Questions received after the sermon re: 1 Corinthians 6:1-8
Sermon Title: How Christians Are to Settle Disputes

If you lived a life of sin, is it too late?
Never: as long as you are alive and willing to come to Jesus Christ He will save and deliver you from sin. Call upon the name of the Lord and believe the gospel that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again to declare you right before God.
Come and hear 1 Cor. 6:9-11

Should a believer drink a glass of wine?
Drunkenness is forbidden not a glass of wine

How do we decide who is a believer?
By what they have put their faith in (Jesus Christ/the gospel) and then the behavior they live out.  First John is written to measure our profession by the criteria of this book (see 1 John 5:12-13).

How do we deal with hypocrites who judge?
Follow the teachings of Christ in Matthew 7:1-5

What do we do when our husband will not come to church?
Obey Christ yourself—follow Christ.  Only Christ can change your husband but First Peter 3:1-6 instructs Christian wives how to live with unbelieving husbands.

If we judge believers by the fruit in their lives, why do you think Paul writes the Corinthians?
Ungodly behavior or sin may happen in the believer and then need to repent and be restored to the path of obedience.  God uses His Word to admonish and warn us to judge our sin and return to the path of obedience.  Believers do sin but are told to confess it and resume to obey (1 John 1:8-2:2).  Believers are delivered from habitual domination in sin (1 John 3:6-9).

How do we deal with a pastor who sins?
Elders who sin are to be rebuked and restored (1 Tim. 5:17-23).  Pastors are not above the scriptures but are accountable to God and His church. 

How long before we can talk with a brother disciplined out of the church?
We can talk to them any time if the purpose is to restore and help them do the right.  What we are to avoid is pretending like all is well and think we can have fellowship with one who refuses to repent of their sin.  Refusal to repent over a long time may give evidence of not being saved. (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1;  1 Cor. 5 with Matthew l8:15-18).

What is spiritual restoration?
Restoring a sinning brother or sister to the path of obedience through confession of their sin to God and repentance.  The returning brother would meet with church leaders who could re-introduce them to the fellowship of the church.  This is done at the Lord’s Supper at Valley Bible Church.

How does one know that there is no “plank” in their eye (see Matt. 7)?
True believers cannot have sin going on in their life without the Holy Spirit grieving (Eph. 4:30; 2 Cor. 7:10).  All of us may be walking “blind spots” but we can know when we are in sin.  If our conscience is clear towards God and His Word, we could be spiritual and capable of helping a brother.  With wholeness in our own lives brings the ability to help others and not a critical spirit.

How do I respond to a professed Christian on the job who is a hypocrite and also active in church?  
If you are close to them or even in the same fellowship, you could practice Galatians 6:1-2.

Do we have to have a close relationship to person we seek to restore?
Galatians 6:1-2 assumes the restoring is being done by one brother or sister to another in love. The restoring is obeying the law of Christ to love.  Whoever is a fellow believer and you have any relationship with them seems feasible that you could minister to them.  Restoration of another is love in action.  It must not be seen as arrogance on your part.

How do you restore your husband?
1 Peter 3:1-6 is to be how to live in front of them, but the verses for restoration apply. Only God gives any of us a willing spirit to do the Word of God no matter who shares it with us.

What should people do who have financially stolen things?
Along with repentance is restitution. One should return what they have stolen or seek to make some kind of amends for financial abuses. Luke 19 tells of the conversion of Zaccheus and the evidence of it was to return the monies he had stolen from the people as a crooked tax gatherer.

Under whose authority are we told to rebuke, restore, or even put out of membership those who are unwilling to repent?
The Divine Judge has spoken His Word: Our God and Father. We His people are under His Word to obey it.

Why would a Christian not want to be honest? Can they be spiritual?
Christians are tempted with all kinds of various sins. If they walk in the Spirit, they will not carry out the strong desires of the flesh/sin nature (Gal. 5:16-19). Believers are told to stop their stealing in Ephesians 4:28 and to stop lying to each other (4:25). Beginning with Christ is learning to put off sinful behavior and learn to put on Christ-like behavior.

What should I do if I have wicked relatives who continue to do wickedness?  Do I allow them into my home?
Since we do not know the nature of the wickedness, this is difficult. Will your values and Christian ethics be violated in your home by these people? Can you maintain order in your home with them present? How will they influence your children? You should be in charge of what is allowed in your home and in front of your children.

Can we judge unbelievers? What about capitol punishment?
Criminal behavior must be handled by the government. The Church has no authority to take life, but the state is given this authority in Romans 13. Capitol punishment was prescribed in the bible for certain crimes. Israel had no prisons. A crime was either paid in financial remuneration or physical punishment including the death penalty. The issue today is not whether capitol punishment is a biblical method of dealing with sinful and criminal activity, but whether the process of determining guilt is fair and equal for all.  If justice is aborted because one can afford a high dollar lawyer, while a poor man must die---this is the issue we have to deal with in the government.

I have found Valley Bible has been a safe place to fail.  I thank God for the Spirit-filled believers here.

There is a man who has lied about me in the church. I am still upset and will not talk to him. He has not said “I am sorry.”
Have you done Matthew 5:23-24?
Have you done Matthew 18:15-18?
Why have you not forgiven them? You sound like anger has gone down on your wrath and you have become bitter and unforgiving. Get right in your heart with God (“get the plank out of your eye”) and then you would be healthy enough to seek reconciliation between you and the brother.

How do I respond to Christians who support liberal political ideals?
This is a complex issue. Unless a brother is violating scripture you may not need to say anything.  It does not keep you from a different opinion. Sometimes believers act like this world is their home and that it is Christian. No government is Christian. God’s Church is a divine community living under unbelieving governors. Americans have been blessed far above most people because of our religious freedoms and Judeo-Christian ethics in our early founders.
Our politics are in heaven (Phil. 3:20-21).

What are we to do when neither party represents the Word of God?
Vote for the best option, but keep your hope in Christ. Be submissive to the governing authorities and live out Christ before a watching world and do not waste too much time fretting over the politics of this world.

How do you get the power to live a righteous kind of life?
Putting faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior gives access to the power of God to live as He directs.  Our righteousness is Christ lived out through us by the power of His Holy Spirit.  This is the miracle of Christianity.  We who were bound by our sins have now been released from their penalty and given power over sin in our lives (Romans 3-8;  Ephesians 2, Titus 3).

I gave away a daughter in marriage who had been living with this man for two-to three years. Was I wrong to be at the wedding and do this?
Is your daughter a believer? If not, there is no issue. If she is a believer and was living this way is another issue. The time to have spoken and seek to help her would be early on in the relationship.

Some believers are so intelligent that they never know when they are defeated. They seem to never be wrong in their own eyes—how do you deal with this kind?
This is a difficult case because pride can blind us to the others opinion or to our own view.  None of us know everything.  Wise men are open to counsel.  A wise man is not a know it all rather he is teachable and open to correction.  Read Proverbs to contrast a fool “who is always right in his own eyes” to a wise man “who responds more to a verbal rebuke than a fool does to a beating.”
Wise people are teachable, approachable, and walk in humility. 
The person who is always right is a proud fool.

What do we say to unbelievers who are professing to be believers?
The words of Jesus in Matthew 7 are powerful words to people who “say” they know the Lord while not “doing what He says.” It a great danger of people who are Christians in “name only”, but do not obey. A tree is known by its fruit not its profession.
Study First John which was written that we might know that we are born again 5:12-13. A study with these professors would let them examine and see if the marks of the born again are in their life.  Otherwise evangelize them with the gospel and love them and pray that God will give them the real thing---a new birth from heaven.

Answered by Dr. Phil Howard on May 16, 2010