Pastor Andrew Lim
19th December 2010
1 Corinthians 6:1-11: If one of you has a dispute with a fellow-Christian, how dare he go before heathen judges instead of letting God's people settle the matter? Don't you know that God's people will judge the world? Well, then, if you are to judge the world, aren't you capable of judging small matters? Do you not know that we shall judge the angels? How much more, then, the things of this life! If such matters come up, are you going to take them to be settled by people who have no standing in the church? Shame on you!
Surely there is at least one wise person in your fellowship who can settle a dispute between fellow-Christians. Instead, one Christian goes to court against another and lest unbelievers judge the case!
The very fact that you have legal disputes among yourselves shows that you have failed completely. Would it not be better for you to be wronged? would it not be better for you to be robbed?
Instead, you yourselves wrong one another and rob one another, even your own brothers! Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God's Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts or who steal or are greedy or are drunkards or who slander others or are thieves-- none of these will possess God's Kingdom. Some of you were like that. But you have been purified from sin; you have been dedicated to God; you have been put right with God by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
*Each of us are called to take the higher road
*Not only are we to do good to others but to be good
*We must act sacrificially and that is the higher road
*We all have different conflicts with work, relationships, even in church
*To solve conflicts, we should just avoid it but we are called to take the higher road
*Tho this may sound logical, is it what God wants?
*The opposite of conflict is peace
*There is so many conflicts in church in the New Testament
*Romans 16:17: I urge you, my brothers; watch our for those who cause divisions and upset people's faith and go against the teaching which you have received. Keep away from them!
* In every conflict Paul encountered, he did not address the issue because he focused on reconciliation. The bigger picture of love and unity
*v7-8 The very fact that you have legal disputes among yourselves shows that you have failed completely. Would it not be better for you to be wronged? would it not be better for you to be robbed? Instead, you yourselves wrong one another and rob one another, even your own brothers!
*It is already an utter failure if the conflict remains unresolved or when we focus on our own justice, we think we are always right
*We should solve the conflicts we have with each other before going to other people for help
*Matthew 5:38: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But now I tell you: do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too.
*One party must try to go to the higher road, to allow them to slap the other cheek, then conflicts can be solved.
*If both Christians can't solve a conflict, our faith has gone fundamentally wrong
*Jesus did not retaliate but suffered in Christ
*It is better to take the higher road than be a negative witness for Christ
*What about justice?
*Romans 12:19: Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger do it. For the scripture says, "I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord."
*It is not our job to seek vengence
*God will avenge in His timing
*If we turn the other cheek out of love, we will do so cheerfully, lovingly and there will be no room for inner conflicts.
**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**
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