Lawsuits Reveal Something Worse Than the Dispute | 1 Corinthians 6:4-6

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Our text today is 1 Corinthians 6:4-6.

We all know what it feels like when a conflict gets ugly. But what Paul describes here is something deeper—something darker. When believers drag each other before unbelievers, it’s not just a problem. It’s a symptom of a spiritual disease.

So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? — 1 Corinthians 6:4–6

Paul says it plainly: “I say this to your shame.”

He is calling out their foolishness—their lack of wisdom—with almost painful bluntness. Paul isn’t shocked that believers disagree. He’s shocked that a church claiming to have the Spirit, gifts, teachers, apostles, and the mind of Christ somehow has no one wise enough to help two Christians settle a grievance.

That’s not just sad. That’s spiritually foolish.

And that foolishness reveals something deeper than the conflict itself: The issue isn’t the lawsuit. The issue is the heart that would rather win than reconcile.

Dragging our spiritual family into court before unbelievers exposes a hidden sickness:

• Pride that won’t yield
• Bitterness that wants public victory
• Immaturity that refuses correction
• Selfishness that doesn’t care about the witness of the church
• A craving for personal justice instead of God’s justice

The lawsuit is only the surface-level problem. The deeper problem is a church unwilling—or unable—to address spiritual rot in its own members.

Paul is essentially saying, “If you can’t solve small disputes, what does that say about your spiritual condition?”

Because when believers run to unbelievers to fix their relationships, it reveals:

• A failure of discipleship
• A failure of community
• A failure of wisdom
• A failure of courage
• A failure of love

And the world watches all of it.

Paul’s sting is intentional. He wants them to feel the weight of their compromise—not to shame them into despair, but to wake them into maturity. Because a church that can’t handle conflict will never be a church that transforms culture.

The deeper message? Until the heart is healed, the conflict won’t be. And no secular court on earth can fix what only the Spirit can restore.

DO THIS:

Bring one unresolved conflict before God today. Ask Him to expose anything in your heart—pride, stubbornness, or fear—that may be preventing reconciliation.

ASK THIS:

1. What does my response to conflict reveal about my spiritual maturity?
2. Who in my church family can help me work through a difficult grievance biblically?
3. What heart issue—not just the dispute—needs God’s correction?

PRAY THIS:

Father, reveal the deeper issues in my heart that fuel conflict. Give me humility, courage, and wisdom to pursue reconciliation in a way that honors You. Heal what I cannot see and restore what is broken. Amen.

PLAY THIS:

“Give Us Clean Hands”