Why Not Rather Be Wrong? - 1 Corinthians 6:1-8

Hey, man, thank you. Don't you appreciate our worship team? So grateful for them leading us every week. Hey, hey, by the way, quick commercial, something you might not know. Our amazing communication team here, they put together every week a Spotify playlist of the worship on Sunday. So if you ever think, like, I wish I knew these songs before I came, you just go to our website, the very bottom of our website, you can get that, or you hear a song on Sunday morning, and you say, man, I love that song. That song's encouraging to me. You want to know where to find that. Now, it's not yet our band doing those. All right? We're not to that level yet. But they create a playlist of other bands, other artists that do the set list that they did. And so that could be a resource to you just to help you in your worship preparing for worship here or a song you want to sing throughout the week. Just want to let you know that's there. You might not know that that was out there. So you go check our website or social media. You'll find stuff great before our communication team that does that. Hey, we're jumping back into 1st Corinthians. We've been in this for a few weeks, got several more weeks to go. Today we're talking about lawsuits, lawsuits. We live in a really litigious society. You can find all kinds of silly, ridiculous, trivial lawsuits out there. I was looking at some this week that I thought were kind of funny. 2016 Subway was sued, a class action lawsuit by a group of subway customers who discovered that the footlong sub is actually only 11 inches long. And they got a group together, and they sued and they won the lawsuit. And all the plaintiffs were awarded $500 apiece. The lawyer got $500,000 for his effort. And then an appeals court overturned that. And so that's actually ridiculous. It sounds like the lawyer made a lot of money. We're throwing that one out, and then the plaintiffs didn't continue that. In 2017. Anybody provide lumber? Any guys that do work around your house? Did anybody know the dimensions of a 4 by 4, the actual dimensions of a 4 by 4 or what? 3.5 by 3.5, right? There was a guy that sued 2017, got home with his 4 by 4 posts from Home Depot, discovered that it only measured 3.5 by 3.5 and sued Home Depot for $5000000 for their false advertiser. course, he lost that one. This is one of my favorite ones. 2011, a monkey stole a camera from a wildlife photographer, and took a series of selfies. And they turned out really cute. The photographer published these photos, began to profit from these photos, and PETA stepped in and said that you were violating the copyright of the monkey, that the monkey took the picture. The monkey should actually be the one profiting and sued on behalf of them. Of course, PETA was going to be the custodian that would handle the money that the monkey made. Of course, that one was thrown out. Any fear factor fans. Remember Fear Factor back in Day Matt, Fear Factor? 2005, a guy was watching Fear Factor, they had the contestants blend up rats in a blender and drink them. He got so sick watching this, tried to turn the TV off, couldn't turn it off in time, so he decides to run out of the room, and he runs into the door frame of his room, and injures himself, and sues NBC for his injuries, because they made him run into the wall by blending up rats on fear fact. Of course, that one was thrown out also. Lots of frivolous lawsuits in our culture today. Here's the thing, they're not new. This is an American thing to drag people into court out of our greed and selfishness. It's gone on, and a lot of cultures, throughout a lot of history. And it was happening in the 1st century. First century Roman Empire, you can also drag people into court with your frivolous lawsuits, and the church was guilty of that as well. They were taking each other to court over selfish and greedy lawsuits, and it was hindering, hampering the unity of the church, and the testimony of the church in the world. And so the Apostle Paul, the writer of the book of 1 Corinthians, addressed that problem in this letter. Paul was a missionary of the early church, planted churches across the Roman Empire, one of those churches, was in the city of Corinth, and sometime after leaving Corinth to go on and plant other churches, he heard of a series of problems that were plaguing that young church. And he wrote this letter to address those problems. We've seen a couple of them already. He started out by addressing the division in the church, the factions in the church, as they rallied around certain popular leaders, and it caused division within the church. He dressed last week, the immorality in the church, and how the church failed to properly grieve over the sin that was taking place and properly confront the sin within the church. He's gonna go on and address that a little bit more in other sections of this letter. And many more issues. But today we turn to a new issue. This issue is the suing of one another that was taking place in the church. Brothers, taking each other to court to settle their disputes before non-Christian judges. And this would hurt the testimony of the church. Here's what we're gonna do today. We're gonna jump back into this passage. Baruch read it for us already. We're going to unpack that a little bit. Then we're going to try to wrestle with 3 questions. Number one, what is it not addressing? Sometimes we can take something and try to apply it maybe more broadly than it was intended. We'll hit on that a little bit. We'll talk about what is specifically going on and how that specific thing might be happening today. But it's going to be rare that the specific thing happens today. So finally, we're going to talk about some general principles. So you may say, I'm not a party in any lawsuit. I have no pending litigation, I don't know that a passage in the Bible about lawsuits is going to apply to me. I think by the end, you'll see that it does. There are some principles here. You may never face a lawsuit, but there's a principle at work here that I think is going to help us in living out our Christian faith. So let's jump in, verse one. When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Now, we don't have a lot of background. We don't have a lot of detail, we can't know exactly what's happening, but we get the gist here. Brothers and sisters in the church are suing each other over some grievances, verse one says. Now, if we look a little closer, verses 7 and 8, use the word defrauded. So in some way, somehow, these grievances have to do with some feeling that they've been defrauded. And in verse two, we see the word trivial, trivial. So we've got grievance, defrauded, and trivial. We put the puzzle together, what's probably happening, is these are civil cases. These are issues of financial or property issues. I feel that Matt owes me some money, or Matt feels I owe him some money, or Matt wants to take my property. I think I'm entitled his property, and we get an argument about this, and we go to court over it. So I'm gonna sue him, or he's gonna sue me. We feel like one of us has been defrauded here, and so we go before the judge. What Paul is saying here is you are taking your case before the unrighteous instead of the saints. what does he mean by those words? Unrighteous here refers to simply non-believing judges. Saints refers to believers. And so he's not saying they're unrighteous in the sense that they're unjust, or they're unfair, or they're not going to handle the case appropriately, that's not the way he's using the term here. He's just simply saying, you are righteous, you are followers of Jesus. They are unrighteous, they are not followers of Jesus. And you brothers are taking your dispute before someone who's not a brother to let him weigh in and settle this dispute. They were carrying their conflicts with each other into Roman courts. And in these Roman courts because they were airing their problems with each other. It was hurting the testimony of the church and the unity of the family. Now verse two. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more than matters pertaining to this life? Okay, there's a lot in that that's got me super curious, right? Like, what's going on? We're going to judge the saints, or are we going to judge the world? We're going to judge angels. Two things. Time doesn't allow me to really go into a lot of what this means. And if time did allow me, I'm not sure what a lot of this means. There's a mystery to this a little bit. What he's saying is, somehow, some way, in the future, Jesus is going to return, that's clear in scripture. Jesus is going to establish his future kingdom, and somehow, in that future kingdom, the followers of Jesus are going to participate in some way, at some level, in the administration of that kingdom, in the judgment within that kingdom. I wish we had more detail of what that was going to look like. We have a few things. Daniel chapter 7, verse 22. There's this prophecy. When the ancient of days comes, as a reference to the Messiah, when the ancient of days comes, judgment will be given to the saints of the Most High. So when Jesus returns, the saints are going to have some judgment in what goes on there. Matthew 1928. Jesus said to them, truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And then Revelation 226, the one who conquers, and who keeps my works until the end, to him, I will give authority over the nations. So just a few hints there. There's a few others we could have used. I want to know exactly, we want to know all the detail, but somehow, some way, what he's saying, what other scriptures are saying, in the future, followers of Jesus are going to somehow participate in the judgment of what's going to happen in the future. Now, he doesn't go into a lot of detail there because he's not trying to unpack that. He's trying to make a point. And so don't miss the point. We can get very curious about this verse, these two verses, and miss what he's really saying. What is the larger point he's making? If believers will somehow be involved in such weighty matters of the coming kingdom, can you not, or are you not capable of mediating these trivial disputes right now? So, somehow, in the future, you're gonna be involved in something way bigger than this little property dispute. Can you not step in now and help to mediate this situation that's going on in the church? Even the least qualified among the believers is in a better position than the unbeliever to arbitrate disputes between brothers and sisters in the family. Verse four. So if you have cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute among the brothers? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers. Because it is shameful that you would take your petty disputes before secular courts rather than mediating those within the family. You know, you have the word of God, and you have the Spirit of God, and should not those who know the word of God, who are led by the Spirit of God, and be able to handle disagreements between the children of God, better than these unbelieving judges that you're dragging one another too? So what he's saying is, could you not find members who could help you settle these disputes? Because what's happening is one brother sues another and right in front of unbelievers, he says. This is the shame of it all, that you're harming your witness before the watching world by carrying these disputes to secular judges. Verse 7. To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud even your own brothers? Let's unpack that a little bit, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. What's he saying? He said, I don't know how the court case is going to turn out. I don't know if the judge is going to rule in my favor or Matt's favor, but the day we filed the suit, we both lost. It was a defeat from day one. Regardless what the judge says, you guys have failed. Because you failed to settle this among yourselves, you failed to settle this within the family, and now you've taken it before the watching world. And regardless of the outcome, you've already lost. So why not suffer wrong, he asks. Why not rather be defrauded? It's better to be cheated or suffer wrong than to end up right here in front of these secular courts fighting with your brothers? Wouldn't you have been better off to just take it? To just be wrong? Forget about it, rather than give a black eye to the church in the eyes of the neighborhood. It's far better to trust God's sovereign purposes and trouble and lose financially to me, disobey obedia and suffer spiritually. But notice he does say at the end, verse eight, But you yourself wrong and defraud, even your own brother. Now, let me let me just say, he's not excusing the behavior. He's not saying, yeah, they did wrong. It's no big deal. God cares about justice. God cares about doing what is right. God cares about these things. And so he says, it's not just that you need to just forget it. What they're doing is wrong. They're clearly trying to defraud you or you're clearly trying to defraud them. The issue is you're now gonna not, instead of forgiving that, you're taking this to the next level of retaliation in the courts. So he's not excusing an injustice. It's not saying, I just have to like, that injustice is no big deal. It is a very big deal. What he's saying is you're not handling it well. It would be rather, it would be better if you were to be cheated by one of these dishonest people than to dishonor our witness, by dragging it before the courts. All right, so what's going on here? What is he not saying, what is he saying, and what do we do about it? How does that apply to our lives? I would say, 1st of all, this does not, this is not a blanket, condemnation of our legal system. This is not saying that Christians are forbidden to participate in the legal system in any way. Sometimes there are occasions that require a legal interaction. It requires some judgment from a judge. This is not saying, if you're a Christian, you'll never find yourself in court, or if, you know, we have some attorneys in our church. You guys have to quit your jobs. This is what this is saying. There are times where the legal system works justly, and it should operate as God has established our government and the legal system within it. He's not saying that Roman citizens should not go to court. He's saying that Christians, who are Roman citizens, should not drag one another to court over trivial things. You see, it's not a condemnation of the legal system. It's a condemnation of the pride and greed that led them to retaliate. It's an attitude that says, I want what's mine, or I want what's yours, to be mine, and I'm gonna drag you into court, to get it. And so let me say here. I thought all week of, like, examples of, like, the proper use of the legal system, and examples, maybe we shouldn't use it. I think the bad thing is to say, as Christians, we ought to consider the biblical dimensions and the spiritual dimensions of the legal things we get involved in. Here would be my advice to you. If you find yourself in any legal dispute, Consider what the Bible has to say about that, and speak to other believers about what they think you might should do in that situation. Go to your pastor, go to a trusted leader in our church, a mature believer and say, this is the situation I am in. I'm trying to understand if one Corinthians chapter 6 applies to my situation. Could you pray with me and walk through me, walk through this with me and see if I'm stepping outside of the scripture when I'm doing here? Okay? That's just the offer that we would make as your pastors to don't separate my financial dealings and the legal side of my life from the spiritual side of my life. Maybe we step and say, is there something that in some way that my brothers and sisters in Christ can help give me guidance or mediation in what I'm facing? So that is not saying, never find yourself in court. I think what you are saying is let's consider the spiritual dimensions of those that's settled a lot. So specifically what's he talking about? Specifically, he's saying, brothers or sisters should not drag one another to court in trivial civil matters, but rather, they should find a way to arbitrate those disputes with the help of those within the church. It's better to step and ask your brothers or sisters to help arbitrate this than to drag this situation into the courts before a watching world. So I would even offer that. You find yourself in a financial dispute, a property dispute, some way with another believer. Maybe there's a place to say, there is a place, rather, to say, maybe there is someone who can help us, to mediate this, to navigate this dispute that we're having. Now, all that said, I think it's highly unlikely that very many people in this room are going to find themselves in some legal dispute. He might go, the rest of your life and never be sued by anyone, or never, I hope that's the case. You go the rest of your life, never being sued, or the rest of your life, and no one's, you're not trying to sue anyone, no one's trying to sue you. And you say, well, I guess 1st Corinthians chapter 6, verses one through 8, don't apply to me. Ah, but they do. I think there are some principles here. Even if you are not a party in some pending litigation. I think there are some principles. I want to send the balance of our time. On the general principles of this, that you say, I'm not in a lawsuit, no chance of facing a lawsuit. Is there some principles that can help me live out my faith in Christ that I can gain from your 3 things that I want to encourage us with? Number one, I think we see in this, that conflicts between Christians should not be put on display before the unbelieving world. That's the big problem here. If you look at the past, you said, the problem is, guys, you had a dispute. You shouldn't have had the dispute, but you have the dispute, you could have settled the dispute among yourselves, or within the family, where you really went wrong. He said, this is the shame of what you're doing. You have taken this dispute outside of the family, and you've now aired that before the world, and it's hurt our witness. These are unbelievers, who are listening to your disagreements, and it's harming our witness. I think there's a principle here, that we should be careful that we don't allow our conflicts with one another in the church to jeopardize the witness of the church in the community. Jesus said, they'll know you're my disciples by your love for one another. And so am I doing something in a way that's not showing love to others? So the world's saying, man, look at how they fight with each other instead of how they love one another. Are we sending the message to the watching world of love and unity? Think about that. How often do we? have a disagreement, a dispute of some kind. You have a critical spirit about something, and we take that outside and show it to the world in such a way that hurts the witness of the church. Are we showing we should be able to handle disagreements in such a way that we're that we're not criticizing the church? We're not criticizing its members? criticizing its leaders in a way that's harming the testimony of the church, at a friend one time who told me his church got into a conflict, and it came down to like, half of the people supported the pastor, and the other half didn't support the pastor anymore, and they had this ugly business meeting, they put 2 microphones, and they said, everyone who's in support of the pastor, line up behind this one, and everyone who wants to get rid of the pastor, line up behind this one, and for 3 hours, microphone, to microphone, back and forth all day. What a terrible witness that would have been to anybody who heard of that happening in that church. That's a big example. But I think we do it in small ways all the time. I was sitting at a lunch one time with a mix of people, some were believers, some were not believers. And one of the believers sitting there, began to criticize the youth pastor at their church. It wasn't our church. It wasn't even in our city. It was a church that in another state, in fact. And they began to criticize the youth pastor, the job the youth pastor was doing. And I thought, oh, I wish they would shut up. Because the there are people here who are not believers. And what they're hearing is a Christian, tear down another Christian, and how terrible this Christian is doing, leading their church, and what a terrible witness. Sometimes we just, we don't need to take that out there when we criticize. We shouldn't be criticizing gossip in any way, let alone taking it out before the world. Some things just don't need to be said. They need to be handled in a spirit of love and grace and mercy and forgiveness. Sometimes I wish we had a Christian's only social media page. Where when we got upset about something that some preacher said or the lyrics of some song that some church sang, we could go to our Christians only Facebook page and complain about that instead of doing that to the watching world. It grieves me to see how often, I'm not talking, there are sometimes clear heresy that as believers, we are right to preach the truth, to be sort of the voice of a prophet in the culture, to speak to something. I'm not saying that. I'm talking about the nuanced, second tier issues that we disagree with, that we decide to debate about those and argue about those on Facebook, and that all of our non-believing friends read the chain of argument between two Christians over something that is not a significant salvation level issue. Maybe it doesn't need to be argued about on Facebook. Maybe there's a healthier place to take that. Maybe that's the equivalent, perhaps, of what's going on here. Don't air your conflicts before the unbelieving world in a way that damages the testimony of the church in the community. Second, conflicts between Christians should be mediated by other believers. Conflicts between Christians should be media by other believers. Here he's pointing out that those who are going to be entrusted with some type of eternal judgment should certainly be able to handle these matters today. We have God's truth, of his word, we have the help of his spirit. We ought to utilize these resources we have in times of conflict. How can we mediate the conflict we see between other brothers or sisters? What is our part, to stop the chain of gossip? What is our part, to encourage the parties to discuss the conflict? What is our role in encouraging restoration and praying together with them for restoration? How can I mediate a conflict before it goes too far? Then finally, here's the 3rd thing, I think, that we see here, that I want to, I think you can apply these 1st two for sure in the coming days. This one, I think you'll be able to apply before the day is over, all right? It's better to suffer wrong than to retaliate. Sometimes it's just better to take it. Just take one for the team. Take one for the mission of what we're doing here. We don't always have to retaliate when we think we have been wronged. Let me give you, let's do a little scripture memory here, okay? We're gonna make it real easy. Matt, your, like, scripture, me, a lot of scripture, remember, guys. Here's 5 words. Why not rather suffer wrong? Comes out of 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 7. And now you're gonna make you memorize the whole verse. But could you right now memorize 5 words? Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather suffer wrong? I want to ask you to just put that in your mind, file that back in there, and I guarantee in the next 24 to 48 hours, you're going to need this verse. Something's going to happen to you or you're going to think you've been wronged. and you're going to want to retaliate in a way that might be harmful to your testimony. And hope this verse, just stick it in there. you're going to need it, is going to help you. It's okay to suffer wrong. Here's what happens when you choose to suffer wrong. Three things happen. Number one, you obey the teachings of Jesus. When someone does something to you, that you feel offends you or harms you or wrongs you, and you refuse to retaliate, you're actually, it's given you a chance to obey the teachings of Jesus. Matthew chapter 5, verse 39. Jesus said this, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone sues you to take your tunic, let them have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him 2 miles. It's okay to just turn the other cheek. to let them have the tunic and the cloak, to go that extra mile that they're beyond what they're asking you to do. I know this is hard, isn't it? This goes against every fiber of our being. that wants to be first, that wants to have our way, that wants to have revenge. Andrew Hargis is a principal Chin elementary, how many times in the hallways of Chin? Well, the kids are walking down the line, does one kid try to get in front of the other kid, and you'll hear, he cut it. He cut it, he heard that phrase, you ever heard that phrase? Daily, probably, right? He cut it. Little kids get upset when one kid tries to get in front of them. And it's so good that we outgrow that. We don't outgrow that. Because you're driving down the road tomorrow to work. And someone goes up there and gets in front of you, you're gonna, that 3rd grade, he cutted phrase, gonna be in your head, and you're gonna jump out there and you're gonna get in front of him. And thankfully, you're gonna get in front of him, you're gonna get to your destination 4 seconds quicker than he did, congratulations. It's our nature, to not let someone get ahead of us, to get in front of us. Jesus speaks against that. It's not natural to turn the other cheek. It's not natural to go an extra mile. It's not going to be normal to when someone wants to take one thing from you. Do you offer up a, you sweeten the deal with the tunic and the cloak? He says, that's what we do. how we operate in the kingdom. But not only are you going to obey the teachings of Jesus, when you choose to suffer wrong, you're actually following the example of Jesus. First Peter 223, when he was reviled, when Jesus was reviled, he did not revile in return, when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. When Jesus was arrested, wrongly. He was accused falsely. He was beaten and nailed to a cross. He took every accusation, he took every insult, he took every blow, he took the nails to his hands and his feet, for our salvation. He knew that was the father's plan. For the sinners to be saved. perfect Jesus, righteous Jesus, had to go to the cross, and die even though he was innocent. He took the punishment of the guilty in our place so that our sins can be forgiven. That was the reason he died on the cross. So the death of Jesus won, and most of all, it provided for us salvation. As the most important thing that Jesus' death on the cross did was provide salvation for our sins, but a secondary outcome of the death of Jesus on the cross is a beautiful example of sacrifice even when you're in the right. And so you're going to have a chance this week. To say, why not suffer, why not rather suffer wrong? You're going to need to show obedience to Jesus, you're going to get to follow the example of Jesus. And the 3rd thing it does, it reflects our trust in God's sovereignty. That I don't have to retaliate. I don't have to fix this. I don't have to try to right this wrong. God is in control, and I will trust him. Romans 1217 through 19. Romans 12, 17 through 19. Repay no one evil for evil. But give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all, if possible. So far as it depends on you, live peacefully with all, peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. What's this calling this to? It's caused to an eternal perspective. Don't get hung up on the short-term loss, but focus rather on the long-term gain. Keep an eternal perspective. realizing that temporarily what I might gain here is not worth my witness in the long run, is not worth unity in the body in the long run. Trust God's plan to work this all out. Let me give you a just sort of fun, very timely illustration that I think applies to this and so many of the things in life. How many of you got really excited last night when you realized you were going to gain an hour of sleep? How many, yeah, right? How many people say, I love this? My favorite time, the end of daylight savings, when I get an hour of extra sleep. Anybody really excited? Yeah, you guys get excited? See, I think that's a terrible attitude, because here's what you've done. You have traded one hour of sleep for weeks of darkness. It felt really good this morning. That extra hour of sleep. You said, oh, I love this. It's so awesome. Call me at 5 o'clock when it's pitch dark outside and tell me how much that one hour matters now. Don't give me back. Give me, I'm gonna become, Jason Thompson, he's in the 8 o'clock. He said, he's the one issue voter, the president that will get rid of the time change. He said, gets his, that's it. But don't do it now, though. Don't change it now. Give me back daylight savings time and then leave it alone. Leave it alone. Take away my hour. Have my hour and give me sunshine, right? I think there's a principle here. We want to get that one hour of satisfaction, and we don't realize what we just gave up for it. Let someone take from you. Let them take from you one thing and see the joy that results in the long run. Don't go after the short term retaliation and jeopardize the long term beauty of a faithful witness and a unified body. Why not rather suffer wrong? When you feel your rights are violated. That's a, we have a strong emphasis in our American culture on our individual rights, don't we? Anybody here in law enforcement? Anybody been a police officer? Yeah. How many times have you heard someone say? I know my rights. I know my rights, right here that as much as you hear, he cut it, right? Well, I see video, somebody getting arrested, kicked off a plane, kicked out of a restaurant. These viral videos. I know my rights. We want our rights. We want to demand our rights. is natural. Political divides happen because one side says we value these rights and don't want them taken away, another side bad, but we have these rights, and we want them to take it away. And I'm saying that you don't have rights that you desire, right? And so it's not saying that you don't have things that you feel deeply about, strongly about. What I'm saying is we should not allow our cling to our rights in the short term, in the way we respond in the short term, to jeopardize a Christ-like witness in the long term. So we feel like you've somehow been something that's taken advantage of you. When you feel like the selfishness of others is aggravating you, does that ever happen, happened to me yesterday. I'm telling you, I applied, I try to practice what I preach, best I can, not perfect, but yesterday we went to the music hall to see Beauty and the Beast, and we're all trying to get out of there. you know, we're all doing this, you know, down the steps. We're all trying to get out of this one place. And this guy kind of like comes out like this, this elbows his way in. I'm like, Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be wronged? Is it worth it? Is it worth saying something? Being a jerk, when I can just take a breath, quote a Bible verse, and move on with my life. Why not rather be wrong this week? When you're tempted to defend yourself. You're tempted to respond in a way that you feel like you've been insulted, undermined in some way. Maybe maybe just be wronged. when you others are gossiping about you and you want to retaliate by gossiping back, why not rather be wrong? In the workplace, you feel like some politics is going on that's harmed you in some way in your workplace, and you got an idea of how you can get back and you can work your way back into the front of the line there, why not rather be wronged when someone cuts you off in traffic? It's crazy how we'll even go to Facebook just to complain that something bad happened to us. And it does no good. How many times you read these posts? To the guy on 152 West, at 7.52 AM in the red truck who cut me off. I hope you're happy, you almost killed my family. That didn't fix anything. He's not going to read that. In fact, you probably typed it driving on 152, and probably put more people at risk retaliating on Facebook than just saying, why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be wronged? Would people disagree with you? Maybe you don't have to. Post or comment? Well, you don't get your way. Even if it means a financial loss in some way, in the short term. But the payoff in the long term is to follow the teachings and example of Jesus, to trust God's sovereignty, to work it out, why not rather be wronged? So what now? Let me give you 4 just reflection questions and we'll wrap up our time. Number one, have I allowed my conflict with a brother or sister to jeopardize my witness or the unity of my church? Have I allowed a conflict to hurt the unity of my church or my testimony, my witness to other people? God, search our hearts. Are we letting this happen? There's no judges involved, there's no courts involved. There's no lawsuit, but we're just as guilty as these brothers in 1st Corinthians 6. Second, have I done my part to mediate conflicts between fellow believers? One of the hardest things, and I reflect on just difficulties in ministry over the years, have been times when there was a conflict, you feel it more personally, when you're in it, right? So those are the ones that stick with you, a conflict where maybe I might have been at the center of a conflict or somebody had a disagreement with me, and somebody, and my viewpoint at the time, maybe was treating me wrongly or unfairly in some way. That was hurtful. What was more hurtful in some ways was the believer who loved me and loved that person who sat by and said, I'm not getting involved in this. See, sometimes people that sit on the sidelines hurt us more, then the person we have the conflict with. Who's going to step up in the middle of the dispute and say, guys, let's not go to the judge. We can help you with this. Is there a con you have some brothers and sisters right now. in the middle of a conflict and perhaps God might use you to be the peacemaker in that situation. Third, have I been seeking retaliation when I should be offering forgiveness? As we walked through this message, through this passage, maybe a name came to your mind. Don't say it out loud, but maybe a name came to your mind of someone that you'd kind of like to retaliate against, someone you've been trying to retaliate against. And the Lord is saying to you, in light of this scripture, maybe you just let this go and forgive. and maybe forgiveness in the short term, pays off longer in the long term than the retaliation you're contemplating. And then finally, will I be willing to suffer wrong this week? Well, I let that verse play over in my mind when I feel I'm threatened or cheated or I'm aggravated, whatever the case is. And then consider today, if you're not a follower of Jesus, the beautiful picture of what we call the gospel, the gospel is the good news that Jesus died on the cross for us, for our sins and rose from the dead so that we could have a relationship with God, we see that we are all guilty. When we have to forgive, It's not because we're perfect. We've been guilty as well. We're in as much need of grace as we need to give grace to other people. But we see the beautiful picture of what Jesus did. He was wrong, even though he was innocent. He went to the cross, even though he was innocent. He did that for your salvation. Have you ever put your faith in Jesus? The whole purpose of his death on the cross while a beautiful picture of sacrifice and turning the other cheek, its greater purpose was so that you could be right with God by turning to Jesus from your sin to follow him and trust in him. Let's pray together. Lord, we need your help because this isn't easy. It's not within our nature to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, to suffer wrong, to be generous instead of greedy, forgiving, instead of vengeful. God help us to see the long term eternal perspective that you want us to see. that it's better to be wronged if it protects our witness. It's better to be wronged if it protects unity. It better to be wronged so that we can be faithful to your commands and your example, Jesus, help us this week in this. Play that over and over in our minds. Why not rather be wrong? God, for those who need to offer forgiveness, give them the grace, mercy to do that, for those who need to step in and mediate a dispute, give them the courage and wisdom to do that. And for the one who's never put his or her faith in Jesus, let them see today that an innocent man bled and died on a cross, so the guilty could be made right with you today. Let today be the day. They trust in you, Jesus. We pray this in your name. Amen.