yes. But what I'm telling you tonight
is this is that none of that caught God by surprise.
There is none of that where God in heaven said this is not the
election returns I thought would happen.
I didn't know these hanging chads would be there.
God was not surprised by any of these things.
No, no, no, God is aware God is in control.
Look at verse 2. Whosoever therefore resisted the
power resisted the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall
receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of
the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same, for he is the minister of God to
thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is
the minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil. Now Paul is writing this about
the wicked Roman Empire. You realize this is when this is
being written. He's writing it about the Roman
Empire. And what he is saying is that
when the system is as it ought to be, what is the government
supposed to do? It is supposed to punish the bad
and it's supposed to reward the good.
You say, well, Pastor, it doesn't seem like the government
always does that. When the government doesn't do
that, who's ultimately in control?
The Lord is in control. The Lord is the one that will
reckon those accounts when they're wrong.
But I will say this, unless the government is telling us to do
something that is patently unbiblical, what are we to do?
Well, we are to obey the government.
It says this verse 5. Wherefore you must needs be
subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
For this cause pay you tribute also, for they are God's
ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
Render, therefore to all their dues.
Tribute to whom tribute is due custom, to whom custom fear, to
whom fear, honor to whom honor. If I could maybe summarize all
of this in a way that I know would biblically help us to
understand, it would be this. Render unto Caesar what is
Caesar, and render unto God what is God.
You find that in Matthew, you find it in Mark, and you find it
in Luke where Jesus tells the Pharisees when they tried to
entrap him. Render unto Caesar what is
Caesar's, and render unto God what is God.
Listen, we don't like hearing this, but we need to obey the
government. But listen, take a time out when
the government tells us to do something that is patently
unbiblical. When the government says do
something that's in violation of the word of God.
What do the disciples say in the book of Acts?
We ought to obey God rather than man.
As Christians, one of the ways we can have a good testimony is
by obeying the government. But also we'd have a testimony
that we will follow God first before we follow man.
But here there's nowhere where we see that we are to issue the
legal system, to stay away from the criminal legal system, and
that we are to make sure that what, what are we supposed to do
when it comes to civil matters, to disagreements?
What are we supposed to do? Handle it amongst yourselves and
don't take each other to court. That's what the world does to
each other. But we as believers, we ought to
be able to handle within the body the problems that we have
within the body. We'll look more about why that
is in a second, but another thing I want to say, and I want
to make this very clear tonight, churches have no business hiding
criminal activity under the guise of First Corinthians
chapter 6. Churches should not and are not
allowed to hide criminal activity because of what it says
in First Corinthians chapter 6. And you can turn back there if
you want to. Because we'll look.
More at that in a second, but I will say there have been times
in the past where there have been churches who have taken
things, for instance, like sexual abuse and have tried to
hide it under the carpet. Why?
Under the guise of, well, the church is supposed to handle the
issues within the church. Listen to me and listen to me
very carefully tonight. There is no biblical basis for
any type of activity like that. There is no biblical basis for
the church to hide any type of sexual misconduct that takes
place within the church, any type of criminal way to say
well, the church is going to handle it.
No, no, what do you do? Romans chapter 13, You let the
powers take care of it that God has instituted and God has
ordained. I can take you to a campus in
Jacksonville, FL where a pastor for years and years molested.
Up to 300 different young people 300.
Now whether that can be verified, I don't know.
But I do know this, that there was an admission of guilt that
took place later. But this happened when this man
was in his 80's. The church found out about this
in the mid 1990s. They found out about many
allegations. And they decided that this
church, this pastor, should resign and then go on to the
mission field in Germany where he would be away from the legal
system in the United States. And everyone thought, isn't it
great that this pastor, he's about a retirement age, he's
going to go to Germany and become a missionary, not knowing
that church was trying to hide the misconduct that was taking
place. There's only one word that I can
use to categorize that behavior, and it's this.
It's wicked. There is no biblical basis for
that whatsoever. Hear me and hear me clearly
tonight. Why could we look at First
Corinthians chapter 5 and see how clearly God dealt with those
kind of issues and then be so blase about it in First
Corinthians chapter 6? No, this doesn't make sense.
So Paul told the Corinthians that they should not sue one
another. Why was that?
Well, there's three main reasons for that.
And first of all, it's this number one, it's an issue of
trust. It's an issue of trust.
Look back at verse #1 and Paul uses some very strong language
here. He says, dare any of you.
It's almost like he's saying, how dare you do this?
What are you thinking, as some people would say around these
parts, What's the matter with you?
How dare you dare anyone of you having a matter against another
go to the law before the unjust and not before the Saints?
When he says a matter among against another, he's talking
about the brethren. Why would you go to the law
before the unjust and the unjust?
Here we're talking about the unsaved.
And so Paul is basically asking this, Why would you seek the
opinion of someone who is not just?
If you are looking for justice and you're a believer, why would
you go to the unjust? Why would you go to the unsaved?
Would it make more sense to be able to find the wisdom that
should be found within the local body?
Listen, there is no justice to be found with the unsaved.
Listen, I'm not saying every judge is crooked.
I'm not saying every court is crooked.
Again, we just read Romans chapter 13.
We're supposed to have respect for the system as we find it.
But just as a matter of principle, the unjust are going
to be unjust. The unsaved are going to think
like the unsaved. It's not that they can't think
of truth, and it's not that they can't act on truth.
But when they think of truth and they act on truth, where do they
get it? From The Father of lies.
They stumbled upon it from God and God Himself.
And so we see that He says this. How dare you?
How could you possibly be believers and go to the unsaved
to try to settle your own matters?
It's not that there can't be good judges, but just as a
general principle, why would you do this?
What would you be thinking? And so he says a couple
different things about that. First of all, he says that the
fact that you would go to the unsaved is an indictment against
the brethren. It's an indictment against the
brother. And the fact that two believers
couldn't hash out their differences in a godly way is an
indictment against them. In fact, verse #5 he asked this
question. I speak to your shame.
Is it so that there is not a wise man among you?
And I find that ironic. And the reason that I do is
because when it says, is there not a wise man among you?
Well, what did he talk to them about a few chapters ago?
They all thought that they were wise.
And so it's kind of like, what are you doing?
I thought you all thought you were wise, and now you can't
handle your own situations within the church.
He says, no, no, these things ought not to be believers.
It says in verses #2 and three, do you not know that the Saint
shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Know ye not that we shall judge angels?
How much more things that pertain to this life Now, did
that catch your attention? We read through that the first
time, the fact that we as believers will someday be judge
of the angels. And again, when it says the
Saints understand we're talking about biblical doctrine.
We're not talking about that Catholic group of people.
Know what are we talking about? We're talking about those who
are believers. The day you were saved was the
day you became a St. It may seem strange to you, but
that's the way that it is. Biblically.
All the epistles start with to the Saints that are at Galatia,
to the Saints that are in Rome, to the Saints that are at over
and over and over again. So it says the Saints shall
judge the world and that they will judge angels.
Now, what could that be talking about?
Now I believe that when it's talking about this, it's talking
about first of all, that there will be believers as judges
during the millennial Kingdom, but also that believers will sit
in judgement of the fallen angels at the very end times.
Now you say, why would you say that?
Well, Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 12 says if we suffer, we
shall also reign with him. We deny him, He will also deny
us. There will be a time for
believers. Then we will reign where we will
have some level of judgment. Now I'm not saying that we will
be the judges, but we will stand in judgment along with the
righteous judge who is Jesus Christ.
Daniel Chapter 7, verse 22. Until the Ancient of Days came
and judgment was given to the Saints of the Most High, and the
time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom.
That says that there will be judgment that take place in the
millennial reign. And I believe judgment that
takes place before those fallen angels are taken and cast in the
lake of fire. So what's the end result of all
of this? This is this God saying if
you're going to be able to judge those things for eternity, you
can't handle the situations you have in your church now.
If you're going to have to have that type of responsibility
later, shouldn't you be doing this now?
You have high and holy work ahead of you.
Why would you not be able to handle your business now?
It would be like having two Supreme Court justices that got
into a quarrel with one another and the only way they could
settle it was going on People's Court.
You know, Dun, Dun, you know, could you imagine in walks in
justice, you know, so and so could you imagine, you'd say
these two are supposed to be, you know, at the very height of
the legal system with the United States of America, and the only
way they can settle their dispute is in small claims court
on television. You'd say that's crazy.
That's the best that I can tell you is the comparison here in
verses #2 and three Paul saying, listen, you realize the high and
holy calling of judgment that is ahead of you if you're a
believer. And you're going to the courts
at Corinth. To try to get clarity about the
situations that you're having with each other.
What's the matter with you? It's an indictment against you
as brethren. What's the matter with you that
you would think that way? The fact that the church would
need the world to solve their problems is an indictment about
how unchrist like they were. But it wasn't just that it was
an indictment against the brethren, but we also see that
it was an invitation to worldly thinking, an invitation to the
worldly thinking. The fact that the just would
think they need counsel, advice, or wisdom from the unjust is an
invitation to worldly thinking in a host of other areas.
Look at verse #6. But brother goeth to law with
brother, and that before the unbelievers.
He's saying, why would you invite the council and the
wisdom of the unbelievers in your life?
You'd say the wisdom of the unbelievers.
Well, yes. Consider James chapter 3, verses
14 and 15. But if you have bitter envy and
strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth.
This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly and
sensual and devilish. He's saying, why would you
invite the world's council into your life?
Why would you ask the world for advice on how you live your
life? Listen, the world doesn't have
the answers. The world is the problem.
The world is on fire. It's like asking an arsonist how
to set up a fire extinguisher in your home.
It's like trying to ask a thief how you should set up a safe and
a bank. Why on earth would you ask the
world? And I'm not saying that
everybody in the world is out to get you.
I'm not saying that everybody in the world has this, this bend
against you to try to take you down.
I'm not saying that. But I'm saying the world system
as it is set up, the world system, that the head of it is
Satan himself, the father of lies, the one who seeks to kill
and steal and destroy. No, he has set it up that he has
no wisdom. And when the world again does
have wisdom, it's because they have accidentally Co opted from
God because God is the God of truth.
All truth flows from him and the world speaks truth.
They're just speaking God's truth.
And again, I'm not saying that the world can never speak truth.
I'm just saying that when the world speaks truth, it's not
because the world produced the truth.
It's because they stumbled upon God's truth.
And Paul counters this worldly thinking because he says this.
He says, you know what? If you're going to have a judge,
if you're going to take care of some issues in the body, you
know who should be your judge. Did you catch that?
Look at what it says again. It says in verse #4 if then you
have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set
them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
Now what does the world say? The world says we need the most
esteemed we need. The one with the highest
credentials. What does Paul say?
Well, get the one that's the least esteem.
We're not talking about the least character.
We're talking about someone who is maybe not as regarded as
everyone else, but that still is a godly person.
And it's a reminder. Luke 1310 This is not worldly
wisdom. This is godly wisdom.
The the last shall be first, and there are first which shall be
last. So what do you do?
You take someone who maybe is not the most popular, but has
the Spirit of God, and what do you do?
You allow them to be the judge. I remember back at Westgate
there was a man named James Clayton, and Brother Clayton is
one of my favorite men there. Him and and his wife, Miss
Sandra and Brother Clayton end up being a Deacon at Westgate.
And I'd sit in deacons meeting sometimes just as a assistant
pastor if there was something that I needed to help deal with
in the church. You know, the thing I loved
about Brother Clayton, I don't know if I say I love this about
it, but the thing that was interesting about Brother
Clayton is he almost never talked.
I shouldn't say I love that about a person, right?
But the thing that was interesting about it was he
almost never talked. I would say in many ways he was
maybe 1 of the least esteemed in the church because he didn't
have this outgoing, gregarious personality.
Now, The funny thing was he was an Army drill Sergeant, so I
guess he got it all out in his younger years.
But I will tell you this about James Clayton.
When he talked, you listen. He didn't waste his words.
When he said something, everyone ears perked up.
He may only say something that deacons meeting two or three
times, but every time he did, he was listening to what was going
on and made a contribution that was filled with wisdom and God's
word in it. And when I think of the least
esteemed among you, I think of James Clayton.
Not that he was little regarded in the church, but the idea if
you just walked into the church and you said we need someone to
settle dispute, you'd see someone who maybe was gregarious
in their personality and that was maybe a little bit
boisterous. And you maybe say, Ben, this is
the person that everyone needs to listen to.
There's James Clayton sitting in the background.
He's serving. He's not served out in front of
everybody. He may have been least regarded
in some ways, but I'll tell you this, there's a lot of wisdom in
that man. The world wouldn't agree with
that, but in God's Kingdom, it's quite the opposite.
So don't think worldly when it comes to these issues.
What, what do we do? We need to make sure that we
think the way that God wants us to think.
And this is a reminder to us tonight, and I really want you
to consider this tonight, that the center of wisdom in your
life ought to be the local church.
I know that sounds crazy, but follow me for a second.
The center of wisdom in your life ought to be your local
church. Why?
Well, this text makes clear here that we ought to be a place
where differences can be resolved.
We ought to be a place where direction can be found.
That's why we're not supposed to go it alone.
As believers, you need a church body where we can help one
another. Where you have.
Disputes. But disputes can be settled in a
way that is better and more godly than how the world.
Settles disputes. This is why we're not.
This is why we're not supposed to go it alone as believers.
And the world should not be your go to.
The world should be something that's avoided love, not the
world neither the things that are in the world.
Any man love the world the love of the Father is not in.
But the church should be your go to for wisdom.
I'm not saying that churches are perfect, but I will say this.
We have a perfect book. We have a perfect spirit who
lives inside of us. We ought to be able to be
different in how we handle these issues.
Well, I got to move faster than this.
All right #2 not just an issue of trust #2 it's an issue of
testimony. It's an issue of testimony.
If you were to take this text as a whole here tonight,
particularly verses 6 through 8, let me ask you this.
What kind of testimony is it for a Church of believers to be able
to go before an unbelieving judge and then accuse one
another? Do you think they'd be able to
give them a track when it's done?
I know they weren't given tracks back then, but you understand
the thought process of that. It is, would they be in a place
after accusing one another? Well, this guy did this to me.
Well, I'll tell you what, this guy's a scumbag.
Well, you know what? You're a double scumbag, you
know, and they're going back and forth and by the, you know, by
the time they're done, they say, oh, bad, by the way.
Judge, if you have to have nowhere to go to church on
Sunday, we'd love to be able to invite you to Corinth Baptist
Church. And the judge said, you know
what, I get enough of this out in the world.
I think I'm good. Thank you very much.
It's an issue of testimony. There ought to be harmony within
the Church of God. Why?
Because the world ought to see that the Church ought to act
like the Church. The world ought to be able to
see that we as believers can walk in the way that we say that
we're going to walk. And again, I know we're not
perfect. I don't want to set us up for
failure here tonight. But there ought to be something
different about us as believers. There ought to be something
different about the way we look, the way we act, the way we talk,
the way we think. And there ought to be something
different about the way we handle conflict.
And there ought to be something different.
We ought to be peacemakers. And that's why he didn't want
them to go to court. Because even when there were
real issues and there could be real issues, they needed to be
handled in a biblical way. First, Peter chapter 2, verse
12, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that
whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your
good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day
of visitation. Meaning this, that they see you,
they don't want to appreciate what you're doing, but you're
walking in such a way that is what the Lord wants you to do
that they can't argue with how you're living.
You can't do that if you're suing each other in court.
Philippians 215 that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons
of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a wicked and or crooked
and perverse generation, a nation among whom.
You. Shine as lights in the world.
I've given the example before, many years ago when I was a
teenager and I was working with a young man at McDonald's named
Kevin. It was my first job, only worked
there for a few months, making $5.00 an hour.
Big money, I mean big money, you know what I'm saying?
At the McDonald's, I was working in the front, Kevin was working
in the back, and we were excited because our youth group was
coming. Our youth group was going to
come that night. Now we were working, so we
didn't come to the youth department that night on a
Friday night, but they were going to come.
And I thought, man, what a great way for us to be able to show
the people that we work with about what it's like to be a
Christian and about our church. It'd be so much easier to invite
the other teenager we're working with at the church to church.
It would be a great thing. Can I tell you, my friends, my
friends trashed at McDonald's, they absolutely trashed it.
And I'm not saying on accident. They did it on purpose.
And part of the reason was they wanted to kind of have a go at
me and Kevin. But here's the thing.
Kevin was cooking the hamburgers in the bag.
He. Wasn't going to clean it.
So there's only one who was going to clean it, and that was
me. But you know who saw the mess?
Every single person that we had been talking to about our church
coming. And I had so wished that instead
of telling him I was from Westgate Baptist Church, I'd so
wished I told them that was from Incarnation Catholic Church that
was right up the road instead. Like, why did I tell him I was
from Westgate? Because it left such a bad
impression, my manager was ticked off.
My manager was upset. Listen, how we react as
believers makes an impact in the world.
How we make an impact as believers amongst ourselves
makes an impact in the world. When the world comes into this
building. I'm going to take this a little
bit further here for a moment, All right?
We pray that the world comes to this building to be able to hear
the gospel message. That's the plan.
That's why we hand out tracks. That's why I invite people to
church, because we want people that don't know Jesus Christ to
come to church to find what we have.
I mean, that's kind of what we want to do, particularly at this
kind of time of year. But listen, if the world comes
in here and finds people that are not in harmony, they're
going to leave and say, I can get this anywhere.
You know what they ought not to see when they come into a church
setting. They ought not to see people
quarrelling with one another. You know what the world ought to
see when they come to a church setting, not see people divided
into cliques and groups. You know what they ought to see
when they come into a church building?
They ought to see people who are as interested in seeing them as
they are and seeing the person that they talk to every Sunday
and every Wednesday. You say this is a little bit of
a stretch from the text. I know that it is to a point,
but there's an application here that's real, that when we come
in contact with the world, they ought to see us acting like
believers. And when two guys are in a
courtroom fighting with each other and they both say they're
Christians and an unsaved judge says what's going on, it's no
different than the world coming in here because we've invited
them. So they expect us to act like
believers. And then we don't act like
believers when they come into this assembly.
What do we need to do? It's an issue of our testimony.
Galatians 610 tells us, as we have therefore opportunity, let
us do good unto all men, especially unto them that are
household of faith. We should be doing right by each
other. We should do right to the people
in the world that don't always do right by us.
As a church, we are to be a shining light to the world.
So it's an issue of trust, it's an issue of testimony #3 it's an
issue of tactlessness. It's an issue tactlessness.
What does it mean, tactlessness? Well, having tact is an
adeptness at dealing with difficult issues, meaning this.
The Church of Corinth showed they didn't know how to handle
difficult issues. They didn't know how to handle
these issues where believers were supposed to act like
believers and verses number 7 and 8 give an interesting
thought that is very contrary to our flesh.
Look at what it says now. Therefore there is utterly a
fault among you because you go to law one with another.
Why do you not rather take wrong?
Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
Nay, you do wrong and defraud and that your brethren.
So he says this in verse 8. Listen, if you've defrauded your
brethren, that's wrong. But he also looks at the ones
who are defrauded and he says this.
Listen, if you are going to court and you're willing to take
this to court, wouldn't it be better to take a quote loss than
to be able to go to court and. Maybe win your pound of flesh,
but you really haven't won the battle at all.
In fact, you've made things worse because of your testimony.
One commentator put it this way. I couldn't say it better than he
said, so I just want to read it. Paul called this man to do
something hard, to give up what he deserved for the higher good
of God and his. Kingdom.
But the man who was wrong should not think Paul was asking him to
take a loss. So I said a loss.
He was not asking him to take a loss.
No one who accepts wrong for the sake of God's.
Glory will be a loser. No one who accepts wrong for the
sake of God's glory will be a loser.
Paul didn't say the problem shouldn't be handled, but he was
saying if the church couldn't handle it as the last resort,
the church should be the last resort and not the world.
If the church could not handle it for whatever reason, take a.
Loss because you're really not taking a loss because who is the
one that handles reaping and sowing?
God, you should be willing to be defrauded.
No, he said, well, that makes me look like a sucker.
No, that's not what we're trying to say at all.
We're saying this when you get in those situations and it's at
the very most desperate situation, and the other person
is not being godly, the other person is not doing what they
should. The other person's not being a
peacemaker. Are you willing to take a loss
and know this, that God will take vengeance for them and that
God will repay me for being faithful?
I'll say this, our flesh don't like that kind of talk.
You know what I like? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth. And you know, you got to say it
like that because that's how they said the Old Testament,
right? Actually, that's how they said
in the West, more like it. But even the eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth was a law of equitability and equitable
punishment. It was not a law of vengeance.
In fact, it was a law. To keep men from taking
vengeance against one another. And that commentator continues.
And he says ideally, the church should have settled the dispute.
But if the church failed to do so, Paul asked the man to trust
in God, not in secular judges and lawsuits and courts.
So that doesn't make any sense. Well, in our economy it doesn't.
But in God's economy, losing is often winning.
We see that so many times, don't we?
We already said the last shall be 1st and the 1st shall be
last. 2nd Corinthians 12, verse 10 Paul said, Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches in necessities, and
persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake.
For when I am weak, then am I strong.
Matthew 16, verse 25 For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall save it. That it would be better to be
defrauded and trust the Lord that he will be able to repay
you far more fold than whatever you would have achieved in
court, but whatever would have been lost.
In the testimony of those unsaved people who watched you
hash it out in front of them, said you would be better to take
an L You'd be better to take an L and know that God will repay
you back far more than what the world can.
We've dealt with this before. I've told the story before where
our family was in the place where our church wasn't paying
us and we were on salary back at Westgate.
I, I, I don't know the exact amount of, of checks we were
behind. I think I've said the number
before, but I, I don't know exactly, but I know that we were
somewhere about $6000 behind in our pay and that would have
represented about 1/3 of year salary for me back in 2008,
2009. It's a large amount.
There was a lot of heartburn that went along with that.
I'm not blaming anybody for what happened, I'm just saying that's
what happened. It's a building program that
went wrong with a lot of bad decisions that took place during
that time. And it would have been easy for
me to just go to a small claims court and say, you know what?
This is what I'm deserved. This is what I'm owed.
No one could argue. No one could argue that.
The contract was such that the money that I was supposed to
receive was what I was supposed to receive.
The hours that I work were certainly equal to what I was
supposed to, if not more. Than what I was supposed to and
it was very easy for us to say, you know what, give it to me or
I'll sue. What do we do?
Some who were in that situation, the Lord LED them to different
places to leave, and they left quietly for us.
We felt we didn't have the liberty to be able to leave.
We prayed about it and just never felt it was right.
But when the time came, a new regime came in and things
started to get better, but that back pay seemed like it was
gone. They were trying to repay, but
they were paying it like $100 every month or something like
that. At that rate, you know, I'd be
collecting Social Security by the time it was all finished,
you know, but we went on deputation, you know, that
process where we left Westgate preparing to come here and we
went from church to church to church.
And can I tell you that when the churches that we went to, that
God provided over and over and over again to the point that
when we got to liberty, when we got ready to start the church,
we could not believe how the Lord had financially blessed.
It was incredible to the point that I got on the phone about a
month before the church started and called Pastor Pert.
Pastor Pert was not the one who accrued the debt.
Pastor Pert was the one who was trying to fix the debt.
And I'm thankful for him to try to do that.
But we called him and I and I prayed about it.
We said, Pastor Pert, this debt's not yours and it's
holding Westgate back. So we want you to know we
forgive the Church of the debt. You say what wasn't that big of
you? I'm not saying it because it's
big of me. What I'm saying is this.
God paid back with interest and every time we've had a
difficulty over the years that we've been here and there've
been times of difficulty. I've told you, I've worked for
Uber before and I've done different kinds of odd jobs to
be able to make things meet. But I would tell you this, I go
back to that and I always remember God provided.
And when you're in a situation where you feel like, well, am I
being defaulted by someone in the church?
I, I loaned someone some money and they didn't give it back.
There was a situation where I did work for somebody and it
didn't seem like it worked out the way that it was supposed to.
We were in business together and it didn't listen.
Let it go to God. Try to take care of it.
Oh, absolutely try to take care of it.
But when it gets to the point that you're only remedy is going
to court, just know this. There's a higher court than any
court the Bristol County has. There's a higher court than
anything this state has. There's a higher court than the
so-called Supreme Court has. You know what that is?
There's a God in heaven who makes things equitable and makes
things right. I don't have time to go here,
but there. Philippians chapter 4.
Yeah, we'll go there. All right, Just give me two
minutes. All right?
Philippians chapter 4. I want to read this and we'll be
done. Philippians chapter 4 say,
pastor, what does this have to do with me?
I mean, I don't plan on suing anybody.
And my answer is sure you are. That's why I'm preaching it,
right? Somebody wants to sue somebody
around here, right? No, I'm just kidding.
No, no, nobody wants to sue anybody.
I, I, I get that. But here's the principle.
What are we supposed to be in the church?
Peacemakers. You know what?
I'm not concerned about people suing each other.
Liberty Baptist Church, you I am concerned about people to get
cross ways with one another and can't handle it biblically.
Does that happen in church? How long you been in church?
That happens at church and it requires two people, not just
1-2 people that are willing to act in a godly way to be able to
handle that. Look what it says in Philippians
chapter 4. This is not a question of
somebody suing each other. But it is a.
Question of division and strife in a church.
Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for my joy
and crown, so stand fast in the Lord.
My dearly beloved, I beseech Yodius and beseech Sintoki that
they be of the same mind in the Lord.
These are two women in the church that are fighting with
one another. It says, I entreat thee also.
True yoke fellow help these women which labored with me in
the gospel, with Clement also and with other my fellow
laborers whose names are in the book of life.
These two women are in conflict with one another.
What it was we don't know, what it was about we don't know.
They were in conflict with one another and Paul said this he
gave them two principles to deal with conflict and they are this
and I'm giving you quickly and we're done.
The first is this involve the flock.
Involve the flock by the way, in a scriptural way.
I'm not talking about going around and gossiping because
what he's saying verse #3. He says I entreat.
Thee also true yoke fellow, help these women which labored with
me in the gospel. Those yoke fellow were the
believers that were there. They were supposed to help
together to help these women invoke the flock or involve the
flock, but also invoke the future because it says at the
end, it says whose names are in the book of life.
Listen, we're going to have to get together, get along in
heaven. I mean, we're going to be there.
It's going to be perfect. We're going to get along in
heaven. We might as well start now.
What do we need to remember? Hey, involve the flock in a
scriptural right way. If there's strife, Matthew 18
says bring someone else in, as long as you do it in the right
way. But what do you need to do?
Remember the future? Invoke the future.
Remember, we're going to live together for all eternity in a
place that's perfect. We ought to get along with each
other now. What happens when I'll see you
at church turns out to be I'll see you in court.
What do you do? Well, you end up reminding
yourself that blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the
ones that God will bless and that that is what we're to be
within the church. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.