Sermon Text:

After a short break, we are back to our series Growing in Grace, where we are working our way passage by passage through the letter of 1 Corinthians hearing what God says about how the Gospel applies to our daily lives together. Throughout this letter the apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has been applying the truth of the gospel to the daily circumstances of life. He isn’t just giving advice; he is teaching us what a life transformed by grace looks like.

This morning we come to the last part of chapter 7. If you are using the blue Bible we provide it is on page xxxx. If you do not own a Bible or have need of one, please take that one as our gift to you. The main point of the passage we are going to look at and the message this morning is that believers should live in view of eternal priorities.

Throughout this chapter Paul has been teaching about marriage. He has said that believers can honor God both by being married and by being single. Each has their own gift. As we reach the end of the chapter, he will apply the same truth to those who are engaged.

From a practical standpoint, he adds two things to what he has already said. First, in verses 25 through 28, He advises couples in Corinth it may be better to wait to get married because of what he calls the present distress. We know from historical documents that there was a famine that occurred in the eastern Mediterranean around the time this letter was written.

The present distress likely refers to that local issue. I think Paul is simply giving practical advice to engaged couples that if possible, they may want to wait a bit before getting married. Then in verses 32 through 40 repeats his teaching from earlier in the chapter but applies it those who are engaged to be married. The emphasis is on glorifying God regardless of relationship status and he adds that if any decide to get married that Christians should only marry other believers.

In verses 29 through 31, however, Paul shares a foundational truth that is behind the specific instructions he is giving. This is a truth that changes not only our perspective on marriage, but about everything in the world. He reminds us that the current form of this world is quickly passing away and that believers should live in view of eternal priorities. We are going to begin at verse 29,

²⁹ This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, ³⁰ and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, ³¹ and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

These are strange verses, and they raise several difficulties. How can the time be short if we are reading this 2,000 years later and are still waiting? How do these instructions relate to the other biblical commands to be focused and faithful in these very things? Also, why does Paul share this right in the middle of giving instructions about marriage? Let’s look.

Paul introduces this list of contrasts by saying “²⁹ This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short.”  This is a parallel to what he says at the end of the list where he says in verse 31, “the present form of this world is passing away.”

You recall back in verse 26 Paul refers to what he calls the “present distress”, which as I mentioned is probably a famine that occurred in Corinth around the time the letter was composed. Since Paul moved from mentioning that crisis to comments on the end of times many Bible scholars think Paul expected Jesus to return within his own lifetime. You can find that view reflected in many commentaries, but I don’t think its correct.

I don’t think it is right because in his letters, including this one, Paul frequently deals with issues in a way that seems out of step with that idea. I think the two ideas are connected in a different kind of way. When he says, “this is what I mean” he is introducing a new but related idea. The Greek literally says “but this is what I declare brothers”. He is connecting his situation specific instruction to a broader Gospel truth. That truth is that the resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the last age. The current age is already ending.

He starts by saying the time is short. Greek has two words for time. One is chronos, which refers to minutes and hours. It is where we get our words chronological and chronicle. The other word is kairos and it refers to the quality of a moment rather than its duration. For example, when someone says we had a great time they are talking about kairos time rather than chronos time. If I was talking about a time with my wife and said “we shared a moment” nobody would be concerned to know that it was 8:45pm on February 6^th because everyone would understand I was talking about quality rather than duration.

In the same way, Paul is not writing about the shortness of years, he was saying that the world’s moment was coming to an end. The word he uses for short refers to a folding up that compresses something. It is like when a blanket that is being drawn up by its corners and as it comes together the space it takes up is reduced. It is compressed and gathered up in a way that makes it less extended.

He is saying that history is being folded up. The end is coming and is now present in a way that presses itself into the present. Because we have already been made citizens of the coming kingdom in Christ, we live in an in-between state. We live in what some theologians call the “already-but-not-yet”.

Believers are already holy ones, already possessors of salvation, already citizens of the Kingdom, already justified and sanctified before God and yet we do not yet experience the fullness of these promises in our everyday reality the way we someday will. We are like little children who have received a multimillion-dollar inheritance that was placed in a trust. We are already rich; the inheritance is already ours although for a time we can only draw upon it in a limited way. A day is coming and is not far off though when believers will enjoy the entire inheritance.

We are made heirs of this inheritance by being adopted into the family of God through faith in Jesus. God created human beings to enjoy a relationship with Him forever. We were blessed with the satisfaction of every need and every good desire. But the devil persuaded our first parents, Adam and Eve, to reject God’s rule over them and to establish themselves as their own rulers, using their own wisdom to decide how they would live.

The result was catastrophic. Their sin separated them from God, brought pain and death, and plunged all creation into suffering and spiritual darkness. That is the present world that Paul says is coming to an end because of Jesus. Every one of us was born into that fallen world and with a sinful nature. Our pride and arrogance prevent us from submitting to God even though we all know that our own hearts are not pure and good. Like Adam and Eve, we want to enjoy the good things God created while rejecting Him. We would rather steal pleasure than enjoy it by serving Him.

Because of this we are under judgment. We have no way of paying Him back for the corruption we have contributed to the world He created. We cannot fix what we have broken. But God has done something amazing. God sent Jesus into the world to do what no other person could ever do. God sent Jesus to live a perfect life in the flesh. He is a second Adam who was faithful.

He then exchanged His own righteousness for the sin of all those who would ever believe in Him. He received the punishment due to them and they receive the blessings He earned. He was crucified on a cross and died in the place of sinners. Then three days later, He rose from the dead showing He conquered sin and death. Now God is offering salvation to all those who put their trust in Jesus as their savior. We have a choice; we can trust in the wisdom of this dying world, or we can trust in Jesus and receive eternal life in the world to come.

Paul says that time is not far off. In fact, the weight of future glory is already squishing down upon the present in a way that changes everything. Therefore, believers can have joy and peace in this corrupt world. Therefore, we have hope for we have already glimpsed the glories to come in the face of our savior.

This knowledge radically transforms our priorities and value system. Paul calls attention to this with five contrasts connected by the phrase “as though”.

²⁹ This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, ³⁰ and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, ³¹ and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

In each case, he begins with a common experience, and he doesn’t tell us to avoid these things. Rather, he tells us to do them as though we were not doing them. All five of these are activities associated with this age and not the next. Marriage is until death do us part, and Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:30 that there is no marriage in the resurrection. There is no mourning in the Kingdom because death is defeated.

There will be rejoicing, but here Paul is talking about the joy that comes from the things and experiences of this life. There will be no need to buy goods or to deal with the world in glory because all these things will pass away.

Paul’s point is that as partakers of the next age, we should live in view of eternal priorities. We are to be in the world, but not of it. These five “as though” phrases show that our time on earth is temporary, and we should not become too attached to earthly activities. Believers must view marriage, mourning, rejoicing, buying possessions, and using worldly things bearing in mind our inheritance in the Kingdom.

None of these things are sinful; in fact, they are all important and we can use them to glorify God but none of them are of first importance. None of them are sufficient foundations to build our lives upon. Whatever tensions we experience now about marriage vs. singleness, mourning vs. rejoicing, or buying possessions verse not having them, are going to be absent from the world to come. Paul’s point is that we must be careful that the day-to-day activities of this world do not prevent us from living in the reality of the next one.

Imagine someone flying all the way to Hawaii for vacation and checking into their beach hotel for the night. Their travel agent has amazing experiences planned for them beginning the next day. But suppose then that they find the hotel so enjoyable that they forget about Hawaii and instead focus on what to do at the hotel for the next two weeks. We would think they are fools right? Well, unfortunately that is how many Christians live. But Paul says everything we do now should be done with an eye to what is to come. He says,

…let those who have wives live as though they had none. We know that Paul is not teaching that married people should disregard their vows. We know that marriage is an illustration of the Gospel itself. We need to remember the context here. In this chapter Paul is talking about marriage and that is why this is listed first. Marriage is important but the most important thing about our lives is not whether we are married. Paul has made this point several times in this chapter. Marriage is a gift, but we can serve the lord faithfully without being married.

Some people make an idol out of marriage. Either single people who fail to glorify God in their singleness because they are so focused on finding a spouse or married people who place their relationship with their spouse above their relationship with God. Paul said that a single person has more time and focus to be devoted to God. Paul’s point here is that those who are married should be helping each another in their walk to the glory of God. Marriage should support rather than interfere with devotion.

…those who mourn as though they were not mourning. Mourning is part of our life in this world. Jesus, Himself, wept when his friend Lazarus died. It is normal to grieve the loss of someone close to us. Death is an enemy and is unnatural. It is horrible.

Unfortunately, Christians are often among the worst comforters to those in mourning. In a hurry to bring comfort we forget Ecclesiastes 3:4, that there is a time for weeping and mourning. There must be a time for mourning  but Jesus also said that those who mourn will be comforted and in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Paul says,

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

Yes, believers will grieve and mourn, but we should mourn as those who are not mourning because we know that all those who have died in Christ will be raised on the last day and we will be with them. By faith in Jesus we can lift our voices and proclaim with all the saints, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For we know that our Lord has defeated death itself.

… who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing. The lives of believers is supposed to be characterized by joy. In fact, we are commanded to be joyful. Here Paul is talking about the joys that come in this world. There are many good things about which we can rejoice such as family, friends, beauty, and music. I am sure you can think of many others. But when believers rejoice in these things we should rejoice in them as gifts of God not as things in themselves.

People dedicate enormous amounts of time, energy, and money on sports, entertainment, hobbies, travel, and things like that because they are seeking joy. There is nothing wrong with us enjoying these things, but we must do so with the realization that none of these things will ultimately satisfy. In many ways people do these things to temporarily escape from the world but they a deficient substitute for the joy that comes from God alone. Only God Himself is an inexhaustible source of joy. To know Him makes all the other pleasures fade in comparison. This is what David is experiencing when he says in Psalm 4:7,

“You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.”

We know that every pleasure we have in the world now will fade, but we have an inheritance in heaven that will never fade because when we are freed from sin and glorified with Christ, we will see Him and be in His presence forevermore. There is nothing here that can compete with Jesus and so Paul is saying don’t rejoice in the joys and triumphs of this short and passing life. Seek instead in the eternal joy found in Christ.

… those who buy as though they had no goods.  Buying and selling is a necessary part of living in this world but the management of wealth and our relationship to the things we can buy is one of the clearest reflections on our spiritual maturity. Billions of dollars are spent each year to convince you that you need more stuff. In fact, we have reached the point where it is nearly impossible to concentrate on anything from more than a few minutes without being interrupted by some sort of advertisement designed to convince us to spend money.

Have you ever noticed how rare it is for an advertisement to really focus on the product? The reason is that it is more effective to appeal to emotions with the same lies the Serpent used in the Garden of Eden. The first lie is that having more things will lead to greater satisfaction. The next lie is that we deserve to have such things and if we are unable to have them then something is wrong, and we are being oppressed in some way.

These things are not true and the Bible tells us that money and goods can actually be dangerous because they make it harder for us to recognize our need for God. They can be a way for rebellious sinners to numb our guilt and cover our dependence.

That is why in 1 Timothy 6:10 Paul says, ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Jesus says in Matthew 13:22 that the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and make us unfruitful. We are to buy and to sell knowing that our ultimate investment is not in this world. In Matthew 6:19–21 Jesus says,

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Paul is saying the same thing. And the final contrast,

… those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. We obviously must live in and deal with this world but we are not to love it because we know there are better things to come. Our relationships, joy, money, and resources are to be primarily invested in the Kingdom of God rather than invested in this world that is passing away.

Do our bank and credit card statements testify that we love God or that we love the world? Do we spend our time on things that have eternal significance or on the things of the world? What about our gifts and talents? Are they being invested in God’s Kingdom or do we primarily use them for worldly gain?

Brothers and Sisters, the present form of this world is passing away and Jesus Christ is the only bridge to the New Heavens and New Earth. By faith, let us leave behind our sin and our worldly attachments and look forward to our rejoicing in the Kingdom of righteousness. Jesus paid the debt we could not pay so that we could be there. He paid with the most valuable thing in the entire universe, His own blood.

If we put our faith in Jesus to rescue us, we are made heirs of a Kingdom that will never perish. It is a promise so certain that we can live in its reality now. Through Christ all the bad things will turn out for our good because,

²⁸ … we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

And our best things can never be taken away from us since we have been born again

⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:4–5

And the best things are yet to come for,

⁹ …it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Not only are we being remade, but the entire world will also be transformed. We are being transformed so that we are fit to live in that glorious Kingdom. We cannot cling to this dying world and rejoice in the next one. We will love one or the other, we cannot have both.

The great theologian John Owen rightly said, “No man shall ever behold the glory of Christ by sight hereafter in eternity who does not in some measure behold it by faith here in this world.”

The evidence that God is at work in our hearts is a growing love for what is to come the presses down on our current reality. As Paul is giving advice on marriage and these other practical matters, he is emphasizing that ultimately, believers should do whatever it is that allows us to focus our attention and our affections on God and His promises.

All the things of the world that seem so pressing to us are going to be gone before we know it and we will be standing before the Lord bearing the weight of glory. We do not need a list of rules about how to live. We don’t need to have a certain relationship status or investment portfolio. What we need is a new heart. We need a new heart that loves God more than the world, that seeks our greatest joy in the treasures of the knowledge of Christ.

I will leave you with the words of a hymn that was written 100 years ago this year,

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there; O’er us sin no more hath dominion— For more than conqu’rors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised; Believe Him, and all will be well: Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell!     Amen.