Mary, Martha and Marriage - [1 Corinthians 7:25-40]

Boasting in the Lord and the Call to Worship

I just was thinking as we were singing, who is like our Lord, who's like the Lord? As we're all prone to exaggerate, can you over-exaggerate how much God has done for you in Christ Jesus? We love to brag, I was surfing with Luke yesterday, I don't get up that much, but when I do get up I have to brag about it and exaggerate, but you know, you say, oh yeah, I caught that one wave and it was like a ten foot face and down I went over and I shredded Luke just before I ran over him and I turned, but I didn't do any of that, I just was Nebraska man surfing, and then you see a fish that's dead, yeah that fish was like four feet long, it was dead over there and it's really a little minnow.

We just exaggerate, but you know, interestingly, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul says, you've got to boast in the Lord, let the boasting one boast in the Lord. Can you say more about God in some kind of, can you exaggerate about God and who you were and yet what He's done for you?

Who could over-exaggerate that? I think about Paul with the people at Corinth, if you just step back for a minute and say, before time began, God said, I'm going to plant a church in Corinth, and I'm going to pick some of those people and elect them to myself, and then in time I'll have my son go and die for those people, and then I'll send some missionaries like Paul and others to go there to preach and then the Spirit of God would superintend the Word and save them.

And at Corinth, of all places, before I came out here, one man said to me, you know, we'd like to plant a church in Las Vegas, that would be a great place for a church. It's kind of like the Las Vegas of the Mediterranean, here's Corinth, yet God planted a church there, so people would be redeemed and then they would all boast, Jesus Christ is a great God.

Let the boasting one have no boast before the Lord, but of the Lord. And then that boasting takes a manifestation, not just in we praise you God, but in light of what you've done for us, we want to hear your Word and obey your Word.

Luke 10 and the Good Samaritan as the Context for Mary and Martha

Turn with me, if you would, to Luke chapter 10, as we're going to get into 1 Corinthians 7, but in a circuitous fashion. Back to 1 Corinthians, through Luke 10. And today we're going to learn a wonderful lesson, and that lesson is this.

Some good things aren't necessarily the best things. Make sure you don't substitute good in your life when you could have the best. Setting priorities, and so we're going to look at this passage in 1 Corinthians 7 momentarily, but I want to first take you to Luke chapter 10, to a passage that you're going to say, oh yeah, I know this.

That's one of my favorite things in life to do, is to teach, I know this passage in such a way where you say, I didn't know it, I had no idea. It's that whole Mary Martha deal, you know, we all know that, Martha, Martha.

But let's just stop for a second, and you'll find out soon enough that this is related to 1 Corinthians 7, oh I'll tell you. It's got some similar words and similar themes, both in Luke 10 and in 1 Corinthians 7.

The good isn't necessarily the best. So Luke 10, 38, now we're going to dive in here, but you're going to quickly see that the issue is not where exactly they're going. The event isn't the important thing, a locale, it's what's happening at the locale.

You're going to quickly see a lot of people involved, but the spotlight just spotlights right on Jesus. It's like everybody else turns to black and white, some kind of monochromic, and then Jesus is highlighted.

You're going to watch this and just think, this is amazing. Just with words, Jesus' words, the Spirit of God's words. Luke 10, 38, now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. A woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.

So they were on the way, but Jesus is the focus. We don't have to necessarily know what city we're at because we want to see what's going on. Now, if you're a good Bible student and you like to understand what the passage says, you should always think of context.

What is going on just before this? And everybody who looked is cheating, but I'm glad you've got your Bibles there. I love it that you bring your Bibles to church, and for those of you that bring electronic Bibles, shame on you.

But those that bring real Bibles, no, I'm just glad you bring your Bibles. I feel so bad now every time I'm talking to someone and I say to myself, I'm going to look up a Bible verse, I have to tell them, I'm not getting my mail.

I'm not on ESPN, I'm looking up my Bible. Context means everything. What's the context just before this? If you don't get the passage earlier, you don't get Mary and Martha. The context is the Good Samaritan.

Let me read you the context, and I'm going to ask you as I read it, how are these two connected? They are purposely related. One follows the other. It's not even chronological in Luke many times, it's thematic.

Why do we have the Good Samaritan here, and then Mary and Martha here? There's a reason. Can you catch it? Luke 10, 29, but he desiring to justify himself said to Jesus, and who's my neighbor? Jesus replied.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, stripped him, beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

So, likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him, bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

And the next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper saying, take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?

Then he said, the one who showed mercy, and Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise. Now, Mary and Martha, how are they related? What's going on? I'll give you the answer. By defining hospitality. Hospitality defined, kindness in welcoming strangers are guests.

Kindness in welcoming strangers are guests. We go from one example where hospitality on the road is shown, and now to an example in Luke chapter 10 where hospitality should not be shown as a top priority.

There's something better than hospitality. Hospitality's good. Taking care of a stranger's good. Taking care of a guest in the East. What was it like in the Middle East? If somebody came to your house, how would you have to roll out the red carpet?

You say, well, that's a good thing. Yeah, but there's something better. That's the whole point of 1 Corinthians 7. There could be a good thing, but there's something better, especially when it makes you fully devoted, holy-minded, setting your thoughts on who Christ is.

Jesus, in this account, is going to show us, Luke will show us as the human author, that these are tied together. And what does the text say back in Luke chapter 10 of Martha? A technical term for welcoming a person into the house.

She welcomed Jesus. She threw out the welcome mat. You can tell I was tired of it. I almost said the Malcolm Watt. You would have known what I meant. You're tired too. But hallelujah, the air conditioner's working.

Jesus is moving along. A vent doesn't matter. Other people doesn't matter. He comes to your house and you want to just show hospitality. You want to do everything you can. Hospitality to a weary traveler is good, isn't it?

Kindness in welcoming a guest is good, isn't it? Verse 39, we have kind of a silent figure here, a silent sister. She had a sister called Mary, who did everything wrongly, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching.

Shouldn't she be helping? By the way, this is what a disciple does. And few women ever are shown in the New Testament doing this very thing. This is not what women did. Women worked over here while the men sat at Jesus' feet with a reflexive kind of language.

She took it upon herself with self-initiation to say, I'm going to sit at the feet of Jesus to learn. The Greek word is miriam. She sat there. She took the initiative. You know the story, verse 40, but Martha was distracted with much serving.

She was busy, she was sweating, and she went up to him and said, Peter-like, I might add. You could probably pant when you were going to say this, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

Tell her then to help me. I alone, this is the sixth sola of the Reformation, sola serva, I alone in serving. This is just not what you do. We've just seen the narrator Luke say, hospitality is good, showing the good Samaritan just pouring out help.

But you know what's happening? And she says it in such a rhetorical way, yes, as anticipated. Don't you care? Yes, I know you care, Lord, in Luke 10. She's irritated, but she's also distracted. She's being pulled away.

Here's Jesus teaching Mary over here, and here's Martha now, distracted. She has divided attention, overburdened with this duty she thinks she has to do. She thinks she's doing the right thing, but she's too busy for Jesus.

Text says she was distracted. And she said, tell her then to help me. She's just sitting around at the Lord's feet of all places like a man. Should she be helping in the kitchen? Verse 41, but the Lord answered her, the Lord answered her.

Martha, Martha, there's some tenderness there, some emotion there. You are anxious. That is the tie-in, by the way, to 1 Corinthians 7, same word. You are anxious and troubled about many things. You're distracted.

There's sometimes good things aren't the best thing, and you're divided in your mind. But one thing is necessary, a good meal. Well, Martha has chosen the good portion. That's a good meal. She's chosen a good meal.

It's figurative. She's chosen the best meal to sit at the Word of God, to sit at the Lord's feet and receive the good meal. You ever go to church and you just get such a deep message, you go, I felt fed today.

Here's the meal, Martha, but the meal isn't what you serve. It's the meal that Jesus gives to Mary. She's got the good portion. She's receiving God's Word. That's the most important thing. Martha, you're fretting.

Martha, you're fussing. Martha, you're fuming. Jesus, the Lord says, this might be good, but there's a time and a place where it's not the best. This one thing is better. One thing is needed. Say no to the good to say yes to the best.

Singleness, Marriage, and the Good, Better, Best of 1 Corinthians 7

Hey, that reminds me of something. That's 1 Corinthians 7. Let's turn there. Good, better, best. When doing a good thing isn't the best. I have a message today for the single people. Months ago we were in 1 Corinthians 7 and you probably were saying, it's marriage verse, marriage verse, marriage verse.

Now what am I going to do? When will we talk about the singles? I'm going to talk to you today. Now everybody else says, good, I can check out on this one. No. Congregation, you need to know about the single life.

And two, there's so many things in 17, chapter 7, verses 25 to 40, you're going to go, oh, this is great. It's not just good for the singles, it's good for me. The overall theme of 1 Corinthians 7, 25 to 40, is going to be this.

There's something that's good, marriage, but there's something that even could be better. Ready? Singleness. If you're single, marriage might be good, but Paul says something might even be better. And by the way, for those of you that sit here and you're single, and you go, you know what the world says?

I'm an old maid, I'm an old spinster. Paul is going to elevate singleness to a category that's going to far outshine marriage in many ways. And our view as a church congregation for the married people, it's not, well, we have some single people over here.

They on the chopping list, the chopping list. Okay, let me just, they're on the chopping block. Paul is going to say marriage is good, but if you're single, something might be better. Holy heart, holy hearted devotion to God.

And for those of you who are already married, you might say to yourself as I go through this passage. Before I take that new job, maybe I should ask this question. That new job is good, but is it the best?

Because if it distracts me from wholly focused on the Lord Jesus, 50 ,000 a year more is not worth it. Oh yeah, but I might be able to move to this place across the country. I might be able to do this or that.

Well, it might be good, but will that new position make it divided in your mind to say, I just can't serve the Lord like I should have or could have here. So 1 Corinthians 7, verses 25 to 40 today, sometimes the good isn't the best.

And we'll find out quickly that marriage divides your attention and it's hard to be spiritual when you're married. I'm glad nobody said amen. The husbands knew better. You were going to be so dust if you did.

Last week we looked at Colossians and Colossians says that the goal of the church is the maturation of the saints. That they would be fully devoted. That's the Old Testament equivalent of perfect or mature.

Fully devoted. Fully devoted to serve Jesus. And married people, it's harder when you're married to do that. Single people, by the end of this message, here's what I hope you've processed. Instead of spending 25 hours a week on eHarmony, I don't care if you go to eHarmony or not.

Just don't tell me about it. I'm just kidding. I don't care. I need to be fully devoted to serve the Lord. There's a reason why I'm single. There's a reason why I'm single and can devote myself to serve the Lord.

So instead of worrying about how you're going to get married, to whom will you marry, etc. etc. Your time and your energy can be full on, full bore for the Lord. You don't have to say, well how am I going to take care of my wife and my kids and other issues.

No. So let's just see how far we get today. I want to cover the whole thing, but I don't know if we can. Paul is saying to redeemed church. Church, you've been bought by a price, Christ Jesus. Then here's how you respond to honor me.

And he talked about marriage in chapter 7. That's when we start getting the questions and answers. Do you see in chapter 7, verse 1, what's the first thing it says there? 7 .1. Now concerning the matters about what you wrote.

He's been saying there's some issues in the church, chapters 1 to 6. Now he's got some answers to their questions. As one commentator said, the trouble is this is like reading somebody else's mail. We don't know the questions, but we know the answers.

And so the question was, for instance, in verses 1 and following. Is it good for a man to have sexual relations with a woman? There's so much perversion and Corinth and temple prostitution. And engaging in sex with prostitutes called worship.

Maybe it's just not good for married couples to ever be together again. And Paul answers the question. Well, what about divorce and remarriage? Paul answers the question. What about marrying an unbeliever?

Paul asks the question. And he pretty much says in verse 24. In the middle of all kinds of sin that can cloud relationships. And been married three times. Divorced to one. Married this, that and the other.

What do we do? Paul says in verse 24 of 1 Corinthians 7. So brothers, whatever condition each was called. When you became a Christian and you were married. Let them remain there with God. You don't have to try to say, yeah, but it was an unbiblical divorce.

And this, that and the other. Just remain there. Just stay where you are. Now, 725 to 40 is going to answer this question. Paul, you said to remain where you are. I'm engaged. What do I do? I'm betrothed to use their language.

If you say remain, remain, remain, remain. Just stay where you are. You don't have to try to get out of this sin mess. That's divorce and remarriage and everything else is caused. You're married now to a spouse.

Stay there. Yeah, but I'm engaged. And so Paul takes 16 verses to answer it. And I think you'll see again to repeat myself. When the world says singleness is bad in a church. And old maid spinsters are bad.

Paul will say, it's a great exalted position. And then to everyone else, Paul will say, sometimes you have to say no to the good to say yes to the best. So let's take a look at it. When I first came to these verses, I was dreading it.

I'd go so far to say, I don't know if any Bible that I've ever had out of the 20, 40, 50, 100 Bibles I have. I don't know how many I have. I don't think I've ever underlined anything in here. Maybe if you're single, these are your life verses.

I don't know. But it's just chock full of good things. Remain as you are. Yeah, but what about singleness? So Paul says verse 25. Now concerning the virgins or the betrothed, the engaged, we'd say it today.

I have no command from the Lord. In other words, there's not a chapter and verse that I can quote from. There's no red letters that I can pull from. If Jesus said something about it, it's not recorded in Scripture.

But remember, Paul is Spirit-driven, Spirit-inspired, God-breathed. But I give my judgment as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. These other false teachers out there are not so trustworthy, but I'm trustworthy.

You can take my word for it when it comes to betrothals, engagements, and marriages. Now let me give you four considerations for singles here who might want to marry. Four considerations for singles. Looking before you leap, we'll call it maybe.

And again, we're going to soon find out that marriage is good, but singleness might be better. And you are not a second-class citizen if you're single. Consideration number one. And I'm calling them considerations on purpose because they're not commands by Paul.

This is very pastoral, driven by theology. And they're very wise of Paul as he walks between liberty and legalism. As he walks between licentiousness and asceticism. He just threads the needle perfectly.

Consideration number one if you're single. Singleness might be better because marriage brings extra difficulties, especially in tough times. In tough times, marriage brings extra difficulties, so singleness might be better.

Look at verses 26 through 28. I think that in view of the present distress, it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound by a wife? Don't seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Don't seek a wife.

But if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. Back up to 26. Present distress.

What's going on? This is not just end times groanings where we're in the end days, things are tough. This was something that we don't really know what was happening. Some people say it was a plague. Some people say it was a famine.

Some people say Jerusalem's about ready to be destroyed. Erastus, the treasurer, he had been martyred according to tradition. Maybe there's a lot of Christian persecution. But there's a unique situation to Corinth, and they are literally dying.

And now Paul is going to say, by the way, if you're engaged, here's some advice for you. There's a national crisis. Maybe there's a war going on. What do you do in the middle of war? What do you do when there's no food?

So we don't know exactly what that present distress is. But it's made Paul say, you know what? As one man said, when high seas are raging, it's no time for changing ships. Or as Francis Bacon said, children sweeten labors, but they make misfortunes more bitter.

Social unrest, no grain, no food. You're going to get married and have a wife and then have kids? That's not the best. By the way, married people, if there is a horrible situation like war and famine and everything else, don't ditch your wives.

Verse 27, are you bound by a wife? Don't seek to be free, even when there's some kind of plague or famine. Are you free from a wife? Don't seek a wife. It's difficult to be married when there's a crisis, but what God has created, intended, is a lifelong thing.

You keep it that way. But then he defers and says in verse 28, to the one who wants to get married, but if you do marry, you have not sinned. If a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.

Socrates was asked, I'm a single man, Socrates, should I marry or not? Broken clock's right twice a day. Even unbelievers say things sometimes that are true. Whichever you do, you will repent of it. A rabbi said, a young man is like a colt at Winnie's.

Single guy. He paces up and down, he grooms himself with care. This is because he's looking for a wife. But once married, he resembles a donkey. Quite loaded down with burdens. The same would be for the ladies, of course.

The world is difficult for the Corinthians. Are you sure you want to add marriage? And if you'd like to, that's fine. Similarly, he says, in verses 29 to 35, for our second consideration. Singles who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, respond to their great salvation and their Savior by obedience and consideration to the Word.

Number one, the first consideration is, marriage brings extra trouble and tough times. So, consider singleness. Number two, marriage distracts from spiritual things. So singleness might even be better.

Marriage distracts from spiritual things. Verses 29 to 35. By the way, it's really kind of a neat thing. If I were to preach at another church, I have some speaking engagements coming up, I would never pick this passage.

Why? Because, A, it's difficult, and B, it seems to narrow the scope of things. A lot of problems in it in terms of interpretation. But I know you need this. Why? Because all Scripture is inspired. And it's all what?

It's all profitable. It's all for us. So then once you dig in, you think, yeah, that was right. That's good. Paul broadly applies this truth of marriage distracting from spiritual things. In verse 29.

This is what I mean, brothers. The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none. Those who mourn as though they were not mourning. This is great poetry here.

Those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing. Those who buy as though they had no goods. Those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. The present form of this world is passing away.

He gets specific now. I want you to be free, verse 32, from anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord. How to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things.

How to please his wife. His interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord. How to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things.

How to please her husband. I say this to your own benefit. Not to lay any restraint or lasso upon you. But to promote good order. And to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. Don't forget that last little part.

What's the goal of Paul? Paul is Jesus, is worth it. You can't over exaggerate how great he is. Shouldn't you serve him with all your heart, soul, mind and what? Strength. So be careful. Look before you leap.

Verse 29. The appointed time has grown short. Life is like a vapor. It's here for a little while and then what? Vanishes away. Time's short. How do you live when times are short? If it was short for Corinth, how much more for us?

He uses this poetry. Five examples of poetry. And here's what he does with this poetry. He's going to take eternity and he's going to compress time so you can see it right here before your face. When I thought I was going to die, a few months ago, six months ago, I thought, I don't know if I really was or not, but I felt like I wanted to die because I had just so much pain.

It was interesting because eternity seemed like it was a lot closer. Something bad happened, I thought, well, it doesn't really matter if something bad happened, I'm dying. Something good happened, it didn't really matter that much to me because I thought, I'm dying.

I'd have friends do some really good favor for me or something nice for me. And it just seemed like eternity was right here. It was compressed. And Paul, now right here in this language, he compresses time so that you don't get caught up in the moment and you think about eternity.

So you don't reduce your devotion to the Lord. So that you serve him. And as he does this, he doesn't say, your identity before God is, I'm married. Your identity before God is, I'm single. Your identity before God is, you're in Christ.

Paul is trying to say with poetry what Martin Luther said in a song, let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill, God's truth abideth still, his kingdom is forever. He kind of moves away from marriage just a little bit to try to say, you know what, when you're grieving because you've lost one, you can be so into your mourning, you forget about everything else.

When you gain things and you accumulate things and you become rich, you can be so involved in your riches, you forget about everything else. That's this whole section here. Because eventually he's going to get back to people who say, you know what, I so desire to want to be married that it consumes everything else.

So Paul uses this great poem to say, Christian, don't divert your activities from Christ Jesus. Things possess you, don't let them. Money possesses you, don't let it. Mourning can be all engrossing, be careful.

If you look back at verse 31, for the present form of this world is passing away. Don't get into things that are going to be gone. Just think about it, let's just do possessions for a second. Everything you have in your house, in your garage, everything burning up.

Can't take any of it with you. Paul uses this language here to say, do you know what, think about eternity. Think about eternity because, listen, will you be married in eternity? Probably, you will remember your wife, of course.

But marriage isn't ultimately significant. Glorifying God is. If you're going to spend your life on things that last, then you don't say to yourself, yes, but my identity is consumed by, I've got to get married.

No, the Lord's work is at hand. Luther said, behave like guests on the earth, using everything for a short time because of need. Now, thinking of Martha, look at verse 32. I want you to be free from anxieties or concern being split.

This is the exact word used there in Luke 10. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please his wife. Men, listen up, if you don't have as one of your top goals in your life, as pleasing your wife, you should.

What did you think I was going to say? This is not negative language. I'm concerned about worldly things like my job, and health insurance, and a bunch of other things. No, I'm concerned about worldly things because 1 Timothy 5 says, if I don't care about my own family, then I'm worse than a what?

Unbeliever. Do married men need to work? Yes. If you can't find a job, then your job is finding a job. The Lord knows that. But Paul, I want you to know in verse 32, is not saying, verse 30 rather, Oh, pleasing your wife, that's down on the list of low.

This is practical and this is theological. Men, when you say, I don't care about my wife, I've got other things to do with the Lord, and this, that, and the other, and I'm just going to leave her in the dust.

Yes, you have to serve the Lord, and yes, it's God and then wife. But if you say, I'm just going to please the Lord, and I don't care about pleasing my wife, you're going to have a tough marriage. Because if mama ain't happy, and you know, here's the great thing, guys, it's going to say the same thing about the wives in just a second.

And you need to get the new bumper sticker. If daddy ain't happy, nobody's happy. But it says here for the guy first. It just goes with the territory. You say, you know, that woman that I courted and dated and romanced and bribed in my particular case and all these other things, I still want to please her.

And as I've studied the passage the last three weeks, I thought, Kim wants to do this or that. I want her to be pleased. It's not the ultimate, but there's a way that your wife can be pleased in a godly way.

And you think, you know what? If I love my wife, I love her like I do my own body. I love my own body, and I want to love her. So I don't want you to think that this is negative, how to please his wife.

I can't serve the Lord because I've got to please my wife. Can you please your wife and the Lord simultaneously? Absolutely. His point here is what? Anxiety is split. See how many times you can count that word.

Anxieties, verse 32. Anxious, verse 32. Anxious, verse 34. Anxious, verse 34 again. It's everywhere. And that's exactly what Martha was. Split. Holy devoted is the goal. Single minded, stay in your lane.

And here for the person who says, you know what? I'm dying to get married. I can't be fulfilled unless I am. You've got kind of a why in the road, and Paul says, no, no, no. You think there's a why in the road, and you've got to get married.

You should be saying to yourself, yes, but while I'm single, I don't have to say, I've got to please my wife, and then I have to please the Lord too. You just say, I just please the Lord. The cares of the world get us off track.

Martha was distracted by her preparation, and Jesus rebuked her for being anxious. Split minded, not holy devoted. If you're married, it's just harder. If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Married people, you can serve the Lord. Please the Lord. It's just harder. P .S., if you're a guy and you're on fire for the Lord, and your wife's not where you are, and you're at church seven days a week, you ought to reconsider your thinking.

If you're a woman and you're all on fire for the Lord, and your husband's not there yet, and you're gone every single night of the week because there's a church function, you ought to reconsider your thinking.

We want single minded devotion, and Paul says if you get married, verse 34, your interests are divided. Unmarried or betrothed woman, verse 34, is anxious about the things of the Lord. Single minded. How to be holy in body and spirit, consecrated to God.

God, I'm yours. Use me. Married woman is anxious about worldly things. Cooking, cleaning, diapers. This isn't the world evil system. This is just things that happen. Groceries. How to please her husband.

Women, you ought to please your husbands. Queen Elizabeth I said that England was her husband. That's wrong. And with the same attitude, a wife could say, you know what, God is my husband and I'll serve him full strength.

And my husband on earth, he's just going to kind of get left behind. So see, singles, this is the kind of stuff that you don't have to worry about. When I do premarital counseling, I always say, are you sure you want to get married?

Yes. You can just usually see the couples are just kind of drooling with the anticipation of, are we going to get married and live the rest of our lives together? And then I say, I'm trying to spare you trouble.

A man named Tom Shuck, he's a missionary in India who served with Sammy for a long time and Jeremy. He used to live in India by himself in a shack. I don't know on how much money a week, but it was like $10 a week.

And he just went out and evangelized anybody he could, served the Lord 24 -7, and all he needed was a place to sleep and some food. How many hours a day? 15, 16, 18 hours a day serving the Lord. And then now he's married to a wonderful wife and has a little set of twins.

And his interests are? Divided. It's not a bad thing. But Paul says, if you're single, go for it. Years ago I got here and they said, we need a singles ministry at BBC. And I said, I was a little bit nicer, but maybe not.

I can't remember how I said, you are the singles ministry. You know what a singles ministry is? Singles ministering. We married people have nooses around our neck. No, that's wrong. Wait. No, no. Verse 35.

I say this for your own benefit not to lay any restraint upon you. Literally, put a noose on you. That was a different person. He's saying to the single people, listen, I'm telling you what's going on and I want you to know that if you're single, you can serve the Lord better.

But if you really want to get married, I'm not going to lasso you. I'm not going to hogtie you. I won't put a noose around you. Consideration three. To blood-bought Christians who want to honor Christ Jesus, not to earn favor, but who have been favored by God.

Number one, marriage brings extra difficulties. Number two, marriage distracts from spiritual things. And number three, if you're a single person and your passions, your sexual passions are strong and can't be controlled, you need to get married.