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Mark D. Roberts

Yesterday I examined a passage from 1 Corinthians 6, which instructed Christians to avoid solving their problems in secular court. Let me quote that text again before suggesting some practical implications. When you have something against another Christian, why do you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter, instead of…

My friend “Jeff” was the pastor of a church in Southern California. He and I became friends because we shared many of the same challenges as well as the same basic faith in Jesus Christ. I always liked Jeff because he was humble, earnest, and a deeply caring servant of God. Jeff’s church was on…

In yesterday’s post, I examined 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, considering its implications for how we think about church leaders. I closed by admitting that sometimes it is not easy for a pastor or other leader to seek God’s glory, especially when we are in the midst of conflict. I know from personal experience how difficult this…

During my years as Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, every once in a while I’ll hear somebody refer to the church as “Mark’s church.” Though I understood the shorthand, nevertheless it grated on my soul like fingernails on a spiritual blackboard. During my years as a Christian, I’ve seen cases where churches are so…

In my last post I worked with the question: “Whose church is it?” The answer from 1 Corinthians is clear. The church is God’s church. The church is the creation and “property” of the triune God. Acknowledging this means that when we’re in the midst of church conflict, we must seek God’s will for God’s…

READ Psalm 55:1-23   Give your burdens to the LORD,     and he will take care of you.     He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. Psalm 55:22 But something is lost in this more contemporary rendering. The Hebrew verb translated here as “give” (shalakh) and in other translations as “cast,” is not the simple Hebrew…

On a recent vacation trip to Bishop, California, I saw some curious signs that I thought I’d share with you. DUTCH CLEAN – I’m assuming this means “very clean.” Hence the happy face. I’ve never heard this expression before. Have you? When I was a boy, my grandmother used a substance called Old Dutch Cleanser…

In my last post I set up the first-century Corinthian church as a paradigm of a church in conflict. The letter we know as 1 Corinthians is the effort of the Apostle Paul to resolve the controversies that were plaguing this early Christian community. Before we get into some of the specifics of this effort,…

If you consider the issue of Christians in conflict from a New Testament perspective, you will quickly focus on Corinth. No church in Scripture is more ridden with disagreement and controversy than the Corinthian church, which explains, in part why so much of the New Testament focuses on Corinth. It took the Apostle Paul multiple…

My recent vacation in the High Sierra of California produced some amazing pictures. These were taken by my son, Nathan. I thought you might enjoy them. (I’ll get back to my series on Christians in conflict tomorrow.) Lupine with a mountain stream in the background. Close-up of a small waterfall Yours truly hiking. Yes, with…
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