1 Corinthians 7:17-24

Video

Good morning church. I am Robin Harris, one of the elders of Verse by Verse Fellowship. As you just heard, we will be studying 1 Corinthians 7:17-24. The title of the message is “Preoccupied “. 

In the early 80’s the personal computer came on the seen with 64k of memory! Also, easy to use programming languages became available. Though I was a civil engineer, I was bitten by the programming bug. I become preoccupied with developing software for engineering applications. Up late at night…. Or jumping out of bed to write some code.

At the height of my obsession, Sue said these very descriptive words “If I had a keyboard attached to me, I would see you way more!” ouch! I eventually quit using computers all together for almost two years to detox. Can we get preoccupied with something that causes our spiritual growth to stagnate? The answer is yes we can.

Before we get into the details of this message, let’s give a little background of what the Apostle Paul has already addressed. Paul has been addressing certain things concerning marriage within the context of the Corinthians new found faith in Jesus. They had questions about marriage and he has been answering these questions.

By looking at verses 1-16 and verses 25-40 there were two main questions in light of their new found faith. One question was whether to marry or not to marry. The other question was whether to stay married or to divorce.

Paul’s answer to the first question was

If you cannot behave yourself in a godly manner, get married!

If you can behave yourself and God has given you the grace to devote yourself to Him, the best thing to do is to remain unmarried, but it is not sinful to get married.

7:1 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 

7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

8 Now to the unmarried[a] and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

The second question is answered in verses 10-16……whether to stay married or to divorce

10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11(but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you[b] to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Paul basically says

Stay married unless your spouse is an unbeliever and wants to leave.

So they are new believers and they are preoccupied with the questions; do I get married or do I stay unmarried, do I stay married now that I am a believer or do I get a divorce and be more devoted to God? So Paul answers their questions.

Then in verse 17, Paul transitions to a more important answer for them concerning their questions. It is a big picture answer to their preoccupation with their marital status. 

Paul starts with the word nevertheless, meaning no matter your marital status listen up. Paul is going to give us some valuable counsel about being preoccupied with things that impact our spiritual growth and purpose. Here is the first one:

Preoccupied by where you are in life 7:17

17 Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.

This is Paul’s big picture summary before he gives some specifics examples and it is clear from the examples that Paul is not just talking about marital status. It applies to where you are in life. It is Paul’s rule lay down for all the churches. 

Where does God has you now? 

Think for just a minute. Where does God have you right now in life? Are you preoccupied with situations of your life? Have these situations become an obsession for you? Or do you acknowledge your situation and continue to pursue Christlikeness with His grace and strength?

In the context of chapter 7 it is saying, when you became a believer, God had you assigned to a particular marital place in life. God called you to salvation in an assigned situation. If married, stay married. If not married, remain unmarried unless you cannot handle it. Either way, do not be preoccupied with what God assigned to you when you were called to salvation.

In the broader sense of verse 17 “whatever situation the Lord has assigned”, means the place you are, right now, that God has orchestrated, right? Where you are in life is under the sovereign working of God, whether you understand the enter workings or not. 

Now let’s make a few qualifications to that statement. If you are in a sinful situation, that is not God’s assigned situation. If you are working in a sinful job environment, that is not God’s assigned situation. If that is not the case, God has you in an assigned situation of life. 

How easy is it for us to become preoccupied by where we are in life, and how easy is it to set aside our purpose? Very easy! What do we do?

Look at what Paul says in verse 17 “each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them”. 

The most important phrase in this sentence is “live as a believer”. Living as a believer is no longer living as a child of the world, ie being preoccupied with personal earthly situations. Living as a believer is at least four things:

Pursuing kingdom goals rather than being preoccupied with earthly needs Matthew 6:25-34

Walking by faith rather than being preoccupied with the search for earthly direction by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

Setting our affections on the things above rather than being preoccupied with the things on the earth Colossians 3:2

Using our earthly platform, our assigned situation by the Lord, for His purposes rather than being preoccupied with breaking out of our assigned situation. 1 Corinthians 15:10

If you want to be preoccupied with something be preoccupied with following Jesus Christ!

Finding myself in San Antonio……preoccupied with the question “what do I do know?”

Before coming to San Antonio I was going a 100 miles an hour in life. I was a vocational pastor and civil engineer. And Sue and I were taking care of my parents. 

My days were full and amazing. Teaching Sunday morning, preaching Sunday morning and Sunday night, teaching Wednesday night, helping my youth pastor, visiting, mentoring, studying….. and with all that doing civil engineering design. The amount of grace God gave me was astounding! And then the locomotive came to a screeching halt. I was in San Antonio and none of those things were in my life. Now I was like a deer looking into the headlights. I became preoccupied with a loss of real purpose, actually, self-absorbed with it. Life seemed like a real fog. It was the epitome of the word preoccupied!

God wanted me to live as a believer in my assigned situation. God wanted me to be preoccupied with following Jesus. By the grace of God that is what eventually happened, and He has done some really amazing things!

God has caused me to do things that I would have never done before….they would have never even entered my mind.

God has shed the majority of our earthly possessions and both Sue and I are good with it! God is faithful in all things.

God has opened more opportunities for me to use my platforms for His purposes.

Now listen carefully, continuing to be preoccupied with where I was in life would have stifled all this. How about you? Are you preoccupied by where you are in life? Or are you preoccupied with following Jesus?

If you are not preoccupied with following Jesus then do what Paul did….forget what lies behind and press toward what lies ahead… He said “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Now Paul gives some specific examples that can inhibit our spiritual growth and purpose: Point no 2

Preoccupied with who you are in life 7:18-20.   

18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. 20 Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

This example is about who you are in life. He is addressing being preoccupied with changing who you are. Not your character or your lifestyle, which will definitely change for the better, but your view of your ethnicity. The example is about the uncircumcised and the circumcised, meaning the example of being a Jew or a Gentile. 

He tells them, when you became a believer you were either a Jew or a Gentile based upon your birth. If you are a Jew, don’t be preoccupied with trying to be a Gentile Christian. If you are a Gentile Christian, don’t be preoccupied with trying to be Jewish in your Christian faith.

Then he makes a very profound statement. “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Meaning being a Jew or being a Gentile is nothing. Then he says keeping God’s commands is what counts. 

Listen to what John Macathur has to say about this: 

“For Jews to want to appear as Gentiles or for Gentiles to subscribe to things unique to Jews was both spiritually and practically wrong. It was spiritually wrong because it added an outward form to the gospel that the Lord does not require and has no spiritual merit or meaning. It was practically wrong because it unnecessarily separated believers from their families and friends and made witnessing to them much more difficult. What matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.”

Let’s bring it home to us. Being preoccupied with our ethnicity will veer us away from our real purpose as believers. Whether trying to be like a certain ethnicity or over emphasizing our own ethnicity is wrong. It is not that I ignore my cultural background, the color of my skin, my heritage or my nationality, but I don’t make it my mantra. 

I am a child of God and every child of God is my brother or sister. That is my preoccupation.

God has made you who you are. He was there when your DNA was formed. He knew exactly what he was doing and you are who He wanted you to be! You are fearfully and wonderfully made. When you became a follower of Christ, the big deal was that you were now the adopted child of the creator of the Universe. Be preoccupied with the glorious work He has done! Be preoccupied with your new brothers and sisters in Christ. I encourage you to:

Love one another, John 13:35

Serve one another, John 13:12-17

Sharpen one another, Proverbs 27:17

Live in unity with one another, Ephesians 4:1-6

That is what God wants us to be preoccupied with. They are the commandments of God.

Now look at verses 20-24

20 Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24 Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

Paul goes from preoccupied with who you are in life to…..point number 3

Preoccupied by what you do in life 7:20-24

This example concerns the life of a slave versus the life of a free person. Naturally slaves were not able to do what they wanted. They were under the control of their master. They did what the master said. A free man on the other hand was able to do more of what he wanted. The Christian slave, in their new freedom in Christ, could have been preoccupied with servitude to their masters. They could have been troubled with their situation. 

I liked what John Piper said about these verses as he applied it to our employment in life.

“I love to watch Paul put his theology to work like this. He is saying that in the gospel there is an antidote for despair in menial jobs and an antidote for pride in highly esteemed jobs. He looks to the slave who may feel hopeless and says, "In Christ you are a free man. You were bought with a price. Let no man enslave your soul. Rejoice in the Lord and hope in him and you will be freer than all the anxious nobles." Then he looks to the noble free man and says, "Do not become proud, for in Christ you are a slave. There is one who has authority over you, and you must be humble and submissive."”

Whatever job you have today, is a platform for the Gospel. As long as it isn’t an ungodly occupation, God has you there to be a light and an evangelist. As verse 24 says, you are “responsible to God”. Being preoccupied by what you do will distract you from seeing opportunities to share your faith in a meaningful way. It can also draw you away from what God has started …….

Example of friend moving for a better job……. Preoccupied with the opportunity .

I had a friend in Oregon that was growing in the Lord. He helped me on and off with the youth. He came up to me one day and he said that he was considering moving to another town, because a better position in his company had come available there. I asked him, “Have you started to look for a church there?” He answered by saying, “We will find one when we get there, shouldn’t be a problem.” In actuality he was preoccupied with the job opportunity. So, they left, and he got consumed with his work. They didn’t look for a church for a long while and it affected his whole family life.

God has you doing what he wants you to be doing. He may orchestrate a promotion or he may not. He may orchestrate a move or he may not. The point is, don’t be preoccupied with what you are doing in life to make a living. Be preoccupied with following Jesus and let God do what He is going to do! Don’t circumvent what God is doing!

Now let’s home in on verses 23 and 24

23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24 Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

Specifically look at “do not become slaves of human beings” …… How can we become slaves of men in the broad sense of the phrase? We can become slave of men by following the masses rather than following Christ.

point no 4

Preoccupied by how others act in life 7:23

Are you governed by what everyone else is doing? Does the influence of the masses bend your will towards the worldly? The children of Israel really had a problem with that. That is why they said “We want a king like everyone else,” instead of having the creator of the universe govern them. How stupid was that! Who would lead them best?

Let’s bring it closer to home. Lets talk to moms and dads first. What are you preoccupied with concerning your children? Some moms and dads are preoccupied with sports for their children, because everyone else has their children in sports. Everyone else says it is the best thing for them and their future. Now I love sports, but sports are not everything. They spend thousands of dollars on sports. They hire personal trainers. Their children spend most of the summer at sports camps. Sports rule the family life!

I believe the Apostle Paul said it best “Follow me as I follow Christ.” If the fundamental principle behind what you are doing with your children is not Christlikeness, at a minimum it can be a distraction and more often it becomes an idol. Mom and dad, you are responsible to God! Apply the Scriptures to whatever you have your children doing. Be preoccupied with their spiritual growth while they do anything, including sports.

Now lets speak to teenagers and young single adults. Some teenagers and young single adults are preoccupied with the really “cool stuff”. I have no clue what that is now days, but you do, and I am not talking about sinful things, just things that are “cool stuff”. Even “cool stuff” can become an obsession and stagnate our spiritual growth. Computer programing was mine.

Paul said it best, “This one thing I do……. Paul pursued Christlikeness

Listen, your freedom to move closer to Christ is at a pinnacle. Of all believers, you have the potential for fewer distractions. 

Be preoccupied with Christ. Move beyond the masses. (Examples)

I have known teenagers that have gone on extended mission trips during the summer months instead of doing what most teenagers do. They have come back totally different people. They chose not to follow the masses and the impact was life changing. I am sure the impact is still rippling through their lives to this day. 

Also, you don’t have to go out of the States, to move beyond the masses. I have been fortunate enough to be associated with youth groups that were bold and fearless and served God with joy. We have many teenagers doing that right here and they are becoming the next generation game changers!

I know several young single men that went on a Verse by Verse mission trip that now have a different perspective on life. God used that time to mold them more into the image of Christ. They were not preoccupied with their next vacation trip, they were preoccupied with their mission. In fact, there are many young single adults in our church not following the masses, but following Christ. That is exciting!

All the rest of us, from young couples, to seasoned believers, to the vintage believers like myself”, are we following the masses or pursuing Christ? You can answer the question.

Later in this chapter Paul talks about time being short and that this world in its present form will pass away. Don’t you think we should shake off all our meaningless preoccupations and focus on following Jesus and pursuing our spiritual purpose? Like Paul says time is short.

Speaking of time being short, are you living for yourself and what you can get out of this world? Are you preoccupied with you? Is time flying by and you have not even considered your eternal future? You will spend eternity somewhere when you die.

Let me say it very clear. If your time ends and you have not put your trust in Jesus, you will spend eternity in the lake of fire separated from God. The punishment will never end, but here is the good news. Jesus is the Son of God and He came to the earth, lived a perfect life, went to the cross and bore your sins and bore the wrath of God for you. He shed his blood, He died, and on the third day He rose again. And He did all this for you!

Listen, if you put your trust in Jesus as Lord and savior you will be saved from the wrath of God and you will have eternal life through Him. That is good news, right? Time is short! Put your trust in Jesus today.

Believers here and online….

Are you preoccupied by where you are in life? Be content, pursue Christ! 

Are you preoccupied with who you are in life? If it is “I am a child of God” continue with that identity, if not change your viewpoint.

Are you preoccupied by what you do in life? Remember, God has assigned you there, be a light. Use your platform for His glory.

Are you preoccupied by how others act in life? Don’t follow the masses, focus on how Jesus acted and follow him!

Now, I want to circle back to those that have not put their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Today is the day you can change it. Today is the day to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Today is the day that you can be release from the preoccupation of what you know yourself is falling apart; this world and the things of this world. I encourage you to make a decision for Jesus today.