Faith in Focus #10

A reflection from Connection Church and other spiritual events from the week

Faith in Focus is a weekly reflection on what God has been teaching me throughout the week regarding my faith. Whether it’s personal interactions, reading, or the Sunday sermon, God speaks through it all, and I hope this helps you focus on His mission.

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Sermon Reflection: Cross-Shaped Justice in a Courtroom World

Based on the sermon by Nathan Schaap, Connection Church Sioux Falls, January 4, 2026.

When the Corinthian church chose public courts over private reconciliation, Paul saw more than bad judgment, he saw a denial of the cross. In 1 Corinthians 6:1–11, the apostle confronts a church tempted to win disputes at the cost of its witness.

For the second week in a row, Connection Church was led by one of its own elders. Nathan Schapp stepped to the pulpit to open 1 Corinthians 6:1–11, a passage that lands with surprising force in a culture obsessed with reputation, remedies, and the need of winning.

Paul’s concern here is not murder, abuse, or criminal violence. Scripture is clear that governing authorities exist to restrain evil (Romans 13). Instead, Paul is addressing something far more ordinary and far more revealing: petty disputes. Grievances. Financial disagreements. Minor infractions that had escalated into public lawsuits between believers.

Nathan framed the tension with a simple, honest question. “Are we not human?”

Yes, mistakes happen. Conflict is inevitable. But Paul insists that how Christians handle conflict reveals whether the gospel is shaping them or whether the surrounding culture is.

The World Behind the Text

First-century Corinth was famously litigious. Roman courts were public, performative spaces where honor was gained and shame was inflicted. Legal victories were less about justice and more about status. To sue someone was to assert dominance; to lose was to be diminished.

This cultural backdrop matters. The Corinthian believers weren’t merely seeking resolution, they were absorbing the values of their city. By dragging fellow Christians before secular courts, they were reenacting Corinthian power plays under a Christian banner.

Paul sees the danger immediately. When the church mirrors the culture’s definition of justice, it quietly replaces the cross with the courthouse.

Walking the Passage

Paul opens bluntly:

“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?” (1 Corinthians 6:1, ESV, emphasis added)

This is not about competence but identity. Paul’s shock isn’t that courts exist but that believers would prefer them to the community God has already formed.

Interpretation

Paul grounds his argument in eschatology. The Christian belief about the future. In verses 2–3, he reminds the church that they will one day participate in God’s final judgment:

“Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” (1 Corinthians 6:2, ESV)

This echoes Jesus’ promise in Matthew 19:28 where the faithful are depicted as sharing in Christ’s reign, and anticipates Revelation 3:21, where those who conquer sit with Christ on His throne.

Paul’s logic is sharp:
If believers will one day judge the world, and even angels, how can they claim to be incapable of handling everyday disputes?

Application

The Corinthians had outsourced discernment because they had lost confidence in the church’s wisdom. Instead of leaning into gospel-formed maturity, they defaulted to cultural solutions.

Paul presses further in verses 4–7, exposing the deeper issue. They want to win.

“Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” (1 Corinthians 6:7, ESV)

This is cross-shaped justice. Not weakness. Not passivity. But voluntary loss for the sake of love, unity, and witness.

A Fair Counter-Reading

It’s important to say what Paul is not saying.

Paul is not forbidding Christians from ever using courts. Scripture affirms lawful authority and justice for serious wrongdoing. Abuse, exploitation, and criminal acts demand accountability and protection for the vulnerable.

What Paul is confronting is a church that treats minor disputes as public battlegrounds, choosing reputation over reconciliation, victory over unity.

This distinction matters. Paul’s rebuke is not anti-justice; it is anti-pride.

The Turn

Verse 7 lands like a verdict:

“To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.” (1 Corinthians 6:7, ESV)

Before a judge ever rules, the church has already lost. Why? Because the gospel declares that Jesus absorbed injustice without retaliation. The cross looks like failure to the world but it is the power of God to save.

When Christianity begins to resemble the surrounding culture, it doesn’t become more persuasive. It becomes hollow.

Paul’s final word is not condemnation but identity:

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified…” (1 Corinthians 6:11, ESV)

Past tense. Finished work. A new creation.

Song of the week: Where Would I Be - Peter Burton

With the arrival of a new year comes a familiar impulse: to look back in order to understand how far we have come, and to consider where we hope the next chapter will lead. This song captures that reflection through a distinctly Christ-centered lens. “Standing where I stand now, I know that He’s the reason. Every wrong turn He turned around. Where would I be if I didn’t have Jesus.”

For me, the answer to that question is not abstract. Without Christ, my life would have remained centered on self-indulgence, trapped in alcoholism and driven by fleeting pleasure rather than lasting purpose. Instead, the convergence of events that brought me to this point feels anything but accidental. Looking back, it is difficult to attribute that transformation to anything other than Jesus.

With greater clarity comes a new perspective on the past. What once felt like failure or misfortune increasingly appears providential. Moments of redirection rather than derailment. As the song continues, “I used to feel the weight of the chains that I was holding, ’til my Savior came and broke ’em,” it gives language to a freedom that is no longer theoretical, but lived.

As this year unfolds, my prayer is that others would witness the same work in their own lives. Chains broken, hardships reframed as loving course corrections, and a renewed confidence that even the difficult seasons are guiding us back onto the path God has prepared. And let me tell you, it’s better than anything we could imagine.

Carry It Into the Week

The Corinthians weren’t being asked to become something new. They were being called to live like what they already were.

The same is true for us.

We are not defined by our past, our pride, or our need to win. We are defined by the blood of Christ freely given to the undeserving. The church does not display the gospel by always being right, but by being willing to lose for love’s sake.

There is more grace in Christ than sin in you.

Week in Reflection

The first full week of 2026 has arrived with the familiar energy of New Year’s resolutions, fresh goals, and the early work of turning intentions into habits. For me, that effort has centered on a simple but demanding aim: to bookend each day with the Lord, being the first thing I do in the early morning and ending with the last thing I do at night.

The morning commitment has been the most concrete so far. It has required a 4:30 a.m. alarm, an intentional sacrifice of sleep in order to start the day grounded in Scripture and prayer. While the cost is real, the motivation is clear, time itself is a gift from God, and offering the first moments of the day back to Him has brought a sense of clarity and purpose before anything else begins.

New this year is the parallel goal of ending each day the same way, making the Lord the final focus before sleep. Just one week in and the impact is already noticeable. The change is subtle but tangible, reflected in a steadier mood and a more centered outlook. And if this routine can take root as a habit, I’m confident it will shape far more than just my emotions.

As the year begins and new rhythms are forming, my hope and prayer is not only that the goals we set are successful, but that they are God-centered and Christ-focused. Habits that form us spiritually, not just productively.

And remember, God loves you, and so do I.