The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 14: 1 Corinthians 7:17-24; "Serve in Place"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 14; 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 “Serve in Place” We have learned, or regularly spoken a whole new vocabulary in the last few weeks. Coronavirus. COVID-19. Pandemic. Death rates. Social distancing. N95. Essential activities. But there is one phrase that seems to have most everybody either hating life or feeling safe. Shelter in place. The basics of a "shelter-in-place" order are fairly clear: Stay at home. Except for "essential" activities. As we are all aware, the purpose of such an order is to enforce social distancing, or to keep people away from each other to limit the spread of the virus.  Today, in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24, you might be surprised to find a parallel to the shelter in place mandate given by our human government. I call it “serve him in place” counsel. You might be thinking that I’m trying to be clever or trying to make this passage say something it is not. Au Contraire! Paul lays the foundation for serving in place in v.17: Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. And in v.24 we find this: So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. Hence, the point: serve him in place--as in the condition in which the Corinthian Christians, and us by extension, were called. Today, I want to try to speak a word of liberation to some of you, and a word of challenge to the rest. If you get nothing else out of the message today, get this: As followers of Christ we have the freedom to serve the Lord right where we are, even during this Covid thing. On the other hand, especially during this Covid thing, life can be tough for many of you. But tough circumstances don’t excuse any of us from living the life of a faithful follower of Jesus. Having said that let me take you to the very heart of the issue, found in v.19: For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. In other words, regardless of what situation in which we find ourselves as Christians, what is of the greatest interest to the Lord is that we keep his commandments. We’ll unpack that as we go along. For now, let’s go back to v.17 as we talk about God’s call and the Lord’s assignment that he has given to the Corinthian Christians, and by extension, every follower of Christ. So, what exactly is God’s call that Paul is talking about right here? Many who see “call” or “calling” believe that God is communicating his specialized, tailor made, individual plan for the Christian. Many understand the call of God this way by reading verses like Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. And in Romans 12:2 where we read that as we renew our minds we can discover God’s will for us--his good, acceptable and perfect will. And so some might think that God’s call in 1 Corinthians 7:17 is his tailor made plan, just for us. For those of you who hold that God has a perfect, tailor made plan for you, please allow me to burst your bubble--or even free you from the cage in which you have placed yourself. In talking with a number of people over the years, I have heard a lot of regret and it goes like this, “I know that God called me to be a fill in the blank--a pastor, a missionary. But I resisted. And now it’s too late.” It’s as though they believe God has permanently set them on the shelf and God will never use them--because they resisted his call. But we cannot find this idea in Scripture. Certainly, God describes his will for us. But it is not a tailor made, individualized plan. 2 Peter 1:3 tells us that God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. The passage goes on and says that the “all things” are found in his great and precious promises. The great news is that we don’t have to wonder where we find his promises. They are in a book! The Scriptures! In other words, in the pages of God’s word we find everything we need to accomplish God’s will. Everything. See, what God is after, regardless of what job we have, or don’t--especially when this covid thing is over--or whether we are married or single, is to live our lives pleasing to God. A number of years ago, I came across a book written by a guy named Garry Friesen: “Decision Making and the Will of God.” I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I agree with almost everything Friesen writes in it. In a nutshell, Friessen calls what we see in the Scripture as the moral will of God. He basically says that the will of God is not a certain job we do, or a place where we live but an attitude summed up this way: Because I am grateful for Jesus saving me, I say, “thank you, Lord” and show that I’m grateful by faithfully doing what the Lord tells me. Now this can be scary for those who have always heard that God’s call is an individualized plan for their lives and they can miss it if they are not very careful. If Friesen is right and I’m convinced he is, not only are we as Christians free to make choices that have life altering consequences, we are expected to do so. For example, does it surprise you that the only rule regarding who a single person should marry is that he or she is a follower of Jesus? Or that a man who wants to be a pastor, that he strongly desires to do so and is spiritually and morally qualified? In both of these life-altering examples there is not one word about God’s call, as in an individualized, tailor-made plan for his or her life. That does not mean, though that God is unconcerned about our decisions. Scripture is chock full of principles of truth and wisdom. And it is indeed the wise Christian who takes advantage of God’s wisdom in making his or her decisions. So, what does this have to do 1 Corinthians 7:17 and God’s call? If God’s call is not an individual, tailor made plan, then what is it? Simply put, God’s call is Paul’s way of saying, “when you became a Christian” or “when you first began to follow Jesus.” Jesus is clear how salvation comes about. He promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to us—and he convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. When the Holy Spirit convicts, God calls the sinner to salvation. And when the sinner responds to God’s call, guess what? Now that person is called. So, the call of God, especially in 1 Corinthians 7:17 means, “when you became a Christian”--when you became the called of God. So we have here Paul saying to the Christian that he or she has been called of God. But there’s more in this verse. Notice that a Christian is to live his or her life that the Lord--as in the Lord Jesus--assigned to him or her. And to put this in context of the passage, in whatever station of life, whether married or single, and as we will see in a moment, whether Jewish or gentile or even slave, Paul’s strong counsel is, “faithfully live life as a follower of Jesus right there.” In other words, faithfully serve the Lord in place--the place where he found you. And with that long introduction, let’s read vv.18-24: Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised—or Jewish? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. What we see in this passage, without forgetting the first part of the chapter are 6 life conditions Paul talks about: the state of marriage, being single, living in a spiritually mixed marriage, Jewish, gentile, slave. Notice what he says regardless of condition: stay there. Regardless of whether the person became a Christian--was called--after he or she got married, or single, whatever: faithfully serve the Lord in that particular life condition . It sounds as though Paul is making a hard and fast rule. But there is something called life that gets in the way. Conditions in life do change. Marriages only last til one of the spouses die. Single people get married-but only to another Christian. Spiritually mixed marriages end when the non-Christian spouse is out the door. Jewish believers sometimes leave their Jewish heritage. Gentile believers sometimes seek to become Jewish—by the way, this issue was a big deal right about the time Paul wrote this letter. Slaves often bought their way out of slavery in those days. So, why would Paul say remain in the condition of life in which one became a Christian? Several reasons. First, remember the big concern Paul had with the Corinthians: disunity. Remember how they displayed it? They set their favorite spiritual leader on a pedestal. They were so very competitive. Social status and rank was among the most important traits in their culture. They were always seeking to climb the social ladder to at least appear to be more important than others. So, when Paul tells them to serve the Lord in the condition in which they got saved, he basically told them to stop climbing the ladder of social importance. It was Christ, not social condition that gave them status, and real meaning to their lives as Christians. But time marches on and we haven’t learned much. As we continue in the Corinthian correspondence, we will discover that Paul didn’t exactly fit the bill of what he called the “super apostles”. He didn’t have the look, but they did. And some of the Corinthians thought little of Paul. I wonder though, how Paul would be received in our churches today? Which resume would be more acceptable? As Paul, the man who was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, mocked, disrespected and thrown into jail numerous times? Or would we be more enamored if we introduced Paul as the missionary and church planter. One who lived on the Mediterranean, and was fluent in several languages. And who wrote some letters that many consider very valuable and important. I wonder which resume would be best to introduce him in 2020? My point here is that Paul reminds them of their unity in Christ. That Christ has assigned to each of his followers a mission: to faithfully serve him in place. Besides reminding them, and us of our unity in Christ, there is a second reason why Paul told them to serve Christ in place: since no person in the kingdom of God is any more or less important than another, the same applies to their condition of life. In v.19 for example, Paul says whether a guy is circumcised or not means absolutely nothing to God: zero, zip, nada. But what God considers a huge deal is for his people to keep his commandments. As always, God’s people don’t become God’s people because they keep his commandments. God’s people become that way because of his grace extended to them and their trust in his promises and repentance from their sins. All the way back in the book of Exodus the Lord makes this clear when he gave his people the 10 Commandments. If you are a careful reader of Scripture you know that in Exodus 20 God does not inspire Moses to immediately list the Commandments. The passage actually begins this way: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Then he says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” God reminds the people first of their relationship to him, and his relationship to them. “I am your God. You are my people. Therefore, live this way.” Same way here. Christians in Corinth in the first century, and we in the 21 century follow the same path. We keep the commandments of God because we are God’s people, not in order to become God’s people. As Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved by God’s grace, through our faith in Christ. Salvation has nothing to do with our doing anything good. Indeed, who does good, in and of themselves? No one. Even Jesus said that. Someone asked Jesus one day what the greatest commandment is and he said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” I find it significant that when Jesus said this, he was covering all 10 of the Commandments: loving the Lord sums up the first 4 commandments and loving one’s neighbor ties the last 6 together. But there is one other commandment that we often overlook, and that is Jesus’ New Commandment as recorded in John 13:34-35: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” So, for the Christian, keeping the commandments of God is a big deal. And it also goes to the very heart of even who we are as followers of Christ. In Matthew 28:18-20 we read that as Christ’s disciples we go and make disciples and we do that in 2 ways: baptizing them and teaching them. By the way, if you are a follower of Jesus and you have not gotten baptized, you need to. This is Jesus’ commandment to all Christians. Baptism is a public testimony that you are a follower of Jesus and you have died to your old life and seek to live for him. Not perfectly, but loyally. So, if you are a follower of Christ and need to get baptized, please talk with me or find a pastor in your area to baptize you. Getting baptized is something that a disciple of Jesus does. Again, not one who is sinlessly perfect, but one who is obedient. Second, we are to teach others. What is it that we are to teach them? Simply put, to obey Jesus. He said that we are to teach others to observe—obey everything that he commanded us in Matthew 28:19: that is called “keeping the commandments of God.” As those who make disciples, we ourselves need to be obedient to the Lord as well--just stands to reason. We cannot very well teach others to obey Jesus if we ourselves are living in disobedience. That is called hypocrisy. Jesus takes a dim view of hypocrites. A third reason why we are to serve the Lord in place is because of those who are lost in our world. In other words, Jesus assigned us to our places of ministry in order be a witness to them. I find it very significant that when Jesus began there were no Christians. Not one in his world. And when the going got tough for him, he did not quit. He did not go to a place where he was more readily received. There were times that he avoided certain people for a time, because if they would have gotten their hands on him, they would have killed him. And as we know when it came time for him to die, he did not avoid it but he allowed himself to be slain as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So, whether a person is married, single, living in a spiritually mixed marriage, whether a Jewish or gentile follower of Jesus or even a slave, if a Christian left the place the Lord assigned him, who would witness to all the lost people in the place they just left? There are relationships, even the most intimate of relationships that a person would leave behind. Who better to reach them than the Christian in that condition? Some of us may remember a has-been, nobody of long ago named Bob Dylan. In the 70’s he at least attached himself to the Christian community and sang some powerful songs that reflected his attachment. It’s my understanding the Bob Dylan returned to Judaism and so I don’t know his spiritual condition. But he wrote and sang a very popular song that many know about, called “Gotta serve somebody.” Well, I made a count of the different kinds of people he describes in this song: 39 of them, from all walks of life. Some are pretty seedy, others are respected in society. There are people in our state--our line of work, our sphere of influence who need to be told--Ambassador, Socialite, heavyweight champion of the world: “You gotta serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord.” Think “mission field” in every one of these 39 kinds of people Bob Dylan mentioned in his song. But if you leave your station in life, who will tell them of the choice they need to make – either the devil or the Lord? The bottom line here is that each condition of life carries with it opportunities to serve the Lord as a Christian; therefore, serve him in place right where you are. And in Paul’s day, that even included slaves. It is no secret that there is a vast difference in worldview between Paul’s day and our own. And if we were to read our present understanding into the Scripture we would completely miss the point, and totally misunderstand, misapply and sadly write-off God’s eternal wisdom and truth. All because we failed to read Scripture in its cultural context. In our world we are hypersensitive to the word slavery. It’s almost a banned word in our day. But the truth is that there are more slaves in the world today than ever before. That is another subject for another time. But there is a lot of credible information online if you care to look for it. Paul addressed the issue of slavery head on. But notice how he handled it. He did not say it was a profound evil; rather he reframed the issue--although I would say that Paul in a sense sowed the seeds to the destruction of the institution. For example, how can a Corinthian slave owner, as a Christian sit right next to a slave who also is a Christian? Paul even goes so far as to say that every Christian has an exalted status of being Christ’s slaves in v.23. Christians were purchased with the blood of Jesus; therefore he owns us. We in our culture are more nuanced. We don’t like to say Jesus owns us. We like to say that he loves us—and he does. We like to say that he wants the best for us—and he does. But Paul said that since Jesus bought us with his blood, he owns us. So, let’s talk about slavery as one of Paul’s life conditions. He did not take on the institution and call for its demise. Notice, again, what he said about it in vv.21-23: Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. Notice what Paul said here: “If you became a Christian while being a slave, don’t be concerned about it.” Not exactly good news to our ears! But slavery in those days was a lot different than in our more recent history. For one thing, a large percentage of the population in the Roman Empire was slaves. And they were afforded a lot of privilege--even better protected than mere employees in certain jobs. But Paul says, as a Christian don’t worry about your status as a slave. In essence, he says, “you are every bit as valuable as a master. You, of all people know how it feels being owned.” And even to them, Paul says, “serve the Lord in place.” The power of the Christian and living a Christian life is such that, even as a slave, one can faithfully serve the Lord. But in no uncertain words, Paul says, change your condition if you can. This gives us a clue as to the vast differences between 1st and 17th century slavery. Slavery was not skin color based. It was not ethnic. It was primarily economic, though many were actually born into slavery. People often sold themselves as slaves because they could not pay their debts. Slaves held positions of power at times: barbers, mirror makers, goldsmiths, architects, business managers, bureaucrats, and even filling professional roles of “managerial slaves” who, according to one historian could run country estates on behalf of their owners in Rome. Slaves were also able to save money and even pay for their freedom. It was rare for a slave in the Empire to be enslaved all their lives, and the average number of years one was enslaved was about 7. It became a very common thing for slaves to be set free in the Empire, so much so that Caesar Augustus actually placed limits on the number of slaves who could be set free. Even though slaves didn’t have it nearly as rough as those who endured slavery in our history, there was still that hideous thing of one human owning another. Slaves did not have any rights and had to obey his or her master. Certainly, there was much abuse in every way imaginable, so we can’t paint the picture too rosy. And as I mentioned, Paul’s counsel to slaves, telling them that they are members in equal standing in the family of God and they could serve the Lord just as effectively in their status went a long way toward the destruction of the entire institution. Indeed, Christians led the way for abolition, but it wasn’t until the 1700’s in England that slavery was actually outlawed, making it the first country in the history of the world to do so. So, in our passage for today, Paul’s counsel is “serve the Lord in place.” That counsel can be applied in our day and even in our present situation, to include physically in place as well. What can be done to serve the Lord in place? Let me give you several things. Now that many of us have a little more time on our hands, let’s invest that time in prayer and intake of the word. Be more intentional in your prayer time. You know that Bible study that you have wanted to do but have not gotten around to doing because you are so busy? Yeah, that one. Deliberately choose to spend more time with the Lord. Actively serve those you are living with. Family members, serve one another at home. Demonstrate Christlike love to them. Show the fruit of the Spirit, for as Paul said, “keeping the commandments of God is what matters.” Behind the doors of your home, do what you have always done—or what you were supposed to be doing. In the words of a great man of God, Howard Hendricks: “if your Christianity does not work at home, it does not work. Don’t export it.” Now is a perfect time to serve the Lord by developing a keen sense of trust in the reality that he is the one who takes care of us. In our extremely uncertain times, it all comes back to the foundation—to ask the question and be committed to the answer: Is the Lord your provider? Do you trust him to do so? Or is it your employer, or even the government who is the ultimate provider? When I was in the Air Force, my motto regardless of where we moved and whether or not I got promoted was, “I get my needs met from the Lord but Uncle Sam writes the check.” And it is the same with all of us. Even though I get a pension from the government, it is still the Lord providing for us. And should the government stop printing the money and the VA stops making their deposits in my account, I have every confidence that it is the Lord who will continue to provide. There is another area where we can serve him in place, and that is we trust him to protect us, especially regarding catching the virus. Though many people have died from the complications this virus brought, it is the Lord who is our protector, especially right now. With the steady drumbeat of death and destruction in the vast majority of our news reports, let’s choose to believe that the Lord is our protector. For the Christian, we cling to the words of the apostle Paul when he said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul wrote these words while he was living in very uncertain times. He was under house arrest in Rome, waiting for his day in court—to stand before Nero. He waited for 2 years, chained to a guard, maybe 2 for the entire time. In case you didn’t know, Nero wasn’t too fond of Christians. And it was the Caesar who had absolute power to grant life or to take it. And it was in reference to this guy Paul said, in essence, “if Caesar directs my death, it is a 1 way ticket to be with Jesus.” So, we take precautions. But we are to treat one another as human beings, not as monsters who may give us a death sentence. For those who can venture out, while taking precautions, find people whom you can serve. Contact people and ask them if you can do something for them. Make yourself available. For those of us who know our way around the internet world, there are many ways we can serve him in place. For example, just type in “online evangelism” or “internet missionary” and you can find a whole slew of organizations you can volunteer with. My oldest son, Jeremy, has been involved with Global Media Outreach and he has given the gospel to MANY people over the years. Their latest numbers are since 2004: almost 2 billion virtual gospel visits, over 228 million indicated decisions for Christ, and over 250 million discipleship activities. How many of these are born again? Only the Lord knows. But what a fantastic investment of his time to give the gospel to those who are interested in hearing it. Maybe you can invest your time that way, too. Finally, let’s not forget the usual channels of phone calls—a novel idea! Texts, emails and even cards, snail mail style. Even though we cannot meet altogether for now, we have not stopped being the church. Richard Wurmbrandt, who was horribly tortured for Christ for 14 years in 2 Romanian prisons told the story of how he and several other prisoners were very close to death. One day a Romanian soldier, who personally tortured Wurmbrandt and found himself on the wrong side of the government, was now tortured and thrown into the same room with him. This soldier was also close to death. He cried out to Richard for mercy, and in spite of all of the hellishness that happened at this soldier’s hand, Richard and his brothers told him they forgave him. And if they could forgive him, how much more could God? They lovingly touched this man who was so close to death, while reassuring him of the love God had for him and the forgiveness he offered in Christ. Later that night, the man gave his heart to Jesus. He died the next day. I finish this message by telling this story because Richard Wurmbrandt and his friends are incredible examples of serving Christ in place. They were unable to go anywhere. They were severely tortured by a man who now asked for forgiveness and needed the forgiveness offered by Christ. But what did it take for Richard Wurmbrandt to be in a position to give this man the gospel? Years prior to this, he had been arrested and was thrown into prison. The fact that brother Richard even survived up to that point was a miracle. But God was in control. Even though Richard Wurmbrandt and his friends suffered severely, the Lord saw to it that they were in the right place at the right time, to give this man the gospel that set him free for eternity. I ask you. And me. If it took that much time and that much suffering for Richard to see this one man claimed for Christ, what are you and I willing to do to serve him in place that the Lord may be glorified in us? The Lord may never ask us to suffer for him in the same way he asked Richard to. Only the Lord knows what impact our faithfulness for him will have on those around us that he assigned us to serve. Let us serve the Lord in place by serving those he has placed in our lives. For his honor and glory.