|
1 Corinthians 7
STAY PUT… THE TIME IS SHORT
We’re going to play a
game. In this game I need most of
you just to stay put where you are.
But I want one person, one special person, to be a special agent,
with a special mission. So who
wants to just stay put (show of hands) and who wants to be my special
agent?
Ok, you can be my
special agent. Now what I want
you to do is, in a second you’ll see a grown up standing up holding a big
number one. As soon as you see
that grown-up run to them as fast as you can and they have a yummy treat
for you. When you get to the
first grown-up they’ll ask you a question, if you get that question
right, they’ll give you the special treat and then you have to run to
another grown who will hold up a big number 2. And they’ll have another goody. Now you mustn’t eat the food yet – you mustn’t run with
food in your mouth ok? Hold onto
your prizes and then run to the next grown-up. They’ll ask you another question, and if you get that
right, you can have another goody and then run to the grown-up with
number 3. Have you got that? After you’ve gone to the three
different grown-ups then come back here as quick as you can, because the
time is short. Ok, do you
understand? Ready, steady, Go!
Now, while our special
agent runs off, who wanted just to stay put?
[While the special agent runs around all over
the place, I hand out sweets to anoy who simply stay put and ‘call on’ me
for a sweet. The special agent
ends up winning ‘prizes’ like a mouldy carrot and a tin of
anchovies. The lesson is that
actually staying put is better.]
Ok why did we do
that?
Well who did better in
that game? The special agent, or
the people who just stayed put?
Well those who just stayed put got the nice treats. I called out to them wherever they
were in church, and any child who called back for a sweet, got one. In this game it wasn’t about a special
agent going out to get the good stuff.
It was about staying put, it was about the leader coming to
you. You stayed where you were, I
called out to you, you called back and that’s how you got the sweets.
Well in our Bible
passage this morning, we see exactly the same thing. We see that God comes to us where we
are. And God calls people to
become Christians in all kinds of places. He calls some people when they’re married, He calls some
people when they’re unmarried (single).
He calls some people who have jobs and some people who don’t. He calls some people from one country
and some people for another country.
God comes to all sorts of people in all sorts of places and He
calls them.
Here’s how the letter
of 1 Corinthians begins:
[SLIDE]
“God…
has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus.” (1 Cor 1:9)
That is the greatest treat you could ever
have – friendship with God’s Son, Jesus.
That’s the prize, and God calls out to people, saying ”Who wants
to be friends with Jesus?” And a
Christian is someone who calls back.
[SLIDE]
So in the same place in 1 Corinthians, it
describes Christians as:
“all
those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1 Cor 1:2)
A Christian is someone God has called out to
and who calls back: ‘Yes, I want to be friends with Jesus.’
That’s a Christian. And you don’t have to go on a special mission. God calls out to you WHERE YOU ARE and
offers you friendship with Jesus.
You don’t have to run around, you don’t have to do anything, you
don’t have to go anywhere.
So because of all this, Paul’s big message in
1 Corinthians 7 is: “STAY PUT”
[SLIDE – Stay Put]
Paul says in v20:
[SLIDE]
Each
one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.
God called out to you where
you were. He’s not asking you
to run around. Stay put.
Those with Bibles in
front of them can see that Paul says this message over and over
again. Verse 17, v20, v24,
v27. Paul keeps saying: Stay
put. Stay put. Stay put. Stay put.
Now if one of your
mums or dads keeps telling you ‘Stay put’ Why would they have to do that? Because you’ve been wriggling and
fidgeting and restless and maybe you’ve been running around high on sugar
because the curate stupidly gave you sweets in Church. You only ever tell someone “stay
put”, if they look like they’re going to run all over the place.
And the problem was,
the Corinthians were running around all over the place. And we’re just the same. We Christians are often fidgety,
restless and we often run away from the places where God has called
us. Grown ups, are you fidgety
and restless in your situation?
Are you married and restless about that? Are you single and restless? Are you restless in your job? Are you restless without a job? Restless in this country?
The Corinthians were restless in all these areas. Paul keeps having to tell them, Stay
put, don’t run away.
[SLIDE – don’t run
away]
And the first thing he
says not to run away from, is in verses 1-5.
[SLIDE]
Here Paul says, Don’t
run away from your marriage duties.
Here people wanted to
run away from doing what married people are supposed to do. (Grown ups will understand what I’m
talking about). Paul says, no,
Married people, don’t run away from the bedroom. Do what married people do – it’s not
unspiritual to do what married people do – it’s a wonderful thing, enjoy
it, work at it, don’t run from it.
So verses 1-5 – Stay put.
Don’t run away from your marriage duties.
Then in verses 6-9
and in verses 25-40 you have single people who want to run away
from their singleness.
[SLIDE]
And of course this is
a really hard struggle isn’t it.
We seek marriage for all sorts of reasons, but many in the Church
seek marriage as though it were more spiritual or more godly than
singleness. But Paul says the
opposite. I counted up 12 verses
in this chapter where Paul says singleness is better. Paul could not be clearer if he wrote
in bolded CAPITALS and double underlined it: – if you can,
singleness is preferable. And he
says (v7) if you’re single that’s a gift that God has given you, it’s a
gift to be enjoyed while-ever you have it. Now there’s hard things about singleness just as there are
hard things about marriage, but they’re both gifts from God. If God’s given you singleness at the
moment, treat it as God’s gift.
Maybe God will give you marriage as a gift later on, but for now,
Stay put. As a rule of thumb, Don’t
run away from singleness.
In verses 10-16
you have married people wanting to run away from their marriages
altogether.
[SLIDE]
And in particular the
Corinthians seemed to think that if they found themselves married to a
non-Christian, they should run away from their spouses. Paul says no. Don’t run away from your marriages.
Stay married.
Now we mustn’t
knowingly marry an unbeliever.
Verse 39 says, When we’re
looking to marry someone they must “belong to the Lord”. We mustn’t set out to marry a
non-Christian. But for many
different reasons people could find themselves married to an unbeliever
and Paul says, don’t run away.
Your non-Christian family doesn’t make you unholy – rather you
make them holy (v14). So stay put, who knows (v16), maybe they will be
saved? See their being holy (v14)
doesn’t make them saved, it just means that the family home is holy
ground, nothing to run away from.
They still need to be saved. But (v16) who knows, maybe through
your witness, they will be saved.
And that’s the real
reason why we stay put.
Until God moves us on, we stay put, and we witness to the
people God’s put in our lives. So
really we’re ALL special agents for Jesus – all of us are. But we’re special agents for Jesus in
the places He’s already put us.
So don’t run away.
Verses 17-19 –
don’t run away from your national identity.
[SLIDE]
I didn’t stop being
Australian when I was a Christian and you don’t stop being English or
Chinese, or South Korean or Zimbawean or wherever. As a rule of thumb,
Don’t run away from your national identity. Your countrymen and your culture needs Jesus too.
And then verses
20-24 – don’t run away from your jobs.
[SLIDE]
As a rule of thumb,
don’t leave your job. You are Jesus’ special agent in your
workplace. And who know, maybe
your gospel witness will lead to the salvation of your co-workers.
Whether you’re on the
Dole or a Doctor, a Dustman or a Deacon in the church, it doesn’t matter
– your circumstances don’t really count, your job title doesn’t really
count. Wherever you are, you’re already a special agent for Jesus. So the rule of thumb is – stay
put!
Now that’s not
an absolute law. Of course it’s
not. In this chapter we see v21
where Paul tells slaves, if they can gain their freedom then do it. He’s not against ever leaving your
job, of course not. Lot’s of people change jobs throughout the the
Bible. And what’s more, Paul
tells single people, if there’s someone you’d like to marry and they’re a
Christian and you understand all I’ve said about marriage and singleness,
then go ahead and marry. And Paul
was an international missionary, he left his countrymen to reach others
with the Gospel. So of course
‘staying put’ is not an absolute law.
And in some cases you
really ought to change jobs once you’ve become a Christian. If you were a bank robber, you
couldn’t go on robbing banks with a “Jesus Loves You” balaclava on, you’d
have to change jobs.
But, the rule of thumb
is – Stay Put.
Run away from sin. But don’t run away from your
circumstances.
Figure out how to be a
special agent for Jesus where you are.
[SLIDE]
Stay Put. Why?
Because the time is
short. (And because the time is
short I’ll be very brief on this point)
[SLIDE]
Here’s what Paul says.
[SLIDE]
Verse 29:
the
time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they
had none; 30 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; 31 those who use the things of the world,
as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing
away.
The clock is
ticking. It’s counting down
towards the day when Jesus returns to judge the earth. That’s a day that will be very happy
for His friends, and very terrible for His enemies. And Paul says, it’s not long until
that Day. So Christian, it’s not
long now until everything you’ve ever wanted comes true and so much
more. On that Day, everything you
think you’re looking for in that job or in that relationship will be
given to you a million times over in the face of Jesus. That’s the comfort, and the spur is:
it’s not long now until your friends and family and work colleagues will
have to face Jesus. This present
age is passing away, the time is short.
And Paul’s not saying
therefore neglect your marriage and everything worldly. Absolutely not. The whole chapter’s about sticking in
your marriage, sticking with your job and making it work. But Paul is saying: Don’t live for your marriage. And
don’t live for your job. And
don’t live for your kids. Don’t
live for that relationship. Don’t
live for that achievement or that possession or that feeling. Live for that Day when everything
you’ve lost will be more than made up for and when everyone you love will
face Jesus. Live for that Day
because the time is short.
[SLIDE]
Stay put – as a rule,
overall, in general – Stay Put.
Be Jesus’ Special Agent in the place where you are. Don’t run away from
circumstances. Run Away from sin,
not from circumstances. Plug in
and witness where you are because the time is short.
Let’s pray,
Dear Father,
We need wisdom to
know when we need to stay put and when we need to move on, help us with
that. But I pray you’d help us to
stay put when you want us to stay put.
Help us all to be special agents for Jesus where we are. May we not be fidgety or restless
where we are, but help us to love people and tell them of Jesus because
the time is short. In Jesus’ name
we pray, Amen.
Back to sermons...
|
