1st Corinthians ā Wayne Barber/Part 40
By: Dr. Wayne Barber; ©1998 |
When weāre offended, particularly when it comes to affecting our pocketbook, thatās when our flesh usually takes over. We refuse to die to self; we refuse to seek a biblical solution; and our testimony in the world is ruined. |
Contents
The Sin of Demanding Our Own Rights ā Part 3
1 Corinthians 6:7-10
Turn to Isaiah 55:8-9. I want you to read something. We will never understand the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians unless we know this principle right here. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, āāFor My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,ā declares the Lord.ā Thatās a powerful principle there. Verse 9 continues, āFor as the heavens are higher than the earth [think of the distance of the heaven from the earth], so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.ā Now understand that and keep it in the back of your mind as we continue to go through 1 Corinthians 6.
Weāve seen the problem; weāve seen the misunderstanding; weāve seen the shame of demanding our own rights. Itās a tragic thing when Christians who have differences with one another will not go to the cross, die to self, and allow Christ to be a part of the solution to that problem. When weāre offended, particularly when it comes to affecting our pocketbook, thatās when our flesh usually takes over. We refuse to die to self; we refuse to seek a biblical solution; and our testimony in the world is ruined.
You see, we have the Word of God. We can solve our problems. Whether you know it or not, we do. A better translation of 1 Corinthians 6:4 could read this way: āIf then [the word has the idea of āsince we doā] you have standards for material things pertaining to this life,ā and we do. It is the Word of God. A standard is something by which you make decisions. The standards we have are in the Word of God. He says, āset them to judge who are the least esteemed in the church.ā Now, by āthe least esteemedā what heās saying is not the least Christian in the church. Heās saying that all the members of the church are least esteemed by the world theyāve come out of. By the people of Corinth, the Christians there were the least esteemed. The world laughs at us. The world mocks us. But the difference between us and the world is we can solve our problems within the confines of the church. We can solve differences. We can solve offenses. The world cannot.
In fact, the world sees themselves as a victim. We donāt see ourselves that way from the perspective God gives us as members of His body. As a matter of fact, in verse 2 it says that we can be the smallest of law courts. Now, hereās what heās saying. Heās saying that even the individual believer, when attached to Christ, allowing Godās Word to renew his mind and transform his life, can become the smallest law court. He can become part of the solution.
Letās just say this individual is offended by another individual in the body of Christ. Letās just say itās going to cost him money. This person whoās been offended has a wonderful opportunity to die to self, lay the situation at the feet of Jesus, and ask God to love this person who offended him like never before. By doing that, this person who offended him can also come to realize his wrong and die to it. Then the whole situation can be solved within the church and not have to be taken before the courts where unbelievers do not understand any of us. In fact, they do not esteem us in any way.
But no! The Corinthian church is not going to do it that way. Theyāre going to do it their way. Theyāre not going to do it Godās way. As a result, their witness is absolutely devastated in the city of Corinth. They go right back and start living the very lifestyle they came out of.
Remember, as we studied before, in the tradition of that time, the consistency of the people in the pagan world was to sue each other at the drop of a hat. If you sneezed wrong, then you get sued for it. That was the world of Corinth. That was the world of Athens. Paul said, āYouāve drug that same practice right into the church and you donāt understand that I do it a different way. God does it a different way.ā
In fact, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:5, āI say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?ā That word āunbelieversā is the word apistos. It means a person without faith, an infidel. As a matter of fact, his character cannot be trusted because God, who can be trusted, doesnāt live in him. Heās a person who does not have eternal hope. A person who, when he dies, will spend eternity in hell; a person whom Christ died for on the cross.
Now, when you speak of a person as an unbeliever, youāre not in any way attacking his integrity. Youāre not in any way attacking his family or anything. What youāre saying is heās in a different class than youāre in, because, when you become a believer, God takes you out of the way the world does things and puts you into the way God does things. You become a part of the family of God and youāre different than that person. So unbelievers are people who do not have any means of acting justly because they have never received the just One who lives in our life.
The Corinthians were once like them, and to go back and act like them would be to devastate their witness. Thatās exactly what theyāre doing. You know the problem. You know the misunderstanding and the shame of demanding your own rights.
The defeat which is obvious
Now letās take it another step: the defeat that is obvious when one demands his own rights. I didnāt write this. This is amazing to me. Thatās why I read Isaiah 55:8-9 before we even got into this. Even in my own mind walking through it Iām thinking, āMan, this goes against the grain of how people think today.ā Yes, it does. Folks, I want to tell you something. Chapter 6, if nothing else in 1 Corinthians, shows us how far weāve come from dead-center, how much weāve allowed the worldās thinking to infiltrate into our own minds. Sometimes it even makes us look at Scripture as if Scripture is wrong because the world does not think that way. But remember Godās thoughts are higher. Godās ways are higher.
Look at verse 7 of chapter 6. He says, āActually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another.ā Itās already a defeat. āWhy not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?ā The word ādefeatā there is the word hettema. It literally means to overcome, to be moved into a state of being thatās worse than where you were before, to degrade oneself so as to be a total failure.
What heās saying here is, by taking each other to law courts before the pagan world to settle your differences instead of solving them at the cross under the blood of Christ, you have already become a failure. Not only the one who sues his brother has become a failure, but now you have caused the witness of the whole congregation to be a failure. You see, we have to remember that. When we do one thing it affects the whole. Thatās what heās trying to tell them. You see, an unbeliever is not suing a believer here. And a believer is not suing an unbeliever here. This is a believer suing a believer, and thatās a defeat to everybody. No one wins. That is a lose-lose situation. Paul is saying your witness is totally defeated when this happens.
Paul sets a precedence for those who are offended by those who are in the church. Remember I told you that all of us can be offended, and when the flesh rises up on any of us we can offend somebody. Sometimes it can cost them monetarily. But when that happens, Paul raises up a precedent, the way we ought to live. Look at verse 7: āActually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?ā In other words, your witness is so important to the world. We must remember, folks, what goes on outside the walls of the church. People out there donāt understand what weāre like in here. They donāt understand the Word of God. They donāt have the mind of Christ.
The apostle Paul says, āWouldnāt you be wronged? Wouldnāt you rather be defrauded than have your witness devastated before the world?ā The most important thing you have is your witness for those people who do not know Christ. The word for āwrongedā there is the word adikeo. āAā means without; dikeo comes from the word dike, righteousness. So adikeo means without righteousness, without justice. āWouldnāt you rather be treated unjustly?ā Paul said. If he had left it alone and just made that statement, that wouldnāt make much sense. But he said, āWouldnāt you rather be treated unjustly and let it be, rather than react the wrong way and have your witness marred in the community?ā He said, āWould you rather be treated unjustly,ā then goes on to say, āWould you not rather be defrauded?ā
Now, that can be the act of what somebody in the body did to you. They deprived you of something monetary. However, what I think heās saying here is, āWouldnāt you rather be deprived of your legal right to take your brother to court and at the same time salvage your witness?ā You see, some people argue, āThatās my legal right. Iām American, arenāt I? I live here. I have certain rights.ā No, listen. As a citizen, maybe; but not as a Christian. We donāt have any rights as Christians. Weāre bondservants to Christ, and as a result of that we live daily surrendered to His Word, not what our flesh says is right or wrong. What He says is right or wrong. So the apostle Paul said, āWouldnāt you rather be wronged? Wouldnāt you rather be treated unjustly? Wouldnāt you rather have your own legal rights deprived than lose your testimony before others?ā
You know, I think sometimes we forget how our Lord Jesus suffered on this earth. It says that when He was reviled, He reviled not back but kept entrusting Himself to the Father who judges righteously. He told His disciples. āThey hated Me, theyāll hate you.ā Now, why do we think, if Jesus came to this earth and lived that way, we have the right to live differently than He lived, especially since He lives in us? For a person to take the bull by the horns, for a person to step outside the counsel of Godās Word and to accept the advice of the world, even if itās a legal right, that person is sending a signal that heās going his own way. Heās chosen not to go Godās way. Thatās when his witness is damaged and devastated to the people around him. We completely defeat our witness and we damage the witness of the people we represent, the body of Christ.
You know, there have been times in my life when Iāve done things. You have also. We forget that we are attached to one another as well as being attached to Him because weāre in the body of Christ. No man is an island. Anything I do will somehow affect you, and anything you do will somehow affect me. Thatās why we need one another. Thatās why when offenses come up we must take them to the cross. We must die to self. And if we canāt solve it individually with one another, and we can, but if perhaps it goes beyond that, we can at least get Christian arbitration and get people within the confines of the church to solve it. Find biblical solutions. If we donāt and we take it the public court, weāre throwing mud on the witness that we have for Jesus Christ out there in the world.
In verse 8, look what he says. He said, āOn the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that your brethren.ā In other words, heās saying, āNow listen. As they have treated you unjustly, now by you dragging them into court youāre treating them unjustly.ā Isnāt that interesting? You have stooped to their level by the way youāve reacted to this, rather than responding under the grace of God. Youāre the one now whoās wronging, and youāre defrauding that individual of his spiritual privileges in the body to have this problem solved under the umbrella, the protection, of Godās community. It is better to be wronged and defrauded than to wrong and defraud. When a person chooses to take his brother to court over offenses, particularly those that have cost him, then that brother does not realize how heās infringing upon the whole body by damaging the witness we have for Jesus Christ. Weāre not of this world. Weāve been called out of the way the world does things into the way God does things.
No matter what our legal rights are, the key is, what is our spiritual responsibility? Thatās the bottom line for a person who loves Jesus.
So: the problem, the misunderstanding, the shame, and the defeat. Weāre already defeated, he said, if weāre going to do this. If youāre going to do that, donāt bother telling them about Jesus, because theyāre going to laugh in your face.
The question that must be asked
Another one we look at here is the question that must be asked of those demanding their own rights. Now, listen, if I do it, you must ask it of me. If you do it, I must ask it of you. Itās a question that has to be solved. What is that question? Am I or are you really saved? Do we really know Jesus? You see, folks, we live in such a watered down society. People have already learned how to play the game within the church. Weāve got to remember that unbelievers join the church. So weāve got to start asking some serious questions. When people refuse counsel in the Word of God, when people refuse to lay something down and to die to self, do they really know Christ? Is that attitude one of belligerence? Is that an attitude of an unbeliever? It certainly echoes what the world does day by day.
Look at verse 9. He says, āOr do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.ā Now, again, we must be aware that there are unbelievers always in our midst when believers meet. Thatās the way it was then. Thatās the way it is now. Weāre known by our actions. Demanding that our own rights be taken and given is not the action of a believer.
You know, there is a lizard called a chameleon. Have you ever seen one of those? Theyāre weird little things. You put it on something blue and it turns blue. You put it on something red and it turns red. You put it on something thatās yellow and it turns yellow. Have you ever seen one?
You see, whatās happening here is these Christians are saying, āHa! We donāt mess around with the immoral of the world.ā Thatās chapter 5. He says, āYouāre a bunch of spiritual airbags. You have learned to identify with whatever group youāre with, and one of the things youāre doing is youāre acting just like the world. Now you have put on the color of the world. Youāre acting like they do. Youāre dragging your brother into court before pagans and before unbelievers.
That shows us that you need to ask yourself the question: do you really know Christ? That kind of action is not the action of a person who loves Jesus. A believer may act fleshly; thatās true, because in Corinth theyāre doing that. Hey, listen, thereās a fine line between being a believer and an unbeliever when you get into that area. Iām not going to touch it.
Look over in 2 Corinthians 13:5. The apostle Paul questions if some of these people who call themselves believers are really believers. Youāre seen by what you do. You do what you do because you are what you are. When people will not listen to Godās Word, will not bow and die to self and let God bring the solution, then somethingās wrong here. Second Corinthians 13:5 says, āTest yourselves to see if you are in the faith.ā Good thing, isnāt it? Test your faith. He says a very similar thing in 1 Corinthians 11 when he says to examine yourself. Second Corinthians 13:5 continues, āexamine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in youāunless indeed you fail the test?ā You see, if Christ is in you and you have the mind of Christ, like the last verse of chapter 2 tells us, then you have the ability to appraise any situation according to what Godās Word and Godās will is all about.
Paul uses two words in verses 1 and 6 of chapter 6 to describe unrighteous people. Iām going to show you something here. In verse 1 it says, āDoes any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous.ā Now that word, āunrighteousā, there, adikos, is the word without righteousness, without a right standing with God, without the ability to act justly. Now, that unrighteous person can cause unjust things to happen.
Look at verse 6 of chapter 6. Thereās another word here. He says, ābut brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?ā The word āunbelieverā there is apistos. That means without faith, without believing. Now, careful here. As I said, thereās a fine line drawn here. Look in verse 7. That same word used in verse 1 is brought back into play in verse 7: āActually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. [Now watch.] Why not rather be wronged?ā That word for āwrongedā there is the word that means to be treated unjustly. If a person is unjust, heāll treat people unjustly.
What Paulās saying is, āYou donāt even know if that person whoās offended you knows the Lord. Because, by his very willingness to offend you, he automatically puts himself into the question where it has to be asked: Do you know Christ? Why would you do this to a brother?ā
But watch. In verse 8 we see something that is crazy to me. āOn the contrary [heās speaking about the person whoās been offended], you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that your brethren.ā Now, wait a minute. Hold it! The unbelieving world is unrighteous. They treat each other unjustly. Somebody in the church, who calls him a brother, has treated you unjustly. And now youāre treating him unjustly. Will the real Christian please stand up? Thatās what heās saying. Who knows the difference?
I grew up in city league basketball. But then I got into church recreation. I want to tell you something, folks. I saw the worst behavior of so-called believers on the basketball court and the softball field that I ever saw at city league. I saw unjustness being done. I saw unjust behavior. I grew up in unjust behavior and Iām thinking, āWhere are the Christians?ā
I put a big sign up on the wall that said, āIf you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?ā Every time something would happen on the floor, I would blow the whistle and just point to that sign.
You see, if youāre going to act unjustly, and youāve been treated unjust, and the unrighteous live that way, how do you know youāre even saved? Thatās the question that needs to be asked, not only if a person offends a brother, but if the person who the brother offended acts the wrong way. The world laughs in our face and says, āYouāre no better than we are. Youāre acting just like we act.ā
Well, like I said, will the real Christian please stand up? In the world the standard is not the same as in the Christian community. Youāve got to realize this. I was at a funeral one time standing by the casket, and this person next to me said, āIf anybodyās in Heaven, that lady right there is in Heaven.ā I said, āWhyās that?ā I was just curious. They said, āThat woman was the sweetest woman Iāve ever known in my life. Why, when I was growing up every time I would go over to her house sheād give me cookies and milk. She was just the nicest person Iāve ever known. And if anybodyās in Heaven, she is.ā Iām thinking, āGood grief!ā
Thatās the way the world thinks, isnāt it? If youāre a good guy and obey the law and donāt harm anybody, in the worldās eyes youāre righteous. I want to tell you something. That wonāt cut it with God. Jesus said the Pharisees and the scribes lived the same way. Listen to what he says in Matthew 5:20: āFor I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.ā
Do you know what I think happened that day? Those people would obey all the laws. I mean, they were squeaky clean, folks. And when they obeyed the law, theyād put a little thing inside what they called a phylactery. It was a little box on the front of their head. And the more laws they obeyed, the heavier the box got. The heavier the box got, they would eventually have to hire somebody to hold their head up. Those were the spiritual ones walking around. Oh, how spiritual they were, obeying the law, wouldnāt hurt anyone, they just did everything right.
One of them passed Jesus one day and Jesus said, āDo you want to get into Heaven? You had better be better than the Pharisees.ā In the worldās eyes they see the righteous man. God says, āThatās not the righteousness I require. I moved you to a dimension higher than what the world says.ā In Matthew 5:43 the Lord Jesus says, āI say to you to love your enemies, not just do whatās right within the law. Go a step further.ā He said, āYou have heard that is was said, āYou shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.ā Iām changing that.ā He says in verse 44, āBut I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.ā
Do you realize when you take somebody into court to get your due, to exercise your legal right, that what youāre doing is far beneath what God requires? God requires that we love our enemies, love the people who persecute us. In the heathen mind-set, a righteous person is one who obeyed all the laws and never forgetfully or selfishly transgressed the laws that God had given. In our day and time, he obeys the speed limit. He pays his taxes and does all the little things. Everybody says, āOh, thatās a model citizen. Thatās a good man. That person will be in Heaven one day.ā But I want to tell you something about him. He gives everybody his due, but within the confines of the law he wants his back. Under the confines of what is legal, heāll sue you if he gets a chance to get what is his. And he will still be looked at by the world as a righteous, good man because he did it within the framework of the law. But I want to tell you something. What is legal is not the last word with a Christian, itās āWhat does God say?ā Thatās the last word with a Christian. If it takes away my right to the world, I didnāt have any to begin with, because Iām just a servant to my Lord Jesus Christ.
You say, āThatās radical.ā You had better believe it. Not only is it radical, itās the normal Christian life. You wonder why the world still says, āWill the real Christian please stand up?ā Theyāre looking for people who will go on and live what they say they believe. But like that chameleon, we go out on Monday and change colors. āAs long as itās legal,ā¦ā Christianity rises to a higher standard. The unbeliever says, āMy right is my duty.ā The Christian says, āMy duty is my right.ā Whatās his duty? To love his brother. Galatians 5:14 says, āFor the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, loving your brother.ā Verse 22 in Galatians 5 says only the fruit of the Spirit of God can produce this kind of love. It has nothing to do with feeling. Thereās a choice that one makes to do what is absolutely spiritually beneficial to the other person regardless of what it costs him. Itās the same word used in John 3:16: āFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Sonā¦.ā
Nothing less. Nothing more. Thatās what God requires. Whatās legal doesnāt matter. What does God say that I should do? My duty is my right. Being legally right is not the final word.
Look over in Matthew 5:39. I want to show you something. As you know, the Jewish people hated the Romans because of the way they made them live. They required them to help a soldier carry his pack one mile. That was Roman law. Well, the Jewish people hated that, detested that. You can just see that Roman soldier coming down the road. That Jewish man would be standing there and he would say, āTake my pack.ā He takes his pack and follows along behind him, cursing every step he takes because he hates the Romans. When he walks a mile away, he throws the pack down in the dust and the Roman walks on sneering and laughing because he had done what he told him to do. They drove a peg one mile from where they lived just to make sure the Romans didnāt take them any further than what they legally had to go.
Look what Jesus has to say about that. Verse 39 of Matthew 5 says, āBut I say to you, do not resist him who is evil [that evil means out to get you and injure you], but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.ā Verse 40 continues, āAnd if anyone wants to sue you, and take your shirt,ā¦ā Take him to court and burn him because itās your right. Is that what he said? He says, ālet him have your coat also. And whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him [how far?] two.ā
Can you imagine this? That person is a precious believer, and that Roman soldier comes walking down the road. He comes up to him and says, āSir, can I carry your bag?ā āUh, yeah. Here, take it.ā āLet me take the other one too, both of them. Anything else?ā He jumps out in front of him and starts walking down the road and as heās walking down the road doing what heās doing, the soldierās thinking, āWhat in the world is going on here?ā Instead of being behind him heās in front of him. Every now and then heāll turn around and talk to him and ask him about his family or whatever. He gets to the end of that mile and says, āYou know what? I know Iām only supposed to take this a mile but hey, man, listen. I just want to be your friend. Let me take this another mile. Do you mind if I take it another mile?ā By the end of that mile the Roman soldier is saying to himself, āGood night! This guy is uniquely different than the kind of people I deal with every day in my life.ā
Thatās what Paul is saying. Heās saying, āYou want to act like everybody else? Do you want to do that? Do you want to take it to court? Youāre killing your witness. Man, listen; when you die to yourself, when you lay that vendetta down, when you go to that person and seek biblical reason and biblical counseling and biblical solutions, listen, man, you can solve it right here and protect every bit of your witness out there in the lost world.ā
Verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 6 says, āOr do you not know.ā The word āknowā there is eido. It comes as a form of horao. It means, āDonāt you see the big picture?ā Are you so narrow minded that you think your life revolves around this one offense? Canāt you take a step back and see the whole picture. Whatās going on here? Youāre just simply being tested. Godās just running you to the end of yourself. Godās just running you to the cross to believe Him.
Paul says, āOr do you not know [what?] that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?ā You see, I said there was a question you had to ask. You have to ask yourself the question, āAm I saved?ā If I am, is the person who offended me saved? If I take this issue out there I know theyāre not saved. Theyāre never going to inherit the kingdom of God. The word āinheritā shows you immediately that weāre talking about grace, because when you inherit something you donāt work for it. When my mom left me an inheritance, it wasnāt because I earned it. As a matter of fact, she earned a reward in Heaven for putting up with me all those years. It was just by grace. It was just because she loved me that it was left to me. I didnāt do one single thing to deserve that. That automatically begins to show you what grace is all about and how weāve received that grace. Not a one of us has worked for it. Weāve inherited it.
Then he goes on and says, āthe kingdom of God?ā The kingdom of God is in two stages. One of the ways to think about the kingdom of God is the territory where God reigns and rules. When youāre a Christian, first of all you have to look at the kingdom of God as inward. The moment you get saved the kingdom of God comes into your heart and then God rules and reigns. Flesh doesnāt. God does. āWell, wait a minute. This personās suing me. Thatās his flesh, isnāt it?ā Yes, thatās right. Well, if Godās supposed to be ruling, is he even a Christian? You see, thatās the whole point.
Luke 17:20 says, āNow having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, āThe kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, āLook, here it is!ā or, āThere it is!ā For behold the kingdom of God is in your midst.āā Listen, when Christ comes to live in you, it will be right here in our midst, because the kingdom of God is where He rules and reigns in us. We can solve our differences with one another. We can take it to the cross and the eternal judge that lives in us gives us the ability to discern all things. We can find harmony and love and unity which He gives to us. We can find Biblical solutions.
But secondly it is outward. One day it will be visible on earth. Matthew 25:31 says, āBut when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.ā Weāll live and rule with Him one day, as the earlier part of chapter 6 says. Weāll rule and reign with Him one day. Weāll judge over angels and nations alongside him. But the people who are unrighteous, the people who live unrighteously, the people characterized by suing each other and taking each other to court, which was the norm of Corinth of that day, these people wonāt enter the kingdom of God. They donāt know the kingdom of God. You have a witness out there and you need to ask yourself if youāre living this way. Do you really know Christ?
Then he says, āDo not be deceived.ā The word ādeceivedā is planao, which has the idea of a planet thatās wandering around. The idea here is, donāt be misled. Donāt be misled. People who live and act this way are telling you what they are. You do what you do because you are what you are. People who live unjust lives do not inherit the kingdom of God.
So the question we need to ask ourselves is, if weāre living this way, refusing biblical counsel, refusing what Godās telling us, and weāre adamant to claim and do it on our own because itās our legal right, the first question you need to ask yourself is, āAm I a believer? Do I really know Christ?ā Isaiah 55:8-9 says that His ways are higher and His thoughts are higher. Theyāre not what we think or the world thinks. If Heās going to rule and reign, why isnāt He ruling and reigning? Thatās the question we must ask.
The association of those who demand their own rights
So weāve seen the problem, the misunderstanding, the shame, the defeat, and the question. Finally, I want to show you the association of those who demand their own rights. Do you want to associate with them? Do you want to be one of those who demand their own rights? That was Corinth. That was the pagan world of the day. If you do, look what youāre associating yourself with. This is what heās saying. You know, we think of it as one faceted here. No, no. This is what youāre associating yourself with. It was the characteristic of the lost world of Corinth, that they would demand their own rights in public court. Get all you can. That was their whole attitude. Covetous, Iām going to get whatās mine. You took it from me. Iāll get it back. Thatās the attitude of the lost.
Now watch. There are other things that go along with that. Paul begins to give you the list of characteristics that goes along with people who demand their own rights: āneither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals.ā I donāt like this list, by the way, but when you go verse by verse you canāt skip it. Let me just hit it as fast as I can.
The word āfornicatorsā is the Greek word pornos. It comes from the word which is a male prostitute. The Greeks considered those who prostituted themselves for gain, for monetary money, as fornicators. Moneyās the goal of those who would even sell their own bodies. Itās interesting how covetousness is so closely attached to fornicators. In Ephesians 5:5 it ties them right together: āFor this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.ā Hereās the fornicator and hereās the covetous man tied right together. We think of sin being this or that. No, all sin stems out of a person who wants whatās his and heās going to take it. Heās a taker.
Well, Paul says in verse 9, the second one is āidolaters.ā The word means a servant of an idol, a worshipper of an idol. Interestingly, Ephesians 5:5 attaches this one in the same group. āFor this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person [thereās your fornicator, same word] or covetous man who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.ā In other words, when you act covetously and you take the law in your own hands, and because you have a legal right, you demand your right, youāre associating yourself with all the other characteristics of the people who do the same thing. Is that what you want?
Colossians 3:5 says, āTherefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which [all of them put together] amounts to idolatry.ā
Verse 9 goes on and says, ānor adulterers.ā Thatās a very specific word, moichos. These are people who live this way. Hebrews 13:4 says, āLet marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed by undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.ā He ties those two together. Well, since fornicators is already tied to covetous and idolaters, now he ties it into adulterers. All of itās in the same house.
He goes on and says, ānor effeminate.ā I donāt like this word. The word is malakos. It means soft ones, passive homosexuals, men who allow themselves to be used as women with other men. The word āhomosexualā is the word for active homosexuals. It comes from two words, a male in bed and you can put the rest of it together.
All of these things are tied into the lifestyle of people who demand their own rights. He says, āYou want to go in to court and put yourself in the same category? They look at you demanding your own rights and say to themselves, āHey youāre no better than we are. He probably does all these other things too.āā You say, āNo, I donāt.ā And they say, āHow do we know that? Youāre acting just like we are.ā Thatās what heās trying to tell them. None of these can inherit the kingdom of God.
He says in verse 10, ānor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.ā So when I start acting like the world acts because I have a legal right, I have stepped right into associating myself with the character that goes along with that. As far as anybody else knows, all these other things might be involved at the same time.
All of the rest of these are pretty self-explanatory. Thieves, covetous, weāve already seen. Drunkards, revilers, swindlers, all these characteristics are related to the fleshly sin of covetousness which is the root of somebodyās, āIām going to get mine back because you took it from meā attitude. When we take somebody to court, we have lowered ourselves to that level. Paul says, āNow you have no witness with anybody. You couldnāt prove to anybody that you werenāt this way, because youāre acting this other way.
Remember how Abraham was told to take Isaac up on top of the mountain. Folks, I want to tell you something. When you die to self it involves three things. First of all, Abraham had to die to his understanding. It just didnāt make any sense to him. Why would God promise him all these things through which the door would be Isaac and then not do it? Secondly, he had to accept the unacceptable, because he had to go up and kill the very beloved son that he had, the very son of promise that God had given to him, Isaac. But thirdly, he had to deal with his will. I want to tell you something. Will is king when it comes to surrendering to Christ. If he doesnāt make that choice then it never happens. He never sees whatās on the other side of that.
Our minds scream at us in this kind of passage because weāve been so programmed by the world to think if itās legal it must be righteous. God says, āNo way! Righteous is what I tell you in My Word, what I speak to you in My Spirit. It must be dealt with and thatās what sets you apart from those in the list that we have just read.ā
Folks, listen. If you have a difference with a brother and you canāt solve it, you can solve it individually by becoming part of the solution, dying to and doing whatās right. But if for some reason thatās still difficult for you, find some Christian arbitration within the church and let men who have God living in them and can act justly make decisions. Do it that way. But when you drag that before the courts of the land, those who already mock us laugh even harder, āLook at the Christians. Theyāre no different than we are.ā Paul says, āHey, you kill your witness. They associate you with people who have all the other string of sins within their own life.ā The first step youāve got to do is that dying to self that I just talked about.
I heard a story that happened in Asia. A lady there had a maid. I donāt know what they call them over there. We call them maids. It was somebody who kept the house, cooked and all. When this lady left one day she looked out in the back where all the chickens were running around and she told the maid, āGet a chicken, pluck it, wash it, and put it in the refrigerator for supper tomorrow night.ā Then she left.
She came home, having forgotten what she had told the person to do. Finally, after a while she got thirsty and went over to the refrigerator and opened up the door. When she opened up the door, there sat a chicken looking at her. It didnāt have any feathers, and it was wet and shivering because it was so cold. The maid did everything she was supposed to do but the most essential thing. She didnāt kill the chicken.
You can go to counselors. You can read books. You can refute anything Iāve said, friend. Help yourself. Youāre going to probably do it anyway. But I want to tell you something. The most essential thing is your willingness to die to yourself, your flesh, your hurt, your loss, and all the other things. Youāre going to overlook that if youāre not careful. Be willing to say, āLord Jesus, Iām Your slave. Will You be and do through me what will glorify Your name no matter how much it costs me? I want to be Your witness before others.ā Thatās the bottom line. Remember, there has to be a death before Christ can resurrect a life. Do the most important thing. Die to self.