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INTRODUCTION
Please take your Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians 7:36-40.
That is our text this morning.
And, as you can see, we are going to back to our study of 1 Corinthians today.
We started this study in January of last year.
And, we have worked our way to the half way point.
I am looking forward to finishing it out this year as the Lord allows.
I want to take a minute and remind you of the overall context of 1 Corinthians.
You might recall how I shared with you that 1 Corinthians is a blueprint for local churches.
This great book was written to the local church in Corinth.
Unfortunately, this local church developed some serious issues within its body of believers.
Thus, the Holy Spirit uses the apostle Paul in writing a letter to them addressing those issues.
In doing so, God gives a pattern. 1 Corinthians is all about God’s expectation for all matters related to the local church.
Everything from what is a local church to how a local church operates is included in this great book.
Additionally, there is practical, spiritual information for every individual believer.
God addresses how believers are to act and conduct themselves in their relationship to Him as well as others.
He addresses issue like marriage, parenting, and even things which might cause others to stumble or fall spiritually.
In fact, the issue of marriage is the prominent issue of chapter 7. I don’t have time to go back and review all that we have learned in this chapter.
If would like to know, I would encourage to visit our website and you can find those message there.
However, very briefly, we learned that marriage is ordained by God.
And, as such, when a man and woman do things God’s way God blesses.
We learned marriage done God’s way can help deter sexual immorality (verse 1).
We also learned how that God encourages the act of sex within the confines of a marriage (verses 3-5).
God also addressed the pros and cons of living a single life verses living a married life (verses 6-9).
God also addressed the matter of divorce in verses 10-16.
He then spoke of contentment in verses 17-24.
And, then, God gave some very practical advice to both the married and unmarried in verses 25-35.
All of which brings us to our text today.
Please read along with me.
If you are using the Pew Bible, the page number is ????
Here we find that God addresses a very particular aspect of marriage that deals with parenting.
Parenting is hard!
All of you who are parents know what I am talking about.
There are many, many challenges that come with parenting.
As believers, we have a duty to turn to God’s Word and heed any advice He gives as we face these challenges.
In our text, God addresses a -
A Particular Parenting Challenge!
The context being a father’s duty in arranging a marriage for his daughter.
A practice that was quite common at the time these words were penned.
Marriage arrangements in the Old Testament were much different than the practices in today’s American society.
In a lot of cultures, even today, marriages are arranged as they were in the Old and New Testament times.
In those days, it was the father’s duty to arrange the marriage of his daughters.
It was quite customary for a father, along with his wife, to arrange marriages for their daughter even before their daughters came to their years of understanding and independence.
In this verse, it seems that the Holy Spirit is addressing this issue of marriage and a father’s responsibility in arranging his daughter’s marriage.
The issue being that sometimes a father would wait a little longer than necessary to arrange the marriage.
Perhaps, and this is just my own speculation here, a father delayed because of his great love for his daughter, or perhaps, he just could not find a suitable mate that met his approval.
Whatever the reason, the father’s delay often caused great anxiety for the daughter who realizes that she is in the “flower of her age.”
That phrase refers to a woman who passes beyond a marriageable age.
The daughter’s frustration with her father grows and, eventually, ruins that relationship.
In that context, the father realizes as his daughter approaches the time for her to be married that he is not doing the honorable thing.
Note the Holy Spirit says, “But if any man think that he behaveth uncomely toward his virgin (his unmarried daughter)...” Thus the idea is that the father’s conscience is weighing upon him in this matter.
And, for that reason, the father needs to make a decision.
Which, by the way, is a huge decision!
You can see, especially in the context of that day, why this was an important subject among early believers.
Let me take a time out for just a second here.
The subject of marriage is STILL AN IMPORTANT SUBJECT even today.
Unfortunately, American society has made marriage a mockery.
Marriage pretty much means absolutely nothing.
Remember, in the context of our text, marriage is between a man and woman who were sexually pure.
The term “virgin” literally means a woman who has never experienced sexual intercourse.
It was an honorable thing.
However, today, anyone who is a virgin is shamed.
Sex before and outside of marriage is celebrated and encouraged.
For unbelievers, that is expected.
However, for believers, God holds us to a much higher standard.
Thus, marriage and how marriage is taught in the home as well as the church is IMPORTANT.
And, as I read and study this passage along with the entirety of God’s Word, I find that it falls upon the father to teach his children the importance of marriage and remaining pure before marriage.
A responsibility that is very tall order for fathers today especially in light of the constant and growing immorality of today.
However, there is no excuse.
Fathers, men, husband, need to step up and be the men that God intended them to be.
And, God intends that fathers take the leadership role in teaching their children the important matters of Scripture among which is the subject of marriage.
Now, let’s get back to the text.
The father’s conscience is weighed with this decision of his daughter’s marriage.
He now must come to a conclusion as to what he should do.
And, according to the Holy Spirit’s teaching here, whatever decision the father makes, to marry his daughter or not to marry his daughter, is his to make.
In making whatever decision he makes, he sins not.
However, in the case of a daughter who insists on being married, “let them marry” says the Holy Spirit.
Note that phrase “and need so require.”
Essentially that phrase means “if the strain is beginning to show.”
In other words, the daughter’s desire to marry causes a great strain within the family and on the parents.
The Holy Spirit’s advice is to “let them marry.”
It is far better to allow the daughter to marry God’s way than to withhold marriage causing them to fall into sin.
However, it is still the father’s decision.
He must though be careful and consider how his decision affects his daughter long term.
Isn’t amazing just how practical God’s Word is for our lives!
Here, God addresses the finer details of a father and daughter’s relationship.
I personally have never experienced such a relationship.
God blessed with me with five wonderful boys and no girls.
Yet, through my wife, I have come to learn the importance of a father and daughter’s relationship.
And, here, we see the importance of a father making sound decisions concerning that relationship.
A decision that must always be based on God’s Word.
It is a father’s duty to protect the sexual purity of his children.
It is also a father’s duty to teach his children about God’s expectations concerning sex and marriage.
It is a duty that every father must take seriously especially in light of today’s immorality.
So, what if the father decides to restrain his unmarried daughter from marriage?
Remember it is the father’s decision.
Note verse 37.
“Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.”
(1 Corinthians 7:37)
Here we see the father’s resolve in keeping his daughter from marriage.
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