Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Corinthians 7:17-21

Bloom Where You are Planted

Today’s study addresses the subject of remaining faithful in your calling.

I have titled this section of chapter seven, “Bloom where you are planted.”

It is specifically given in the context of marriage, divorce and remarriage.

However there are also numerous ways this principle of remaining in the place where God puts you can be broadly applied to many scenarios including: a difficult job, a rough neighborhood, an unfulfilling church, or a discouraging ministry.

* *

*Vs.

17-24*

 

In our last study I briefly pointed out that there is a repeated theme in chapter seven which is to instruct the believers in Corinth not to initiate a change in their status but to remain in the condition they find themselves in.

Look again with me at the pattern:

If your spouse has died and you find yourself single, /remain/ single.

(vs.

8)

If you are married, /remain/ married.

(vs.

10)

If you leave your husband /remain/ unmarried or be reconciled.

(vs.

11)

If your unbelieving spouse is willing to stay with you /remain/ married.

(vs.

12-13)

Later he will say to the virgin singles, it is good to /remain/ single.

(vs.

26)

And to those betrothed to a wife, do not seek to be loosed, /remain/ as you are.

(vs.

27)

And finally he ends the chapter with the statement that the widow is happier if she /remains/ as she is.

(vs.

40)

 

Now in verses 17-24 Paul takes time to address this theological principle of remaining in your calling which he is repeatedly using as the guiding principle to govern our marital status.

Again it is important to look at this in its context.

Go back to verse one of the chapter.

“/Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman/.”

This whole discussion on divorce is stemming from the extreme view, that some of the Corinthian believers were promoting, which seems to have been the belief that one was more spiritual if they abstained completely from any sexual activity.

Now Paul agreed with them that it was good to remain single.

In fact some have referred to Paul as the lover of singleness /(Piper, p. 172)/ because as we have seen he does advocate the spiritual advantages of the single life, (i.e., *vs.

34-35*).

And for those who were single Paul affirms that it was indeed good for them to remain celibate.

But the problem was that some of them were taking Paul’s teaching to the extreme and applying it to marriage, teaching that if married couples really want to be spiritual they need to cut out all sexual activity and if necessary they should leave their spouse in order to accommodate a deeper walk with the Lord.

This was a particularly compelling argument for those who were married to unbelievers, as it still is today for some believers involved in a difficult mixed marriage.

However Paul strongly opposed the idea of abstinence in marriage and he also strongly opposed the idea of divorcing your spouse for any reason.

And in the section of this chapter that we are looking at today Paul strongly affirms that one should never seek to change their marital status, or any other social status for that matter, with the misguided notion that such a change will give them any spiritual advantage.

In verses 17-24 there are two key themes.

These are concisely summarized in verse 20, “/Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called./”

The two themes are our “/calling in which we were called”/, and secondly to “/remain/ in our calling.”

The verb, “/called/” is used eight times in these eight verses and the noun, “/calling/” is used once.

Since the theme of our “calling” is so central to Paul’s discussion in these verses it is important that we understand what he means by our /calling/.

The concept of being /called/ by God is first of all a way of describing God leading us to salvation in Christ (*see 1:9*).

God called me and made me His child when I was only six years old.

Some of you were called and became Christian when you were adults.

Secondly our /calling/ refers to the social circumstances of our life at the time that we were saved.

Each of us was in a particular social setting when we were “called”.

/(Fee, p. 309) /For example, perhaps some of you were married and involved in the medical profession when you put your faith in Christ as your Savior.

You were therefore called as a married health professional.

Others may have been single and studying in university when you were saved.

So your calling was as a single student.

Your calling not only refers to God bringing you to faith in Christ but it also refers to your circumstances or your place in society when Christ called you to follow Him.

* *

*Vs.

17/ /**/“/**/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.”/*

This verse is very awkward in the NKJV.

Let’s look at how it is translated in some other versions:

 

*/1 Corinthians 7:17/*/ *NCV *“//But in any case each one of you should continue to live the way God has given you to live—the way you were when God called you . .

.”/

*/ /*

*/1 Corinthians 7:17 NLT /*/“//Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you . .

.”/

*/ /*

*/1 Corinthians 7:17 The Message /*paraphrases it this way, “/And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else.

Where you are right now is God’s place for you.

Live and obey and love and believe right there.

God, not your marital status, defines your life . .

.//”/

Verse 17 is directly connected to the verses we studied last week regarding those believers who were married to unbelievers.

Here Paul is saying that they need to recognize that their present situation of being married to an unbeliever is where they were when God called them and is therefore the place where they are to live out God’s call.

The circumstance you found yourself in when God called you is also the place God has called you to.

That place is your calling.

It is your assignment or your mission field.

You are to remain there.

Therefore if you were married to an unbeliever when God called you to Christ you are not to try to get out of that situation so that you can have more freedom to grow in your faith.

Instead recognize that by saving you in a mixed marriage God called you to be married to an unbeliever.

Therefore God assigned you to live your life in Christ in that marriage.

/(Fee, p. 310  /

/ /

This does not mean that your circumstances in life will never change.

Your unbelieving spouse may be converted to faith in Christ.

Or your unsaved spouse may not be willing to live with a believer and may divorce you.

But as much as it is up to you, you are to remain in that place to which you were called.

If your spouse divorces you, then you have a new calling, you are now called to remain unmarried or be reconciled to your spouse.

* *

The way that Eugene Peterson has paraphrased* 1 Corinthians 7:15-17 *in “The Message” is very insightful: “/On the other hand, if the unbelieving spouse walks out, you’ve got to let him or her go.

You don’t have to hold on desperately.

God has called us to make the best of it, as peacefully as we can.// //You never know, wife: The way you handle this might bring your husband not only back to you but to God.

You never know, husband: The way you handle this might bring your wife not only back to you but to God. /

/ /

/17//“And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else.

Where you are right now is God’s place for you.

Live and obey and love and believe right there.

God, not your marital status, defines your life . .

.”// /

 

The last part of verse 17 says, “/And so I ordain in all the churches/.”

Meaning this is not just a special instruction for the church at Corinth but this is the standard instruction for all Christians.

Or as the Message paraphrases it/,// “Don’t think I’m being harder on you than on the others.

I give this same counsel in all the churches/.”

* *

*Vs.

18 “**/Was anyone called while circumcised?

Let him not become uncircumcised.

Was anyone called while uncircumcised?

Let him not be circumcised.”/*

/ /

Here is an illustration of the same principle applied to a different circumstance other than marriage.

There are probably a large variety of circumstances to which we could apply this principle.

The term “circumcised” refers to being a Jew and to be “uncircumcised” is to be a Gentile.

If you were born and raised as a Jew, or if you were converted to Judaism before becoming a Christian, you do not become a better Christian by seeking to hide your Jewish identity or by abandoning your Jewish heritage.

On the other hand, if you were a gentile before coming to Christ, you will not be a better Christian if you get circumcised and begin practicing all the Jewish customs.

Changing the external circumstances in life does not make you a better Christian (unless of course those circumstances are inherently sinful, i.e., a prostitute or drug dealer).

Whatever your circumstance was in life before you were saved that becomes your God ordained and sanctified place of ministry as a Christian.