The Gift Of Marriage Series

The most famous twins in history were Chang and Eng,

born in Siam in 1811. They toured Europe and America

repeatedly. They became so well known that all twins whose

bodies are physically connected have ever since been called

Siamese twins. By their early thirty's they had traveled the

world, and amassed a fortune. They decided to settle

down in North Carolina and become farmers. One of their

neighbors, David Yates, was a Quaker, and a part time

clergyman. He had a 19 year old daughter Adelaide, and a

20 year old daughter named Sarah Ann. Believe it or not,

these two girls started courting Chang and Eng. Everybody

thought it was insane, and both families were threatened by

town folk who were sure it was evil.

Nevertheless, there was a double wedding in April of

1843. Naturally they moved into the same house, and

unbelievably, they had happy and fruitful marriages. Eng

fathered 7 boys and 5 girls. Chang fathered 7 girls and 3

boys. All 22 children were normal except for a son and

daughter who were deaf mutes. Chang and Eng lived to age

63, and they were buried in the cemetery of the Baptist

church of White Plains, which they helped to build, and

where they and there family worshipped for many years.

Many of their descendants still attend this church today, and

over one thousand people trace their descent from these

original Siamese Twins.

You would think if anyone should remain single it would

be people like this, who had such an enormous handicap.

But the fact is, Frederick Drimmer, in his book Very Special

People, reports that 90% of human oddities, who use to be

called freaks, marry normal people, and have normal

children, and very few of these marriages end in divorce.

How can these people make it, and have happy marriages,

when so many people without their handicaps cannot? We

can only conclude with the Apostle Paul, these people have

the gift of marriage. In verse 7 Paul states that each person

has a special gift. His is the gift to be single and satisfied,

but if one does not have that gift, then he has another, and

that is the gift to be married and satisfied.

Just as some people can be happy and fulfilled single, so

others can be happy and fulfilled married. Paul no where

forbids marriage to anyone, for he writes to Timothy

that it is heresy and the doctrine of demons to forbid

marriage. Paul's concern is to prevent those with the gift of

singleness from entering marriage. We will see why as we

continue our study.

Since the key element in each of these gifts is the sex

drive, there is no way Christians can escape examining their

sex drive, and still be obedient to God. One's sexual

motivation, or lack of it, is a gift of God. If you have the gift

of self-control, and can abstain from sex, you have the gift of

singleness. It is foolish to be intimidated by all of the clamor

of the world that life and sex are synonymous. Consider

yourself gifted to pursue other goals for the kingdom of

God. If, however, you have a strong sex drive, consider

yourself ungifted to remain single, but gifted to make a

happy marriage. The rule here ,says Barclay, is, "No man

should attempt a way of life for which he is naturally

ungifted."

The key theme of this whole chapter is prevention. Paul's

advice here is to prevent those with the gift of singleness

from marriage, and to prevent those with the gift of

marriage from staying single, and to prevent in all cases the

immorality that the sex drive can lead to, if not brought

under self-control. Paul is no ivory tower mystic who

responds to all problems with the pious advice that Christ is

the answer. Of course, Christ is the answer, and obedience

to His will is the key to all of life's problems, but the question

is, what is His will, and how do I submit to His Lordship in

specific cases? It is to general to say Christ is the answer, or

pray about it. Paul is getting very specific, and actually

deals with the issues of sex so practically, that it has taken

centuries of study to bring the world up to the point where

they recognize this old bachelor knew more about sex than

most of the married people of history.

Most of the blunders of church history were caused by

Christians not taking Paul seriously as a sex counselor. This

one paragraph could have prevented centuries of darkness

and heartache in millions of Christians lives. When

Christians do not walk in the light that God gives, they are

condemned to walk in darkness, and make the same