Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? (1 Cor.6:2-5).
This section of scripture from Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth is set in the context of believers having differences with one another and taking each other to public courts in order to settle their disputes. Paul expresses his frustration with the church and his frustration rests on the church’s misunderstanding of who they are in Christ. Paul might say that citizens of heaven have no business dragging each other to earthly courts.
Paul reveals the standing of the church in relation to the rest of creation and the church is each believer individually as well as corporately. You are the church. But notice what Paul says about the church: the saints (that is you) will judge both the world and angels. Believers have the Spirit of God living in them and as a result should have more wisdom, integrity, and incite than citizens of this world and even more than angels.
In so many words, Paul is saying, “Why do you go to the world for answers when the world should be coming to you? Why do you seek wisdom from the world when all wisdom and knowledge are available to you through the Spirit? Why do you submit to the judgments of the world when you will sit in judgment on that same world someday? Why do you go to people whose understanding is darkened when you are the light of the world? Why do you submit to the judgments of those who are ruled by Satan when you are ruled by the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth?” Good questions.
Paul is not saying that we should not submit to the laws and authority of the land as long as they do not conflict with God’s laws. He is saying that God’s people should possess more wisdom that the people of the world because his presence lives within each of us and that we should judge matters by different standards than world judges them.
What I see too often is the church bowing down to the world as if the world is smarter and has more wisdom than God’s people or his Spirit. I don’t mean “bowing down” in the literal sense but let’s think about a few things. There are two big trends in American churches that have taken center stage in the last 30 years in church conferences. One is marketing (How do we get the message out?) and the other is leadership development (How do we raise up and train leaders?). Both of those are essential questions but the church, by and large, has not gathered and prayed for wisdom and revelation for those matters but has looked to corporate America for answers. I assure you that corporate America does not operate on spiritual principles and yet we go to the powers of the world and ask them for wisdom to know how to operate a spiritual kingdom when the powers of the world should be coming to us. Isaiah paints that picture of God’s people when he says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Isa.60:1-3).
For years, as a pastoral counselor, I sought out the best training I could find for counseling and marriage and family therapy. I read the books, I attended graduate classes, and I went to conferences. Sometimes I went to secular workshops with big-name speakers but more often I went to Christian counseling conferences where I heard essentially the same strategies as I heard in secular schools because that’s where the men were trained who eventually trained Christian counselors in Christian colleges. Not only that, but because the world determines the standards and ethics for being licensed as a counselor or a therapist, the world also determines the content of the training. In none of my graduate classes or at Christian conferences was I taught the spiritual dimensions of counseling or the use of divine weapons because we have let the world determine what is best.
The result was that my strategies fell short because I was offering nothing more that the world was offering except for a prayer. God has more. God does more. God works, even in counseling sessions, in the realm of the supernatural and so should we. I also have a concern that when we import strategies from the world for counseling, leadership, or marketing we are also importing worldly values and perspectives imbedded in those strategies. We should test the spirits in these matters as well as in theological teachings.
I think we need to be cautious about importing the world’s values but more than that, my concern is with our low view of ourselves and the church that goes to the very world we will judge to find judgments and strategies for the kingdom of God. As a result, the culture tends to shape us rather than us shaping the culture. Let’s be sure that whatever we read, whatever we listen to, whatever teaches us has the touch of God on it before we decide to employ that strategy in the church, our families, or our lives. Hopefully… some food for thought today. Be blessed in Him.
