1 Corinthians 7:1-24 | "The Life That The Lord Has Assigned"

I. Reading of Scripture

1 Corinthians 7:17 ESV

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.

This is God’s Word. If you receive it as such, would you say “Amen”? Amen!

[Title Slide]

1 Corinthians 7:1-24 The Life That The Lord Has Assigned

II. Introduction

A. Introduction to Theme

Living with Jesus Christ as our Lord means that our lives are not our own anymore.

That was a strong theme at the end of Chapter 6 that continues to run through Chapter 7.

And that theme presents a very freeing reality!

I don’t have to worry about what I make of myself anymore, because I do not belong to “me” anymore.

I don’t have to strive to become something better, or something else. Jesus has made me who I am and Jesus makes me who He wants me to be.

What I made of myself before Christ is in the past.

But because “I am not my own,” I know, that Christ has changed me and made me new, and He continues to conform my image into His image (Rom 8:29).

It’s not about what I do for myself, but rather what Christ does in me.

Our future is no longer ours to worry about! This is freeing!

But this is also a difficult thing for us to receive, because this truth fights against our flesh and causes us agony and anxiousness.

For the person that is looking to go off to college and begin preparing for a career, there is great agony and anxiousness over where to go and what to study so “we won’t ruin our life!”

For the person that is looking to marry one day, and start a family, there is great agony and anxiousness over who to date and who to marry so "we won’t ruin our life!”

For the person who has a job or career, wondering if they need another job or career, there is great agony and anxiousness over whether to make a change and what to do next so “we won’t ruin our life.”

For the person making important health decisions, there is great agony and anxiousness over what doctor to choose, what medicine to take, what procedure to undergo so “we won’t ruin our life.”

All of these experiences are real, and meaningful, and agonizing. But the Good News of Jesus Christ speaks something freeing into each of those hard moments . Hear this! —

We can’t ruin “our” lives if we walk with God.

Because with God, our lives do not belong to us anymore! A transaction has occured in which our lives were bought and paid for. A receipt has been given. The sale has been closed.

The Scriptures proclaim: “you were bought with a price.”

So in many ways, we have to stop striving to do and become and control as if our lives still belonged to us.

Martin Luther in the powerful hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” says it this way —

2 Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing. You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he; Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same; and he must win the battle.

There is a release, a freedom, in transferring ownership to someone else, especially when that someone else is the living and Almighty God!

To illustrate it further:

It is like selling a house, signing the paperwork, and handing over the keys to someone else. It is their’s to fix now, theirs to clean, theirs to maintain, theirs to pay for.

I imagine It is like retiring from a job, cleaning out the corner office, and handing over the title and work to someone else. The work is their’s to get done, the meetings are their’s to attend, the calls are their’s to answer, and the problems are their’s to fix.

I would imagine It is like raising children for 18 years, packing them up, and sending them out to live by themselves. The menu is their’s to prepare, the budget is their’s to manage, the laundry is their’s to clean, the decisions are their’s to make.

We need wisdom, yes. We need guidance, yes. But if we are walking with God, we can be assured that our lives are not our own, and God has us right where he wants us to be.

This text implies for us a theme of contentment. Being content in the situations and circumstances that the Lord has assigned to each of us.

And this means, first of all, that we must receive and believe the Gospel proclamation that Jesus is indeed Lord over us, because He bought us.

And to take it one step further - He controls us.

1 Corinthians 7 reveals that God has called us to peace.

I hope that if you are anxious about your life, what time of life you are living in, what conditions you are living in, what situations you are living in, if you find yourself without peace, that you will find that peace in the hearing of God’s Word today.

B. Introduction to Text

This chapter comes with its own introduction.

III. Exposition

A. 1 Corinthians 7:1-7 | Living in Christian Marriages

Look with me at Chapter 7.1 —

7:1

1 Corinthians 7:1 ESV

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

This represents a turning point in the letter to the Corinthians because of that introductory phrase: “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote.”

The contents of six chapters have passed, and only now does the apostle reveal that he is responding to a letter the church had previously written to him, and he does intend to answer their questions.

We might question the apostle’s timing. Why delay to answer their questions, the “matters about which you wrote”?

Why all of the front-matter? Why not just get right to the point?

Someone might be thinking that right now - Pastor, why not jump in to the text? Why did you start with that introduction about our lives belonging to Jesus, the illustrations, the quote from the hymn…it’s about time you got to the text! We don’t have all day! That could have saved you eight minutes on your sermon length! Why the delay?

The text doesn’t tell us why the apostle waited until the seventh chapter in to address what they wrote.

But I imagine it is like visiting the doctor.

You go in to the doctor’s visit with a serious headache. The nurse asks, “What’s wrong?” And you say, “I have a headache.” And the nurse checks your weight, your temperature, your blood pressure, the doctor comes in and listens to your heart and your lungs, he looks at your eyes and your ears and your nose. He makes notes on your file. He asks if you exercise. What kind of food do you eat. What kind of work do you do. And eventually, he says, “Now let’s talk about your headache.”

The problem is not just about your headache. The headache might be a symptom of another problem. And a good doctor checks your vitals and asks examining questions and makes sure that everything is working correctly so that he might examine your headache with the right lens, in view of your overall health. He wants to make sure there isn’t a major life-threatening issue that needs addressed before dealing with your headache.

I imagine that might be what the good doctor, the apostle is doing on behalf of the Great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before addressing the matters about which they wrote first, the apostle addressed the matters about which they needed to hear first.

Church -

What we WANT to hear first is not always what we NEED to hear first.

What the Church in Corinth needed to hear first, was it was that was speaking to them - “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle (a messenger) of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes” (1:1).

What the Church in Corinth needed to hear first was what God has already made them to be in Jesus Christ - the Church of God, sanctified in Christ, called saints…(1:2).

What the Church in Corinth needed to hear first, was how thankful the apostle was to God for them, and how the love of God would sustain them to the end guiltless.

They needed to hear first about the faithfulness of God, and their calling into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

They needed to hear first a rebuke and correction for the sins in their midst that were destroying their witness for Jesus. Divisions, their boasting in their flesh, the sexual immorality so horrendous that the Gentiles don’t even practice it! The lawsuits against Christians being brought before unbelievers.The deception of their sin, the shame of their behavior.

They needed to hear first how they are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in them!

They needed to hear first who servants of Christ really are and what stewards of of the mysteries of God do.

They needed to hear first to flee sexual immorality, and that their bodies were members of Christ.

They needed these prerequisites. Without them, whatever instruction the apostle gave them in answer to their questions would not be received with the right frame of mind - the mind of Christ!

An unbeliever may come to you - a family member, a neighbor, a stranger - and ask you a question about how God views relationships, or sexuality, or marriage. Don’t be quick to answer! What they want to hear is not what they first need to hear.

Tell them first about Jesus. Tell them about God’s love for them as seen on the cross. Tell them how Christ died for their sins, was buried and raised again in power. Tell them how their sins may be forgiven and that they may have peace with God through Christ by faith.

And don’t answer their questions until they answer God’s call! Because a person without Christ will not understand the instruction of Christ. Christ’s instruction is not meant for them to hear without Christ.

An unbeliever may be dying and reach up and ask you - “Tell me what Heaven is like?” Don’t be quick to answer that question! Because the answer won’t matter if they aren’t going there.

Tell them first instead about Heaven’s King - Jesus. About how Heaven came to earth by taking upon flesh. Tell them how Jesus saves us from our sin and how He delivers us from the bonds of death and Hell. How He ascended into Heaven and is the only way there!

Tell them first what they need and not what they want.

This is also good parenting advice. My kids want dessert. What they need is to eat their vegetables first.

The apostle gives the church in Corinth what they need before answering what they want, so that they might learn that walking with God means having a relationship FIRST with God, who makes them who they are to BE, so that they might then do what they are to do.

1 Corinthians 7:1 ESV

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

This was the first matter. A matter about sexual relations.

“It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

Most interpreters believe that this was another slogan in Corinth that reflected cultural expectations that had then infiltrated the church and caused marital problems.

These questions the apostle responds to are not asked in a vacuum. They are informed by culture, one that is very different from our own.

We aren’t even given the exact questions that were asked, because the letter the Corinthians wrote to the apostle is lost to us. We are listening in on a conversation and only hear the apostle’s responses. But his responses reveal a pastoral concern to give them specific guidance, and point them to the teaching of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 7:1 ESV

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

1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV

2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

1 Corinthians 7:3 ESV

3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.

1 Corinthians 7:4 ESV

4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

1 Corinthians 7:5 ESV

5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

1 Corinthians 7:6 ESV

6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.

1 Corinthians 7:7 ESV

7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

Each man should have is own wife and each woman her own husband (v.2). This instruction provides a guard against the temptations of sexual immorality.

If sexual immorality is a temptation (which in Corinth it was, and in Corinth they had given in to that temptation and sinned horrendously) - then the apostle tells them, marry, and don’t withhold sexual relations in marriage.

But here is an important note.

1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV

2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

Notice the repeated words “each” and “his own” and “her own.”

Notice the words “man” and “woman.”

The apostle gives instructions based on the guiding principles of God’s Word that do not change.

And concerning marriage, Marriage is not just between the titles of a “husband” and “wife,” but between a “man” who is the “husband,” and a “woman” who is the “wife.” Each has the other as his/her “own.”

Church - marriage is between a man and a woman who are covenanted to each other.

And this needs to be said today - marriage as God has designed it, is not between a man and a man, a woman and a woman, or a man and two women or a woman and two men. It is not meant to be three, it is not more. It is not whatever configuration we want it to be.

Genesis 2:24 ESV

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

This is what the apostle is explaining here. He is answering contextual questions informed by God’s Word.

He answers in verse 5 —

1 Corinthians 7:5 ESV

5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

This verse reveals that devoting ourselves to the Lord for a season means focusing on spiritual things and not physical things, even for a season (A.Ross, RHG, 174-175).

Think about what it means to fast and pray. To withhold physical food in order to devote oneself to fervent prayer.

This is true for us today. To focus upon God, without distraction, means for a season putting away physical things. But that type of focus is meant for a limited time, for we are still in the body and living in the world as witnesses for Jesus.

To only focus upon Jesus and neglect physical things around us would make us functionally purposeless on earth, unable to fulfill the Great Commission of Christ in the world.

Of this abstinence for a season, the apostle says in Verse 6-7:

7:6

1 Corinthians 7:6 ESV

Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.

1 Corinthians 7:7 ESV

I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

These instructions are not fully developed theologies of marriage for all people in all circumstances. We begin to see here, that God gives to each his own gift, and those gifts vary.

What God calls you to, will be different from what God calls me to. We both operate under the same bounds of God’s design and God’s revelation, but the gifts and path in life God gives me are not the same gifts and path God will give you!

The Prophet Amos said this:

Amos 7:14 ESV

14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.

Amos 7:15 ESV

15 But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

The Lord directs each of our paths.

Let us not judge our walk with God by another.

You do not need to be a Sunday School teacher or a Deacon or a Pastor -

You do not need to be married or to have children -

You do not need to be all-state this or all-state that -

You do not need to be rich or influential or salaried or retired -

You do not have to be a morning person, or a coffee drinker, or a journaller -

You do not have to be in perfect health or of perfect mind -

You do not have to be all of these things in order to be gifted or godly.

You just have to know God through Jesus Christ and walk with Him as you follow Christ to be godly. In whatever circumstance God has you in.

So to a group in a difference circumstance, to the unmarried, the apostle says:

7:8

1 Corinthians 7:8 ESV

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.

It is not necessary. But it is GOOD!

This message has been minimized in the church today. If you are single, unmarried or a widow - that is good.

One commentator (Vang) helps us understand the cultural context in Rome for widows:

1 Corinthians Historical and Cultural Background

The pressure to remarry quickly was enormous. The Augustan law prohibited younger unmarried men and women (including the widowed and divorced) from receiving inheritances. “A widow was expected to remarry within a year, a divorcee within six months.”3 The law required the woman to produce at least three children to secure the husband’s inheritance. Marriage was designed for the procreation of legitimate Roman children, as only they received citizenship.

But the apostle says - it is good to remain single.

Why could he say that? Because in Christ, their inheritance is not based on their marital status.

Their citizenship is not based on their nationality!

This is the Gospel! Those things don’t matter anymore for we who are in Christ! Everything we need, and every blessing we want is already ours in CHRIST!

7:9

1 Corinthians 7:9 ESV

9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Literally, this says “it is better to marry than to burn.”

Yes, to burn with passion.

But the play on words might also mean that it is better to marry than to give in to sexual temptation, and to practice sexual immorality, and to thereby not inherit the Kingdom of God.

It might be understood this way, “it is better to marry than to burn in Hell.” It is better to marry and avoid sexual immorality than to give in to that immorality, practice it, and fail to inherit God’s Kingdom.

To anyone listening willing to point a finger at those who have committed sexual immorality, especially adultery, remember what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:27 ESV

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’

Matthew 5:28 ESV

28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

I wonder, for the sake of all hearing, how many listening have not committed adultery outwardly but are just as guilty if not more if inward adultery of the heart?

You see, ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

We all need God’s grace.

1 Corinthians 7:10 ESV

10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband

1 Corinthians 7:11 ESV

11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

This instruction leaves the door open to reconciliation.

If the wife separates from her husband - remain unmarried. Doing so keeps the possibility of reconciliation open - and even encourages it quickly under the Roman inheritance laws (TTC)

These instructions are given to those who are the Church now. They are not meant to go back in the past and undo what has already been done. But they are offered as instructions for what is to be for them now going forward, whatever the case.

The apostle has addressed living in Christian Marriages. Now he turns to Living in Non-Christian Marriages.

B: 1 Corinthians 7:12-23 | Living in Non-Christian Marriages

Look at verse 12:

1 Corinthians 7:12 ESV

12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

1 Corinthians 7:13 ESV

13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.

1 Corinthians 7:14 ESV

14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV

15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.

1 Corinthians 7:16 ESV

16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

If two unbelievers were married, then one was converted to Christ and saved, then now that believer is a missionary in his own home (Bruce).

He brings the peace of Christ into that home. He brings a distinctness from the world into that home.

If the unbelieving spouse wants to remain, then do not divorce. You are not enslaved, but God has called you to peace. And you might lead your unbelieving spouse to the Lord.

Peter gives similar instruction:

1 Peter 3:1 ESV

1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,

1 Peter 3:2 ESV

2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

And this leads to the summary and the principle behind these instructions.

IV. Conclusion

D. 1 Corinthians 7:17-24

7:17

1 Corinthians 7:17 ESV

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.

Who has assigned your life to you? The Lord has!

Who has called you the way you are? God has!

So walk with God in the life and in the calling He has given you!

This does not mean live however you want in sin and say “this is how God made me and called me.” God never calls a person to sin. On the contrary, God calls a person OUT of sin!

But in Christ, IN CHRIST - don’t try to change your situation as if your situation determines your relationship with God. It does not!

Your relationship with God is overruled by Christ’s situation, who was in the form of God, emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, born in the likeness of men.

Philippians 2:8 ESV

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Did Jesus try to change that situation in order to be with God?

NO - Jesus embraced that situation knowing that was from God, and he was obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

He was obedient through death, even when his body was sealed in a tomb for 3 days.

And because Jesus was obedient, even through those horrific circumstances, God raised Him from the dead in power!

Without the cross there would be no resurrection.

Without Christ’s death, there would be no life in Christ!

Whatever condition God has us in, God is with us in that condition.

Aren’t you glad Jesus lived the life the Father assigned to Him?

7:18

1 Corinthians 7:18 ESV

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.

1 Corinthians 7:19 ESV

19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.

What is our calling? This is our calling—

1 Corinthians 1:9 ESV

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Fellowship with Christ.

So what matters most for the circumstances we are in? ANSWER - Obedience to God in them.

We are no more spiritual than another person by our backgrounds or life circumstances. Rather, we are spiritual when we are obedient to God.

1 Corinthians 7:20 ESV

Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.

1 Corinthians 7:21 ESV

Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.)

1 Corinthians 7:22 ESV

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.

1 Corinthians 7:23 ESV

You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.

1 Corinthians 7:24 ESV

24 So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

Stay in your calling.

The last two words of verse 24 explain that calling.

Notice those words: “With God.”

That’s the message for us all. We have peace, we have fellowship when we are “WITH GOD.”

That means we have a relationship with God that informs all our other human relationships.

Living with Jesus Christ as our Lord means that our lives are not our own anymore.

Our future is no longer ours to worry about!

We can’t ruin “our” lives if we walk with God.

So believer - Remain WITH GOD!

For the unbelievers - In Christ you may have peace WITH GOD!