Joe's Sermon Starter Workflow | 1 Corinthians 7:17–24

Introduction:

Good morning Park Church, a joy to be with you all this morning and open up God’s Word with you. For those who I have not met, my name is Joe Riccardi and I have the great privilege of being on the staff here at Park LP for the last 18 plus years and today we are continuing in our series that we started on September 11th in the book of 1 Corinthians, a 16 chapter book written by the Apostle to the church in CORINTH, which is modern day GREECE. Paul wrote this letter to both address the issues the Corinthian church was facing at the time and if you have been with us for any of it thus far, the issues they faced will seem eerily family to the issues we face in Chicago, here at Park in 2022. and at the same time spark a counter-cultural movement of followers of Jesus who are seeing the reality of the GOSPEL transform their lives!

Before we I pray, I want to let you know that 2 weeks from today we will take questions after the service from the series thus far in 1 Corinthians. There is a QR Code on the screen with also text-in instructions and you will have until next Sunday to get those turned in, then on Sunday December 4th after service we will address as many as we can in the time we allot. On a side note, we hit put pause in our series until January 8th as the begin the our ADVENT series next Sunday, leading up to Christmas Day (NN 11 am) then a New Years Message here on New Years Day (11AM). Ok, you with me, you follow all that. CLEAR????

I was not here last weekend b/c I had trip planned to go see the GAME. the GAME BEING Florida-South Carolina in GAINESVILLE, taking some guys from the church to see the glory of GATOR NATION. The purpose of the TRIP was one thing-THE GAME! That was it. Secondarily being in Florida in November is a lock for 80 and sun and every day. It’s a lock.

I tell that as a silly illustration to illustrate a larger point. I was allowing the circumstances of this trip to affect my contentment.

In that moment of discontentment and frustration I had forgotten the purpose. I needed someone in that moment to remind me Joe, brother, you are letting your circumstances of your trip and not the purpose affect your contentment.

Which begs the question

What are the circumstances in your life that are affecting the contentment you are experiencing. There is not a person amongst us that does not want the experience of the contented life. Paul today, or more correctly the HOLY SPIRIT is going to be that person for you and for me to remind us, that OUR CONTENTMENT IS TO BE FOUND IN OUR CALLING (PAUL USES CALLING AS YOU WILL SEE, PURPOSE WORKED BETTER FOR MY ILLUSTRATION), NOT OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. GOD WANTS HIS PEOPLE TO HAVE A CONTENTMENT GROUNDED..................Are you ready? Do you need the HOLY SPIRIT TO SPEAK TO YOU?

Let me pray before we dig in.

Father in these few moments that we come underneath Your Word, we humbly ask You to give us attentive minds and hearts to receive from You GOD. You promise us in Psalm 81:16 “But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”” So we come with Holy Spirit expectation believing in faith that only You can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart. FEED us now with the TRUTH of YOUR WORD and break any pride in our hearts that keep us hearing from You . In Christ’s name I ask all this. Amen.

Let’s dig into the text that Jillian just read for us, 1 Corinthians 7

Big Idea: GROUND YOUR CONTENTMENT in your calling, not your circumstances.

1st the RULE LAYS OUT FOR ALL THE CHURCHES and we see that clearly in v. 17.

Move 1: The Rule—Lead the Life God Has Assigned You (17)

1 Corinthians 7:17 “17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.”

Here in this opening verse Paul sets the rule that he will unpack in the proceeding verses. He wants to put that stake in the ground. This is exhortation to the church:

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him

When Paul uses the expression, “Lead the Life” it’s denoting a walking w/ GOD. He is saying, whatever the LORD has assigned to you, SINGLE, MARRIED, RICH, POOR, SO WALK WITH GOD. BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED. BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED, that’s the THRUST OF WHAT HE IS AFTER. Believers don’t need to be caught in changing their circumstance in light of their salvation of Christ. Keep doing what you are doing! You are working as a clerk at Jewel keep working. You are the Managing Director of the new Bain Office on Green Street in West Loop, keep directing. to what God has called you, to where he has assigned you in life, keep going. JUST DO IT TO HIS GLORY! HIS FAME! YOU HAVE A NEW MOTIVATION NOW whether it be as the janitor, the homemaker or the PARTNER IN THE FIRM. WHAT YOU DO in LIFE IS SUBSERVIENT TO WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST. BE GROUNDED IN YOUR CALLING, NOT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES!

If I may, let me call attention to the word CALLED that we see in this verse and 7 other times in the section before us today:

All but in one case, in particular in this verse, when Paul refers to called, he is referring your SALVATION CALL. How GOD CALLED YOU TO HIMSELF IN CHRIST. WHAT I WOULD REFER TO AS OUR VERTICAL CALL!!!! THE CALL THE CAUSED YOU TO BE BORN AGAIN and to TREASURE CHRIST IN YOUR HEART AS YOUR LORD AND GOD. Only once, here in v. 17, is Paul talking about a calling in life, such as a vocational call or a parenting call, etc.... WHAT I WOULD REFER TO AS OUR HORIZONTAL CALLING. THIS WILL BE AN IMPORTANT THEME FOR TODAY.

Our circumstances-”WHERE THE LORD HAS ASSIGNED YOU” are not accidental. Our God is sovereign. His plan is wise. He knows all, including the longings of our heart. Our job is to find contentment in his plan. We don’t need to be consumed with changing circumstances, unless per say your in the gambling business, or drug trafficking or prostitution to name a few that would require you not staying to where you are called. Paul is after contentment here regardless of our circumstances. He wants the CHRIST follower, to find ultimate contentment in our FUNDAMENTAL calling WHICH IS THE VERTICAL, not the HORIZONTAL

Jeremiah Burroughs

“Christian Contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”

That’s what GOD WANTS FOR US, and I believe every one of us here wants that experience. BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

Move 2: Paul’s First Example, Circumcision (18-20)

Now Paul will TAKE THIS PRINCIPAL and move on to provide two very specific examples, circumcision and slavery, the great religious and social distinctions of his day, and he will argue for a radical Christian approach to both. He wants to illustrate the point he is making-BE GROUNDED IN YOUR CALLING NOT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES:

1st example has to do with CIRCUMCISION or RELIGION. vv.18-20

1 Corinthians 7:18-20 “18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. 20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.”

Establish Circumcision and What It Meant

Circumcision was one of the great social dividers of the day. To be a true JEW one would have had to undergone circumcision. THIS WAS A SIGN OF MEMBERSHIP in the covenant COMMUNITY! AND VIRTUALLY ALL JEWS CONSIDERED it a PRINCIPAL COMMAND. You would not have been seen as a TRUE JEW without circumcision.

Does a JEWISH BELIEVER need to become a GENTILE, thus removing the mark of circumcision b/c of his FAITH IN CHRIST?

AND DOES a GENTILE BELIEVER need to become JEWISH thus seeking circumcision. PAUL ADAMANTLY SAYS NO! HE COMMANDS NO IN BOTH INSTANCES.

WHICH on a side note, aren’t you grateful for that. If you came here today, thinking you needing to undergo an epispasm to remove circumcision, you don’t HALLELUJAH! OR BE CIRCUMCISED, NO PAUL COMMANDS!!!

WHY PAUL, tell me WHY Don’t I have to do it or do it?

VERSE 19 is SO CLEAR in which one commentator notes is ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING SENTENCES that PAUL EVER WROTE. WOW, it’s not even in ROMANS 8.

SLIDE:

1 Corinthians 7:19 “For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.”

SO PAUL BEING THE JEW OF ALL JEWS; NO ONE WAS MORE ZEALOUS THAN HE WAS A JEW and NO ONE WAS MORE ZEALOUS FOR HIS KINSMEN ACCORDING TO THE FLESH TO TRUST IN CHRIST THAN PAUL. AND HERE IS SCREAMING FOR OUR ATTENTION: CIRCUMCISION IS NOTHING, UNCIRCUMCISION IS NOTHING!!!!

Spiritual Principle: What Really Matters

Your religious background or lack thereof does not define you anymore. They were failing to see this. Their horizontal identities were usurping their vertical identity, but that’s wrong. What really matters BEFORE GOD is nothing in terms of our horizontal relationships

YOU COME HERE TODAY GROWING UP in the MOST ATHEISTIC HOUSEHOLD, PAGAN HOUSEHOLD IMAGINABLE OR YOUR PARENTS GRADUATED FROM MOODY and were MISSIONARIES IN UZBEKHASITAN where you were raised, PAUL SAYS IT DOESN’T MATTER.

YOU COME HERE ALL TATTERED UP or with not a BLEMISH ON YOUR SKIN, PAUL SAYS IT DOESN’T MATTER.

THEY WERE UNDER THE ALLUSION that something could be done from the OUTSIDE like circumcision that could affect us internally before GOD THEY HAD AN OUTSIDE IN APPROACH TO ..... For them it was circumcision-

what is for us in 2022? Where you are prone to think........it’s when I do this, then it will affect the VERTICAL!!!!!

Could it be Bible reading, serving at the shelter, becoming a member, wonderful grades at school, evangelism club....... all wonderful things, but don’t increase our acceptance before GOD.

IN CHRIST WE HAVE BEEN SET FREE FROM AN OUTSIDE IN APPROACH BEFORE GOD. WE DON’T HAVE TO PRETEND . WE DONT HAVE TO IMPRESS. WE CAN TAKE OUR MASKS OFF. THE SECURITY OF OUR VERTICAL CALLING HAS FREED US FROM THE FEARS and DISCONTENTMENT WE SO OFTEN FIND IN THE HORIZONTAL. I don’t have to be preoccupied WITH APPEARANCE for IN HIS EYES I AM HIS BELOVED!!!

BUT WHAT DOES COUNT THEN? -KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD!!!! THAT’s WHAT REALLY MATTERS

INTERESTING WORD CHOICE-KEEPING....

OR AS PAUL SAYS ELSEWHERE:

Galatians 5:6 (ESV)

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

What Paul is after here, is not just do the LAW. GO and OBEY. JUST CHECK THE LIST and that will be sufficient for GOD. WIVES YOU GET THIS.

HOW DOES THIS WORK? MARRIAGE ANNIVERSARY ILLUSTRATION:

WIVES-YOUR HUSBAND COMES HOME ON YOUR anniversary-you knock on the door, flowers behind your back-and she opens the door, you show here the flowers and she says, “DEREK, oh my gosh, why did you do that? And DEREK, says, “ I HAD TO it’s our ANNIVERSARY.” What does she do there-she takes the flowers and throws them at him and say I don’t want them. TAKE TWO, SAME SCENARIO, KNOCK KNOW, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.......WHY DID YOU DO THAT- BECAUSE SAM NOTHING GIVES ME GREATER JOY THAN TO BRING YOUR FLOWERS ON OUR ANNIVERSARY SO I CAN DEMONSTRATE MY LOVE FOR YOU!

NOT LAW KEEPING BUT CHRIST LOVING

What PAUL IS AFTER HERE IN KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, is not so MUCH LAW KEEPING BUT CHRIST LOVING. YOU want to KNOW WHAT COUNTS-IT’s CHRIST LOVING, CHRIST TREASURING, because when I do that, when you do that, when we want to know HIM, and become LIKE HIM, and tell others about HIM, that’s WHAT COUNTS!!! AND makes for an unshakeable CONTENTMENT THAT OUR CIRCUMSTANCE JUST CANT MESS WITH

So he ends w/ the Practical Exhortation in v. 1 Corinthians 7:20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.”

that is VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT HE WRITES IN VERSE 24.

CIRCUMCISION, UNCIRCUMCISION will NOT ENHANCE YOUR CALLING BEFORE GOD, you don’t need to be preoccupied with it! DONT STRIVE TO DERIVE CONTENTMENT FROM THEM!

Move 3: Paul’s Second Example, Slavery (21-23)

Now Paul will move on to a second very specific examples that of slavery, a great social distinctions of his day, and again will argue for a radical Christian approach here. 1st example has to do with CIRCUMCISION/RELIGION, now slavery or that of SOCIAL CLASS. HERE IS WHAT HE WRITES:

1 Corinthians 7:21-23 “Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.”

If I can quickly quote a commentator to help w/ our understanding of the difference of slavery in Paul’s time versus ours:

SLIDE:

“It is important to note the differences between the modern understanding of slavery and the slavery Paul is referring to in 1 Corinthians. The modern understanding of slavery is largely about hard labor; in the ancient world it covered all vocational levels. A slave could run a business, be a teacher, or even manage a household, etc. Slaves in Corinth would not have been laborers. Modern slavery was about forced labor; in the ancient world that labor was optional. Many would sell themselves into slavery for economic and social advantages. Modern slavery was race-based; in the ancient world, slavery was non-race-based. Anyone could become a slave. Modern slavery was permanent, whereas in the ancient world it was temporary. Slaves were able to purchase their own freedom. Ancient slavery was oftentimes (but not always) much more like indentured servitude than the oppressive, coercive, forced slavery we see today.” Stephen Um, 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross (R.K. Hughes, Ed.; p.136)

And not to mention Paul did say to the slave, if you can get out of your condition, go be free. HE NOR THE BIBLE WOULD EVER CONDONE THE SLAVER THAT COMES TO MOST OF OUR MINDS When we think of SLAVERY over the last 3 hundred years.

Paul here now wants to tackle the topic of vocation and how in light of our new calling in CHRIST, the JESUS follower relates to his or her VERTICAL CALLING-whatever that may be-though in this case he uses the extreme example that was the great social divide of the day-BONDSERVANT VS FREE.

v. 21B we find his concise answer:

Do not be concerned about it.

WHY? WHY NOT BE CONCERNED? Because your security, your identity, your contentment Paul is establishing here is FUNDAMENTALLY VERTICAL! You can stay as a BONDSERVANT bc IN CHRIST YOU ARE FREE. THIS HORIZONTAL CALLING is not where your security lies. AND IF you are FREE, you stay that way too, b/c you know in CHRIST about being a BONDSERVANT, because that is what you are in CHRIST. YOU BOTH, BONDSERVANT and FREE HAVE THE SAME MASTER, JESUS CHRIST.

The underlying principal is that our work does not define us longer or whatever our vertical calling may be, but CHRIST DOES. Can we change jobs, can we go to graduate school, can we lead companies, of course, Paul is not prohibiting that. He is just declaring that in CHRIST if you work at Mariano’s as the janitor, or you are a Partner at Deloitte, or a stay at home dad or mom, those socio-economic division no longer exist for us in CHRIST. They don’t matter before GOD. You are no longer a slave to man in the general sense of the term. It’s when our horizontal calling becomes primary over our VERTICAL that is where discontentment comes in.

WHEN WE BECOME CONSUMED BY THIS-HORIZONTAL and lose sight of the VERTICAL we are setting ourselves up for all kinds disappoitment and unneccessary discontentment. Use LOSS TO VANDY HERE AS EXAMPLE????

HOW MUCH DISCONTENTMENT IN LIFE COMES FROM VERTICAL?

. How much does the discontentment you face in your life RIGHT NOW derives from your VERTICAL calling? Like I am just so discontent that GOD LOVES Me so much and secured me in his love it’s causing such chaos in my life. It never will. I suspect most of all the discontentment we face derives from making our HORIZONTAL or SECONDARY CALLING ULTIMATE in our lives whatever that may be-being single, being married, at work, whatever......Paul want to free us from that kind of slavery. WE NEED TO SEE OURSELVES AS CHRIST FOLLOWER FIRST and oh by the way, yeah I work as Surgeon at RUSH. or oh by the way I am a STUDENT, or in blue collar work or I am a homemaker. That which so often divides socioeconomically in culture must not divide us in the CHURCH OF GOD THE CROSS LIFTS UP THE LOWLY and HUMBLES THOSE IN HIGH POSITIONS.

QUOTE

“The question at Corinth was: When we come to Christ, what should we abandon? And Paul’s answer is: You don’t need to abandon your vocation if you can stay in it with God. His concern is not to condemn job changes, but to teach that you can have fulfillment in Christ whatever your job is. This is a very unfashionable teaching in contemporary western society, because it cuts the nerve of worldly ambition. We need to think long and hard about whether what we communicate to our children about success is biblical or just American. The word of God for all us “success seekers” is this: Take all that ambition and drive that you are pouring into your upward mobility and pour it instead into a spiritual zeal to cultivate an enjoyment of God’s presence and obedience to his revealed will in Scripture.” John Piper

FOLKS THERE IS A REASON WHY PAUL HAD TO INCLUDE THIS IN HIS LETTER. HE KNEW THAT those in the CHURCH in lowly VERTICAL positions were prone to forget their HiGH POSITION IN CHIRST and those in HIGH POSITIONs IN THE CHURCH were equally prone to forget their status as a SLAVE TO CHRIST. I would suspect we need that same reminder some 200 years later. DO WE COME HERE TOGETHER AS GOD’s PEOPLE under the LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST knowing in our HEARTS THAT THE GROUND BENEATH CROSS IS LEVEL. OUR HORIZONTAL POSITIONS IN THIS LIFE ARE BUT A VAPOR-OUR LIVES ARE BUT A MIST. AND THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS to SPEAK TO OUR HEARTS THIS MORNING GROUNDING THEM ANEW IN THE VERTICAL CALL the GOD HAS GIVEN TO US as I REALIZE AS I SPEAK TO A LOT OF UPWARDLY MOBILE PEOPLE HERE . CAREER DRIVEN....... OUR FUNDAMENTAL IDENTITY AS THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD NOT ANYTHING ELSE IS WHAT CANNOT BE TAKEN AWAY, IS OUR ONLY HOPE FOR ULTIMATE CONTENTMENT REGARDLESS OF OUR CIRCUMSTANCES

SUMMARIZE:

SO you have the declaration in VERSE 17;

PAUL GIVES US TWO PRACTICAL EXAMPLES both in HIS DAY AND OURS ON HOW WE AS CHRIST FOLLOWERS LIVE COUNTER CULTURALLY, as people SHAPED BY THE GOSPEL who LIVE IN LIGHT OF OUR VERTICAL CALLING. If IT WASN’T CLEAR ALREADY, PAUL points them TO THE POWER ............. I got to work on this.

REMEMBER THE GOSPEL

Might that be why then Paul writes in verse 23.

YOU WERE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE!

THE YOU THERE is -THE JANITOR, YOU MANAGING DIRECTOR, YOU TATTERED UP GUY, YOU WHO STRUGGLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS, YOU STAY AT HOME PARENT-YOU WITH CANCER, YOU PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE, YOU IN PRISON, THE YOU IS FOR ANY IN JESUS CHRIST-THERE WERE NOT DIFFERENT PAYMENTS MADE by the SON FOR YOUR SALVATION b/c of who you are. It’s WITH HIS BLOOD that HE BOUGHT YOU,

1 Peter 1:18–19 ESV

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

YOU KNOW BELONG TO HIM AND ARE SLAVE TO CHRIST AND TO RIGHTEOUSNESS!!! AND SO WE GATHER THIS MORNING UNDERNEATH THE BANNER OF THE CROSS ABLE TO FIND CONTENTMENT IN OUR CIRCUMSTANCES , in WHAT HE HAS ASSIGNED TO US; inWHATEVER THEY MAY IF WE COULD JUST LIVE MORE FROM THE CALLING, the VERTICAL CALLING GOD HAS GIVEN TO US.

I AM STRIVING With YOU IN THIS LABOR. I WANT MORE OF MY LIFE and MY CONTENTMENT TIED TO THIS and NOT To so often the trivial things my heart looks to. By the power of GOD, and the encouragement of one another, we can grow here. As we embark on these last 6 weeks before 2023 , might we press on to SEE CHRIST, to TREASURE HIM and TO REMIND ONE ANOTHER OF OUR GREATER CALLING!!!...

INVITE TO RECEIVE CHRIST:

AS I end I want to take a moment to invite who come seeking a CONTENTMENT you know YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES CANNOT DELIVER ON-however good they may be. Maybe they have for a season or two but in your heart, when you are left alone there is NO PEACE and whether today be the firs time you have heard about the forgiveness GOD extends you in Christ for your sin, or you have been around church for years but you have never experienced the NEW BIRTH, you are NOT BORN AGAIN, today I put before you JESUS CHRIST as the ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WORLD and THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN BRING TO YOUR HEART AND LIFE the CONTENTMENT AND PEACE WHICH YOU SO DESPERATELY LONG FOR.

WOULD YOU TURN THIS MORNING IN YOUR HEART FROM EVERY IDOL YOU HAVE LOOKED TO IN SEARCH OF CONTENTMENT AND TURN TO CHRIST a SAVIOR WHO IS GENTLE AND LOWLY IN HEART AND WILL RUN TO YOU not with FOLDED ARMS READY TO GIVE YOU A LECTURE BUT with A LOVE AND EMBRACE OUR HEARTS CANNOT IMAGINE but so desperately yearn for. OPEN YOUR HEARTS TO RECEIVE HIM TODAY and WE WILL ALL TOGETHER STAND SIDE BY SIDE IN AWE OF HIS MAJESTY, IN AWE OF HIS LOVE, AND THANK HIM FOR AN UNSHAKEABLE CALL that HE gives each us that our CIRCUMSTANCES.........