Disputes & Lawsuits Between Believers , 5/31/26

Today we come to the next passage in 1 Corinthians

as we've been going through this book and it

is in chapter 6 verses 1 through 8. Our subject

today is on disputes and lawsuits between believers.

Let's turn to this passage and read the word

and then we'll pray and ask for God's blessing

on it as we look at this passage and seek to

understand it. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 1. Do you

1 Corinthians 6:1

not know that we shall judge angels? How much

more things that pertain to this life. If then

you have judgments concerning things pertaining

to this life, do you appoint those who are least

esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to

your shame. It is so, is it so, that there is

not a wise man among you, not even one, who will

be able to judge between his brethren? But brother

goes to law against brother, and that before

unbelievers. 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?

No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat and do

these things to your brethren. Let's pray. Father,

we thank you for this passage today. Help us

to understand it, Lord. To understand it as you

have given it through the mouth of the Apostle

Paul in their context and help us to understand

how we are to apply it today. For this is your

word and we seek to be obedient to it. So we

pray, open up our hearts, open up our minds and

our understanding that we might know and that

we might fear you and serve you in it. We pray

in Jesus name. Amen. This chapter begins with

a third problem that the Apostle Paul is dealing

with as he writes this letter to the Corinthians.

First was the issue of factiousness. Second was

the issue of church discipline and sexual immorality

that was tolerated within the church. And now

this one is concerning litigation between believers

or disputes and lawsuits. Throughout this section

of 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is teaching,

He is rebuking and he is showing the Corinthians

how to act as the holy temple that they are through

Christ. For not only is the church of Jesus Christ

a holy temple, but their bodies are also individually

a temple of the Holy Spirit, as we'll see in

verse 19 of chapter 6 in a later time. Thus it

is so with each one who has trusted in Christ.

You are a temple of the Holy Spirit as a believer.

Even though you and I may be yet unsanctified

in a whole number of ways, we are still a temple

of the Holy Spirit. And this is the case. With

the Corinthian church. There were many areas

where they needed to be sanctified. They had

a lot of problems. As we've been reading about.

But so or thus Paul writes a letter. And this

letter includes encouragement. Warning. Rebuke.

And instruction to them as believers. As believers.

being a temple of the Holy Spirit corporately

and as being temples of the Lord in their bodies

individually. He writes for their sanctification

so that they might live out and act out the gospel

as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, last Sunday,

we looked at the situation requiring church discipline.

In this case was that of sexual immorality of

a very bad sort. And the man was to be turned

over to Satan and expelled from the church. We

learn from this that this is necessary when the

sin is such that it cannot be one named among

the body of believers. And later, Paul says that

if you live in them, you cannot be a part of

the kingdom of Christ and of our God. Now later

in this chapter, we're going to see much more

about the temple of the Holy Spirit in another

sermon. But here for today, Paul's going to speak

very straightforwardly to them again about something

that they are doing. And it is something that

is shameful, as we will see in verse 5. What

is that that is shameful? It is that Christian

believers, when they have a personal matter against

one another, They go before the unrighteous for

adjudication rather than dealing with it in the

church. But before we begin going through the

passage, I do want to point something out that

is important for us to understand as we look

at this text. I do not think that the apostle

is speaking about criminal law. In this passage,

that is like murder or rape or committing a crime

against your neighbor. I say this because the

church has not been given as an institution the

sword of the civil government. Christians can

serve as a magistrate, yes, but it's not part

of the duties of the church to carry out civil

punishments for crimes, criminal, matters of

criminal extent. The church has not been given

the sword of civil government. It is exclusively

for the civil magistrate, as Paul brings out

in Romans 13, verses 1 through 7. For he, that

Romans 13:1–7

is the civil magistrate, is God's minister to

you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid,

for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he

is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath

on him. Who practices evil. The civil magistrate

does not bear the sword in vain. He is a minister

of God. So therefore this passage is most likely

dealing with civil or financial law. Or what

we would call today tort law. Things pertaining

to personal injury. Anthony Thistleston brings

out that Roman criminal law. in this time period,

was relatively fair and objective. But this was

not the case with civil law. Here, judges and

even juries expected to receive some quid pro

quo for a favorable verdict. This might come

in terms of a straight financial gift with strings,

or what we would call a bribe, or a promised

payment. or a debt to be paid by using economic

or social influence, or by proving new business

opportunities and openings. In other words, it

was extremely corrupt. Tort law is primarily

to hold the wrongdoer legally liable and to compensate

the victim, usually through monetary damages

rather than with a criminal punishment. Tort

law is generally broken down into three main

categories. That is negligence, where you fail

to do something that you should have. Where it's

intentional, that is you did something against

your neighbor and you caused him to lose financially

or to have other problems. And that is simply

strict liability, where we are simply liable

because of something that we did or did not do.

It's very clear from this passage. That the adjudication

that needs to take place is something that the

church is equipped by God in his word and is

able to do so. They're able to discern and to

bring a judgment in the matter and bring accountability

to the church member who is at fault. This is

because they understand the law of God. The church

understands this and they're able to speak to

erring brethren and to bring accountability and

require restitution or make a financial settlement

between brothers. Now there are options for this,

both directly in churches, but also there are

also some additional parachurch Christian organizations

that assist in this today. For example, in some

of the businesses that I'm a partner in, we have

written into our operating agreement an understanding,

an agreement not to take each other to the law,

to the civil magistrate. But if we have a dispute...

and of course we're involved in various churches,

if we will then go to an organization called

Institute of Christian Conciliation, which is

a division of Ambassadors of Reconciliation,

which settles matters between brothers with an

impartial third party. These are all things that

are available to us as we seek to resolve disputes.

So with the scope of the argument understood,

let's go to the passage and understand what the

Apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthian church

and to the church of all time. We'll begin, number

one, with the problem, and that is in verse 1.

Christians are going to law before the wicked

and unjust against their brethren. He says, dare

any of you, having a matter against another,

go to law before the unrighteous and not before

the saints. The word dare is a very strong word.

It's like, how dare you do this? This is unthinkable.

This is shameful. How dare you do this? Such

a thing should not be endured. The word used

for unrighteous also bears the meaning of being

heathen, wicked, and unjust. So what he's saying

here is, how dare you, when you have an issue

between brothers, go to law before the unrighteous,

the heathen, the wicked, and the unjust person

or court. Paul boldly confronts them for daring

to do this, to take these civil matters to a

corrupt and unjust and an unrighteous law court

or a magistrate in order to receive satisfaction.

As Thistleton pointed out, this would likely

require paying bribes or some other type of injustice.

Instead, Paul says, they should be taking this

before the saints. How dare you do this? And

you go over here and you don't go before the

saints. So that is, it is not the worldly wise

that have understanding in such matters unless

they're borrowing from a Christian worldview.

Go anywhere in the world to see and to observe

those who have not been influenced by a Christian

civilization and you will see how evil and how

wicked and how corrupt the courts are. Go to

Pakistan today or any other Islamic nation and

see how unjustly they treat Christian believers

and even their own people. Bribery is rampant

among them. Look at Paul's experience before

Felix in Acts chapter 24. Felix, as he testified,

Acts 24 · chapter mention

kept him bound for two years, unjustly held in

prison for no crime because, quote, he hoped

that money would be given him by Paul, that he

might release him. That's how unjust they were.

That's in Acts 24, verse 26 and 27. There is

Acts 24:26

little justice, if any at all. I'll give you

one example. Now, this isn't a matter of criminal

law, but in most Islamic countries, if there

is a rape, the way that they deal with the rape

instead of punishing the perpetrator is they

will then go and rape his sister, the perpetrator's

sister. It's an absolutely awful and despicable

way of dealing with such things. There is no

justice regarding these things. Now, another

thing then that we must consider in looking at

this prohibition, that is this question. Is this,

is Paul teaching a prohibition for all time and

in all places? In other words, is it wrong to

go to a court of law to deal with disputes between

brethren at all times and in all places? Would

Paul be saying this if he were living in, say,

early America or maybe even in the 1800s? I think

probably not. He certainly would not be saying

this in ancient Israel. Remember how God through

Jethro instructed Moses on how to establish judges

who would bring justice to the land in situations

exactly like this. They were to establish judges

in the land so that they could do this very thing

among the millions of the Israelites. In Exodus

Exodus 18:19–26

18, verse 19 through 26, Jethro says to Moses,

stand before God for the people that you may

bring the difficulties to God. And you shall

teach them the statutes and the laws and show

them the way in which they must walk and the

work they must do. Moreover, you shall select

from all the people, able men, such as fear God,

men of truth, hating covetousness, and place

such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers

of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of

tens, and let them judge the people at all times.

And then Moses heeds. the voice of his father

-in -law, he did all that he said. And Moses

did indeed choose able men out of Israel and

made them heads over the people in this way.

And they judged the people at all times, the

hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged

every small case themselves. So when you have...

a Christian government, civil government, or

largely so, then I don't think that this passage

applies in the same way as it did right here

because, as he mentions here, you do this before

the unrighteous. This whole argument is framed.

Why are you doing this and going to the wicked,

unrighteous, and unjust people or judges? It

is clear that God is the one who has instituted

justice, he has set up judges, and he gave the

parameters and standard for them. Paul says elsewhere

that the law is good if a man uses it lawfully.

The Romans were not using the law lawfully, but

were rather turning it into injustice. When a

society is upholding righteous law, then it is

my opinion that the shame and prohibition here

does not apply. It is clear that the problem

was not seeking to resolve issues or even to

seek redress. That wasn't the problem. There

was an issue. Somebody wasn't doing what they

had committed to do. Such a matter needs to be

fixed. It needs to be solved. Somebody needs

to adjudicate. That's not the problem. That's

not the issue. It is that of going before the

unjust and the wicked in order to do so. When

one has a matter, they are then to go before

the saints, those who uphold justice and who

understand God's law. Now, Paul uses the word

saints here. He uses this several times in this

passage, and he simply means the people of God,

the church people who are part of the church

of Jesus Christ. We are saints before the Lord.

This is not some special holy person who's been

canonized in some way often after being dead

no saints here simply means the people of god

the christian church secondly then he makes his

point of how the saints are qualified to do this

because the saints will judge the world and they

will judge angels This is verse 2 and 3. He says,

Do you not know that the saints will judge the

world? And if the world will be judged by you,

are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How

much more things that pertain to this life. Excuse

me. Paul gives biblical proof of two facts that

will happen in the future. The first is that

in some way believers in Christ will judge the

world. And the second is that believers in Christ

will judge angels, which we'll look at in just

a moment. And he draws from that that Christian

believers are not unworthy. to judge the smallest

matters. In other words, he argues from the greater

to the lesser. If you all are going to be judging

angels and the world someday, how much more you

should be able to judge these smaller matters

here on earth. The world pales in comparison

to... Now what is Paul referring to? In that

the saints will judge the world. It is not explicitly

clear here in this passage. There are two basic

understandings of this and interpretations of

what he is saying. and probably the most popular,

is that in some way the saints will accompany

Christ in judgment on the sinners on the great

judgment day. That on that day, they will aid

our Lord in bringing judgment, or at least be

in agreement with him. We get perhaps a possible

glimpse of this in Matthew 19, verse 28. So Jesus

Matthew 19:28

said to them, Assuredly, I say to you that in

the regeneration, When the Son of Man sits on

the throne of his glory, you who have followed

me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the

twelve tribes of Israel. Now, so there's a judgment

with God. It's not over the whole world, though.

It's that of judging the twelve tribes. There's

also the prophecy of Enoch that Jude quotes in

Jude verses 14 and 15. He says, Now Enoch, the

seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men

also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten

thousand of his saints to execute judgment on

all, to convict all who are ungodly among them

of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed

in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things

which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

So if this is the meaning, then it would simply

mean that Christian believers are first judged

themselves before God. They are found to be acquitted

and to stand before Christ. And then they advance

to the bench to approve and applaud the righteous

judgment of Christ, both on men and angels. This

would answer both of the statements in verse

2, that Christians will judge the world and will

judge angels. So this is something in the future.

The problem is that we don't have any clear statement

in the scriptures. detailing how that is or how

that will work. And perhaps we just simply need

to accept that that's what's going to happen,

that we're going to do this in some way. A second

option though, and that is taking the fact that

when Christ ascended, he was given dominion and

glory and a kingdom that all peoples and nations

and languages should serve him. In Daniel 7 verse

Daniel 7:18

18, after the great beast arrives out of the

earth, he says, the saints of the most high shall

receive the kingdom and they shall possess the

kingdom forever, even forever and ever. A little

later on in verse 22, he says, the time came

for the saints to possess the kingdom. Now this

was written in the context of the days of Rome.

When Christ ascended and the kingdom and dominion

and greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole

heaven was given to the saints, as he says in

verse 27, his kingdom, that is Christ's kingdom,

is an everlasting kingdom and all dominion shall

serve and obey him. So through this we understand

that Christ's kingdom will expand. It will fill

all the earth as Jesus speaks of many times.

It's like a little leaven and it's going to leaven

the whole lump. It's going to be a small tree

like that of a mustard seed and it's going to

fill the earth. The kingdom of Christ will fill

the earth from sea to sea, from shore to shore.

So we understand Christ's kingdom in that way,

and that kings and nations will bow before Christ,

they will indeed kiss the sun, as Psalm 2 says,

and therefore in that way, Christians will judge

the world that is under the authority of Christ

in them ruling on the earth, and as Christianity

overspreads the world. So in other words, this

is a restatement of the post -millennial vision.

This view fits in nicely with Psalm 149, verse

Psalms 149:5–9

5 through 9, that says, Let the saints be joyful

in glory, let them single out on their beds,

let the high praises of God be in their mouth,

and a two -edged sword in their hand to execute

vengeance on the nations and punishments on the

peoples, to bind their kings with chains and

their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute

on them the written judgment, this honor. Have

all his saints praise the Lord. So there are

two possibilities. There's one of the third that

is a little bit just more just that this is saying

here that through Christ we have the authority

to cast out evil spirits and so that we're in

that way judging the world. But that one I don't

find in many places. I myself lean toward the

second opinion, but I'm not dogmatic about it.

There's much to be said for the first one. In

favor of the first one is that there are many

post -biblical Jewish writings that also hold

to this view. And Paul, being a Jew, could have

been referring to all of the scriptures which

we've just looked at, as well as the tradition

of understanding it in that way by his Jewish

forefathers. And that is that we will accompany

Christ in judgment in some way. Certainly we

cannot know for sure. Either way, the contrast

is very clear, that because saints judge the

world and we will judge angels, then we should

be eminently qualified to judge things pertaining

to this life, especially some of these petty

grievances or the smallest matters that they

were going to law about. Now on the subject of

judging angels, we have no other scripture to

compare this to or to clarify what Paul says.

It is very clear, we shall judge angels. Presumably,

he's talking about judging evil angels, and obviously

their judgment is foretold, as in Jude chapter

Jude 1:6

1, verse 6 and 7, which says, The angels, which

did not keep their proper domain, but left their

own abode, he has reserved in everlasting chains

under darkness for the judgment of that great

day. As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around

them in a similar manner to these, having given

themselves over to sexual immorality and going

after strange flesh, are set forth as an example,

suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. But

that's really all we can tell about this matter

of Christians judging angels. Therefore, we simply

need to leave it here. The scripture teaches

this, that in some way, we will judge angels.

This understandably would occur at some time

in the future, at the future judgment day or

some day in which God appoints us to do so. Thirdly

then, let's look at verse 4. It is more likely

that those esteemed in the congregation would

judge more righteous judgment than by going to

the unbeliever. Here again we have some challenges

of interpretation. This passage is... It's one

that's not the easiest to preach through because

there's just some things here that we're trying

to really get the sense of this, and there's

a few challenges in it. The grammar is quite

challenging in this verse. On one hand, it seems

to be kind of an ironic statement. It would be

better for even the least esteemed in the church

to serve as a judge rather than to go to the

wicked or the unjust. But it could also be a

question. I'm going to give you an example from

three different translations as to how they translated

it. First of all, the King James. If then you

have judgment of things pertaining to this life,

set them to judge which are least esteemed in

the church. This is more like a command or an

ironic thing. Set the ones who are the least

esteemed, the lowest, the... The ones who possess

the least wisdom in the church, it's better for

them than for the unjust to have judgment. That's

the King James. The new King James, which I've

read, if you then have judgments concerning things

pertaining to this life, do you appoint those

who are least esteemed by the church to judge?

And then the ESV says, so if you have such cases,

why? do you lay them before those who have no

standing in the church? So you can see there,

there's really various meanings there, and that's

because of the difficulty of the grammar of this

text. Some think that Paul means it is better

for the least esteemed in the congregation to

judge instead of an unbeliever. Others think

that Paul's referring to the fact that when something

needs judged in the church, we look for someone

with wisdom and not the least esteemed. And the

unrighteous are even less than the least esteemed.

Either way, the interpretations still make the

point that Christian believers should be able

to have judgments concerning things pertaining

to this life and that it is far better than to

go to unjust and wicked unbelievers. Number four,

we come then to verse five through the beginning

of seven. And here Paul gets really to the heart

of it. This is a shameful matter, he says. He

says, I say this to your shame. Is it so that

there is not a wise man among you, not even one,

who would be able to judge between his brethren?

But brother goes to law against brother, and

that before unbelievers. Now therefore, it is

already an utter failure for you that go to law

against one another. There are only two places

in the scripture where this word shameful is

used. Both of them are in 1 Corinthians. The

second time is when he speaks about those who

were questioning the resurrection. So you can

see here, this is a really big matter that the

apostle is making. This is shameful behavior.

It should not be named among them. We must conclude

this issue was a matter of very high importance.

Now, think of this in light of the professed

wisdom that the Corinthian church thought they

had. They thought that they were wise, they were

rich, they were well endowed with goods and with

much wisdom. And the human wisdom was better

than the wisdom of the cross. And Paul says,

do you not even have one wise man among you?

Is there not anyone who can judge between you?

If so, then this is shameful. Where's all your

high and mighty wisdom that you profess? He states

the proof of this, this lack of wisdom in verse

6. Brother goes to brother, goes to law against

brother, and not before unbelievers. It continues

in verse 7. It's an utter failure among you.

So we conclude from that that to initiate a lawsuit

and take our matters before a wicked and unbelieving

and unjust judge is a shameful thing and that

we ought not to do it. The challenge for us today,

as we consider these words for us, is that in

our context, It's a mixed bag. Many of our judges

are not in the same state as what they were in

Rome. In other words, there are a good number

of good judges where they fear the Lord and they

just... And they adjudicate just judgment. But

on the same token, there are many others that

are not like that. And so it requires wisdom

for us as we think about that in our current

context. We're not like the country of Pakistan

or other Islamic countries in that way. We have

a rich Christian heritage about law and jurisprudence

that the effects of it are still here with us.

In many ways. We have inherited much. But alas.

There are also many unjust judges. Who are corrupt

and evil. So we must conclude from this. In light

of that. That the church must still be able to

provide wise men. Who can judge between matters.

That they do so with skill. That is with a good

understanding of God's law. With a knowledge

of good. A knowledge of jurisprudence, the ability

to give close attention to detail, and to understand

the biblical law requiring multiple witnesses.

That is needed in our day just as much as ever.

There are many things that could be adjudicated

and could be settled simply by dealing with brothers

in the church rather than taking it to a law

court, even if the law court. is somewhat good.

We can still do it here. He moves on then in

the latter part of verse 7. He says, Why do you

not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather

let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves

do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to

your brethren. This seems like a hard saying

here. Saying it's better to accept wrong and

let yourself be cheated. Rather than to do this

shameful thing. Well that's number one. It shows

the importance of which he attaches this. This

is a big matter. But it also goes along with

the words of Jesus. In Matthew 5 verse 14 and

Matthew 5:14

41. If anyone wants to sue you and take away

your tunic. Let him have your cloak also. And

whoever compels you to go one mile. Go with him.

There are times when wrong is done that we must

accept it and trust in the judge of all of the

earth who will do right and who will take care

of the matter and judge the offender in the great

judgment day and in his own time. the offender

is actually judged even before the great judgment

day simply by other curses falling on him or

things that are taken away. And so Paul is saying

here, this is such a shameful matter that it's

better for you to accept the wrong, to accept

the damages, rather than to go before the unjust

person. That's what he's saying. But remember

though, That God's word, both here and in other

places, is not saying that it is wrong to seek

redress. It's not wrong to look for a judgment.

Here's some examples. And all of these kinds

of things have happened. It's to the shame, obviously,

of the perpetrators who do this. But these things

have happened within Christ's church. A brother

hires another brother to construct a building

and refuses to pay the bill. He says, I'm not

going to pay you. Another brother might buy a

car from somebody else, put 50 % down, and says

that he promises to pay the rest in a year, but

then when that time comes, he refuses to pay.

Or someone borrows a piece of machinery, and

they abuse and misuse it. They ruin it, but refuse

to give compensation to the owner. There are

many stories like this. of professing Christians,

taking advantage of other Christians. I have

heard that in some places, I'd rather deal with

an unbeliever than with a fellow Christian because

they seek to get the very last dollar out of

me and they refuse to act in a fair way. This

is shameful. This should not be named among us

in this way. And yet these things happen. I've

even heard of these. This is coming secondhand.

of those who even taught, I'm going to do this

to you, I'm not going to pay you, and you're

a Christian and you won't sue me, and I know

that. Those kinds of things have happened. These

matters must be dealt with and they must be confronted

with redress for damages. But the issue addressed

here, again, is that of going before the just.

the heathen and unbelievers, and it's better

to accept the wrong and let yourselves be cheated

rather than to take your brother before the unjust.

Furthermore, by taking such matters to a corrupt

court, everyone loses, factions develop, and

Christ is not honored. The church is called to

intervene and to find a God -honoring way to

resolve the disputes. in the context of the church.

This should generally follow the Matthew 18 approach

of first going to the man who has done wrong

and confronting him, and then following it up

with witnesses, the man or the person who has

done wrong, confronting them, then following

it up with witnesses, and then bringing it to

the elders, and then finally, if he still will

not hear, then to the whole church. I know of

some situations where the church will appoint

a committee of a couple of men to research the

matter, find a solution, and then render a judgment.

And if the offender will not listen, then it

will come to the church and they will render

church discipline. Because a lot of these things

end up being in the form, in some way, of theft

or of robbery in some way. But in all of these

cases, these principles, though, must be kept

in mind. Romans 12, verse 17 to 21. Repay no

Romans 12:17–21

one evil for evil. Have regard for good things

in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as

much as depends on you, live peaceably with all

men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather

give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance

is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore,

if your enemy is hungry, feed him. And if he

is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing,

you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not

be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

That really applies to this whole sense here

of it's better for you to suffer the loss rather

than to take this person to the unjust judge.

1 Peter 2, verse 19 to 21. Also gives us the

1 Peter 2:19–21

example of Christ. He says, For this is commendable,

if because of conscience toward God one endures

grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit

is it if when you are beaten for your faults

you take it patiently? But when you do good and

suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable

before God. For to this you were called because

Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example

that you should follow in his steps. In closing

this out though, Paul then addresses the offender.

He says, no, you yourselves do wrong and cheat

and you do these things to your brethren. This

is where it's like, this is unthinkable. why

would you cheat your brother in Christ from what

belongs to him? And yet sadly, it happens far

too often. To you who defrauds and cheats your

brother or your sister, it's as if he's saying,

how can you do this? You're doing wrong. You're

hurting your brother in Christ and you must repent

and cease and desist. Let's give just a few final

applications as we consider all of this. First

of all is that justice and wisdom are found in

God -fearing courts. Outside of that, well, there

might be occasional times of justice, but they

don't have it like faithful Christians do. And

this is something that we must evaluate and discern

as we deal with wrongs. But at the same time,

When it comes election time, we must also seek

to promote faithful Christian legislators and

judges and courts. For that is what we desire

to see. It is the righteous who understand God's

judgments. Secondly, in order for this to happen,

though, the church must understand good jurisprudence.

That is, how... Evidence works. How witnesses

work. How God lays out the plans for justice

in a society. In order to understand God's standards

of justice, we must study in the whole word.

This requires a belief in the authority of the

whole scripture. For it is in the Old Testament

that many of God's standards of justice and jurisprudence

are revealed. And we need to be studying that.

In order to understand how to bring judgment

or justice. We read the law of God and we seek

to understand it in our own context. For example,

here's one, a liability one. Deuteronomy 22 and

verse 8. When you build a new house, then you

shall make a parapet for your roof that you may

not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household

if anyone falls from it. Does that mean that

we here today, we're all to go put these parapets

around all of our roofs? No, that certainly would

not work in the country that we live in. We don't

have flat roofs that we go to sleep on or we

go up there in order to relax like they did in

their countries. But we can learn from this,

though, that we are liable for an injury that

happens from our negligence. And we must... remember

that and that we seek to promote safety and that

we're also liable if we neglect that and then

someone is hurt many times that's a financial

liability that we need to accept somebody gets

hurt because we failed to do something that should

have been done then we have to take a look at

that the lives of people are precious in the

sight of god and And this means that we should

take care of preventing hurt from coming to any

person. So for example, we don't want to dig

a deep pit in the yard and leave it uncovered

when little children wander around and could

fall in. Or we could take and apply this in many

ways. That we should seek to look out for the

good of our neighbor. And be liable if we are

neglectful in it. One final note as we draw this

to a conclusion. Beware of a retaliatory or revengeful

spirit when you are wronged. Vengeance belongs

to God. Even if you're going to seek redress

and things, you still should not have a vengeful

spirit about you. Vengeance belongs to God. As

God says in Deuteronomy 32 verse 35, vengeance

Deuteronomy 32:35

is mine and recompense. Their foot shall slip

in due time. for the day of their calamity is

at hand and the things to come hasten upon them.

Now this is quoted several times in the New Testament,

such as we have read in Romans 12 and verse 19.

In all of this, though, we should seek and long

for justice, for right dealings, not with hatred

or vengeance or malice, but to seek the Lord

and seek to promote those kind. of wise individuals,

both in the church for matters that can be handled

here, as well as in our communities for all the

community around us. I hope that this is instructive

to you from this. This is one that's a little

different than what we've looked at in all of

the others before, but the word of God does speak

to it clearly, and so I give it to you. In the

name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy

Spirit. Amen. Let's pray.