1 Corinthians 6:1-11 - Audio

This week we open our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 and--oh my--what a practical and challenging passage written to an immature and problematic people! Chapter five challenged the church's pride and unwillingness to respond to public and flagrant sexual sin. Now, there’s another black eye on the face of this church. What was it? They couldn’t resolve conflicts--so they took each other to Corinthian court to let them decide in the case involving God’s children! Paul is beside himself about this. How does this apply to us? Every so often I get a call. “Pastor, we need some work done on our house and we’d like to give the work to Christian. Can you recommend someone?” I have come to realize that Satan loves when God’s people get into business deals together! It is almost predictable; the call comes some time later about how they didn’t get paid or the other person cheated them, the work was shoddy, expectations differed, and there was no contract! Now this deal which began with good intentions to help has gone very bad. In some cases, both parties have now blamed the church, left the church, and are going to court to settle the matter! They are determined to defend their rights. I no longer make suggestions, and I warn people from this very passage before us. My message is: “Are you willing to be wronged and cheated for the sake of Christ?” If so, then go ahead and hire them. But if you don’t have the maturity to understand you might get cheated and be ok with that, then please hire someone outside the church! So, given this very practical reality right here in the pages of 1 Corinthians, listen in and see how they, and we, are to handle these situations, if you really are concerned with the name of Jesus.