Do You Not Know

11.09.12

1 Corinthians 5.2 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?  NASB

Next time you’re in Church, just take a look around at all those folks with you and remember, these are supposed to be the judges of the world. Paul was very disappointed with the way the Corinthians (in the church, not the city) were behaving. And so, part of his letter was to admonish them to pull their heads out and get their act together. He kept saying to them, “Do you not know!?” implying that, yes, they did know, because he told them! I would love to be transported in time to the days when Paul was teaching – hopefully, unlike Eutychus, I’d stay awake…

When we look at ourselves in the mirror today, we ought to mentally note: Good morning, your honor. We are appointed to be judges of the world. I know Oprah says, don’t judge, but there will come a time when that is what we will do. And so, when there are disputes in the church we’re supposed to settle them amongst ourselves – kinda like judges-in-training. The question is, do we trust anyone in the church to have enough wisdom to judge at all? Apparently, in Corinth, if you had a dispute that needed settled, you took your brother to pagan courts instead of sorting it out between each other. That says a lot about the culture of the times. Our times are not so different.

One of the best things we can do is to read thoughtfully and prayerfully through the Bible and agree with what it says about us – or at least acknowledge that there is an expected behavior by which we’re all to live. I think most of us are like Moses, go call on someone else Lord, don’t bother me. But there is no New Testament option for Moses (other than he was deemed faithful for doing what the Lord expected of him.)

It would be easy for me to write this as if I was some expert on the topic of “Do You Not Know”. Like I’m someone whose arrived while the rest of the Church is still lagging behind. Well, it isn’t easy because I haven’t arrived and I am lagging. I’m the one with the issue today and I need to know what’s expected, by the Lord, of me every day. “Do you not know?” is a rhetorical question – the obvious answer to Paul’s query is, yes, I do know because you told me. The other question then becomes: since you do know, why aren’t you doing anything about what you know? It kinda boils down to that.

It boils down to belief in what God says of me and what God expects of me. It is easier to stand before the apostle Paul and answer his questions. It is way more difficult to stand before God and answer His: Do you not know?