Book of 1 Corinthians and the 7th chapter.
The Book of Corinthians is an exceedingly practical book, and the 7th chapter is no
less practical than all the rest of it.
It deals with some very important matters regarding marriage.
Our text today begins in verse 12, would you follow along with me as I read it.
But to the west speak I, not the Lord, if any brother hath a wife that believeth not,
and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
And the woman who hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her,
let her not leave him.
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified
by the husband, or else were your children unclean, but now are they holy.
But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart.
A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God hath called us to peace.
For what knowest thou, O wife, that thou shalt save thy husband?
And how knowest thou, O man, that thou shalt save thy wife?
That is God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let
him walk.
And so ordain I in all churches.
Is any man called being circumcised?
Let him not become uncircumcised.
Is any called in uncircumcision?
Let him not be circumcised.
Circumcision is nothing.
An uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments of God.
Let every man abide in the same calling in which he was called.
Art thou called being a servant, a slave, that is, care not for it.
Let not thou must be free, use it rather.
For he that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lord's free man.
Likewise, also, he that is called being free is Christ's servant.
We are bought with a price.
Do not we the servants of men.
Never will every man, in whatever state he is called, there abide with God.
Let's pray.
Father, we recognize this book as your inerrant, infallible revelation to us.
Now pray that as we look at these words today, the Spirit of the Lord would quicken this
mind and tongue on the ears of all of us so that we may understand what is said here.
And then we pray that our wills will be surrendered before it.
In Jesus' name, amen.
The apostle says, but to the worst I speak.
Already in this chapter he has spoken to those who were single or those who were widows.
He told them that there is nothing wrong with being single.
In fact, in some respects it's better to be single.
He says there is nothing wrong with it with being married.
In fact, if one does not have the charisma or the gift of being single, he should get
married rather than being consumed with the files of passion.
He speaks also in the previous verses to the husband and wife who are both believers.
And he says in essence to them, there is no reason for the two of you ever to separate.
Perhaps for a brief period, for a spiritual purpose, you may separate, but then come together
again lest you be tempted because of your lack of self-control.
Otherwise, he says, there is no reason for the two of you to be apart and to not fulfill
your responsibility to one another as husband and as wife.
He does not touch upon the matter of adultery here as it relates to marriage.
We talked about that a couple of weeks ago.
We don't have time to review that this morning.
In essence, he says to the believing wife and the believing husband, remain together.
That is what God has called you.
Work at your marriage and make it all that God wants it to be.
And now he says to the rest, I have these things to say.
And he says, I am speaking not the Lord.
And what he means by that is we don't have a word from the Lord in the gospels about
this.
He says, here is the word of God to you.
He is not saying this is my opinion.
It's not really God's revelation.
He is saying, Lord Jesus, do not refer to what I'm about to speak to you concerning,
but here is what God's will is.
And he begins to speak regarding the person who is married to an unsafe person, the believer
who is married to an unbeliever.
Now we take it for granted that the situation developed after the marriage.
For Paul undoubtedly had told these Corinthians when he was first there that a believer is
not to marry an unbeliever.
That's good prevention from troubles.
In fact, as Paul writes his second letter to the Corinthians, he reaffirms that command
of God, that a believer and an unbeliever are not to be married.
That is never the will of God.
Now maybe because Paul said that in such strong terms when he was there the first time, there
was a question that arose.
What about the person who gets saved after he's married?
And suddenly finds himself or herself married to a pagan.
Is it then the will of God for them to separate?
This question may have further arose because of what happened in the Old Testament.
The Jews may have remembered what happened in the days of Ezra when he came back to Jerusalem
and there was intermarriage between the Jewish people and the pagans.
And the command of God was for them to separate and to put away their pagan wives.
You can read about that in the book of Ezra.
And so the question may have arisen, especially among the Jews, now are we to separate from
our pagan partners?
Are we befouled?
Paul has already said to them that we as believers are members of the body of Christ and he tells
them therefore we must stay completely away from heresy and prostitution.
Verse 6 you recall, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, it is to be maintained
in purity.
And so now some of those thinking people may have said, well if that's true, then as a
wife, am I then seething against Christ when I fulfill my responsibility to life with my
unsaved husband and vice versa?
And I then separate from my unsaved spouse.
So Paul writes to them regarding this.
He says this is what we would say, if a brother has a wife who's an unbeliever and she's
pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
And vice versa he says in the next verse, the woman who has a husband that's not saved,
if he's pleased to live with her, then she is not to leave him.
That is the will of God.
Why is there to be a continuance of the marriage relationship?
He explains in verse 14.
He says the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife.
And the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.
Now that's an interesting problem.
The word sanctify means to be set apart and he says that the believer sanctifies the unbeliever.
Now that's not sanctification in the sense of salvation.
That is sort of what we might call a matrimonial sanctification.
There is a sense in which the unbelieving, the pagan, partner in the marriage, receives
the blessing of God in his life because he's married to a believer.
God's blessing in his favor and his grace is upon that Christian.
And the spillover effects, so to speak, of God's blessing upon his child was received
by that unsafe partner.
And so Paul says, remain together.
It is not the will of God for you to separate.
If that pagan partner, that unsafe partner, spouse, is willing to live with you, then
live with him.
Because I'm to say, ask your children when clean, but now are they hollow.
Apparently there was this question.
If my unsafe husband and I have children, does that mean that our children then are
half-gods?
Are they half Christian, half pagan?
Paul says, no, never.
He says, in fact, they are whole because of your presence in the home.
They are clean in the eyes of God.
Now, what all this is saying is, first place, well, it's not saying, let's put it that
way.
It's saying that God is guaranteeing the salvation of your lost partner.
Well, for that matter, nor is God guaranteeing the salvation of your children.
What God is saying is that you bring sanctification to that home.
How many people does it take to make a Christian home anyway?
In essence, it takes one person to make a Christian home.
That's what Paul is saying.
You, as a believer, make it a Christian home.
And though you may not have the kind of fellowship that you learn for because your partner, or
perhaps even your children, are not saved, nonetheless, your presence makes that a holy
home in the eyes of God.
And those unsafe people receive blessing because of your presence, though they may not even
recognize it.
And so Paul says, if those unsafe partners are willing to dwell with those safe partners,
then they are to remain together.
But notice he goes on to say, if the unbelieving depart, let him depart.
In other words, if the unsafe partner says, forget it.
I'm not staying married to you.
You are two different.
You are a different person than I know.
Goodbye.
And he deserts the home.
Then the apostle says, let him go.
Let him depart.
He proceeds to say, oh brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases.
What kind of bondage is he talking about?
Does he mean the bondage to live with that person?
That's possible.
But it seems to me to make little sense that way.
That if the person leaves home and deserts his family, then the person who's left cannot
live with him anyway.
So how could he talk about a bondage of living with that person?
In fact, later on in the chapter, he uses the same kind of language, that is bondage,
to speak of the marriage.
He says in verse 39, for example, the right is bound by the law as long as her husband
lives it.
And that word bound is the same root word as the word bondage back here in the verse
we're looking at.
In other words, in Paul's vocabulary, let us repeat again in Romans 7, 2.
To be bound in this sense means to be married.
And it seems to me that what the apostle Paul is saying here is that when an unbelieving
pagan person deserts the home, the believer is not under bondage any longer to that marriage.
That there is here a just cause for a divorce of the marriage.
He says furthermore, God has called us to peace.
You see, folks, that's the principle.
There are those who say, no, you should stay with that unbelieving pagan person who wants
to leave you, who does not love you, because you may be able to win him to Christ.
God never has needed a home that is filled with turmoil and hatred to win a person to
Christ.
He says, God has called us to peace.
A brother or sister is not under bondage in a specific instance like this.
Now remember, we're talking about an unbeliever married to a believer.
That is the specific situation here.
And he says, if the unbeliever deserts the home, forsakes his wife, and refuses to live
there, or vice versa, then the believer is no longer under bondage to the marriage vows.
And then, of course, there are those who say, well, then is there a right for remarriage?
It seems to me in the study of scripture that there is such a thing as a divorce that can
be legitimized.
Remarriage is inherent in that.
That is the reason for the divorce.
What divorce is all about is that it's the end of a marriage.
It is the end of a relationship.
It no longer exists.
And so there is a right of the innocent person to remarry.
In Deuteronomy 24, verse 4, for example, when this situation is being discussed, God speaks
of the former husband, not the other husband.
You see, the divorce had separated the individual from the former husband.
It no longer existed as a relationship.
God does not say the other husband.
He says the former husband.
That relationship is finished.
One example from Deuteronomy.
Galatians 2, God explains what a spiritual divorce is in relation to Israel.
And we can go on and talk about this, but our time is rather limited this morning.
When a divorce is permitted, and I almost hesitate to use those words because there
are those that read into that kind of a statement, that God casually approves divorce.
Let it be strongly stated that God hates divorce.
Divorce is never the perfect will of God.
Even when adultery is involved, God's first will is for repentance and for forgiveness
to be involved and for our marriage to be maintained.
God hates divorce.
He says so clearly in his word.
But it seems to me that there are two specific instances recorded in the word of God, one
being adultery and the other the one that we're looking at right now, when God does
permit divorce because God has called us to peace.
And in Ezekiel 18, as well as in some other places in the Bible, God makes it clear that
he does not hold the innocent responsible for the sins of the guilty.
If there is a member in the marriage, a partner in the marriage who sins, God does not hold
the innocent person responsible for the sins of the guilty one.
The innocent one is free in the eyes of God from that relationship and free to be happily
married again.
Does this kind of teaching encourage divorce?
I don't believe that it does.
I believe what it does is to reinforce to us the importance of the marriage vow.
You see, when a man and woman stand before a company of people and before God and express
to one another their love and their intent to be faithful to one another, God takes that
very, very seriously.
As far as God is concerned, that union is put together permanently.
Intended for it to be that way is clear from the book of Genesis.
It is not to be able to live together forever as husband and wife.
Sin came in and ruined that marriage and it was ultimately broken by death.
And every marriage since then has been broken by death because marriage as a relationship
does not continue in heaven.
And there are specific instances, the Word of God tells us, when even in this life, that
marriage God intends to be permanent can be broken because of sin.
He goes on to say in verse 16, what most thou, O wife, though thou shalt save thy husband?
And so the principle follows through.
If he's willing to live with you, live with him.
On the other hand, if he's not willing to live with you, let him go.
Because you don't know whether through your influence he will be saved.
And he says the same thing to a man about his wife.
And then in verse 17, Paul begins to shift his thoughts a little bit.
In fact, he broadens it somewhat.
As he begins to answer a second question, as we look at them today, and the problem
seems to be, should a Christian then agitate and work to change his social or economic
or his political status after his conversion?
Paul says, as God has distributed it, as God has assigned it to every man, as he's called
everyone, so let him walk.
In other words, has God called you, saved you, and you find yourself married to a pagan?
That's where God wants you to live.
God knows your circumstances.
He saved you in that home.
He knows that your husband or your wife, whichever, is unsaved.
As he has called you, walk, conduct yourself, live, in those circumstances, for the glory
of God.
Whatever your circumstances, he goes on to say, and he broadens it, live there for the
glory of God.
He says, I teach this in all the churches.
This is not just for you Corinthians.
And then he says, is a man called being circumcised?
Let him not become uncircumcised.
Now if you read that and you look at it, you see no element Paul.
How are you going to reverse something like circumcision?
The man says, if he's called being circumcised, what does that mean?
It means a Jew, right?
That's what they're forced to do.
He says, let him not become uncircumcised.
How do you reverse that surgical procedure?
Well, you know, it's interesting that that was tried in that day.
It relates back to the Maccabean period, when there were Jews who were not at all unhappy
by the domination of a foreign power, and who in fact wanted to appear themselves to
be Greek.
And so there was a surgical procedure invented in that way to try to reverse the scars of
circumcision.
They wanted to become un-Jewish.
And so that's what Paul is referring to here in that culture.
He says, don't seek to un-Buddha.
Don't seek to leave your Jewishness.
He says, are you called uncircumcised?
Then don't seek to be circumcised.
He says, that means nothing.
That's outward.
He says, the important thing is the hard attitude about the commandments of God.
The important thing is my surrender, my yieldedness to what the Word of God teaches.
There's such an emphasis upon the outward, upon that which is the ritual.
But God looks at the hurt, doesn't he?
Circumcision, uncircumcision, they're zeroes.
The keeping of the commandments of God is what's important.
He says, let every man abide in the same calling in which he was called.
And so once again he repeats that principle.
Well, God has called you, but under circumstances you're in, be content to abide there.
He applies it now to slaves.
He says, for example, are you called as a believer, called into the family of God, are
you saved being a slave?
He says, don't worry about that.
Don't make it your priority to cease to be a slave.
He says, on the other hand, if you can get your freedom, then get it and use it for the
glory of God.
But don't make it your aim in life to be free.
Be content that God has called you as a slave.
You can live for the glory of God as a slave.
He says, he that's called in the Lord being a slave is the Lord's free man.
That's a great point.
He says, though you may be a slave, you are free in Jesus Christ.
And he says, on the other hand, you may be a free person, but you're the Lord's slave.
He says, the important thing is your relationship to Jesus Christ.
So don't get sidetracked on secondary issues.
You know something? That's what Paul is talking about here.
It's so easy for us as believers to get caught up in social issues or political issues.
That perhaps is my major concern today about moral majority, for example.
And I recognize that there are people who have various opinions about that organization.
I'm glad somebody is saying some of the things they're saying, frankly.
On the other hand, I fear tying the cross too closely to the flag.
Because then that dilutes the strength of our message.
I hope you understand what I'm saying.
It is not wrong for us to be patriotic.
I believe we have the responsibility to God to be patriotic as much as we can.
When we wrap ourselves in the flag and carry the cross, we are really becoming close to trouble.
We are stepping close to the line.
Because you see, it's possible for us then to alienate people who need the saving message of Jesus Christ,
who don't agree with us on a political stance that we might take.
That is why we as a church are glad to get involved in moral issues like abortion, for example,
and to take a strong public stand on them.
That is not just a social issue.
That is a moral issue of life and death.
The same is true with such a subject as gay rights, for example.
That's far beyond a social issue and a constitutional issue.
It is a moral issue in which the will of God has some very cool things to say.
Sin is sin, and we need to call it sin when the Bible calls it sin.
Rather than have to be hoodwinked by some people who say, well, that's simply a political issue, the learning.
There's that key word again.
Those kinds of things are moral issues, but for there are political issues.
On the other hand, when we come to a political issue that is simply that, or a social issue,
then we need to understand what our priorities are.
The Bible doesn't put its stamp of approval on slavery.
Paul is not saying that here.
He is simply saying if you're a slave, then you can live to the glory of God as a slave.
So don't make it your primary issue in life to be fooled.
Is it possible for a person in Russia to live to the glory of God? Of course it is.
I have a sister who just returned from China.
She went with a basketball team to China.
She came back telling about the hunger of our people for the Word of God.
In fact, they were able to lead their guide to Christ, and 24 others professed faith in Christ during their seven days in China.
And throughout China right now, there is a spiritual renewal that's taking place that may ultimately revolutionize the revolutionaries.
It may change the whole government.
Does that mean that those believers in Red China should now organize and try to overthrow the communist government?
Absolutely not.
It would not be the will of God for them to do so.
Paul says that clearly here.
They are to live where God has placed them.
If they can, through right means, try to change their government and accomplish justice without becoming undermining revolutionaries, fine.
But they are not to agitate and become revolutionaries.
Right now, to put it in a different form, in Latin America especially, liberation theology is very important.
You will hear that term in the newspaper occasionally, more frequently in Christian periodicals.
And what that theology is all about is this.
They take the theological terms from the Bible and they apply to the Marxist ideology.
It is simply communism that is killed by the terms of the Bible.
It's called liberation theology.
There is a real problem in El Salvador, Guatemala, and those other places right now,
because some of the so-called missionaries in the United States of certain denominations are teaching socialism and Marxism in the name of Christianity.
Trying to overthrow what they call rightist governments.
Is that the will of God? No.
It is not the will of God for us to be involved in that kind of thing.
In the social, political issues.
Again, I say, if we can accomplish righteousness and justice in our society by using means set up by the Constitution, that's fine.
But God has not called us to be social or political revolutionaries.
We are here to deliver the saving message of Jesus Christ.
And to the extent that you and I get involved in those secondary things, we dilute the power of our message
and the appeal of our message to the people that God has called us to minister to.
So what Paul is saying in these verses is, stay on course.
Don't be sidetracked in the secondary things.
He says, you and that with the price, don't be the servants of man.
He says, brethren, let every man of whatever state he's called, there abide with God.
What he is simply saying is, be content with what God's called you.
And serve God, bring glory to God.
In the circumstances, whether it be in your home or in your employment, wherever, bring glory to God, what he's called you.
He says, there abide with God.
What great words those last words are.
To know that as a believer in Jesus Christ, wherever we are, God's with us.
He's with you in that home where you live with an unsaved person.
He knows the heartaches, he knows the tears you shed, he knows the complications you face.
He knows all of that. God's with you there.
God's with you in that employment situation you find almost intolerable.
Wherever we are, God's called us there. He knows our circumstances. We are there as his instruments.
And he says, be content to abide there with God.
Preach the gospel, bring glory to God, what he's called you to serve.
Let's pray.
Father, we've tried this morning to understand the principles of the word and to apply them at least in a quick way.
Undoubtedly, there are ways that the Spirit of the Lord would apply them to our lives that we've not touched upon.
I pray that we'll be sensitive to those areas of need.
We thank you Lord that you are with us, that you never leave us or forsake us.
And that where you have called us to be, you can empower us to stay.
We bring glory to you.
This morning in this auditorium there are some brothers and sisters who are in difficult situations.
And as they struggle to understand how to apply the word of God to their circumstance, I pray that you'll give them wisdom,
contentment, and surrender to the Lordship of Christ.
For others of us who are thinking through the issues that we face in our society, help us to stay on course.
And not to dilute the effectiveness of our ministry.
Father, there are a few of those today that have particular spiritual burdens and who need prayer.
Who need help.
I pray that before they leave here, you'll give them the courage to seek that help.
In Jesus' name, Amen.