Dwell in the Word 1 Corinthians 7:25-40

Contemplate these questions while you dwell in 1 Corinthians 7:25-40:

1. According to Paul's teachings, what is the underlying concern when it comes to marriage? How does he advise individuals to approach this aspect of life, considering the current circumstances and their primary devotion to the Lord?

2. Paul emphasizes the importance of being free from anxieties and highlights the different focus an unmarried person may have compared to a married person. How can individuals balance their responsibilities in marriage while still prioritizing their pursuit of God and holiness? What practical steps can be taken to achieve this balance?

3. In discussing marriage and relationships, Paul emphasizes the significance of pleasing God over pleasing one's spouse. How can couples actively work together to pursue holiness and deepen their love for God? What are some specific ways to ensure that the relationship supports and enhances the spiritual journey of both partners?

Transcript:

 Alright, we land in another passage that is difficult for the format we're using here, right? This is a lot of text. It's not saying really specific things that it's worth digging into deeply, but it's not really something that you can explain in short order. So, I'm once again going to do my best to sort of explain what's happening here in this text.

But also, I really hope that I found some sort of small application that you and I can take from this as we Go out into the world today. So, as we look at this, we're seeing Paul, um, concerned about people, uh, whether or not they choose to be married. And he's saying he doesn't have a command from the Lord in this.

He's offering his judgment. Um, and he says, Hey, God has made me trustworthy, but this is just for me.  And so, he says that there is this present distress. Now, we don't know if this is just the issues that are going on in the church in Corinth that they're worried about, if there's other things going on.

But if we look down to verse 31, he does say something that makes us think that, you know, maybe people have this idea that what's going on... Um, is going to cause, cause, cause them some serious distress or, or maybe even they think the appointed time of Christ's return is coming, that the end of history is upon them.

Because as I said, verse 31, he says, for the present form of this world is passing away.  So, we don't know what exactly they're driving at here. We have a good idea. Don't get me wrong, but he's saying, Hey, if you're married, remain married, obviously. But if you're not, you know, Maybe it would be best for you to not pursue marriage at this time and he talks about the betrothed here now We don't have that category like they used to but if they were betrothed to someone they thy couldn't just walk away They couldn't get cold feet on the wedding day and walk away from the engagement Or, you know, a few weeks before the wedding, or a few months before the wedding, decide they don't want to be engaged anymore.

It was more of a legal thing, so they couldn't just walk away. So, the idea of what's going on here, Paul is saying, you know, you need to take this seriously. And his point is, as we see in verse 32, I want you to be free from anxieties. And his point is, if he wants you to be anxious about anything, there's a way he uses the word anxious here.

He said, an unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord. And he's, he's using that as a good thing, that what you're worried about is pleasing God.  But if you're married, you're worried about pleasing your spouse. That's where your anxiety comes in. And some of you are thinking, yeah, I heard that.

I'm anxious about pleasing my spouse. No, but anyway, Paul is concerned with what are they pursuing? What is going to be their main pursuit? Now, obviously marriage is a, is a holy and God ordained thing and he's not saying that marriage is bad He's saying that in their present circumstances, it may be best to  not marry Uh, if, if you believe that it was, it's going to cause you not to pursue the things of God during this time And so you'll notice that Paul has a lot of things to say about marriage that he at verse 38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well and he refrains from marriage will do even better Again, he's offering his informed decision.

This isn't a command from God, but his idea is You will be able to pursue God in a more passionate way if you do not have to worry about pleasing a spouse. And then Paul says in verse 39, A wife is bound to her husband as long as she, as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes.

And then this is the important thing that Paul adds, only in the Lord. She is only supposed to marry another believer. She's not supposed to marry outside the faith. And the point here that Paul, it seems to be driving home is, our concern is not about our spouse. Our concern is not about, you know, how we can be happy through our own means and, and through the, the people that we're married to.

But we're to be concerned most importantly, and this will supposed to be most concerned about pleasing God, about pursuing holiness. And so, the question we want to ask ourselves, What are we anxious about? And I'm not talking about little things. I'm talking about, are we more concerned with pleasing our spouse, as Paul talks about here? Are we more concerned about pleasing God, about pursuing holiness?

And are our relationships that we are in, Are they relationships that help us to pursue God? Are they relationships that cause us to go after holiness? Or are we more concerned with our earthly relationships? Are we concerned with what is going on here?  And so, we need to assess that. And we need to find ways that we can work in our marriages, ways that we can work in our relationships, to better pursue the things of God.

That our anxiety would not be about other people and how we please them. But instead how together we can please God that we can pursue holiness together and we can better love God Because he has first loved us So may we pursue God with a passion and when we do that with our spouses and with our with our families May that be the thing that we are, you know anxious about maybe that be the thing that we are going after instead of being Anxious about the world. May we be desiring may we be desiring to love God more and to pursue him in holiness and in love.