Legal Issues among Believers
1 Corinthians 6:1-11 · Bob Eckel · Apr 24, 2016
1 Corinthians, No. 16
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926532166941

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Interesting section for us this morning, and I've kind of lumped a bunch of verses together here So we're going to we're going to read chapter 6 verses 1 through 11 And that's our text for today, and it kind of relates back to what we covered a couple of weeks ago, too So there's a theme here remember the theme in Corinthians is we got a church here.

That's kind of immature kind of hanging out in left field some and not really kind of They haven't really matured. They've not grown in the grace that God's given them. And here's another issue that comes up with them that we're going to be dealing with today. And this really, I think, relates to us today. Not that the rest of the New Testament doesn't. But this really does. So let's drill down and read the text first. I'm reading from the AD version.

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to the law before the unjust and not before the saints. Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world should be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know you not that you shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are at 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 should 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 you go to law one with another. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, you do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you're washed and you're sanctified. You're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God."

All right. So what I've done is I've taken the first five verses and kind of just put these all together. I've kind of looked at this in three different sections. In verses, it seemed to have a theme, then transitioning to a second theme and a third, all under this cloud of issues that come up in the brethren that need to be dealt with in the body, not outside the body. So that's kind of where we're going today. So let's read those first five verses again.

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints. Do you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that you shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this is to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you not even one who will be able to judge between his brethren.

Note how many questions there are here. I mean, it's kind of like, wake up. What's the matter here? We've got a lot of information to pertain to legal matters that you should be knowledgeable of, but you're missing the boat here. So Paul hits the nail on the head here, doesn't he? Not much room for discussion, is there?

I mean, I think we can kind of drill down and look at the specifics and we're going to do that. But nevertheless, I mean, how often do you know a member of the body who, in fact, has an issue with a member of the body that leaves the body and goes to the courtroom? I mean, that's the issue here. And I'm going to have an example of that near the end to look at in more detail.

All right. DARE. Present Active Indicative. Now active and factual is a strong term. And I just relate to Acts 7, 31, 32. Let's see, that's one use of this term that I think is worth looking up. And it's demonstrable of many other uses of this term in the scripture. So whoever gets Acts 7, 31 and 32, please read that for us this morning.

When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. And as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. So, you know, dare he look at the Godhead, the Lord himself? No. I mean, this is a term that has really tremendous weight connected to it. So define matter.

Dare any of you having a matter against another? What's a matter here? That's kind of funny. What's a matter here? A situation. What is the matter here? A charge against someone else? Yeah, it pertains to legal issues. This would be a case or something that would bring suit one against another. So we're talking about very day-to-day practical issues that would arise among the body. All right. And this is against whom? Is this matter against the brethren or the world? I think so.

This is really within the body, isn't it? We'll cover this at the end, but there are times when in fact we go before the government and the legal system. We'll look at when that occurs after we've looked at the passage. So this is an issue brought about between Randy and I, or Margaret and Bonnie. This is an issue that arises within the body that really needs to be dealt with by the body. Notice unrighteous versus saints. All saints are righteous, right? Are we not all righteous? Well, you may not feel that way today, but in fact you are.

And I think 2 Corinthians 5.21 is a verse of mine that I favor, I like a lot.

For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. We're righteous. And you know, on a day-to-day basis we fall so far short of our position, don't we? But God sees us as righteous. Because 521, 2nd Corinthians states it very clearly. He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made righteous or become the righteousness of God in him.

Factual, true, we're righteous. So we're dealing here with the unrighteous versus the saints. Two different classes of citizens. And then Paul has said in 1st Corinthians 5, 12, and 13 that we have no business in judging unbelievers. Let's turn to that. 1 Corinthians 5, 12 and 13, we covered that several weeks ago. So again, whoever has that, please read it for us.

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church, but those who are outside God judges? Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. So who's going to judge those outside the body? The Lord himself, right?

And sometimes we put ourselves in an awkward and difficult position. The world system is the world system. Let the Lord deal with them eternally. And of course, they respond to the governmental system. That's their citizenship. Remember, this is our business address. This is not our home. Our home is in heavenly places.

And so as a body of believers that's mature in the facts of the scripture and how it applies to our day-to-day lives, we're talking about a citizenship that's different from that of the world. So why do we go to the court system to resolve issues among us? And I think it does take kind of a metric of maturity, doesn't it, to really see this through the eyes of our citizenship, different citizenships, cosmos, world system, body of Christ, Different citizenship, different system.

Any thoughts about that? Alright. Does this imply that the Roman courts were unjust? What do you think? Did I hear a yes? Jack says yes. What are your thoughts here? I'm not sure it really addresses the Roman courts. I just raised that as a theoretical actually. I don't think it implies that. It doesn't. The Roman courts could have been just under some circumstances. I mean, was the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ just? Obviously, that was an exception, isn't it? But we can't really comment here. I'm just raising that as a theoretical.

No, it doesn't necessarily mean that the earthly system is always wrong and unjust. It simply means within the body, we have a responsibility one to the other to take care of these issues. Randy. I hope I'm not stepping on any future points you're going to make in this lesson, but when we think about a lawsuit, there's an incredible amount of time with lots of people involved, and lots of financial elements that get involved. So as soon as you step outside the body, you're now taking things to a scale that there's a stewardship issue that actually comes into the equation. Your money and time, they're the lords. Are you going to pay an attorney, or are you going to do something else that the lord would have you do with those finances? suck everybody's time in for hours and hours and hours. Yeah, the practicality of using the legal system is there for us both time wise and expense wise.

I don't know. Is that my position that affects the noise? Your position is in Christ, Bob. Would you like to teach the rest of that? Let's get Randy up here. Okay, the next part of this we're going to look at is, do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And know here, by the way, is a factual term. This is iaido, however you pronounce it in Greek. This is factual. Do you not know? It means common knowledge, like the sun comes up in the east.

As saints, don't you know that you're going to be judging the world? And the saints will judge the world as future, active, indicative, factual, going to happen one day, and we're going to be involved in that process. Now this is ruling, I think, more than condemning. This term judge is probably better translated ruling more than condemning. We're going to have a position of authority over the world system as we occupy that place at that time. And when is this? During the millennium. I'm sorry? During the millennium. During the millennium? When we come back with the Lord. OK.

Alright, let's look at some scripture to support that. Gary, could you take Luke 22.30? Cheryl, could you take Daniel 7, the three verses there, 21, 22, and 27? And Roger, why don't you take the Revelation passage 2.26 and 27? Okay, Luke 2230, that you may eat and drink at my table in the kingdom, and you will sit on the thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Alright, that's one section. Daniel, Cheryl? Yeah, I'm getting there. Roger, you got the Revelation passage? Sure.

Okay, so Revelation 2, 26 and 27. And he who overcomes, and he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as also have received authority from my Father. Okay, that's a second passage supporting our position with the Lord.

Cheryl? I was watching and the same horn was making war against the saints and prevailing against them. until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High. And the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom, and the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms unto the whole heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions shall serve and obey him."

Okay, so these are three passages that kind of relate to the timing of this. This is a study in its own right, and I don't want to spend a lot more time here, but our judgment of the world system will come at the time of the millennial reign. So, and if this is true, Then why should we be unwilling to judge the things that are about us? I mean, Paul states you should be ashamed of this. Look at the authority given us as believers in the Millennial Kingdom to judge the world. And why can't you deal with these issues among yourself? I mean, you're going to be ruling over, not condemning, the world system in the Millennial Kingdom. What's the matter with you? Why can't you get your act together?

What kind of small things are these? I mean, Paul calls these small things. Small things. Give me an example. What are your thoughts? Small things. It could be just as small as disagreements about, and of course you have to think about the culture of the time during that time, and maybe it's someone doesn't give someone else a job or doesn't pay them for their job the way they should for their work. Or maybe it's, I don't know, whatever disagreement among themselves within the body.

Does anybody have an example of this historically in churches they've been in previously where there's been issues within the church where suits have been brought and the court system has been brought to solve an issue? There's lots of times that I have to observe in the body where somebody has to start a small business or something like that and you start out, we're friends, we go to church together, we're both believers, there's a high level of trust and then something goes wrong.

And there has to be some accounting for what went wrong. And I've seen that turn into a law since several times. It would just be like, oh, we have a product, we started a business, it's a side business, all of my savings is in it or whatever else. And I've seen that happen a few times now.

I don't want to be too specific. But I think Holly Hills, I think we're dealing with a group of believers that is more learned and more mature than maybe the average body. That doesn't make us elite. I mean, but we're here to really, I think, grow in grace and truth. There's a maturity here that maybe doesn't quite exist in the average Bible-based church.

I don't know. I'm just throwing that out. But I was going to say, you know, but these huge mega-churches, where you have thousands of people that go to these churches, and I think that's where you see this even a lot more than in a small body, where we all know each other very well, in those huge churches where there are 10,000 people. And it's really easy to get caught up in some kind of an investment thing or whatever, where things don't go the way you think. I'm going to spiritualize this next couple of verses, but I think it could relate to small matters.

And remember Paul and all that he's gone through. For our light affliction is but for a moment, which worketh for us a far more eternal and exceeding weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. Now think about Paul and all the strife. and trials and tribulations he went through. His light affliction was his earthly existence. But in our church, small matters, light afflictions, if Paul calls what he went through a light affliction, these things in the body have to be very, very small. Right? Let's put it into perspective.

But to kind of go back to what's just been said, I think a lot of times when it involves money, it can be a small thing, but it can rub very hard, even among believers. If you believe you've been Change your money has you've lost money, and if you never had any agreement about them That's part of the problem also that people aren't very smart even among believers if we go into a partnership you ought to have rules A contract. If we have no contract, if Bob's a good guy, Roger's a good guy, we may see things differently down the road. I want to have it so that we don't have those conflicts. So we ought to be smart about not having conflicts by putting things in place that will prevent conflicts. In so many areas of life, if you don't write it down, then it's open to interpretation.

That's a perfect example, I think. The issue of a business agreement needing to be contractualized up front. And there's nothing wrong with, among believers, contractualizing any number of things. I think it's a healthy thing. All right, good. Good discussion.

And don't you know that we're supposed to judge the angels? What angels are we going to be judging here? Well, they've already been judged. Must we judge them too? So the angels are defined as the highest order of beings under God, yet we're in doubt a position that is honored above the angels. And the two verses stated here, let's take a quick look at these.

2 Peter 2.4 and Jude 6. And I think Cheryl's correctly stated that these angels are fallen angels. We're not in a position of judging those who remain in heavenly places.

So whoever gets that, please read it. For if God spared not the angels of sin but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, Right.

When we were teaching 1 and 2 Peter, we discussed this in great detail. The Jude passage, please. Jude 6. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, he has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. So let's put this in temporal kind of understanding.

If you remember correctly, he said they've already been judged. They've been cast down. But yet, I think the position of authority over them is just kind of like it is over the world system, right? I mean these are fallen individuals who are declared unbelievers.

So our position of ruling and judging over these individuals is identical whether they be angels or unbelievers. And this should make issues that exist within the body and earth pretty simple, doesn't it? We're put in this kind of high authority position to really be judging the world system and ultimately angels.

Then why appoint the least esteemed by the church to resolve these controversies? Is that what's being said here? If you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? Is that what's going on here? They're taking the least educated, knowledgeable, and spiritually mature individual within the body to judge these things? Or in fact, is this a theoretical, this Paul saying, gee, within the body, are you going to pick your least esteemed individual to rule over these matters?

What's the class's thought about this? I read that differently actually. I read it as he's saying the least esteemed by the church would be those people outside the church. Okay. I didn't plant that. Is this least esteemed within or outside the church? I think it's outside the church. Okay. Is there agreement on that? I think so. Because that's what they're doing. They're letting the world resolve their controversies.

And those are least esteemed by the church. Yeah, this is a statement somewhat ironic. The idea here is that these differences were so petty as to be worthy only of the least witted. Perhaps there's an irony relating to the fact that even within the body, that the least witted among the body is going to be judging these matters.

I don't know. I think it's probably outside the body. First five implies that the wise man should be the one to judge, but apparently there were problems finding such wisdom within the body. And so that's why they were turning outside the body. So within the body, who should we be turning to in matters like this?

Our elders. Roger, welcome to being in a position of wisdom here within the body. I think ultimately, as believers ourselves, if Randy and I have an issue, hopefully we can get this resolved with scripture as its foundation. But if we need, we've got Vern and Mike and Roger to deal with this issue. I mean, the point is that we have a mechanism within the body to resolve these kinds of issues. Other thoughts here? All right, let's go ahead. Verses six through eight.

But brother goes to law against brother. and that before unbelievers. Now therefore, it's already an utter failure for you that you go to the law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat and you do these things to your brethren.

So this is the kind of atmosphere that's existing in the Corinthian church. Not a very healthy one, is it? Paul notes that it is utter and unacceptable failure when a believer goes to the law with a grievance against his brother or sister in the Lord. And I think this relates to how the world sees us, too, doesn't it?

Philippians 2.14 and 15, I think, says it very nicely. Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights into the world. For a believer to take an issue among the body to the legal system is not a good witness before the world is.

What I think really is kind of neat here is in verse 7 where it says it's better actually to just take the loss. Accept that your brother Maybe you feel that he's totally wrong and maybe he defrauded you. Just accept that. Don't take it for the quiz. The embarrassment to the body of Christ, to Christ himself, is not worth the monetary loss or whatever it might be. It's really true and I think that leads into this next section that I've just noted here. Roger, thank you.

Why don't you just accept wrong? Why don't you rather let yourselves be cheated or suffer yourselves to be frauded? And as believers, I think this is a position of meekness. So let's look at the Romans 12, 17 through 19 passage, which I think really exemplifies the truth of what's being said here. Then we're going to turn to another couple of passages to follow. So Romans 12, 17 through 19, whomever.

You can never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink.

For a toad doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Alright, good, thanks. And we go on with a couple of other passages. It's in your handout, Colossians 3, 12 and 13. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. the second Corinthians 8 21 providing honorable things not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men. We're different citizens and our citizenship relates to how we interact when issues come up like this that have legal implications. The world looks at things through a different pair of glasses. It's all me And in my favor, whereas we have this atmosphere of a Christ nature within us, which is a whole different ballgame than the flesh in terms of how we resolve issues like this.

And I think as Roger and Randy both indicated, I think these are things that should be really worked out ahead of time. so that if there is a business arrangement between believers that it's contractual and ultimately can be one which you can both return to and look at the contract to see if it's been violated in some way. Randy? One of the things I think is interesting about that is that the principle of a contract is actually something that carries on in the Covenants and the Old Testament.

And ownership of that responsibility is even something that God did with Abraham. You look at Genesis 12 when God makes a contract with Abraham. Now there are two parties. They sign the agreement by faith, so to speak, with Abraham. And Abraham ends up getting everything. But that principle of a contract It really is, but is that a cloud of legalism applied to the church, though?

No. So let's put it this way, from a parenting perspective. If I don't clearly explain to my children what I expect behavior-wise, and I don't help them understand how they will accomplish that behavior and what it's done by, and I come in and start disciplining them without covering those things, they're going to find me to be inconsistent. But if I have articulated clearly what the expectations are and how they're going to be done and in what time, then I'm a consistent parent and they will not be surprised that discipline is coming because they weren't standing playing video games. I mean, there's always been a theme in our home, and those of you who are parents, or still parents, but your children or raised your grandparents, you know, kids are under law. And I think, having had five children, that where grace starts to apply more consistently is different for each kid, right? But I mean, it's the same kind of atmosphere you're describing for the home. Accountability is clarification.

But you know, too, a contract is only as viable as the integrity of the people who signed the contract. I've been in business deals with people who never had any intention of living up to the contract. They signed it because I was signing it and I was going to live up to it.

But they had no intention. And so their whole plan, their whole MO, and if you went back and looked at their history, that was their history. And they kind of dared you to sue them in the court system because they knew how much it would cost. And they knew that probably you're not going to take them to court because it's a long, drawn out, expensive process.

So there are plenty, but those are not people in the body. I'm just talking about contracts are only as viable as the integrity of the people who signed it. But you would think if you signed a contract with someone in the body, they're a different citizen. You hope. Your expectations. Your expectations. But each member of the contract both has sin natures. That's right.

And that's when this idea of suffering loss. So if it comes down to that, if you get down to the bottom row and you say, well, I'm going to have to suffer the loss, I'm just not going to. The mature believer among those two parties, it sounds like in Corinth it may not have been. Well, we're going to look at a very practical example of this in a few minutes before the end of the class. So we'll see how this relates to how we should be existing in the new man, in Christ Jesus, as we pertain to issues that have a lawsuit as a potential outcome. OK, let's look at the last three verses.

Do you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters, homosexuals, etc., I'm not going to read all of those, will inherit the kingdom of God. None of these people are going to inherit the kingdom of God.

Importantly, and such were some of you, how about all of us? examples of the application of the sin nature to daily life were not all, you know, accomplished in these areas even before we were saved. But nevertheless, I mean, the point is Paul, remember, considered himself the greatest sinner among all. And if we look at the man who, in fact, more than anyone lived the exchange life and really was an earthly example of what the Christ's life looked like, and he considers him the greatest among all sinners, Just think of us in terms of our own sin. Anyway, all that aside, and such were some of you, but you're washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God.

Be not deceived, no unrighteous man will be an heir. We're sons, we're heirs to things now and things eternal. And again, what's the kingdom of God? Remember, we kind of dealt with this a few weeks ago. Well, I like a couple of examples. We can go through commentary after commentary, deciding kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God. And I have bias for these two sets of verses. Luke 17, 20 and 21. Now, when he was asked, the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, the kingdom of God does not come with observation, nor will they say, see here or see there, for indeed, the kingdom of God is within you. I think it's overly simplistic and a reductionist view, but the kingdom of God is in each and every person who walks or whatever lives in this earthly existence.

1 Corinthians 15.50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. So flesh and blood is representative of the unrighteous, the unbeliever. But the kingdom of God is everything that God is, was, and will be, in the life of the believer. And that's how to best explain the kingdom of God.

And such was some of you. How about some of us? I love Ephesians 2, 1 and 2, which is in your handout. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. And all of us were dead in our trespasses and sins. So such were some of you.

But look where they or we are now. We're washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Notice the triunity here. And it's all created in Christ Jesus, but yet we have the role of the Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. One of the verses that's often used to show the triune God is really three in one. All three represent this transformation of our washing, our sanctification, and our justification.

And we don't need to, I think, go and really define these terms in more detail. So the last 10 minutes of our class today, I think what I'm going to do is give you an example of what this kind of scenario might look like within the body. We're going to discuss that and then we're going to look at examples of how the legal system is appropriate for us under certain circumstances. So this is kind of throwing this out here for our time to discuss. So let's envision the following.

John and Jill went up the hill. John and Jill are members of the body of Christ. And they go to an attorney to set up a trust with him. That's Jim, who's another member of the body and an attorney. Jim fails to fulfill his obligation as executor and trustee of the trust. And John and Jill lose the life insurance policy that maintained the trust. And this trust was for their children. a substantial, you know, trust that ultimately would at their death be given to their children, but Jim didn't get the job done here.

So, next steps. How did John and Jill not go up the hill, but deal with the issue before them? Nobody has any ideas here. Let's say that Jack is the attorney here and Roger and Bonnie had an issue here that they're counting on Jack to get the job done. Jack's not getting the job done. And they've lost their trust because it's not been executively dealt with properly.

So it is a legal issue. I mean it really is. It's a legal issue. It's not a spiritual or disagreement doctrine or anything like that. Okay, so what are the next steps then? Sue. Sue. They're going to sue their brother? Jim's a member of the body of Christ. He just has failed his responsibilities. If you're lost, you're lost. Sue. And the father knows all about it. The father knows all about it. But this is a substantial trust. I mean, this could be up to a half a million or a million dollars for the children one day.

Well, in this context, you know, assuming they're in the They said they're fellow believers, assuming they're in the same body of believers. It makes it a little more difficult if they're not in the same body of believers. If they're in the same body of believers, in a sense they should be willing to submit to the leadership of the local body of believers. That would be an avenue, certainly. Even though it's outside, it's a legal matter, but still in resolving that, I think the leadership of the local body could could offer, and we just read the passage that described that. So there's maybe two aspects here.

If they're not the same body of believers, then it's a little more difficult. But I've heard of people, I think Mike Doyle has shared sometimes that in some of his dealings that he actually got, he was asked to be arbitrated between two believers. So I mean, I think it would be wise to do that if they are believers.

That's another avenue that Actually doesn't cost you a whole lot of money. No. Many times. So that's an avenue that made it as a beginning point to start. And it would would fit very well with what we just went through in terms of using that as a first as a beginning point. Now, at some point, I don't know, I have to know more about this. It seems like.

Well, if Jim is in the same body of believers as John and Jill, it makes it a little simpler, doesn't it, in that you have your own elders to turn to for their wisdom in the Word of God and how it can be applied to the circumstance. But if, in fact, the believer claims to know the Lord Jesus Christ and he's in a different body, it does make it a little more complicated. Other thoughts about process here?

Well, you know, I'm not going to tell you, you know, Jim's kind of embarrassed about what happened because he really delegated these responsibilities to, you know, one of his legal secretaries. And so it ends up that she didn't get the job done on a regular basis. So, I mean, Jim's not happy about this, that it didn't happen. But the ultimate dependency on his law office was to make sure that this occurred. I think we have to think through this a little bit because this is the kind of thing that can occur and does occur. And by the way, it did occur. This is reality testing here. Don't be bashful. Your thoughts. I was just thinking, I mean, as far as go not take it to the court system, but I mean, within the church or arbitrating. I don't know.

Maybe there's some way they can work out even. I know it'd be hard to repay that much, but even I don't know, maybe even some kind of agreement that, you know, the one could have retribution somehow. repayment, so I don't know. Okay, so you're thinking that this could occur between Jim and John and Jill, or in fact... Yeah, or have somebody, a neutral, within the BIPOC leadership to help too.

Randy, thoughts on this? Frankly, I'm going to own up to not understanding the problem. So, I have no familiarity with what What this is. So you need more details. Yeah. So so not understanding it and being in software where my job is to understand things so that I can explain to other people. I couldn't explain this. So I don't want to volunteer an opinion that is based on misunderstanding. All right.

So this is an earthly law. One check. I'm sorry. We're talking about an earthly law here. Well, this is simply something that is exemplary of the kind of issue that can come up that doesn't have a simple solution to it. Other than John and Jill accepting the loss and looking at an alternative plan. And that, in fact, is what occurred here. But these things happen all the time in this old life. Right, okay. I just ask the Lord to show me what to do next.

Bob, do they seek other believers in the process of this? No, I think that John and Jill ultimately took a position of realizing that they'd been wronged, but then accepted what had been done, did not take legal action against this attorney, and then pursued another path to try to recover the insurance policy, but there was a substantial amount of time between the initial policy and when they were seeking out the new policy, which really related to the cost of the new policy and the benefits that would accrue. once death had occurred. So anyway, it's a complicated scenario, but they accepted the loss and ultimately were capable of arranging another arrangement going forward. I'm guessing Jim wasn't involved the second time? Jim was clearly let off the hook here and was pleased to be in that position, I can assure you.

All right, good. Good discussion. I just wanted to share this because this is exemplary, the kind of thing that can come up. Paul would call this a small matter. But I think as the class has indicated previously this morning, it's one that involves money. This is often where believers can be black and white in terms of being at different ends of an issue. All right, let's turn to the last page.

And the question here is, when do believers appropriately use the governmental system, the governmental court system? And here are some examples, I believe, that are appropriate to think about this. When there's a charge against us or we're asked to testify in a legal matter, we go to the court. I mean, if you're charged with a crime or a felony or, in fact, a misdemeanor, you're called to the courtroom, you must show up. Or if you're asked to testify on behalf of a brother or a non-brother on an issue that you, in fact, have something to represent to the court system, it's appropriate for us to be in the court system. I just was involved in testifying for an injunction against a major drug in a federal court in Delaware about a month ago. So I believed in what I represented in terms of my testament and ultimately appeared before the court system. So in fact, that's the time to go to the court system. You're subpoenaed, you got no choice. Show up.

Clarification of agreements. Now if we bonded with the world system in some way, And ultimately, there is an issue like the one I just mentioned. It's probably appropriate if the court's necessary to clarify an arrangement that's been made. First of all, from a business perspective, it's not wise to bond with the unsaved world.

I think we've kind of assumed that here this morning. That doesn't mean it doesn't occur. It probably occurs lots of times. Margaret probably can relate to that to some extent in her own past. But nevertheless, I think if there is an arrangement or an agreement or a contract with the world system and that you need clarification from a human legal matter, I think it's relevant. You're not suing here. You're just getting clarification of that contract and how it should be interpreted.

And then the final, you know, as I commented on this, you know, it's a response to a crime against us. If in fact, you know, you're robbed, your home is robbed and you've lost possessions, etc. The world system is likely involved in that crime. We can't be sure it could have been a believer. We certainly hope not. I think at that point it's appropriate if a crime is against us, whatever that crime might be, to go to the legal system for justice to be done. So there are times when the believer is in the court system. And I think hopefully these are all kind of reasonable representations of those kinds of issues. a true story to relate to. It's about a believer who, this is in the medical field. I'm not trying to set up any talks here. That's okay. I'm a dart board. And actually, this is a story which I may, hopefully I'll get right, but basically it was an operation.

A gentleman had problems with his hearing and the hospital They mistakenly operated on the wrong ear. He was a believer and he chose not to sue them. I mean, it's just a case where he could have sued them for malpractice and they did not. But for whatever reason, they operated on the wrong ear. I'm not sure whether it was the hospital, the doctor, I don't know, but the gentleman just said, He accepted that from the Lord and said, well, they made a mistake. God's in control. Did he go back to get his other position? I don't know. Well, when I had my right knee done months ago, you know, they marked it. I can't tell you how many times they were sure that they were operating on the right knee. Or the correct knee, I should say. Which was the right knee.

Let's keep in mind always, all the time, through legal issues and contract disputes and things like that, keep looking down. I mean, our citizenship's not here. And sometimes we have to accept loss and feel like we've been cheated. But yet, the heavenly view is really one that we're fully washed, sanctified, and righteous before the Lord. And our witness before an unsaved world can be the way we deal with things like this. Brandon.

Tying into that and connecting one of those dots, one of the things that I think is important is, as a believer, understanding the earthly situation you're in and what your risks are. I've had lots of conversations with believers who either got burned or had a lot of success due to whatever risks were involved with the decision that they made. And the ones that got burned almost always didn't understand the risk that they were taking. If you're going to go into something that could turn into a matter, whatever that matter is, you should know what that is.

And you should probably be seeking godly counsel from other believers first, before entering that in, so that these kinds of things don't happen. I know there's been multiple times where I've gone to the elders, Usually individually, not as a board, to ask questions of. Or if I had a medical question, I would certainly think, well, I will seek out the best advice that I can on this for the topic. And I'd probably ask you even, do you know somebody who specializes in whatever this is, to get the best advice before getting the operation. You don't get 16 operations and hope that one of them work right. That's not how that works. We like to make sure the right ear gets correct, the correct ear gets hopeful. And then these kinds of things get avoided.

But there's that wisdom first is a major deal. Well, welcome to the earthly system that we're overwhelmed by at times in terms of things like this. But I think the scripture is clear. This is very, very applicable to today as much as it was at Corinth. Remember the church at Corinth, very immature, very unwilling to to know anything about their citizenship and how it related to their day-to-day existence. They were clearly turning to the world to deal with issues that came up among the body, and that was wrong.

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're grateful for the scripture before us. We've maybe just touched the surface here, but knowing positionally we're going to judge the world, judge angels, those that have fallen, and ultimately you look at us as as wise, sanctified, and fully righteous and justified. We're thankful for that position. We don't use that in an arrogant and cocky manner, but we do use that to understand how relationships exist within and outside the body, and we put those in appropriate perspective looking down from above. We pray for the service to follow now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.