WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 This passage that I'm going to be preaching on this morning. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:13.000 Versus 25 through 40 the end of the chapter has changed my position slightly in just the preparation of it. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:29.000 I've always took this passage and tried to soften it in my own thinking that yes, Paul is under the circumstances encouraging singleness. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:35.000 But that's because of the persecution and the distress that they were facing at that time. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:42.000 But overall Paul encourages this marriage, but not in this particular text. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:57.000 Well, I think my position slightly been tweaked a little bit in the preparation of this that I think Paul is truly trying to tell us the benefits of being single. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.000 And sometimes we have overhyped marriage. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:05.000 We may have made an idol out of the family. 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.000 And of course, the family is very important to God and very important to us. 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:11.000 Children are very important. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:12.000 It's a sacred institution. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:19.000 It's a I've always said and still believe that marriage is one of the greatest gifts that God gives us outside of Christ. 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.000 Marriage is a beautiful thing. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.000 A wonderful thing. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:28.000 The Lord says a man who finds a wife has found a good thing. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:29.000 It's not good. 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:32.000 The Bible tells us for a man to be alone. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:40.000 God's made us for marriage and he's made us to have a family and a family is something to be treasured, especially among the church. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:46.000 And we're living in an anti-family culture that wants to destroy the family. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:49.000 And so we need to rally around the family. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:02:02.000 A lot of Christian ministries have done just that rallied around the family to maybe to the extent of putting undue pressure on single people to get married. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.000 So I'm going to preach to the singles today. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.000 If you're single, if you're not married. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:18.000 And I told Ethan yesterday right before he got married, I said, you barely escaped. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:22.000 Jamie, you watch it. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.000 No, I don't want to discourage anyone who's engaged. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.000 In fact, Paul doesn't want to discourage those who are engaged or betrothed. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.000 He says, go ahead and get married. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:31.000 You're free to do this. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:32.000 It's a good thing. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:36.000 It's something that you'll be in the favor of the Lord. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000 But there are some real benefits if you're single. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:47.000 There's a real benefits of being single that you need to be aware of that and treasure that. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:51.000 And this is for all of us to apply to ourselves because you have children. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.000 If you're married, you have children. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:03:00.000 And sometimes those parents want to pressure marriage onto our children and hurry up when you're going to find a spouse when you're going to get married. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:05.000 When we may need to say, hey, have you considered the benefits of being single? 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:14.000 Have you contemplated remaining in an unmarried state? 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.000 It is so foreign to us. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.000 But now I can assume some of you are going, no, no, no, Jeff, we need to encourage marriage. 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:23.000 Well, let's look at this data. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.000 Let's look at this text. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:36.000 Let's see what Paul is saying to us, especially if you're and I think young teenage girls feel the pressure more than boys. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:44.000 So if you're if you're a young lady and and you're feeling the pressure of marriage and other people get married, when am I going to get married? 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:49.000 Maybe this sermon could help ease that weight off of you. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:53.000 And maybe you say, hey, it's OK to be single. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:59.000 And some of you who are single and you would like to be married, I'm not going to discourage. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.000 Paul doesn't discourage you from that desire to be married. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:06.000 But maybe this could be something to contemplate and consider. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:13.000 Even if you plan to get married down the line or as the Lord provides you a spouse, you plan on marrying. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:15.000 But here are some things you can do while you're single. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.000 If you would, you can take advantage of your singleness. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:22.000 There's four advantages of being single. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:26.000 There's four benefits, our blessings for singlehood. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:40.000 But before we get into the de Paul's case for singleness, this text is very difficult to understand in some ways because it's very hard to interpret. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:52.000 In fact, it's so hard to interpret that many of the translators vary on how they translate the passage, especially verse 35, verse 35. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:05:04.000 Some of the old in ASB and even the contemporary legacy Bible, they they insert a word that's not in the original insert fathers. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:16.000 And often we look at this text as if a father who has a young daughter and is somehow being overly restricted on her. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:22.000 If she wants to get married, fathers let your young daughters get married. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:25.000 It's not sinful. So give them permission to marry. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:31.000 And some some have looked at verse 35 as addressing fathers. 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:34.000 Well, I hold that it's not talking about fathers. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:44.000 I'm I hold to it talking about men who are betrothed to a young lady. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:56.000 This text is built upon the cultural consumption that when you're a teenager, especially if you're a young teenage girl, you're already betrothed. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:06.000 So for us to understand this passage, we have to kind of understand the cultural setting of the first century, the Greek, old Roman customs of marriage. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:16.000 In fact, the way they married in the old days is so foreign to us, it seems almost repulsive. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:25.000 We said no way did the Scriptures condone such traditions. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:40.000 But this passage is built upon the tradition that young ladies would be betrothed to a man typically around the age of Quel. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:48.000 The marriages in that day were arranged and it was more of a family arrangement. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:58.000 And the young girl and maybe the man had the young man, single man had some say in it, but the young lady had almost no say in it. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:02.000 She actually was just a young young girl. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:08.000 In fact, typically around eleven or twelve that they would be betrothed. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:14.000 Now, they wouldn't be married right at that time, but they would be spoken for. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:22.000 The family would get into some type of arrangement with a diary and make the terms. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:31.000 And the man typically, even though the young man was married at the age of fourteen, so if you're fourteen you could get legally married. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:34.000 For girls, you could get married at the age of twelve. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:39.000 That seems so wrong in our day. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:44.000 I'm not vouching for that or condoning that, but it was just what was happening. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.000 So young people got married quickly. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:56.000 But normally the men would wait until they were out of the home and could purchase their own place. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:59.000 So they had to have a career, a job and be able to support themselves. 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:02.000 That usually is in the early twenties. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:21.000 So the marriage gap was somewhere around ten to fifteen years, was normal, where a man would, a young single man would go and make his way in the world, leave his parents, and once he was capable of supporting a wife, then he would be married. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:29.000 Maybe he would have been betrothed to that young lady for a while, but he was financially capable. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.000 That's when it would take place. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:35.000 So typically it was about a ten to fifteen year age gap. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:36.000 Now imagine that. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:42.000 That sounds quite strange to our ears. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:50.000 So what makes this passage hard is trying to understand what Paul means by the word virgin. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:58.000 Our ESV translated it "betrothed" and I think that's taken some liberties in the translations because the original is quite clear. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:06.000 It's a virgin, but when we think about virgins, we've got to understand it's mainly speaking of the young girl, not the young guy. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:20.000 It's talking about the young girl who's ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen years old. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:25.000 This is different between someone who's been married or divorced or married in a widow. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.000 This is someone who's never been married at all. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:42.000 And so when the ESV is interpreting the word virgin as betrothed, it's on the assumption that these teenage girls would have been betrothed. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.000 Now it might be the case. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:49.000 There's a few exceptions where you'd get thirteen, fourteen years old and you're not spoken for. 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:54.000 You may not have been betrothed for whatever reason and that did happen. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:10:02.000 But it's the basic assumption that all the young girls are spoken for at a very early age. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:08.000 And so this is the custom and the culture that we have to understand that this text. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:18.000 And so basically the Corinthians are wondering because Paul had already warned them about sexual infidelity and sexual morality. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.000 They said, well, what about sexual intimacy altogether? 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:28.000 And Paul said earlier, hey, it's okay in the context of marriage and you're free to get married. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.000 And then what about if you're married to unbelievers? 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:32.000 We talked about that. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:35.000 And now he's coming to the last section of this. 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.000 What about our young girls who are betrothed? 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:43.000 What about our young men who are engaged, if you would? 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.000 What should they do? 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:54.000 And so what Paul was doing, he's speaking to those who are, if you would, in some type of arrangement to get married. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:58.000 But he's not encouraging them to hurry up and get married. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:06.000 He's not telling them to get out of their arrangement to break off the patrol. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:10.000 He's just saying, listen, there's no hurry. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:12.000 It's okay not to get married. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:21.000 In fact, he'll give us four reasons or benefits for staying single. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:40.000 And I want us to apply this, you know, especially you who are single and if you're a teenager or if you're single in any capacity, I want you to say, hey, there is a blessing and a benefit that God provides me for being a single person. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:56.000 And I want, especially you young ladies and young men who want to get married, I want you to not throw off your aspirations for marriage because God may have put that in your heart and marriage is a good thing. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:03.000 I'm not telling you, I don't think Paul is telling us to forsake that desire. 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:13.000 In fact, Jesus said not very many people can accept being unmarried for the duration of their life, only if few can. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:21.000 But even if you, like I said before, even if you plan on getting married, use your single list today. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:26.000 Use the fact that you're single for God's glory today. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:32.000 So here are four benefits or blessings for being single. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:38.000 One, singleness is less stressful in distressing days. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:43.000 He starts off in verse 25, now concerning the patrols. 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:49.000 Again, he's talking to young, particularly young teenage girls. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:58.000 Now, though we may think this custom is so crazy and I think it is crazy personally, I mean, I have a young daughter. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.000 Sure, I'm not going to do this. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:11.000 But we also need to realize that we also have our own strange customs. 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:17.000 We're not exempt in the culture in which we live in today. 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:32.000 How many people, hopefully not so much in the church, but how many people at the time they're married, they've had six, seven, eight, nine, ten, fifteen different boyfriends or girlfriends. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:35.000 I mean, it happens regularly. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:40.000 And what is that teaching our children? 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:41.000 This is what it teaches. 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:46.000 I think one of the dangers of just dating and dating and dating, and that didn't happen. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:49.000 That very rarely happened in the old days. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:55.000 In fact, I did research on marriage and arranged marriages took place up to the 18th century. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:14:00.000 And it's still taking place in many of the cultures around the world today. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:08.000 And so most, I would say most, or majority of marriages throughout the world's history has been through arranged marriages. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:18.000 Now, I'm not advocating arranged marriages at all, but they did not have the problem of this dating culture that we have today. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:23.000 Everybody just dates and what happens when you date and get accustomed to dating? 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:29.000 This is what happens when times get tough, when you're no longer happy with her or happy with him. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:33.000 And he said this or she said that you break up. 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:34.000 You break up. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:38.000 That's what you do when I don't like them anymore. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:39.000 I break up. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:42.000 I break up. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:55.000 And what does that teach you if you're broken up with five different girls or ten different girls, then you get married and one year after the marriage and things go bad as they will happen. 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.000 Oh, my wife said this or my husband said this. 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:01.000 Well, I want to break up. 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:04.000 That's what you do. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:09.000 And so this is setting a, you know, not necessarily healthy pattern of marriage. 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.000 This idea of just dating. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:23.000 In fact, I'm going to advocate for teenagers to use your singleness for something else. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:30.000 Don't rush into marriage or don't even rush into dating. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:38.000 If you would focus on other things, especially if you're young, say you're 14, 15 years old. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.000 I mean, you know, you're not going to get married very soon. 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:43.000 You know that marriage is not on the horizon. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:46.000 Well, focus on your education. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.000 Focus on preparing yourself. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:54.000 Give your time and energy for something, I think, a little more productive. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:02.000 The Bible would tell us, and this is just my personal counsel to you. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:07.000 You know, the proper seven says the fool will walk by the harlot's house. 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:13.000 You know, you know that she's there, but had, and I'm just curious enough just to go to see the door. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:14.000 I don't want to go in. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:19.000 I just want to see where, where this, I just want to see, you know, and you're curious. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:22.000 The next thing you know, you're in the door. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:25.000 Well, there's so much temptations in this world. 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:27.000 Don't put yourself into temptations. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:32.000 There's no need for it. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:37.000 So many kids fall and stumble. 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:50.000 In fact, we could list, and no need to do it in sensitive ears, but we could list hundreds of cases, thousands of cases of the mighty men, not just, not just non-Christians fallen. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:17:01.000 We could list hundreds of cases of Christians, those who profess the name of Jesus Christ, falling through temptations. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:05.000 It's had the sad, sad state of counseling. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:12.000 People were engaged, Christians who were engaged that weren't able to make it to the wedding night. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.000 It's a sad thing. 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:29.000 So please, please recognize that there's, there's danger in flirting, if you would, when the time is not right. 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:33.000 You see, Paul gives us, I think, inspired of ice. 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:44.000 He says in verse 25, "I have no command from the Lord." That is, he's not referring to the Lord's teaching in his earthly ministry, but he's still inspired of the Holy Spirit. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:51.000 "But I give my judgment as one by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy." So he's given a vice. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:52.000 Now, he's not going to give a wall. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:54.000 He's basically, you're free to marry. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:55.000 You're free to stay single. 00:17:55.000 --> 00:18:02.000 This is, but he is going to give you some counsel, and it's inspired counsel from the Lord. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:09.000 I'm a man who is very much trustworthy based upon God's standards. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:16.000 And what his vice is, because of the present distress, it's best to remain single. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:25.000 Now, when he says in verse 26, "I think in my view of the present distress is good for a person to remain as he is." There's a controversy of what this present distress is. 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:36.000 One is saying, because there was a localized famine in the day, that he's talking about the famine that brought economic distress upon the city of Corinth. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:39.000 But I personally don't think that's what he's talking about. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:44.000 Kiss-it-maker, that's his position on Old Testament commentator. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:58.000 I'll hold to some other commentators like Charles Hodge or Gordon T. that says this present should probably be interpreted as impending, impending distress. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:10.000 This is how the RSV translates this word, pending, not necessarily the distress that you have right now, but there could be a potentially pretending distress in the future. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:19.000 And the reason I take this, because we'll see when we get to verses 31 and on, that we need to live as if Christ is coming back. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:28.000 We need to recognize that life is more than just a moment. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.000 Nevertheless, this could be talking about some localized affliction. 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:41.000 But what application we have for us today is that we should consider outside factors when considering marriage. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:51.000 So when you think about marriage, you should consider your social economic position, your financial situation, where you're at and why. 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:53.000 Does it make sense? 00:19:53.000 --> 00:20:01.000 I know we're eager to say, "Just get married and live off of love," but I think here's some counsel, but say, "Hey, consider, consider. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:03.000 Is this a good time? 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:07.000 Is your life in line? 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:32.000 I think we need to consider these things." But regardless, we could make this application if we are single and we do somewhat expect and predict some difficult days ahead of us, that it'll be way easier to navigate that as a single person than it would be one who's married. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:37.000 So there is a blessing, especially during trials, to be single. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:43.000 There's less to be accountable for and responsible for. 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:47.000 And so that's a blessing that Paul wants us to be aware of. 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:52.000 Second blessing or case for singleness is found in verses 27 through 28. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:21:11.000 "Sigleness as a whole is less troubling." Now he says he's not trying to encourage those who are betrothed, these young people who are already bound to their future spouse, not to break it up. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:15.000 Look, verse 27 says, "Are you bound to a wife? 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:16.000 Do not set to be free. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:20.000 And if you are free from a wife, do not seek a wife. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:23.000 If you do marry, you have not sinned. 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:29.000 And if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned." So it gives three categories. 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:31.000 If you're married, stay married. 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:33.000 We've already looked at that. 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:35.000 If you're single, stay single. 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:44.000 And if you're betrothed, or in our language if you're engaged, you can get married. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:55.000 But the overall advice is to stay in the position that you're in, that you can worship God if you're married or if you're single. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:05.000 Your condition is not disqualifying you or hindering you from doing your main job. 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:08.000 We see this in verse 28. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:19.000 "Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you of that." And basically, the apostle Paul is telling us that marriage is hard. 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:22.000 Marriage brings additional worldly complications. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:29.000 He calls it "wordly troubles." And this can be avoided. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:37.000 I'll get to this in a minute, but marriage does bring in a lot of difficulties. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:41.000 That a single person doesn't have to worry about. 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:48.000 And we can list all the financial difficulties. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:53.000 You know, have to worry about, I mean, one old change is tough enough. 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:59.000 But to have to worry about your wife's old change is this additional thing to worry about. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:04.000 And I'm being a little funny here, but there's so many things that marriage brings to the table. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.000 And this can be avoided for those who are single. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:11.000 But third, the third benefit is found in verse 29 through 31. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:15.000 And this is the one for us to make application to all of us. 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:22.000 This is where, you know, in this sermon, this is for if you're married, if you're single, this is for all of us to take heed to. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:25.000 Look at verse 29. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:28.000 This is what I mean, brothers. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:32.000 And this is going back to, I think, to the pending distress. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:36.000 I think this is where he gives interpretation and understanding to that. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:39.000 This is what I mean, brothers. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:42.000 The point of time has grown very short. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:24:03.000 From now on, let those who have wives live as though they have none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as those who are not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with this world as though they had no dealings with it. 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.000 For the present form of this world is passing away. 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:10.000 Now, what does he mean here? 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.000 You have wives pretend like you don't have a wife? 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:18.000 Let those who have wives live as though they had no lot, had none? 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:20.000 What does that mean? 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:22.000 I mean, you married, man. What does it mean? 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.000 How can a wife on pretend like I don't have one? 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:26.000 I'm just going to live as if I don't have one. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:29.000 If I'm mourning, I'm sad, I'm going to live if I'm not sad. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:31.000 If I'm happy, I'm going to live if I'm not happy. 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:35.000 If I'm buying things, I'm going to live as if I don't have anything. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.000 What does this mean, even? 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:47.000 Well, it doesn't mean that we ignore our spouses, or never get sad or happy anymore. 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:49.000 It doesn't mean that we're to be stoics. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:57.000 But what it does mean is we're to live our lives in light of eternity. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:59.000 Verse 29 says, "This is what I mean, brothers. 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:01.000 The appointed time has gone very short. 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:12.000 This life is going to be over soon." Verse 31 says at the end,"For this present form of this world is passing away." This life is going to be over for you, no? 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:15.000 Marriage is going to be over for you, no? 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:17.000 Your home is going to be destroyed before you know it. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:21.000 Everything you bought is going to be rusted and done away with. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:24.000 Everything of this world is temporal. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:28.000 Remember, this is why we don't want to make an idol out of marriage. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:32.000 Marriage is still temporal. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:35.000 It's not eternal. 00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:37.000 It's not what you live for. 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:40.000 You don't live to get married. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.000 You don't live to get the world's goods. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:52.000 You don't live as if your tears are the end of the story or your happiness is the end of the story. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:54.000 This life is passing away. 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:56.000 Everything about this life is temporal. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:06.000 And this is a command for us to not make this world, in the things of this world, even marriage an idol in our life. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:08.000 It's passing away. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:09.000 It's going to be gone. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:12.000 And we need to live in light of that. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:17.000 If we're married or if we're single, I've lived long enough. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:24.000 I am talking on the door of fifty. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.000 Who's did that? 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:29.000 I know it's old. 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.000 I know it's old. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:37.000 I can't believe, I literally cannot believe I'm this age. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:38.000 I'm serious. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:46.000 It's hard to believe I've reached a half of a century. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:49.000 I am old. 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:58.000 Greg, you're a lot older. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:05.000 I've been married almost twenty five years. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:10.000 It's like it goes fast. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:11.000 It goes fast. 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:14.000 Everything goes fast. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:16.000 And we forget it. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:17.000 You're single. 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:18.000 I know you're single. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.000 And you're going, when am I going to get married? 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:25.000 If I don't get married, my life's ruined. 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:30.000 No, you'll be in the grave for you know it. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:33.000 And I know, listen, that sounds depressing. 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:38.000 But listen, don't lay your treasures on earth. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.000 You need to number your days. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:46.000 We need to remember that this life is not what we're living for. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:48.000 You know, we're accumulating wealth. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:49.000 Why? 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:51.000 It's going to be gone. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:53.000 We're happy and sad. 00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:55.000 Why are we happy and sad? 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:58.000 We understand, hey, what makes us happy? 00:27:58.000 --> 00:27:59.000 We got something new. 00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:00.000 Well, big what? 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:02.000 You're going to be sad tomorrow. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.000 And if you're sad today, you'll be happy tomorrow. 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.000 Don't live as if this is your life. 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:12.000 And for single people, that's the, this is Paul's counsel. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:24.000 I think Paul is really trying to make us realize marriage is not the end of life. 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:30.000 The reason we're concerned about marriage is because we're overly concerned about this present life. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:39.000 The reason we're happy and sad, most of the time we're happy and sad is, sometimes it's about eternal realities because you're worried about the salvation of someone. 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:42.000 But most of the time you're sad or happy. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:47.000 It's about something temporal, something very fleeting. 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:54.000 The reason we get wrapped up in this world is because, and we buy things, is because we think we're going to live here forever. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:55.000 We're pilgrims. 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:57.000 We're just strangers. 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:59.000 We're passing through. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:02.000 This world is coming to an end. 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:10.000 And we need to live knowing that the form of this world is passing away. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:17.000 Let us, none of us live for this world. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:21.000 Don't give yourself to your profession, to your work. 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:26.000 Don't wrap yourself up with the concerns of this world. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:35.000 Remember the parable about the seed coming up and the cares, concerns, choking out that seed? 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:45.000 Well, in reality, we've got to be careful for marriage because marriage brings more concerns. 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:54.000 And for us married people, don't allow your marriage to keep you from serving the Lord. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:30:03.000 It could be one of the good concerns that keeps you from being concerned about God. 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:11.000 Marriage is one of the best gifts God has given us, but member is still of this world. 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:17.000 My last point or Paul's last point, singleness is less distracting. 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:20.000 Look at verses 32 through 35. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:23.000 I want you to be free from anxieties. 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:28.000 The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:33.000 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife. 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:37.000 And his interests are divided. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:44.000 And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and in spirit. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:49.000 But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:59.000 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:05.000 Simply stating, he's saying if you're married, you're going to have divided attention. 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:11.000 And not saying that's sinful or wrong, but it's just a state of reality. 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:22.000 I remember taking in college under my professor who taught first Corinthians, I remember arguing him with him about this text. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:28.000 And I said, well, no, if you're married, maybe you could do more for the Lord because there's two of you can serve the Lord more. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:32.000 And he goes, no, son. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:37.000 And he must have been looking at a new washer and dryer set at the time. 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:43.000 He goes, no, if you're married, you have to worry about washers and dryers. 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:55.000 And it is true, though, if you're married, you have to do all kinds of things to please your spouse. 00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:57.000 It is not bad things. 00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:00.000 It's not things you shouldn't be seeking to do. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:08.000 But it is a distraction. And if you're single, you can be wholly devoted to the Lord. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:14.000 You can give that time and that energy to serving the Lord in both your body and spirit. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:17.000 Marriage does require time and attention. 00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:20.000 It does include additional anxieties. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:25.000 Know that if you're single, say I want to get married, know that it will cost you something. 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.000 It's worth it, in my opinion. 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:35.000 But it does take energy and effort. 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:43.000 So I think if you're single, the key is if you're single, be devoted to the Lord. 00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:45.000 Holy. Now, a lot of you singles. 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:50.000 I want to I want to rebuke you if you need to be rebuked. 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:56.000 If you're devoted to Xbox, you're wasting your singleness. 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:00.000 If you're devoted to gaming. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.000 Or just playing. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:08.000 Or just taking the extra time that you have, especially if you're in your upper teens. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:15.000 You're not you're not advancing yourself toward godliness and holiness and using this time wisely. 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:20.000 I've seen this myself and I see this in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:26.000 I'm convinced and for this potentially for the seminary students, I say this. 00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:34.000 That if you're if you're not in pastoral ministry, you need to use every bit of extra time you have to prepare for pastoral ministry. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:40.000 Because when you get in it, you're not going to have the time you think you're going to have to be able to do pastoral ministry. 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:46.000 You're not going to have all the extra study time to go through all these passages. 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:48.000 Do it now. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:50.000 And the same thing if you're single. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:53.000 This is the time to grow in holiness and maturity. 00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:59.000 This is the time to give your life to making sure you're walking closely to the Lord. 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:03.000 Don't wait as I will get mature and live for the Lord when I get my twenties and thirties. 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:06.000 No do it when you're a teen. 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:13.000 Devote yourself now to be holy in your thinking and your behavior. 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:25.000 Don't be distracted if you would with the opposite sex at this time. 00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:34.000 Now Paul does give advice to the widows who are going from house to house and being idle and busy bodies and gossiping. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:36.000 They said go get married. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:37.000 Go get married. 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:43.000 If you can't use your time to serve the Lord then go get married. 00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:56.000 That's implying that if you are single use your time not to sin but for God. 00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:06.000 So I think singleness offers some wonderful blessings that we need to promote and encourage among our singles. 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:08.000 But you do have freedom to marry. 00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:10.000 We see this in verse 36. 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:23.000 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly towards his betrothed, if his passions are strong, if it has to be let him do as he wishes, let them marry. 00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:25.000 That is let the two young people marry. 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.000 It's no sin. 00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:35.000 So you're free to marry. 00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:40.000 Secondly, your freedom to remain single. 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:42.000 We see this in verse 37. 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:55.000 "But Hoover 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. 00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:04.000 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better." That is you're in a win-win situation. 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:06.000 If you're engaged, marry. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:08.000 You're good. 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:14.000 If you want to refrain from marriage and hold off, serve the Lord a little longer, you're good as well. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:16.000 Then he goes in to conclude. 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:23.000 Verses 39 and 40 is concluding the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 7. 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:28.000 And he sums up everything by saying, "A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:31.000 You're not free to divorce. 00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:37.000 But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she whizzes only in the Lord. 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:42.000 Yet in my judgment, she is happier if she remains as she is. 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:48.000 And I think I do have the Spirit of God." So basically, bottom line is marriage is a blessing of the Lord. 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:49.000 It's to be encouraged. 00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:50.000 It's to be celebrated. 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:53.000 It represents Christ in the Gospel. 00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:54.000 Thank the Lord for marriage. 00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:56.000 We celebrate marriage. 00:36:56.000 --> 00:37:03.000 But also we don't want to look down upon singleness or discredit singleness. 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:06.000 It is also a blessing of the Lord. 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:09.000 Your singleness is a gift from God. 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:21.000 If I use that gift to please the Lord, not just yourself, live all of us, no matter what state we're in, let us live as if this world is passing away. 00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:23.000 Marriage is going to be gone. 00:37:23.000 --> 00:37:25.000 This world is going to be gone. 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:27.000 Everything of this life is going to be gone. 00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:30.000 What's going to remain is only. 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:36.000 The only thing that's going to remain of our lives is what we do for God. 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:41.000 Now, you can work for the Lord in marriage and you can work for the Lord in singleness. 00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:44.000 But that's the objective of life. 00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:47.000 That's really Paul's message here. 00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:52.000 You can serve God in whatever condition that God calls you in. 00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:55.000 You don't have to flee marriage or get into marriage. 00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:01.000 You can serve God as you are, where you're at, as long as God is your God. 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:05.000 And what you do is for His glory. 00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.000 You see, serving God must be our chief objective. 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:13.000 Yes, sexual intimacy is holy within marriage. 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:17.000 But we see here singleness has its real advantages. 00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:18.000 Let's pray. 00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:21.000 Let's pray for the single people. 00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:37.000 Lord, my prayer today, Lord, that we would use this text not to discourage marriage, but to see the value and the beauty of singleness. 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:40.000 How it does have real benefits. 00:38:40.000 --> 00:39:06.000 I do pray for the singles that are here today, that they wouldn't feel an outside pressure to get married for the sake of just getting married, but rather they feel the pressure by your spirit and the motivation of your spirit to take their singleness and live for your glory and give their singleness and their devotion and their time and their energy to serve you and to serve your church. 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:21.000 So, Lord, I pray for contentment for all of us, for married or for single, whatever state that we're in, that we would see the beauty of where we are and how we can please you in the condition and state that you have called us. 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:25.000 Lord, I pray for this in your son's name. Amen. 00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:27.239 [ through j