WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 . 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.000 Well, good morning. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.000 Good morning. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:24.000 Good morning. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.000 Good morning. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:31.000 I'm talking to Singles. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:35.000 When I began working with a singles ministry, 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.000 it was a young seminarian over 20 years ago. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:43.000 I remember sitting and talking to one of the leaders 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:47.000 and we talked about the challenge of how to create a singles ministry 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:53.000 that avoids the silly and correctness of the Loser's Club 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.000 and a sharp tag of dating. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.000 How is it that you actually have something else? 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.000 Singleness is something that we struggle with in our church culture. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.000 It's something we struggle with in our product culture. 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:12.000 I don't recommend a movie, but I read reviews of the 40-year-old virgin. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:17.000 And one of the subtexts of the gags that posted on the movie is that it's indescribable 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:23.000 that there would be some person who would live a single, 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:27.000 sublimit life that would be meaningful and fulfilled. 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:32.000 I think the movie at the end, if I read my reviews right, maybe subverts that. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:37.000 But the very fact that that's the cultural assumption upon which a whole two hours of 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:42.000 Steve Carroll gags can be built, tells us something about our culture. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:48.000 And this is a common experience that they may be for many singles. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.000 How many times have you heard someone say, 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.000 He's such a great guy. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.000 How peaceful is single. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.000 How is she such a gags? 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:58.000 How does she get married? 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:03.000 The implications behind such questions is that great men who get married, 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:07.000 and those who are not great do not. 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:12.000 How many can keep single and print upon them meaning that touches their very identities, 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:17.000 and in fact that the second grade is somehow less than others who marry them. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.000 So that it's very, broke the ball head upon, 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:25.000 uh, gospel-cold mission bloggers about siblings. 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:31.000 Even in our loving single single friends, 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:35.000 we come and say, I'm praying for you, for that precious someone. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:40.000 Or, when a parent sees you serving in children's ministry, 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.000 gives you a wager and an honor and says, 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:46.000 that's a good place to show off how many more of those kids, isn't it? 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.000 Being single in our world today is nice. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:57.000 I think that at its core here is really our problem. 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:02.000 We see singleness as an inherently unstable status. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:07.000 We think that it's something that needs to be resolved somehow. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:12.000 It's not something that could be who we are. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:18.000 A place where we can, as Christians, pursue wholehearted devotion to the Lord 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.000 and find a meaningful and significant life. 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:28.000 Here's a litigous task for us as a church to think about it. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:30.000 Think about it. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.000 Don't, don't overreact. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.000 There's some good reasons to think through. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.000 It's worth, it's a thought experiment. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.000 But think about it. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.000 Could you see someone like that as actually mature? 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:47.000 And actually able to minister to you as a congregation. 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:56.000 Another place I can just think about how difficult it is for us to think about how unstable it is. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:59.000 I remember this in my own life. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:01.000 Where do you go for Christmas? 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.000 When you're a married person, you can stay home. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:07.000 Because I've got my home, I've got my family, and I'm able to just... 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:09.000 I know, not everyone does. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.000 They still go home to mom and dad, and that's great. 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:17.000 But when I was a single, it was an expectation that I would go to be with my parents for Christmas. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:22.000 And it would have been a big deal for me to say, actually, I'm going to do something else this year. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:28.000 It's another way in which our culture views singleness as inherently unstable. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:33.000 Something that has to fit into particular forms. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:38.000 We need something else in our lives. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:43.000 For those of you who are visitors or don't know me very well, here are my credentials for preaching this sermon this morning. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.000 I was 38 years single. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.000 I got married in 2006. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:52.000 I was happily married for six years. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.000 Now I am single again as a widower as of a little over a year ago. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.000 And facing, in some ways, a similar question. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.000 How stable is this? 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.000 I ask myself this question. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:05.000 Is this tenable? 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:07.000 Can I continue in this? 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:12.000 Well, this is the question that brings us to our passage today. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.000 It's the question we always want to ask, right? 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.000 What does the Bible say about this? 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.000 What does God have to say about this? 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.000 So we're going to continue in 1 Corinthians. 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:24.000 If you've been following along, this is where we're at. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:25.000 We're at the end of chapter 7. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:27.000 And what's our page number? 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:28.000 I forget. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:29.000 956. 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:30.000 956. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:31.000 956. 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:33.000 You can turn with me. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:35.000 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:46.000 And I'm going to read just 32 through 40, actually, this morning. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.000 So if you want to turn with me there, we're going to read the text. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:50.000 And then we're going to pray. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:55.000 And then we'll launch into our exploration of this topic. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:02.000 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 32. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.000 2. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.000 I want you to be free from anxieties. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:10.000 The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:15.000 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife and his interests 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:16.000 are divided. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:21.000 And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:22.000 in body and spirit. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:27.000 But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:28.000 2 Corinthians chapter 7. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:33.000 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:38.000 order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:39.000 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:44.000 If anyone thinks he is not behaving properly towards his betrothed, if his passions are strong, 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.000 and it has to be, let him do as he wishes. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:48.000 Let them marry. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:49.000 It is no sin. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:50.000 3 Corinthians chapter 8. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:55.000 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:01.000 desire under control and has determined this in his heart to keep her as his betrothed, 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.000 he will do well. 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:06.000 So then he who marries his betrothed does well. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.000 He who refrains from marriage will do even better. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.000 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:19.000 But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:25.000 Yet, it is my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:30.000 And I think that I too have the Spirit of God. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:36.000 Lord, we pray this morning that as we look at this text and as we think about this topic 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:42.000 from your perspective, Lord, that you would help us to see the glory of your gifts. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:48.000 And Lord, the wonder of what you have called us as your people to be and to do in this world. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:56.000 Lord, I pray you would help us as a community to grow in being a loving community that together 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.000 spurs one another on in our undivided devotion to you. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:08.000 Jesus, I pray you would help me this morning, that my words would be useful, but your Spirit 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:13.000 would take them and use them in our lives, Lord, to draw us closer to you. 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:18.000 We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.000 So what I want you to hear this morning is this. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:29.000 God calls us all to see singleness as a gift from God. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:35.000 And calls his church to support those who will walk in this calling. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:40.000 God calls us to see singleness as a gift from God. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:45.000 And calls his church to support those who are called to walk in it. 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:47.000 So here's where we're going to go. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:50.000 Hang on to your seatbelts if you're a note taker. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:51.000 Get your pen ready. 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:56.000 We've got a lot of ground to cover because there's a lot to say about this topic. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:58.000 And I feel like I'm never going to get to do this again. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:59.000 No, I'm sure that's not true. 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:03.000 But this is my one shot, so I want to do it as fully as I can. 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:07.000 So here's, we're going to have three movements to this message. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:09.000 The first one is going to be the big picture. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.000 The big picture of what the Bible has said about marriage and singleness. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:17.000 It's a bit of a recapitulation of what we've talked about for the last couple of weeks. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.000 And what we've been doing in Sunday school and some other things. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:25.000 So we're going to do the big picture first of what the Bible says in the flow of 1 Corinthians. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:31.000 And secondly, we're going to look specifically at this passage to just unpack its meaning and its core truth. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:35.000 And then the third one is we're going to try to live for a little while in application. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:40.000 And you're going to be blessed because there are words of wisdom from people in this congregation. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.000 I sent a bunch of emails out and some of you so graciously responded. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:50.000 And I have great words of encouragement and counsel and advice from some of you that I will share. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.000 And for those of you who responded, I will not name names. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:55.000 So you are anonymously safe this morning. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:58.000 So you can relax now and enjoy the sermon. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:09:59.000 So here we go. 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:01.000 The big picture. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:06.000 The big picture of what God is saying to us about our relational life. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:11.000 What is the direction of it and what are the boundary markers of it? 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:12.000 Okay. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:20.000 Paul is ending a section from chapters 5-7 in 1 Corinthians where he's talking about our sex lives. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:26.000 And how that is impacted by the gospel and by following Jesus Christ. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:35.000 Do you remember that in chapter 5 the presenting problem had to do with this egregiously offensive display of sexual immorality. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.000 And how it was addressed. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.000 And it's continued all the way through. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:41.000 It's been a subtext. 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.000 It hasn't always been the focus of it. 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:58.000 But it's been this whole section of 1 Corinthians is trying to, Paul is trying to teach the Corinthians who are living like we do in a world where this is a, there's a lot of freedom and a lot of discussion about what it looks like. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:07.000 And Paul is saying there's a distinctively Christian way to live out our lives with regard to who we are as sexual beings. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:18.000 And at its core, in his message, I think is, if you want to look back to the end of chapter 6, at its core he wants to say this to all of us. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.000 You are not your own. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:23.000 You were bought with a price. 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:27.000 Therefore, glorify God in your body. 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:32.000 Now, remember what it means that you have been bought with a price. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:36.000 Remember with me for just a minute what the gospel is really all about. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:40.000 God has done something for us in Jesus that is amazing. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:54.000 He has sent Jesus, the God-man, who offered to pay the price of his very own life to rescue us and people like us from foolish rebellion against God. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.000 Our independent rejection of God. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:00.000 Our desire to live our lives in every way, including our sexual lives. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.000 In every way apart and independent from God. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:06.000 Separated us from him. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.000 Brought his anger and wrath upon us. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:14.000 This rejection was so serious that the only response, that death was the only appropriate response to it. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:18.000 But God was determined in love to not leave us there. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.000 He was determined to rescue us from that. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:34.000 And he sent Jesus to pay that price for us so that we might be freed from the penalty of sin and be purchased for him to be his own children. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:37.000 To be his spiritual sons and daughters. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:51.000 And so we, who through faith in Christ, have been rescued, are called to reorient our lives around serving and honoring this God who has saved us at such a great cost. 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:55.000 This is how great the Father's love is for us. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:57.000 That he sent his only son to die. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:03.000 Now then, glorify him in your life. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:10.000 And specifically, glorify him with how you hold yourself with regard to your sexuality and your relationships. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:16.000 That's the direction that this whole section is going. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:22.000 Now, if that's the ship, if that's the direction that the ship wants to head, 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:27.000 what are the channel markers that are going to help us not run aground as we head in that direction? 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:30.000 But we've said a number of things and I'm going to run through these. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.000 Each one of these is a sermon in and of itself. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:34.000 So buckle your seatbelts. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:37.000 We're going to run through a lot of theology really quickly here. 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:44.000 But I want to remind you of all these things so that we see what this channel looks like as we're pursuing it. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:49.000 First of all, we see that the Bible sees marriage as a glorious and good gift. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000 It was not good for man to be alone. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:57.000 And in the Garden of Eden, God gave marriage as this precious and wonderful thing. 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:02.000 And we see this testified throughout Scripture. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:09.000 We see it in the Song of Solomon, this glorious celebration of the union of a man and wife 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:17.000 and the way it pictures and points to God and the intimacy that he will have with his people one day. 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:25.000 And we see in Ephesians 5, again, this holding up of marriage, this great sacrificial love for one another, 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:32.000 giving to one another in love and submission, and how marriage is meant to be this great gift, 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:40.000 leading us towards Revelation 21 and 22, where God calls his people into the marriage supper of the Lamb, 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.000 where his church is the bride and Jesus himself is the bridegroom, 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:59.000 and we enter into this eternal and glorious relationship where intimacy and love and acceptance and joy and pleasure untold are ours. 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:03.000 And that's, he gave us that as marriage. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:06.000 And that's what it's for. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.000 So that's point one. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:16.000 Point two is that God gave us sex as a sign and expression of the covenant commitment between a man and a wife in marriage 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:21.000 that is meant to reflect that covenant commitment between God and his people. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:27.000 And so the Bible is clear that there is no sex outside of marriage. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.000 I just stepped on a landmine. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:33.000 If you've just been here, go back and listen to the sermons for the last six weeks, 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:37.000 and you'll get a little bit of perspective why I can say that so flippantly and then move on, 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:40.000 because we've been talking about it for a while. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:46.000 Thirdly, one of the things that we see is that sex and marriage are not ultimate. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:53.000 We see in Matthew 22 that in heaven there is no marrying or being given in marriage, 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:58.000 because at that point we now have the fulfillment of what marriage is pointing to, 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:02.000 and we no longer need to have marriage as a part of it. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:06.000 What a glorious thing this is. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:14.000 To see that this thing that our culture and maybe our own hearts so long to make so important 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:19.000 is actually a signpost towards something greater that we have with Christ and God. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:22.000 So that's the third thing, right? 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:24.000 So marriage is great. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.000 Sex is for marriage. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:27.000 Sex is not ultimate. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:29.000 Marriage is not ultimate. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:32.000 Fourth, Matthew 19. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:38.000 Jesus talks about those who have been born eunuchs, those who are made to be eunuchs, 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:43.000 and those who choose to be eunuchs for the kingdom of God. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:52.000 Without getting into a deep exegesis of it, Jesus is simply saying there is in the kingdom of God, 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:59.000 and particularly in the new covenant kingdom of God, a place for those who will never be married, 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:04.000 will never have children, will never have some of these what are often seen, 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:08.000 and particularly in Jesus' day, were core social identities. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.000 There is a place for them in the kingdom of God. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:17.000 And some of them may be unwillingly doing that, and some of them may be willingly doing that. 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:20.000 And yet it is a good thing. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.000 If you were able to sit in to Justin Hawkins' Sunday School class two weeks ago, 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.000 he talked about the progression of the idea of singleness. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:32.000 How in the Old Testament, singleness was usually seen as a curse. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.000 In fact, it was sort of unknown. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:39.000 You just didn't see it talked about, or when it was talked about, it was seen as a negative thing, 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:42.000 a lack of God's blessing. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:46.000 But then there is this shift with Jesus and with the new covenant. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:52.000 There comes this holding up of singleness as a good in and of itself. 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:58.000 It is no longer, it is no longer seen as a curse. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:03.000 Think of the fact that two of the most significant people in the formation of the church, 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:09.000 Jesus and Paul were both single through their significant times of ministry. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:12.000 This is unheard of. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:13.000 Justin wrote this, 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:17.000 Such also is a condition of those who are single in Christ now. 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:20.000 Far from being a deficiency or an abnormality, 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:25.000 those who sanctify their singleness to the work of the Lord and the love of God and neighbor 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.000 now have a privileged position within the body of Christ. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:33.000 Singleness is a calling, not a curse. 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.000 Ten seconds. 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:36.000 Bookstall. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:37.000 Redeeming Singleness. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:38.000 It is all about it. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:39.000 It is a great book. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:40.000 Go check out our bookstall. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.000 Okay, that is number four. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:43.000 Right? 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:49.000 That there is a new covenant place in singleness where whether willingly or not, 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:55.000 there is a redemptive purpose and calling for singles in the church. 00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:00.000 This then brings us to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.000 Point number five. 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:02.000 Look with me. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:05.000 Chapter 7 verses 8 and 9. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:10.000 Nope. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:11.000 Go back and look at it. 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:12.000 Verse 7. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:13.000 Sorry. 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:14.000 Verse 7. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:20.000 I wish that all were as I am, but each has his own gift from God. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.000 One of one kind and one of another. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:29.000 The truth is that God gives gracious gifts to his people. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:32.000 Some who are singled and some who are married. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.000 And you know how you know what your gift is? 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:35.000 Look at your finger. 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:37.000 If there is a ring, you have the gift of marriage. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:39.000 If there is no ring, you have the gift of singleness. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:42.000 And that is a joy and a pleasure. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:45.000 And that is what God has given to you. 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:47.000 They are good things. 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:57.000 And then finally, if you were here last week as Pastor Nick preached through this section right before verse 32, 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:00.000 he talked about this greater coming. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:06.000 That part of living in this New Testament time with regard to our relationship status 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:09.000 is seeing that there is a present distress. 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:17.000 There may be good reasons now to forego what would be normal goods for the sake of pursuing Christ and his kingdom, 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:19.000 knowing that Christ is coming back. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.000 And that we can live with contentment in whatever situation we find now. 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:30.000 Not spending our whole lives looking, thinking the grass must be greener somewhere else. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:33.000 Friends, the grass is greener in heaven. 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:36.000 And that is what we long for. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:39.000 And that is what Paul is saying by saying, 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:41.000 live as if all these things weren't true. 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:44.000 Because what you are really longing for is coming. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:48.000 And so live in light of that future reality. 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:51.000 And you can live with contentment now. 00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:00.000 And so, these are the channel markers that I want you to see. 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:02.000 Right? 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:04.000 In the direction of how do we glorify God. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:05.000 Marriage is good. 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:06.000 Singleness is good. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:07.000 Singleness is good. 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:09.000 How do we live that out? 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:17.000 What does our passage today say to us about how we live out singleness in particular in light of this? 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:18.000 And this is where we are. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:25.000 So look with me again at chapter 7, verse 32 through 38. 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:26.000 Alright? 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:32.000 So if there is a summary verse in this section, I believe it is verse 38. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:38.000 He who marries his betrothed, he does well. 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:43.000 But he who does not marry his betrothed does better. 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:48.000 Paul is saying that there is a goodness in singleness. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:22:00.000 In fact, there is a distinct and a unique and a wonderful goodness about single that needs to be held up, esteemed, honored, valued, and cherished. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:06.000 In the individual lives of those who are called to singleness and in the life of the church. 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:10.000 This is what I want us to see this morning. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:13.000 I think this is what this passage is saying. 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:16.000 It is holding singleness up as an unmitigated good. 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:20.000 It is not obviously an absolute better. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.000 It is not that all disciples of Christ are called to not to be single. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:32.000 That would be a very short procreative cycle for us to continue the church or the world for that matter. 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:42.000 But instead what it is, is it is saying, look, in this culture I want to uphold this good for you. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:44.000 So let's look at it. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.000 Look at verses 32 through 35. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:50.000 Look at Paul's pastoral concern as he begins his passage. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.000 I want you to be free from anxiety. 00:22:53.000 --> 00:23:02.000 Anxiety might arouse in your mind the thought of sort of fretting or, you know, an ungodly worrying. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:05.000 And that could be part of what he is trying to get at here. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:14.000 But in fact, I think it is better translated, this is simply the proper care and responsibility that you have for your life. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:19.000 And he unpacks that, you see, in verses, in the following verses. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:23.000 The unmarried man doesn't have any other cares. 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:25.000 They are free. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:26.000 Right? 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:28.000 They are anxious only about what? 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:30.000 The things of the Lord and how to please him. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:31.000 Right? 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:34.000 This is the application of chapter 6 verse 20. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:35.000 Glorify God. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:36.000 This is the unmarried man. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:37.000 It is all he has to do. 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:38.000 It is all he has to do. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:40.000 I just have to glorify God. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:47.000 That is the only person that I really have to care about who cares about what I am doing day to day and how I live my life. 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:49.000 He says, oh, verse 33. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:53.000 But the married man is anxious about worldly things. 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:56.000 How to please his wife and his interests are divided. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:00.000 And he goes on, he says the same thing about an unmarried woman. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:07.000 An unmarried woman has the freedom to devote herself fully to pleasing the Lord. 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:16.000 But, and just as a side note, to be holy in body and spirit, I think, is simply a metaphor to say in all of what she does. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:23.000 I don't think there's any particular connotations there except for a picture of wholeness that Paul is pulling out there. 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:28.000 But the married woman is anxious about how to please her husband. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.000 Here's what I want to say. 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:35.000 Everyone who's married in this room or who has ever been married, you get this. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:38.000 Unless you're a completely insensitive Claude. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:39.000 Right? 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:44.000 If you are married, you understand, I have to care about these things. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.000 And it's not a bad thing. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.000 It's a right thing for married people to care about their spouses like this. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:51.000 In fact, it's a part of God's calling. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:53.000 It's not even contrary. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:25:00.000 It's not like Paul's pitting this division as being a bad and a good thing or as two things that are competing. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.000 In God's economy, they actually work together. 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:06.000 But they are still very real. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.000 They are still very real. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:14.000 And Paul says, I want you to be free from these extra cares. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:19.000 I want you to be undivided in your devotion to the Lord. 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:22.000 This is what he says in verse 35, right? 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.000 He says, look, I say this for your good. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:28.000 I don't want to lay any restraint. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:31.000 It's a picture of, I don't want to put a noose around your neck. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.000 So you do have this freedom. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:38.000 But having said that, I want to give you counsel to say, look, this is a good. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:42.000 If you have this good or the chance for this good, treasure it. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:43.000 Cherish it. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.000 Pursue it. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:51.000 Because it allows you the freedom, undivided devotion to the Lord. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:55.000 Really quickly, for application, what does this mean? 00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:04.000 For those of you who are dating or really, really wishing you were dating, the first thing I want to say is, Paul says, I want you to be free from that anxiety. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:10.000 Don't let your dating life or your lack of dating life consume you. 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:19.000 Paul says, clearly, you have something much greater to live for, which is for the glory of God and the undivided devotion to him. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:26.000 Let your dating life flow from your undivided devotion to him. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:29.000 Don't let it consume your life. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.000 And let it be a test for those you might consider dating. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:36.000 Look for contentment. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:40.000 One of the best preparations for marriage is contentment in singleness. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.000 Look for that. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:50.000 Married people, recognize the privilege and the call that you have to care for your spouse. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:53.000 This passage is not disparaging that. 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:55.000 It is actually valuing it. 00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:59.000 Treasure that as a part of your calling. 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:15.000 But for singles, you who have the opportunity for undivided attention, without distraction or, as it says back in verse 25, the worldly troubles that we have as married people. 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.000 Two stories from among you. 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:24.000 One of you wrote about the example of driving home at the end of the day. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:32.000 And knowing that if you were in a relationship or if you were married, you'd be thinking about your spouse. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:37.000 Going home, how do you prepare yourself to bless them? 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:40.000 How do you want to come home and to serve them? 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:49.000 You're having to unload the other things of work from the day so that you can focus on serving and loving your spouse as you walk through the door. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.000 This person wrote, you know, I had the freedom to not think about that. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:59.000 And so I could think about the broken people in my lives and the people I got to love this week. 00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:02.000 And I got to pray for them and pray for their well-being. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:06.000 And obviously, it's not like married people can't do this. 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.000 But I'm a guy. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:09.000 I can't multitask. 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:11.000 So I can't do both things at the same time. 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:12.000 It's binary. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.000 I'm doing one or the other. 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:15.000 Some of you women might be able to multitask better. 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:23.000 But the reality is that it's for a single person, there's this freedom to do this without juggling. 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:26.000 And it's a really wonderful thing. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:35.000 Another one of you said, you know, I have the freedom to just pick up and go on a spiritual retreat when I'm feeling drained and need renewal. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:37.000 I don't have to ask permission. 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:40.000 I don't have to figure out who's doing childcare for the kids. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:43.000 I don't have to figure out who's making dinner. 00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:44.000 I can just go. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:48.000 Just go away for a day and be with the Lord. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:51.000 And what a great freedom that is to nurture my soul. 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:59.000 The passage continues in verses 36 and 38. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:04.000 Here, Paul seems to be addressing particularly the question of the betrothed. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.000 Because he's just said, stay as you are. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:11.000 Well, if you're betrothed, which means you were committed to marry someone but weren't marrying them yet, 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:14.000 it's a little bit longer than our engagement today. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:22.000 It was often done through parents and could have had a much longer time frame for actually bringing it from betrothal to marriage. 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:30.000 But it also had a higher commitment whereby if you, for instance, strayed sexually while you were betrothed, it was seen as a great scandal. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:35.000 This is partly why Mary's pregnancy was such a scandal in the birth narrative of Jesus. 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:43.000 So, anyway, so he's addressing the betrothed because they're going, what do I do with this advice? 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:49.000 I'm supposed to stay as I am, but staying as I am is I'm betrothed, but I'm supposed to be getting married, but do I marry or not? 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:51.000 That's basically it. 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:52.000 And what does he say? 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:57.000 He says, look, if you need to get married, get married. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:29:58.000 It's a good thing. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:02.000 This is what he said back in, it's better to do that than to sin. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:13.000 If you can't control yourself and your passions, if you're struggling to do that well, if you feel like overwhelmingly this is the right thing to do, then do it. 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:20.000 And verse 37, he says, but if, and recognize this is the pattern of his whole chapter in many ways. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:31.000 Here's the principle, but if, you know, but if you can actually see your way clear to be single, I think it would be better. 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:34.000 It would be a better thing. 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:46.000 It's, it can't be a complete absolute. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:53.000 One of the ways we see that, first Timothy chapter five, verse 14, Paul actually counsels younger widows to marry. 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:59.000 It's a fascinating little, little, he says for you, you younger widows, you need to go and get married. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:02.000 You need to, now different situation than Corinth. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:05.000 It was a different context and it was a different meaning. 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:15.000 And part of what Paul seemed to be addressing in Timothy was widows who were not spending their time fully devoted to the Lord, but spending their time gossiping and potentially falling into sexual immorality. 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:17.000 Saying, no, that's not a good thing. 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:18.000 Go get married. 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:22.000 Go find, invest your life in a family. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:30.000 And so Paul doesn't mean this as an absolute, but he does say, it is a good. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:36.000 And if you can, if you can see your way to do it, what a glorious thing it is. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:41.000 What a wonderful calling it is for you to do this. 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.000 The time is short. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:49.000 And there's a goodness to be honored in singleness. 00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:54.000 Then verses 39 and 40, just to wrap up our chapter, he applies it to widows. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:57.000 He's just coming back again and wrapping up saying, oh yeah. 00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:02.000 And by the way, widows, as long as you're, as long as you and your spouse are alive, you're married. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:03.000 Stay that way. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:06.000 But if he dies, you're actually free to marry. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:10.000 Oh, but in the Lord, this is just a little side note, a little note warning. 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:17.000 All of, right, Paul has always said, and he'll say it really clearly in 2 Corinthians, 00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:21.000 look, if you are going to hitch your wagon and live to the glory of God, 00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:25.000 hitch your wagon to someone who's going to share that calling with you, right? 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:28.000 Don't go marry someone outside of the Lord. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:30.000 Don't choose to take on that. 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:35.000 It may happen to you, and God in his grace may sustain you through it. 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:38.000 And he can, and he is for some of you in this room. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:41.000 But don't choose that. 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:43.000 Don't choose that trial. 00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:49.000 If being married to a believer who wants to glorify the Lord is dividing your attention, 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:57.000 how much more will it be dividing your attention to be married to someone who doesn't even share that goal with you? 00:32:57.000 --> 00:32:59.000 Who doesn't share that? 00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:00.000 So, marry in the Lord. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:03.000 That's what Paul's saying in his little note here. 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:08.000 But, yeah, it'd probably be better if not. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.000 And I think I have the Spirit. 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.000 And that's, he's going to, we'll come back to that in like chapters 11 through 14, 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:20.000 where it seems like there are people in the Corinthian context who are claiming that they have some sort of divine, 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.000 spiritual authority that is greater than others and maybe greater than Paul's. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:30.000 And Paul's simply saying, hey, this is my pastoral wisdom for you, and I think you ought to take it seriously. 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:33.000 That's basically what he's saying. 00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:34.000 That's what he's saying. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:45.000 So, as I read through this, the central point of this is, cherish the unique goodness of singleness, its distinct advantages, 00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:50.000 and live fully in it, and don't seek to remove yourself from it. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:55.000 It's okay if you do, but there's a goodness in it. 00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:57.000 See that and cherish it. 00:33:57.000 --> 00:33:59.000 All right. 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:03.000 So, we've done the big picture, our direction, our channel markers. 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:05.000 Now we've looked at this passage. 00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:07.000 Now gets the fun part, right? 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:08.000 Here we go. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:09.000 Application. 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:11.000 What does this mean for us? 00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:15.000 What kind of a church should we be in light of this passage? 00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:22.000 First of all, I want to talk about the reality of singleness. 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:27.000 I mentioned briefly the gift, but here's a quote from John Stott about the gift of singleness. 00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:33.000 In spite of rumors to the contrary, I have never taken a solemn vow or heroic decision to remain single. 00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:40.000 On the contrary, despite, during my 20s and 30s, like most people, I was expecting to marry one day. 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:47.000 In fact, during this period, I twice began to develop a relationship with a lady who I thought might be God's choice of a light partner for me. 00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:55.000 But when the time came to make a decision, I can best explain it by saying that I lacked the assurance from God that he meant me to go forward. 00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:56.000 So I drew back. 00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:02.000 And when that happened twice, I naturally began to believe that God meant me to remain single. 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:14.000 Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, I think I know why I could never have traveled or written as extensively as I have done if I had had the responsibilities of a wife and a family. 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:23.000 And if you don't know who John Stott is, he might be one of the top three most influential Christian leaders in the church in the 20th century. 00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:25.000 He has written dozens of books. 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:30.000 He has started wonderful ministries of preaching. 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:33.000 He was involved in world missions and student missions. 00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:38.000 And the freedom that he had to do that was significantly because he was single. 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:48.000 The gift of singleness is not some divine fiat that you get in a cave with a glowing aura when God speaks audibly to you. 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:54.000 At some level, the gift of singleness is your status today if you're single. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:56.000 It's as simple as that. 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:03.000 And again, Paul isn't saying it's not, it doesn't mean you can't change that. 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:06.000 But it does mean that today, live in the gift that God has given you. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:12.000 Singleness, so that's part of the reality of singleness as we're navigating the idea of gift. 00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:17.000 This is going to be a bit of a like bullet point of application, so here we go. 00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:22.000 Singleness has all sorts of different looks, right? 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:25.000 It looks different at different ages and stages of life. 00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:30.000 If you're a teenager and you're single, you're like marriage, whatever, that sounds really gross. 00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:31.000 Maybe, I don't know. 00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:33.000 Hopefully you have a better view of that. 00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:43.000 But, you know, but from single to your 20s and early 30s to your late 30s and 40s in the middle of careers to 50s and 60s, 00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:48.000 some of you are widows and widowers and divorcees and your singleness. 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:50.000 Some of you have been lifelong single. 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:55.000 There are all these different permutations, so it's really hard to speak of singleness as one experience. 00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:05.000 It's also very different because your singleness, maybe you've never been married, maybe you've been a single parent or you are a single parent. 00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:18.000 And the difference between single because of divorce versus being widowed, all of these things shape your experience of singleness and the opportunities that you may have and the needs that you may have in your singleness. 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:34.000 Singleness will also look different if you are someone who deeply longs to be married and struggles with contentment or if you are someone who has made peace with it and who has found a deep level of contentment. 00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:44.000 Some of you may be running as fast as you can for marriage because you've seen how messed up it is in your own experience in life. 00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:50.000 All of those things are going to affect how you see singleness and what your experience of it is. 00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:53.000 But here's what I want to say. 00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:55.000 Again, these are words. 00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:58.000 I know I'll bring it in now. 00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:01.000 So, words from one of you. 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:13.000 Perhaps for some single people, a real insatiable desire for union with someone else that is not satisfied is the cross they have to bear. 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:18.000 The struggle is not, therefore, the obstacle to their faithfulness. 00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:22.000 It is the very arena of their faithfulness. 00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:24.000 I think that's true more broadly. 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:39.000 Whatever your single status is, if you were single here this morning, it is the arena in which God wants you to live out your faithful calling to glorify him with all of your life. 00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:42.000 It doesn't mean it's easy. 00:38:42.000 --> 00:38:47.000 Here's some things that you shared with me about the challenges of singleness. 00:38:47.000 --> 00:38:52.000 Interestingly, one of the strongest ones, selfishness. 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:58.000 I find that singleness allows me to be a very selfish person. 00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:00.000 It is easier. 00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:08.000 One person said, there is something a little risky in not having someone else to be responsible for all the time. 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:12.000 It can feed a very self-centered life. 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:13.000 It becomes easier. 00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:20.000 Another one said, it becomes easier to use people in relationships rather than truly love them. 00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:28.000 Other challenges of singleness include loneliness, a lack of companionship, a lack of a sense of family. 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:30.000 Here's what one of you said. 00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.000 Lots of couples plan dinners together. 00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:38.000 And it's definitely less frequent for a couple to invite me to dinner. 00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:45.000 I eat with a wife, but eating with a couple together is usually something that only happens by chance. 00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:51.000 Some of you face singleness and one of the challenges is a lack of partnership. 00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:54.000 This is particularly going to be true if you are single parents. 00:39:54.000 --> 00:40:06.000 If you are an older widow, where you have had someone to help bear the burdens of daily life, of child rearing, of house management, of things like that. 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:08.000 And suddenly you lose some of those things. 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:12.000 Another challenge is that a lack of being known. 00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:18.000 One asked, as a single, who can speak into my life with wisdom? 00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:23.000 Who knows me well enough to speak into my life with wisdom and guidance? 00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:33.000 One of the other challenges is that sometimes the singles feel like one shoe in a two-footed world. 00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:34.000 Right? 00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:35.000 You just don't fit very well. 00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.000 You get your wedding invitations and it's the you plus one. 00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:40.000 You know? 00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:47.000 Or, you know, you're thinking about, I don't know if you guys have ever thought about this, but like, when do you buy your bed? 00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:48.000 You know? 00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:51.000 When I was a single guy, I just took something I could sleep on. 00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:52.000 Right? 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:56.000 But at one point you just say, you know what, this is a bed I'm going to be sleeping in for the next 15 years. 00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:59.000 When am I going to go out and buy my bed? 00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:03.000 And as a married person, you buy it when you get married. 00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:04.000 You know? 00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:09.000 But as a single person, particularly if you're single for a while, when do you make those decisions? 00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:14.000 You feel like, I'm adrift and I don't have any cultural cues to tell me when to do these things. 00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:15.000 Right? 00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:17.000 Right? 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:25.000 Um, one of you said, social misfit, it's harder, it seems, to invite a family to dinner to your house. 00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:28.000 Somehow that just doesn't seem to work very easily. 00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:30.000 It's very awkward. 00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:36.000 And sometimes in the church, being single is a social misfit too, in that you feel like you might get pigeonholed. 00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:38.000 Oh, well, singles, well, they work with the youth. 00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:40.000 Or in the nursery. 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:42.000 Or things like that. 00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:45.000 Thankfully, I don't think that's really strong in our church. 00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:47.000 But I, but it's a danger, isn't it? 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:49.000 Singles do these kinds of things. 00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:51.000 Married people can do those kinds of things. 00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:52.000 Right? 00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:54.000 So those are some of the challenges. 00:41:54.000 --> 00:42:00.000 I just want to lay them out for you, for those of you who are married and have forgotten what it's like to be single. 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:02.000 Um, just to remind you. 00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:06.000 But then I asked about opportunities. 00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:10.000 And what a glorious, I am so happy to share these things with you. 00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:15.000 Undistracted devotion. 00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:20.000 I have time to fall more in love with Jesus. 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:21.000 That's what I do. 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:24.000 Now again, it's not that married people can't pursue that. 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:26.000 But there's a complexity of their lives. 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:30.000 And for singleness, there's a sense of like, I can do this. 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:33.000 I can, I can just spend my time. 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:45.000 One of the interesting things that came up over and over again was that people shared that being single has forced me to rely on the Lord more than I might have otherwise if I were in a relationship. 00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.000 I've experienced completeness in Jesus. 00:42:49.000 --> 00:42:52.000 Finding that marriage is not needed in order to settle down. 00:42:52.000 --> 00:43:01.000 I turn to the Lord more when there's no other crutch that my heart has to turn to in the same way. 00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:09.000 My stubborn heart still finds other pet idols, but there's been a sweetness to this season of being single. 00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:12.000 Here's another testimony. 00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:17.000 I can honestly say that God is my husband, my lover, and my best friend. 00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:19.000 I could not live this life without Him. 00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:23.000 I know that no one could ever love me the way He loves me. 00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:26.000 And I am grateful that He loves me unconditionally. 00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:36.000 I deliberately spend hours at a stretch alone, but not in loneliness. 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:37.000 I want to be able to do this. 00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:41.000 To contemplate, to think, to be, and to commune with God. 00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:50.000 Friends, this is the opportunity of singleness that I want us to take hold of and to see and to cherish and to value. 00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.000 There's also an opportunity to serve others. 00:43:54.000 --> 00:44:00.000 I love, I'm just quoting these people, your peers, in your pews, sitting next to you. 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:06.000 I love that I can fill my schedule and flex around friends' schedules because my simple life can flex like that. 00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:18.000 I have such autonomy and freedom to leave for weekends and visit friends, pack an evening just running errands and popping by friends' houses, especially when they're married and they have to coordinate schedules otherwise. 00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:24.000 I have the freedom to just do that and go for it. 00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:42.000 One said, I can invest my time in serving my roommates and my married friends and think about the freedom that I have from caring for my spouse gives me this capacity of care that I can spend on all these other people. 00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:46.000 What a great joy that is. 00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:54.000 One of my heroes of the faith is a woman named Helen Rosevere who was a missionary to Africa in the middle of the 20th century. 00:44:54.000 --> 00:45:03.000 She was a single woman missionary doctor, suffered deeply through the colonial rebellion period. 00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:06.000 But this is what she wrote. 00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:15.000 And it is a privilege because as a single on the mission field, I was able to do things that I certainly would not have been able to do had I been married, 00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:18.000 had a family and had responsibilities for a home. 00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:19.000 I was free. 00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:21.000 I could go into any African home. 00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:28.000 I didn't have to look first or think, is there a leprosy patient here who might take infection to my family? 00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:29.000 I could just go in. 00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:35.000 I didn't have to look at my watch to see that I get home on time to make the kids' evening meal. 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.000 I was free and God blessed that so richly. 00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:45.000 He gave me African sisters who've been closer to me than any blood sister ever was. 00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:52.000 I've had friendships with them on a level that I'm not sure I wouldn't have had in the same way had I been married. 00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:54.000 And it's been a privilege. 00:45:54.000 --> 00:46:05.000 Friends, this is what singleness presents for us as we want to live our lives for the glory of God. 00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:12.000 To not spend our time being distracted, wishing that it were different, wishing that there was something else to do. 00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:20.000 God has given us this context for all of you who are single to live this out. 00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:26.000 So what kind of community do we need to be to support this kind of single? 00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:36.000 Interestingly, the drumbeat of responses to this, and it's what I would have said myself, is that it's friendship. 00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:45.000 Spiritual friendship, real friendship is what enables singles to pursue this kind. 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:46.000 Because you know what? 00:46:46.000 --> 00:46:49.000 It is still true that it's not good for man to be alone. 00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:52.000 We were not meant to live independently. 00:46:52.000 --> 00:47:02.000 And therefore, the friendships that we develop with others are critical to us pursuing this calling. 00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:07.000 As singles and for singles. 00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:11.000 Here's how one single described it. 00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:18.000 At least four times a week, I have conversations on things spiritual. 00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:23.000 These conversations are deep enough that one can be accountable. 00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:28.000 For example, even in writing this response, I've sent it to three close friends for comments 00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:35.000 and spent two hours in conversation with a single friend in a different city going through it point by point. 00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:40.000 What a beautiful picture of friendship that someone is that close. 00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:43.000 Married people long for friendships like that. 00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:47.000 What a great joy to have those things. 00:47:47.000 --> 00:47:50.000 So what do these friendships look like? 00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:53.000 First of all, among singles, what does it look like? 00:47:53.000 --> 00:48:01.000 I love living with my roommates, being able to pray with them in the moment, encourage them, play games, and have deeper peeks into their lives that I would have had other way. 00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:05.000 Living together is a great way to develop these friendships. 00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:08.000 It's not a sure thing. 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:12.000 You've got to work at it even when you live in the same house. 00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:18.000 But if you live with other people, it's a great way to develop these friendships. 00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:23.000 Here's another thing about the kinds of friendships among singles that could be really good. 00:48:23.000 --> 00:48:28.000 It means thinking with them on what it means to desire a godly spouse. 00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:31.000 What they should write on their online dating profiles. 00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:34.000 Hearing their stories and being willing to share your own. 00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:37.000 It means celebrating milestones with them. 00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:39.000 This was such an interesting insight. 00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:42.000 What are the milestones for a culture for singles? 00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:44.000 For marriage, what is it? 00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:49.000 It's engagement party, bridal shower, wedding, baby shower. 00:48:49.000 --> 00:48:52.000 Like they're built in times to celebrate. 00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:54.000 What are those for singles? 00:48:54.000 --> 00:48:57.000 And how do you find them and take advantage of them? 00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:05.000 Kind of friendships that get beyond the superficial. 00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.000 They get beyond just watching movies together. 00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:12.000 But are actually sharing life and serving one another. 00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:15.000 Seeking to spur one another on towards Christ. 00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:17.000 It takes time. 00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:18.000 It takes investment. 00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:22.000 But it's the opportunity that you have as a single to do that with one another. 00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:30.000 It's really helpful to have someone to do something with on a Friday night. 00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.000 When your married friends are putting their kids to bed or falling asleep. 00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:36.000 Right? 00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:37.000 I mean let's get real. 00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:39.000 At 10 o'clock some of you are just starting. 00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:41.000 And the rest of us are just going down. 00:49:41.000 --> 00:49:42.000 Right? 00:49:43.000 --> 00:49:50.000 It's really helpful to have someone where your two choices are staying home and watching NCIS reruns on TNT. 00:49:51.000 --> 00:49:56.000 Or going to the bar and dealing with the ugliness of a social scene like that. 00:49:56.000 --> 00:49:59.000 Like maybe you love going to bar and that's great. 00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:01.000 And I hope you know if you do that it's great. 00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:04.000 You know that's not a big deal for the glory of God. 00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:17.000 But having friendships that encourage you in Christ are central to navigating things like what do you do on a Friday night. 00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:18.000 Right? 00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:25.000 Having friendships like this is also one of the ways that we as a church minister to those who struggle with same sex attraction. 00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:30.000 When we have real friendships it allows us to be in community. 00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:43.000 And allows us to encourage those of us in our midst who struggle with same sex attraction to see singleness and celibacy as a good honorable glorifying calling that God has placed on their life. 00:50:43.000 --> 00:50:46.000 Here's my second bookstall. 00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:48.000 Spiritual friendship by Wesley Hill. 00:50:48.000 --> 00:50:50.000 It's not everything that you want to say about friendship. 00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:53.000 It has some particular applications but it's really worth it. 00:50:53.000 --> 00:50:54.000 These are both in the bookstall downstairs. 00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.000 He probably pushes some covenantal aspects stronger than I would but it's good. 00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:01.000 It's good. 00:51:01.000 --> 00:51:10.000 So friends if you are a single seek out community. 00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:12.000 Don't live in isolation. 00:51:12.000 --> 00:51:13.000 Find others. 00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:15.000 Keep pursuing it. 00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:17.000 Get involved in a small group for heaven's sake. 00:51:18.000 --> 00:51:20.000 It's partly what it's there for. 00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:22.000 So you can connect with others. 00:51:22.000 --> 00:51:25.000 But then for those of us who are married. 00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:26.000 Those of you who are married. 00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:29.000 I don't know where I fit in the sermon anymore by the way. 00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:31.000 So for those of you who are married. 00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:32.000 Right? 00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:37.000 How can you invest in your relationship with singles? 00:51:37.000 --> 00:51:38.000 How can you invite them? 00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:41.000 Mary Lewis in the panel last week. 00:51:41.000 --> 00:51:43.000 I'm going to name her because she did it publicly. 00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:46.000 And it was such a great thing. 00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:52.000 She said you know when I was raising my son and on my own and wrestling through this. 00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:55.000 It was such a blessing to have friends. 00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:56.000 Couples. 00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:59.000 Who would come and they were my friends. 00:51:59.000 --> 00:52:00.000 And they were my sounding boards. 00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:01.000 And you know what? 00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:02.000 They also. 00:52:02.000 --> 00:52:05.000 I got a little bit of overflow husbanding. 00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:06.000 You know? 00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:09.000 Like fixing a light bulb or you know. 00:52:09.000 --> 00:52:10.000 And again. 00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:12.000 Apart from the gender stereotypes. 00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:13.000 Don't get hung up on that. 00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:15.000 But there's value to that. 00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:16.000 And I've experienced that too. 00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:18.000 When I was single for a long time. 00:52:18.000 --> 00:52:20.000 The friendships that I had with couples. 00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:23.000 Where I would not just get there and go with the guy to the garage. 00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:24.000 And never see the. 00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:27.000 But where I'd sit and talk with both of them as a couple. 00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:30.000 I felt like I had a mother and a sister. 00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:35.000 And I had insight that sharpened me and challenged me and helped me to grow. 00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:40.000 It was such a wonderful thing to have those kinds of friendships. 00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:42.000 Here's another one. 00:52:42.000 --> 00:52:47.000 I'm thankful for the married women who just want to share their lives fully with me. 00:52:47.000 --> 00:52:49.000 And don't make me feel less than them. 00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:50.000 Because I'm not married. 00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.000 Who reach out and love me in companion like ways. 00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:56.000 They see me. 00:52:56.000 --> 00:52:58.000 And desire to see me deeply. 00:52:58.000 --> 00:52:59.000 They celebrate me. 00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:00.000 And pray with me. 00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:02.000 And encourage me. 00:53:02.000 --> 00:53:05.000 Another person described it this way. 00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:06.000 Close friends. 00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:08.000 What has encouraged this person. 00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:09.000 Close friends over the years. 00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:10.000 Whether they're single. 00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:11.000 Married with children. 00:53:11.000 --> 00:53:13.000 Or married without children. 00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:15.000 That know me as a whole person. 00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:18.000 And ask me how I'm doing in my walk with God. 00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:20.000 In general they know me well enough to know. 00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:23.000 I don't talk about singleness as a burden. 00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:25.000 Or marriage as a goal. 00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:27.000 And if it comes up. 00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:28.000 It comes up organically. 00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:35.000 Those of you who are married. 00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:37.000 Those of you who have families. 00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:43.000 You have an opportunity to bring your single friends into your family. 00:53:43.000 --> 00:53:46.000 I had the incredible privilege of experiencing this. 00:53:46.000 --> 00:53:50.000 For many, many years as a single. 00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:52.000 Starting from when I was 18. 00:53:52.000 --> 00:53:55.000 Brought into the families of the campus staff that discipled me. 00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:58.000 But ongoing in churches. 00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:00.000 Where I wasn't brought in for a task. 00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:01.000 Or for an event. 00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:04.000 They just said, hey, we're doing this on this day. 00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:05.000 Do you want to come join us? 00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:06.000 Hey, do you want to come hang out? 00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:08.000 And I played with the kids. 00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:10.000 And I helped clean up the garage. 00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:12.000 And I, you know, helped move furniture. 00:54:12.000 --> 00:54:14.000 And I helped cook dinner sometimes. 00:54:14.000 --> 00:54:16.000 And, but I was brought in. 00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:18.000 And was a part of their family. 00:54:18.000 --> 00:54:21.000 And it's such a blessing. 00:54:21.000 --> 00:54:23.000 And you don't have to be a spiritual wizard. 00:54:23.000 --> 00:54:26.000 Or a theologian of grand renown. 00:54:26.000 --> 00:54:27.000 To invite someone into your home. 00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:29.000 And to involve them in your lives. 00:54:29.000 --> 00:54:31.000 And it's a huge blessing. 00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:34.000 And I've seen it on the other end. 00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:38.000 Brandy and I were able to welcome. 00:54:38.000 --> 00:54:40.000 Singles into our family. 00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:41.000 And our lives. 00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:42.000 And you know what? 00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:43.000 It's really good. 00:54:43.000 --> 00:54:44.000 It's really good. 00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:48.000 Some of those, some of you have blessed my kids. 00:54:48.000 --> 00:54:51.000 Because the continuity of relationship that you have with them. 00:54:51.000 --> 00:54:53.000 From that time is now an incredible help. 00:54:53.000 --> 00:54:54.000 To me. 00:54:54.000 --> 00:54:57.000 Because my kids know you and love you. 00:54:57.000 --> 00:54:59.000 And see you as a part of our family. 00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:01.000 And that's a wonderful thing. 00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:04.000 That's a wonderful thing. 00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:10.000 So don't think that marriage you are deigning upon these singles. 00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:13.000 To bestow your wonderful blessings on these needy people. 00:55:13.000 --> 00:55:14.000 Right? 00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:18.000 In fact, it is simply the fabric of a wonderful community. 00:55:18.000 --> 00:55:20.000 Where people love one another. 00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:23.000 And invite one another into their, into their lives. 00:55:23.000 --> 00:55:25.000 And when we have this kind of community. 00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:31.000 And one that doesn't say, are you tired of being single yet? 00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:32.000 You know? 00:55:32.000 --> 00:55:33.000 Can I hook you up with someone? 00:55:33.000 --> 00:55:37.000 It's okay to have those conversations with those who want to. 00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:40.000 But it's not always helpful to bring it up all the time. 00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:42.000 In fact, it's really unhelpful. 00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:46.000 It's much helpful, again, to be treated like a whole person. 00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:50.000 And simply to be known deeply for the things that you care about. 00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.000 So this is the charge. 00:55:54.000 --> 00:55:55.000 This is the call. 00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:57.000 You're not your own. 00:55:57.000 --> 00:55:59.000 You've been bought with a price. 00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:03.000 So glorify God. 00:56:03.000 --> 00:56:04.000 Glorify God. 00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:06.000 Glorify God in your singleness. 00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:08.000 It is not your core identity. 00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:13.000 It is the context in which you are called to live out. 00:56:13.000 --> 00:56:16.000 You're calling to Him. 00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:17.000 To follow Him. 00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:22.000 To take advantage of the opportunities and the blessings of singleness. 00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:25.000 To love others and to build His kingdom. 00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:38.000 This is how one who bought you with a price gives you purpose, identity, hope, and calling. 00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:40.000 So church, let's be this kind of church. 00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:41.000 Sound good? 00:56:41.000 --> 00:56:42.000 Alright, let's pray. 00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:45.000 Lord, thank you for this word about singleness. 00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:52.000 We pray that we would see it this way and that we would value it and treasure it as you have described it here. 00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:56.000 I pray for the singles here that they would be encouraged this morning. 00:56:56.000 --> 00:57:05.000 Lord, in their various stages of life that they would know the love that you have for them. 00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:08.000 And Lord, that they would know the love of our community for them. 00:57:09.000 --> 00:57:13.000 Lord, I pray for our community, for married people. 00:57:13.000 --> 00:57:19.000 Lord, that we would not think too highly of marriage, but that we would rightly treasure it. 00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:26.000 And in doing so that we would also love not only our married friends, but our single friends as well. 00:57:26.000 --> 00:57:30.000 Lord, we pray you do all this for your glory. 00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:32.000 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:57:32.000 --> 00:57:33.000 Amen. 00:57:33.000 --> 00:57:43.000 Well, friends, we are going to celebrate the Lord's Supper this morning. 00:57:43.000 --> 00:57:48.000 This is a table of fellowship for those who have been bought by with a price. 00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:53.000 What we celebrate here is the sacrifice of Jesus and his life to rest.