Title Can I sue? / Acts 25:1-12
Contents
The reason for the trial is to ensure that the people who have suffered injustice can appeal to the national law to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
When we go to the hospital, there are so many people in the world that everyone in the world will mistake them for patients. Likewise, if you go to the courthouse, after all, everyone in the world is just judging.
However, there are times when we Christians face problems that arise in our relationship with them while living in a world of unbelief. One of the most difficult issues is the ‘trial’ issue. In other words, there are many Christians who do not know whether it is okay to file a lawsuit no matter how unfair they are, or whether it is not a sin before God even if Christians make a lawsuit.
We can think of a few things about this.
First, believers are encouraged to try to settle the matter by consensus, rather than accusing, if possible.
Second, if this doesn't work, it may be the next best thing to turn to the church court for a solution.
Third, however, if either party is not a member of the church, it cannot be resolved by the church, so in such a case, it will have no choice but to appeal to the social court. But what should be the attitude of Christians in this case? We can find the answer in the Bible.
1. Paul stood in court only as a defendant.
Although Paul appeared in court several times during his missionary work, he never once became a plaintiff and sued others. He was repeatedly called as a defendant and only had to stand before the court. However, he has never once brought a complaint to court and brought him to court.
If it is unavoidable, even if Christians bring a lawsuit, it cannot be said to be a sin before God. However, if possible, Christians should exercise caution in first accusing their opponents and taking them to court. The reason is that
First, because it takes a lot of time, money, and energy to complete the case, so the damage can be greater than what you get from the trial.
Second, because judges are human, they can make wrong decisions, and they can also make wrong decisions due to external pressure.
One death row inmate said, “I respect American officials and soldiers, but I do not respect American judges.”
Third, of course, being a plaintiff does not constitute a religious sin as long as it is based on justifiable reasons and due process. But whether you win or lose the trial, you will be forever enemies with the defendant. When Gadda finds out that the plaintiff accusing him is a Christian, he will be hostile to the congregation for the rest of his life. That is why it is easy to cause him to stumble forever on the way of evangelism. Therefore, unless it is a public matter, it is wise to avoid being a plaintiff whenever possible. In a nutshell, it should be borne in mind that accusations do more harm than good for anything.
2. Paul did not try to avoid the punishment he deserved.
If you look at what the world judges, most of them are for avoiding punishment for sins. Some have committed a sin and strive to avoid punishment, while others struggle to receive a punishment lighter than their own. But it dealt with Paul.
In verse 1, it says, “If I had committed iniquity and had committed some apology, I would not refuse to die…”. Paul said that if he had a sin, he would pay for it, but if the punishment was equivalent to death, he would accept it sweetly.
‘Choi Lin’ is one of the 33 people who signed the Declaration of Independence.
After liberation, he was brought to the Anti-People's Special Committee and tried for trial on the charge of renunciation and pro-Japanese acts. As he stood as a traitor to the nation in the courtroom where the Declaration of Independence was hung with his name on it, he couldn't help but feel remorse and embarrassment.
Even if you are a Christian, you can file a trial if it is unavoidable.
However, if it is for the purpose of determining whether a sin is established or not, and only for avoidance of punishment, it is not worthy of faith and conscience.
We should be able to say like Paul, ‘If I have done iniquity and have committed any sin, I would not refuse to die.’
3. Paul did not tolerate injustice.
Although Paul himself was not in a hurry to become a plaintiff, once he was brought to court as a defendant, he never tolerated injustice. He will never escape the punishment for his sin, but he will never tolerate the unjust judgment of an innocent person.
As always, sinister accusers are adept at perjury, and corrupt judges are weak in bribery. And these people often collude with each other to give wrong judgments. The Jews who accused Paul were good at perjury, and Felix the judge was also cut ten times.
So Paul nailed it and said that no one could give himself up to the Jews lawlessly, unless it was true that he had charged him. And he said he would appeal to Caesar. We should learn from Paul a clear conscience not to evade punishment if there is a sin, while also imitating a strong sense of justice that we cannot tolerate unrighteous scheming to sacrifice an innocent person.
The philosopher ‘Spinoza’ was a man with no desire for water. By vaporizing this, the sister stole the inheritance that Spinoza would receive from her. However, ‘Spinoza’, who learned of this belatedly, filed a lawsuit against her sister and won and regained her share of the inheritance. Then, he passed on the restored inheritance to his sister. ‘Spinoza’ means a person without a desire for water, but not without a sense of justice. Giving and taking away are two different things.
It is not the Christian's job to conduct litigation without conscience or justice.
If a Christian is to bring a lawsuit, it must be for the observance of the dictates of conscience and for the establishment of social justice. And more importantly, if anything that dishonors the glory of God and blocks the way of evangelism, you will have to make any sacrifices. Then God will repay you later.
Paul never became a plaintiff himself. In other words, he never sued anyone for any reason. The Jews only framed and accused the innocent Paul in order to stop Paul's evangelism. Paul is not a judgmentalist. Therefore, the saints have to be patient with all things.
And Paul did not stand in court to appeal for avoidance or relief of punishment. It was to prove his legitimacy or the absoluteness of the gospel of Christ. You should know that the scary thing in the world is a sin, not a punishment.
Paul never compromised or tolerated injustice. Because it is God who should be afraid, not those in power. So God helped Paul in his trial.
Verse 5 says, “And he said, “Let those who are strong among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong with that man, bring a lawsuit against him.” In other words, when Governor Festus went to Jerusalem to say hello, he refused the Jewish leaders' request to send Paul to Jerusalem.
Verse 9 says, “In order to win the hearts of the Jews, Festus asked Paul, “Are you going to go up to Jerusalem to be tried before me in this matter?” In other words, it was God's guidance that Festus asked Paul if he wanted to go up to Jerusalem and be questioned a few days later.
Festus' refusal of the Jewish leaders' request was not on his own accord, nor was he ignorant of it, since the custom of the time required the new governor to accept the first request he received from the local governor. It was the entire history of God.
If Festus had accepted the Jews' request at this time or had arbitrarily sent Paul to Jerusalem without asking Paul's will, he would have been assassinated by the ambush men on the way. But God led Festus and rescued Paul from the crisis.
The lesson is that if a Christian has the heart of Christ and behaves rightly and rightly like Paul in whatever he does, God will always help him. If we always have this faith and live justly, God will be with us.
Dear saints,
May we always, like the Apostle Paul, live for the glory of God and for righteousness and truth. Today, I pray in the name of the Lord that God's helping grace will always be with all of you who want to live like the apostle Paul.