Contentment in God

Welcome: Good morning, for those who may not know me, my name is Kent and I’m one of the pastors here at Crosspoint. I’m glad that you’ve have chosen to spend your time with us worshipping God this morning.

Introduction

On Nov. 15th 2022, just a month ago from today, a treasure chest full of valuable items estimated worth of over a million dollars was open for bidding on an online auction site. The treasure chest was placed by a millionaire, named Forrest Fenn, somewhere in the Rocky Mountains in 2010. Fenn left a poem as the only clue to where the treasure was located. Over the last decade many people searched for the treasure. Some abandoned careers and wasted their life savings to find the treasure, one person was put in prison for digging up graves at Yellowstone National Park, and five others died while trying to find the treasure. The treasure was found in 2020 and is now being sold to the highest bidder.

The actions of the more desperate treasure hunters revealed that they viewed this treasure as utmost importance. They put there livelihood on the line, putting their hope in finding the treasure to bring happiness in their lives above anything else. It showed, as for some of them, it cost them their lives.

This brings to mind what Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 6:21 CSB

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What you find valuable in this life is where you put your time, energy, and money. For the treasure hunters, their treasure was a financial treasure. But a person’s treasure can something other than finances. Someone’s treasure can be popularity, wanting to be liked by people, for students (especially with it being finals season) a treasure can be good grades, for some other people a relationship status can be a treasure.

It can be easy to see something, to think that something can bring you satisfaction.

It’s when we face this temptation that we need to remember that Jesus needs to be our supreme treasure because He alone can bring us ultimate satisfaction.

In our passage this morning, we see three actions that Paul tells the Corinthians to take to remember Jesus as supreme treasure.

Pause. Ask. Navigate. If you need help remembering those. Use the acronym PAN as in panning for gold. Here is your spiritual pan to remind you of the supreme treasure you have in Christ.

1. Pause

2. Ask

3. Navigate

So if you have your bible with you please open them and meet me in 1 Corinthians 7:17. 1 Corinthians 7:17.

To put this passage into context, Paul is addressing a question that the Corinthian church had.

1 Corinthians 7:1 CSB

Now in response to the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

Paul answers this In the first half of 1 Cor. 7, as he addresses biblical sexuality within the context of marriage. He calls sex a gift in the context of a marriage between a man and a woman. Paul adds that it’s not just married people that have a gift , single people have a gift as well.

1 Corinthians 7:7 CSB

I wish that all people were as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one person has this gift, another has that.

Paul says that both married and single people have a gift. In this second half of chapter 7, Paul explains the gift that a single person has.

With that let’s begin reading at 1 Cor. 7 verse 17.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 7

17 Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches. 18 Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised. 19 Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters. 20 Let each of you remain in the situation in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Don’t let it concern you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity. 22 For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of people. 24 Brothers and sisters, each person is to remain with God in the situation in which he was called.

Let’s stop here for a moment.

In these first 8 verses of our passage, we see Paul telling the Corinthians to Pause. Pause to remind themselves of their identity in Christ.

Paul uses different situations that the Corinthians could have found themselves in. Some of the church were greeks and uncircumcised, some were Jews and circumcised, some were slaves, and some were free.

He uses these various situations to make the point of that no matter the situation in society, a believers focus should be on following God’s commands and who they are in Christ. If a believer is tempted to bend to the approval of society, they need to pause and remind themselves of their identity in Christ.

We see this in v. 19.

Re-read v. 19

1 Corinthians 7:19 CSB

Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters.

The main point for Paul is for the believer to be content in their relationship with God. Following God’s commands is what they need to be concerned about.

There’s some nuance to this because, obviously if there is a sinful situation, God doesn’t want you to remain in sin as a believer. This is implied when Paul writes, keeping God’s commands is what matters.

One commentator writes,

I & II Corinthians C. Stay Where You Are (7:17–24)

It is important to remember that Paul did not suggest that believers should never change their status. He said that they should seek to know how God has called them, and to retain the places God has assigned them. His general rule was: Christians should remain as they are in relationships and service unless God assigns them new tasks.

So first action, is to pause, remain where God has you until He assigns you a new task. To Pause and remind themselves of their identity in Christ.

Transition statement: Paul uses this idea of remaining in the situation that God called you in, to set up his point to the Corinthians to remain as they are as it relates to their relationship status. Let’s keeping reading. verse 25 of 1 Cor. 7.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 7

25 Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is faithful. 26 Because of the present distress, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 However, if you do get married, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

29 This is what I mean, brothers and sisters: The time is limited, so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, 30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they didn’t own anything, 31 and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.

Here we see the second action of our PAN acronym; Ask. Ask God for guidance.

In verse 26 we see that there is a, what Paul calls, a present distress. Which is to believed to be related to a famine in the land and a major earthquake that happened.

Paul is writing to the church of Corinth and telling them, instead of just doing what makes you feel good and what you think is right. Ask God for guidance for how to best glorify Him in the current season of life. Asking guidance if it’s best to marry or to remain single. Practically speaking, Paul says that in times of distress, it’s usually easier to care of one person than to take care of multiple people. At the same time that doesn’t make it wrong if God has called two people to marry during a time of distress. The next part of asking God for guidance is asking God how to live with an eternal mindset while glorifying God in our present relationships.

On one hand we need to have our eyes focused on God. Seeing things from an eternal perspective. On the other hand, Paul writes earlier in 1 Corinthians 7 that in a marriage each spouse should fulfill their marital duty and serve the other and also in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes and tells husbands to love your wives as Christ loved the church. So there is this aspect of living with an eternal mindset while still being present in our relationships in a God glorifying way. We need to ask God for guidance everyday on how to do that well.

Transition Statement: By asking God for guidance we then can Navigate. Navigate what God wants us to do by the power of the Holy Spirit. We see this in the final section of 1 Cor. 7. Let’s finish reading chap. 7 starting at verse 32.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 7

32 I want you to be without concerns. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. 33 But the married man is concerned about the things of the world—how he may please his wife—34 and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but to promote what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

36 If any man thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, if she is getting beyond the usual age for marriage, and he feels he should marry—he can do what he wants. He is not sinning; they can get married. 37 But he who stands firm in his heart (who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will) and has decided in his heart to keep her as his fiancée, will do well. 38 So, then, he who marries his fiancée does well, but he who does not marry will do better.

39 A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants—only in the Lord. 40 But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

In these final 8 verses, we see Paul give his concluding point on the original question the Corinthians had, “Is it good for a man not have sexual relations with a woman.” Remember earlier we talked about how in a martial context between a man and a woman sex is gift and should be present in a marriage. Here is the second part to Paul’s answer, if you are single or unmarried it is good for you not to seek out sexual relations. Paul is saying that there is a gift that single people have which is being able to serve the Lord with an undivided attention.

I wish learned this truth while I was single. But the reality in my life is that I didn’t view my singleness as a gift to be desired. To be honest when I was in my late teens and early 20’s and I heard the term gift of singleness, I thought it meant that a person didn’t desire to be married or have sex. I knew for my own life, I feared be alone and therefore desired to be married and I struggled with sexual temptations and therefore couldn’t wait to be married. I thought there is no way that singleness is a gift because I viewed it in a false way. I didn’t see serving God with an undivided attention in my singleness truly as a gift. I didn’t think that could fully satisfy me. I was trying to find that satisfaction elsewhere. I missed out on enjoying the gift that God gives single people because I failed to see Christ as my supreme treasure.

So for those who are single and unmarried, navigate this season of life by the power of Holy Spirit. Be dependent on God for your decisions. In all things seek to glorify God above trying to find satisfaction in your desires. If God guides you into marriage, seek to glorify God in that marriage above all else.

I think this is where Paul is going with his answer to Corinthian’s question. Wether you are single or married, live out your purpose as God’s creation; the purpose of glorifying God and enjoying Him above everything else forever. This happens when we truly see Jesus as our supreme treasure.

A pastor named John Piper put it this way.

How we live in our marriages and our singleness will show if Jesus is our supreme treasure.

John Piper

Maybe you’re a believer this morning and your being tempted to seek out satisfaction in something other than Jesus. Wether it’d be relationships or something else. I want you to take your spiritual pan and remind yourself of the supreme treasure you already have. So that you can,

Pause to remind yourself of your identity in Christ

Ask God for guidance

Navigate what God wants you to do by the power of the Holy Spirit

Maybe your here this morning and don’t see Jesus as your supreme treasure. You’ve never confess Christ as Savior and Lord of your life. I want you use the same acronym of PAN.

I want you to Pause. Pause and consider Jesus. Consider that Jesus is who He says He is. In John’s gospel, John records Jesus saying,

John 14:6 CSB

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I want you to Pause and seriously think about if you were to die and stand before God. Would you be found guilty of sin and therefore cast into eternity apart from Him in hell.

If you realize that this is the case, I encourage you to ask. Ask God to forgive your sins and to ask Jesus to become Lord of your life. By doing so you confess that Jesus’ death on the cross is sufficient to cover your sins so that you are no more condemned by God but rather seen as an adopted son or daughter of God. You are also confessing that your life is not meant to live to glorify yourself but rather is meant to glorify God.

If you ready to ask God to do this, I want you to navigate.

Navigate the next steps moving forward from this morning to live a life that glorifies God by the power of the Holy Spirit. A life that truly sees Christ as your supreme treasure.

Jesus gave us the greatest gift of all, giving us a way to be in a right relationship with God. In this Christmas season where gifts are exchanged let us remember of the greatest gift of all. The gift of salvation and by accepting this gift, we are able to see other gifts that God gives us in our singleness and in marriage.

Let’s pray.