CHRISTIAN ARBITRATION 1

1 Corinthians 6:3-5 (NET)
Do you not know that we will judge angels? Why not ordinary matters!
So if you have ordinary lawsuits, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church?
I say this to your shame! Is there no one among you wise enough to settle disputes between fellow Christians?Ian and Ronald both started an ICT company when they were undergraduates on campus. After seven years, the company had grown to become one of the top 100 companies in their country.

After Ian got married, he decided it was time for him to go solo. Because Ronald felt cheated by this decision, he made it very difficult for Ian to leave the company. Ronald insisted that in leaving the company, Ian was sabotaging the company and couldn’t leave with 50% of the company’s assets and equity. Ian, on the other hand, wasn’t seeing things that way. He felt that since he owned 50% of the company, he was entitled to his 50% of the company’s assets and equity. Both of them strongly held to their positions and couldn’t seem to reach a compromise.

Because both of them were true believers who loved the Lord, they both knew that taking each other to court was not the way to go. Because they attended different churches, they decided to take the matter before a pastor they both respected. This was the pastor that discipled them during their university days. When they told him about the issue, he called on another Christian elder (who was an experienced business school professor) to be part of the arbitration. Both Ian and Ronald agreed that they would abide by whatever judgment the pastor gave. This case involved billions of dollars.

Go into today knowing that it is a shame for two believers to take their disputes before unbelievers. Doing so makes it much more difficult for us to witness to these same unbelievers. Remember that the gospel of the kingdom is the most important thing going on in the world today. Our minor issues should never be made to stand in the way of advancement of the gospel.