“All In! For The Lord”

And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. It seems the days of ‘going to court’ and processing a claim to the magistrate about your next door neighbor is not just a contemporary phenomenon. Trials and civil courts have existed for thousands of years and we only need to look to the book of Exodus to read about Moses finding himself swamped by the thousands upon thousands of hearings. Below we will read about Paul and his dealings with the Corinthian church, and especially around his comments on Christians taking other Christians to court, and also his strong comments about sexual immorality and the Kingdom of God. The exact purpose of 1 Corinthians is debatable, though Paul definitely writes this letter to highlight some moral issues affecting the Corinthian Church, and the response required from the people. How Paul learns of the issues in Corinth, whether it be issues of sexual immorality, marriage, lawsuits, etc, is probably through a letter from Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus. Three men from Corinth, Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, apparently enabled this exchange. Circumstantial evidence within Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians points to them as the bearers of “the matters you [Corinthians] wrote about” { Stephanas was the head of the household and he apparently brought two of his slaves or freedmen, Fortunatus and Achaicus, with him. Fortunatus’ name, commonly given to a Roman slave, has at its Latin root, “blessed,” “fortune,” or “good luck.” His nickname today would be Lucky, a name you would give to a dog, but not to your child!} This was a letter sent back to Paul as a response to Paul’s first letter (prior to the 1 Corinthians text)
1 Corinthians – Chapter 6:1-11
Are 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? Know 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 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 brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
{Lets Pray}
Father God, I thank You and praise You for Your Word and the truths that it contains. Keep me from all forms of dysfunctional stinking thinking. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pure in Your sight, so that my life is not only positionally holy but practically holy – in all I say and do. I thank You and praise You that I am washed clean in the blood of Christ, positioned in Him and set apart unto You. As a child of God, shape my heart and mind to serve You better. I believe that I may grow in grace, mature in the faith and walk in the spirit and truth to Your praise and glory everyday and in everyway as I keep walking Your way. I thank You, praise You and give You all the glory in Jesus Precious Name Amen.