We turn in the Scriptures tonight to 1 Corinthians 7. 1 Corinthians 7, we'll be looking at verses 17 to the end of the chapter. And I want to give a word of encouragement before I begin here tonight. I said a few words this morning about sermon length, and I had a few comments afterward about, don't worry about it. But then what was interesting is in my catechism class, seniors. I raised this issue and they said, pastor, keep preaching. Don't worry about it. And I thought, what a wonderful encouragement the young people, not that anyone else isn't, but the wonderful encouragement the young people have been in this church. I mean it. I have been thoroughly impressed with the devotion and love and growth that I've seen in the young people, the Escondido URC. That's the future. And I'm thankful for that. And I want to encourage the parents and the young people to continue in holding fast the word and grow and know Christ through it. I tell you, you have encouraged your pastor more than you know. So I just want to say that. 1 Corinthians 7 tonight. 1 Corinthians 7, beginning at verse 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. 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. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. But if you gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity. For he who is called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freed man of the Lord. Likewise, he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price. Do not become bondservants of men. So brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment, says one, who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress, it's good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you've not sinned. And if a betrothed woman married, she's not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. This is what I mean, brothers. The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of the world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please him, please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife and his interests are divided and the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the lord how to be holy in body and spirit but the married woman is anxious about worldly things how to please her husband i say this for your own benefit not to lay any restraint upon you but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the lord if anyone thinks that he's 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 but whoever is firmly established in his heart being under no necessity but having his desire under control and has determined this in his heart to keep her as his betrothed he will do well so then he who marries his betrothed does well but he who refrains from marriage will do even better a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives but if the husband dies she is free to be married to whom she wishes only in the Lord yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is and I think that I too have the spirit of God may the Lord bless the hearing of his word as we have continued our study in the book of first Corinthians what we have come across over and over again is a frustrated apostle over the state of the church in Corinth have you noticed how frustrated he often is in the way he speaks, even that last line. All the extremes that we have been presented with in the book kind of helps us to understand why, doesn't it? On the one hand, just recent studies, on the one hand, we've been dealing with the problem, remember, that people indulge in the body with sexual immorality, and then you have the other opposite extreme of celibacy. And this was a cultural problem. And Paul is dealing with extreme after extreme after extreme, watching all of this extremism take place in the life of the church. Nothing about the church in Corinth was stable. Nothing. And Paul's concerned. A church that is not grounded, a church that is experiencing its members jump over here and over here and over here and over here, valuing all the wrong things, looking for power in all the wrong places, trying to remedy the problem with human wisdom is a time bomb. That has a breaking point. And Paul really has a goal in this book of reframing their thinking and reforming the church. That's why we like reform, by the way. We want to reform the church. It's always necessary. And he is holding them and holding them accountable and having them think through what they've succumbed to, what they've flirted with in terms of false ideas, the temptations, and he's helping in making them aware of these things. Well, that's the rest of 1 Corinthians 7. I know there's a lot of specifics here, and I could take a long time preaching this in a 10-part series. I'll spare you. We don't need to do that. I want to get to tonight the heart of what he's after. There's a specific goal of what Paul's after in this section. He's helping them have a biblical mindset in a time of severe crisis. Severe crisis. He's opening their eyes to what is really happening in the church, something that we often are not aware of, that our eyes are rather close to. Thinking of the Belgic tonight, of the principalities, what the devil's trying to do to the church and to you. We're often close to that. And Paul is explaining this for them and he's helping them move forward in perilous times. And that's what I want to challenge us with tonight. Do we have any idea, do we think enough about what really is happening in the life of the kingdom and particularly the local church to where we have our membership? And what happens in a local church when that local church is being derailed from the very commission that Christ gave it. We need to ask tonight how we, as we look at this, might be adopting some of the same mentalities of the church in Corinth. That's the purpose of this book, is to challenge and reform the church and convict and help us as the Escondido URC to be a church faithful to the calling that God has given to us. There's something that's said in verse 26. That I believe captures what the apostles are after tonight. It gives real insight into what was happening and what is driving the way and the manner in which he's answering. There's a certain, if you felt that, thread through that whole section, something that's driving him. And you read in verse 26, he says it pretty plainly. We read that, think that in view of the present distress, it's good for a person to remain as he is. The word for distress, probably a good way to translate it to crisis. Crisis. This is on his mind. There is a crisis going on, a distress. What's he talking about? Well, you know he's been answering their specific questions. They've had many questions in light of different ideas about specifics about marriage life about single life about divorce about remarriage and it's driving him here but this is a real insight into something that is in his thinking in the way he answers he views something that is happening right now in the church in Corinth right at this moment as so detrimental to church life that if the church doesn't understand this they will succumb to handling their positions in life, their stations in life, that if they don't understand what they're in right now and what they're facing as the body of Christ and they don't handle it well in their own personal lives, it's going to directly affect the purpose and witness of the church. What is the crisis? What's he talking about? What is this present distress? It's the only time in the New Testament he phrases it this way which is really fascinating we've been working through the study of joseph for some time and i had somebody walk up to me after last week's sermon and say to me they said pastor i i want to take that quote that you work from from the heidelberg catechism and this is one of our college students he says and i want to put it right over my door of my college dorm and he says i wanted to say you know patient in adversity thankful in prosperity and i said you do that what did we learn in that study we have these seasons that come upon us we have seasons of adversity many in this church had them break open this week you have seasons of prosperity and when we hear that in the heidelberg almost universally everyone thinks about personal trials don't we it's a good way to apply it but we either in personal trials what do we do in personal trials we either go one way or another we either as we looked at withdraw or we learn to address and go forward and prepare ourselves and act in an extraordinary manner in the time of trial and in the season of adversity looking to the lord for strength and deliverance we're taught this way we have to lean upon the lord that's one of the actual great blessings of seasons of adversity it casts us upon him but i want you tonight to apply the heidelberg statement on providence i want you to take it out of the realm of personal adversity for a moment and apply that to church life apply it to church life viewed as a whole corporately do you realize that just as much so the church goes through seasons of prosperity seasons of growth seasons of real outward blessings seasons of a lot of sunshine and then the church is itself goes through real seasons of adversity real seasons i'm sure you say well we kind of understand that pastor but have you really thought about what that looks like what would you characterize as a season of adversity now you can appreciate 26 verse 26 a little bit you guys are in the middle of a terrible crisis right now do you realize that church didn't realize that that's driving the apostle in the way that he's instructing their positions in life right now i wonder if that shocked them when he said that did they think everything was going well how did they think how did they process that paul had such a thorough going understanding a such a thorough understanding of the warfare to which christians are are involved in and the body of christ and we read it tonight in the belgic what the devil's trying to do first and foremost to the church that paul would even speak openly and i think sometimes we as reform people are a little nervous about speaking this way But that the devil did this, or the devil's doing this, or the devil and Satan is hindering the word in advancement. He said that openly to the church in Thessalonica. Satan hindered us. In this very book, or this very epistle, the second one to the Corinthians, remember what he says? Satan comes as an angel of light. You realize that? And he masks himself. And he wreaks havoc in the life of the church. Well, what then is the crisis? You've studied it. Paul's presented to you the crisis. What does it look like in Corinth? It was a church not interested in the Word. It was a church that was doing ministry, trying to be culturally relevant. It was building with the wrong materials, chapter 3. Using worldly means to build the church. They were looking for power in all the wrong places and not the means God had appointed. Members were not being fed. And because members were not being fed, you had hosts of problems in the church. They were terribly disgruntled. And you had divisions. They would not discipline anyone. Nobody was being disciplined in whatever they wanted to do. They were tolerant of everything. They were standing for nothing. They were divided internally. They were split apart in factions. They were following their own favorite pastors. They were worldly. They had a low view of the Lord's Supper. I mean, I could just keep going on and on. There was squabbling and divisions. What kind of response do you get in all these circumstances? Well, that's the crisis. Paul is looking at the church in Corinth and saying, you guys are in a crisis. It's a present distress. Now the typical response is to withdraw. But I want you to think for a minute about us. I want you to think about us. Have you known in the course of the us, because some of you have been here a long time, have you known real seasons of progress and prosperity and advancement and real blessing and growth and everything that you would characterize as a wonderful blessing from the Lord? Sure you have. You've seen things flourish. Have you known other seasons of adversity? Every church goes through that. That's life. That's church life. But I ask that because of the things that mark adversity for a church, what would we mark then being a period of adversity? It would be what you're seeing in Corinth. A low view of worship. A low view of the supper. worldly view of ministry. People wanting all the other stuff rather than the Word. No discipline happening. Hosts of conflicts among members. Divisions in the body. Factions filling the church. So these are the things we have to think about. That is a season of adversity. Churches all are going to go through it this is corinth this is corinth and paul is calling them and reforming this church and notice what's happening here what is the greatest thing that would be a hindrance to reforming a church people uncommitted right people distracted and here's where it comes together tonight you probably went i don't where are you going with all this right here you can't reform a church which is the goal of corinthians if you're distracted with a whole bunch of other things in a period of crisis what do i mean as paul sees it the church had entered a season of adversity and an extraordinary course needed to happen to deal with the problem and if you're not going to take the course it's not going to reform so he said well what were they distracted with well this is how the devil works he distracts us and he takes us away from what is most important by tying up a church with everything it shouldn't be tied up with how much distraction happens in the church distraction sheer distraction culturally speaking in corinth what was driving paul here well the greeks were teaching asceticism all these strange ideas were popping up left and right strange ideas of the body and you had all sorts of strange spiritual responses happening people doing weird things with their body people running off into isolation people divorcing for no reason People leaving thinking that the celibate life was the life that was truly spiritual. And you had all these extremes and withdrawals going on in daily life. And this is not so far from our culture. In the midst of a church in crisis, if you ever come to a time where you think there's a church in crisis, look at the strange phenomenons that begin to happen. Look how the devil works all around that. I could not help but apply this to Harold Camping when in Linden, we would see his nephew put signs all over Linden, leave the church, sell everything. And he did. He sold his business. He left everything. Radical, strange behavior of withdrawal. This kind of distraction is the devil. What's happening? People are being led away from the ministry. People are being warped with strange ideas that profit nothing of their souls. All of these pagan ideas that people come into contact with are now brought into the kingdom and pretty soon you don't have much of a kingdom when everyone's buying into this stuff. All of these pagan ideas were distractions. All these things that Christians were falling into were distractions. And if Satan could tie up the church with marital problems, oh boy, that'll hit the ministry hard. You see this now? If Satan could have a host of women leaving their husbands, which is what he addressed last time, because they don't have to put up with anything. Boy, what does that do to the life of the church? If you could create a slavery war, because slavery was a big problem in the first century, how would Christians handle that? What would happen to the church? And Paul is saying you guys need to watch distractions in your own lives, in your own personal lives. You need to watch distractions because the Lord is after something. They were dealing with marriage and divorce and all these things related. And you know, Paul is saying that's not unrelated to the ministry of the whole. You have to think of yourselves as belonging to the whole. There's a vital connection to the ministry that you're a part with. You're the body of Christ. All of these things in your own lives are not separate little incident. So what does he do? You could basically summarize this section into two kind of streams of thought. Here it is. First, he's saying you have to be aware of the crisis, that we enter seasons of adversity. The Corinthian church was in one. If you're not aware that this happens, if you're not aware that seasons come, Paul says this to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, in the last times, dangerous seasons will come. so what does he do he informs them of it and here's what he says god does not call any of you to withdraw from your stations in life now that's a really important point tonight why is he saying that did you notice he said it three times in this section look at verse 20 each one of you should remain in the condition in which he was called Verse 24. So brothers, in whatever condition each was called, let them remain with God. Verse 26. In view of this present distress, it's good for a person to remain as he is. When you have three times it emphasized like that, this is driving him. Why is he saying that? Withdrawal, weird behavior was happening in the ancient church. And think of the mess it created for leadership. If you're dealing with a culture tolerant of divorce and now the leadership is filled with these cases, that's overwhelming. Paul's stopping the freight train. What does he do here? Well, he has us all think about life in the midst of present crisis. Your own stations. And people typically fall into withdrawal and flight. in times of crisis. Especially when it's something in your own personal lives. And Paul in verse 17 provides the general rule for being a good churchman. Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him. That's my rule in all the churches. Did you hear how he directly tied the rule to church life? Your station in life to church life? It's so important. Every one of you has a station. Every one of you has this calling from God. You have a vocation. You have your marriages. And he is saying, God specifically assigned these things to you. God specifically assigned a station for you in life. Stay there. You see what he's doing? In times of distress, think about this. He's trying to stabilize church members. He's saying, hold on, I'm stabilizing you guys. Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more, that you aspire to lead, now listen to this, a quiet life. Mind your own business. Work with your own hands. As we commanded you, be very good, quiet members of God's kingdom. Don't be obnoxious. Don't be obnoxious in the kingdom. lead a simple life it's okay god loves that don't you just love that verse and he gives some examples then to help them with their thinking of stations in life i want you to understand then that all of life belongs to the lord all of your lives belong to the lord and he specifically appointed your station in life becoming a christian doesn't mean you have to now go separate out and do your own thing it does not mean that actually stability is the best way you can be a good church member it's going to really strengthen the body of christ you could say it this way now that you're a christian that doesn't mean you can only talk to christians only work in a christian with this or that only engage with everything christian that's not what he's telling you to do don't become ascetic christians be normal can you imagine this you had groups that were becoming separatists joining their own little communes with strange views on this and that and they're wreaking havoc in the ministry and Paul says in verse 18 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 for neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision but keeping the commandments of God and you're all saying that's weird how do you remove circumcision they tried they tried there was such this was the greatest fight in the early church what do i mean well you know this there were some who tried and we have this recorded to mutilate to remove their circumcision greeks thought the practice was barbaric jews thought those who weren't circumcised were dogs and therefore not really in the kingdom this was the great fight in the early church you imagine people getting caught up in all that devil loved it devil loved it and paul is saying listen you're in a crisis and you want to argue about that are you kidding that's done away with put it into it you know it's not surgery that indicates whether you're a christian you know the proof's in the pudding you know it's those who honor the commandments of god another example were you a bond servant when you were called don't be concerned about it you say whoa listen what he says but if you can gain your freedom avail yourself of the opportunity listen if you can go get your freedom as a slave go get it for he who is called in the lord as a bond servant is a freedman of the lord likewise he was free when called as a bond servant of christ you were bought with the christ don't bought with a price don't become bondservants of men so brothers here it is in whatever condition each was called let him remain with god in whatever station you are serve him you're free that is good and right if you can be free and you can get out of what is obviously a very oppressive structure that happens slavery is a terrible thing that happens and is oppressive history has proven that if you can get out of that that surely is not god's design i believe he's saying that here clearly it's a wicked institution of man that has produced a lot of terrible things but don't make that the fight of your life to get out of a situation you can't change is what he's saying that's an important point you know what people do when they get on their little cause and that's a big cause but my point is is is that it leads to discouragement and that's become the fight of your life that's the the focal point of your existence and paul is saying here i encourage you slaves in the ancient world you're free i want you to know that you're god's freedmen christ has freed you and even if a culture debases to the terrible thing of slavery you know here's the thing you can serve your true master even in that you can nothing changes your true freedom but if you make that the single great fight of your life it's going to be harmful to your whole christianity and members and being a member of the body don't make your life battling and fighting you're a slave of christ verse 27 are you bound to a wife don't seek to be free are you free from a wife don't seek a wife but if you do marry you've not sinned you see again how he's working with this. Don't run around desperately trying to change your situation in life. Don't desperately run around trying to fix what you can't fix. Sure, you can desire it. You can pray for it. That's not what he's saying. But I've seen this. I've seen people who have hard stations in life. And they're so unaccepting of it, they can't go anywhere. They can't do anything. They're depressed. And how does that affect church life? How is that person involved in the community? How is that person a vital living member? They're self-absorbed. And Paul is saying, and the Lord is encouraging those people in this kind of circumstance. Listen, it's where you are now. Don't withdraw. In whatever form, make it a way to glorify the Lord. Be a good churchman. Be a good servant. in the place where God has you right now. So Paul's first answer to the crisis is that. Remain where you are. If you have a job because you're a Christian, you don't have to make your life goal changing your status. Serve him. First answer. Second is this. You do need to understand something though. That God does expect you to take an extraordinary course in your current stations of life when the church is in crisis. Now, I'm going to state that again because that's, I think, foreign to Americans and Western thought. God does expect you to take an extraordinary course in your current stations in life when the church is in seasons of crisis. What do I mean by that? While he says don't change your stations, he is saying that times of great crisis come. and in the kingdom there is an extraordinary course that's needed until the crisis is over now even if you took that as representing the whole present age then it's still a good path forward but i believe he's specifically looking at corinth i remember reading john owen years ago and always stuck with me in his book on the mortification of sin that he said if you have sin that's deep rooted in your heart and it's planted in there and it's been there a long time and you have been playing with that sin practicing that sin a long time i remember his language an extraordinary course is needed it's not the normal run of things an extraordinary course is needed paul is saying that about church life and we don't think like that look at verse 29 this is what i mean brothers the appointed time has grown very short from now on let those who have wives live as though they had none and those who mourn as though they were not mourning and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing and those who buy as though they had no goods and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it what in the world does he mean well listen for the present form of the world is passing away i want you to be free from anxieties i love that emphasis you're in a present distress you live in times of adversity when the church is going through this you share that together as members here's something we rarely hear said but what i believe paul is saying is you're a part of something so wonderful you haven't understood yet dear corinthians you're part of a kingdom and i'll use the word seminary they never told me to use eschatological kingdom looking to the future you're part of a kingdom that's going somewhere you belong to christ and when it's under assault in specific ways i need you all to think a certain way about the church don't be individuals you see this don't be individualistic don't be recluses don't withdraw devote yourselves to dealing with the problems in the body and so how do you do that well surely you start with your common life right your marriage your hardships your prosperity don't let the world and the things happening in the world president obama and the middle east and all these things that have to do with the world. It's all passing away. Don't let that keep you from attending to what is most important in this current crisis. You're a part of a kingdom that is much greater than anything this world has. So take an extraordinary course in your involvement in the kingdom in prayer, devotion until the present distress is over. In other words, if you have to marry because you struggle with burning you're not going to sin but if during the distress now notice how he thinks about the church that's what so fascinates me here if during the distress you can't go forward without behaving improperly to the one you're engaged to you better hold off your wife is free to remarry verse 39 if if uh your husband if the husband dies she's free only in the lord but she's happier if she remains as she is according to my judgment i think i have the spirit of god hear what he's saying i don't want you distracted but i won't i don't i need you to be focused on what is most important in times of crisis most likely tonight what troubles us about this is it's foreign because we live in individualistic america and the church is more of a club and tack on to our already busy lives but what you ran up against tonight is an apostolic view of the church is what you ran up against and paul lived daily for his concern for the churches he knew it was under constant assault and that christians the more worldly they became and the more they were distracted by all this worldliness in their daily lives and letting that stuff come it would directly affect the church church is the pillar and the ground of the truth meaning this is where God preserves his truth this is where God keeps his truth and we should together care a lot about its keeping its preservation its advancement because this is the kingdom to which you belong I hope you share that view about the church and that you see that God gave you to be a living member of it and that you would watch for distractions in your own lives because if you're anything like me and I'll be the first to say it is so easy to go out this week and get tied up in things tied up in worldly goods get tied up in things that i shouldn't and lose focus on what is most important you all know that and then we don't come back ready to hear god's word next week and do what as the belgic said we were created to help one another and serve God, glorify God. So you can take whatever calling or vocation God has given to you and the Lord is saying, be content with it, be content. Use it to serve the Lord and advance his good name among your neighbors and you will do things well. Let's praise him. Heavenly Father, thank you for instructing us in righteousness and instructing us about the importance of belonging to You. And sometimes we confess we're so distracted by this and that that we're not focused at all on what we're really a part of. And we pray that we would have the perspective of the Apostle here. And that we would recognize when assaults are real. And that we'd have our eyes open to know when these dangerous seasons come upon us, as is talked about all over the New Testament. That we'd be wise. as serpents and harmless as doves. That we would, as a church in the Escondido URC, advance the witness of Christ faithfully. And in our marriages and in our home lives, lead simple lives, lives that are quiet and glorifying to You, working hard with our hands and glorifying Your name in whatever station You've given us. And then may that spill over as we give glory to You in the way we serve in Your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray these things, amen.