Last Sunday, I preached from 1 Corinthians 7:10-40 (if you haven’t had a chance to hear it, you can find it here). That was a challenging text, wasn’t it? This passage calls us to a life of contentment, and also pushes and prods at how we think about marriage and singleness. As I’ve had a chance to reflect on this sermon and interact with a number of you about it, I’ve realized that, if I’d had 10 more minutes, there are two additional things related to marriage and singleness that I could have said that I trust would have been clarifying. I’d like to mention those here, but first, let me affirm two things from the message that I don’t want to get lost.
First, is the goodness of marriage in the Lord. In the swirl of discussion about contentment and divorce and the betrothed and so on, we dare not lose sight of the beauty and goodness of marriage. When two people vow before God and witnesses to love one another until they are parted by death, and when they keep those vows through thick and thin, they become a signpost pointing us to Christ’s vow-keeping love for his church (Ephesians 5:32). This promise-keeping is sometimes very hard work and, my attempt at humor about marriage counseling in the sermon notwithstanding, I’m so grateful for the many couples here who labor in this love, and for the wonderful marriage counselors who assist us along the way.
Second is the opportunity God provides uniquely to single people to be undivided in one’s devotion to Christ. This passage highlights that the single life is a simpler life, which creates space in life to be focused on one’s affection for Christ, and on using one’s time and gifts to serve the Lord and his church in powerful ways. How grateful I am for the many single brothers and sisters in our church who model this way of living.
Having said that, with 10 more minutes, I would have liked to add a bit more by answering two questions. First, how do we sync up what is taught in 1 Corinthians 7 about the benefits of singleness with Genesis 1-2, where we see a call (this is the so-called “creation mandate”) to be fruitful and multiply? How does the arrival of Jesus’ kingdom impact God’s command to marry and have children? I believe a careful reading of the whole Bible indicates that this call has not been erased, but is still on God’s heart. We should expect it to be common for most of God’s people to marry and, if possible, have children, raising them to be disciples of Jesus for God’s glory. Marriage was pronounced good in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:31), it was pronounced good in 1 Corinthians 7, and it will be pronounced good on the last day when Christ marries his bride (Revelation 19:6-8).
Second, what about the single person who desires to marry? Jesus and Paul both explain that, with the coming of Jesus’ kingdom, there will be some who will be given a desire, like Paul’s, to remain single for life and for service to Christ (Matthew 19:10-12; 1 Corinthians 7:7). However, it seems to me that many, perhaps most singles have a desire to marry and probably will be at some point. For you, I want to both commend you for your trust in Christ as you wait and urge you to make the most of every day you are single, by offering your undivided devotion to him.
For all of us, married or single, we have this one thing in common: our hope, our joy, our delight is not ultimately determined by our marital state, but by our great King Jesus. He is the pearl of great price. He is the treasure that we sell everything to obtain, and, when we do, we experience not bankruptcy, but joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
– Mark Mullery
P.S. got comments or questions about this post or ideas for another one? Email me at .