Is It OK for Christians to Sue?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 6

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--is-it-ok-for-christians-to-sue
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Well, first of all, the teaching of the Bible about lawsuits is specifically in the context of the church. So, in Matthew 18, Jesus gave guidelines for resolving disputes in the church. He says, ' If two fellow believers have a difference, then one of them should go to the other alone and try to work it out.

If that doesn't work, then take uh two or three with you. Take someone else with you so that you have another witness and try a second effort to mediate. And if that doesn't work, bring it to the church. And I don't think that necessarily means bring it to a congregational worship service, but to the leadership of the church and to whatever structure the church has provided. And so this is um the three-step procedure. Try to work personally. Second, try with other witnesses um like a we would call a mediation. And third, go to the church and follow a structured procedure, kind of like a Christian version, you might say, of not a lawsuit necessarily, but a formal uh attempt to adjudicate or resolve.

And if that doesn't work, if the person refuses to accept the judgment of the church, then he's treated as a non-believer. Well, the implication is if he doesn't um respond to the jurisdiction of the church, doesn't accept the judgment of the church, then whatever you have to do, I mean, you still have to be ethical and moral, but um in that case, you could sue the person because he has not followed the remedy that the church has provided, he has walked out of the jurisdiction of the church. He's treated as a sinner, treated as a non-believer, and then whatever recourse you have. So um there's no restriction on whether you could sue a non-believer.

In that case he would be treated as a non-believer. Now there is a teaching of the sermon on the mount that uh be careful when someone takes you to the law you know try to settle quickly and if they take your your coke give them your cloak also. Well that's pragmatic and also that is uh you know trying to have the right attitude. So if somebody's want to sue you try to work it out. It's really what Jesus already said. And if they take your coat, give them your cloak also. Well, think about that. If they go to law and they take your coat, that means the law has judged you're wrong.

And so Jesus is saying, "Be generous. Don't just do what the minimum is. You You've already been found wrong. You've been you've been found guilty or that you owe somebody." Well, well, be generous. You know, don't don't begrudgingly you're finally caught and you have to do what you're supposed to do. uh but you have you should be generous. So I don't think the sermon on the mount necessarily would res would address this more directly. I think what Jesus taught in Matthew 18 is a little more direct. So so the sermon on the mount would say have the proper attitude. Try to be reconciled. If someone has a claim against you, try to work it out because if you lose, you might have to pay everything.

Uh, and if they do take you to law and you do lose, well, be a good loser and, you know, be be honorable, be be just and fair and and generous even. Um, some people try to weasle out of it. Right. Right. Uh, but if there's a legitimate difference between Christians resolving the church, now Paul takes this uh to the next logical step in 1 Corinthians 6. So, apparently some Christians in Corinth were suing each other and he said, "This is terrible. This is a bad example. Shouldn't you be able to judge in the church in the future? You're going to, you know, in in the resurrection, in the millennial kingdom, or whatever, God is going to have you overseeing angels, and you you can't even judge among yourselves.

You're letting a secular court tell you what's right and wrong. You can't figure out what's right and wrong yourself. Uh you shouldn't sue one another because you're bringing a bad reproach on the church or the whole community. It would be better to suffer wrong than try to sue a fellow Christian and and leave a bad example to the world. So summarizing all of that, if two Christians have an issue, they should try to follow procedure that Jesus established and they shouldn't sue. It would be better to suffer the wrong than to sue. Uh but now let's take the modern case. Of course, we have modern complexities of insurance um and car accidents.

So, what what should happen if two two apostolic believers, two Christians who who would acknowledge the same jurisdiction of the church and there is a an accident? I think it would be appropriate to for the one who's been clearly wrong to go and say, "Look, I don't want to cause any problem. This is what it cost. Can you file a claim with your insurance company or can you pay me? And if they say, "I've refused to talk to you." Can you try to go go to their do they have a pastor? Is it your pastor? Can if the same church or two different pastors, can the two pastors talk about it?

So, if there could be a way to settle out of court now, you may have to get a lawyer to know what your rights are, to know who's liable, to give best judgment. So it wouldn't be wrong to hire a lawyer, but your purpose is to settle. And if you can settle out of court, then you're fulfilling what the Lord has said. But in the worstc case scenario, then if one party refuses, presumably the church has advised settlement. One party refuses, well then you're back to where Jesus said. They're not willing to settle. that even though they're a believer, they have shown everybody that they're not going to subject themselves to what the church recommends.

So therefore, you're not hurting the reputation of the church. They've already gone outside the church. You can sue. Um, another thing to consider is this. Typically, if you have insurance, your insurance is supposed to co cover you, but then they can sue the person they feel is liable. Well, then it's not you suing, it's your insurance company. And sometimes, even though your name is going to be on the lawsuit, you didn't have the ability. In other words, you can tell your insurance company, please don't sue them. But when you bought the insurance, you got the privilege of being compensated, but you also sign your legal right that they can sue on your behalf to recover the money that they've already given you.

So again, I don't think that would be wrong because you're not intending to sue them. It's just you've collected your insurance or you've your insurance company has defended you. So it's now their right. They're the one making the decision, not you. And you really don't probably don't have a legal say in the matter. But even then, the insurance company would settle if they could. So they're rejecting the settlement. Uh so yes, modern legal issues can become complicated. But to summarize all this, if there's a personal dispute between two fellow believers uh who are subject to the same church jurisdiction, yes, you should try to resolve in the church.

But if one of them refuses, then it's not wrong to go to a secular means. And in general, it's not wrong for Christians to sue. Uh the fact that we forgive people on a personal level, that that's really a different issue. uh if someone comes to you humbly asking for forgiveness, we should forgive them. They may still have to pay the consequences of what they've done, whether it's intentional or accidental. So, you know, let's say someone steals money from your account, they come later, they say, "I'm sorry." Can you still recover the money? Obviously. Could you feel still file a complaint against them for criminal conduct?

Could the state still prosecute them? Yes. just because they're forgiven on a personal level doesn't mean they don't have to suffer the consequences or that you're you're not entitled to have your own property back, your own money back. So, I think we have to distinguish um you know the the idea of forgiveness doesn't mean criminals get to or people who are grossly negligent or who who caused a wrong that causes consequences. It doesn't automatically entitle them not to suffer the consequence. There could still be consequences but obviously our attitude our spirit is very important and in the context of the church certainly we should try to resolve all disputes within the church and not go to a secular court and for that purpose for example the UPCI has what called a grievance procedure so if one minister feels like another minister's has has wronged him or her then we have a procedure that we go through that we're supposed to follow it tracks what Jesus taught in Matthew 18 so and if somebody doesn't follow that procedure um and instead sues uh they could be subject to ministerial discipline or even losing their ministerial credentials if they sue another believer or sue the church.

So we do we do consider that teaching very u strongly but um the the prohibition of suing doesn't necessarily apply in a secular commercial context uh when you're dealing with unbelievers.