How should Christians treat each other when we’ve harmed each other? And yes, this does happen, in spite of Jesus’ command that we love one another just as much and in the same way that we love ourselves. That’s because, as we learned yesterday, we all have a tendency to rationalization, to allow the remnants of sin to deceive us and to lead us toward selfishness. That’s why it’s sometimes necessary for us to have another Christian friend, preferably someone loving and wise, straighten us out.

But what happens when conflicts between Christians escalate to the point of harming one another? In that case, Paul argues, we should not resort to the secular court system. Now, it’s true that all Christians remain under the authority of human rulers (see Romans 13), so we have just as much right to the courts as anyone else. But Christians also share a higher authority – God Himself. That means we also have a common standard of truth in the Holy Scriptures, a rule of faith and practice that can help us sort out many of our misunderstandings.

Moreover, God has placed all Christians in worshipping communities, most of whom elect leaders to hold them accountable. As a result, two quarrelling Christians can usually come up with someone wise and loving that they both trust to help them settle their problems. And most secular lawyers will tell you that using a mediator is better than going to court.

But there’s another reason that Christians shouldn’t try to get the secular government to use its monopoly on force to compel someone else to do what we think is right: we should have different priorities. Remember, we are resurrection people, those who have died with Christ to the power of death and who will live forever with Jesus in a new Heaven and a new Earth. As a result, we know that none of the material things in this world can possibly last forever. So there’s nothing that we should prefer over a loving relationship with a fellow Christian.

So, what if two Christians disagree, for example, over a boundary line between their two homes? In verse 7 Paul says that each should be willing to let the other have his way, regardless of the truth of the matter. In short, we should prefer losing what material things are rightfully ours rather than lose a Christian friend, with whom we will live forever. After all, that’s the same choice Jesus made when He went to the cross, right?

But this sort of radical selflessness only makes sense if we trust the Scriptures more than our reason and experience, if we trust church leaders more than lawyers, and if we value our brothers and sisters in Christ more than our property. Do we?

I Corinthians 6:1-8 (ESV)

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
2 Or 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?
3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,
6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?
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?
8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud– even your own brothers!