God Speaks
How is it that when you have something against another Christian, you “go to law” and ask a heathen court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other Christians to decide which of you is right? 2 Don’t you know that someday we Christians are going to judge and govern the world? So why can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? 3 Don’t you realize that we Christians will judge and reward the very angels in heaven? So you should be able to decide your problems down here on earth easily enough. 4 Why then go to outside judges who are not even Christians? 5 I am trying to make you ashamed. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these arguments? 6 But, instead, one Christian sues another and accuses his Christian brother in front of unbelievers.
7 To have such lawsuits at all is a real defeat for you as Christians. Why not just accept mistreatment and leave it at that? It would be far more honoring to the Lord to let yourselves be cheated. 8 But, instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong, cheating others, even your own brothers.
9-10 Don’t you know that those doing such things have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who live immoral lives, who are idol worshipers, adulterers or homosexuals—will have no share in his Kingdom. Neither will thieves or greedy people, drunkards, slanderers, or robbers. 11 There was a time when some of you were just like that but now your sins are washed away, and you are set apart for God; and he has accepted you because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.
12 I can do anything I want to if Christ has not said no, but some of these things aren’t good for me. Even if I am allowed to do them, I’ll refuse to if I think they might get such a grip on me that I can’t easily stop when I want to. 13 For instance, take the matter of eating. God has given us an appetite for food and stomachs to digest it. But that doesn’t mean we should eat more than we need. Don’t think of eating as important because someday God will do away with both stomachs and food.
But sexual sin is never right: our bodies were not made for that but for the Lord, and the Lord wants to fill our bodies with himself. 14 And God is going to raise our bodies from the dead by his power just as he raised up the Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts and members of Christ? So should I take part of Christ and join him to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you know that if a man joins himself to a prostitute she becomes a part of him and he becomes a part of her? For God tells us in the Scripture that in his sight the two become one person. 17 But if you give yourself to the Lord, you and Christ are joined together as one person.
18 That is why I say to run from sex sin. No other sin affects the body as this one does. When you sin this sin it is against your own body. 19 Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and that he lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you. 20 For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God because he owns it.
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: We can’t expect unbelievers to live by the moral laws recorded in the Bible, but we can call on self-proclaimed believers to do so. This is what chapter five was all about. It is the church as a body that is to judge between Christians who is right or wrong on an issue rather than taking our disputes to the secular courts. We need wise people within the Christian community who can discern what is right or wrong according to the Scriptures. As Jethro advised Moses, they need to be able (wise) people who fear the Lord and hate covetousness (to be honest and exemplify integrity), taking care of smaller cases at the local level while referring larger concerns to higher levels such as Moses (Exodus 18). “If it’s legal, it must be all right,” seems to be the motto of some of the Corinthian churchgoers; or perhaps, “There’s no law against it, so it’s ok.” Paul spoke against this kind of reasoning by reminding his readers that our bodies were designed not just for our enjoyment (as in delicious food or intimacy in marriage) but for His eternal purposes. He owns them by creation and by buying them through Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. Would we think it was right for Jesus to be involved in gluttony, drunkenness, or prostitution? Then we shouldn’t use and abuse our bodies in that way either. We should run from sexual sin. We should seek to use every part of our being to bring glory to God.
Prayer: Dear Gracious God, thank You that You, not fallible human beings, are the One who ultimately will judge what is truly good or evil. You are training Your godly ones to judge the angels in the New Heaven and the New Earth. In the past, some of us practiced sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, theft, greed, drunkenness, reviling, swindling, and many other kinds of rebellion against Your holy nature and laws; however, by the blood and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, You have washed us, sanctified us, and justified us by the Holy Spirit. This is a God-initiated and ongoing process until we are present with You in eternity. Help us to flee the sins that affect our bodies. May people see You, Lord God, in and through our bodies. AMEN
Action: (Ask the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will try to communicate with a fellow believer I have a disagreement with: in person one-on-one, then with one or two others, then take it to the church (Matthew 18:15-18).
- I will do my best not to take a fellow believer to a secular court.
- I will make a list of Christian attorneys and counselors for myself and others to consult.
- I will remind myself and other believers that we have been bought with the price of Jesus Christ’s own blood; so, we should avoid worldly temptations, flee sexual sin, resist the devil, and honor God.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.