Before I read, would you please join me in seeking the Lord's blessing and prayer. Lord Jesus, we are your sheep. We are your flock and you are that great shepherd. You have come to give us life and life to the full. And we need your instruction. We need you to preach to us. We need to hear the voice of our shepherd. And help us, Lord, to be able to hear what it is that your spirit led the Apostle Paul to write, to say, to counsel, so that we would be wise. Some of the situations and times and customs may differ, Lord, but we too need to hear your word. We too need to hear what you led the Apostle Paul to write. And so bless us, Lord, we ask. Help us to benefit from the preached word. In Jesus' name, Amen. 1 Corinthians chapter 7, starting at verse 25. Please give your attention to God's word. Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress, it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned. If a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles. And I would spare you that. This is what I mean. Brothers, the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none. And those who mourn as though they were not mourning. And those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing. And those who buy as though they had no good. Those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. The married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife. And his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. The married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit. you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes. Let them marry. It is no sin. Whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity, but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. So then he who marries his betrothed does well. He who refrains from marriage will do even better. A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. Yet in my judgment, she is happier if she remains as she is. I think that I too have the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul never writes that a Christian man taking a Christian wife is a sin. We never find in his writing, it is a sin for a Christian man to marry a Christian woman. But the Apostle Paul refuses to play pretend. It's not sinful if you get married, but let me be honest with you about what married life involves. You see, when you're an apostle, you don't have any time to waste. You have been given a mission. You are supposed to present the churches that the Lord has placed you over as pure virgins to the Lord. And as he writes in verse 29, this season, the time is short. Of course, he doesn't mean Kronos clock time, but event time. As we heard earlier from John, there's only one event left in the redemptive calendar. There's only one event left in salvation history, and that is the return of the Lord Jesus. His advent. And so Paul, remembering the stories that Jesus would have taught and would have been passed down, is that the last thing that's happening now is the master of the house is returning. When the master of the house returns, you shouldn't be wasting time. You shouldn't be thinking you can put things off tomorrow that are your duty. You must be focused on doing the will of your master. and marriage presents a challenge to this. This is very interesting. I hear Pastor Paul gets a knock at his door. It's a young man or a young engaged woman who would be addressed as a virgin or a maiden or someone who has pledged. And they say, Paul, should I go through with this? I'm engaged. I am to be given to this man. I am going to marry this woman. Our families have worked it all out. Should I do this? Of course, there can be all kinds of reasons why they would want the Apostle Paul's counsel for this. Verse 25 is one of those things. Paul says, I have no commandment from the Lord. We don't have a verse in the Gospels or in the Old Testament that says, if you are a pagan and you happen to be converted after hearing the Gospel and you were engaged, and now you're wondering, well, I'm converted, should I go through with this? There is no verse. And so they write, in addition to his other questions, to the Apostle Paul. He is their minister, their church planner. He is an apostle. And they would have read the book of Proverbs and learned that Proverbs says, when you need wisdom, don't wait for it, seek it, go after wisdom. And they do that by writing to the Apostle Paul. And here then is his response. He is giving them counsel. This is what I, your minister, your church planner, an apostle, one who has the Spirit of God in a way particular to the apostolic office, this is what I think you should do. Paul is speaking to people who have marriage before them and all of the questions and what ifs and worries that come with it. Her family, they're a bunch of pagans. She says she's a Christian, but what if she's really just, I don't know, she just wants the marriage to work? What if she dies during childbirth? How am I going to afford things? What if we can't get good work because we're Christians now? All those troubles and anxieties before the prospect of marriage. And what is Paul's aim? Verse 32, I want you to be free from those anxieties. Verse 34, I want you to be devoted to the Lord in body and spirit. Verse 35, I'm not trying to just drop rules on your head and restrain you from doing something, but I am trying to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. Verse 28, the apostle Paul is trying to be honest. Can I use keep it real? He's trying to keep it real with these people. You will face many troubles. You will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. Is the Apostle Paul bluffing? Like, is he just trying to, like, I don't know, scare them into doing what he wants? Is this really how marriage is? Let's put it to the test. Let's put the Apostle Paul's words to the test. Raise your hand if you're married and you have had anxieties or troubles about your marriage or with your spouse. All right. Okay, well, that's not all of it. Let's put our hand back down here. Okay, raise your hand if you are married and have felt the difficulty of having time that is divided exclusively to the Lord. not children, not spouse, just to the Lord. Raise your hand if you felt some difficulty in your marriage. Okay, all right, one more here. Raise your hand if you're married and you have experienced troubles that you would not have experienced if you did not marry that person. Anybody else there? Okay, great. So the Apostle Paul is not bluffing. Marriage comes with difficulties, troubles. This is simply a truth of marriage. And one of those reasons is just because marriage is in a sinful world. wherever there are married Christians, they are in verse 26, that present distress. Here's kind of one of the mistakes I think sometimes people can make when they're studying first Corinthians is they get so kind of preoccupied with identifying what is the specific present distress for the Corinthian congregation that they forget the Bible's teaching that no one is entering into the kingdom without tribulations and trials. We live in a fallen world, a world filled with misery and difficulties because of Adam's failure. Christian marriages take place in a world in which they live in, but they are not truly a part of. And so there is always a present distress, whether it be our families treat us differently because we're Christians. I don't really get to get the same opportunities as everyone else does because I'm a Christian. It can be as startling as persecution or martyrdom, or it can just be something like there are routine parts of society that we can't participate in. We can't promote these causes. We can't champion these slogans because we are Christians. There is a present distress that is exceptionally harder when you are married. I remember watching a film that they were trying to demonstrate what it was like for the early church. There's this very powerful scene where a husband is pleading with the Lord, let me be a martyr, but please not my wife, right? So here he is in the moment where he has to give his testimony. And his devotion, and of course every husband here understands this, his devotion is divided. Because, Lord, I don't want to see my wife be martyred. I don't want to see that. There is a present distress. This makes marriage difficult. And the second thing is you are married to a person. Paul says, right, you're concerned with how to please. that person. I can think of scenarios where as you are on your way home, maybe the first thing is, what can I do that would be helpful to my spouse? What can I do that would encourage them? How can I show interest? And there's other things, right? I can come home and say, tell me all about your day. Or I can come home and try to secure some devotion to the Lord in which we are moving together in prayer, and obviously you should do both, but you know us. Usually it's just, what can I do to help you? What's going on? A focusing on how to please your spouse rather than pushing or encouraging your spouse towards further devotion with the Lord. Paul says married Christians experience the present distress that the church will always experience until the Lord completes his kingdom together And that causes difficulty, causes anxiety. And then there is the trouble or worry of how to please your spouse. So pastor Paul counsels the, uh, the patrols, the pledge, the engage in verse 28. If you marry, it is not a sin, but you will face troubles. And I wish to spare you or verses 39 through 40. The one who marries does right. But the one who does not marry does better. And in Paul's judgment, the one who remains as they are is in verse 40, happier. The Greek could also be translated blessed, which kind of makes us want to argue with the apostle Paul a little bit here. How is the person who remains the unmarried person? How are they better? How are they blessed? Well, we get our answer by focusing on the aim of the Christian life. So we get Paul's aim. My aim is to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. But what is the aim of the Christian life? And this kind of helps us to see in which way the single Christian is in a blessed state that is in distinction to those who are married. Our aim is to be fully conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. To be satisfied in Jesus entirely. waiting for a time where we will be freed from sins, distractions, and to enjoy him entirely. We could add, given that we're talking about singles in marriage, that in the new heavens and the new earth, though we will retain our sexual distinctions, we will not express them in sexual activity. And further, the strongest bond that we will have in eternity is with the Lord Jesus and his people. In the age to come, the waters of baptism and all the relationships that have been formed by those waters will outlast forms of blood relation, forms of marriage. That is what will last. And so it is the single Christian that better, if I could put it that way, or pictures this, more than married life. Single Christians seek their longing for love in the Lord Jesus entirely. In a sex-crazed world, single Christians display that sex is not a right, it's not a need, it is not an identity. I mean, think about that. Think about our world and our culture, and there you have a life that clearly demonstrates ultimate satisfaction is in the Lord Jesus. and it's not a right or a need or a definition that can be determined based on my sex or how I identify. Single Christians seek the fullness of their relationships with Christ and with his body. It is certainly true that Christian marriage pictures beautifully the love that Christ has for his church. This is Ephesians 5, right? We get this from Paul, that it shows a picture of A faithful husband loving a bride towards a goal. But again, it is the single life that demonstrates that goal. Complete satisfaction in Christ. It is the single Christian who pictures beautifully this eschatology. I'm a Westminster, you know, I had to use that word, right? That end goal. This is what Jesus says in Matthew 22 at the resurrection. When I complete my kingdom, when the new age is beginning, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like angels in heaven. Doesn't mean we're going to be floating, get resurrected bodies, but what? We will find complete satisfaction in Christ that it will just overwhelm us, complete us. fill us in such a way that that are rejoicing with one another won't be. We used to be married or used to be my child. It would be we are together with the Lord. This is what is before the Christian. It is the single life that pictures that future in a particular way. Then we get what I believe to be the mastery of the Holy Spirit in Paul's counsel. Whether you were single, married, or betrothed, Paul's primary burden and concern applies to all of us. Paul, as he wanted for the Corinthian church, wants for us here in Elkins Park, as the Lord Jesus wants for us, we are to devote ourselves, body and soul, to the Lord. Paul doesn't write verses 32 through 35, you know, the unmarried man is concerned about pleasing the Lord, but the married man is only concerned about pleasing his wife. He doesn't say this as if it's a law, where like, if I was saying to James, like, oh, James, you know, I would encourage you to pursue more devotion to the Lord, but you're married, so don't worry about it. He doesn't write this as a law. He writes it as this is the way things normally go, and he brings it to our attention, what? to encourage married couples, secure your devotion. Make what is primary in your marriage and in your home life, what speaks of God, His glory, His kingdom. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. And you know that you can do this because you have the mind of Christ, you have the spirit of Christ, and this is what the Lord Jesus does. The Lord Jesus loves his bride, the church, without ever being distracted or pulled away from his devotion to the Father. In fact, what Paul is urging married Christians to do is to seek such devotion and commitment to the Lord that your love to your spouse is an application of loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So he writes in verses 29 through 31, this is what I mean, brothers. The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it, for the present form of this world is passing away. I read this. Read verse 29 to Angie earlier. Let those who have wives live as though they have not. Well, we know what Paul doesn't mean. Remember just in an earlier chapter, he said, listen, if you're married, you need to be intimate. This would clash if it simply meant something as basic as that. Rather, what Paul is saying is, let your devotion to the Lord lead you into every other realm. Take hold of, I need to love the Lord with everything that I am, all that He has given me. And then move towards your spouse, your work, the world, your children. Make what is primary in your actions, primary in your thoughts and how you go about these areas of life, the Lord's glory. To be a disciple in all things and not a consumer or one who is focused entirely on self. And so this, I think, practically would involve husband and wife sitting down together and maybe asking, How can I help you with securing your heart, your body, your soul and mind and strength to the Lord? Just like when you try to secure time for other things, vacation, travel, education, tutoring, sports, you begin to shift the schedule and figure out what needs to fall into place so that this can be certain. And so married couples, I encourage you, think about what needs to be shuffled or moved. to make devotion to the Lord certain and secure. Well, Singles, you also have the mind of Christ and the spirit of Christ. And I think you are called in this passage to demonstrate, as Jesus did while he was here on earth, what it means to be entirely satisfied in the love of God and to focus on the glory that is before you. Notice that Paul, again, he seems to believe that the unmarried have a distinct and recognizable eagerness for the things of the Lord. Something that he could write and make this comparison that would be received and recognized by the Corinthian church. And so if the way that I think this passage maybe steps on the toes of married Christians is, yeah, love each other. but love each other because you are so filled with the love for the Lord. Let your primary devotion to Him move you towards your spouse in all things. Fight to make sure that the Lord is primary in your marriage. If that's the way I think it kind of steps on married folks' toes, I think the way that it maybe steps on the toes of singles is do you have this life where it is recognizable You are anxious, is even the word that Paul uses, anxious for the things of the Lord. Everybody is anxious today. Here, Paul says, anxious about the things of the Lord. With the state of singleness, are you using it to make the phone calls, do the visits, utilizing the time to pray, to invest, to read and grow in your knowledge of the Lord? I think this is what this passage calls you to consider and do. Paul wants us to give ourself, body and soul, to the Lord. What I think to be most excellent about this passage is, friends, isn't Jesus worth it? You're being told to give entire devotion to someone. It's not someone who has betrayed you or withheld any good from you. It's not someone whose word you can't trust on. It's not someone who makes mistakes or has weaknesses in areas that you know about. It's not someone who's it's the Lord Jesus. It is your savior. your creator, your maker, your redeemer, your shepherd, your older brother, the Prince of Peace. He is the one who you are called to give everything to. What a joy that is. Jesus deserves that level of devotion. And to give it to anyone else, even your spouse who you love. This would result in disappointment. But those who give themselves to the Lord entirely, There is no shame for them. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are concerned with the things of this life. You give us your word to instruct us about marriage and relationships and unmarried and those engaged. And so, Lord, I pray that we would be faithful to you wherever we are, whatever station of life that we are in. Lord, please, by your spirit, give us what is needed to be faithful to you. Increase our devotion, Lord. I pray that you would do that by helping us to see just how glorious you are, that you are worthy of our praise and worthy of our devotion. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.