MAINTAINING GOD’s INTENT For MARRIAGE(& Singleness)-I—1Corinthians 7:1-9
(Making Marriage Worthy of its Creator)
Attention:
Never My Intention:
MARION Co., Fla. (WCTV)
Friday, June 22, 2018, The Florida Highway Patrol reported a chain reaction crash involving four cars where two people died.
There were four vehicles involved: a Cadillac, an RV that was towing a Kia, a bobtail semi cab(no trailer attached) & a Mercedes-Benz sedan. The deceased victims, a husband and wife, were in the 2007 Cadillac.
The crash occurred on U.S. Highway 441 & county road 329. The victims involved were identified as, 69-year-old & 72-year-old, husband & wife from Fort Myers, Fla.
According to a witness, northbound traffic had stopped south of the traffic light at County Road 329. The RV ran into the back of the Cadillac, smashing it into the back of the truck cab. The RV drove over the car, went airborne and hit the back of the truck cab, leaving a large dent in the cab, and then rolled over. At the end of the chain-reaction crash, the truck cab hit the back of the Mercedes-Benz.
It appears the driver of the Cadillac, & a semi-tractor cab driver were stopped in traffic, according to the crash report. The driver of a Mercedes began moving forward when the driver of a motorhome towing a car failed to stop ahead for traffic, causing the crash.
The Cadillac driver, was pronounced dead on the scene & his wife was later pronounced dead at Ocala Regional Medical Center shortly after her arrival there.
*The 76 year old RV driver said he could not stop in time. "I ran over it," he said, referencing the car.
He broke his collarbone. His 72 yr. old wife is OK.
"Now I've got to live with killing someone," he said.
The RV driver & his wife did not wake up that morning with the intention of causing an accident, much less of killing a husband & wife!...They had every intent of getting to their destination...
BUT they did not maintain their intent!
Paul answered the inquiries & clarified the concerns of the Corinthian Christians regarding marriage.
Christians maintain God’s intent/design for marriage.
How do/can Christian couples maintain God’s intent for marriage?
6 focal/reference points for Christians regarding marriage.
1—Maintaining God’s intent for marriage(& singleness) demands a concentration upon...
His DIRECTIVES(:1)
Explanation:(:1)
1Cor. 7:1—“Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.”
“Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me:...”
Paul is switching gears to consider some specific issues about which the Corinthians had concerns. The church had obviously written to him regarding certain matters & expected a reply. In the absence of his physical presence he penned letters/epistles to the Christians in Corinth & to other gatherings of churched believers.
a. God’s ‘APOSTLES’/Delegates:
APOSTLE:
An apostle is one who is specifically sent forth/away with a specific mission &/or with a specific revelation from God.
Technically, ‘Apostles’ were limited to a past historical timeframe, & whose revelations of God were key to birthing the Church.
These are no longer with us, but hallelujah, their revelations remain!
Acts 1:1-5, 8—“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do & teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days & speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”.....“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; & you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, & in all Judea & Samaria, & to the end of the earth.”
1Cor. 15:3-11—“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, & that He was buried, & that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, & that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, & His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach & so you believed.”
Jesus commends the Ephesian church for their labors in distinguishing true apostles from false...
Rev. 2:1-3—“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: “I know your works, your labor, your patience, & that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles & are not, & have found them liars; & you have persevered & have patience, & have labored for My name’s sake & have not become weary.”
PAUL:
Paul was an ‘apostle’—specifically designated & delegated by God...
1)Generally to the Gentiles(non-Jews)(Acts 9:15; 13:46-48; 18:6; 28:29-31; Eph. 3:8)
—&—
2)Specifically, in this text, to the Corinthians.
Paul directly introduces himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ or strongly alludes to that fact, in many of his letters to the churches. In 1Cor. 1:1 he introduces himself as, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God...”-&-in 2Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God...”. In Gal. 1:1—“Paul, an apostle(not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ & God the Father who raised Him from the dead),” etc.
Paul was given the revelations demonstrating that the Gentiles(as well as Jews) were recipients of God’s salvation by grace thru faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul had first encountered the Corinthians during His ‘2nd missionary journey’ with Silas—probably in the early AD 50s.
Paul remained in Corinth for 1 1/2yrs. teaching the word of God(Acts 18:11).
Paul ministered among many other cities mainly in Asia Minor & Achaia—contemporary Turkey & Greece—but also in Syria(Antioch), the island nation of Cyprus, & also Italy(Rome).
Rom. 1:1-7—“Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, & declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace & apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you & peace from God our Father & the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Eph. 3:1-7—“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles-- if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles & prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, & partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.”
All this is to say that it would behoove any Christian to pattern our marriages after God’s plan & design rather than after the ever changing & uncertain pattern of the world!
Maintaining God’s intent for marriage demands a concentration upon...
His DIRECTIVES(:1)
“...It is good for a man not to touch a woman.”
b. God’s FOCUS:
Paul’s first response was that he considered it an act of “goodness”/commendation/excellence “for a man not to touch a woman”[sexually?].
“Good”—kalov—Adj.—1) Beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful, suitable, commendable, admirable—1a) Beautiful to look at, shapely, magnificent, 1b) Good, excellent in its nature & characteristics, & therefore well adapted to its ends—1b1) Genuine, approved, 1b2) Precious, 1b3) Competent, able, such as one ought to be, 1b4) Praiseworthy, noble, 1c) Beautiful by reason of purity of heart & life—1c1) Morally good, noble, 1d) Honorable, 1e) Affecting the mind agreeably, comforting & confirming. Kalov is a much higher word[than asteiov, or wraiov]. It means beautiful, physically or morally. It is, however, distinctly the beauty which comes from harmony, the beauty which arises from a symmetrical adjustment in right proportion, in other words, from the harmonious completeness of the object concerned. Strong—of uncertain affinity; properly--Beautiful, but chiefly figuratively--Good(literally or morally), i.e. Valuable or virtuous(for appearance or use, & thus distinguished from agayov, which is properly intrinsic).
Why would it be “good” for “a man not to touch a woman”?...
*After all, God had commanded mankind to...“be fruitful & multiply; fill the earth & subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, & over every living thing that moves on the earth.”(Gen. 1:28(:26)).
“Paul’s strategy”...“seems to be to start his argument by quoting a Corinthian position as if he agrees with it & then to add strong qualifications to it’s use.” or “which he intends to qualify & correct.”—BECNT So Paul’s directive may be either stating the Corinthian adage or directly stating the biblical principle. Either way he fleshes them out in the following verses, as in 6:12-13—“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it & them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
From “a detailed study of twenty-five occurrences of the euphemism “to touch” in the ancient literature & discussions of sexual relations in Roman culture” “it is quite remarkable that this particular euphemism is consistently used for sexual relations motivated by pleasure or passion rather than procreation.”—Ciampa & Rosner in BECNT
The Corinthian Christians wisely seem to have been concerned as to how to handle their very real sexual urges/desires. ‘Apparently’ a non-biblical/non-Christian view of abstinence was being taught to them & had them rightly baffled. Paul(as an apostle) is trusted to correct their thinking.
‘Probably’ Paul’s statement is another of his answers to the false-teacher’s principles(cf.-6:12, 13). False teachers/apostles intended to steer the Christians toward an ascetic(severe self-discipline taking the form of abstention) lifestyle rather than to find their freedom in Christ, as they themselves were minimally unlearned in Christ & maximally unsaved. A set of outward guidelines to which they may easily(?) comply outwardly but not with the heart. Their outward compliance being by spiritualizing ‘mind-over-matter’(Oprah Winfrey faith), but not by the power of Jesus transforming their hearts. Such lip-service leads to an erroneous/incorrect concept that human nature is inherently good at it’s core—a devastating ‘false’ reality.
Rom. 3:23 tells us that, “All have sinned & fall short of the glory of God.”
Col. 2:20-23—“Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations--“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using--according to the commandments & doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, & neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
*IF this is Paul’s statement, Paul appears to be saying, here in vs. :1, that a woman is not merely a sexual object/toy to be used to selfishly satisfy one’s fleshly urges & he bears that out in what follows
:8-9—“But I say to the unmarried & to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”
Paul thereby states in vs. :2—“Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, & let each woman have her own husband.”
Given, the Corinthians had written to Paul in order to be certain of God’s directives(:1). They ‘probably’ wrote him thru a suspicion that what they were hearing from their own teachers was falsely contrived.
*“When it comes to sexuality there are really two extremes we encounter. On the one hand there are those who, like the Corinthians, see sex as a bad thing & want nothing to do with it. They see sex as something shameful & unclean. And, particularly depending on what generation you are from, & what brokenness you might have experienced in that area of your own life, that might be an extreme that you tend towards.”
“The other extreme is sex without boundaries. Anything goes. There are no limits. “If it feels good, do it,” type of attitude. Those boundaries are being pushed back further all the time & so things that society would have found unacceptable even just 50 years ago have become common place.”
“I want you to understand that both those extremes are sinful. The first calls “evil” that which God created to be “good,” & the second declares something “good,” that God says to be “evil.””—Tim Diack in ‘When You Say, "I Do”’ @SermonCentral.com
Remember...God is the author of sex, but man is the author of sexual immorality!
Somehow we have to navigate the deep waters of societal sexual norms that have been & are ever in the process of being set & reset by fleshly means.
“Concerning/In Response To”—peri—Preposition—1) About, concerning, on account of, because of, around, near. Strong—from the base of peran[(pierce)through]; properly, Through(all over), i.e. Around; figuratively--With respect to; used in various applications, of place, cause or time.
“The Things/The Matters/What Things”—ov, h , o—Pronoun—1) Who, which, what, that. Strong—the relative (sometimes demonstrative)pronoun--Who, which, what, that.
“Wrote/Wrote to me”—grafw—Verb—1) To write, with reference to the form of the letters—1a) To delineate(or form) letters on a tablet, parchment, paper, or other material; 2) To write, with reference to the contents of the writing—2a) To express in written characters, 2b) To commit to writing(things not to be forgotten), write down, record, 2c) Used of those things which stand written in the sacred books(of the OT), 2d) To write to one, i.e. by writing(in a written epistle) to give information, directions; 3) To fill with writing; 4) To draw up in writing, compose. Strong—a primary verb; To "grave", especially--To write; figuratively--To describe.
“Man”(See :7)—anyrwpov—Noun Masc.—1) A human being, whether male or female—1a) generically--To include all human individuals, 1b) To distinguish man from beings of a different order—1b1) Of animals & plants, 1b2) Of from God & Christ, 1b3) Of the angels, 1c) With the added notion of weakness, by which man is led into a mistake or prompted to sin, 1d) With the adjunct notion of contempt or disdainful pity, 1e) With reference to two fold nature of man, body & soul, 1f) With reference to the two fold nature of man, the corrupt & the truly Christian man, conformed to the nature of God, 1g) With reference to sex, a male; 2) indefinitely--Someone, a man, one; 3) in the plural--People; 4) Joined with other words, merchantman. Strong—Man-faced, i.e. A human being.?From—anhr—a primary word; A man(properly as an individual male).—&—wq(the countenance; from optanomai[to gaze (i.e. with wide-open eyes, as at something remarkable]).
“Not”(See :4, 5, 10; :10— ou, ouk, ouc)—mh—Particle—1) No, not lest. Strong—a primary particle of qualified negation(whereas ou, ouk, ouc expresses an absolute denial); adverbially--Not, conjunctionally--Lest; also(as an interrogative implying a negative answer[whereas ou expects an affirmative one])--Whether. (CONT....)1—Maintaining God’s intent for marriage demands a concentration upon...His DIRECTIVES(:1)
“Touch”—aptomai—1) To fasten one's self to, adhere to, cling to—1a) To touch, 1b) Of carnal intercourse with a women or cohabitation, 1c) Of levitical practice of having no fellowship with heathen practices. Things not to be touched appear to be both women & certain kinds of food, so celibacy & abstinence of certain kinds of food & drink are recommended., 1d) To touch, assail anyone. Strong—properly--To attach oneself to, i.e. To touch(in many implied relations).?From—aptw—properly--To fasten to, i.e. specially--To set on fire.
“Woman”(See :2—“Wife”)—gunh—Noun Fem.—1) A woman of any age, whether a virgin, or married, or a widow; 2) a wife—2a) Of a betrothed woman. Strong—A woman; specially--A wife.
Argumentation:
2Chron. 20:31-33—“So Jehoshaphat was king over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, & he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in the way of his father Asa, & did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. Nevertheless the high places[places of pagan worship] were not taken away, for as yet the people had not directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.”
Judges 2:7, 10-12—“So the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, & all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD which He had done for Israel.”.....“When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, & served the Baals; & they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; & they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, & they bowed down to them; & they provoked the LORD to anger.”
Judges 17:6; 21:25—“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Jer. 17:9-10—““The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.””
Jer. 17:5-8—“Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.”
Gal. 5:13, 16-18—“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”..... “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, & you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, & the Spirit against the flesh; & these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
2Cor. 6:14-7:1—“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons & daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.” Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh & spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Illustration:
Our beach shade-tent/In order to be functional we must erect it properly--according to the directions/If the tent is not secured properly, then all our efforts are in vain!—We must use at least four tent stakes(& better yet--4 tent & 4 ‘tie down’ stakes)...& even more specifically four stakes made for use in sand(with 2 opposing wide flat sides),/If not secured, then the ever-present wind at the beach will shake the tent loose & send it cartwheeling down the beach or into the water!/God’s DIRECTIVES
If you do not secure your marriage by God’s Intent, then your so-called Christian marriage will most likely ‘blow away’ & leave both you & your children unprotected!
Application:
?Is the focal point of your Marriage(or Singleness) upon God’s DIRECTIVES?
?Does your Marriage(or Singleness) Maintain God’s Intent??
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Never My Intention—The 76 year old RV driver said he could not stop in time. “I ran over the car. Now I've got to live with killing someone,”
Action:
Maintaining God’s intent for marriage(& singleness) demands a concentration upon...
1. His DIRECTIVES(:1)
Pt#1 presented 08/05/2018am to:
FBC C’belle
206 Storrs Ave. SW(SE Ave. A)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
