Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
The Christian is to set is affections on the things that has eternal value. This world passes away and all there is therein. Whether earthly relationship between husband and wife, the emotions that overtakes us during the various circumstances in life whether it be sorrow or joy, the material possession that we own in this life time and all that is in this world is but temporal.
Life on earth is but a fleeting existence, soon we die. Whether one is married or not married there is that time of reckoning that befalls every man, a time to die. And in view of this inevitable outcome, the plans made in life are truly, at best, uncertain in its fulfilment.
James 4:13-16 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
1 Corinthians 7:28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
There is no sin for a single person to choose to marry. “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled” (Heb. 13:4). Indeed, God instituted marriage from the beginning. This is God’s solution to “trouble in the flesh” remaining unmarried.
Genesis 2:20-24 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
The Apostle Paul warns of a coming wave of persecution that the believers in Corinth shall experience. For those who are single, they suffer alone. But for those who are married their wife and children will suffer with them. He ask that consideration be made in view of what is to come.
The Apostle Paul begins speaks concerning the unmarried, their single hood may be for a number of reasons. Our Lord in Matthew 19:12 spoke of three class of unmarried man in the ancient world. Those who remain single (1) because of physical deformities – eunuchs born from the mother’s womb (2) because they were made eunuchs by men (3) because they chose to God – celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of God.
The believer is exhorted to keep trusting God and walking with Him whatever their vocation in life. The Word of God through the gospel has freed him from the bondage of sin. And he can shine for the Lord whatever vocation God has called him to.
Christians are freely pardoned of their sin by Christ. But the cost of obtaining that pardon is great. It caused God’s Son to greatly suffer to take the punishment of our sins. That was a debt we could not pay. As the old saying goes, “He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owe a debt we could’t pay.”
When a slave is converted and he becomes a Christian, he may still be a slave to man. But in the eyes of God, he is special. He has been freed from the bondage of sin and given eternal life in Jesus Christ. Such a one its the Lord’s freeman. He enjoys the liberty of having the power to overcome sin through the power of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom given in God’s Word.
The Apostle Paul addresses those who servants or literally slaves. Were you a slave when you were called, let that not bother you.¹ Upon conversion, they may not feel dismayed for who they are in their lowly occupation. But Christ accord them the same privilege whatever their social status. The beggar Lazarus did not have the good things in this life. He ate from the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. But he was a believer. When he died, he went to heaven. He was comforted in Abraham’s bosom.
Hendriksen observed well, “Paul’s emphasis is on the words calling and called, which relate to spiritual rebirth through God’s Word and Spirit. And calling refers to one’s situation in life. This spiritual rebirth is not merely a vertical link between God and man but also a horizontal relation that extends from a person’s place in life to his or her fellow men. A calling can be understood as a position or a vocation in which a believer lives in obedience to God’s precepts. Paul is saying that “everyone is to remain in the station in which he found himself when he was called.””