Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Keeping first things first”
Our Bible verse for today: “If any of you has a legal dispute against another, do you dare go to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?” 1 Corinthians 6:1 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Keep it “in-house”
Should a Christian ever file a lawsuit against another Christian? Is there ever a good reason for Christians to appear in civil court contending against each other? There are differing views about this in the Christian community.
In 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 Paul seems to have pretty clearly forbid the Corinthian Christians from doing so. He told them that taking another Christian to court before the civil authorities was a disgrace and a matter of shame. He said that there should be wise leaders within the Christian community capable of judging the matter in-house, and there was no good reason for two Christians to be slugging it out in front of unbelievers, because doing so was a bad testimony and damaged the cause of Christ. Paul even went so far as to tell them that if they could not resolve the issue quietly within the church family, then they should just let it go without seeking resolution at all.
There are some in the Christian community today who maintain that Paul’s instruction in this passage was situational and pertained primarily to Christians of that day in that culture. The Roman courts were notorious for imposing brutal punishment for minor offenses and therefore Christians needed to shield each other from that. Christians from this school of thought maintain that our judicial system today in the USA is different and better, and therefore this passage doesn’t apply to us.
Others maintain that the overriding principle of Paul’s teaching still holds. These folks argue that Christians need to keep such disputes in-house. There should be wise leaders who are capable, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to lead Christians to fair resolutions of such disputes. And the individual litigants must have enough spiritual maturity and humility to submit to the judgment the leaders arrive at.
Many churches in our day actually have a written “Membership Covenant” which all new members are asked to agree to and sign as a condition of membership. In the covenant is a clause which talks about this very issue and which asks that all members agree to resolve disputes internally, within the church, with the assistance of Christian leaders. I personally believe this to be a very good, and Biblical, policy.
Paul’s point, I believe, is that the church must be ever-conscious of the testimony we present to the unbelieving world. If they see us squabbling and bitterly striving against one another, it damages our witness. It is much better to resolve our differences among ourselves, and to even allow ourselves to be wronged without resolution, rather than damage the cause of Christ in our community by engaging in public lawsuits against other Christians.
Keeping first things first means we’re more concerned with the cause of Christ than we are with winning a dispute against another Christian.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 