Single And Living Strong

Single and Living Strong

Message 1Cor. 7

Intro.:

A. What is one of the largest segments in our society today? It’s not a particular ethnic group – it is not a socio-economic group – it’s not any particular occupational group…

It is Single Adults!

Statistics show that 43% of the adult population in the North Park area are Single.

Some are Single by never marrying; others through divorce and widowed.

But think about it – 43% of adults around us are Not married.

B. Being Single is not always easy, but if you are single, you are not alone.

Being single is sometimes misunderstood by people who aren’t single – you hear statements like:

1. Oh, You can be there for sure – what else do you have to do?

2. I wonder what’s up with ???? and why they aren’t married?

3. Hey, let’s get ???? to do it – he/she isn’t married – I mean what else does s/he have to do?

C. Though there are people who might misunderstand being a Single adult – today, especially if you are single – I want you to know that the Lord Understands you ! Let us look at some important facts: One, Jesus was single. Paul – the greatest Missionary was single. So let’s look at what Paul wrote as He was inspired .

1 Now, getting down to the questions you asked in your letter to me.

7 Sometimes I wish everyone were single like me—a simpler life in many ways! But celibacy is not for everyone any more than marriage is. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others.

8 I do, though, tell the unmarried and widows that singleness might well be the best thing for them, as it has been for me.

9 But if they can’t manage their desires and emotions, they should by all means go ahead and get married. The difficulties of marriage are preferable by far to a sexually tortured life as a single.

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. Don’t think I’m being harder on you than on the others. I give this same counsel in all the churches.

22 I’m simply trying to point out that under your new Master you’re going to experience a marvelous freedom you would never have dreamed of. On the other hand, if you were free when Christ called you, you’ll experience a delightful “enslavement to God” you would never have dreamed of.

24 Friends, stay where you were called to be. God is there. Hold the high ground with him at your side.

25 The Master did not give explicit direction regarding virgins (young ladies) , but as one much experienced in the mercy of the Master and loyal to him all the way, you can trust my counsel.

28 But there’s certainly no sin in getting married, whether you’re a virgin or not. All I am saying is that when you marry, you take on additional stress in an already stressful time, and I want to spare you if possible.

29 I do want to point out, friends, that time is of the essence. There is no time to waste, so don’t complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple—in marriage,

30 grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things—your daily routines of shopping, and so on.

31 Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out.

32 I want you to live as free of complications as possible. When you’re unmarried, you’re free to concentrate on simply pleasing the Master.

33 Marriage involves you in all the nuts and bolts of domestic life and in wanting to please your spouse,

34 leading to so many more demands on your attention. The time and energy that married people spend on caring for and nurturing each other, the unmarried can spend in becoming whole and holy instruments of God.

35 I’m trying to be helpful and make it as easy as possible for you, not make things harder. All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions.

36 If a man has a woman friend to whom he is loyal but never intended to marry, having decided to serve God as a “single,” and then changes his mind, deciding he should marry her, he should go ahead and marry. It’s no sin; it’s not even a “step down” from celibacy, as some say.