Sermon Transcript:

Thank you, Terry, I want to welcome you guys who are online and those y'all that have joined us this Fourth of July week. We've come in the middle of a series on First Corinthians, and we're on First Corinthians seven today, if you want to turn there, there's gonna be a lot of Scripture, but it'll all be on the screen in front of you if you want to follow along. We've talked about this with Corinthians. But Paul, who's the primary writer of the New Testament, especially the letters, he understands the times, and he realizes that the church is new. This is, of course, a letter written early on, he's having a dialogue with these people at Corinth, which was a real city, a real place, a real church, really a church that was probably even smaller than ours. And he understands that they're under persecution at times, you understand that in the first century, that Rome was really over everything that the known world touched at that time. And he understands that the things that he is telling them are definitely at odds with the culture with the people around them. So if you feel yourself saying, Okay, how do I navigate my Christian faith? Or if you're here today, and you're considering the Christian faith? How do I go about doing that, when it feels like everything that I'm trying to do that's good, and of light and of God is being pushed back or not being celebrated or not being praised. And the good news for you and I today is, that is the type of people and the type of land in which Paul is addressing the Corinthians and trying to help them to see So today he's gonna give instructions on marriage and on singleness, and how to think about that, and relate in those given situations, singleness and marriage. A couple of things to consider, as you read this section along with me, and you'll see this as we, as we read along, and we'll break it up into three different sections. Number one, it's obvious that he's answering their questions or concerns. So we would have a dialogue among maybe zoom, if we had an expert coach, or teacher or CEO who was sort of dialing in to us. This is the ancient world. And so if you wanted to communicate, you would send a letter. And so Corinthians is one of many letters that it's obvious that Paul and the church at Corinth, were going back and forth with so it's obvious first point that he is answering some of their questions and concerns. And now it's relating to marriage and singleness. Number two, he goes back and forth between what he says or said, and what the Lord Jesus said, or says, Now, this back and forth dialogue that you're going to hear in the text, as we read today is not like saying, oh, okay, well, if Jesus really said it, then that that really means something. And Paul, you're just sort of giving your suggestion, that's not what he's talking about. What he's doing is he's saying, when the Lord Jesus was here on earth, He gave clear instructions on this. And so what I'm doing Paul saying, what I'm doing is I'm sort of filling that out. And when I when I say things that are in addition to what Jesus already said, I'm gonna let you know about it. And so that's, that's what's going on there. And you're gonna see him do this in the dialogue, in First Corinthians seven today. And then number three, I want you to sort of pay attention to and you're going to notice is that he's really going to commend singleness, he's really going to do that. And you're gonna see that He commends this as a good option for believers who are single, but it can't be true for everyone he writes about right. Plus, historically, whenever a, a Christian people or even a sect of Christians or even go so far as a cult of Christians, they all raise their hand and they all say, Okay, we're all going to be celibate for life. Or once we become a believer, we're, we're going to abstain from sexual relations for the rest of our life. What ends up happening to that sect of people, those those groups, maybe even that cult is they die out in a generation or two. Now, for those of y'all that have a neighbor next to you, a person sitting next to you that didn't quite get that. Just Just look at him say, Hey, this is you know, I'll explain to you how and where babies come from later. But that's what ends up happening. Right? So we know, we know he can't mean because you're gonna see him come in singleness here. We know he can't mean that that's going to be true for everyone. Because then you would run out of babies. All right. So now I think with those three things in consideration, I think we're ready to dive into the text this morning. beginning of verse one of chapter seven, it says this right here. Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter, I told you that's what he's going to do here. He's he's already taken up some issues of last week we talked about suing about later on with issues of love. Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations or sexual immorality because he knows that's the culture. He's reaching the city of Corinth very similar to our culture where it's kind of free love and free sex, but because there's so much

Extra one morality. So he knows that that's what he's speaking to, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. The other thing I love about Paul is you're going to see this in the passage, he's going to equate men and women together, and he's going to give instructions to each. Again, in the ancient world, this would have been huge, this would have been novel, that he's putting them on equality in terms of their own responsibility. So if he's gonna address the man, watch it, he'll always address the woman as well. And that and vice versa, the husband should fulfill his wife sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband's needs, the wife gives authority for her body over to her husband, even in the ancient world, they may have thought, yeah, I get that. But he actually says the reverse is true as well. And the husband gives authority over his body to his wife, Do not deprive each other of sexual relations Unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time, so that you can give yourselves to more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together against that Satan won't be able to tempt you because of your lack of self control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. But I wish everyone was single, just as I am. There's that commending of singleness, yet each person has a special gift from God of one kind or another. So I say to those who aren't married, and widows, it's better to stay on marriage just as I am. But if they can't control themselves, they should go ahead and marry, it's better to marry than to burn with lust. But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. So that's that idea of all of it's from God. And he's saying when Jesus was here, he said, these kinds of things, a wife must not leave her husband. But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to Him, and the husband must not leave his wife. Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. Right. He didn't say something when he was here on Earth. But I'm telling you, Paul says, If a fellow believer has a wife who's not a believer, and she's willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her into believing woman as a husband is a believer, and he's willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him for the believing wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the believing husband brings holiness is marriage. Otherwise, your children would not be holy, but now they are holy. But it's the husband or wife who isn't a believer insists on leaving, let him go. In such cases, the believing husband or wife is no longer bound to the other, for God has called you to live in peace. Don't you guys realize that your husband's might be saved because of you. And don't you husbands realize that your wives may be saved. Because of you long passage there. I told you, it was a good long passage. And I'm hopeful that those handles that I gave us were helpful as we read through that, that you saw a couple things, I'm gonna point them out here. But I want to give sort of a a bullet point chart about the tension that you and I are gonna feel as we read these verses, and I'm gonna show that right there. Here's the tension. Here's what Paul is doing. He's affirming the goodness of sex within marriage, that's obvious. So if you want to say that in a real short phrase, here's what he's saying. Marriage is good. Marriage is good, but it has its issues. He's going to talk about this later, say, Hey, listen, go and get married if you want, but you're gonna have worldly concerns, you're gonna have to worry about the interests of your spouse and children if God brings or blesses. Number two, though, the tension, because they're both true, he affirms the goodness of the celibate, single life, singleness is good. But he's gonna say those are gonna have issues too. Because Where are you going to have your sexual intimacy, that's going to be something that you're going to give up in order to be single or celibate. So that's sort of the tension I want you to see. Now, one of the things I want to show us next is just a picture when we think about sort of the battle of the sexes, because any of us who've been married for any amount of time, we realize that there's all this push and pull that that men and women are different, and we have different desires, we have different thoughts and different ways about going about things. And we don't have to be married very long before, you know, we have conflict and these kinds of things. Couple things that I think he's trying to help us to see principles that I got out of this passage. Number one, I think a lack of sexual relations can give satan a foothold. That's, that's no question. And again, you can get this from just general therapeutic wisdom about couples, right, that, that oftentimes what goes on there, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent or not happening at all, is sort of a temperature of the rest of the relationship. Number two mutual love and respect for each other's body and needs. Because you can see this here, and that's what's so interesting about the equality that Paul is putting on men and women and again, would have been novel in the ancient world. We assume it today. And biblically, of course, that's true that, that there's mutual love and respect for each other's bodies and needs. And then the third thing I would say is being a believer matters. He's going to repeat this theme over and over again that those of us who have faith in God, that's what allows us to not just endure a marriage but to really thrive in a marriage. And when you're unequally yoked or you find yourself or once a believer in one's not. There's just certain things that go on there. And you saw some of the ways in which he's trying to help us sort of grapple with that if you find yourself in

A relationship where looks like one's believing or one has faith and the other doesn't. Now, a lot of times what we'll do only gets a passage like this. And even the way I was taught, it is always sort of asking the question, okay, when can I leave? Or how can I get out of this? Right? If I find myself sort of in this battle of the sexes in it, and it won't go away? Well, you're saying, Come on, man, I don't have a category, I want to know what the category is to where either she can leave, or I can leave, or he can leave or whatever I want to know. It's not that simple. Lots of counsel and, and wisdom is what's needed. But here's what he's concerned about. And this is our first point this morning. First point is, those walking by faith in the home have a purifying effect. I don't know if you saw that in the passage. But in your Bible, it says, either that the the other spouse, or specifically the children, the way that they're going to have a hope of prayer in this world is if they only have one believing parent, is that they will then have a way in which they may get to God, the two unbelieving parents is gonna be very hard for them unless someone takes them to church. But what he's saying is, is that those walking by faith in the home have a purifying effect. And we know this, right? That when there's at least one person in the home, that's acting rightly, that's acting righteously, that's doing what God calls him to do, it really does have a purifying effect. Now, it could have said that if you have one believer in the home that that for sure your children are going to be holier sanctified. And that's exactly what he's saying. He's saying that it will have that sort of effect. Also, if you live long enough with someone else, you'll realize that that you'll go through ups and downs in life, and sometimes one has more faith than the other you ever been there? Like even though you both believe God, are you both sort of done the minimum of understanding? Yes, I'm a, I'm a Christ follower, you'll have different degrees of faith at different points in your marriage. And so that's why I say, walking by faith in the home. It's great if both do it. But if just one does it and the other one's like, Hey, I don't want this I'm out, saying, Hey, you can let them go. But what is faith? Keep in mind, we got a real clear definition from Hebrews it says that God exists and that he's a rewarder. And that's all what we're talking about here is that oftentimes we think, we look at our given situation, good, bad or indifferent, worthy, okay, I'm doing okay. Because we're not we're not fighting each other today, we're not yelling at each other, whatever it is, you're sort of sort of understanding of how you have a good marriage. And when he's saying is, no, it's more than that. It's knowing that what we're doing has eternal purposes, and that God exists. And because God's in our lives and in our relationship, he's going to bring about good things, if we seek Him if we believe in Him, if we have faith in Him, that really helps us to understand our Christian faith to say we're not here by accident, right? Because the alternative to the Christian faith is some version of paganism or unbelief. We're all just like atoms floating through the universe. But if you believe man, God has a purpose in my marriage. Yes, there's times when it falls apart. And maybe one has to go or both part and go the other ways. We, again, I'm not gonna give you all the details of that. That's a lot of biblical wisdom. But he's saying, understand that if you have a marriage today, that that God has a purpose for that. If you have a spouse, God has a purpose for them, you have a kids, God's got them, and he's going to use your good conduct your good faith, to have a purifying effect by those around me. So again, it's not as simple as just saying, well just tell me to stay or to go. Now, he says lots say about singleness as well. And he's going to deal with that going back and forth. So let's pick up verse 17. It says right here, each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, in remain as you are when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches. For instance, a man who was circumcised before he became a believer should not try to reverse it. And the man who was uncircumcised and became a believer, should not be circumcised. Now, for him, it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is to keep God's commandments. Yes, each of you should remain as you are when God called you, are you a slave. Don't let that worry you. But if you get a chance to be free, take it. And remember, if you are a slave, when the Lord called you, you're not free in the Lord. And if you were free, when the Lord called you, guess what, you're a slave of Christ, God paid a high price for you and me. So don't be enslaved by the world. Each of you, dear brothers and sisters, should remain as you were. When God first called you he again, he gives that great sort of sort of familiar terms, right? Brothers and sisters, that sort of family of God. Language. Now, this is so hard to think about, but this is really the whole point. I think of this, this whole section, this whole idea of, of trying to figure out what it means to remain as you are in the way God called you. So I'm gonna give a couple of movies that I've thought about in the last several

decades. So we have Mr. Destiny, which is really from the 80s. You have family man from the 2000s. And of course, you have a wonderful life from 1946. But all of these movies, what they all have in common is that the main character, the protagonist, they're looking at their life around them. And they're saying, I want out, I want different, right? If you go back to the first one, Mr. Destiny from that late 80s, that that blue sheet character, and he's like, yeah, man, I don't like this, this this awful house and this awful life, and I want something different. And so he gets an opportunity right throughout the two hours of the movie to see what his life would have been like if he had never met his spouse. And all he wants to do is is is go back to the family that he knew, very similar in the family man, the reverse happens that he's sort of living it up in his own singleness. And he has shown what would have happened if you would have settled down and become a family man. And then, of course, finally there, when you have George Bailey, who sort of saying he literally wants his life to end, I want to jump off a bridge and kill myself because it's got to be better than the misery that I feel. Now I'm better off dead than alive to my family. And he again, has shown that all these things as he's looked around him, he had the wrong perspective. And God right size is his perspective of what he is supposed to do and how he's supposed to conduct himself. This leads to my second point this morning is live by faith. And whatever situation you find yourself in, I'm using the same term again, because I think it's so important for us to again, see ourselves whether we're married or single, or somewhere in between, because he's going to even address engage people here in a minute. He's just trying to say, Listen, go stay, get married, don't get married, whatever you decide, understand that you're gonna have to live out your faith, and whatever situation you find yourself in. He's saying, you're gonna get married, that's fine. If you don't, that's fine, too. So then we ask questions sometimes of like, Well, God, does this mean that I can't switch jobs that I can't better myself that I can't do things that sort of would advance my career, I don't think he means that at all. Sometimes you should go, sometimes you should stay. Sometimes you should advance yourself, sometimes you shouldn't. He says, in this passage, the important thing is, is that you're gonna have to realize that all these things around you money, relationships, people, all that you're gonna have to be stewards over that realize that that that's going to fade away. And what's going to remain is your heart for me, and others. And so what he's trying to say is, is that you and I, we ask these questions, and that's why a lot of times, just like man, I, I just want to know, the answer, like in the previous passage, you know, do I have to stay in a marriage? Or, or or am I free to get out? And it's like, well, that's the wrong question. It's just like, you're asking here, it's like, well, am I free to move to a different home? Or to buy a better car? Or do I have to stay in this job, he's just gonna say whatever you find yourself, whatever you walk in, do by faith. You're, that's what you're gonna have to do.

He says that that verse references his verse 31, and this is the verses, those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them for this world, as we know it will soon pass away. So what you and I are telling ourselves and what I tell myself, whatever I decide to do for the day, for the month for the year, for the next five or 10 years of my life, I'm asking myself, Lord, am I doing this by faith? Am I walking by faith, and then I'm sitting here telling myself, God's not done with me yet. If I woke up this morning, and my eyes are open, and I have breath in my lungs, God, you're not done with me yet. You must have a purpose for me, I actually have to preach or take teach or talk to myself. And I will say, God, you have a purpose for me, God, you have a purpose for me? What is it you have for me today? And so we all want to go back to well, are you pro circumcision? Or are anti circumcision? These I don't know. I'm in the keep God's commandments camp. And that's what he's trying to say, Are you and then you have these questions about, you know, slavery or or servitude. Now, again, I've talked about this before, but in the ancient world, there were there were many kinds of slavery. And I understand that, that none of them are good, but But it wasn't always sort of the 1800s A chattel slavery that we think about. And so sometimes it was just really just servitude. Were they more like what we see, sort of in England a couple 100 years ago, not always had cruel masters, I get all that. But sometimes, it was just simply someone who was a servant in a household. And what he's saying is, is that listen, I don't know if your lots going to change here in this world or in this life. But if you get an opportunity to be free taken, of course, but what he's saying is that what's it to you because whether you're slave or free, we're all level at the cross. That's gonna become even more clear when you look at a book like Fleeman. And unless he is and when he's being told, yeah, yeah, of course, you are to be received as a brother and sister equal and Christ as everyone else is. But the thing is, is that God doesn't always change our circumstances. But what we you and I do have control over is how are we going to live by faith, wherever and in whatever place we find ourselves in and it may mean that you have to have

Faith to go or faith to stay, right or faith do this or faith to, to hunker down, right? To both? There's no There's no sort of easy. Um, get out of difficult situation card. Last section here, verse 25. And following says, says this. Now regarding your questions, remember, he said I'm telling you he's just, he's just sort of repeating back to them issues that he knew they were asking about had come up in the church, regarding a questions about young women who are not yet married, and do not have a command for the Lord from them meaning Jesus on earth didn't directly address this. So I'm about to dress it. But the Lord in His mercy has given me wisdom that can be trusted. So I'll share it with you because of the present crisis. And I think that's key to to understanding Corinthians is that when you're on the run, or when you find yourself in hostile culture to the Christian faith, you better way seriously, your decisions to marry or not marry for a lot of times throughout Christendom, especially over the last several 100 years, it was assumed you would get married and have kids and that that would be a stable relationship and stabilizing effect in the community. That's now an oddity. And it would have been an oddity in first century here for the Corinthian people. So make sure you understand that you are you are however, and whatever decision you make, you're going to make it in a present crisis, I think it's best to remain as you are, if you have a wife do not seek to end the marriage, if you do not have a wife do not seek to get married. But if you do get married, it's not a sin, that a young woman gets married saw sin, however, those who get married at this time will have what they'll have troubles. And I'm trying to spare you of those problems. But let me say this dear brothers and sisters, the time that remains is very short, which was always true in the church age. So from now on, those with wives should not focus only on their marriage, those who weep or who are joyous or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or joy in their possessions. Because why you got to hold loosely to the things of this world. Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. We're just stewards of this bit until the Lord comes back for this world as we know it will soon pass away, I want you to be free from this concerns of life. And I'm a man can spend his time doing the Lord's work and think about how to please Him. But a man has to think about earthly responsibilities, and how to please his wife. His

interests are divided. And that's why I gave that those illustrations of those movies. Because all of us in whatever situation you find yourself in, whether you're single, you're daydreaming about being married, and a lot of times if you're married, you're daydreaming about your sacral days. And then you have to sort of play that out, though and say, Well, what would that lead to? He's helping you think through that to say, Listen, there's advantages and disadvantages to both. But understand that if you get married and have kids, your interest truly are divided. Because now you got to think about each other. And you got to think about these kids, you have a long, right. And so

in the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and wholly embodying spirit. But a married woman has to think about earthly responsibilities, how to please your husband. And I'm saying this for your benefit not to place restrictions on you. So he's all the time saying, Paul, you sound schizophrenic. He said, I'm pro marriage, one sentence and pro singleness, another. That's the tension he wants to remain so that we have to process it by faith, not some sort of dictatorship from Paul or me to say, Okay, this is what you're to do in your situation, because every given situation is different. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best. That's what he wants. That's what I want for you. That's what Paul wants for you is what God wants for you, with as few distractions as possible. But if a man thinks that he's treating his fiancee improperly, and whenever we get into his Passion, let him marry or as he wishes, it's not a sin. But if he has decided firmly not to marry, and there's no urgency and he can control his passion, he does well not to marry. So the person who marries his fiancee does well, the person who doesn't marry does even better wife is bound her husband as long as he lives but if her husband dies, what she's free to marry anyone she wishes, but only if he loves the Lord, that's sort of making sure you're not unequally yoked, but in my opinion, be better for to stay single. And I'm giving you counsel from God's Spirit. When I say this, he's always sort of either talking out of both sides of his mouth, or he's really trying to help us to live in that tension. Back to that first chart I showed you here. This is the tension He wants us to live in. Marriage is good, has its issues. singleness is good, but it has its issue. Last and final point I want to see here is from one of my movies, one of the things that was one of my favorites growing up and that was City Slickers. And so if you remember this movie again from early 90s And sorry Generation Z you have to go back and look at a lot of movies on streaming services okay just understand your your what I what I'm called an older millennial pastor.

But that pic of the one thing if you remember that character, their curly or or Jack palates is the

actor's name, you know, you always kind of held up that one finger and he had his, his cigarette in his mouth and he's trying to help them and they're sort of processing their own little middle midlife crisis is there with Billy Crystal and others. And he says, You got to figure out that one thing and of course, the whole movie is like, well, what's the one thing what's the one thing and it's it comes back to well, you've got to figure that out for yourself. And so I would just say this, I think you can say it however you want. But you and I got to figure out a way to say it. Third and final point this morning. Be single minded, wholehearted in knowing Jesus. Be single minded, wholehearted, and knowing Jesus, then you might say I didn't see the word Jesus or knowing him in that last section. Now you might be didn't but what you did see what you and I did see was we saw this whole idea of find a way to serve Him, find a way to serve Him, that's best for you, given your situation, find a way to know that what I'm saying to you is by God's Spirit, that's what Paul's saying here, the very spirit of God and so, so I would say, if it was me, I'd say be single minded, wholehearted, in what in gazing upon your beauty, Lord, because for me, when I sort of elevate my gaze upward and think about God and Christ and what He did for me, that always sort of propels me to think and to move and to act in the right direction. Some of you you might say, No, I would place this with be single minded and wholehearted in serving Jesus all the days in my life, you would go right with what Paul was commending here. Or you might say, No, be single minded, wholehearted in keeping God's commands. That would be also in this passage. I just wanted to say, and this is just as an example, we got to figure out what that one thing is whether you have a spouse or not, because something may happen where you don't have a spouse tomorrow, and you and I are still called to be faithful, or you may gain a spouse tomorrow. So be single minded, wholehearted in knowing Jesus. And I'm very clear on that. Because what happens is, is that when you and I sort of get to know our Savior, and the best way to do that, of course, if you've never done it before, is read the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And Jesus is very clear that if you want to know the God of the universe, the God who reigns and lives in heaven and interacts here on Earth, look to Jesus. And so when you sort of get to know this, Jesus, I can also say, get to know the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But how is it that we know any of that it's through the blood of Christ. That's why when George prayed, he said, Listen, if you're here today, and you're far from God, or you don't know Christ, I pray that you would receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. That's why we regularly do baptisms and baby dedications because we're sitting there saying, we want to be a people who bring up our children, to know God, through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we ourselves. If we're a first generation believer, we want to be baptized because we want to tell everybody and we want to show that we have really done this right here. We have decided to be single minded, wholehearted in knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Well, that's our that's our closing. That's our finishing today, and I'm going to pray for us in those regards. Father, I thank you so much for your word. I pray for those who are thinking about how to articulate or say their one thing. Brother, I know that in the sound of my voice, there are people who are hurting in their marriages, there's people who are hurting in their singleness.

There's people who are doing okay or think they're doing okay, but something's about to happen that's going to call them to have more faith than maybe they had before. So if I just pray, I just pray for hearts all around the room, that you would increase our faith, to love and trust you not only these days, but all the days of our life. We ask this in Christ's name, Amen.