Qualified To Decide-4 Series

QUALIFIED To DECIDE-IV—1Corinthians 6:1-11

OR Qualified To Rectify

Attention:

Stop vs. Slow Down:

A patrolman pulls over a car, walks up to the driver's window, & asks the man if he knew why he was pulled over.

"No," the man replies.

"You failed to stop at the stop sign," the officer explains.

"But I did slow down after I had looked both ways!" the guy argued.

The officer shakes his head. "You are required to stop. That's why they're called stop signs."

The driver starts to get an attitude. “Stop, slow down -- what's the difference?” he says to the patrolman.

The officer pulled out his baton. “I can show you the difference. I'm going to start hitting you with my baton. Now you tell me if you want me to stop or slow down.”

The driver was indeed ‘qualified to decide’ if the officer should stop or slow down!

Paul rebuked the Corinthian Christians because they sought out & trusted secular sources to rectify personal grievances among themselves.

‘Grievance’—‘A real or imagined wrong or other cause for complaint or protest, especially unfair treatment.’

‘Rectify’—‘To put(something) right; To correct.’

The Church & Christians are uniquely fitted for properly rectifying personal grievances among themselves.

How/When are Christians fit to rectifying personal grievances?

6 confirmations that Christians are uniquely qualified to properly rectify personal grievances.

We have already found that Christians are qualified to rectify grievances thru Their...

1. DARING/Boldness(:1)

2. DESTINY(:2a & :3a)

3. INFERENCE(s)(:2b & :3b-4)

4. WISDOM(:5-6)

5—Christians are qualified to rectify grievances thru Their...

SELFLESS/Loving CONCERN(:7-8)

Explanation:(:7-8) Selfless/Loving

:7—“Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?”

It’s been said that this verse makes it sound like Christians are just supposed ‘to let people run all over them.’ Yes, that is correct!!...Among Christian brethren, & according to God’s authority.

BUT not so that we become innocuous ‘patsies’ at everyone else’s disposal. Not so that others become the determiners of our fate...That is slavery to men & flesh!

The choice for your ‘letting people run all over you’ is to be decided by the individual. We do this thru the Holy Spirit’s guidance & control at every given moment of your day. You cannot & should not attempt to regulate—by rule—obedience to the Spirit of God! It is done only thru love...Love for God & love for your brother or sister in Christ.

A Christian & the Church must be Willing to sacrifice self on the altar of submission, love, & service to God! Lost people cannot do this! And neither can backslidden Christians!

?Is my being “wronged” & “cheated” a testimony to the power of Christ?! ?Can Christ work in your “acceptance” of “wrong” & in your “being cheated”?

Negative example:

As a pastor I have been part of churches where my entire family has had to leave for this very reason...Because the church’s pride kept them from attaining reconciliation with the pastor & the pastor’s reconciliation with the church! This is an unfortunate pattern in many small churches with a ‘family-chapel’ attitude. The pastor rather “accepts wrong” & “is cheated.” The immediate ‘collateral damage’ is that he has to pack-up his entire family in order to leave, looking for a place to minister.

?The question is...?In the “wrong” & in your “being cheated” are you able in Christ to “accept” it without being bitter, & hate-filled, & hurt so much that you cannot forgive?

Positive example:

I told the deacons in one church I served, that God was calling me elsewhere...genuinely a God-thing. Where I did not know at the time, but I was honest with those men. And I remember one of them asking me, “What if it takes 6 months or a year(arbitrary)?” I asked them if they would trust the Spirit so much that they would trust me & my family, to give them plenty of notice. They did not prepare a search committee until I was convinced that they should! It was one of the smoothest moves that we personally had & one of the smoothest moves that the church experienced.

*Love with it’s selfless concern avoids the “utter failures,” whereas pride multiplies them!

?Is your main/chief/primary CONCERN Selfless? or about getting what you want, getting what you want when you want it, getting your way, having things done your way, etc....so much so that the Holy Spirit way & His direction in others is circumvented/destroyed? We must live & prosper Jesus’ witness together!

“Now therefore/Actually”—oun—Particle—1) Then, therefore, accordingly, consequently, these things being so, Certainly, or Accordingly.

“Already”—hdh—Adverb—1) Now, already. “Now (already)”, with a suggested reference to some other time or to some expectation, the subjective present. Strong—Even now.