Jubilee Online Sunday Meetings 19 September 2021

[Music] always yes always always always this is our jubilee no dead no bondage we are free free to give him everything but we have nothing now it is [Music] [Music] this is gonna be this is where the body is this is where the joy of heaven abounds in his presence we are free to praise to shout aloud this party is singing with the angels hear the sound this is where the party is we are dancing a holy crowd holy [Music] are you ready [Music] for freedom freedom you have set us free no longer about slavery you've broken every chain that binds you can't consent forever and all time yeah old time all the time [Music] this is where the party is this is where the joy living about in his presence we are free to praise shout out loud this is where the party is singing with the angels hear the sound this is where the party is we are dancing on holy ground [Music] holy ground holy ground we're on holy ground [Music] [Music] do i have to keep swinging i just had such a sense of god saying this morning being together is one of his blessings you know when he called people he called them together in the days of old the church is a calling together and i don't know how you feel after being isolated and sitting in your own in front of your little screen you know it's such a blessing to be together and ephesians has this beautiful prayer that says and i pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of christ and to know his love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of god god calls us together being together not just from a distance but as his church is so important you know and we need to gather again and really encourage you you know obviously there are reasons sometimes to stay away because of health things but overall let's be together let's build the body god has poor is pouring out his spirits and together we will understand more of who he is so make every effort to be together and rejoice in the goodness and then he will come with his gifts and we will hear things and we think things that we haven't thought before and we see more of this beauty let's enjoy being together okay so you know african to care this music isn't it but we can't be together but we are together so what i want you to do is like encourage each other just turn around and look around and sing [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] nice ladies [Music] gray [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] no o praise the name of the lord [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] of jesus creation [Music] faith [Music] [Music] my [Music] so what can i say [Music] what can i do [Music] salvation [Music] is [Music] so what can i say what can i see [Music] what can i do [Music] what can i say what can i see [Music] [Music] completely [Music] tears here we are lord we are yours [Music] we offer up our bodies living sacrifices of praise to you lord we give you ourselves lord every single part is yours you lay down your life for us lord we lay down our lives for you we are yours we are yours [Music] [Music] [Music] i am [Music] [Music] i stand [Music] [Music] is [Music] yeah just as we come to the end of this time of worship hillary has a scripture that she wants to share with us god's speaking to us as his people as we gathered here today this comes from isaiah and i think it's a great encouragement for all of us he says the lord says i took you from the ends of the earth from the farthest corners i called you i said you are my servant i have chosen you and have not rejected you so do not fear for i am with you do not be dismayed for i am your god i will strengthen you and help you i will uphold you with my righteous right hand all who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish so we thank you lord that you have chosen us that you do uphold us with your righteous right hand we give you praise lord and we thank you lord we want to thank you that today we could celebrate you we celebrate you jesus for all that you've done for us we just declare that you are lifted up to the highest place and lord we want to thank you for this reminder of our togetherness that that as we gather together um we we we remember what it is that you've done for us and in our togetherness there's a celebration of all that you've done and we need that and we're just so grateful for that and lord this this passage from isaiah which just says that you are with us you have chosen us you will have hold us lord what an encouragement there is to each one of us here today thank you for your word and the way that it speaks to our hearts lord we're so grateful for that amen amen won't you grab your seats thanks very much to evan and to the band for leading us we really appreciate you guys [Applause] i almost feel like i don't have to say welcome i feel like we've already been welcomed but welcome again it is amazing to look out and see all these faces and to see all of you and i think like hammer shared in that scripture in ephesians that actually as we gather together we get to understand more of god's love for us the height the depth the breath the width of his love for us so those who are online welcome to you as well we're really sorry that you can't be with us but we love you and we are trusting that god will really speak to you as he is doing and meeting with you as he is meeting with us here so just a reminder about our covered protocols unless you're on the stage please do keep your mask on over your mouth and um and over your chin just so that we can care well for each other you'll have to say hello with your eyes um because no one can read your lips but yeah um if you do just on the cover thing i mean to say at the beginning and sam filled in for me here but if you do feel any symptoms or anything please let the church office know so that we can sort of manage that two quick notices um and then sam's going to read the scripture for today number one parents children our children children's ministry starts up again next week um face-to-face meeting here downstairs and also meeting in the city so um if you've got children that want to be part of that please during the week you'll be able to go online and book them in please book them into the right age groups because that just helps with making sure we've got enough uh well we've only we've only got as many kids in the room as the room can can sort of cater for with the with the restrictions that we must comply with so that's the first thing it's very exciting for the kids that we can start up again next week please be praying for our kids teams um this week as they are continuing with the online um for those families that can't make it but also preparing face-to-face um meet uh sort of programs and so there's an extra burden on them and then the second thing is just to leaders um monday week so that's monday the 27th we're going to have an evening here with scott marks scott and scott will be back i don't have clearance this time we're going to be praying and worshiping and as a short input from from scots if you're in leadership in jubilee you may want to just um diarise that it'll be sort of in the evening on monday the 27th okay do you want to get your bibles out kyle is preaching this morning from 1 corinthians 7 verse 17 to 40. just give you a second to find it nevertheless each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the lord has assigned to them just as god has called them this is the rule i lay down in all the churches was a man already circumcised when he was called he should not become uncircumcised was a man uncircumcised when he was called he should not be circumcised circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing keeping god's commands is what counts each person should remain in the situation they were in when god called them were you a slave when you were called don't let it trouble you although if you can gain your freedom do so for the one who was a slave when called to faith in the lord is the lord's freed person similarly the one who is free when called is christ's slave you were bought at a price do not become slaves of human beings brothers and sisters each person as responsible to god should remain in the situation they were in when god called them now about virgins i have no command from the lord but i give a judgment as one who by the lord's mercy is trustworthy because of the present crisis i think that it is good for a man to remain as he is are you pledged to a woman do not seek to be released are you free from such a commitment do not look for a wife but if you do marry you have not sinned and if a virgin marries she has not sinned but those who marry will face many troubles in this life and i want to spare you this what i mean brothers and sisters is that the time is short from now on those who have wives should live as if they do not those who mourn as if they did not those who are happy as if they were not those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep those who use the things of the world as if not engrossed in them for this world in its present form is passing away i would like you to be free from concern an unmarried man is concerned about the lord's affairs how he can please the lord but a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world how he can please his wife and his interests are divided unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the lord's affairs her aim is to be devoted to the lord in both body and spirit but a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world how she can please her husband i am saying this for your own good not to restrict you but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the lord if anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he has engaged to and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry he should do as he wants he is not sinning they should get married but the man who has settled the matter in his own mind who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin this man also does the right thing so then he who marries the virgin does right but he who does not marry her does better a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives but if her husband dies she is free to marry anyone she wishes but he must belong to the lord in my judgment she is happier if she stays as she is and i think that i too have the spirit of god amen kyle over to you thank you guys this comes on see us to the rescue there we go okay well i had another introduction planned but uh i suppose we could go with that one it's good to see you all what a huge privilege to finally be back together again and we are going to be continuing okay thanks yeah um we are continuing in our series in one corinthians if you have a bible won't you please keep it open there and we've entitled this series alternative city and that's because the church in corinth was meant to be a counter-culture to the city of corinth a paul wants of the church to be distinctive to be different to be holy of course this is what jesus called his people to be the light of the world to be the salt of the earth to be distinctive to be different but the problem in the church in corinth was that they'd blended into the city's culture far too much they were too much like corinth and not enough like jesus and so throughout this letter paul talks to them about what it will look like to be god's holy people what it would look like to be distinctive and in the first four chapters we saw paul was talking about that in the area of leadership instead of that kind of elitist view of leadership that was so much a part of corinthian culture paul said that the model of leadership that he is saying is biblical is leadership that's shaped by the cross servants kind of servant-hearted leadership and then from chapters five all the way through to the end of chapter 7 paul talks about distinctiveness in the area of sexual purity and that's why when he answers the questions that they sent to him about marriage and singleness he's placed it in this section because of course that forms part of the whole sexual purity discussion and you'll see if you just quickly have a look at verse 1 of chapter 7 he is responding to matters that they wrote to him about and again in verse 25 he picks up a thing that they wrote to him about and as we come to chapter seven there's a lot going on and it's easy to miss the big picture so here's one simple way to think about chapter seven it's a little bit like a ham sandwich the first piece of bread is chapter as verses 1 to 16 and that's talking about marriage not just about marriage but mainly about marriage the second piece of bread is verse 25 to 40 and that's talking about singleness not just singleness but mainly singleness and there's a big thick slice of ham right in the middle and that's verses 17 to 24 and paul's main point is found in verses 17 to 24 and so we're gonna figure with that out figure that out together and then he'll actually get back to answering specific questions they have so if you have a bible open just quickly look at verses 17 to 24 with me if you take a look at that you'll see that paul repeats something three times he says in verse 17 each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the lord has assigned to them just as god has called them in verse 20 each person should remain in the situation they were in when god called them verse 24 brothers and sisters each person as responsible to god should remain in the situation they were in when god called them so can you see that three times paul is repeating the same thing he's saying that the situation you were in when god called you is the situation you are in now and that's the situation in which you can serve god and you don't need to change your situation in order to improve your service to god god is not your service to god is not more valuable if your situation changes so the principle is very simple remain as you are that's that's essentially what paul is saying remain as you are but you can change if you can or you must now um the other thing that is significant in that little section versus 17-24 is that he emphasizes god's sovereign governance in our lives he uses the word called eight times in those verses eight times paul says god has called you to something and god has placed you there so you can serve god in that place so let's think a little bit about this principle what does it mean to remain in the situation we are in that god has called us in essentially i think it is a call to contentment and a call to devotion paul is saying trust god trust god where he has planted you in your life and serve him there and then he gives two illustrations an illustration around circumcision and an illustration around slavery so firstly let's think about his illustration of circumcision he says verse 18 was a man already circumcised when he was called he should not become uncircumcised was a man uncircumcised when he was called he should not be circumcised circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing keeping god's commandments is what counts now we read that and we think yeah i suppose that's true but what paul says here was absolutely radical if you were an old testament believer if you were a jewish believer for paul to say that circumcision doesn't matter would have been explosive in fact one commentator said verse 19 is the most radical sentence paul ever wrote because paul says circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing what matters is keeping god's commands but if you're a jewish believer circumcision is how you keep god it's the kind of essential evidence that you've kept god's commands and paul's point is that actually what really matters in your life is serving god not outward circumstances because of course circumcision had also become a huge marker of ethnic identity of religious identity and to make matters kind of more complicated in greek culture circumcision was actually scorned and so sometimes younger jewish men out of a desire to fit into the kind of prevailing roman culture would go through a process of getting uncircumcised which you can only imagine would have been incredibly painful in an era that hadn't invented pain relief but but there was sometimes a desire to change your situation in order to fit in to be accepted to increase your status and paul says that stuff doesn't matter that stuff really doesn't matter what matters is serving god and although the principle here is true of all of life of course what paul is really talking about in this chapter is marriage and singleness so you could if you look at verse 19 again you could change it slightly and i think this is paul's implied point to marriage is nothing and singleness is nothing keeping god's commands is what counts all right so paul is paul's saying actually the big thing they're writing to him about marriage how to do marriage and singleness and paul's point is that i'll answer your questions but the main thing is serving god and knowing him and rejoicing in him and being devoted to him and so just to make this point even more clearly just in case this wasn't radical enough paul uses another example he uses the example of slavery in verse 21 to 23. he says we are you a slave when you are called don't let it trouble you now that shows i think paul's incredible pastoral sensitivity in this chapter if you were a slave in 1st century corinth your ability to serve god would have been severely limited because of course you don't have any you don't really have any leisure time you don't have you don't have a lot of free time and so your ability um to kind of participate in the life of the church would have been limited uh your ability to develop your spiritual potential would have been limited so there would have been all sorts of constraints on slaves and and and the encouragement here paul is saying is hey god god knows that and you can serve god where you are don't be troubled by the limitations that your circumstances have placed on you and i think we can relate to that hey sometimes maybe our health our financial situation our relational situations our circumstances can can place enormous constraints on how much we can how much we think we can do for god and paul says don't let it trouble you don't need to trouble you god knows your life situation now if you can paul says get your freedom if you can gain your freedom get your freedom absolutely um but the remarkable thing is that you can serve god and honor god and flourish in your obedience to god in whatever situation you are in already that's the kind of radically subversive point that paul is making it is possible for a slave to bring more honor and glory to god as a slave than a master who's rebelling against god right so that's that's paul's um paul's big points now one of the things that again would have been striking is that in corinth [Music] estimates vary around this but probably a third of the population were in slavery another third had been released from slavery and a third would have been kind of born as free citizens so two-thirds of the population would have been either in slavery or recently uh released from slavery and based on what paul says in chapter one of one corinthians where he says not many of you are noble not many of you are kind of you know probably the proportion of the church was higher than that so it is absolutely remarkable what paul is saying here and then paul does something even more radical in verse he says the one who was a slave when called to faith in the lord is the lord's free person so he shows how the gospel radically changes the way you should think about that person and actually paul elevates the status of the slave hey um if you've heard it last year we did a sermon on slavery and one of the points that i've made is that consistently the bible elevates the status of the slave and here it is again pulse is actually the slave he kind of raises the slave up and then for the free person he says you're free but actually you're the slave of christ and so he brings that person down and can you see how clever paul is in the way that he applies the gospel to different people some people need to be reminded that the gospel exalts them and they're seated with christ in heavenly realms for other people they need to be reminded that the gospel humbles them and brings them back down to earth and so paul says hey that's how you need to think of yourselves if you if you feel inferior as a slave you've got to remember that you are free in the lord and if you are arrogant you're sort of this noble birth or a free born citizen you need to remember that you're a slave of christ and so paul uses the gospel to exalt and to humble in the community paul's main point is seen again in verse 24 each person is responsible to god should remain in the situation they were in when god called them one of the commentators uses this really helpful phrase that made me think of a picture of a flower he said what paul is saying is that you should bloom where you've been planted right we've got a picture of uh of a flower that is being planted in a slab of concrete right and and so often you can feel like that's my life hey i just feel like i've been planted in concrete how am i ever going to bloom how am i ever going to flourish my circumstances are just too overwhelming too chronic they're never going to change right and it's not uncommon for people to feel trapped hey i'm sure if we had to kind of go around this room and talk to folks a lot of us would feel trapped in different ways maybe you feel it's got to do with your health your finances your relationships your work whatever it is you can often feel trapped in your circumstances and it's easy to think how how can i flourish in my devotion to god you know i just i don't have the time i don't have the resources i don't have the energy to to bloom and what paul wants to say to us is that our ability to serve god and honor god is not determined or diminished by our circumstances primarily in one corinthians uh paul is writing to people who actually are have been planted in concrete right we know that from chapter one that these are people who actually whose life situations are very difficult and uh they're not going to be able to probably do as much as they wanted to for the lord and paul says hey don't let it trouble you you can flourish in your obedience to god where you are and i think this is so helpful because you know a lot of a lot of preaching today i think the way we talk about the christian life is we we kind of talk about it as though people experience a kind of huge amount of leisure time and resources that isn't really true of real life you know for a lot of people actually real life is very constrained by your ongoing responsibilities and obligations and limitations and we can talk about the christian life assuming a level of leisure resources social mobility that's just not true now and actually has never really been true in history probably less true the further back in history you go so this is an incredibly important thing for us to know as believers that regardless of my circumstances i can honor god i can bloom where i have been planted and i can bring him glory in that place for most of us a lot of our life dreams won't actually be fulfilled we won't be able to do a lot of things we would like to do the incredible thing is that we can still bring god honor and glory where we are right your circumstances don't determine and they don't diminish your ability to honor and serve god so that's the principle that's what paul says the principle is remain as you are you can change your situation if you must you can change it if you can so again paul's not against improving situation right that's why he says to the slave get your freedom if you can and also in verse 23 he says you aborted a price don't become slaves of humans again say paul doesn't paul doesn't want people to be in slavery paul doesn't want people's lives to be harder than they are so improve your life if you can but don't think that a change in circumstances automatically will improve your devotion to christ right we know that actually sometimes more prosperity can actually make people apathetic towards god and so paul's point is you know in the situation you're in serve god there remain there and bloom where you've been planted so that's the principle explained remain as you are but change if you can or must and then the principle applied first 25 onwards well it's the same remain as you are but you can change if you want to and let's take a look at what he says in verse 25 he's speaking to virgins what he's probably referring to there are a young unmarried woman and there's a bit of debate as to who he's uh speaking to but i think verse 34 makes that clear hey an unmarried woman or virgin that's kind of synonymous for paul there so he's speaking not just to two young unmarried women he's speaking to singles in general and notice what he says here in verse 25 i have no command from the lord but i give a judgment as one who by the lord's mercy is trustworthy this is a little bit of an aside but this section is actually an incredible picture of what pastoral counsel actually is paul's saying i haven't got a command from jesus on this i'm going to give you my my judgment i'm going to give you my counsel and paul is very happy for people not to take his counsel and if they don't he says you haven't sinned you'll say that several times this is what i think this is what i think is best but if you don't do it if you do something else you haven't sinned and it's really helpful hey because partial counsel works on that basis it it works on the basis of the person receiving it consenting to it so there's nothing coercive in paul's pastoral counsel right he's saying this is what i think i'm going to tell you what i think you asked me what i think but if you don't if you don't do this it's fine you don't have you know you haven't sinned if you don't do what i have suggested here and i think it's a helpful aside for us to remember that is actually a good model here of pastoral council so paul's basic counsel to the unmarrieds is remain as you are so surprisingly we might think paul's counselors remain unmarried now let's go through that uh kind of carefully because there are reasons and some of these are very contextual reasons uh that are that are going on in the time and the place so the first reason paul says you should stay unmarried is because of the present crisis take a look at verse 26. paul's principle of staying unmarried is because of the present crisis i think it's good for a man to remain as he is are you pledged to a woman don't seek to be released so if you kind of pledged or engaged don't break it off carry on with that if you're free from that commitment don't don't seek it now there's a lot of debate as to what this present crisis was um and you can read quite a lot and still not really know i think probably um it was a famine that's what a lot of uh a lot of commentators seem to think there was a famine going on and actually if you ever live in a time of real crisis you'll know just how much more stressful that is if you have a family to look after right of course you've got to remember in the ancient world when you get married you also have kids because there's general you know there's no contraception so if you are battling a famine um it's hard enough to look after yourself it's going to be much more stressful and much more difficult to look after a whole family hey so paul's advice here is very practical he's saying listen i don't know if right now is the best time um and actually even the coronavirus has been a good example of actually how much more difficult it is for people to get married uh have babies you know and i know that because we had a baby during lockdown so so you know can i be at the hospital how do what about this what about that what if something happens to the other person so paul's saying listen everything is very intense right now my suggestion is you just delay you know you kind of delay getting married you remain as you are for the moment but verse 28 if you do marry you haven't sinned right so paul's very happy to say listen that's what i think but if you if you go ahead and get married you haven't sinned it's totally fine and if a virgin marries she hasn't sinned but you know very realistic in verse 28 those who marry will face many troubles in this life and i want to spare you there so paul's saying you know and every married person or parent knows that hey many troubles paul says that's gonna happen so if you get married right now in this crisis i think it's gonna be even more intense so so don't do it but if you do you haven't sinned okay so stay unmarried because of the present crisis there's a great line in one of the commentaries i read the guy said when the high seas are raging it is no time for changing ships which i thought was a great image you know these you can think of these two ships on the high seas how do you get from the one to the other it's very difficult better to do that when there's no storm going on and that's paul's point okay so stay unmarried because of the present crisis stay unmarried secondly because this world is passing away verse 29 what i mean brothers and sisters is that the time is short from now on those who have wives should live as if they do not for those who mourn as if they did not those who are happy as if they were not those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep those who use the things of the world as if not engrossed in them for this world in its present form is passing away now paul is not advocating a total detachment i think his point is really um summarized in that word in verse 31 the word engrossed don't be engrossed in this world because it's temporary it's passing away i think scott mentioned it last week you know he's got this lovely car but it's he can't take that car to heaven you know say look after the car and get it serviced and whatever but don't get you know these things are temporary and so often we can think that our life consists in the abundance of our possessions but actually you can't take any of that with you it's not going to last paul is saying you know the way we should live is with kind of one eye on eternity all the time you know there's a little kind of rhyme you might have heard before there's only one life it will soon be past only what's done for christ will last that's what paul is saying you know you can't get married but but often if you think that the sum and substance of your happiness and your purpose is in marriage you're looking in the wrong place but this world is passing away marriage isn't even going to last into heaven so paul's saying you know you can do it uh it's good um but this world is passing away and so there's a relative detachment to things and again it's not that things aren't important one of the requirements for an elder is that you have to manage your household so paul is not saying that like you know pretend as though it doesn't matter um that you've got no responsibilities he's just saying you've got to hold on to those things with a with a kind of a light hand because this world is passing away thirdly stay unmarried because marriage takes a lot of attention and effort verse 32 i'd like you to be freaked from concern this is a third reason for why he is advocating folks to stay unmarried to be free from concern an unmarried man verse 32 is concerned about the lord's affairs how he can please the lord but a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world how he can please his wife and his interests are divided and then it's the same with a woman an unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the lord's affairs her aim is to be devoted to the lord in both body and spirit but a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world how she can please her husband paul's just being very practical he's saying if you're married you've actually so this is it's helpful to keep this in mind with what he's just said hey because you could read what he's just said and say okay well um verse 29 for the those who have wives should live as if they do not and then paul says actually but if you are mad you actually do need to please your wife you know you can't you can't use this as an excuse to be a bad husband so you do actually have to live to please your wife you have to look after her in the family you've got to do everything you can to protect and provide and and and be a good husband and a good wife but what that means then is that necessarily your interests will be divided right um very practically so singleness makes devotion to christ easier because you know if there's no food in the cupboard you scrounge around is maybe a can of baked beans you can have it for supper but you know if you've got family and kids you can't you can't do that all the time so paul's saying if you're gonna if you're gonna do this you've got to please your wife you would please your husband which actually again as an aside shows that for paul that is part of marriage so just if if you think i don't need to please my spouse actually pauses now you do you do need to please them you need to think about how to care for them and love them and serve them you need you need to seek to please them in that sense but that makes life more complicated because then you're seeking to please your spouse and you're seeking to please the lord so you've got you've got two things going on rather than just the one um and so you can see how practical paul's being here hey he's not saying singleness is a spiritually a pure form of life he's saying that there's a present crisis going on the world is passing away and actually there's lots of concerns and anxieties in uh in married life um [Music] so verse 35 he says i'm saying this for your own good i'm not trying to restrict you i'm just saying this for your own good so that you might live in a right way in undivided devotion um to the lord um and we can think like oh is paul being negative about marriage no he's not he's just he's i think he's being you know what is life about life is about being devoted to christ and then very practically saying actually in these in this in these circumstances in the situation singleness is easier when it comes to being devoted to christ um so the married person is sort of pulled in two directions hey pleasing their spouse and pleasing christ okay so stay single for those reasons um stay unmarried but then there's a little bit of a case study that paul has to respond to in verses 36 to 38 and verses 36 to 38 are actually quite tricky because um there's a bit of debate as to actually what's going on in the original language what seems to be happening practically is that paul is responding to someone who feels that they are acting in a dishonorable way so this is probably an engaged man and he feels verse 36 that he might not be acting honorably towards the virgin he's engaged to most bibles will have a footnote and they will actually some of them will suggest that this is not so much about an engaged man but a father who's wanting to marry his daughter or not marry her i think that's probably not um the the the right understanding which is i think for most bibles it's actually as a as a sort of alternative translation and footnote but that's only one of the issues the other issue is actually what the problem is now and again most of the translations and then the niv that we were using here it says the problem seems to indicate that his passions are too strong so the sense you get is that he's engaged and maybe his sexual passions are too strong i actually don't think that's that's um the problem and the there's a footnote there as well and i think the footnote is actually the correct one uh the footnote says if she is getting beyond the usual age for marriage to understand this we've got to understand a little bit about how marriage sometimes works in the roman world so what would often happen is that you would get engaged a man would get engaged to a woman but when she was very young before she was of a marriageable age and the reason he would do that is because there were legal benefits to being considered married which would happen when you were engaged so there might be legal and economic benefits to being engaged to someone who was not yet at the age of getting married so that's that that would have happened then i think perhaps this guy gets converted the church in corinth is only four years old so he gets converted to christ and now he goes okay now what do i do do i marry this girl still and he hasn't married her yet but she is now beyond the age for marriage and he rightly is realizing actually i could really dishonor her if i don't go ahead and marry her because i said i would and i've been receiving all these legal and economic benefits because i've been considered married but i haven't actually married her yet and of course her family my family this is actually a bit of a disgrace if i don't marry her but can i marry her now that i'm a christian maybe i can't marry her so that's i think what's going on is that the guy is rightly concerned that i could actually be acting in a dishonorable way i promised to marry her but now i actually haven't done it and paul says if you feel you should do it you should marry her so if it is the honorable thing to do you keep your word you marry her um because again not to do so would if that would be uh to bring dishonor on her on the gospel then you marry her but paul says verse 37 um if the man has settled the matter in his own mind he's under no compulsion but has control over his own will and has made up his mind not to marry her he also does the right thing so i think what paul is saying is if you can act in a way that doesn't bring disgrace to her to the gospel if you feel like you don't want to don't want to and it's not going to cause disgrace or dishonor you're not doing this out of compulsion but you feel settled in your own heart that that would be the right thing to do you can do that as well right so can you see how flexible paul is in his partial counsel you can do this and for these reasons you might need to do that but you don't have to do that you could also do this and of course what paul does is paul leaves the agency up to the person it's up to you to decide so you can do it now because there are benefits to remaining single paul will say at the end of verse 38 the one who marries the virgin does right but he who does not marry her does better i don't think again he's saying from a purity point of view it's better it's just because of everything else he said there are advantages to singleness so paul's saying that's what i think but it's not right or wrong it's right and better and again paul says that's just my opinion that you know that's that's my judgment um he'll say right at the end of the chapter i do think i have the spirit of god so you know it's it's it's good advice but there are different options for you to choose from and in the end you've got to make the choice based on your circumstances what you think is best i think it's just worth adding though verses 36 to 38 speaking to an engaged person this is not the usual pre-wedding jitters so i think before you get um you know before the wedding dates very normal often to get like some of the jitters and i think this is obviously not the situation paul's talking about paul's talking about a situation where a guy has been engaged probably for many years and is and is actually delaying it um and pause is speaking into that so i think um it's just helpful sometimes to know the situation paul is speaking into um and his principle has stayed the same all the way through though hey remain as you are but change if you want to change if you must and then finally paul applies the same principle to widows verse 39 a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives but if her husband dies she's free to marry anyone she wishes but he must belong to the lord so she must marry a christian a person and then he adds in my judgment she's happier she stays as she is um so she can do what she wants freedom nothing wrong with it you know marriage can be complicated and difficult so i think she's probably you know in all these other reasons he said praise and distress etc i think she's happy if she doesn't but you know you can do what you want this is i think when he says i think i too have the spirit of god he's saying to them listen you're probably going to scorn me for this advice because it would have been radically counter-cultural right in roman society if you were kind of especially an elite marriage was the way you secure your legacy your estate you know all that kind of stuff you know if you watch downton abbey it's the same kind of thing hey it's like it's such a big deal because your wealth and your prestige is tied up in marriage and paul paul saying here listen the big thing in life is not about marriage or possessions it's about god knowing him serving him wherever you are that's what life is about and so that's the principle explained the principle applied and then i want to end by talking about the principle personalized what i mean is this principle uh needs to be personalized by us individually we need to serve god with contentment and devotion that's what the whole the chapter i think is about he's been answering questions about marriage and singleness and engagements and all that kind of stuff and it's a good chapter because you know almost every other section of the bible is very positive about marriage 1 corinthians 7 paul's saying marriage is very good but let me just tell you one or two other things about it it's a little bit of hard work and it's pressure and stress but the big thing he's saying in this chapter is that life is about serving god and i wanted to end by sharing a story of someone who i think captures this so well and can hopefully be an encouragement and a challenge to us it's the story of betsy stockton now i've been reading a story of betsy stockton to my daughters there's a children's book that's been released about her life and it's fantastic um now betsy was born as a slave in 1798 and was the slave of the reverend asheville greene who was actually the president of the college of new jersey which is now known as princeton university and she grew up in a kind of in this christian environment uh attended evening classes at the college and in the winter of 1815 a revival broke out on the campus and betsy became a christian at the age of 17. and for the next few years really grew in her devotion to christ spiritually [Music] the greens were actually part of the abolitionist movement they released her from slavery but she stayed in their household as a paid domestic servant and despite obviously very challenging circumstances betsy continued to grow in her devotion to christ and her knowledge of the scriptures and actually had a burning desire to take the gospel to where christ had not yet been preached and betsy stockton became the first single female missionary ever sent out of north america several years later she uh she got an opportunity to go do mission work in hawaii it cost a lot of money she had to raise some of it the greens chips and the rest and in 1823 betsy arrived in hawaii as a missionary and she served there for several years she helped start a school unfortunately one of her teammates got very sick and so they went back to the states together where she continued to care for the person sadly until their death and then cared for the family as well but she'd opened a school in hawaii and just three years after the school had opened over 8 000 uh children from a very kind of impoverished circumstances came there she taught history english latin and mathematics as well as obviously doing evangelism and discipleship and betsy back in the states continued to do this she started schools she taught for many years as a principal she continued to teach these various subjects she continued to engage in evangelism and discipleship she helped start a church and continued for years to do really pioneering mission and academic work it is a remarkable story eventually in 1865 she died after many years of faithful and energetic service to christ born into slavery but emerged as a religious and academic pioneer and the reason i thought of sharing the story is because i think she captures what paul is saying life is you about improve your circumstances if you can the thing that captured betsy stockton's heart was serving christ taking the gospel to where it hadn't been preached um and one of the articles i was reading about her ends in this way it's quite a long quote but i'll read it in this article it says betsy stockton was a remarkable 19th century woman missionary pioneer she must have faced what many today would call daunting identity problems she was obviously marginalized because of course you know slavery and racism were huge issues you know still are but massive issues in the states she was obviously marginalized and often lonely perhaps feeling that she did not completely belong to anyone or did not belong to any place but betsy discovered a secret that became her victory over loneliness and despair paul described it as being in christ betsy learned that secret too through a lifetime of walking with her lord she learned the happy secret that in christ one does not live altogether under the circumstances whatever they may be right she bloomed where she was planted you could say she was planted into concrete hey to a very difficult situation and yet her devotion to christ serving him meant that she was this remarkable pioneer in so many ways betsy stockton gave herself and wholehearted service to the one who had given himself for her she realized what paul says in verse 23 you were bought at a price you belong to god serve him give yourself to him and that leaves us with a question as we end our reflection on one corinthians 7 it's easy to get caught up in the details of marriage singleness engagements the big point paul is making is that are we devoted to christ and the good news is that our circumstances no matter how difficult don't determine and can't diminish our ability to bring god honor and glory where we are and so let's let's end by asking ourselves these questions do i serve god with contentment and devotion do i serve him tirelessly efficiently consistently let's pray lord jesus we recognize afresh that you gave yourself for us you bought us with the precious blood uh and and lord jesus we want to confess that so often we just get distracted in life and we forget what we're really here for help us to remember that we belong to you thank you that you give yourself to us thank you for your mercy your grace your devotion to us we pray that by your spirit you would help us to be devoted to you we thank you so much father for the example of so many who've gone before us and we pray that you would help us to take these things to heart and thank you father that whatever the situation we find ourselves in it can't determine how we honor you we can't diminish how we bring you glory thank you that our devotion to you is circumstance proof won't you please help us to be committed to serving you in jesus name amen thanks very much carl i think that's so helpful having kyle unpack that passage for us like that you know when you read it the first time it can just sort of look at it and go what is this a bit confusing about virgins and marriage and what on earth is this going on about um and i think the way that carl has unpacked that has been really really helpful for us so thank you carl god bless you as you carry on carl's going to go through to the city now [Applause] just before we close i want to give us a moment to respond to those questions that that carl posed at the end there i want you to the band will lead us in a song in a moment but just just before we get to that do you want to just take a moment and reflect what is your circumstance now what is your situation what is the situation that you are in and in that situation how is it that you can honor god how is it that you can be devoted to god are you distracted by things about your situation things you like things you don't like are you letting that distract you and is the call of god to you today to say you know you're in the situation i know that what i'm asking you to do is to be content in that situation devote yourself to me and to um and to honor me in that situation are we going to be those that picture was so helpful those flowers and the concrete but still but still blooming and we want to be people that bloom in the situations that we're in so let's just take a short moment for you to reflect on that and then evan and the band will lead us in a song where we can just respond in our hearts to to god [Music] so what can i say what can i do let's stand as we sing in response [Music] what can i say what can i do our devotion of jesus [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus we love oh [Music] [Music] we love you [Music] you all things have passed [Music] things that we thought [Music] darkest night [Music] this will be [Music] while we love you [Music] jesus will love you [Music] is [Music] has [Music] [Laughter] [Music] this will be [Music] jesus we love you you are the one [Music] yes lord jesus we do love you we do love you we want to live lives that are devoted to you lives that honor you we love you lord jesus yeah i'm just going to bring the meeting to a close there thank you so much for joining us today if you've joined us online trust that god's met with you and spoken to you as well as you go from this place let's go reflecting on how do we go into our homes our communities and how do we live lives this week that are going to bring honor and glory and devotion to god isn't that a wonderful challenge for us to take with us as we go so thank you for joining us god bless you as you go lord i just want to pray your blessing on each one that is here today thank you that we could gather like this thank you that in our togetherness we meet with you and and we have been strengthened today by gathering like this we're so grateful for the way that you work in us so be with each one as we go amen amen thanks again to evan and to the band we really appreciated you today god bless everybody

Channel: Jubilee Community Church

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Length: 74min 42sec (4482 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021