Don’t Bring Your Brothers In Christ To Court

When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers! Dont you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, cant you decide even these little things among yourselves?

1 Corinthians 6:1-2 (NLT)

In 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 Paul was writing to the church in Corinth because he was shocked to hear that they were taking each other to court to be judged by a secular judge instead of taking the matter to the believers. He expressed his disapproval of the matter by asking them ‘how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to the believers?’ Some people may disagree with Paul’s outburst of shame to the church of Corinth, but Paul saw this as an embarrassment to the body of Christ. He wanted them to know that as Christians we represent Christ and we are members of one body.  As members, we should show love to each other because filing a lawsuit against another believer contradicted Christian teaching and behavior.

Filing a lawsuit against another believer means going to a public court to be judged by unbelievers. As stated prior, this contradicts Christian teaching and behavior. In verse 2, it tells us that we (the body of Christ) will be judging the world. We should emulate Christ in every aspect of our lives, even when a brother offends us. Instead of taking the matter to the world for them to judge us, we should take the matter to a Pastor for them to judge over it. Going in front of the secular court to get justice over a fellow believer, shows the world that we cannot resolve simple matters by ourselves and it also shows the lack of love amongst the believers. This is also a poor witness to the body of Christ and will disenchant unbelievers to follow Christ.  Bringing disputes of the believers into the public eye damages the reputation and witness of the church.

In conclusion, we should seek godly counsel from those God has ordain to rule over us and not seek counsel from the world. The church has the good news, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The world lacks this benefit because it does not know Christ. The gospel is supposed to reconcile believers in fellowship with one another in Christ. If we run to the world to solve our problems, then the world will think that the gospel is in-effective. As people of God we know that the gospel is effective. So before any of us as believers file a lawsuit against another brother or sister in Christ, seek God’s guidance and go to your set leadership.

Missionary Judith A. Gilzene Moodie

Resource:

Pratt, Jr. Richard L. Holman New Testament Commentary 1& 2 Corinthians.

 

 

 

Be Still

Be still, and know that I am God!Psalms 46:10A (NLT)

I can still recall as a child, my mom would actually slap me on the leg while combing my hair and said “Be still!” In my mind, while crying I would wonder, how can I be still when you are pulling my hair. Thanks be to God, as our heavenly Father he does not slap us around and shout at us to be still.

bestillWith the advancement of technology today, people’s attention span is extremely short and it’s difficult to get people to be still and listen. We live in a society where playing loud music with earplugs in both ears, while talking to someone is the norm. With all of these distractions, it’s very difficult to hear and listen to God. As children of God, we have to be careful not to allow the cares and pressures of this world to overtake us that we cannot hear nor listen to God.

The Lord wants us to know that despite what’s going on in our lives, we can trust him completely. He wants us to be still and know that he is God in our situations. The problem is many people fail to be still because they are so busy and cannot hear him speaking. We will not hear him speaking if we are constantly busy or distracted. Only when we are still, we will be able to hear him.

We should always keep in mind that the battle is not ours, it’s the Lord. He wants to fight our battles for us, but we have to practice to be still in our spirit. He promised us that he will fight our battles for us and we have to trust him completely knowing that he cannot lie nor will he forfeit his promise. God takes pleasure in fighting our battles. We should never think that God wants us to carry our burdens or circumstances. He is patiently waiting with outstretch arms for us to hand it over to him. The problem that many of us face is that we try to fix the situation first, we are not equipped to do his job. He wants us to hand it over to him, be still, and know that he is God.

Misn. Judith Gilzene Moodie

Are You Being Hospitable?

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Dont forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Hebrews 13:1-2 (NLT)

Benjamin Franklin once wrote that after three days fish and guests stink. This was a thinly veiled way of saying that no one should stay with someone else as a guest any longer than three days. Perhaps this statement reflected Franklin’s limited capacity for hospitality rather than any great truth.[1] As Christians we should not exhibit the mentality that Benjamin Franklin has regarding entertaining guest in our homes, or churches. Hebrews 13: 2 instructs us as believers to show love and hospitality to our fellow believers. Everyone that enters our homes and churches should feel the true love of Christ and also feel welcome. When we show hospitality to our fellow believers they should not feel like a guest but more like a member of the household.

Hospitality is a very important role in the life of a believer. Christ expects us as His children to show hospitality to each other. In 3 John, the author devoted the entire book to hospitality. If it was not important for us as believers to be hospitable, he would not have written about it. During John’s day; the missionaries, preachers, and teachers did not have the luxury of hotels so they had to depend on their fellow brethren in Christ to assist with their lodging. These believers were responsible for supporting them while they were in their homes or churches. As believers, we are to support ministries that proclaim the name of Christ and help in every way possible to support missionaries in the mission field.

As much as we are to be hospitable to others, we should also be careful of whom we allow in our homes and churches to teach or preach. If a missionary or guest pastor does not believe or teach that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, we should not entertain such individual. In 2 John 7, John warns us that such individuals are a deceiver and an antichrist. We should never support ministries that do not teach the true doctrine of Christ. If we do, then we are deceivers and an antichrist.

Showing hospitality is not always an easy task because sometimes people over extent their stay and sometimes people take your kindness for weakness. There are times when being hospitable may be inconvenient, even if this happens, we should never fail to extent ourselves and welcome our fellow believers in our homes as our guest. Keep in mind that God will reward each individual that show hospitality to his children and we may even entertain an angel of God without knowing. Let’s continue to love others, show hospitality to the people of God, and be faithful to ministry.

Missionary Judith Gilzene Moodie

[1] Walls, David; Anders, Max. Holman New Testament Commentary: 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2, & 3 John, Jude