Eternity in the Everyday (1 Corinthians 7:25-40)

[Music] The Lord be with you. If you have a Bible or someone around you does, which I hope that you all do, would you turn with me? We are going to be looking at 1 Corinthians this morning, chapter 7. And we're going to be covering verses 25- 40. So, this will be rounding out chapter 7. 1 Corinthians 7:25 to 40.

And in this letter, Paul is writing to a church in the city of Corinth. And as we've seen through this series so far is that Paul is addressing a number of issues that are facing this church. In fact, we find that this church has a lot of problems. If you ever had a church that has a lot of issues, this is like a prime candidate church here because they have adultery that is being uh propagated and promoted and they're boasting in the fact that this adultery is taking place within their church. We see that people are taking advantage of sexual immorality and using the liberty they have in Christ as an excuse for their sexual immorality. We see lawsuits are taking place in the church and even just rampant division where factions are forming in the church and people are starting to say, "Well, I was baptized by this Christian or I follow this teaching and therefore I have higher status in the church. I'm more valuable as a Christian than you are."

And so Paul has been reminding these believers that their true identity is found in the gospel of Christ and that they are saints not because of their status, because of their wealth, because of their education, because of any of these other things, but they are saints solely by the work of Christ. That is their identity. And so he's been regularly addressing the sin issue and then calling them back to their identity found in Christ. And then as we get to chapter 7, what we found is that now what Paul does is he starts to address very specific questions that these Corinthians have been asking him. And what we actually find is that first Corinthians is actually kind of a misnomer because this actually is probably um at least his second letter to the Corinthians that he's been talking to them. He's been in conversation, communication with this church and they have been asking him questions specifically about marriage, about singleness, um about the topics around sex and he's been addressing these now and he's framing it both thinking in our identity once again in Christ and our calling, what it means to have a calling.

And so what he does in the beginning of chapter 7 is he he kind of starts to have us understand that marriage and singleness are both gifts. They are both good gifts given to us by God. And so we were reminded then that you are not more valuable if you're married or if you're single. But that both of these are gifts that God has has given us. Because in this church there were some who were starting to once again go on one of two extremes. There'd be some who were using their their liberty in Christ as a as a um a substitute or justification for their sexual immorality. So they would be being unfaithful to their spouses. But then on the flip side, there would be some who didn't want to be sexually active at all and they were actually starting to embrace like asceticism, a monk style life where though they were still married, they were denying their spouse their conjugal rights. And so you had these two different extremes. And so what he starts to explain is that there is these parameters and these gifts that come with both singleness and marriage. And we are to view either one of these gifts as good gifts, good callings that you have been called to. And whether that is a a temporary season of life because you could be single for a season and you maybe desire marriage and so it might be a temporary gift that leads to then the other gift. Or likewise, you may be someone and we'll actually look at this this morning a little bit is or you might be someone who was married and then you become a widow. Or maybe you've been abandoned because a spouse left you and you were um maybe you were a believer, they were an unbeliever and they abandoned you. And he says that now you might be embracing the gift of singleness. Not that that death is a gift or that that divorce is a gift, but rather that the the experience of singleness at that point could have been a gift. And so what we find here is he's wanting us to see these things as gifts and as callings.

And then in verse 17, he broadens the scope beyond just marriage and singleness. And what he actually says is every single person that is in Christ has a calling. Every single one of you, whatever you're doing in your life, when it comes to your your occupation, when it comes to your marital status, when it comes to maybe your freedom, which he would have been addressing, some people were literally servants, were slaves at this time, where some were free. Um, some were Jew, Gentiles. So, regardless of your ethnicity, your wealth, your education level, every single one of you where you are at currently, God has called you to be here. Now, that doesn't mean that it's an encouragement or endorsement for sin, but it is that God knew that you would be here and he can actually use you right where you are at. And he wants you to be faithful where he has you and to use wisdom as he guides you along. And so, we see this calling for uh for marriage, for singleness. We've seen this broadening explaining how every Christian has a divine calling and we are called to to be content in our circumstances because our contentment is not based on our circumstances. Our contentment once again is found in Christ. And if you have that relationship established, if that truly is your identity, regardless of if you're a servant, if you're free, if you're a Jew, if you're a Gentile, if you're married, if you're single, you will be able to be content. If Christ is your identity, if he is your true ultimate calling, you will be content. And so that's what he wanted to encourage them. So we see these gifts or callings. We see that everyone has a calling and we are to be content in that calling, not seeking to change all of the time our circumstances.

Well, now as we come to this section in verses 25 to 40, he's going to start to address to some of the unmarried virgins in the congregation as well as some of the widows. And it's really going to be kind of jumping back and we're going to see some connections between some of these other um thoughts that Paul has had. But what I think he's going to start to do now when when we're thinking about calling is he's going to show us here, I think, that to follow Christ faithfully, we need an eternal perspective on life and calling. If we want to truly be faithful followers of Christ, when we think about our circumstances, when we think about our life, when we think about what has God called me as an individual to, you are not going to be able to live it out fully and embrace what he has for you if you don't have a proper eternal perspective. And that's what I think he's going to draw for us this morning.

But in verses 25 to 28, what I want to draw out specifically first from the text is I think that he is reminding us that every calling has challenges. Now, some of you might be right out of the gate, you're like, "Yeah, I absolutely know that." You're saying that my calling, the circumstances that I'm living in, you know, this is supposed to be holy in some ways. I see a lot of challenges in my calling right now. I see a lot of challenges in my life. And I think that he is going to show us as he looks to both singles and marrieds once again is he's showing us that regardless there's going to be difficulty. No season is free from difficulty. Each calling brings unique burdens and unique blessings to your life. And I'm sure many of us can probably attest to that in different states of your life. Maybe you were someone that was not very well off. Maybe you were really struggling one point financially or maybe you were struggling in your marriage at one point and now you look back and maybe you've maybe you're more well off now or maybe your marriage is healed at this point but now you can look back and you can see how even God was doing some good things in those moments. Maybe he was shaping you. Maybe he was correcting you. Maybe he was building you up and and making you more dependent on him. And and there there's just a variety of ways that we could look at this. But every single season of your life as you are walking in your calling with the Lord, he's going to allow you to experience both of these things, burdens and blessings. And in fact, in Ecclesiastes 3:1, it says to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. That means that you going through this life are going to experience a a wide variety of things and there are going to be highs. There are going to be lows. And just because you are walking with the Lord and just because this is your calling, it doesn't mean that everything is going to be perfect all of the time. That is part of the calling. Sometimes we think hardship is is a sign of failure in our calling. No, hardship is actually a part of the calling itself.

And so once again, when we come to thinking about him addressing the singles and the marrieds, well, what he starts to do here, and if you read Paul here, you're almost like, is is he saying that marriage is bad? Because he's almost like saying like, you know, he would encourage many people not to be married. Like that that if you haven't been married yet, and once again, he's addressing some of these widows and and some that have never been married before, you might not need to get remarried. You might not need to marry if you are single right now. You don't have to look to that change in status and think that that will then fulfill you. That will give you true purpose or identity. But what he's saying ultimately is to be content in Christ. But if you do marry, it's not wrong. Marriage isn't wrong, but it comes with worldly troubles. And if you see this early in the text in verses 25 and following, he says, "Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in his mercy has made trustworthy. I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But even if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless, such will have trouble in the flesh. But I would spare you."

See, what he's talking about here is that it's not bad to marry. But if you do choose this calling, if you feel like you have the gift of marriage and you feel like that you have the opportunity to marry or maybe if you are already in marriage, then that means by the way that is your gift. That is your calling. That is we've already looked at how marriage is meant to be a permanent calling for life. And so what we see here is he says it's not bad but as many of us know if you are if you have been married there are problems in marriage. Why is that? Well, because when you are a person who sins and you marry somebody else who sins, you know what you're going to find in the home? Sin. Now that's not an endorsement for you to sin in your home or sin in your marriage, but it's the reality of life is that we are not perfect. We are not God. And we have to deal with our own issues. And I'm sure sometimes you are probably not happy with yourself at times. I know I am frustrated with myself at times. There are times I wish I would have handled a situation so much better or I wish I wouldn't be thinking this way or acting this way at times. And if that's your case with just you as a person, now you put another person in the mix and then you potentially create other human beings and then those children have issues as well. It can be very messy and hard at times. And so we have to understand that if you are married, there are going to be problems. There are going to be these these burdens that come with the blessings.

And then Paul specifically here seems to suggest that there is this um this present distress. Now he doesn't go into much detail of what the present distress is going on here in this context. It could be that there's something very specific going on in the city of Corinth. Maybe there's some poverty. Maybe something like that is going on. Or some think that it could be that it's just the persecution that is that is rampant going throughout the church that many are starting to be hostile towards Christians. And in fact, we even see the the suggestion that there are unbelievers that are divorcing their believing spouses now. And so that could also be a result of this, right? That that people are being divorced because they're Christians now or they're getting kicked out of the synagogues. And so he could be saying because of all of this hostility, all of the the difficulty that comes with following Christ, it might just be easier to not marry. And I just can't imagine sometimes we miss this in in the United States. But do you realize if you could lose your life, be imprisoned, or lose your family due to just being a Christian, how hard and serious that would be. Cuz there are places like in North Korea right now where if someone finds out that you, your wife, your children are Christians, that they have Bibles in the home, you guys could be separated forever. And so you could have a wife or a husband or a child that could be ripped out of your home, taken from you forever just for your faith in Christ. That's what becomes a reality for some of these individuals. And so what he's saying is just practically speaking, it's going to be a lot harder for those who are married, for those who have children, because you have to deal with not only what what's going on here, and that's, you know, sin issues or external problems that come with the world. He says that I would spare you from some of that.

And we know Paul, you know, he is single at this point. He even knows that it's also easier to do mission work, right? And I even shared this example. I was um at at Crown Brew the other day and I was having the opportunity to talk to three different people and I was evangelizing them, getting to share the gospel with them and they were asking some awesome, very good questions and they were just wanting to hear more and more and I started getting phone calls from my wife because it was getting close to the time where we had to go and trade cars and take one car in to the the car shop to get worked on and and the other had to get the kids. And so I'm having to try to balance how long can I stay here? How long can I witness and when do I need to cut it off and I have to go and I have to take care of my family and take care of the things that we need to take care of at our house. And so it's that it's that struggle that tension between both. Whereas for those who are single, they have that undivided attention. They can be fully devoted to the Lord. And that is a blessing that you can literally just know that if God says go here, share the gospel, you have a a providential encounter where a divine appointment and you're in this conversation, you can just stay there. You can just keep going. Whatever the Lord says, you can just keep your eyes fixed on the Lord.

So, we see that with marriage, there does come worldly troubles. There are difficulties that can come with marriage. And likewise, he seems to elevate singleness here, which I think once again, we need to do that in the United States where we don't look at singles as second-class saints. We see that singleness is a very good thing. And though some might even view that that Paul is trying to say that it's ontologically better, I think what he's saying is it's practically preferable. That there just practically it makes more sense. If you're a Christian wanting to do mission work and be faithful, singleness is it maybe a better option. But he's not saying that you are more valuable as a a married or a single. But as a single, there are also difficulties. There are also challenges. And I want to be sensitive to those who might be single in this room who really don't want to be single because once again, we bear different crosses with our callings. Once again, we've we've listed some of the issues that that can come along with marriage. But I also understand that those who are single and for me who someone was single at one point and I always wanted to be married. I understand that that what comes with singleness sometimes is is loneliness especially if you don't have a good um you know close family or a church family that that want to get together with you and spend time with you and pour into you. It can be lonely at times. You know when when you have a spouse or you have kids in the home you don't get a lot of quiet. Well, I know that for those who are single, sometimes you get a lot of quiet and that can be troubling at times. So, when it comes to singleness, I see that that could be an issue. And and likewise, there there's that not only is it just that that that to have that partner, but to have that companion that works with you around the home, getting other chores done where you can delegate or or make more income to help support. I mean, there's just so many things that we see that that can come with a partner. And in fact, we know in the beginning in Genesis, it says it's not good that man should be alone. So, we see that there is some things that come with that difficulty. And so, both those who are married and those who are single will experience both burdens and blessings. Every calling has a challenge. And so my encouragement for you is to trust the Lord, to be content in Christ and recognize that your calling is good. Even if it doesn't feel like it all of the time, Christ is good and the calling that he places on your life is good. Despite the burdens, look for the blessings. And if you have that mindset, by the way, you're going to start to see blessings all over the place.

And so, we see every calling has challenges. He starts to frame this for us as we think about these different relationship statuses. But more than that, we need to think about our calling not just in our day-to-day relationships, but we also need to think about it when it comes to its eternal significance. And what I think we see in Paul's argument is that eternity is what gives meaning to the present. Your calling only truly has meaning because eternity is a reality. Because if you notice in verse 29, he says, "But this I say, brethren, the time is short." And then if you just jump down to 31, it says, "For the form of this world is passing away." So he wants us to view our lives, our circumstances, our callings in light of this fact. He frames it, the time is short. The world is passing away. I am amazed on how many people fail to recognize this and meditate on this reality that life is short. There are so many scriptures that that that share this sentiment. Think about Psalm 39:4 to 5. It says, "Lord, make me to know my end and what is the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, you have made my days as hand breaths, and my age is as nothing before you. Certainly, every man at his best state is but vapor." And then James 4:14 says, "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."

Some of us really need to hear this, that life is short, that we don't have a lot of time. It's describing life here as being a vapor. It's like a mist or like if you have been around a fire, we just had our men's retreat and you can see there's a little gust of smoke and then it just floats away and then you don't see it ever again. He says, "That's what a man or woman at their very best and all of their vitality, all of their strength, the longest life you can imagine, a vapor in relation to eternity." And I know that there are probably some here in the congregation that are more aware of this than others. Cuz there are some here that have watched someone be born and have walked with them and seen to where they have breathed their last breath. And if you get to that point, you now see that life is a vapor. It was here one day and it was gone the next. And there are some of you that I and I'm, you know, I'm not as old as some of the people in the congregation, but I know for myself just seeing as you hit certain milestones, life speeds up. Cuz I was like, okay, you know, I literally remember being myself in in fifth grade and I was walking down the hallway. You know, they had had you in line. and you'd have to go to the bathroom and in the line alphabetical order. And I just remember I have this very specific memory. I'm in line and I'm counting down the years of this is how long it would take to graduate through high school. That's going to take forever. And then if I do college, that's going to be four years at least. And I wasn't even thinking about grad school at that point. And so I'm thinking like that's this many years and I've lived this many years in this school and I hate school. And so I am like this is going to just take forever. But you know what's crazy? I get into high school, all of the su, you know, it took a while. It felt like a forever to get to high school, but I get to high school and those four years are gone. I get to my undergrad and that's even quicker. I I can barely even remember. It's so weird. I can remember more of high school than my undergrad in my life, it seems. But that goes by quickly. And then I get married and now I have three boys. And it just And then you see like I'm lit literally looking at pictures of my children. Me and Casey will always share occasional pictures that we have of our boys and we love when they're like that, you know, the fat chubby stage of the baby and and like we're like we were looking at Liam the other day and just like just seeing how different he's changed and it was literally just a year ago or two years ago and just like I don't or I saw a picture of Callaway the other day and I'm like I don't even remember this moment or this state of him and this was like just two years and you just see how things are just flying by and I know that many of us have probably had other milestones that we're like you know I still feel like I'm 20 or 30 and now I'm looking in the mirror. I'm not seeing that 20-year-old anymore. But we need to understand time is short. Life here is finite.

But if life is short and there's no eternity, do you understand the logical implications for that fact? If this life is all there is and there is no eternal state, your calling means nothing. The logical conclusion is despair and nihilism. I've used this analogy so many times, but you living your life if there is no eternity is just, you know, organizing the deck chairs on the Titanic. You can give yourself some type of meaning or purpose and well at least I had a really nice stack of chairs here. I ordered them really good. But ultimately we know what happens to the chairs. We know what happens to the Titanic. It's all going down in darkness and cold abyss. That's what life is without eternity. And I think that's what we see in Ecclesiastes 1 verse 2 where it says vanity of vanities says the preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. Now that doesn't mean that there is no meaning to things. But what it is saying is that like what we've read earlier, it's it's he it's a vapor. It's like grasping at the wind. If you are clinging to anything in this world and thinking this is ultimate, you're going to lose it. It's not going to last forever.

But once again on the flip side, if eternity is real, then purpose is possible. If eternity is real, then purpose is possible. And that means that life is worth living because of eternity. Every day matters now has eternal weight, has eternal significance because of eternity. What you are doing in this short window of time as the world is passing away, it will all be based on how you have surrendered your life. Have you embraced your calling and your identity in Christ? Or are you placing your identity or trying to resist and and find a new calling somewhere else in a world that is passing away? Because only that that is done in Christ will not be in vain. Only in Christ does your present have purpose and significance. In 1 Corinthians 15:58 it says, "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." See, I love that as you connect it with Ecclesiastes where all is vanity. All is vain, but it's not vain if it's in the Lord. Why? Because of eternity. Eternity is what changes everything. What Christ allows for us through his death and resurrection changes everything. He gives us life in life more abundantly. He gives us purpose to our present. And I just wish that we would think more about this. Why is it that we spend so much time fixated on the temporary when we see the opposite regularly being commanded? We need to live every day in light of eternity. We want to see eternity in the everyday. Live for what lasts. Are the choices that you are making right now for eternity? Are they for temporary satisfaction, temporary comfort, temporary praise? Are you living for the things that last? Are you living for a world that is passing away?

Once again, it's not up for debate. We know that we will perish unless Christ returns before we go. We know that everything that we have will fall away. And I'm on I'm always reminded of this as I think about the the cars and how the mileage racks up and then there's repairs or the mower or the house or anything that you have your clothing, your shoes, they wear out and you constantly have to work on repairing them and you got to think about, you know, how much time do do you need insurance for this? because you're always banking on it's going to perish. And that's why Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-21 it says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So what Jesus is saying here is that we see this in in immediate right now in our own context. We see in the present things are destroyed. They they wear out. But he says, I want you to live for the things that will never perish, for the things that will never rust. Those are the things that you can live for right now. And he says that what you are doing, where you are storing your treasures, that's where your heart will be. Meaning that's where you are at right now. Is your heart in the heavenlies? Is your heart in Christ? Are you experiencing eternal life now? Because eternity is not once again. It's not later. You experience eternal life right now. If you are in Christ and if you are living and partaking of his kingdom realities.

So are we embracing this call? And to do that once again that means that we then hold everything else in life loosely. That is don't have a a a tight grip on these things that you know will not last. 2 Corinthians 4:18, it says, "We do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Likewise, Colossians 3:2, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." How many times are we actually thinking about that now when it comes to bringing it back to home a little our relationship statuses? Whether I'm married, I'm single, whether I'm wealthy, whether I'm not doing very well financially, whether I have a certain house, a certain job, are you thinking about the eternal? Are you getting consumed with these temporary things? Once again, we we do exactly what the Corinthians were doing where we start to look to other saints and we're like, "Oh, they're really important or they're a lot more valuable because of X, Y, and Z, but once again, are they truly being faithful to their call? Are they content in Christ? Are they finding their identity in him?" That's the true question. And that's what we should really value in a church is, are they content in their calling and their identity in Christ? And are they holding loosely to these other things of life? Because once again in this passage, he says, "Even if you do marry or I'm sorry, actually jumping down to to verse 30, those who weep as though they did not weep and those who rejoice as those as they did not rejoice. Those who buy as though they did not possess, and those um who use this world as not misusing it." So, what he's actually saying here is that whether you're even in a relationship or if you're mourning or if you're rejoicing, you have to understand that all of these things are still temporary. And it almost seems like he's almost being a little harsh here because he even mentions like if you have a wife, like don't hold too tightly to her because once again, your fulfillment is not found in your spouse. They can be great. They can be a blessing, but your spouse is not your ultimate satisfaction and fulfillment. They're a partner as you walk through this temporary life moving toward eternity. And so don't live as if your possessions, your positions, or your pleasures are ultimate. Eternity gives us proper perspective and it gives us meaning for the present. It intensifies every single day. Live in light of eternity.

And then finally the way that we primarily can do that as we recognize our calling as they have challenges, burdens and blessings as we are thinking now giving ourselves meaning in the present as we look to the eternal. We always keep our aim to please the Lord. Our aim is to please the Lord. that he starts to specifically address once again with marrieds and singles is that you can both honor God. Singles, if you are not married, give all of your heart, all of your time, all of your devotion to please God. And if you're married or if you're considering marriage, marry in the Lord. It says, don't just marry somebody because of their beauty, because of their wealth. You marry them in the Lord so that you both can please the Lord. So if you're in marriage, your your mission as a couple is to please the Lord together. How can you maximize worship and glory and honor for God in your marriage and in your home, in your family? That is the goal. The goal of every person here, the goal of every saint, every moment is to please the Lord. In 2 Corinthians 5:9, Paul says, "Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to him." Did you wake up this morning and did you ask or think to yourself, "Lord, how can I please you? How can I bless your heart?" Maybe you've never even thought about that or asked that before, but that's why you exist. That's why you're here. You are living today for eternity to please the Lord. Because once again, Paul is saying whether you're absent or present, meaning whether you're here alive on the earth or you're in the kingdom in eternity, your goal and aim is to please him. And so that is how we live each day with eternal purpose as we seek to please the Lord. And we must use wisdom in our decisions to make that a reality.

And here's the really important pastoral note here. When we are thinking about calling, when we think about how can I please the Lord maximally in my day-to-day life is it's not always a choice of right or wrong. Sometimes we're thinking like, well, is it sinful for me to get married or not sinful or or sinful to change my job or not change my job? Paul is making us very making it very clear here that you could marry, you could not marry, you could do these different things in your life. It's not sin. It's not about right or wrong all of the time. He's giving us wisdom and discernment to say sometimes it's just about what's wise or what's not very wise. And how do you determine which is more wise? How can I please God more? So every decision you make, ask that question. Does this please the Lord? Am I giving honor and reverence in every single decision I make? Because finally is that when we make our aim to please the Lord, that right there is where you find true joy. See, we talked about this at men's retreat. If you are pursuing happiness as your goal, you're not going to find it. Once again, if you seek these material passing things, you're not going to find it. But if you pursue holiness over happiness, what you find is both. If you pursue holiness to to be like Christ, to know to serve Christ, you find both holiness and true lasting happiness. So that is what we are to do. True joy. We find it by knowing and serving Christ. As we see Philippians 3:7 to 8, it says, "But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ." Is that how we look about our lives right now? Is that how we look at our calling, our circumstances that everything else is rubbish? I mean I love my people here. I love the opportunities, the blessings. These are good gifts. But ultimately, what I really truly want and desire is Christ to know him more and to serve him faithfully. If you do that, you find contentment, you find purpose, and you partake in eternity. So in a world that is passing away, we are called to live wisely in every season, hold life loosely, and choose what pleases the Lord, keeping eternity at the center of it.