Title: Airing Dirty Laundry
Text: 1 Cor. 6:1-11
Truth: Concern for Christ is more important than our concerns.
Aim: To make Christ’s concern more important.
Life ?: What will be my response when Christ’s concern is most important?
INTRODUCTION
When I was twelve or thirteen I worked at a motel cleaning the grounds. One of my jobs was cleaning the swimming pool in the morning. I used a pool broom with a long handle to push the dirt on the bottom of the pool halfway across. I’d do the same on the other side. Then I’d angle the broom to push the dirt into the drain.
One morning while I was cleaning the pool, a family came into the pool area. They were in a big argument. Both parents and kids were loudly making their point. I wasn’t eavesdropping on the conversation because you couldn’t help but hear. I remember turning to look at them as they argued. The problem was I didn’t pay attention to my work and I pushed the broom out to far. I lost my balance. There was no recovery. Fully clothed, I fell into the pool. When I surfaced, the family that was airing their dirty laundry had a good laugh at my mistake.
The bickering and fighting of the church members at Corinth had become public, and Paul was not happy with the way they chose to resolve their disputes. He is shocked that they were actually suing one another in civil court. What most concerned Paul was the testimony the church at Corinth was conveying to the community about Jesus Christ. They witnessed that Jesus Christ changes lives, yet when they had disputes they responded to one another like the unsaved world. This is the teaching that underlines Paul’s admonition about Christians taking one another to court. Concern for Christ’s reputation is more important than our rights.
What’s our response when Christ’s reputation is more important than our rights?
I. RESOLVE THE PROBLEM (I COR. 6:1-5)
Paul concluded chapter five by saying we are not to judge those outside the church but we are to judge those inside the church. In light of that, don’t go outside the church to ask them to decide matters that should be resolved between believers. The word “ungodly” simply means someone that doesn’t know Jesus Christ as Savior. He is not a Christian. Why would you ask someone how a Christian is to respond in a dispute when he doesn’t know anything about Christ?
Paul asks the church a series of questions that reveal the theological grounds for not taking their disputes to the ungodly. He says that in the future they are going to be a part of the glory of Christ when He judges the world and spiritual beings like the angels. In some way Christians will participate in Christ’s judgment of the drama of history. If that is our future, can’t we settle these “trivial matters?” The word “trivial” is our word micro.
He exposes the foolishness and immaturity of this church with biting sarcasm in v. 5. They’ve boasted about how wise they were. Yet they have no one wise enough in the church to make a good decision on these trivial matters?
Several years ago I was asked to be a part of a three-man mediation board to hear a dispute between two Christian men. One felt the other owed him money. The other contended the agreement for the office space was free of charge. I don’t remember any details beyond that other than the office owner believed the fair decision was for him to be paid. I do remember our decision. We requested the man receiving the free office space pay 10% of what the first man was asking. I remember that because the office owner said to his lawyer that we preachers really think along the lines of a tithe!
Don’t apply this text to beyond its scope. We’re talking about trivial matters. Paul respected the government and used its judicial system to his advantage. We see this in his missionary journeys in Acts and his instruction in Romans 13. Basically, the church deals with sins, the civil court deals with crimes. For example, when a case of child abuse is reported to a staff member we are required by law to report it. The Roman Catholic Church’s reputation and treasury has been greatly damaged because they did not report criminal behavior on the part of some of their priests. We don’t protect pedophiles in this church. We protect society.
This doesn’t prevent Christians from suing nonChristians. If you contract with a roofer to replace your roof and he takes the money and runs, use the courts to get your roof fixed or get your money back. But as Christians we should pursue other means and make a lawsuit the last resort.
This is not saying that a Christian can never sue another Christian. If they do something illegal, you can defend yourself. Can you imagine if word got out that Christians never defend themselves in court? There are people that would take everything you worked for.
Occasionally, fellow Christians may get in a conflict that they cannot resolve themselves. We all have differences. We are all sinners. Paul calls on us to set aside our pride and our rights and seek out a wise, impartial Christian to find the just and wise decision. This action will greatly bless the church and the law courts.
The motivation for a Christian to make this decision is that Christ’s reputation is more important than our rights.
What’s our response when Christ’s reputation is more important than our rights?
II. REVEAL THE GOSPEL (I COR. 6:6-8)
Paul can’t believe it. Christians are going Jerry Springer and the secular authorities are having to sort out the right decision. Paul says whether the man wins the lawsuit or not, he loses. He may have gotten his property back or won a financial claim but he lost the opportunity to be a witness for Jesus Christ and so did the church.
If concern for Christ’s reputation were truly the number one concern, the man would have endured the injustice of being cheated out of what was rightly his. Instead of looking and acting like Jesus, he looks and acts like the lost. In v. 8 he shames the one that started this mess by defrauding his brother. Both church members reveal that Christ has not deeply and fully changed their lives. They act more like the lost than the saved.
Lawsuits in Corinth were a form of entertainment. We use a jury of a dozen men and women to decide the merits of a case. They would have as many as 200-400 to make up the jury! Everybody in the community got to get in on your business. This public spectacle promoted the mindset of settling disagreements in court. The Christians were acting like worldly people rather than redeemed people.
Years ago I attended a class at Glorieta Conference Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico. The teacher told about taking his car to be repaired by a mechanic. He was very confident that the mechanic had not properly done the repairs, and it cost him more money to get the car fixed. He weighed the options of whether to get in the man’s face and force the issue of not paying for the poor work or letting it go. Teacher wanted to win this mechanic to Christ and to prevent any hindrance he chose to lose money.
I spoke with a pastor whose deacons are pressuring him to resign. He’s not been immoral or taught false doctrine or been difficult to get along with. The only excuse they can give him is the church is not growing like they want. He pointed out that none of them participate in visitation. Not a single deacon had a private meeting with his pastor as instructed in Matthew 18. The deacons did get together and have home meetings to “discuss” the problem of the church. Of course, the first he knew of the problem was when they called him to come to a meeting where they ganged up on him like a bunch of cowards. Set aside the issue that they have completely disobeyed the Word of God on how to resolve disputes; these church leaders are willing to throw their church into an upheaval and harm the testimony of Christ for their own personal interests. Sadly, for many churches their leaders show such a low level of Christian maturity and obedience to the Word of God. When it comes to conflict, their concerns are more important than the concerns of Christ.
Dale Fincher told of the last few years of his mother’s life. As she fought hard against cancer, a clarity of life came to her that he’d never seen in all of his growing up years. One of the symbols that she referred to frequently was that of a lighthouse. It became a top priority.
A lighthouse cannot steer a ship, she would say. It cannot board the ship and turn the wheel. It cannot demand any response from the captain. All it can do is shine.
The shining itself is a message: “Don’t come over here onto the rocks! Steer toward the harbor!” It is up to the captain to make the choice whether to heed the message or not.
In the same way, Christians and their churches are lighthouses, shining forth what God is like. We cannot command others to worship God. At best, our role is to keep letting this community know where the harbor is, where the channels are that lead home.
The opposite is also true. Our actions done out of bad character can lead people to have a wrong view of God. Unfortunately, many have rejected Christ simply because they saw a false representation of Him.
Here is an example where showing what God is like not only involves evangelism but also sharing the truth through our lives. Everyday we are revealing the gospel through our character or our conversations about moral matters or even the decisions we make about routine matters.
As the light of the world Christ has shone his light into our hearts. We in turn are to shine that light into the hearts of our neighbors, coworkers, and family so that they may see what God is like and join us in worshiping Him. For that to happen concern for Christ’s reputation is more important than our rights.
What’s our response when Christ’s reputation is more important than our rights?
III. REVEALS TRUE SALVATION (I COR. 6:9-11)
If a church member treats fellow Christians as described in v. 7-8, then Paul warns the man he may not be a Christian. He may win the judgment on earth but in the final judgment his true condition is revealed.
How do you know if a person is a Christian? They’re different. They’ve changed. How do you know if a tree is an apple tree? By its fruit. These sins were popular sins in Corinth. For a person to reject these sins would make them stand out. A true Christian won’t be marked by this lifestyle. He is born again to a new lifestyle.
This is the danger of nominal Christianity, which is rampant in the American church. There are many who are Christian in name or appearance only. Nominal Christians are deceived into thinking they are Christians but they may very well not be believers. We will never live perfect lives but a real Christian is to live a different life.
John Newton, the author of the hymn Amazing Grace, prayed:
I’m not what I want to be, I’m not what I hope to be, I’m not what I’m going to be, but thank God by the grace of God I’m not what I use to be.
The sexually immoral refers to those engaged in sexual behavior outside of marriage. Idolaters may not seem like a big deal to us. It was more obvious in that day with their multiple gods. But an idolater is a big deal. An idolater loves someone or something more than Jesus. It might be a guy or a gal or a sports team or their business or their kids, but they serve and sacrifice for them and not the Lord Jesus. Idolatry is a huge problem today.
Adulterers refer to sexual sin committed by married people outside the marriage. Neither male prostitutes nor homosexuals will be accepted into the presence of God. The male prostitutes referred to young boys that would be used by perverted men for sex. Homosexuals refer to dudes lying with dudes like dudes lie with gals. Is that enough said?
Thieves is our word kleptomaniac, which describes someone with an irresistible urge to take what is not his. Greedy people love money and use people. I heard about a pastor that asked the manager of a restaurant where his people often went after services how his members treated the waiters. The manager said some were very nice and tipped generously, but many were demanding and stingy. That pastor took up an offering in the church and sent it to the manager to divide among the staff. Since we aren’t going to do that it means you need to be generous and not greedy when you tip!
Drunkards refer to those who abuse alcohol. In our day it would include drug addicts. I believe the Bible is more supportive of my position of not drinking alcohol. The most dangerous person in America is the moderate drinker who can handle it properly. They are the encouragement that has led to over 15 million alcoholics. Alcohol is a factor in half of all murders, suicides, and accidental deaths. It took 12 years for 46,483 soldiers to be killed in Viet Nam. Today over 30,000 people will die in alcohol-related traffic accidents per year. Over twelve years alcohol will kill over 350,000 on our highways. I don’t understand why Christians are so protective of a drug that is so dangerous and deadly. The people who equate the wine of the N.T. to the alcohol of today are either ignorant or intentionally deceptive. You can’t be a deacon or staff person at Northeast if you drink alcohol.
Slanderer covers all kinds of verbal abuse. The gossip, backstabber, liar, and the person who maligns a person’s good name are found in this word. Swindlers take advantage of others.
The conclusion of such a list is not that these folks can’t be saved. In fact, the Corinthian believers used to belong to one or more of these categories of sin. The reason sinners are excluded from the kingdom of God is because they refuse to repent and surrender to God. But Paul believes better of the Corinthians. They did repent and surrender to God. Christ washed the stain of sin from the believers. When Christ sanctified them He gave them a new nature of holiness. Finally, Christ made them acceptable in the presence of a holy God. This took an act of the Spirit of God to accomplish.
Let me paraphrase Paul. “When you remember that concern for Christ’s reputation is more important than concern for your rights your community will need fewer policemen, smaller jails, fewer homes for battered women, lower insurance rates because of less drunk drivers, and your town will be filled with happy, peaceful churches.”
Some of you remember how advertisers would use several well-placed slogans on signs to promote their product. Burma Shave was famous for their billboard advertisements. For example, one advertisement went like this: “Don’t lose your head.” That would be on one sign. Then down the road you’d come to this sign, “to gain a minute.” The next sign read, “you need your head.” Next sign, “your brains are in it. Burma Shave.” Or, “Brother Speeder…let’s rehearse…all together…good morning, nurse. Burma Shave.” How about this one: “The midnight ride…of Paul for beer…led to a warmer…atmosphere. Burma Shave.” One more: “Around the curve…lickety split…beautiful car…wasn’t it? Burma Shave.” (Dan Betzer)
There’s probably not been a product so identified with its advertising as Burma Shave, unless it is Christians and the church. A man said to a pastor about a member of his church that if all Christians were as fine a believer as that man, he would become a believer, too! So let me give it a try for an ad for our church. “Following Jesus…that’s my style…He’s made my life…eternally worthwhile. Northeast Baptist.”
OK, so I won’t give up my day job to be an advertiser.
CONCLUSION
When concern for Christ’s reputation becomes more important than concern for our rights, we will work to resolve problems, reveal the gospel to a watching world, and reveal that we are truly born again.
INVITATION
Have you heard about the swine flu? Who hasn’t? As of Saturday 16 countries had reported cases that totaled 615 infections. They have not declared it a global pandemic, yet. Most cases have been mild. The U.S. has antiviral drugs that equal about 10% of the population.
I wish I had the ability to transfer that kind of concern to those without Christ. Sin is pandemic. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is deadly. It eventually will result in our physical death but it has killed our relationship with God. Only repentance of sin and surrender to Jesus Christ as your God will save you from the deadly effects of sin. Come to Christ now.
In 2007 the book Unchristian was released. It reported on the latest research on how people view the church and Christians. The heart of the discovery is people are still attracted to Christ but they don’t think the churches are Christian. They recognize Jesus teaches these virtues but they don’t see it practiced in our churches. God help us. Will you ask God to make our witness and walk correspond?
