1 Cor No.14 Happy but unmarried

About virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. Are you married? Do not seek a divorce.

Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on, those who have wives should live as if they had none. Those who mourn as if they did not.

Those who are happy, as if they were not. Those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep. Those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them.

For this world in its present form is passing away. I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs, how he can please the Lord.

But a married man is concerned about the affairs of his world, of this world, how he can please his wife, and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs. Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit.

But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband. I'm saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. If anyone thinks he is acting improperly towards the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting on in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants.

He is not sinning, they should get married. But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin, this man also does the right thing. So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does even better.

A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. In my judgment she is happier if she stays as she is, and I think that I too have the Spirit of God. May the Lord help us to understand that portion of his word.

Now I'd be grateful if you'd have your Bibles open at 1 Corinthians in chapter 7, and should it be as often as the case, we have visitors here who perhaps haven't brought a Bible with them, then I'm sure the person alongside will let you share. As we continue our series, working our way through this highly practical letter which Paul the Apostle wrote to a Greek community nearly 2,000 years ago. It has relevance, as has been indicated to me perhaps more than any other series I've preached here at the Tabernacle by question and interview later on.

It has relevance to people living today, as Paul deals with some of the most complex and the most sensitive of issues. I remind you and take just a moment or so in doing, because of the depletion of our congregation last Sunday morning with that intensely cold weather, that as we move into the seventh chapter, the Apostle is here actually dealing with a communication he has received from the Corinthians. He has under God brought this Christian community into existence as he's proclaimed the Gospel.

He spent some time with them, but then he left them to a great extent on their own, and naturally problems arose. They did not have, I remind you again, the full canon of New Testament Scripture. They only had, if anything, maybe a letter or so from the Apostle, maybe they had a sight of the Gospel of Mark, even that I question.

So here is this little group of Christians drawn from the Jewish and Gentile community at Corinth. They've been moved by the preaching of Paul, but certain things have happened, certain problems have cropped up, and they they need to know the answers. And so they write.

The pastor evangelist who led them to the Lord, they write to him about their difficulties, and they highlight a number of questions. If you were to work your way through this seventh chapter, you will discover that there were at least six that they brought to the Apostle and asked for help in. These had to deal with, firstly, the matter of sexual relationships, and whether such were permissible amongst people who had committed their lives to Jesus Christ, assuming that they were married.

Paul deals with that question in the first verse. And then in the eighth verse, Paul deals with the query as to whether an unmarried individual or a widowed person, if they were Christians, were free to remarry or marry for the first time. And he answers with qualified approval.

And then when you move down to the tenth verse, the ugly subjective divorce raises its head. And Paul has to deal with this, as I tried to show you last time. Then when you move down to the twelfth verse, he has to look into the problem of what happens when one member of a marriage, say the husband is converted, and the wife is not.

And she rejects the faith, but she still wants to live with him. Is it being unequally yoked for that marriage to remain intact, or should he dissolve the marriage and send his wife on her way? Well, as I reminded you, Paul gives very clear teaching and very practical teaching on this difficult issue. Then in the twenty-fifth verse, he, depending how you translate those verses, he deals with the problem about fathers giving in marriage their daughters.

Should they, should unmarried daughters be encouraged to engage in matrimony? Well, he will deal with that even more particularly in the thirty-sixth verse. And then finally, there was the specific question put to him again about widows. Were they allowed to remarry? So you see, all these six questions were bound together in one communication.

They sent it to the apostle, and he deals with it. Now he does so in a very interesting way. First of all, he has regard to the known teachings of Jesus.

You will be aware that in the Gospels, our Lord sometimes makes reference to the marriage state. And there are certain issues on which he leaves us in absolutely no confusion, no ignorance at all. And where this is the case, Paul quotes him.

Of course he does. Jesus is the inspired author of the faith. His word is not to be qualified, no, not in one degree.

But marriage and marital relationships are very complex issues. And there were situations that were arising in Corinth, which apparently our Lord, in detail, had not dealt with in his teaching. So what does the apostle Paul do? He comes before the Holy Spirit.

He's a man who's been commissioned by the Lord Jesus, and filled with the Spirit, and in a very unique fashion. Because he is an apostle, he is inspired by the Spirit. So when Paul gives us, somewhat hesitatingly it would seem in the language that he uses, his opinion.

We as Christian people, living later, recognizing this advice to be part of the Word of God, appreciate its authority. It is binding for all time. Now in the opening 24 verses, those of you present last Sunday morning will recall that I tried to compress the teaching by way of praising, into two particular headings.

I argued that by and large, here there is a plea for purity. The apostle Paul is concerned in the opening verses, to establish the legitimacy of being married, and the legitimacy of not being married. Whether you're in a state of matrimony, or celibacy, the important thing is before God, to live a pure and an honorable life.

And so Paul will deal with this whole business of physical relationships, with no blush on his face at all. He's a man, he's a pastor, he is in my opinion, at one time a married man. And he's able to plea for purity, whether you're celibate, or whether you are married.

And then you remember later on, having dealt with the concept of purity, he deals specifically with the idea of marriage itself. And he addresses the main part of his teaching, in the first 24 verses, to people who are married. And if there's one plea that surfaces, time and time again, it is the plea for permanency.

When a man or a woman is married before God, it is meant for time, throughout the whole of their physical lives on this earth. And only death terminates that special bond. But there are one or two exceptive circumstances, which the apostle refers to, and I brought them to your attention this week, uh, this last week, where a man or a woman, in specific circumstances, might separate from their partner.

It's not for me to go through that again. If you missed it, and you're interested, then I suggest you get hold of my tape. Well, here we are coming to the 25th verse.

He's been speaking, I say, first of all, to those generally who are married. And he's been telling us, as I entitled my address last week, how to be happily married. But now he is going to address his remarks to those who are not in the bond of matrimony.

Happily unmarried, that's the provocative title that I would give to my address this morning. As a Christian, if you're married, you should be happy. As a Christian, if you're unmarried, you should be happy.

So here the apostle has this very practical question to deal with. It's been raised, obviously, by the Corinthians. He goes on to say, in this 25th verse, now about virgins, you brought to my attention the state of those who are unmarried.

What am I to say? Well, there's no direct teaching, he tells us, in the latter part of the verse, from the Lord. But he gives judgment, the apostle does, as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. What does he have to say to unmarried people? How does he deal with this question? Well, let me suggest to you, in bringing his teaching, again, compressed into one or two propositions, let me first suggest to you that immediately he outlines a plan which might well be temporary.

He outlines a plan in answering the question about unmarried people, which might be of an impermanent nature. He tells us in the 25th verse, I give a judgment as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. And in the 26th verse, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.

A plan which might well be temporary, I think it good for you to remain as you are. Now, that's rather interesting, isn't it? I mean, here in the 20th century, there seems to be a bit of a slur, as there was in the first century, and indeed in older Bible times, against the whole state of being unmarried. In the Psalms, I think it's the 76th Psalm, there is some sympathy offered to a maiden who doesn't have a marriage sung, and yet the apostle says here, don't go into a frenzy if you're unmarried.

How delightfully refreshing, I say, is that comment, over above what often is the case in the 20th century, when people seem to think that there is something wrong, if they haven't been married, as though marriage itself is the be-all and end-all in life. No, says the apostle, those of you, at least for certain circumstances that I'm going to touch on, who are in this state of being unmarried at the moment, seek not necessarily to have a partner at this stage. Verse 27, are you married? Do not seek a divorce.

Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. But he goes on to say that if you do, then you have not sinned. But he's offering advice, he's offering up a plan, which as I say, might well be temporary.

Back in the sixth chapter, you remember, and in the 12th verse, he uses the proverb, which was often employed at Corinth, everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Now, he's speaking to unmarried people in that context. Yes, it is permissible for you to be married, but there are certain circumstances which might suggest to you, reason for you not indulging in marriage, at this particular point in history.

Now, there are some who have taken Paul's assertion there, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are, as being binding for all time. There was, for example, a great theologian by the name of Tertullian, who in the third or fourth centuries, wrote a book on marriage, and he suggested that the original command of the God, go forth and multiply, has for Christian people been terminated. We leave marriage and procreation to the unbeliever, our command is go forth and evangelize.

So here we have the rather novel idea of an utterly celibate Christian community, going into the ranks of the pagan, these unmarried people, or rather these married people, and declaring the gospel to them. Well, I respect Tertullian for some of his theological views, but it seems to me that here he's pushing things a little too far. But you remember when I gave you, in compressed fashion, Paul's teaching in these verses, I used that expression, he's outlining a plan which might well be temporary.

Why do I say this? Well, he makes reference, does he not, in verse 26 to a qualifying comment, before he makes his statement, which seems against marriage for the uncommitted. Because of the present crisis. And then later on, in my Bible, over the page, in the 29th verse, he makes reference to the time being short.

What is this present crisis? What is this time that is short? Well, F.F. Bruce and some other commentators suggest that he's return, he's referring to the return of the Lord. But it seems to me that this could not conceivably be the, be the case. Because when the Lord's return is in the mind of Paul, when he quotes it, he always does it in terms of stimulating the believer, not to prohibit him from doing something, but rather bask in the glory of the soon coming of the Christ.

I argue that, logically, the only thing that we can conclude here, is that the Corinthian Christians, this little group of people, who were bound together through a common faith in Jesus, were facing, and would increasingly face, the most terrible onslaught of persecution. Paul is not far away from the day when that tiger of a man, Nero, shall bring persecution around the Roman Empire to the Christians. And almost unparalleled cruelty would be released amongst the believers in Jesus Christ.

Now you can imagine the problems that that would bring for a family man. He's married, he's got a couple of children, he stands before the proconsul, he's asked to deny his faith. And he knows full well, that unless he denies his faith, his wife and his children will die.

And sometimes you can become a coward, when you've got family responsibilities over against answering for yourself. I don't think, obviously, circumstances would have to test this. I don't think that if I had to answer for myself, I would find it difficult to endure hostility and pain for Jesus Christ.

But to identify my wife, or my family circle, with my particular declaration, that could be a completely new set of circumstances. And how I would react, I would not dare predict, unless I found myself in such a, in such an unpalatable situation. Well you see the Apostle's reasoning, there's a great crisis, you're already beginning to feel it.

And it's going to become more, it's going to become more intense. Those who are married, he says in the 28th verse, they will face many, many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. So I suggest to you, that first of all, to those who are unmarried, Paul outlines a plan, which might well be temporary, until such time, as the Christian community at Corinth or elsewhere, is sailing on much calmer seas.

But then let me move on, and gather together another proposition, which I have brought up as a conclusion, in my thinking, from what Paul here is arguing. Here I say he unfurls a principle, which is definitely abiding. There's a plan which might well be temporary, but there is also in these verses, a principle for unmarried people, unmarried for that matter, which is definitely abiding.

Will you drop your eyes down to the 35th verse? And here is this unqualified principle, that lasts throughout time. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way, in undivided devotion to the Lord. This is your aim, if you're an unmarried person, if you're a married person, to devote yourself exclusively to the Lord, a principle which is definitely abiding.

Now this should be a prime goal of every Christian. I don't care for a moment whether you're celibate, or whether you're in the marriage stakes, it doesn't really matter. If you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, you want to offer Him devotion.

But of those two categories, for whom might it be easier to offer this devotion? Let me express it another way, as the Apostle does. When a person gets married, a new set of circumstances obtains in his life, or her life. They could as individuals on their own, live in a very simple fashion.

But as soon as you get married, and when children start to come, obviously there are great responsibilities. A home, the well-being of the family, furnishings, education, so on and so forth. And is this not true? Let all of us who are married here be honest.

Is it not true that the temptation comes to make the marriage itself your goal? To make it almost the be-all and the end-all? I speak to myself as well as to other married couples. How many married couples no longer show the same enthusiasm, and the same disciplines towards the propagation of the Gospel, as they used to when they were unfettered? No, I'm not saying that it is impossible as a married couple to remain true to our disciplines, to our conviction, to our utter dedication to Christ. But as soon as you get married, a new set of situations arise.

And the possibility is that you can be deflected from your spiritual goal to a material goal. Now you're intelligent people, I don't really need to stay this argument much longer. You can work it through.

And I think if you're fair in your conclusions, you must agree that what I'm suggesting as a danger is reasonable. Indeed, you must so, because the Apostle Paul, the inspired Apostle, he makes reference, does he not, later on in these verses, to those things which entangle us in this world. He gives advice how we are to act in a situation of crises.

Let's take his reading from the 29th verse. What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. For now on, those who have wives should live as if they had none, those who mourn as if they did not, those who are happy as if they were not, those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep, those who use the things of this world as if not engrossed in them, for this world in its present form is passing away.

That's the danger, to become engrossed in the things of this world. And it's a particular weakness for people who are married. It can be shared by the unmarried, but it's particularly an issue for married couples.

So here is a principle which Paul unfurls, and it's abiding. You are to live your lives in utter devotion to the cause of Jesus Christ. And he seems to conclude that an unmarried person can perhaps do this better.

Look at the 32nd verse. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs, how he can please the Lord, but a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world, how he can please his wife, and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs.

Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit, but a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world. Again, his teaching there is perfectly obvious. So what do we say? That when we're married people, we should have this corrective always of the apostles in front of us, not to get so entangled with the affairs of this world that we forget our lives are to be dedicated to the cause of Christ.

If we are unmarried, then instead of striving necessarily for marriage in and of itself, we are to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and he will give to us everything that is necessary for our spiritual betterment and for our happiness here in this world. Thank God the Bible in the New Testament dispatches the whole notion that an unmarried person has a stigma attached to him or to her. So you see the perfect balance that there is in the teaching of Paul in this area.

It's not that he's pro the unmarried and against the married. He's rather balancing the teaching and suggesting a principle which is absolutely permanent. Now let's just work this out historically for a moment or two as time is reasonably on my side.

Let's take a man by the name of George Whitefield. Now George Whitefield was one of the greatest preachers, if not the greatest preacher, that this country has ever produced. Crossed to the states on a dozen or so voyages, if not more.

A man who was used by God to plant churches in New England and all the emerging states of the USA. But he wasn't a married man. And there happened to be a man in Wales by the name of Howell Harris.

He was a great preacher too. And these two men loved one another. A great concern for one another's ministry.

And they were both very concerned that the other got married. And it becomes almost humorous when you read the history at this stage because they both fell for the same woman. And Harris is writing to Whitefield and with Christian deference he is suggesting that he should take her.

Whitefield's not too sure. Perhaps Harris should take her. The end of the matter was that Whitefield won due to the grace of Harris.

But it would have been better if neither of them had married the woman. You see Whitefield's life was such he was all over the place. He wasn't permanently in one spot.

This lady, bless her heart, a Christian though she was, was a most inadequate partner. You see he was an instance, a great man of God. And yet it would seem that he got it wrong in this area.

Now there are other instances that one could give this. Perhaps John Wesley to some degree. You've all heard of C.T. Studd and possibly you've read his life.

He was a very remarkable man. One of the most remarkable who lived at the turn of this century. I press on you the reading of his biography.

But even more remarkable than Charles Studd was his wife. Here was this man who went to China and then to India. Then in his 50s back in this country he sets off for Central Africa and his wife doesn't come with him.

He leaves her back in this country and she sets up a missionary organization that later on will become known as the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade, commonly known as the WEC. Now this woman had most uncommon graces and abilities. Thank God that C.T. Studd got the right wife.

Otherwise his whole marriage, his testimony would have been in jeopardy. There are many many people who have discovered to their shame, to their absolute confusion, that seeking after marriage at any cost brought a very sour prize. It is much better to be happily unmarried than to be unhappily married.

And it seems to me that that in praisey form is what the Apostle here is teaching. The great abiding principle, however, is that we are as unmarried or married to offer undivided devotion to the Lord. Now the final thing that I want to say and then conclude is Paul's teaching by implication.

Here he indicates a practice which is always to be observed. A practice which is always to be observed. What is that practice? Well, freedom before God on the part of the individual.

In other words, and he cites some cases, some are very interesting, very complex from the original language, so I'll not go into it as it would take too long, but he cites some cases of men and women who might not know just how they should react in regard to, for example, whether a daughter should get married or whether a daughter should not get married. He deals with this in the 36th verse to the 38th verse. But Paul is always sure to underline the fact that a man or a woman decides before God on their own.

He or she has the advice of the church, the advice of the pastor, but as a priest before God, it's up to them. What about this widow or this widower? Should they remarry? Well, it's not for anyone else to say, but for them before the Lord. Certainly it is permissible, maybe in certain instances it would not be the best thing to do, but they have complete and utter freedom before God.

Paul makes it very, very clear, and the fact of the matter is this, that conditioning all our relationships and all our decisions is the point that he puts right in the heart of his teaching. We were bought with a price. Christian men and women, married or unmarried, bought with a price, bought by the precious blood of Jesus to live our lives for his praise and for his glory.

That's the thing that we must have right at the forefront of our lives. Look, says the apostle, I'm writing to married people, be happy with your marriage. I'm writing to unmarried people, stay a while, if possible, before you get married, because of this present crisis that's looming up and becoming more intense.

But, and this is planted into almost every verse of the chapter. Never forget this, the great depths of relationship that do exist within the context of a Christian fellowship, not just in terms of man and wife, but brother and sister. When Paul writes to these people, he writes as brothers to them.

He writes as though in his estimation, they are sisters. Why is that important? Because the whole concept of being solitary in the Christian church is shipwrecked on that one thought. There are deep, meaningful relationships, which are available to us, successful, safe relationships, because we love one another in Jesus Christ.

So whether we're married or unmarried, we belong. We belong to a family, the family of God, and we are to treat one another as such, so that no one feels isolated, or no one whose marriage is in a rocky pot can't come along and seek help and advice, and gain sympathy and fellowship. The apostle Paul's teaching on marital relationships, his teaching to the unmarried also, is superb.

It's inspired. Happy that man, that woman, that unmarried person, that Christian couple, who live their lives by the clear teaching of the apostle in this chapter. Amen.

Father, we thank you for your word, for the practical teaching that it gives. Whatever our state is, married or unmarried, may we be content before you, offering you devotion. Deliver us, Lord, from selfishness.

Help us as brothers and sisters to live together here in the tabernacle family, that all loneliness and sense of being on one side is lost within the wave of the agape love of God, which should break from shore to shore across every Christian congregation. Hear us, Father, and help us to glorify you in all our love relationships. Amen.