Saturday, August 12, 2017, 7:18 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Full Release.” Speak, Lord, your words
to my heart. I read 1 Corinthians 6
(Select vv. NASB).
Lawsuits Among Believers (vv. 1-8)
Does any one of you, when he has a case against his
neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?
Or do you not know that the saints
will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to
constitute the smallest law courts? Do
you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?
So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint
them as judges who are of no account in the church? I say this to your shame.
Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide
between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before
unbelievers?
Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that
you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather
be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this
even to your brethren.
In the USA, lawsuits are big
business. It seems, at times, that when anyone even feels that he or she has
been injured by another that they are far too ready to sue the ones they
believe are the offending party. I have even found this to be a common practice
among those who call themselves Christians. And, so much of this appears to
have more to do with seeking revenge than in seeking reasonable damages (an
award) for serious loss or injuries. At least, this has been my observation. Yet,
some statistics seem to support the idea that lawsuits in the USA are
outrageous in the numbers of them, in the context of them, or in the ease with
which they are obtained.
It is bad enough when a
Christian goes to court against a non-Christian and seeks unreasonable damages,
just out of revenge or greed, and thus destroys any testimony for Jesus he or
she might have otherwise had. But, when a Christian takes another believer to
court, instead of taking the matter before the church, then that is even a more
grievous matter. Where is the justice in all of this? Where is love, mercy,
kindness and forgiveness? Where is the thought or belief that God is absolutely
sovereign over our lives? What happens to our Christian witness and testimony?
And, what about loving our enemies (or those we feel are our enemies), praying
for them, doing good to them, and blessing them? Have we forgotten?
When we go to court against other
people, especially against other believers, in order to sue them, and we ask for
more than we need in damages, especially out of revenge (to get payback), or
out of greed, to spend the reward on our own pleasures, we wrong and defraud (swindle,
cheat, and take advantage of) others. And, it destroys the work of God in our
lives and through our lives in showing his love, grace and mercy to others. Do
we truly believe we must do this, and that God was absent during our injury, or
that he can’t provide for all that we need? It is far better that we suffer this
wrong than for us to seek revenge, for it is God’s job to take revenge, not
ours! We are to show love, kindness and forgiveness, instead.
The Kingdom of God (vv. 9-11)
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.
This is a warning, not to the
unsaved, though it certainly applies to them, too, but to Christians or to
professing Christians who are practicing sinning against God. If we wrong
(ill-treat, abuse) and defraud (swindle, cheat or take advantage of) others, as
our practice, we should not think we have any inheritance coming to us from
God. We should not bank on having eternal rewards, but we should consider what
scriptures teach on this subject, and know that those who practice sinning, who
continue in sin, and who walk (in lifestyle; who conduct their lives) according
to the flesh, will die in their sins (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Ro. 8:1-14; 1 Jn.
1:5-9; Gal. 5:19-25; & Eph. 5:3-6).
Flee Immorality
(vv. 15-20)
Do
you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then
take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it
never be! Or do you not know that
the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says,
“The two shall become one flesh.” But the one who joins himself to the Lord is
one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is
outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you
are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God
in your body.
As you can tell from the long
lists of sinful practices in 1 Co. 6:9-11, Gal. 5:19-25, & Eph. 5:3-6, they
cover a wide span of sinful practices. One of the ones which is predominant, though,
and is repeated over and over again in scripture is immorality, or most especially
sexual immorality. Immorality can be anything which is wicked, depraved, corrupt,
dishonest or adulterated, including idolatry. Sexual immorality is confined to
such areas as adultery, lust, fornication (sex outside of marriage), homosexuality,
same-sex marriage, oral sex, incest, and viewing of pornography or sexually
charged (or insinuated) movies or videos, or sexting, or having sexual
conversations with someone with whom you are not married, et al.
When we believe in Jesus Christ
to be Lord and Savior of our lives we are united with him in spirit, and we
become members of his body, the church (not the institutional church). We become
the bride of Christ, and he is our husband, and in faith we vow faithfulness,
love, and commitment to our Lord and master, Jesus Christ. Our desire is to
please him in all that we do, say, think and are. When we are married to our
spouse, we also vow love, faithfulness, commitment and fidelity. And, our
desire should be for our spouse, to please him or her, and to do to or for the
other according to love and faithfulness, and according to the teachings of
Christ and his Word. So, it is absolutely sinful and wrong (harmful, injurious)
to do what is contrary to these vows of fidelity and love, either to God or to
our spouses.
So, we are to flee all
immorality, idolatry, wickedness, lies, deceit and sexual immorality, and we
are to commit ourselves to faithfulness and love toward both our Lord and toward
our spouses. When we marry, we become one flesh with our spouse through sexual
union, so we are to regard our spouses as though they are one with us, and to
treat them accordingly, in love, purity, and in all kindness, respect and
honor. As well, when we believe in Jesus, and his Spirit comes to dwell within
us, our bodies become his temple, and we are no longer our own, to live however
we want, for Jesus bought us back for God with his blood shed on a cross for
our sins. So, we are to honor and glorify God in our bodies, and in our minds,
hearts, attitudes, words and actions, too. For, Jesus set us free from slavery
to sin in order that we might become bondservants (slaves) of his
righteousness.
Full Release / An
Original Work / April 15, 2012
Walking daily with my Savior
brings me joy.
Loving Father; precious Jesus;
He’s my Savior and my Lord.
Gently leads me; follow Him.
I’ve invited Him within.
Now abiding in His presence,
oh, what peace.
From my self-life
He has brought me,
By His mercy, full release.
Hope and comfort,
peace and safety Jesus brings
When I daily bow before Him;
Obey freely; do His will.
Follow Him where’er He leads.
Listen to Him; His words heed.
Now obeying his words fully,
oh, what love
That He gives me
through salvation,
By His Spirit, from above.
Loving Father; precious Jesus,
He’s my friend.
With my Savior, by His Spirit,
I will endure to the end.
Share the gospel, tell what’s true.
Witness daily; His will do.
Tell the world of how their Savior
bled and died.
On a cruel cross He suffered
So that we might be alive.
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