TRUE CHRISTIANS CAN SUFFER, LOVE, AND FORGIVE: 1 Corinthians 6:7-8

Say someone comes up to you and says, “I want you to examine me to see if you think I am truly a Christian.” What kinds of questions would you ask them? Surely you would start with something like, “What do you believe about God, man, sin, Christ, salvation?” or you may simply ask, “What is the gospel?” If someone does not have right doctrine about the gospel they cannot be a Christian, because God saves us from our sins through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the revelation of the Scriptures alone. However, God does not save us by a faith that remains alone. Those whom God gives the gift of faith and repentance to, He also gives the New Birth to, and the Holy Spirit, a new nature, a new mind, a new spirit, new desires, and new power. A Christian is someone who was once spiritually dead in trespasses and sins but has now been made alive by God and for God! In John 15:5, Christ says, ‘Apart from me you can do nothing,” and in Philippians 3:14, Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” A Christian can do a million things that a worldling cannot! Therefore another question you could ask that person who wants you to examine them is this: “What can you do?” Tease that out a bit with these questions: “Can you delight in Christ? Can you obey God’s commands out of joy? Can you repent when you fall? Can you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you? Can you be content rather than worrisome because of your faith in God’s loving providence?” How about these questions: “Can you suffer wrong without exacting revenge? Can you forgive? Can you love your neighbors, and especially the saints? Can you love others actively and reactively?” These final questions bring us straight to our text of Scripture for today, wherein we can learn that true Christians can suffer, love, and forgive. 

Consider the context: “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you” (1 Cor. 6:7a). Paul is not saying it is only a “defeat” if you take these “judgements” (translated “lawsuits”) before an unbelieving magistrate. He is saying it is a defeat “at all” take have these kinds of private disputes between brothers in Christ. Whether you take it rightly before the saints or wrongly before unbelievers, it is a “defeat” to even have the dispute. Why? This brings us to the doctrine of the passage: 

DOCTRINE. Lawsuits between saints are a defeat because true Christians can suffer wrong without exacting revenge, and they are to be marked by both love and forgiveness.

I. Lawsuits among saints are a defeat because TRUE CHRISTIANS CAN SUFFER WRONG WITHOUT EXACTING REVENGE. “Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” (1 Cor. 6:7b).

I) True Christians can suffer wrong. ”You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you” (Matt. 5:38-42). “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing” (1 Pet. 3:8-9). Glorifying Christ must be more important to you than being treated fairly by others. Can you suffer wrong? or does it just destroy you when someone treats you unfairly? “I just want my rights!” you may say. And we should respond with, “And where would you be if you got those?” 

II) True Christians can suffer wrong without exacting revenge. “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 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.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:17-21). “They that believe that they have a God to right them will not so much wrong themselves as to avenge their own wrongs” (John Flavel). Glorifying Christ must be more important to you than seeing vengeance executed on your behalf in this life. The most important thing to a Christian is the glory of God. His reputation. What others think about Him. And you exist to both glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. Can you suffer wrong without exacting revenge? or is the thought of entrusting God with vengeance just too much for you to handle? “They cannot get away with this!” I hear some saying. And we should respond, “And where should I be if others always treated me like that?”

QUESTION. I want to suffer wrong without exacting revenge, but how can I stir myself up to do that? ANSWER 1. Consider Christ who suffered wrong as man without exacting vengeance. “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:23). ANSWER 2. Pray. 

II. Lawsuits are also a defeat between saints because TRUE CHRISTIANS ARE MARKED BY BOTH LOVE AND FORGIVENESS “But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!” (1 Cor. 6:8). “Of love there be two principal offices: one to give, another to forgive” (John Boys).

I) True Christians are marked by love, love in both action and reaction. True Christians are marked by love in action. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:4-7). The world will tell you many things that love is and is not, but do not listen to the world. Listen to God Himself. God is love and God defines love. True Christians are marked also by love in reaction. “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8). Love responds to wrong by covering a multitude of sins, not be taking vengeance into its hands. “Think often of heaven, and what a thing a saint will be in glory, when he shall shine as the stars, and be equal to the angels, and then you will quickly see cause to love them” (Richard Baxter). 

QUESTION 1. What can I do to make sure I do not respond sinfully when someone wrongs me? ANSWER. Memorize 1 Corinthians 13:7 and pray that God would make your reactions loving. “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). Consider this sound counsel from William Perkins: “Do not despise your neighbour, but think yourself as bad a sinner, and that the like defects may befall you. If you cannot excuse his doing, excuse his intent which may be good; or if the deed be evil, think it was done of ignorance; if you cannot in any way excuse him, think some great temptation befell him, and that you might be worse if the like temptation befell you; and give God thanks that the like as yet has not befallen you.” To that I say amen. Mark that paragraph down somewhere and return to it when someone wrongs you. 

QUESTION 2. Does this mean that when a believer wrongs me I should not talk to them, but rather simply forgive and forget, acting like it did not happen? ANSWER. No. Talk to your brother or sister in private; humbly tell them the harm they have done; and be eager to both forgive them and reconcile. “Affection without action is like Rachel, beautiful but barren” (John Trapp). True Christians are marked by love. This is what made the Corinthians’ wronging and defrauding even their own brothers such a scandal! But love is not the only thing marking true believers.

II) True Christians are marked also by forgiveness. True Christians are ready and willing to forgive others because God has forgiven us in Christ. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32). Forgiveness is Christlikeness, even Godlikeness, in action. True Christians can forgive others because God has forgiven us in Christ. The next time you need to forgive someone and you are finding it hard to do, think of Christ on the cross. On the other hand, fake Christians love the forgiveness they say God has given them, but they do not love to extend it to others. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14-15). “He that demands mercy, and shows none, ruins the bridge over which he himself is to pass” (Thomas Adams). “We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven: let us look into our hearts, and see if we can forgive others. If we can, we need not doubt but God has forgiven us” (Thomas Watson).

III) Both love and forgiveness are tied together in the affections and actions of the saints. “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col. 3:12-14).

QUESTION. I want to forgive others like God has forgiven me in Christ, but how can I motivate myself to do it? ANSWER. Solemnly consider the willingness, costliness, and magnitude of your forgiveness in Christ. 

I) Think of the willingness of God to forgive you through the death of His Son, and you will be properly motivated to forgive others. You did not even ask for forgiveness and yet God willingly set beloved His Son into the world to die. While you and I were willfully rebelling, Christ was willing bleeding. While we were sinning against mercy, Christ was satisfying God’s justice. While we were yet sinners Christ willingly died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:10). Think of the willingness of God in Christ to forgive you, Christian, and you will be properly motivated to forgive others.

II) Think of the costliness of God to forgive you through the death of His Son, and you will be able to forgive others. Think of the costliness of God the Father treating the Son of His love like a rebel due His wrath (Is. 53:10). Think also of the costliness of Christ, when after He had only felt the Father’s delight for His righteousness He then looked up to heaven and felt the Father’s anger for our sin. Can you possibly estimate the cost of Christ on the cross which led Him to say, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).

III) Think of the magnitude of God’s forgiveness to you in Christ, and you will be spurred on to forgive others with ease. Think of your sin, both original and actual, against the thrice holy triune God. He has forgiven you in Christ. Can you not forgive a sins committed against a finite creature such as yourself? Think also of the heinousness of your sins against God, not only sinning in ignorance but also sinning against the mercy and light He has shown you in general and special revelation. He has thrown your sins into the ocean of forgetfulness, can you not throw someone else sins by the side of the road and press on together for His glory? Furthermore, think of Christ’s parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-25: 

“Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

   “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”” 

If you would think of the willingness, costliness, and magnitude of your forgiveness in Christ, believer, you would surely be much more willing and able to forgive others by the grace of God.

You are not going to get justice in this life, and that is true two ways if you are a Christian, which falls incredibly in your favor! You and I are not going to get what we deserve in this life. You and I deserve death and hell under God’s anger forever. But through Christ, if you turn from your sin and trust in Him, you and I get God’s love and enjoyment forever and ever.