1 Corinthians 7:10-24

1 Corinthians 7:10-24

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Keep Your Marriage Vows

10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

12 But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

Live as You Are Called

17 But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches. 18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. 20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. 22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Cor 7:10-24

• Transcript

  Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. Let's go ahead and check over here. Make sure we're going live online all right. Almost there. It's taking a while for our good old friend Facebook to catch up with us. There we go. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions is where every day you and I we get together, we get into God's word, and we've grown our love for Lord together. And this year 2022 will make it from the book of Acts. To the book of fine lemon. But first, let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's word. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this thing. Thank you for your word. If we're your spirit, we pray now that as we read that you would be our teacher. Please, Lord, watch over us. Please guide us in Jesus's name. Amen. Here we go. We are first Corinthians chapter seven. First Corinthians chapter seven and we will be picking up at verse 10. And we'll go down through verse 24. So first Corinthians chapter seven, beginning at verse 10. And we'll go down to verse 24. Now to the married I command, not I but the Lord. A wife has not to depart from her husband. And even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. But to the rest I not the Lord say if any brother has a wife who does not believe and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. But for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. But if the unbeliever departs, let them depart. A brother or a sister is not bound or not under bondage in such case, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know a wife? Whether you will save your husband, or how do you know husband, whether you will save your wife but as the Lord has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordained in all the churches. Was anyone called while circumcised? Not be circumcised? Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let them not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. But keeping the commandments of God is what matters. Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called, where you called, while a slave, do not be concerned about it. But if you can be made free, rather use it, for he who is cold in the Lord Wallace leave is the Lord's Friedman. Likewise, he who is called while free, is Christ slave. For You were bought at a price do not become slaves of men. Brethren, let each one of you remain with sorry, brethren, let each one remain with God in that state, in which he was called. Well, we have two different passages for us, topics that are tied together, but but a little bit. On third, they're just there's a progression of thought that we need to ask ourselves a What is this about? Be what's the best verses summarize this and see, what are we supposed to do about it right, what are we called to do about this? So first a What is this about? Well, the entire chapter of First Corinthians First Corinthians seven is regarding the things they asked him about. They wrote him a letter and and he's writing them back and and he's talking to him about marriage. And so the first part is in verses 10 through 16, is about divorce. What happens? What happens if I'm married to a non Christian I've become a Christian. But this person isn't. This is not talking about what happens if I, as a Christian, purposely marry a non Christian Right? We're going to actually get to that tomorrow. We're just spoiler alert, right? Don't marry non Christians. This is not giving us permission to go out and marry someone who's outside of Jesus. Christ. But But are we supposed to be those in the society who are okay with no fault divorces? Well, Paul says, You're right. Not i But the Lord. And there's all sorts of Bible studies where people fight about this, right? Is this mean? This is inspired but not inspired? Is there different parts of what he's saying is he's talking about the teaching of Jesus, or it was Jesus, who restricts divorce. It's Jesus who gives us this view of the permanence of marriage. And so he says here, right now to the married icommand Not i But the Lord, right. So Jesus is the one commanding this and he's saying a wife is not to depart from her husband. Right? This is from Jesus. He's summarizing Jesus's teaching on marriage and divorce. And the picture is, is you're not supposed to just you're not supposed to divorce your spouse. Now a really great resource for this if you want to dig in more and get some full length sermons on this I'd highly recommend to you Aleister big sermons on marriage from First Corinthians chapter seven. He is ministry is truth for life and he has a wonderful series of messages on this passage. I just happen to be listening to some sermons of his own marriage. And I was like, Oh, that's very helpful. I'm doing copying devotions. But what he points out here is, why didn't Paul bring up Jesus's exception for that Jesus is the one who said that we're not to divorce each other except for sexual immorality. Why does he bring in that here? Well, because the point is, he's writing to the church in Corinth, and the church in Corinth is marred by sexual immorality. And so people at this point would have been really confused like 85% of the congregation would have all sorts of questions about Well, hold on, you know, like, what happens if, if I had done this in my past and, and what he's saying is, we need to just have a firm foundation here. Of this of the sanctity of marriage. Marriage isn't a sacrament. It's not that but it is a holy institution. It was ordained by God God was the one who joined Adam and Eve together, what God has joined together let no man tear asunder. This is what Jesus points us to. So he says, not I, but the Lord commands us right? That even if she or a wife is not to depart from her husband, and even if there are grounds for marital divorce, right, what does he say here? But even if she does depart let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. The goal of that separation, even if she's has to depart for time is to be reconciled to her husband, actually don't like the idea of separation, or even calling it that it's a time of reconciliation, there is a time in which it might be needful for safety or for cooler heads to prevail for a husband and wife to be removed from each other for time, but that is an artificial thing. And the whole goal is always to be towards restoration. Now it has to be done. Right? It has to be done safely. It has to be done. Well. And this is dangerous territory. It's very, it's very tricky. It's takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of prayer. It takes a lot of wisdom, but the goal is always towards restoration and reconciliation. And a husband just to make sure we understand that. People think oh, Paul, so misogynistic, right? You've got all these words for wives. They're not allowed to divorce their husbands. Well, no. Also right. Here's what's what's it say? And a husband is not to divorce his wife. Right? This is not sexist, right? This is saying both people in the marriage covenant need to uphold their marriage. But to the rest, I say not the Lord's and now Paul isn't quoting Jesus anymore, but he's getting further further instruction for the church, which the Holy Spirit's inspiring this so it's still the scriptures if any brother has a wife who does not believe and she was willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. Or if you find yourself in this position, maybe you were both in college and you both fell in love with each other and you got married. And then now it was a few years later, and husband you got saved. It does not mean that now you need to go and divorce your wife and put her away even though that might have been the case in certain cults at the time, or if you became a member of this secret coal to the secret religion, you had to you had to remove yourself from your spouse not so in Christianity. Hold on. I actually really love where Paul goes with. You don't know the influence you're going to have on your spouse. How do you know Oh, wife, and you live in this difficult situation? How do you know whether the life that you live in the prayers that you offer the the way in which you are submissive to your husband, the way in which you live out a life of holiness, the way in which you love your children the way in which you you operate different than the world? How do you know that you're not going to save her husband? How do you know the influence that you have on them? isn't going to lead them to Christ? This is not saying that you will save them. No, it was God who saves but how do you know that you're not going to be used as an instrument of grace in their salvation? Now again, that does not mean that we should go out and start dating evangelistically You know, I'm gonna marry this pagan girl. She's so beautiful, and she's going to become a Christian. No, that's not what's going on here. Right? If you become a Christian, and your spouse is willing to live with you live with them, even though they might not be a Christian again, tomorrow we're gonna get at that point about not marrying non Christians. But at the same time. Oh, before we go there, I do want to point out one of my one of the things I've tied to this I really like an unbelieving wife is sanctified by her husband, this is verse 14. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. I just got off the phone a couple of weeks ago with a guy who was reading more and more covenantal theology and had come to this position they have a young son and trying to think what is my kids relationship to the Lord? Are they Is he really just, he isn't because he's a child. But it both me and his wife, me, me and his mother, right there. They're married. They're like, but we're God's children. So doesn't God care about our children? Yes, he does. Right, your children are separate there. This is why again, and again and again. This goodness news is for you and for your children, and they were baptized them and their household. This is not saying that we presume all of our children are saved. Nor is this saying that we presume that every child ought to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper from their very infancy. No, but in a very real way. God has separated these child, these children, right. They are now in a household of faith. They're experiencing covenant blessings that are not the same as those who are outside the household of faith. They get to hear God's word they get to see people pray, they get to see the acts of mercy. Right so their holy God, God has an eye out for them. But what if your spouse is a unbeliever? And they don't want to stay with you. Paul says let him go. Really? Yeah. Yeah, at that point, if they're so annoyed by your prayers, so annoyed by your faith, so annoyed that you won't go on the vacations anymore on the Lord's day, because you want to be at worship, so annoyed with you that you won't partake in sexual immorality, you won't get drunk with them. You won't hold on to the same worldview. You won't abandon the children you won't do all these things. Okay? If they're like I just can't stand you. I'm done with you. And they'll and they'll leave. That's fine. It's got to be heart wrenching, of course. But the question is, do you love the Lord or your spouse? And it's okay for them to leave. Now notice, it's the unbelieving spouse who leaves not the believing spouse. The believing spouse is to stay in the marriage. But if the unbelieving spouse wants to leave, you can let them go. So this next part, verses 17 through 24, right. Where's our place in life, our calling in life in 17 through 24, Paul is giving this this idea in the church that if you came to Christ and you were circumcised, don't become uncircumcised. Right? You can have your customs you can have your your things. You don't need to change everything. And likewise, if you came to the church and you were uncircumcised, you don't need to become circumcised. Right. You don't need to start following the kosher laws. You don't need to start doing all this stuff. We talked about this in the book of Romans already. Great, you're able to go on in your life. If you were a slave, that's fine. Because in God's eyes, you're his freedmen, right? You're his son. He loves you. Now if you're able to buy your freedom if you're able to get out of of jail or out of your bondage, great, do it. But it doesn't change your standing before God. Likewise, if you're free, and you become a Christian, now you're the slave of Christ. Right so that's this the world in which God the way in which God turns the world on its head, just as a notion, the early church or they didn't build buildings like the one I'm in, but and so they spent their money to save children and to free slaves. They would literally buy people's redemption price and God says here, You were redeemed by Christ. So live out your freedom, right you are bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men, rather than lay each one remain with God in the state in which he was called. That's what I would underline there as the best verse. To summarize this, I would underline verse 24. For that second section, the first section I would actually have to underline a few different places, right, because there's two different kinds of scenarios going on here. First, I would underline verse 10, verse 10, not to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord, a wife has not to depart from her husband, I would underline that, and then I would also underline verse 12. If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And then I would say, verse 15, as well. But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart. That's what I would underline in my Bible for that section. What would you underline in your Bible? Lastly, we need to ask ourselves, see calling what are we called to do? Do you honor your marriage? Maybe the word divorce has come out of your mouth. I would encourage you to reel that back in and write I would encourage I tell people this all the time in marriage counseling. Right don't let the word divorce be a word that's uttered out of your mouth. No, hold on. There's there's very few reasons for divorce. For the Christian there's very few reasons for divorce. This is one of the things that ought to mark the church, different from the rest of the world, that we preserve the sanctity of marriage. And this is the reality of what we ought to do and people should be able to look and say, Oh, hey, look that these Christians, they're not about divorce. Now, sadly, especially in the West, there are many people who say that they're they are Christians, but they don't go to church except for maybe Christian Christmas and Easter. They don't read their scriptures. They don't pray. So they, they say they take on the name of Jesus, but they don't actually act like disciples of Jesus. And so if you're not acting like disciples of Jesus teaching or obeying all which He has commanded us, then it's no surprise that when there's an easy believe ism in the Western culture, that the statistics in the church look very similar to the rest of the Western culture, except as Tim Keller points out in his book on marriage, if you start digging into those numbers, what you'll find out is for those people who attend church at least three times a week or sorry, three times a month, where you're going to find out is that those numbers decrease dramatically. Why? Because if we're actually those who are disciples of Jesus will have a high view of marriage. Does this make it easy? No. I want to encourage you don't know what your marriage is like. I don't I don't know how difficult it is for you to stay married to your spouse, but your love for your spouse even though it's difficult, is the picture God uses to show us his love for us. See in the book of Hosea, he uses this imagery of a spouse who's really difficult to be married to who is a as a prophet married to a prostitute. And yet he still loves for it might be difficult for you to be married to your spouse. I know it's difficult for Olivia to be married to me. Will you hold on to your marriage and fight for your marriage with a tenacity that would be admirable and leave a legacy for your children and grandchildren? That man, Mom and Dad loved each other. Grandma and Grandpa loved each other great grandpa great grandpa. They really cared for one another. And they went through some serious hard times. They bickered and they they gotten disagreements. But you know what? They love Jesus so much, and they loved each other. Well, you leave that type of legacy. Leave a gospel witness to your children and your grandchildren. Thank God He loves us with that type of faithfulness. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your love for us. And we pray God that we would walk in your ways. Father, we pray that you would teach us to honor marriage and that we would be content in the place you have put us in life in Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may God bless you today. When you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ may love him always. In May he Shepherd your soul. May he Shepherd your soul. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai