WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?

WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE?

1 Corinthians 6:1-8 (KJV)

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?

Know 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 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 brethren?

But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.

Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

In the previous chapters of 1 Corinthians, Paul has mentioned the subject of judgment on several occasions:

1 Corinthians 2:15

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.   (KJV)

1 Corinthians 4:3

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.   (KJV)

1 Corinthians 5:3

For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,   (KJV)

1 Corinthians 5:12

For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?   (KJV)

1 Corinthians 5:13

But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.   (KJV)

In these verses, Paul deals with the subject in a little more detail.

Notice first,

*I. THE FOCUS

1 Corinthians 6:1 (KJV)

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

1 Corinthians 6:6 (KJV)

But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.

This all ties in with everything else that he had said about this church. These people were contentious. The church was filled with strive and divisions, and these church people were taking their contentions out of the church and into the courts.

A. The word "dare" means, "to be presumptuous" to "lack an appropriate fear."

I read about a Greek play written by a man named Aristophanes.

In one of the scenes, one of the characters looks at a map and asks where Greece is located. When it is pointed out to him he replies there must be a mistake-I cannot see any lawsuits going on.

That has to be true of America too.

We have become a country so saturated with lawyers, that they have to hire sales firms to look for new ways to sell their wares.

Attorneys have specialists who go out and look for new things to sue.

Who hasn't heard about the lady who bought a cup of coffee at McDonald's and spilt it on herself, then sued McDonalds for having hot coffee and won?

It is a shame to a society when all that is going on...but it is more of a shame when brothers in Christ begin to do the same to each other.

Paul's instructions are: 

B. Church matters ought not be taken before unsaved judges 

C. Church matters ought to be settled at church 

Of course, this only relates to church matters. If there are legitimate civil matters, they ought to be handled by the proper authorities. But that is not what is happening here. These people are taking their divisions in the church to the civil courts and contesting each other there.

Notice secondly,

*II.THE FACTS

1 Corinthians 6:2-5 (KJV)

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?

Know 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 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 brethren?

A. There are three facts that Paul presents to us here.

·   We shall judge the world

·   We shall judge angels

·   We shall judge the things that pertain to this life

*B. All of these have to do with the judgment of the last day

Psalms 149:5-9

Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;

To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;

To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD. (KJV)

If, in the church, there are those who will be given positions of judgment in the eternal kingdom... Paul says we ought to be able to handle some of our problems right now.

C. Who in the church should be set to handle these problems?

Allow me to give the "McKenzie translation" of these verses:

Verse 3,

Don't you know you people will judge angels someday? Why can't you judge the little things that happen in this life?

Verse 4,

You take the problems of this life and let people who are not in the church judge them.

Verse 5,

SHAME ON YOU! Don't you have somebody in your church wise enough to judge for you?

The passage does not say that we should allow the least mature member of the church be the judge. It is saying sarcastically that they were allowing the people who were not even members of the church judge them[1]when, in a church with as many spiritual gifts as they had, there must be somebody who was wise enough to exercise some judgment.

I do not think that this means Christians should take every problem they have to the pastor and deacons. 

·   Most things should just be forgiven and forgotten.

·Some things might need to be taken to court, 

(if they involve legal issues). In some cases it would be illegal for us to try to handle them without taking them to the authorities.

I have no doubt but that the men we have as deacons could wisely handle the "smallest matters." 

Notice thirdly

*III. THE FAULT

1 Corinthians 6:7-8 (KJV)

Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

The action of the Christians at Corinth was not only hurting the harmony of the church (which obviously it would do)

But it was bringing reproach on the name of Christ.

They pretended to be the children of wisdom, and the followers of the Lamb, the meek and lowly Jesus, the prince of peace. 

But their practice betrayed them for what they really were:

·   Proud, 

·   Self centered and 

·   Contentious

So how do you solve problems in the church?

A.  By taking measures to prevent problems

·   By doing things in a way that is inoffensive. 

·   By asking forgiveness when we have done wrong and righting what ever we can. and 

·   By doing our dead level best not to do things we will have to apologize for later

B. By suffering wrong rather than fighting about them

·   As long as a Christian insists upon his or her rights. 

·   As long as a Christian refuses to put the good of Christ and His church ahead of his or her own feelings, 

then this will not work.

Only when we choose to put Christ first will we have peace in our hearts, and avoid the type of trials that were going on in Corinth.

---

[1]Another interpretation would be that the “least esteemed would be the pastor and the deacons.” These people, by separating from the world, suffer more reproach from the world.