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How to File a Grievance in Church

February 26, 2022 Preacher: Kevin Godin Series: Growing in Grace

Topic: Resolving Church Disputes Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:1-8

Sermon Notes:

We are continuing our series, “Growing in Grace”, working our way verse by verse through the letter of 1 Corinthians. We are learning how the truth of the Gospel transforms believing sinners into the image of Christ and how God uses His truth to help us grow in grace.

In the last chapter, the apostle Paul, explained the need for the practice of church discipline. Sin cannot go unaddressed within the church without distorting the identity and testimony of the church. Now, he will address disagreements that were leading to lawsuits between believers.

We will pick up at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. If you are following along in the blue Bible we provide, it is on page 119X. If you do not own a Bible, please consider that one our gift to you and you can take it when you leave.

The issue in Corinth was that members of the church were suing each other. This isn’t something we are directly dealing with in our own church but there are good things here for us to learn because the truths Paul shares are relevant to all sorts of disputes.

This passage helps us to understand that as redeemed people, we must think about disputes and disagreements in a different way than the rest of the world. It is not that we will never have disagreements, but Followers of Jesus are called to resolve disputes in light of the Gospel. That is the main point of our message today, Followers of Jesus are called to resolve disputes in light of the Gospel.

Our identity as citizens and heirs of God’s kingdom should change our entire value system and therefore should change how we address grievances within the church. We are to seek the glory of God and the good of our brothers and sisters even when we disagree with them. Paul begins by asking a rhetorical question. He says,

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?

 

The question indicates that Paul finds it audacious for believers to seek judgment from unbelievers. The act is so bold and ill-advised that he says do you “dare” to do this? The word unrighteous here just means unbeliever and is compared with the word saints, which means holy ones. He is asking how it makes any sense for children of God who are set apart and called out of the foolishness of the world to go to an unbeliever to resolve a conflict between them.

 

The Talmud, which is the tradition of Jewish rabbinical teaching, prohibited Jews from suing each other outside of a Jewish court and how much more then should those who have received the promises be separate in this way. As the chosen people of God who have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and who are united to Christ, Paul cannot understand how such a thing could be happening.

 

An unbelieving judge knows nothing about the values and principles that are to govern the life and fellowship of two believers. They know nothing of the scripture or the wisdom of Christ It would be like taking your sick child to a veterinarian for treatment. Vets have medical training, but there are important differences in physiology between humans and animals that often result in the need for different treatments.

 

It is important, however, that we understand what kind of disputes Paul is talking about so that we apply his teaching properly. When speaking of grievances, he is dealing with civil disputes. The Bible is clear that criminal matters are under the jurisdiction of the state. Paul says in Romans 13:1–2

13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

 

A couple verses later he describes the state as “an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” We do not setup an entirely separate legal system. If we violate the laws of the state, we are subject to the investigation and judgment of the state, which Paul says is a minister of God when it operates within its proper jurisdiction. For example, there is absolutely no biblical justification for handling a ministry worker who abuses or violates children as an internal matter as some churches have done. Paul is talking about disputes among believers, not crimes.

 

Another clarification that is important is that Paul’s teaching does not prevent lawyers from being consulted when resolving the issue requires clarification on the law. If there is some obscure question that needs to be answered to render a fair judgment, then both parties could agree to obtain a legal opinion for that purpose. Even in that case, however, we must think carefully about such information should be applied.

 

In my other job I work with contracts and legal agreements every day and I can tell you that even in the secular business world if two parties are reaching out to lawyers regarding a dispute, it is usually an indication that productive dialogue is failing. Paul isn’t concerned about believers understanding the law, he is concerned about the idea that disagreements among brothers and sisters in Christ would need to be resolved using the laws of the world.

 

Paul highlights the absurdity of believers looking to the world to solve their disputes by asking a series of questions and making a series of observations. Each of these highlights a principal that we can apply to any kind of dispute among brothers and sisters in the church. Verse 2 says,

 

2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

 

Why would believers, who have been saved out of the world and who will ultimately judge the world, seek the wisdom of the world to resolve our differences?

Revelation 2:26 says, 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations…” and 2 Timothy 2:12 says, 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him”

Since believers will reign with Christ, we ought to be able to resolve issues among ourselves. Paul points out that the kind of issues that lead to lawsuits are “trivial cases”. Compared to the value of our souls, the value of our property or bank accounts are trivial. If our treasures are in heaven, then civil disputes are necessarily a lower priority than our covenant commitments to other members of Christ’s body.

I think this point alone is sufficient to make the case against lawsuits, but Paul makes it even stronger by sharing another truth. He says in verse 3,

 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?

Paul says that not only are we to judge the world, but we are to judge angels. Paul doesn’t give any explanation of this statement to the Corinthians, but we do see hints at what he may be referring to in other places in the Bible. There are several references to the judgment of angels.

 

When discussing the day of the lord,

Isaiah 24:21 says, “21 On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.”

2 Peter 2:4 says, “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment”

And Jude 6 says, “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day”

So, presumably Paul is talking about believers participating in the judgment of fallen angels. What is interesting about this is that it is ultimately God who is judging these angels and so the participation of believers in this judgment points to our exaltation with Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:4–7 says,

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 

Every one of us was dead in our sins. We had no spiritual life in us whatsoever. Our entire existence was driven by a desire to serve ourselves and satisfy our own desires. But in an act of extraordinary love, God sent His only Son, Jesus to come to earth and live a perfect human life. He was the only one who lived a life that was righteous. He then offered His life in place of all those who would put their trust in Him for salvation. He was punished for the sins of those who believe, and they receive adoption as children of God who are forgiven, accepted, and loved.

 

He did this while we were still sinners and enemies. He was not moved to do this by anything good or deserving in us. The Bible says, we were dead and by grace we are saved. He showed love to those who were unlovable. He does this for every sinner who gives up any hope of pleasing God by their own effort and accepts instead the perfect work of Jesus Christ on their behalf.

 

What do we gain by this grace?

 

Someone will say forgiveness. It is true, we have been forgiven, we have received the righteousness of Christ and are saved from hell. Is that all? No! we have also been made alive in Christ. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit indwelling in us so that we are spiritually alive. We now struggle against sin and perform good works that God has prepared for us to do. We have a peace that transcends all understanding because of His presence with us. We are being transformed into the image of Christ Himself.

 

These are amazing gifts of grace, but is this all? No! We have the promise of the resurrection. There will come a day when even death itself loses its hold upon those who believe. We will be raised again and glorified to live in the kingdom where there is no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain, and every tear will be wiped away. Surely no sinner could ever imagine that we would be the recipients of such wonderful blessings and yet that is not all.

 

We have been seated with God in the heavenly places. In the grace and mercy of God, we who were rebels against the kingdom of God will reign with Christ in majesty. In Christ, believers have been rescued from the pit of hell, redeemed, transformed, and seated in the majesty of the divine council.

 

This is absolutely mind boggling. We have been raised up to sit with Jesus Christ, the king of the universe and to reign with Him. We deserve none of this and yet because of the unsearchable riches of the grace of God we are adopted as children and heirs.

 

When we think about who it is we are in Christ, we can better understand why Paul would be offended by the notion that we would bring our disagreements before unbelievers and seek their judgments. In the letter to the Colossians, the apostle Paul says of the church that to us God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

 

If one of the purposes of the church is to make known the riches of the glory of Christ within us, then what on earth are we doing if we need unbelievers to resolve conflicts among us? The great Puritan commentator Matthew Henry asked,

 

“Are not believers, who on the last day, will be seated with the sovereign Judge as He passes judgment upon sinful men and evil angels, worthy of judging the trifles about which we argue in front of heathen magistrates?”

 

Paul says in verse 5,

 

I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?

 

Paul says, they should be ashamed of themselves. He suggests that even the least qualified brother among them would be better able to resolve an issue among them than an unbelieving judge. It is bad enough that they are having these disagreements, but what makes it even worse is that these disagreements are being brought out before unbelievers and then submitted to their judgment. This behavior is totally inconsistent with the new identity we have in Christ.

 

This logic extends beyond the issue of lawsuits. I have often been surprised by how frequently professing believers seek out life advice from unbelieving friends and sources. When we have difficult decisions to make or are dealing with some form of conflict our goal should be to think and act biblically. We should want to act in a way that is consistent with our identity in Christ.

 

Why would we look for the wisdom of the world in working through an issue when God has given us brothers and sisters and elders who can advise us with regard not only to the material impact of our choices, but also to the spiritual impact. There are many here who have walked with the Lord many years and who have a lot of life experience. There are elders, who are men approved in both knowledge of the scripture and in the testimony of their character who can pray with you and help you think through your concerns biblically.

 

I often think that the network of advice available within the church is one of the most neglected resources for believers. For those of us who are believers in Jesus there is so much more to our decision-making process than there is for the world. We should want to live in light of the reality of the Gospel. We should take into consideration the impact of every decision on our own spiritual lives and those of the people around us. This should be the case for all sorts of questions that need to be resolved. The situation with the lawsuits in Corinth took it to an even more extreme level of disregard of who they were in Christ.

 

Paul continues in verse 7 by getting at the root cause of the matter.

 

To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!

 

Paul says, having disputes that lead to lawsuits is already a defeat. Often the motivation for a civil lawsuit is itself inconsistent with Christian faith. Greed, anger, and a desire for revenge or to prove a point are often what drive people to pursue a dispute this far. For one brother or sister to win a lawsuit requires the defeat of the other brother or sister. There is therefore no winner for a believer if they are operating with a godly purpose. The infliction of pain or loss on another believer in Christ makes no sense when we are called to bear one another’s burdens.

There is actually a nuance in this verse that the ESV obscures. Our translation says having lawsuits with “one another”. The word that is used here is really the word for “oneself”. Many translations render it as “one another” to help the reader understand the point. That isn’t wrong, but the NIV does a better job of capturing the nuance of what Paul is saying. It reads, The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Paul is emphasizing that the church is one body and that a division within it is a division within oneself. The disagreements are bad enough, but the entire Christian community becomes a defendant when disunity is paraded in front of the world.

This desire to win or to prove a point, leads a brother or sister to suffer loss and humiliation and that results in the name of Christ being dishonored among the unbelieving world. So Paul says, Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

Our love and concern for our brothers and sisters should be so strong that we would prefer to suffer loss and even be subjected to fraud than to press a dispute too far. This is not at all a natural response. It is the kind of thing that only someone walking by the Spirit could do. It is not the ethic of the world but it is the ethic of the Kingdom of God. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 6:27–36

27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

 

32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

 

If we are called to love our enemies and even those who hate us, how much more are we called to love those who are brothers and sisters in Christ? If we truly loved this way how would there be any lawsuits or serious disagreements between believers?

In most churches today lawsuits between members are not a common problem but that doesn’t mean that we are free from the impulses that lead to them. How often do disagreements and arguments lead to serious issues between believers because we insist upon our rights rather than love?

I know of professed believers who have recently left their churches because they disagreed with the mask policies. In one case that I know of fairly recently, during the time when many churches were not meeting, the elders of a church I am familiar with wanted to be sensitive to visitors who were summoning up all the courage they could just to come out on Sunday to worship. To remove this as a barrier to those who were concerned, the elders requested that everyone else wear masks during the service. Amazingly, there were people who chose to walk away from the church because they said they would not give up their freedom. Rather than show love to other members who had a concern, they walked away from the promises they made when they covenanted together with those same people.

I have heard of sharp divisions within congregations related to political issues and opinions about various political leaders. A few years ago, there were tremendous disputes and church splits because of disagreements about how to address social justice issues. There have been churches that have split over music, decorations, and what time to meet. I even heard recently about a church that split over a difference of opinion about how spiritual growth should be measured.

It is easy to look at examples from other places, but what about us? I have had more than one person tell me that in the recent past they said things they regret while expressing disagreement with other believers. We may not be filing paperwork at the district court, but there is something inside of us still that drives us to defend ourselves like a lawyer when we are challenged.

How often our first thought is how to prove we are right, or that our way is better, or that we need to defend our reputation. This impulse doesn’t come from God; it comes from pride. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to cut deep down into the roots of our pride. Pride especially is a dangerous thing because we often do not recognize it in ourselves until the damage is done.

I heard a story about a deacon at a small church down south who was always telling others how much of a wretched sinner he was. He was often heard saying that he had broken all the commandments and that he was nothing more than a scoundrel.

One day, somebody said to him, “You don’t have to keep telling us that. We have all thought it for some time now!” Well, immediately the deacon’s face grew red and he shoved the man and asked what he had ever done to deserve to be spoken of like that!

Isn’t that how we often are? We can maintain the appearance of being humble and contrite when there is no actual challenge to our pride but when push comes to shove, how highly we really think of ourselves comes out. Our false humility and false modesty are exposed and those hidden desires of our heart for the applause and praise are revealed.

We come to know where we really stand when we must bear with one another. Are we willing to put the interests of others above ourselves? Are we willing to suffer loss in order to demonstrate our love for one another?

 

There is an old church rhyme that goes:

 

To dwell above with the saints we love,

O that will sure be glory.

But to dwell below with the saints we know,

Well, that’s another story!

 

I am sure we have all had experiences that help us understand that perspective. There is nothing in us that gives us the strength to love others enough that we show them love even when they hate us. Only the power of God working in us can do that.

 

Let’s pray that God would give us such confidence in His promises and His goodness that we are content to wait for Him for our rewards. When conflicts arise, as they inevitably will, that we are so secure in the love of God that we can show selfless love to those who oppose us. Let us pray that if there is an issue that needs to be resolved among us that we would be able to resolve it within the church in a way that honors God and is consistent with the new identity we have in Christ. Let us pray that we resolve our disputes in light of the Gospel.

 

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