done and done

OK, Lord.   I must confess I can hardly keep my eyes open.  I just got up and read this.  Lawsuits, boring.  I don't like reading about lawsuits .... or math.  Help me see YOU somewhere in here...

I Cor 6: 1-11  Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? 2Or 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? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? 4So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? 5I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, 6but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?
      7Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.
      9Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 

 This passage has one point to me... what are doing not using the Matthew Model, guys?  If someone wrongs you, go to them with a desire for restoration.  If they don't reconcile, take someone else from the body who also has the goal of reconciliation.  If that doesn't work, take it before the church?

The point here is not how to win a lawsuit.  The point is reconciliation to Christ.  Paul says Christians are doing wrong and defrauding (illegally obtaining money) each other.  Not the James model, for sure.  Nor the Acts model.  We're supposed to SHARE, BE NICE.

Paul has this tone of talking to children in this part of the book.  But as I read it now, they are acting like kindergarteners.

Verse 9-11  Immorality again.

I'm sorry, but there's no getting around this.  The Biblical view on homosexuality, transvestites? It's pretty clear.  But there are some questions I have.

effeminate |iˈfemənət|
adjective
(of a man) having or showing characteristics regarded as typical of a woman; unmanly.

OK.. I want to be honest here.  Does a guy have to walk like a joc to be masculine?  Can't a guy be a designer? A wedding planner? and not be effiminate?  Of course they can.  God even had designers work on the intricate sewing and decorating of the Temple and even the tents when the ark was travelling.  God Himself even cares about decor, food, feasts, celebrations.  So we can't say that just because a guy doesn't have calloused hands, that he's not masculine.

So I looked up the greek in my big fat concordance: 
effeminate, soft.
Of uncertain affinity; soft, i.e. Fine (clothing); figuratively, a catamite -- effeminate, soft.

The word clothing keeps coming up when I looked it up.  I'm no scholar but it seems to me that this is referring to men trying to act like a woman, literally, by cross dressing and/or mannerisms. That the guy wants to BE a woman.  Today we'd include sex change operations, I guess.  

So really.  We're done here.  If I have a non-Christian friend who is gay, I'm not to judge but to intercede for them to come to know Christ, the lover of their soul.  The same for the thief, the alcoholic, even the swindler (may their phone schemes ever fail...)

BUT WAIT, before we go judging the world.  STOP.  This is about the church!  And the list also includes revilers!  They will not inherit the kingdom.  Pretty harsh words!  I don't think, after talking of our need to approach this with mourning in earlier verses, that Paul takes this lightly.  I think it breaks his heart.

This is the point where I look at the most icky things on the list and skip the rest... "I'm not doing THAT... skip ahead, skip ahead."  

It's not just sexual immorality that eats away the fiber of Christ followers.  Let's look at this one.

revile |riˈvīl|
verb [ trans. ] (usu. be reviled)
criticize in an abusive or angrily insulting manner : he was now reviled by the party that he had helped to lead. See note at scold .

This hits close to home at even the most conservative church.  This hits close to me.  Haven't I gossiped and verbally slashed other church members in the past?  God, forgive me.  I can be such a petty jerk.  You paid such a high price and I walk around like I'm the center of your universe sometimes.  Thank you so much for showing this to me.  Thank you for your forgiveness.

Oh, and how about the covetous?

covet |ˈkəvət|
verb ( coveted , coveting ) [ trans. ]
yearn to possess or have (something) : the president-elect covets time for exercise and fishing | [as adj. ] ( coveted) he won the coveted Booker Prize for fiction.

So... I somehow skated by, good little church girl that I am, till "covet. " Yeah....

I've coveted positions of leadership.  I've coveted attention.  I've coveted funds for ministries I care about.  I've coveted friendships others have. I coveted volunteers.  I've coveted facility space.  I've coveted pretty clothes.   It's really embarrassing to be so human.

THE POINT IS THIS!!!!!  When we become Christ's very own, THERE IS NO NEED for all this nonsense!!!!

Don't we get it?  (Apparently not) Christ and Him crucified.  Our identity is secure:   loved, eternally accepted, forgiven, free to love the unlovable because they can not steal, defraud or fake this love.  They can't eat or drink it away.  They can't replace it with sex or wild parties.  This JOY is permanent as OURS... and it doesn't give hangovers or addictions.   YOU CAN NOT BUY  OR SWINDLE OTHERS OUT OF THIS JOY.  It's been paid for.  The check has cleared.  It's my inheritance.


Such (Practicers of all that nonsense)were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 

DONE.  let's move on.