I'll See You in Court | December 10, 2025

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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Why don't you turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 6

this evening? First Corinthians chapter #6

This preacher is grateful to be out of First Corinthians chapter

#5 No doubt. And we are in First Corinthians

chapter #6. You know, when two people in the

world argue about something and maybe it gets a little bit

heated and maybe there's a little bit of a back and forth,

it seems like the trump card that somebody wants to throw

out. If they just want to kind of end

the conversation and the debate, they'll say something like this.

Well, you know what? I'll see you in court.

You ever hear somebody say that? Maybe you've had to say that to

somebody. I don't know.

But you know, when there's some irreconcilable differences, what

is the ultimate thing that you can say that will end the

conversation and really kind of take it to the next level?

It's something on these lines. I will see you in court now.

You understand why the world does this, right?

Because the world is, well, the world of the world used to do

things on a handshake, used to be able to make an agreement

with somebody just by looking them in the eye and shaking

their hand. That's not the way it is

anymore. Contracts are really written to

be made to be broken more than anything.

And the world is double dealing. And the world seeks inequitable

justice. And what I mean inequitable, it

means like more for me and less for you.

You know, that's the way the world works, isn't it?

They want more and they want you to have less.

So we understand when the world deals with these kind of things,

we know that the world, as I've said many times before, is going

to act like the world. That shouldn't surprise us.

But what happens when believers find themselves in the same

position and they can't handle conflict amongst themselves and

they find the only way that they can handle a conflict between

them is to take one another to court?

You say, pastor, Has that ever happened at Liberty Baptist

Church? By God's grace, it has never

happened at Liberty Baptist Church, but there is a church I

know of that it has happened at. Before and it's this the church

at Corinth. Or we've covered a laundry list

of problems the church at Corinth has had, and it's not

done yet because Paul is going to address here in First

Corinthians chapter #6 the very grave issue of the church at

Corinth taking one another to court.

And so we're going to find this evening about why Paul explains

that it's wrong, why Paul explains that it should not

happen. And really a Christian shouldn't

sue another Christian because Christians are supposed to be

peacemakers. We're going to see that tonight

that we as Christians are called to be peacemakers.

And if two people, I'm talking about two people within the

confines of a church are committed to being godly in a

difficult situation, peace can be found.

I'm not saying that aren't difficult situations that can

happen in the life of a church. I'm not saying that there isn't

someone that could be wrong within a church, whether it was

for an accidental reason or maybe even for a purposeful

reason. But I would say if two people

are committed to being godly in the midst of a difficult

situation, peace can be found. James 4 chapter 4 verse one says

from whence come wars and fightings among you come They

not hence even of your lusts that war in your members.

So the question tonight is this, What happens when I'll see you

in church ends up to be this, I'll see you in court.

What happens when I'll see you in church ends up being I'll see

you in court. We're going to see what Paul

says about it here in First Corinthians here tonight.

So you remain seated, going to read the first 8 verses, First

Corinthians chapter #6 and it says this.

Dare any of you having a matter against another, go to law

before the unjust, and not before the Saints?

Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world?

And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge

the smallest matters? No, ye not that we shall judge

angels. How much more things that

pertain to this life. If then ye have judgments of

things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are at

least esteemed in the Church. I speak to your shame.

Is it so that there is not a wise man among you?

No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brother.

But if brother go to law with brother, and that before the

unbelievers, now therefore there is utterly a fault among you,

because you go to law one with another, Why do you not rather

the wrong? Why do you not rather suffer

yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud.

And that your brethren, excuse me.

Paul has launched a new attack this evening on a new area of

ungodliness within the Church of Corinth.

We talked about wisdom and pride and arrogance and grouping

themselves into different factions, pitting themselves

against one another, all in the name of godliness, saying I'm of

Paulos and I'm of Paul and I'm of Cephas and I'm of Christ.

We've saw sexual immorality in chapter #5 and now here's the

issue. Christians in the Church of

Corinth are taking one another to court.

Now let's be clear about something as we start here

tonight. Paul was not at all against

legal action. In fact, I would say this as a

Pharisee and as a Roman citizen, Paul was very aware of what his

rights were. I can give you 3 examples this

evening. You can bring that up here.

Thank you all. That's very nice.

If you want to be really nice, you can get the clicker out of

Dad's office because I forgot it.

All right, so why don't you go do that?

She says I don't have to listen to the sermon.

All right? No, you got to come back all

right. I'll give you 3 examples very

quickly. Paul is in Philippi.

He gets thrown into prison. Well, he's beaten first and then

thrown to prison with Silas. Of course, we understand that

God makes a miraculous jailbreak where Paul and Silas are able to

be brought out with this earthquake that they lead the

jailer and his family to Christ. And the very next day, the

magistrates come and they say, oh, she, she liked the

attention. All right, thank you very much.

You can be seated. That big smile.

All right. The magistrates say, hey, why

don't you just go ahead and be released?

We'll just let you go. And Paul says no, no, no, no,

no, I don't think so. He says if the magistrates want

us to be released, they can come into this jail and releases

themselves. So why do you say that?

Because he was a Roman citizen and he was not supposed to be

bound. He was not supposed to be

beaten, and he was not supposed to be jailed as a Roman citizen

without first having a trial. And so he knew his rights.

You can go to Acts chapter #22 and they were going to flog him

in Jerusalem. And he said the same thing.

He said, are you going to flog me?

Are you going to beat me as a Roman citizen?

And the, the man who was in charge all of a sudden got very

afraid because he realized he shouldn't even have bound him,

let alone being able to flog him as a Roman citizen.

You can go to Acts chapter 25. And when Paul, dealing with the

Acts 25 · chapter mention

same legal issue, makes his appeal unto Caesar, he

understands that the way he can get a free trip to Rome to be

able to preach the gospel is just to make his appeal unto

Caesar. No, Paul was very understanding

of the legal system, and Paul was not making a blanket

condemnation upon Christians understanding and partaking in

the legal system in general. This is not an issue of a

Christian foregoing all legal action.

It's the impropriety of believers taking one another to

court, particularly believers of the same church.

It's important for Christians to settle disputes among themselves

according to God's principles. This can be done through the

church. This can be done through, I

would call Christian arbitration or an arbiter who is a Christian

would be able to use Christian principles to be able to handle

and settle differences between believers within a church.

You say, well, is there some kind of Christian arbitration

principle that we could use within the church?

Well, we read it a couple weeks ago.

It's Matthew 18. Go to the brother and talk to

him. Then bring a witness, and then

if necessary, bring it before the church.

Yes, God has given us the way that Christians can handle

problems within the assembly without having to take one

another to small claims court. Paul does not say that

Christians should not have their own system to handle criminal

law. We're not talking about criminal

law here tonight. You might have heard of Sharia

law before and how Sharia law in Muslim countries will overtake

the law system. It is the law.

And I would say that as Sharia law goes into other nations that

are not Muslim exclusive nations, that Sharia law desires

to overtake the legal system in the nations of which it's

implemented, whether that is in Great Britain as it's been seen

there, or even here in the United States of America.

No, that's not some tinfoil hat conspiracy by a crazy

independent Baptist preacher. That's just the fact of the

matter of seeing what's happened in other places in the world,

seeing what the Quran says, and not wanting it to be implemented

in the United States. What I'm not saying is that we

should have our own Christian criminal system where we are to

take care of those things outside of what the parameters

legally are for US here in our towns, here in our counties,

here in our state, and with the federal government.

In fact, quite the opposite. You can go to, in fact, turn

there real quickly. Go to Romans chapter #13 you've

read this before. No doubt it's just a few pages

away, but it's important for us to look at this again.

Romans chapter #13 it's appropriate for the state to

handle criminal cases. However, Christians among

themselves should be able to handle handle civil matters.

Look at Romans 13 verse one. Let every soul be subject under

the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers

that be ordained of God. Paul saying this, there's no

authority that can be in place without without God allowing it.

You say, well, pastor, there's some really wicked leaders that

are around the world and we've had wicked leaders even our own

nations at times and places. And that the answer to that is

yes. But what I'm telling you tonight

is this is that none of that caught God by surprise.

There is none of that where God in heaven said this is not the

election returns I thought would happen.

I didn't know these hanging chads would be there.

God was not surprised by any of these things.

No, no, no, God is aware God is in control.

Look at verse 2. Whosoever therefore resisted the

power resisted the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall

receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to

good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of

the power? Do that which is good, and thou

shalt have praise of the same, for he is the minister of God to

thee for good. But if thou do that which is

evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is

the minister of God, a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that

doeth evil. Now Paul is writing this about

the wicked Roman Empire. You realize this is when this is

being written. He's writing it about the Roman

Empire. And what he is saying is that

when the system is as it ought to be, what is the government

supposed to do? It is supposed to punish the bad

and it's supposed to reward the good.

You say, well, Pastor, it doesn't seem like the government

always does that. When the government doesn't do

that, who's ultimately in control?

The Lord is in control. The Lord is the one that will

reckon those accounts when they're wrong.

But I will say this, unless the government is telling us to do

something that is patently unbiblical, what are we to do?

Well, we are to obey the government.

It says this verse 5. Wherefore you must needs be

subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

For this cause pay you tribute also, for they are God's

ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

Render, therefore to all their dues.

Tribute to whom tribute is due custom, to whom custom fear, to

whom fear, honor to whom honor. If I could maybe summarize all

of this in a way that I know would biblically help us to

understand, it would be this. Render unto Caesar what is

Caesar, and render unto God what is God.

You find that in Matthew, you find it in Mark, and you find it

in Luke where Jesus tells the Pharisees when they tried to

entrap him. Render unto Caesar what is

Caesar's, and render unto God what is God.

Listen, we don't like hearing this, but we need to obey the

government. But listen, take a time out when

the government tells us to do something that is patently

unbiblical. When the government says do

something that's in violation of the word of God.

What do the disciples say in the book of Acts?

We ought to obey God rather than man.

As Christians, one of the ways we can have a good testimony is

by obeying the government. But also we'd have a testimony

that we will follow God first before we follow man.

But here there's nowhere where we see that we are to issue the

legal system, to stay away from the criminal legal system, and

that we are to make sure that what, what are we supposed to do

when it comes to civil matters, to disagreements?

What are we supposed to do? Handle it amongst yourselves and

don't take each other to court. That's what the world does to

each other. But we as believers, we ought to

be able to handle within the body the problems that we have

within the body. We'll look more about why that

is in a second, but another thing I want to say, and I want

to make this very clear tonight, churches have no business hiding

criminal activity under the guise of First Corinthians

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. Churches should not and are not

allowed to hide criminal activity because of what it says

in First Corinthians chapter 6. And you can turn back there if

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

you want to. Because we'll look.

More at that in a second, but I will say there have been times

in the past where there have been churches who have taken

things, for instance, like sexual abuse and have tried to

hide it under the carpet. Why?

Under the guise of, well, the church is supposed to handle the

issues within the church. Listen to me and listen to me

very carefully tonight. There is no biblical basis for

any type of activity like that. There is no biblical basis for

the church to hide any type of sexual misconduct that takes

place within the church, any type of criminal way to say

well, the church is going to handle it.

No, no, what do you do? Romans chapter 13, You let the

Romans 13 · chapter mention

powers take care of it that God has instituted and God has

ordained. I can take you to a campus in

Jacksonville, FL where a pastor for years and years molested.

Up to 300 different young people 300.

Now whether that can be verified, I don't know.

But I do know this, that there was an admission of guilt that

took place later. But this happened when this man

was in his 80's. The church found out about this

in the mid 1990s. They found out about many

allegations. And they decided that this

church, this pastor, should resign and then go on to the

mission field in Germany where he would be away from the legal

system in the United States. And everyone thought, isn't it

great that this pastor, he's about a retirement age, he's

going to go to Germany and become a missionary, not knowing

that church was trying to hide the misconduct that was taking

place. There's only one word that I can

use to categorize that behavior, and it's this.

It's wicked. There is no biblical basis for

that whatsoever. Hear me and hear me clearly

tonight. Why could we look at First

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 5 and see how clearly God dealt with those

kind of issues and then be so blase about it in First

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 6? No, this doesn't make sense.

So Paul told the Corinthians that they should not sue one

another. Why was that?

Well, there's three main reasons for that.

And first of all, it's this number one, it's an issue of

trust. It's an issue of trust.

Look back at verse #1 and Paul uses some very strong language

here. He says, dare any of you.

It's almost like he's saying, how dare you do this?

What are you thinking, as some people would say around these

parts, What's the matter with you?

How dare you dare anyone of you having a matter against another

go to the law before the unjust and not before the Saints?

When he says a matter among against another, he's talking

about the brethren. Why would you go to the law

before the unjust and the unjust?

Here we're talking about the unsaved.

And so Paul is basically asking this, Why would you seek the

opinion of someone who is not just?

If you are looking for justice and you're a believer, why would

you go to the unjust? Why would you go to the unsaved?

Would it make more sense to be able to find the wisdom that

should be found within the local body?

Listen, there is no justice to be found with the unsaved.

Listen, I'm not saying every judge is crooked.

I'm not saying every court is crooked.

Again, we just read Romans chapter 13.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

We're supposed to have respect for the system as we find it.

But just as a matter of principle, the unjust are going

to be unjust. The unsaved are going to think

like the unsaved. It's not that they can't think

of truth, and it's not that they can't act on truth.

But when they think of truth and they act on truth, where do they

get it? From The Father of lies.

They stumbled upon it from God and God Himself.

And so we see that He says this. How dare you?

How could you possibly be believers and go to the unsaved

to try to settle your own matters?

It's not that there can't be good judges, but just as a

general principle, why would you do this?

What would you be thinking? And so he says a couple

different things about that. First of all, he says that the

fact that you would go to the unsaved is an indictment against

the brethren. It's an indictment against the

brother. And the fact that two believers

couldn't hash out their differences in a godly way is an

indictment against them. In fact, verse #5 he asked this

question. I speak to your shame.

Is it so that there is not a wise man among you?

And I find that ironic. And the reason that I do is

because when it says, is there not a wise man among you?

Well, what did he talk to them about a few chapters ago?

They all thought that they were wise.

And so it's kind of like, what are you doing?

I thought you all thought you were wise, and now you can't

handle your own situations within the church.

He says, no, no, these things ought not to be believers.

It says in verses #2 and three, do you not know that the Saint

shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged

by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

Know ye not that we shall judge angels?

How much more things that pertain to this life Now, did

that catch your attention? We read through that the first

time, the fact that we as believers will someday be judge

of the angels. And again, when it says the

Saints understand we're talking about biblical doctrine.

We're not talking about that Catholic group of people.

Know what are we talking about? We're talking about those who

are believers. The day you were saved was the

day you became a St. It may seem strange to you, but

that's the way that it is. Biblically.

All the epistles start with to the Saints that are at Galatia,

to the Saints that are in Rome, to the Saints that are at over

and over and over again. So it says the Saints shall

judge the world and that they will judge angels.

Now, what could that be talking about?

Now I believe that when it's talking about this, it's talking

about first of all, that there will be believers as judges

during the millennial Kingdom, but also that believers will sit

in judgement of the fallen angels at the very end times.

Now you say, why would you say that?

Well, Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 12 says if we suffer, we

2 Timothy 2:12

shall also reign with him. We deny him, He will also deny

us. There will be a time for

believers. Then we will reign where we will

have some level of judgment. Now I'm not saying that we will

be the judges, but we will stand in judgment along with the

righteous judge who is Jesus Christ.

Daniel Chapter 7, verse 22. Until the Ancient of Days came

Daniel 7:22

and judgment was given to the Saints of the Most High, and the

time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom.

That says that there will be judgment that take place in the

millennial reign. And I believe judgment that

takes place before those fallen angels are taken and cast in the

lake of fire. So what's the end result of all

of this? This is this God saying if

you're going to be able to judge those things for eternity, you

can't handle the situations you have in your church now.

If you're going to have to have that type of responsibility

later, shouldn't you be doing this now?

You have high and holy work ahead of you.

Why would you not be able to handle your business now?

It would be like having two Supreme Court justices that got

into a quarrel with one another and the only way they could

settle it was going on People's Court.

You know, Dun, Dun, you know, could you imagine in walks in

justice, you know, so and so could you imagine, you'd say

these two are supposed to be, you know, at the very height of

the legal system with the United States of America, and the only

way they can settle their dispute is in small claims court

on television. You'd say that's crazy.

That's the best that I can tell you is the comparison here in

verses #2 and three Paul saying, listen, you realize the high and

holy calling of judgment that is ahead of you if you're a

believer. And you're going to the courts

at Corinth. To try to get clarity about the

situations that you're having with each other.

What's the matter with you? It's an indictment against you

as brethren. What's the matter with you that

you would think that way? The fact that the church would

need the world to solve their problems is an indictment about

how unchrist like they were. But it wasn't just that it was

an indictment against the brethren, but we also see that

it was an invitation to worldly thinking, an invitation to the

worldly thinking. The fact that the just would

think they need counsel, advice, or wisdom from the unjust is an

invitation to worldly thinking in a host of other areas.

Look at verse #6. But brother goeth to law with

brother, and that before the unbelievers.

He's saying, why would you invite the council and the

wisdom of the unbelievers in your life?

You'd say the wisdom of the unbelievers.

Well, yes. Consider James chapter 3, verses

James 3:14

14 and 15. But if you have bitter envy and

strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth.

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly and

sensual and devilish. He's saying, why would you

invite the world's council into your life?

Why would you ask the world for advice on how you live your

life? Listen, the world doesn't have

the answers. The world is the problem.

The world is on fire. It's like asking an arsonist how

to set up a fire extinguisher in your home.

It's like trying to ask a thief how you should set up a safe and

a bank. Why on earth would you ask the

world? And I'm not saying that

everybody in the world is out to get you.

I'm not saying that everybody in the world has this, this bend

against you to try to take you down.

I'm not saying that. But I'm saying the world system

as it is set up, the world system, that the head of it is

Satan himself, the father of lies, the one who seeks to kill

and steal and destroy. No, he has set it up that he has

no wisdom. And when the world again does

have wisdom, it's because they have accidentally Co opted from

God because God is the God of truth.

All truth flows from him and the world speaks truth.

They're just speaking God's truth.

And again, I'm not saying that the world can never speak truth.

I'm just saying that when the world speaks truth, it's not

because the world produced the truth.

It's because they stumbled upon God's truth.

And Paul counters this worldly thinking because he says this.

He says, you know what? If you're going to have a judge,

if you're going to take care of some issues in the body, you

know who should be your judge. Did you catch that?

Look at what it says again. It says in verse #4 if then you

have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set

them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

Now what does the world say? The world says we need the most

esteemed we need. The one with the highest

credentials. What does Paul say?

Well, get the one that's the least esteem.

We're not talking about the least character.

We're talking about someone who is maybe not as regarded as

everyone else, but that still is a godly person.

And it's a reminder. Luke 1310 This is not worldly

wisdom. This is godly wisdom.

The the last shall be first, and there are first which shall be

last. So what do you do?

You take someone who maybe is not the most popular, but has

the Spirit of God, and what do you do?

You allow them to be the judge. I remember back at Westgate

there was a man named James Clayton, and Brother Clayton is

one of my favorite men there. Him and and his wife, Miss

Sandra and Brother Clayton end up being a Deacon at Westgate.

And I'd sit in deacons meeting sometimes just as a assistant

pastor if there was something that I needed to help deal with

in the church. You know, the thing I loved

about Brother Clayton, I don't know if I say I love this about

it, but the thing that was interesting about Brother

Clayton is he almost never talked.

I shouldn't say I love that about a person, right?

But the thing that was interesting about it was he

almost never talked. I would say in many ways he was

maybe 1 of the least esteemed in the church because he didn't

have this outgoing, gregarious personality.

Now, The funny thing was he was an Army drill Sergeant, so I

guess he got it all out in his younger years.

But I will tell you this about James Clayton.

When he talked, you listen. He didn't waste his words.

When he said something, everyone ears perked up.

He may only say something that deacons meeting two or three

times, but every time he did, he was listening to what was going

on and made a contribution that was filled with wisdom and God's

word in it. And when I think of the least

esteemed among you, I think of James Clayton.

Not that he was little regarded in the church, but the idea if

you just walked into the church and you said we need someone to

settle dispute, you'd see someone who maybe was gregarious

in their personality and that was maybe a little bit

boisterous. And you maybe say, Ben, this is

the person that everyone needs to listen to.

There's James Clayton sitting in the background.

He's serving. He's not served out in front of

everybody. He may have been least regarded

in some ways, but I'll tell you this, there's a lot of wisdom in

that man. The world wouldn't agree with

that, but in God's Kingdom, it's quite the opposite.

So don't think worldly when it comes to these issues.

What, what do we do? We need to make sure that we

think the way that God wants us to think.

And this is a reminder to us tonight, and I really want you

to consider this tonight, that the center of wisdom in your

life ought to be the local church.

I know that sounds crazy, but follow me for a second.

The center of wisdom in your life ought to be your local

church. Why?

Well, this text makes clear here that we ought to be a place

where differences can be resolved.

We ought to be a place where direction can be found.

That's why we're not supposed to go it alone.

As believers, you need a church body where we can help one

another. Where you have.

Disputes. But disputes can be settled in a

way that is better and more godly than how the world.

Settles disputes. This is why we're not.

This is why we're not supposed to go it alone as believers.

And the world should not be your go to.

The world should be something that's avoided love, not the

world neither the things that are in the world.

Any man love the world the love of the Father is not in.

But the church should be your go to for wisdom.

I'm not saying that churches are perfect, but I will say this.

We have a perfect book. We have a perfect spirit who

lives inside of us. We ought to be able to be

different in how we handle these issues.

Well, I got to move faster than this.

All right #2 not just an issue of trust #2 it's an issue of

testimony. It's an issue of testimony.

If you were to take this text as a whole here tonight,

particularly verses 6 through 8, let me ask you this.

What kind of testimony is it for a Church of believers to be able

to go before an unbelieving judge and then accuse one

another? Do you think they'd be able to

give them a track when it's done?

I know they weren't given tracks back then, but you understand

the thought process of that. It is, would they be in a place

after accusing one another? Well, this guy did this to me.

Well, I'll tell you what, this guy's a scumbag.

Well, you know what? You're a double scumbag, you

know, and they're going back and forth and by the, you know, by

the time they're done, they say, oh, bad, by the way.

Judge, if you have to have nowhere to go to church on

Sunday, we'd love to be able to invite you to Corinth Baptist

Church. And the judge said, you know

what, I get enough of this out in the world.

I think I'm good. Thank you very much.

It's an issue of testimony. There ought to be harmony within

the Church of God. Why?

Because the world ought to see that the Church ought to act

like the Church. The world ought to be able to

see that we as believers can walk in the way that we say that

we're going to walk. And again, I know we're not

perfect. I don't want to set us up for

failure here tonight. But there ought to be something

different about us as believers. There ought to be something

different about the way we look, the way we act, the way we talk,

the way we think. And there ought to be something

different about the way we handle conflict.

And there ought to be something different.

We ought to be peacemakers. And that's why he didn't want

them to go to court. Because even when there were

real issues and there could be real issues, they needed to be

handled in a biblical way. First, Peter chapter 2, verse

12, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that

whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your

good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day

of visitation. Meaning this, that they see you,

they don't want to appreciate what you're doing, but you're

walking in such a way that is what the Lord wants you to do

that they can't argue with how you're living.

You can't do that if you're suing each other in court.

Philippians 215 that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons

of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a wicked and or crooked

and perverse generation, a nation among whom.

You. Shine as lights in the world.

I've given the example before, many years ago when I was a

teenager and I was working with a young man at McDonald's named

Kevin. It was my first job, only worked

there for a few months, making $5.00 an hour.

Big money, I mean big money, you know what I'm saying?

At the McDonald's, I was working in the front, Kevin was working

in the back, and we were excited because our youth group was

coming. Our youth group was going to

come that night. Now we were working, so we

didn't come to the youth department that night on a

Friday night, but they were going to come.

And I thought, man, what a great way for us to be able to show

the people that we work with about what it's like to be a

Christian and about our church. It'd be so much easier to invite

the other teenager we're working with at the church to church.

It would be a great thing. Can I tell you, my friends, my

friends trashed at McDonald's, they absolutely trashed it.

And I'm not saying on accident. They did it on purpose.

And part of the reason was they wanted to kind of have a go at

me and Kevin. But here's the thing.

Kevin was cooking the hamburgers in the bag.

He. Wasn't going to clean it.

So there's only one who was going to clean it, and that was

me. But you know who saw the mess?

Every single person that we had been talking to about our church

coming. And I had so wished that instead

of telling him I was from Westgate Baptist Church, I'd so

wished I told them that was from Incarnation Catholic Church that

was right up the road instead. Like, why did I tell him I was

from Westgate? Because it left such a bad

impression, my manager was ticked off.

My manager was upset. Listen, how we react as

believers makes an impact in the world.

How we make an impact as believers amongst ourselves

makes an impact in the world. When the world comes into this

building. I'm going to take this a little

bit further here for a moment, All right?

We pray that the world comes to this building to be able to hear

the gospel message. That's the plan.

That's why we hand out tracks. That's why I invite people to

church, because we want people that don't know Jesus Christ to

come to church to find what we have.

I mean, that's kind of what we want to do, particularly at this

kind of time of year. But listen, if the world comes

in here and finds people that are not in harmony, they're

going to leave and say, I can get this anywhere.

You know what they ought not to see when they come into a church

setting. They ought not to see people

quarrelling with one another. You know what the world ought to

see when they come to a church setting, not see people divided

into cliques and groups. You know what they ought to see

when they come into a church building?

They ought to see people who are as interested in seeing them as

they are and seeing the person that they talk to every Sunday

and every Wednesday. You say this is a little bit of

a stretch from the text. I know that it is to a point,

but there's an application here that's real, that when we come

in contact with the world, they ought to see us acting like

believers. And when two guys are in a

courtroom fighting with each other and they both say they're

Christians and an unsaved judge says what's going on, it's no

different than the world coming in here because we've invited

them. So they expect us to act like

believers. And then we don't act like

believers when they come into this assembly.

What do we need to do? It's an issue of our testimony.

Galatians 610 tells us, as we have therefore opportunity, let

us do good unto all men, especially unto them that are

household of faith. We should be doing right by each

other. We should do right to the people

in the world that don't always do right by us.

As a church, we are to be a shining light to the world.

So it's an issue of trust, it's an issue of testimony #3 it's an

issue of tactlessness. It's an issue tactlessness.

What does it mean, tactlessness? Well, having tact is an

adeptness at dealing with difficult issues, meaning this.

The Church of Corinth showed they didn't know how to handle

difficult issues. They didn't know how to handle

these issues where believers were supposed to act like

believers and verses number 7 and 8 give an interesting

thought that is very contrary to our flesh.

Look at what it says now. Therefore there is utterly a

fault among you because you go to law one with another.

Why do you not rather take wrong?

Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

Nay, you do wrong and defraud and that your brethren.

So he says this in verse 8. Listen, if you've defrauded your

brethren, that's wrong. But he also looks at the ones

who are defrauded and he says this.

Listen, if you are going to court and you're willing to take

this to court, wouldn't it be better to take a quote loss than

to be able to go to court and. Maybe win your pound of flesh,

but you really haven't won the battle at all.

In fact, you've made things worse because of your testimony.

One commentator put it this way. I couldn't say it better than he

said, so I just want to read it. Paul called this man to do

something hard, to give up what he deserved for the higher good

of God and his. Kingdom.

But the man who was wrong should not think Paul was asking him to

take a loss. So I said a loss.

He was not asking him to take a loss.

No one who accepts wrong for the sake of God's.

Glory will be a loser. No one who accepts wrong for the

sake of God's glory will be a loser.

Paul didn't say the problem shouldn't be handled, but he was

saying if the church couldn't handle it as the last resort,

the church should be the last resort and not the world.

If the church could not handle it for whatever reason, take a.

Loss because you're really not taking a loss because who is the

one that handles reaping and sowing?

God, you should be willing to be defrauded.

No, he said, well, that makes me look like a sucker.

No, that's not what we're trying to say at all.

We're saying this when you get in those situations and it's at

the very most desperate situation, and the other person

is not being godly, the other person is not doing what they

should. The other person's not being a

peacemaker. Are you willing to take a loss

and know this, that God will take vengeance for them and that

God will repay me for being faithful?

I'll say this, our flesh don't like that kind of talk.

You know what I like? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a

tooth. And you know, you got to say it

like that because that's how they said the Old Testament,

right? Actually, that's how they said

in the West, more like it. But even the eye for an eye and

a tooth for a tooth was a law of equitability and equitable

punishment. It was not a law of vengeance.

In fact, it was a law. To keep men from taking

vengeance against one another. And that commentator continues.

And he says ideally, the church should have settled the dispute.

But if the church failed to do so, Paul asked the man to trust

in God, not in secular judges and lawsuits and courts.

So that doesn't make any sense. Well, in our economy it doesn't.

But in God's economy, losing is often winning.

We see that so many times, don't we?

We already said the last shall be 1st and the 1st shall be

last. 2nd Corinthians 12, verse 10 Paul said, Therefore I take

pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches in necessities, and

persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake.

For when I am weak, then am I strong.

Matthew 16, verse 25 For whosoever will save his life

Matthew 16:25

shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake

shall save it. That it would be better to be

defrauded and trust the Lord that he will be able to repay

you far more fold than whatever you would have achieved in

court, but whatever would have been lost.

In the testimony of those unsaved people who watched you

hash it out in front of them, said you would be better to take

an L You'd be better to take an L and know that God will repay

you back far more than what the world can.

We've dealt with this before. I've told the story before where

our family was in the place where our church wasn't paying

us and we were on salary back at Westgate.

I, I, I don't know the exact amount of, of checks we were

behind. I think I've said the number

before, but I, I don't know exactly, but I know that we were

somewhere about $6000 behind in our pay and that would have

represented about 1/3 of year salary for me back in 2008,

2009. It's a large amount.

There was a lot of heartburn that went along with that.

I'm not blaming anybody for what happened, I'm just saying that's

what happened. It's a building program that

went wrong with a lot of bad decisions that took place during

that time. And it would have been easy for

me to just go to a small claims court and say, you know what?

This is what I'm deserved. This is what I'm owed.

No one could argue. No one could argue that.

The contract was such that the money that I was supposed to

receive was what I was supposed to receive.

The hours that I work were certainly equal to what I was

supposed to, if not more. Than what I was supposed to and

it was very easy for us to say, you know what, give it to me or

I'll sue. What do we do?

Some who were in that situation, the Lord LED them to different

places to leave, and they left quietly for us.

We felt we didn't have the liberty to be able to leave.

We prayed about it and just never felt it was right.

But when the time came, a new regime came in and things

started to get better, but that back pay seemed like it was

gone. They were trying to repay, but

they were paying it like $100 every month or something like

that. At that rate, you know, I'd be

collecting Social Security by the time it was all finished,

you know, but we went on deputation, you know, that

process where we left Westgate preparing to come here and we

went from church to church to church.

And can I tell you that when the churches that we went to, that

God provided over and over and over again to the point that

when we got to liberty, when we got ready to start the church,

we could not believe how the Lord had financially blessed.

It was incredible to the point that I got on the phone about a

month before the church started and called Pastor Pert.

Pastor Pert was not the one who accrued the debt.

Pastor Pert was the one who was trying to fix the debt.

And I'm thankful for him to try to do that.

But we called him and I and I prayed about it.

We said, Pastor Pert, this debt's not yours and it's

holding Westgate back. So we want you to know we

forgive the Church of the debt. You say what wasn't that big of

you? I'm not saying it because it's

big of me. What I'm saying is this.

God paid back with interest and every time we've had a

difficulty over the years that we've been here and there've

been times of difficulty. I've told you, I've worked for

Uber before and I've done different kinds of odd jobs to

be able to make things meet. But I would tell you this, I go

back to that and I always remember God provided.

And when you're in a situation where you feel like, well, am I

being defaulted by someone in the church?

I, I loaned someone some money and they didn't give it back.

There was a situation where I did work for somebody and it

didn't seem like it worked out the way that it was supposed to.

We were in business together and it didn't listen.

Let it go to God. Try to take care of it.

Oh, absolutely try to take care of it.

But when it gets to the point that you're only remedy is going

to court, just know this. There's a higher court than any

court the Bristol County has. There's a higher court than

anything this state has. There's a higher court than the

so-called Supreme Court has. You know what that is?

There's a God in heaven who makes things equitable and makes

things right. I don't have time to go here,

but there. Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Yeah, we'll go there. All right, Just give me two

minutes. All right?

Philippians chapter 4. I want to read this and we'll be

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

done. Philippians chapter 4 say,

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

pastor, what does this have to do with me?

I mean, I don't plan on suing anybody.

And my answer is sure you are. That's why I'm preaching it,

right? Somebody wants to sue somebody

around here, right? No, I'm just kidding.

No, no, nobody wants to sue anybody.

I, I, I get that. But here's the principle.

What are we supposed to be in the church?

Peacemakers. You know what?

I'm not concerned about people suing each other.

Liberty Baptist Church, you I am concerned about people to get

cross ways with one another and can't handle it biblically.

Does that happen in church? How long you been in church?

That happens at church and it requires two people, not just

1-2 people that are willing to act in a godly way to be able to

handle that. Look what it says in Philippians

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. This is not a question of

somebody suing each other. But it is a.

Question of division and strife in a church.

Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for my joy

and crown, so stand fast in the Lord.

My dearly beloved, I beseech Yodius and beseech Sintoki that

they be of the same mind in the Lord.

These are two women in the church that are fighting with

one another. It says, I entreat thee also.

True yoke fellow help these women which labored with me in

the gospel, with Clement also and with other my fellow

laborers whose names are in the book of life.

These two women are in conflict with one another.

What it was we don't know, what it was about we don't know.

They were in conflict with one another and Paul said this he

gave them two principles to deal with conflict and they are this

and I'm giving you quickly and we're done.

The first is this involve the flock.

Involve the flock by the way, in a scriptural way.

I'm not talking about going around and gossiping because

what he's saying verse #3. He says I entreat.

Thee also true yoke fellow, help these women which labored with

me in the gospel. Those yoke fellow were the

believers that were there. They were supposed to help

together to help these women invoke the flock or involve the

flock, but also invoke the future because it says at the

end, it says whose names are in the book of life.

Listen, we're going to have to get together, get along in

heaven. I mean, we're going to be there.

It's going to be perfect. We're going to get along in

heaven. We might as well start now.

What do we need to remember? Hey, involve the flock in a

scriptural right way. If there's strife, Matthew 18

says bring someone else in, as long as you do it in the right

way. But what do you need to do?

Remember the future? Invoke the future.

Remember, we're going to live together for all eternity in a

place that's perfect. We ought to get along with each

other now. What happens when I'll see you

at church turns out to be I'll see you in court.

What do you do? Well, you end up reminding

yourself that blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the

ones that God will bless and that that is what we're to be

within the church. Thank you for listening to the

sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.