St John the Beloved
Sermon and teaching audio from St John Church in Cincinnati Ohio.
St John the Beloved
The Gift of Singleness
What if you've been living with a million-dollar gift but treating it like an ordinary blanket? That's precisely the revelation in this eye-opening examination of singleness from 1 Corinthians 7. Unlike our culture that views being unmarried as a problem to solve, the Apostle Paul presents singleness as a strategic advantage in God's kingdom.
Through the powerful analogy of a man who unknowingly let his dog sleep on a million-dollar Navajo chief's blanket, we discover how many Christians fail to recognize the true value of singleness. The message unpacks Paul's revolutionary perspective through three key principles: stay content, stay awake, and stay free.
The first principle challenges us to abandon the desperate pursuit of marriage and find contentment in our current season—creating a paradoxical path that actually prepares us better for relationships. The second principle reveals how understanding the temporary nature of this world transforms our perspective on relationship status. Using a Matrix-inspired analogy, we see how Christians are "red-pilled" to perceive the eternal kingdom breaking into our fading reality.
Most compelling is the comparison between married life and singleness: marriage is like an ocean liner—steady but increasingly anchored as life progresses; singleness is like a speedboat—agile, unattached, and able to change course quickly. This freedom enables single Christians to consider radical availability and mobility that married people often cannot.
Whether you're single or married, this message will transform how you view God's purpose in every season. What strategic advantage might you be overlooking? How could embracing your current status—rather than longing for a different one—unlock unprecedented kingdom impact?
And I want to invite the rest of us to stand for the reading of God's Word which this morning is found in 1 Corinthians 7, beginning in verse 25,. The Word of God reads this way Now, concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. I think that, in view of the present distress, it is 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 have not sinned. And if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. You have not sinned. And if a betrothed woman marries, she has 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 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 this 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 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 is 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, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better. A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if her 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. This is God's Word. You may be seated. May God bless this reading and preaching of His Word.
Speaker 1:This is probably the most famous antique roadshow thing that's ever happened. But when the antique roadshow came to Tucson in 2001,. Or, yeah, tucson, arizona in 2001, a man named Ted brought in a childhood blanket to be appraised because he suspected that it might have some historical value. The blanket had belonged to Ted's grandmother and she had received it as a gift from an old flame, a guy named Kit Carson, the famous 19th century frontiersman. But to Ted it was just a blanket. As a kid it was his childhood blanket. He dragged it around the house. As an adult it was just draped over his couch, used like any other blanket. He let the dog sleep on it. When the appraiser saw it, he immediately recognized what it really was. It was a hand-woven mid-19th century Navajo Ute chief's blanket. It was an item so rare that he called it a national treasure, something that should be in the Smithsonian. The initial appraisal was for $500,000, but since that time its value has rose to over a million dollars. So Ted had been living with this gift of unimaginable worth, but for most of his life he had no idea what he had, didn't realize what he had.
Speaker 1:We're continuing in our series today in 1 Corinthians, called Bless this Mess, and today Paul talks about a gift that is often treated in the same way the gift of singleness or the gift of celibacy. In our culture we typically do not see singleness as a gift at all or as a good thing at all. And just to clarify when Paul says singleness, he does mean he means celibacy, he means a life of devotion to the Lord rather than seeking marriage. But in our culture most people see singleness as a condition to fix or a problem to solve. But in this passage Paul celebrates it, he says it's great, he says I wish that everyone were as I am as an unmarried man. He says that it is a powerful, valuable gift of God if you know what you have and if you know how to use it. If you're unmarried, in other words, you have to think differently. You have to adopt a different mindset and a different strategy for life. You have to think differently, and it's a mindset that Paul unpacks for us here.
Speaker 1:Singleness is a powerful gift, so how do we fully appreciate it and how do we fully capitalize on it? That's what we're looking at this morning. Last week we talked about marriage, today we'll talk about singleness and then we'll move on from those subjects, because Paul moves on as we continue to go through this letter. But here Paul says three things in order to appreciate the gift of singleness and to capitalize on it and I'm not just speaking to single people here as well, because much of what I'm going to say here is something that all Christians need to have, but it's something that single people especially need to have. But he says three things. He says it says stay content, stay awake and stay free. If you're single, stay content, stay awake and stay free. That's how you fully appreciate it and fully capitalize on it. So, first, stay content. You're going to have to bear with me on this one as I unpack it, but this is Paul's point here If you are unmarried, do not seek to be married.
Speaker 1:If you are unmarried, do not seek to be married. If you are unmarried, do not seek to be married. Now I know that sounds strange or counterintuitive, but let's look at Paul's words. Look at verses 25 through 28. Paul says now, concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress, it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. And then he says this are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned.
Speaker 1:So first of all, paul is speaking here to young unmarried people and also potentially widows and others who are unmarried, but mainly to young unmarried people. And some of them even were betrothed or engaged to be married. And for now I'm going to set aside what he mentions about the present distress. We're going to look at that in the next point, but for this moment here's what I want you to notice. He says that it is good for a person to remain as he is. If you're married, stay married. If you're single, stay single, you're perfectly fine as you are. And then he says are you free from a wife? Are you unmarried? Do not seek a wife, do not seek a spouse. Now what's he saying there?
Speaker 1:He's continuing his logic of contentment that we began to talk about last week and we began to explore that every Christian has the responsibility to cultivate contentment in the life that God has given them, in the life that we have right now. When we preached through Ecclesiastes, we saw that as well and I kind of made the point in one of the sermons that if you're discontent with your life, if you're not content with your life now and you think that if some situation were to change and then when it does you will be content, if you're not content now you won't be content, then we have to cultivate contentment where we are. Every Christian has that responsibility. So he's continuing that logic and he says plainly do not seek a wife. And we know that Paul is not at all anti-marriage.
Speaker 1:He quickly adds if you do marry, you have not sinned. Marriage is good, you do well if you marry. But what he's saying is this here's what he's saying Don't be consumed with it, don't be fixated on finding a spouse. Don't let it dominate your goals and your field of vision so that your whole life begins to rotate around that objective. Don't treat marriage like it is the be-all, end-all, the goal of the Christian life. This is quite a radical message in the first century world where, in the Jewish world, if you were unmarried and didn't have children, that it was seen as a tragedy and a failure because your name and your line wasn't going to continue. Similarly in the Greek world, because your name and your line wasn't going to continue. Similarly in the Greek world, paul says now that Jesus has come and now that we fully understand the plans of God as they are unfolding, marriage is great, but it's not the most important thing, it's not the be-all, end-all. Don't treat it like it is.
Speaker 1:So part of Paul's message to single people in the church is this the very first thing to do with your singleness is to find contentment in it and to realize that you do not need to be married. Marriage is good, it's a wonderful gift of God, but the first thing to do with your singleness is to learn to be content in it and realize you do not need to be married in order to live a full and a rich and a powerful life in Christ. In fact, desperation for marriage, desperation for marriage can lead you to make poor decisions, but contentment in Christ frees you to live boldly, joyfully and fruitfully for the kingdom. And there's a little paradox here, and it's this it's that when you find contentment in Christ and when you've let go of the idol of marriage and you realize that you don't need it anymore, you actually become the kind of person who's prepared for marriage and a person who could safely marry and who could have a little bit of objectivity and stand back and be a bit discerning about who you might link up your life to. If and when God brings someone into your life, you can trust him to do that. If he wants you to be married, he will provide the right person at the right time in his own time. But in the meantime, strive not for marriage but for contentment. Strive for contentment.
Speaker 1:I'll give a little personal anecdote. I went off to college with the idea that I would meet my wife there. When I was a young man. That's how people met one another. I don't know how you guys do it today. I know we're living in a different world, but when I went off to college I had that in my head. I'm going to meet my wife here. So I was on the lookout and that first semester I went to all of the Christian groups on campus to worship the Lord. But also, you know, just like seeing what was out there, I got plugged into a church and, you know, all the while, just young Christian ladies. I wasn't really interested in any of them. There was one that was interested in me, but I wasn't interested in her. And I remember praying Lord, do I? I don't like this girl. Do I have to date this girl? I know I've been praying that you'd provide a wife. I don't want this one, though she was a wonderful lady, but just not for me. So here's what I did At some point I just let go of the pursuit of marriage.
Speaker 1:I just I sort of put it on the back burner and I prayed. I said, lord, prepare me for the woman that you have for me one day, and when she comes along, just make it obvious, because I can be a little bit dumb. And then I just let it go. And then I gave myself to other things. I gave myself fully to other things, growing as a person seeking the Lord, serving in ministry, pursuing things that I enjoy, and then one day later on, while I was minding my own business, not seeking a wife, the Lord brought Julie into my life in a very obvious and unexpected way, in a very providential way. I'm not saying that my story is going to be your story. God does not write the same story twice. There's an old mentor of mine who had a similar story, but he didn't meet his wife until he was in his forties and lived for much of his young adult life as a single man and now is married with many children. So I'm not saying that my story is going to be your story or that his story is going to be your story.
Speaker 1:But Paul's principle is clear that it is good to learn contentment in your situation, wherever you are, and don't view your singleness as a problem to solve or a condition to treat, because God doesn't view it that way, paul doesn't view it that way. Paul doesn't view it that way. He says it's a good thing, it's good for you to remain as you are, don't be so concerned about it. Instead, let go of the anxious pursuit of a spouse and pursue the Lord, pursue ministry, pursue personal growth and kingdom growth, pursue the things you enjoy and trust God and see if he does not, at the right time, bring the right person along the way. And if he does, praise God, and if you want to pursue marriage at that time, then do it. Paul says that there's nothing wrong with that. And if he doesn't, continue to praise God in your singleness, as you are seeking contentment in that.
Speaker 1:In the CS Lewis book the Four Loves, he writes about how friendship, true friendship, is always outward oriented. In other words, you don't really make friends by trying to make friends. You know, and sometimes in life we want a friend, we're desperate for a friend. But wanting to make a friend is not a good way to make a friend. This is what CS Lewis says to do. Instead, he says you make friends by pursuing something that you love and along the way, bumping into others who love the same thing, and along the way, bumping into others who love the same thing. And at the heart of friendship is this realization you too, you also see the same truth. You also love the same thing. You also, you too, and that's how friendship is born. Listen to his words. He says this this is why those, those people who simply want friends can never make any.
Speaker 1:The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends. Where the truthful answer to the question do you see the same truth would be I see nothing and I don't care about the truth. I only want a friend. No friendship can arise. There would be nothing for the friendship to be about, and friendship must be about something.
Speaker 1:Even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice, part of marriage is friendship, and so the very best thing that you can do as a single person, even if you're struggling in your singleness, is to strive to let go of the need to be married and to pursue God, to pursue what you love, to pursue contentment and see what God does. So, number one strive for contentment. That's something that single people need to do, but that's something that all Christians need to do, in whatever station of life that God has us. Number two stay awake. The point here see the world for what it really is. Time is short, so hold life loosely.
Speaker 1:Now let's go back to what Paul said about the present distress. Look again at verses 25 and 26. He says, concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. I think that, in view of the present distress, it is good for a person to remain as he is. So here Paul gives a reason for why single people should consider remaining as they are. And he says in view of the present distress. So what's he talking about there?
Speaker 1:Some have read that and some think that there must have been some kind of local crisis in Corinth, maybe persecution toward the church, or maybe a more general crisis like famine or pestilence or something like that that made life unpredictable and unstable. And Paul is saying, hey, because we're all going through a rough time right now. Maybe it's 2020 and it's COVID. And Paul's like, hey, in view of the present distress, because of that, he's cautioning against taking on big responsibilities or making big life changes. And so, in that view, paul is not saying that singleness is always good, but that it is good in certain extreme circumstances.
Speaker 1:Some have read this passage like that, but there's two problems with that theory. The first is that there is no hard evidence for such a crisis. It doesn't come up anywhere in this letter. Nowhere in the letter does Paul talk about the church being persecuted or any kind of broader crisis. Nor do we see that anywhere else in any documentation we have for Corinth in this era. And the second issue is I think that Paul actually explains himself in this very passage.
Speaker 1:In verse 29, he says the appointed time has grown very short. And then in verse 31, he says for the present form of this world is passing away. Verse 31, he says, for the present form of this world is passing away. So what is the present distress that Paul's talking about? It's the fact that we live between the overlap of two worlds, between Christ's first coming and his second coming. The eternal kingdom of God is breaking into the fading kingdom of man. The present form of this world is passing away, and that changes the way that we think about everything. If you understand that you live in a world that is fading and that the eternal kingdom of God is breaking into that world, that changes the way that we think about marriage and singleness. It changes the way that we think about buying and selling and how we live in this world. Look again at verses 29 through 31. He says 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 this world is passing away.
Speaker 1:Now, what is he saying there, as he continues to that logic? He's not telling married people to abandon their responsibilities. He's not saying hey, if you're married, just go crazy, live, just pretend you're not married. Elsewhere he says husbands love your wives, wives love your husbands. He's not saying that. He's not asking us to stop feeling sorrow or joy or to stop engaging with the world. He is saying this.
Speaker 1:He's saying if you're a Christian, you are awake to a deeper reality. You know that the superficial realities that we deal with in this age of being married and being single, or buying and selling, or grieving and rejoicing, those are real. But there's a deeper reality. We might be dying physically, but deeper down, we know that we have eternal life. We might be struggling financially, but deeper down, we know the reality that we will inherit the earth. We will have the earth as our inheritance. We might be rich in earthly goods and not struggling financially. But deeper down, the Christian knows that none of that is permanent and so we should not lay up our treasures here on earth. We might be married, but deeper down we know that marriage is not eternal, it's not something that will last forever. We might be single, but deeper down we know that we're never really alone. We know that we are united in spirit to Jesus Christ and we're part of the family of God.
Speaker 1:I think I have to give a matrix illustration here. You guys remember the trilogy the Matrix. In that film, as you know, everyone lives in the matrix. It's a world that they think is real. It's real to them. They think that it's substantial, they think that it's permanent, they think that they're connected to the realist reality, but in reality it's just a simulation. There's something underneath it, behind the illusion. Their bodies are hooked up to machines and they're being harvested by AI robots, none the wiser.
Speaker 1:And then along comes Morpheus and he finds Neo and he offers Neo a choice and he says you take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your apartment, you can believe whatever you want he says, but if you take the red pill, then you stay in Wonderland and I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. I'll show you what's really real. And he takes the red pill and suddenly he sees reality. He wakes up in the real world and he realizes that he was just in a simulation. But after being awakened he has to reenter the matrix and move and act in that world and engage in that world. But he never forgets that it's not the real reality, it's not ultimate. Once you've been red-pilled, as it were I'll just use that expression from the matrix, you can never see the world the same again. And this is what Paul is describing. This is the original version of being red-pilled all the way back here in 1 Corinthians 7.
Speaker 1:That, being a Christian, means that our eyes have been opened to the real world, the eternal kingdom of God breaking into this fading reality. Most people around us can't even see it. They don't even know that it's there. As Jesus said that unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. You don't even know what God is doing or what's happening. You don't see this eternal reality breaking into the world.
Speaker 1:So what does that mean for marriage and singleness? Both marriage and singleness are part of the temporary order that is passing away. They're both temporary. There won't be marriage in heaven, as Jesus teaches us. It's going to be replaced by something even better. It's hard for me to imagine that reality, but that's the truth. So, while marriage is good, it's not the most important thing in the world. It's not ultimate. And if you're single, you're not truly alone. You're part of God's eternal family. You have a bond with your brothers and sisters in Christ and, as a matter of fact, that's the only real family there are. Earthly families that we live and operate in are real and important, but the real, real family is the people of God. You're part of that family and you're united to Christ, the only spouse who will never leave you nor forsake you.
Speaker 1:So here's the key. Practically speaking, for those of us who are unmarried, this means the more that we invest in that real, real reality in the kingdom of God, breaking into the temporary order, the more we invest in our church family, in the family of God, and the more we invest in our real marriage, our relationship with the Lord, the more content we will be able to be in our earthly singleness. So Paul says stay content. And he says stay awake to what's really real. In other words, he's like Morpheus, he's inviting us to take the red pill, to see the world as it really is, fleeting and fragile and passing away, and to stop clinging so hard to its joys or being crushed by its sorrows, to awaken to the reality that only Christ and his kingdom endure. Point three stay free In God's kingdom.
Speaker 1:Singleness is not a condition to be treated but a strategy to be capitalized upon. It's not a condition to be treated, but a strategy to be capitalized upon. Look again at verses 32 through 35. Paul says I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord how to 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 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. That word there anxieties. Paul says I want you to be free from anxieties and to be anxious about the things of the Lord. That word anxieties can also be translated as cares, so think about that as cares. Marriage is a gift. It's a good and legitimate calling from the Lord. But Paul's point is this he says those who marry will have many cares and you have an opportunity, as a single person, to have less cares, which would be good for you. That's what Paul is saying. What he's saying is this Married people take on a host of responsibilities, and I'll just list off just some things from this past week, from my own life as a husband and father and sole breadwinner.
Speaker 1:So, as being in that role, I have to take care of my wife and provide for her. We've got four mouths to feed. That means that we need to own a home and it has to have a certain amount of square footage. When the AC goes out, I've got to get it repaired or replaced. When the van dies, I've got to get it repaired or replaced. When the van dies, I've got to figure out reliable transportation. And then I've got to figure out how to save for college or for trade school or for art school or wherever, whatever comes next, and on and on it goes.
Speaker 1:The married life is full of cares, and those cares are not unspiritual. They're holy responsibilities. It would be wrong for me to neglect any of them, but they do drastically limit my availability. One of the things I actually love about having a family is that it makes me limited. It makes my life so predictable. It puts me in a mold that I can't break out of. I'm not available most evenings because I'm home with the family or I'm with the kids. I work regular hours most days 9 to 5, 8 to 4, 8 to 5. My life is predictable, structured and anchored to a small circle of people, and that is good and normal and right.
Speaker 1:But Paul is saying that the advantage of singleness is that you do not have all of those anchors and you are able to live with fewer cares and focus on the things of the Lord. Your availability is wide open. Or it can be, or it should be. Your devotion can be undivided. Think about it like this the married life is like a big ocean liner it's steady, it's dependable, it's not going to tip over. It's designed to carry people and cargo across long distances.
Speaker 1:But the further you go in life, the more anchors you drop. You get married you drop an anchor. You have kids another anchor. You buy a house you drop another anchor. You start a business another anchor. And before long you are completely immobile. You can't move. You're planted in one place, not very mobile anymore. You've got limited maneuverability and limited availability. Your basement is literally so full of stuff that you're like we're never going to move. You're locked into your low interest rate. You are trapped, you're stuck. People can count on you to not be going anywhere anytime soon. That's the married life. It is full of cares that lock us into one place. And that's not bad. That's actually a feature, not a flaw, of the married life.
Speaker 1:There is kingdom strategy in being anchored in one place for a long period of time. The stability of married and family life allows for deep, long-term ministry in a particular community, in a particular place. But singleness is different. It's a different strategy with different abilities and different options. It's more like a speedboat You're not tied down to anything, you're not even attached to the dock. You're light, you're agile, you can turn on a dime, you can change course quickly. You can be here one moment and be gone the next. And this opens up a different strategy in God's kingdom.
Speaker 1:Paul, as a single man, for example, was able to travel the ancient world, going from city to city every year or every few years, planting churches. He was able to be shipwrecked at sea for 24 hours. How many of you single people would like to have that experience? Wouldn't that be fun? But he was able to do that. He was able to take on suffering for the kingdom. He was able to take risks and be beaten and be imprisoned. He was able to live on Spartan means if he had to, because he had no cares. He had no dependents whom he was responsible for.
Speaker 1:If you're married, it makes sense to get settled and anchored and go ahead and just drop those anchors but realize you're stuck. You're not going anywhere. You're going to be in one place with a small group of people for a long period of time. But if you're single, if you're unmarried, how do you capitalize on that? Paul says avoid worldly entanglements and commitments so that you might be fully available to the Lord because you're able to be. So just an application here. Before we conclude, I have a few things. One capitalize on your singleness, avoid entanglements, and Paul is not laying any of this down as a law. As he often repeats himself, he says I'm not trying to constrain you, I'm just trying to help you. See, I'm trying to help you. So I just want you to consider these things.
Speaker 1:If you are an unmarried person, consider what if you did not have a mortgage as a single person? What if you had no student loans? What if you had no debt? What if you were completely free from financial obligation? What if you made a lot of money obligation? What if you made a lot of money? But what if you lived on a very small amount so that you could be radically generous or that you could radically invest in the kingdom or in other endeavors? What if you were radically available to your church community, to the family of God? What if you started ministries that needed to exist? But people that have families just don't have the time and the attention and the bandwidth to pay attention to them. If you're single, what if your life was less about stability and more about mobility? You could think about it like that the married life needs to be about stability, but the single life can. You don't need to worry so much about stability. If you're unmarried and you're worried about stability, you've got the wrong mindset. You have the gift of mobility and availability, so just consider those things. These are concepts for you to take and wrestle with the Lord. Secondly, be available to the Lord.
Speaker 1:A lot of people in our culture might embrace half of what I've said about being free and not being tied down. That's a message that'll preach. We want to hear that, but only so that they can be focused on themselves, so that they can be free to do what they want to do and to travel the world and to treat themselves and to go to Japan. And do you know all the things that I would love to do, what they want to do, and to travel the world and to treat themselves and to go to Japan and do. And you know all the things that I would love to do, but I can't because I'm, I have a family, um, just to focus on their own appetites. But Christian singleness is not about a focus on ourselves, but about being available to the Lord and saying, lord, I am completely yours. To the Lord and saying, lord, I am completely yours. What do you have for me this week and this month in this year? What are we doing together? Lord, I'm completely available to you.
Speaker 1:And then, as we conclude, I also want you to consider this that our Lord Jesus was unmarried. Jesus was unmarried, as you know, in his earthly life. Why? Why was Jesus unmarried? He was unmarried? Jesus was unmarried, as you know, in his earthly life. Why, why was Jesus unmarried? He was unmarried because he's already married, because he's married to the church. He has devoted himself to a certain people, to the people of God, whom he is redeeming for himself, and so in his earthly life, he was fully available to the Father to do whatever the Father would call him to do for the good of his bride, the church. And because he was free and because he was unbound, he was able to do something like going to the cross to suffer and to die for our sins. He used his freedom for you, to go to the cross for your salvation, and the very best thing that we can do with our singleness in response is to devote it to him. He made himself completely available for you. Why not make yourself completely available to him?
Speaker 1:Singleness is not a condition to be treated or a problem to solve. In the Christian mind, it's a wonderful gift from God. Single people are a gift to the church, and singleness, whether it be for the rest of your life or whether it be just for this season. Singleness is God's gift to you. Do you know what you have? Do you know how to use it? Pursue contentment, pursue awakening and pursue freedom. To these ends, let us pray Our Father. We thank you for the opportunity we've had over the past few weeks to thank you for the opportunity we've had over the past few weeks to study what your word teaches about the good callings of marriage and singleness. We recognize that these are not simple or easy issues, especially emotionally, but we pray.
Speaker 1:I want to just pray for all of us in this room right now. I pray for the married people in this room that you would strengthen marriages. I pray especially for those marriages that find themselves struggling or in difficulty. Lord, would you help us? Would you help us to understand one another, to communicate with one another better, to better live out our callings as married people and to serve one another? Strengthen the marriages in this congregation. And I want to pray, lord, for those of us who are unmarried. We thank you for the unmarried people in our midst. Lord, help our church to appreciate the gift that they are to us and we pray for them in this season of their life, that you would help them to appreciate the gift you've given to them, help them to capitalize upon it in all the ways that you call us to do, and we pray, god, that your mercy would be over all of this. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, stand with us.