Cares and Distractions

1 Corinthians 7:32–35 AV

But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

In the Parable of the Sower Jesus said that some seed fell among the thorns. Later, when his disciples asked him to explain his meaning, he said that the seed sown among the thorns represents those who hear the Word of God but allow the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things to choke it (Mark 4:18–19). The cares of this world sometimes get in the way.

Maybe it would be more accurate to say that the cares of the world often get in our way. If it were not so, why would Jesus have said so much about giving up these cares in the Sermon on the Mount? Listen to what he said: Take no thought [this is the same word used in the Parable of the Sower and in our text] for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.… Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?… Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?… Take therefore no thought for the morrow (Matt. 6:25, 27–28, 31 and 34). Paul summarized this very well in the fourth chapter of Philippians. He wrote, Be careful for nothing (v. 6). He also used the same word.

This evening’s text is also about the cares of life. Verse 32 says, But I would have you without carefulness. The NKJV reads, “But I want you to be without care.” The apostle Paul did not want cares to get in the Corinthians’ way as they tried to live according to the liberty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Christians we weep, but it’s as if we weep not; we buy with an understanding the earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord; and we rejoice, knowing that our present joy is nothing compared to joy we’ll have in glory with our Savior.

Married or Single

Ironically, though, as soon as Paul announced that he wanted the church to be free of care, he mentioned two cares that no believer can avoid. The unmarried man, he wrote in verse 32, careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord, and the married man, according to the next verse, careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. Every believing man is either unmarried or married; therefore, every believing man either cares for the things of God or for the things of the world. No man is free from both.

Actually, this is not as ironic as it may seem. Why? Because Paul used the word care in two different ways, just like we do. At the beginning of verse 32 it had a negative connotation. Paul wanted to relieve his readers of unnecessary cares. Perhaps he meant the cares that had come with the present distress that the Corinthians were experiencing. He didn’t want them to be worried, anxious or needlessly concerned about what might happen. But he also used the word care as a synonym for responsibility or opportunity. Let me give you two verses in which this is so. The first comes from later in 1 Corinthians — verse 25 of chapter 12, to be exact. Paul wrote, That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. That is, every believer should feel a duty to help others advance in the Christian faith instead of tearing the church apart. Philippians 2:20 also uses the word care in a positive way. Paul wrote that he had sent Timothy because he could not think of anyone else who would naturally care for [the church’s] state.

So, when Paul mentioned the cares of believers in our text, he didn’t mean that they were burdensome or oppressive, but that they were obligations that believers should undertake with joy and enthusiasm in submission to the Lord.

First he addressed the cares of an unmarried man. The unmarried man’s cares are the things of the Lord. He is immediately concerned with pleasing the Lord. Because he’s not married, he can take advantage of opportunities that a married man cannot even consider. He can spend several evenings each week engaging in neighborhood evangelism, instead of helping his wife clean the dishes. If a foreign missionary needs immediate assistance on the field, he can leave at once and stay as long as necessary. Or he can use his time to master the text of God’s holy Word in preparation for future service.

A married man, on the other hand, cannot spend every evening out of the house. He can’t pack up his bags and go off to the mission field without a lot of preparation. And he may not be able to spend as much time as he would like in the Word because he has cars to maintain, rain gutters to clean, leaky faucets to fix and door hinges to oil. This is an obligation that God has placed on him, and it’s an obligation that every married believer must take seriously. Listen to what Paul said about men who fail to do so: But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (1 Tim. 5:8).

We’re all tempted to think that these mundane activities don’t really count for much. After all, how important is oiling a door hinge? But that’s not what Paul meant. Both the unmarried man and the married man serve the Lord. Listen to what Paul wrote to slaves in the sixth chapter of Ephesians: Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men (vv. 5–7). Christian slaves serve Jesus Christ. They serve the Lord by obeying their masters. Likewise, Christian husbands serve the Lord by pleasing their wives.

But there are two differences between how unmarried men and married men serve the Lord. One is that the unmarried man has more opportunities to serve the Lord directly, while the married man often serves the Lord indirectly by caring for the needs of his wife and family. The other is that married man has a double service. He serves the Lord and the family that the Lord has blessed him with. In fact, to the husband is given the high duty of loving his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it (Eph. 5:25). There is no grander or more wonderful service than to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ. The service of the married man is therefore not inferior to the service of unmarried men in any way. But the fact that the married man has a double duty means that he has to be better organized.

Wife or Virgin

Now, let’s turn to verse 34 to see how Paul applied the same principle to women. After affirming at the beginning of this verse that there is a difference between a wife and a virgin, he explained what that difference is.

The married woman’s responsibilities are exactly the same as a married man’s. Both serve the Lord indirectly by pleasing their spouses. In its description of a virtuous woman, Proverbs 31 says that she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life (v. 12). Today, the role of a Christian wife is the same as it was before the fall. She is to be a helper suitable to her husband (Gen. 2:20–25). That’s because Jesus redeemed Christian marriage. To the degree that the husband and wife have been sanctified, the curse has been lifted.

But the description of the unmarried woman’s responsibilities is not the same as the unmarried man’s. Both are to care for the things of the Lord. That should be their primary goal for as long as they remain single. Yet, the unmarried man’s responsibilities are spoken of only in a very general way: how he may please the Lord. This leaves the door wide open for all kinds of service opportunities. As I said earlier, he can engage in neighborhood evangelism every night of the week or go help a foreign missionary who needs help or spend hour upon hour in his study. It’s not that women can’t do these things, but they’re still under their father’s authority and protection, as we’ll see in the next sermon in this series. Instead, Paul encouraged unmarried women to focus more on their own holiness, i.e., to adorn themselves with the beauty of godliness.

Now, of course, the pursuit of practical holiness is something that even married women should work on. Peter was writing to married women — specifically Christian women married to unbelieving husbands — when he encouraged them not to let their adornment be nothing more than hairstyle, jewelry and clothing. He said, Let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price (1 Pet. 3:3–4).

But, again, a married woman cannot give her beauty as much as attention as she might like simply because, like the married man, she has a double duty to perform. She must serve the Lord in part by ministering to the needs of her husband.

Appropriateness and Devotion

Having set before us the cares that Christian men and women should be concerned with, Paul explained in verse 35 what he wanted us to take away from it. He wrote, And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

Again, Paul, a faithful shepherd of the sheep, exposed his heart to his readers. He wasn’t interested in promoting himself or demanding that the church submit to his opinions. He wrote for the good of the Corinthians and us. So, the question of marriage versus singleness is not one of sin, but of advantage. It’s not a matter of obedience, but of what is profitable for believers.

Negatively, this means that Paul didn’t want to cast a snare on the church. Actually, the word translated snare (βρόχον) means noose. The picture he painted for us is a hunter throwing a rope around the neck of a wild animal to render it helpless. Paul didn’t want to do that to the Corinthians. He didn’t want to restrain God’s people from serving Christ in the liberty of the gospel.

Although Paul didn’t want to restrain the church, we sometimes restrain ourselves by adopting the unbelieving ideas of the world. Those who are unmarried, instead of using their singleness as an opportunity to care for the things of the Lord, fret about why they’re not married. They feel that they’re missing out on something. And those who are married, instead of recognizing the tremendous opportunity to serve the Lord by serving their spouses, wish that they had the liberty to do greater things, as if there were anything more important than fulfilling the responsibilities that the Lord put right in front of us.

There is no noose in the Christian faith. If you believe in Jesus Christ, the good news is that you can serve him anywhere, any time, regardless of your outward circumstances.

Positively, Paul wanted the Corinthians to benefit from his instruction by working toward that which is comely and by diligently attend[ing] upon the Lord. Comeliness has to do with one’s outward behavior, which should be an ornament to the preaching of the gospel. What we do should add authenticity to what we say we believe. On the other hand, attending to the Lord is an inward attitude of the soul that recognizes that we must always live to serve our faithful Savior. Serving Jesus Christ must always be our priority.

These two things are really just opposites sides of the same coin, so to speak. Consider Mary and Martha. When the Lord visited them in their home, Mary sat at his feet, hanging on every word. But her sister Martha was caught up in caring for her guests to the point of being troubled by ordinary things. Life was getting to her. You see, Martha didn’t have the right attitude of soul and that meant she wasn’t serving the Lord as well as she could have. But Mary had set her heart on that which was important and she gave herself entirely to it.

We need to be like Mary. Jesus said that she chose the good part, which shall not be taken away from her (Luke 10:42).

We all have cares. If the cares of the world have become so overwhelming to us that we’re starting to worry and fret, then we need to follow Peter’s inspired wisdom. He wrote, Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you (1 Pet. 5:6–7).

This is not an idle promise. We know that the Lord will relieve us of such cares because our Lord Jesus had far more cares than we do. Hebrews 4:15 says that we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). How did he feel our infirmities? How was he tempted like we are? He did this throughout the whole course of his life, but especially in the bitter suffering that he endured at the end. Isaiah wrote, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:4–6).

But even if we have in mind the cares of this world that are common to everyday life, i.e., fulfilling the duties that we owe to God and to each other, Jesus knew those, too. He took the form of a servant to fulfill his Father’s will for us. By submitting to his Father’s will as a man, he sanctified even the little things in life to the glory of God. Thus, he is our example. And because he remained faithful even to death and rose victoriously from the grave, he also gives us the grace that he earned for us so that we can fulfill our obligations in his service.

There are bad cares and good cares. But thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, we have everything we need to serve God in our wonderful Savior. The bad cares cannot keep us from his service, and the good cares only prod us along. Amen.