How to be Happy Though Single

TEXT: I Corinthians 7:7-9

TOPIC: How to be Happy Though Single Bobby Earls, First Baptist Icard, NC 9/14/97

There was a single woman who had died and every one of her pallbearers was a woman. One inquisitive attender at the funeral asked a relative, “Why are there only women pallbearers?” The relative replied, “she wrote in her will, ‘I want all women pallbearers. They wouldn’t take me out when I was alive, then they aren’t going to take me out when I’m dead.’”

There are more singles in our society than there have ever been. In America, there are approximately eighteen million men ages 21 and older who have never been married. (That should give some of you single ladies some hope). I’m also told that there are fourteen million women ages 21 and older who have never been married in this country.

One out of every five households in America are now led by a single parent. Fortunately, more singles than ever before are now coming to the house of God than ever. Multitudes of those who are single are discovering that Jesus Christ is the answer to the problems and to the difficulties that we experience in life. Singles are discovering that the people of God will love them, will accept them, and will understand them. So it’s a wonderful opportunity the Lord has given to us to minister to those who may be single.

It may surprise you today that there are so many singles in our society but it shouldn’t surprise you that the Bible has much to say about singles. Some of the most important people in the Bible were single. Paul was single. Jesus was single.

I want to say to you who are single that nothing takes God by surprise. God knew that you were going to be single. It didn’t take Him by surprise that you would be single at this time in your life. Listen singles, God knows that you are single and He has a plan and a purpose for your life right now.

The Bible elevates the role of the single person and shows that a single Christian can be a very useful and effective servant of the Lord. Now the 7th chapter of I Corinthians is a very lengthy chapter. But it has primarily as its them two different emphases. First of all it talks about being married. Then it talks about being single. And the whole emphasis of the chapter is how to be happy regardless of the state in which you find yourself.

I want us to look at three basic truths from this 7th chapter of I Corinthians as it concerns the single life and I want to share with you concerning the topic, “How to be Happy though Single.”

I. THE NOBILITY OF BEING SINGLE, v. 8

1 cor7 8 “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.”

“it is good for them, (talking about the unmarried) if they abide even as I.”

God says here in His word that the single state is good. You don’t have to get married. If you are single, you don’t have to get married. There is nothing wrong with being unmarried. It is a noble condition.

Both the married state and the single state are looked upon as a spiritual gift. Look again at verse 7. “Gift” is charisma.

Now if God intends you to be single He will give you two things:

A. GOD WILL GIVE YOU CONTROL. 1 Cor. 7.9 “But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”

Some people come to a decision that it is God’s will and God’s purpose that they remain single. There’s nothing wrong with that.

The Lord Jesus talks about people who decide to remain single back in Matthew 19.

Because of conditions or circumstances, “made eunuchs by men” and because of commitment, “and there be some eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.”

Some choose to be single because of spiritual reasons.

Some of the greatest Christian servants of all time have been single.

Lottie Moon---Bertha Smith----David Brainerd, missionary to the American Indians

C.S. Lewis

B. GOD WILL GIVE YOU CONTENTMENT, 1Cor 7.27 “Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.”

Now sometime when people are in the single state they get very anxious about the matter of marriage. They can become very frantic, and very furious in their search for a mate. Well, the bible says don’t do that.

If you’re single you need to remember that God loves you and He has a plan for your life and He knows what’s best for you. The best mating agency I know about is in Heaven.

I have seen Christian singles make serious mistakes because they were not willing to be content in the state they were in. They rushed into marriage, out of the will of God, not prayerful, not seeking the will of God, because they were too anxious about getting married. (Listen, single loneliness is much to be preferred over marital misery). So if it’s God’s will for you to be single, He will give you contentment.

II. THE MOBILITY OF BEING SINGLE, 1 Cor7 32 “I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.”

There are some tremendous advantages of being single.

A. YOU CAN SERVE THE LORD WITHOUT DISTRESS

B. YOU CAN SERVE THE LORD WITHOUT DISTRACTION, 1 Cor7.33 “But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,”

You know how it is ladies when you get married. Marriage begins when you sink into his arms and it ends with your arms in the sink.

If you are single you don’t have the distractions of a wife to please or a husband to satisfy. You don’t have children to care for. So there is a great mobility in the single state. So if you are a single Christian use those hours of time that God has given you to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

III. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BEING SINGLE, 1 Cor.7.36 “If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin.”

I believe if you are single you ought to accept that state you are in with resignation and determination and with consecration.

The role of the widow in the church. Some of the sweetest people in the church. They learn to be dependent on the Lord more. You learn to spend a little more time in prayer or a little more time in studying the Scriptures, or a little more time in service to others and at the church.

A. DON’T MARRY ON THE REBOUND

B. MARRY IN THE LORD, 1 Cor7.9“But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

There was an elderly woman who went up to a handsome young man and said, “You look like my third husband.” Somewhat embarrassed he replied, “Why thank you. How many husbands have you had?” She answered, “Two!”