1Co.05-3

We left yesterday with the conclusion that treating other Christians poorly sends a bad message to the world about who Jesus is and what it means to be part of his family. But what are we supposed to do if another Christian cheats us? In 1 Corinthians 6:7, Paul has an answer: It’s better for us to be wronged and cheated than to wrong and cheat others.

Wait. Is Paul saying we should allow other Christians to walk all over us? Not necessarily. The relational and financial wisdom we find in the book of Proverbs and elsewhere in Scripture warns against acting foolishly. Paul’s getting at living the backward life we’ve been talking about in this study.

The life Jesus invites us to live is risky. We’ve been saying that all throughout this book. It’s risky because it’s different from the world, yes. But it goes much deeper than that. It’s risky because it asks us to put our own safety, security, and comfort on the line. It asks us to be open to being hurt by other believers.

When we love people, they can let us down. It happened for Jesus. It will happen for us if it hasn’t already. The big question is why? Why risk it all for people who might hurt us?

It all comes back to Jesus. Read 1 Corinthians 6:7-11. 

⁷Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated? ⁸Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers. ⁹Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, ¹⁰or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. ¹¹Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:7-11 (NLT)

Paul reminds the Corinthians of who they used to be before Jesus. They were sexually immoral, idolaters, thieves, slanderers, and swindlers. Paul’s saying that behavior has no room in the kingdom of God. When the Corinthians revert back to those actions, they’re acting as if Jesus hadn’t done anything.

Paul circles back in the verse in 1 Corinthians 6:11 to point out that, through Jesus, the stains from their past and the separation from God are gone. We have gained so much and verse 11 only scratches the surface. We often jump to the benefits we receive through Jesus and forget how he achieved those things for us.

There’s a great story in the Old Testament about God telling one of his prophets to marry a girl whom he knew would absolutely break his heart. She was a girl with a spotty past and a fickle heart, who would time and again spurn his love and seek solace in the arms of other lovers. The story, as you may know, sort of comes to a head when the woman finds herself on a bidding block, destitute and dejected and with no other options to dig herself out of the debt she has incurred. So she stands there on that block, naked under the scrutinizing gaze of her bidders, awaiting the verdict that would decide her fate forever. But as the auction begins, something strange happens. She hears faintly, yet unmistakably, a voice in her ears. “Five shekels.” It’s one she knows all too well. “Ten shekels.” But why would he do this? “Fifteen shekels.” “Sold.” She’s been bought by the man she had spurned, the man whose heart she had broken time and again. As she’s trying to make sense of what had just happened, it suddenly dawns on her, and her heart sinks because she knows there’s only one reason why he’d do this. He’d have his revenge. So she lifts her head, bracing herself to get what’s coming to her, but what comes next is perhaps the biggest surprise of all because she’s greeted not by indignation, but by a kind smile and a warm embrace that seems to say, “I love you more than you’ll ever know. Let’s go home.”
Romantic dramas, eat your heart out. But as incredible as this story is, it’s but a faint echo of the Great Drama that has animated our entire world—and each of our lives. The one in which that Great Lover who, despite our spotty pasts and fickle hearts, whose love we spurned and whose heart we broke, didn’t just bid to get the love of His life back, but gave all—body and soul—to have us as his own once more. And when we lift our heads and look at the cross, we know for sure that he’s not out for revenge, because we’re greeted not by indignation but by a kind smile and a warm embrace that says, “I love you more than you’ll ever know. Let’s go home.” “You were bought with a price,” verse 20 says, and “you are not your own” (v. 19). But why would you want to be when the One who has bought you loves you like that? This might be the most compelling reason to take our bodies and what we do with them seriously. Not just because we’re free, or even because we matter, but also because we were bought by someone who gave all to have us.

Based on Hosea 3-4

Take a few minutes to meditate on Jesus from the garden to the cross. Think about Jesus’s life and death. 

He lived a difficult life. The religious elite mocked and threatened him. His disciples abandoned him when he needed them the most. The Romans abused and killed him. But Jesus let it happen. He let people hurt him.

Why? Because of us. He was more concerned about saving us than keeping himself safe.

Paul asks Christians to take a risk—to put other people first, even if it costs us. We don’t take the risk alone. We mimic the footsteps of Jesus who went before us.

Reflect upon the truth that “you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”. How would you respond to that?

Text your response to the above prompting questions to your group and/or share it as a comment below