It would be very dangerous if I got up here without any sense of time at all.
I forgot my watch. Now I have it, so you don't have to worry too much.
I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, and it would be a little bit of an academic exercise anyway today, probably.
But how many men here would willingly be circumcised if it helped them to share the gospel with some friends?
Probably not many of us.
I mean, that would really take an awful lot of conviction by the Holy Spirit for a man to be circumcised just so they could share the gospel with people and they could be better evangelists.
But that's actually something which is recorded as having happened in the book of Acts.
I'm not going to read it now, but if you want to look at it later, it's Acts chapter 16.
And one of the things which is so curious about the story is that Paul has just spent, had a huge fight over the issue of whether or not men had to be circumcised.
And in fact, if you read Acts 15, it sort of brings to, at least on an official level, a culmination of several years of argument that Paul had been involved in,
precisely arguing that to be a Christian, you did not have to be circumcised.
And then as soon as he's won that battle, almost, I mean, within about a paragraph of him having won that battle in Acts chapter 15,
Paul feels called to go out once again on another missionary journey.
And the first thing he does is he takes Timothy and has him circumcised.
And he has him circumcised precisely because Paul is concerned that as he goes into certain areas to evangelize,
Timothy's not being circumcised will be a barrier to people hearing the gospel.
And so he has Timothy circumcised.
Now, is Paul being just really inconsistent?
Is he one of those guys, you know, one day he says this, the next day he says that, you know,
he'd be the world's worst air traffic controller, move the plane over there.
No, no, no, no, I changed my mind back there.
You can land. No, no, I changed my mind.
You know, like you can just imagine all of the tragedy that would ensue.
Is Paul like that?
Is he just like a guy who can't make up his mind?
What motivates Paul is something that we're going to look at in a moment.
It's just the part of scripture before the first Corinthians text, which we read.
And one of the things is that we have to understand that the scripture is inviting us to understand that it doesn't matter at all,
that there's countless things in this life that have been relativized by the person of Jesus Christ
and by his death upon the cross and the triumph of his resurrection.
We Christians should be the leading relativists in Canadian society.
The problem is that much of Canadian society are moral relativists,
and that's the area that we're not to be relativists.
We are to be the relativists who say, you know, it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman.
It doesn't matter if you're old or young.
It doesn't matter if you're homosexually inclined or heterosexually inclined.
It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, well-educated or not well-educated.
You just keep on going.
None of these things, all of these things that we think are very, very important and might be central to our identity
are completely and utterly irrelevant because of the mighty act that God has done in the human race,
in human history by sending his son to die upon the cross,
bearing your sins and rebellion in mind and bearing your punishment in mind,
tasting all there is to taste of death and triumphing on the third day, on Easter Sunday,
triumphing over sin, everything that separates us from God,
triumphing over death, hostile spiritual powers, hell itself.
Christ has triumphed.
And all of these other things are part of a world that is passing away,
and they are all pretty relative compared to this fundamental victorious act of God
that you and I, mere mortals, are invited to share in.
Let's turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 7.
If you're using your pew Bibles, it's page 991.
But for all of us, it's 1 Corinthians 7, verse 17.
And this is a passage that was read last week,
and just as I was working through the text,
I just wasn't able to fit it in last week,
and I thought I'd put it in today as it leads into,
in fact, it actually leads in better to the part that was read by Jason a few minutes earlier.
And this text, as we start to read it, it's really saying,
wherever you are, live like one called to belong to Jesus Christ.
Wherever you are, live like one called to belong to Jesus Christ.
In fact, now belonging to Jesus Christ.
Let's listen to what it says.
Just pause here before we go any farther.
Sometimes Christians use the language of call to describe vocation.
I could tell you, in my particular case,
I'm maybe not, you know, normal in this sense,
but there's lots of ways I'm not normal.
But I actually have a very, very particular incident,
a very, very particular moment where I realized that God was calling me to the ordained ministry.
Like, you know, if I'd been keeping a journal,
I would have been able to say on August, you know, whatever, 1981,
I realized that I had been running from God,
and that God had for quite a while been saying,
George, I want you to be an ordained minister.
And it was as if God spoke to me,
and I realized that I had been running from that for several years.
And so sometimes Christians use the language of call to describe vocation,
and that's completely appropriate.
Paul here is not using call in the sense of vocation.
He's using call in the sense that every Christian has a call.
He's using it as a way to understand conversion.
See, a way for us to understand conversion is that Jesus called to me
to turn from my preoccupations and look to him and then say yes to him and follow him.
And for those of us who have been raised in a Christian home,
there might be, there's not going to be any particular moment that that's happened,
because in a sense, well, you know, what did I just pray for the kids?
Like in a sense, we all, Christian parents have different ways of praying it,
but in different words, but that's what we all pray.
We pray that for our children, those of us who have children,
we pray as they hear the stories of the Bible,
and in a sense as they're brought to Christian gatherings like this,
may they grow into confident, joyful disciples of Jesus Christ.
That's a Christian parent's prayer.
And so for those of us raised in Christian homes,
there might not be any particular moment where we're sensitive of a call.
We're just always sensitive of the claim of Christ upon our lives.
And sometimes we maybe ignore that.
Sometimes we stray from that.
Sometimes we really get excited about it and live in it.
But in a sense, you grow up always conscious that there is such a call.
But some of us have either really strayed from our Christian home
or didn't have that type of background.
And as teenagers or as adults,
there comes a point in time when you realize that Christ has called you to be his.
For some of you, you might have literally a moment like I did around my ordination,
and you might be able to say on August 20th,
you know, if I say 1981, that half of you weren't born then,
so you have to sort of move it to the appropriate age.
But some of you might be able to say a particular moment,
then you realize that Christ was calling you,
and you realize you had to respond.
And others of us might say that we became conscious of the claims of Christ,
and at such and such a time, we were definitely not responding to it.
And at some point in time, one day, it was as if the Holy Spirit spoke to us and said,
you know what, Sinclair, sometime over the last couple of months,
you actually did respond to the call of Christ,
and now you are living as a Christian.
And whatever way it happens, it doesn't matter,
but everyone who comes to Christ comes because Christ has first called you.
And so in all of this text which follows,
Paul is using...
Paul... I'm getting too worked up.
Paul is using called in that sense.
Jack in the box preaching.
And so let's just listen along.
Verse 18.
We'll start at verse 17 again.
But as God has distributed to each one,
as the Lord has called each one,
so let him walk,
and so I ordain in all the churches.
Was anyone called while circumcised?
Let him not become uncircumcised.
Was anyone called while uncircumcised?
Let him not be circumcised.
Circumcision is nothing,
and uncircumcision is nothing,
but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.
In other words, responding to the call of Christ,
and then learning to live as a follower of Jesus.
Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.
Were you called while a slave?
Do not be concerned about it,
but if you can be made free,
use it.
For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freed man.
Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave.
Here's the key verse.
You were bought at a price.
Do not become slaves of men.
Brothers and sisters,
let each one remain with God in that calling in which he was called.
Just sort of pause here before we go on.
Now, if, what Paul is saying is this,
that the way it works is not,
that God sort of looks down from heaven at Sinclair and says,
can't call Sinclair in this situation,
can't call Sinclair in this situation.
Gosh, I wish George would have gone to that graduate school,
or done this, or, you know, done that,
and then finally I could call,
doesn't work like that at all.
Most of you have never had the honor of meeting Hugh Reynolds.
He died about five or six years ago.
He was one of the very first people that I met when I came to this church.
The first Sunday I came to do services,
Hugh Reynolds sat at the very back pew,
close to the door,
and if you had asked me after the service to describe Hugh's background,
I would have bet you $100 that he was a retired sergeant major
where chief warrant officer from the army.
He had the haircut, he had the bearing,
and it was only after I had been in the church for several months
that I discovered that he had spent 50 years as a street person.
And it was while he was a street person, an alcoholic,
that he heard the call of Christ to his life and turned around.
And boy, when he turned around,
I mean, he still had some aspects.
He had a temper.
But when he turned around, he turned around.
And if over coffee later on today,
or if we were to have a potluck meal
and we were to share with each other,
you would say, you know,
some of us heard the call of Christ
when we were living in Rockcliffe
and we were older in age.
And some of us heard the call of Christ
when we were, you know,
maybe experimenting with different religions.
Maybe some of us heard the call of Christ
in the midst of a real commitment to drugs and alcohol
and all of the things that would go along with that.
And some of us heard the call of Christ
while we were suburban moms or dads.
Some of us heard it in this situation.
Some of us heard it in that situation.
And what Paul is saying is,
you know what?
God doesn't care about that situation.
In the midst of whatever situation you are in,
God has been, I mean, in a sense,
in a sense, when we get to heaven,
we will understand that from the moment
we were conceived in our mother's womb,
that God was saying,
George, I want you to be mine.
And just finally,
we get to that sitting affairs
where we can actually hear
and we can respond with a yes.
Sometimes a reluctant yes.
Sometimes a frightened yes.
And sometimes with a just yes type of excitement.
And that's when the great adventure,
that's when the great quest really begins
when we say to Christ,
you say yes to Christ.
And so Paul is saying this.
You know what?
Your situation doesn't particularly matter.
It's relatively relative.
What matters is hearing the call of Christ
and then learning to live as one who is bought.
You see, here's this great transaction
that happens when I say yes to Jesus Christ.
And when you have said yes to Jesus Christ,
you now belong to him.
I don't belong to myself.
The government doesn't own me.
I don't own me.
The banks don't own me.
Christ owns me.
And so the message throughout all of this is,
you know what, George?
Whether you are a priest in St. Albans
or whether you were a priest in the Arctic Circle
or whether you were a missionary somewhere else,
live every day.
Wake up every day and say,
I belong to Jesus.
Father, help me to live like one who belongs to Jesus.
Stephen Harper claims to be a Christian.
In a sense, every day Stephen Harper
should not wake up first and say,
I am the Prime Minister of Canada.
He should wake up every day
and the first thing he should say is,
I belong to Jesus.
Father, help me to live like I belong to Jesus.
If you are called in the midst of alcoholism,
as an alcoholic,
you are called to wake up
and every day start to learn to say,
Jesus, help me to live today like I belong to you.
If you're retired,
if you're a student,
if you're in the fast track in your job,
if you're about to be downsized,
no matter what our situation is,
Christ is saying to us,
remember that you have been called by me
and you said yes,
you belong to me.
And that's what we'll be invited to understand
and to live our lives,
not as atheists,
live as if nothing has happened,
but learning to try to live every day,
understanding that we now belong to Jesus Christ.
Christ.
Let's just turn briefly,
keeping all of this in mind,
to the text which follows,
beginning at verse 25.
Those of you who are guests this morning,
one of the things that we do at St. Albans now
is we preach through the Bible.
It means I look at texts,
I can tell you this,
if it was left up to my flesh,
if it was just left up to me
using my worldly best wisdom,
I would never preach on 1 Corinthians 7.
Like I'd probably give you a nice,
comforting religious thought from Philippians
virtually every Sunday,
if it was completely up to me.
But we are called to understand
God's word written
and we are called to search the scriptures
and so we preach through texts.
So let's continue reading at verse 25.
Now concerning virgins,
I have no commandment from the Lord,
yet I give judgment as one
whom the Lord in his mercy
has made trustworthy.
Now,
and we're going to read one more verse,
26,
I suppose,
therefore,
that this is good
because of the present distress
that it is good for a man
to remain as he is.
And there it could also be good
for a man or for a woman
to remain as they are.
Now just want to pause here
before we go any farther.
The text as a whole
is inviting us to live
like we know the punchline
or to live like we know
the final word
about the story of our lives.
Now,
the first thing is
we're going through this.
This is a very unusual
passage of scripture.
I'm not sure if it's the only
passage of scripture
like it in the whole Bible,
but if it's not the only,
it's one of very few.
And it's because the text
is so odd
that it's caused much mischief
amongst Christians.
At the 8 o'clock service
and the 11 o'clock service today,
we said the Ten Commandments.
And hopefully,
if I get organized enough
throughout the rest of Lent,
every Sunday
at this 915 service,
we will say the Ten Commandments.
I'm just not organized enough
to have done it today.
But the Ten Commandments
are exactly that.
They are commandments.
It is not ten words of advice,
ten suggestions.
You know,
it's saying,
when it says,
you know,
George,
you shall not covet,
the text is saying,
George,
coveting is wrong.
Look at your life.
Are you coveting things?
Stop it.
You can't stop.
Like,
apologize to God.
Call out to Him for help.
Ask for the Holy Spirit
that you might amend your life
according to His Holy Word,
but you shouldn't covet.
You don't commit adultery.
You don't take innocent life.
You know,
and on and on and on.
There are Ten Commandments.
What we get now
from 1 Corinthians 7.25
to the end,
it's one of the few places
in the Bible
that what we get
is advice.
Not a commandment.
It's a very unusual passage
of Scripture.
We get advice.
Paul is dealing
with super spiritual guys.
They are going to try
to launch a sort of
super spiritual,
ascetic,
celibacy campaign.
They happen to know
that Paul,
who is maybe widowed early
or whatever,
he's been living
a single,
celibate life
for quite a few years.
They're trying to get Paul
to join in
with their campaign,
and Paul is resisting them.
And he's also dealing
with people
who are in the midst
of a distress.
And Bible scholars
and archaeologists,
we don't know what it is,
but there was some crisis
going on
in Corinth
at the time
when Paul is writing
this letter
and he knows about it.
We just don't know
what it is now.
And Paul is just
giving advice.
And the heart
of his advice
is this.
consider godly singleness.
Just consider godly singleness.
Don't consider
ungodly singleness,
which, you know,
don't consider singleness
that, you know,
you're going to, you know,
ignore marriage
because you want
to pursue your career
or you're going to
ignore marriage
because you'd rather
just date, you know,
I'll speak to guys,
a whole succession
of women,
embed a whole succession
of women,
and, you know,
maybe you've reached 40
or, you know,
life is sort of over,
then you get married
and have some kids
and move on.
Like, you know,
don't consider
ungodly singleness.
Consider godly singleness.
Just some advice.
Just think about it
for a second.
You know,
if, you know,
my wife tragically
was to die,
I mean,
in a sense,
this text is to say
to me,
George,
consider whether,
just spend some time
in fasting and prayer
and consider whether
you are being called
to godly singleness.
Just consider it.
Advice.
You know,
a moment from God,
not a command,
just something
to prayerfully consider.
And that's what
this text is.
It's some advice,
and that's why
Paul carries around
with saying,
you know,
my advice in verse 25,
yet I give advice
as one whom
the Lord in his mercy
has made trustworthy.
It's a language
of just,
just,
you know,
we're pell-mell,
you know,
we're pell-mell
or we're distracted,
and in the midst
of being pell-mell
or in the midst
of being distracted
or in the midst
of just allowing
ourselves to be carried
along by the pressures
of our culture,
it's in a sense
a call out to you
and to me
just to prayerfully
consider something.
Just prayerfully
consider it.
So let's continue.
Verse 27,
are you bound
to a wife?
Do not seek
to be loosed.
Are you loosed
from a wife?
Do not seek a wife.
But even if you do marry,
you have not sinned.
If a virgin marry,
she has not sinned.
Nevertheless,
such will have trouble
in the flesh.
That means,
flesh here means
the frail nature
of our mortal existence.
But I would spare you.
But I say,
brothers and sisters,
this I say,
the time is short
so that from now on
even those
who have wives
should be as though
they had none.
Those who weep
as though
they did not weep.
Those who rejoice
as though
they did not rejoice.
Those who buy
as though
they did not possess.
And those
who this world
and those
who use this world
as not misusing it
for the form
of this world
is passing away.
I just want to pause.
There's two really
big ideas
in this text
which are motivating
all of his advice.
And it's advice
to all of us
at every time
and situation
in our lives.
Paul is urging us
to live
like we know
the end of the story.
Or the punchline.
Now I'm not,
this isn't being arrogant.
This is far from it.
I know
the final word
about my life.
And those of you
who are in Christ,
you know the final word
about your life as well.
See,
this isn't being arrogant,
folks.
You know,
if I,
you know,
if it wasn't for the,
just the,
I mean,
I could give you
endless lists
of my failings
and my sins.
And I am making
no comment
whatsoever
about the fact
that after this sermon
is over,
my failings will end
and my sins will end.
If there's one thing
I know about me
into the future,
it is that I will
continue to have failings
and I will continue
to sin.
I'm not saying this
out of any sense
of arrogance
whatsoever.
I am saying,
for God so loved
the world
that he gave
his only begotten
son to the end
that those who
believe in him
will not perish
but have everlasting
life.
Come to me,
all who labor
and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me
for I am gentle
and lowly of heart
and you will find
rest for your souls
for my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
Part of what it means
to become a Christian
is this,
that when we hear
the call of Christ,
when we respond
with yes to the call
of Christ,
when Jesus,
as a result of us
saying yes to that,
he, in a sense,
he reveals to us
that by saying yes,
he has purchased us,
purchased us,
and we now belong
to him,
that in him,
and we might not
even recognize
or realize this
when we turn to Christ
at first,
that on him,
as he lay dying,
as he hung dying
upon the cross,
that he and his,
he and his body
and he and his person
bare bore every single
failing and sin
and shame
that has ever been
part of my life
and will be ever
part of my life,
and all of these things
lay upon him
as he hung upon the cross,
and all of the appropriate
punishment
which those things deserve,
they were all on him,
and he trades
his sinless relationship
with the Father
for my sins
and my failings,
and he buys me,
and so,
nothing can separate me
from the love of God,
and I know
that when I die
and I open my eyes,
my loved ones
will see me die,
and they will then
just see the body
with the soul
having been gone,
but I will wake,
and I will look
at my heavenly Father,
and he will say,
welcome.
I'm so glad
you're here.
That is the final word
about my life,
and it's the final word
of the life
of everyone
who responds
to the call of Christ
and says yes.
Not weighing our merits,
but pardoning our offenses.
not because of works,
but by grace alone,
through Christ alone,
through faith alone,
that is the only reason
that I can know
the final word
about my life,
and Paul is saying,
George,
live as one
who knows
the final word
about your life.
Become who you are.
Every day,
live as one
who knows
the end of the story.
Shape your life
in terms of the fact
that you know
the end of the story.
The end of the story,
you know,
the end of my story
might be
that I am too poor
and too all of those things
that I won't get
an obituary
in the National Post.
I won't get an obituary
in the Globe and Mail.
There won't be
something about me
on global television
or CTV,
and the flags
won't fly at half-mask,
and maybe there are
all sorts of people
that what really
motivates them
that they will have
a fantastic obituary
and we are to live
our lives
not concerning
what the world
will say about us
in our obituary.
We are to live
our lives
as one
who will wake
upon death
and see our
heavenly Father
say,
I am so glad
you are here.
I am so glad
that you said yes
to Christ
and you are here.
Live like one
like that.
Listen again
to what
what Paul
has just said
in verse
verse 29.
I say this,
brethren,
the time is short.
That's what he means.
He's painting
a picture
of the fact
that you know
the end
of the story.
It's an image
here of knowing
the end
of the story
so that from now
on,
even those
who have wives
should be as
though they had
none.
And here's the
second thing
which Paul
is trying to
communicate,
that not only
are we to live
our lives
as if we know
the end
of the story,
but that we
are to live
and love.
We are to love
at the same time
as we are detached.
It's a very
odd idea,
but let me
try to give
you one example
to try to get
what Paul
is getting at.
I don't know
if you've ever
met anybody
who's gotten
the bad word
about cancer
or some other
serious illness
and they know
they maybe have
a month to live
or three months
to live
or six months
to live.
They know
that there's
nothing that
can happen.
Barring an
unbelievable miracle
of God,
they are going
to die.
And I don't
know if you've
ever met
anybody who knows
that they're going
to die and has
come to peace
about it.
And they
have come
to peace
about it
and so in a
sense,
they can just
sort of look
at the beauty
of a grandchild
and just love
that grandchild
but at the same
time know
that it's going
to end.
And they can
look at a sunset,
they can drink
coffee,
they can do
all of these
things.
And on one
level,
there is a
profound love
and enjoyment
of each instant
but at the
same time
they know
that the
story is
about to
come to
an end
for them.
That the
time is
over.
And in a
sense then
what they
do is they
have this
ability,
this grace
that allows
them to
love and
to be
detached.
To love
their wife
but know
that they're
not going
to have
their wife
for much
longer.
To love
their possessions
knowing that
they will
not have
their possessions
much longer.
In fact,
many people
in that
situation,
what they
do is they
love their
possessions
and give
them away
because they'd
like to
witness the
smile on the
other person's
face when they
give it to
them or when
they tell
them this
is yours,
this is
yours,
this is
yours,
this is
yours.
They give
it away not
because they
hate it but
because they
love it.
And it is
this that
Paul is
calling us
to.
To live
our lives
every day
understanding
that we
were bought
with the
price,
we belong
to Christ,
to live
every day
as if we
understand the
final word
about us
and that
does not
lead us
to presumption
or to
arrogance
but to
humility
and thankfulness
and gratefulness
and an ability
that when we
fail and when
we fall
to turn to
our heavenly
father and
say,
father I am
sorry,
please pour
your holy
spirit upon
me again
and help me
to live my
life as you
would have
me live
and we
are open
to understanding
how we can
love and love
and love and
love and
love without
possessing or
thinking that we
have to clutch
it to ourselves.
Shall we bow
our heads in
prayer?
Amen.
Father, we
ask that you
would pour
out your
holy spirit
upon us.
Father, we
acknowledge before
you it is so
easy for us to
get distracted.
Father, we
even seek
distraction and
it is so easy
for us,
just to be
pushed around
by the
word, the
world and
our circumstances
and forget
about your
word, forget
about Christ,
forget about
your promises.
Father, we
confess before
you that often
we spend a
day as if we
were atheists
and not as
ones who
understand that
we have, that
your son has
taken us for
himself, that
he will unerringly
and powerfully
bring us to
you and he
will present us
to you and
you will smile
at him and
at us and
say welcome.
Father, help
us to live as
ones who are
bought and
now belong to
you.
Help us to
live as ones
who understand
that final word
and desire to
become what we
are.
Help us,
Father, to
live and to
love without
desiring to
possess and
clutch and
grasp.
All this we
ask in the
name of Jesus,
your son and
our savior.
Amen.