“Dare any of you, having a matter against another,
go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?”
(1 Corinthians 6:1).
In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul deals with another serious problem in the church: brethren who accuse each other before unbelieving judges, rather than resolving their differences with brotherly love. This was contrary to Christ’s teachings. Christians were not to take their brethren to the courts of unbelievers, so as not to expose the weakness of the church to those who did not love the Lord.
The apostle also shows how sin blinds those who practice it so that they do not perceive that they are in error:
Familiarity with sin makes us
lose sight of its real nature.
Sinners end up believing that they can live in transgression of God’s law and, at the same time, confidently expect salvation.
God makes it clear that there can be no agreement between sin and righteousness, and that anyone who adheres to sin will have his reward (2 Cor. 6:16; 1 John 3:8). Even in these circumstances, there is hope for all kinds of sin and sinners.
Christians are free to participate in all that is part of the lifestyle shown by God to be the most beneficial to mankind. They are free to do what they want, but there is one condition to meet: they should not do something that causes scandal to their neighbor. Jesus sums it up: loving God and others are the principles that govern the life of the true Christian. We have full freedom to do what we want, as long as we are not in conflict with these two principles.
The only sure way to practice God’s will is to flee from all impurity, from all sin. In this way, we please God and perserve the holiness of our bodies.
Paul felt that the church was losing internal balance and external strenght to fulfill the mission. As with an individual, who has to to have internal balance, through communion with God, and an outward presence of fidelity and mission. Likewise, the church: an internal balance and external strenght to fulfill the mission.
There was once someone who would drop garbage over the wall that divided his house from his neighbor’s. His neighbor would kindly return the “courtesy” with a box of vegetables that he had grown, with a note that read: “Each one gives what they have.”
As people and as a church we give what we have.
Whoever is filled with the garbage of conflict and sin
weakens his contribution to the community.
Whoever is filled with Christ and His Word
gains strenght to fulfill the mission.
May the Lord bless you today, may His Word be filled in you, to give you strenght to fulfill the mission…