THURSDAY, JUNE 1
1 Corinthians 6:1-3
Nehemiah 5:1-13

"…ought ye not to walk in
the fear of our God…?"

CHRISTIANS SUING ONE ANOTHER!

Modern history is replete with accounts of Christians bringing one another to the courts of law. This excessive fetish for litigation is nothing new. The Corinthian Christians were not only warring among themselves within the church, they were bringing their disputes into the public.

This fondness of public lawsuits was a spill-over of the partisan spirit of the Corinthian church. John Calvin astutely noted that lawsuits frequently occur when "their minds are immoderately inflamed with wrong dispositions, and are not prepared for equity and endurance of wrongs, according to the commandment of Christ." When parties are only interested in proving themselves superior to the other, or to seek revenge for perceived hurt and damage, they will sue one another!

Alas, such a spirit to sell-out fellow brethren is not new in the believing community. When a man’s mind is focused only on carnal things, there is nothing too low he will not do to get a profit, even if it means hurting his fellow brothers and "loved" ones. In Nehemiah 5:1-13, we read of a huge outcry against some Jews who were selling their brethren as slaves to the foreign nations against the Mosaic law. They were also exploiting their poor brethren by extracting usury from them. Nehemiah rebuked them with pointed words that drive right to the heart of the issue – "… It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?" (Neh 5:9).

Similarly, this fondness for litigation in the Corinthian church revealed a heart that had no fear of God. They did not care that they were destroying their brethren by exposing them to unbelieving judges. Neither did they care that the testimony of Christ would be shamed in the midst of the ungodly. It was a situation that exposed the weak spiritual state of the church at Corinth.

THOUGHT: Why do brethren destroy one another?
PRAYER: Lord, help me to love my fellow brethren.