Singleness

It was until the Christian church was born that singleness had any value. In the Jewish culture everyone was expected to be married and have a family but then along came Christianity and as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7 it is an honourable state to remain single. Single people can have singleness of mind in serving the Lord. They don't have to be concerned about a wife or a husband or children.
However, what about a family? Jesus reminded His followers that all His followers were His family. We have often looked upon family as our future and we put our hope in our family but we need to realise that our hope is not in our family but our family is a sign of our hope. Our hope is in Christ.
Paul reminds us that whether we are married or single our first devotion is to the Lord. For many people, and especially I believe for men, being married is important in helping them avoid the temptations of our culture just as it was in Paul's day. Paul was not against marriage but he was calling all people to place their loyalty above all else in Christ.

Why didn't Jesus get married?

It is not such a difficult question. Jesus didn't get married because He is the bridegroom to His bride, the church. He is a faithful bridegroom. He didn't set His love upon us and then turned His back upon us or chased after other lovers. He expects no less from us. As His bride we are to be faithful, we are to be committed to Him, we are to love Him. Jesus didn't get married because He has already a bride.

Embankments

I love rivers. I grew up in Northwestern Ontario where we had many clear rivers. I liked to canoe the rivers, fish in the rivers and I was baptised in a river. Rivers are great if they stay within their embankments.
In 1977 the Kaministiquia River in Thunder Bay flooded and went over its embankments. Homes were flooded, roads were washed out, and bridges were damaged. The river was wonderful when it stayed where it should but when it broke over its banks it became an enemy. The Red River in Manitoba is also known for its flooding sometimes covering many hectares of farm land.
Paul tells us that sexuality has its embankments. Within these embankments it is good but it becomes ugly and dangerous when it breaks out of these embankments.
The first embankment is commitment. How many couples who have decided to live together without marriage will use the argument that the piece of paper doesn't matter it is whether they love each other. However, marriage is more than self-fulfillment, it is a statement that says "I belong to you completely". Paul tells us that it is a picture of Christ and the church. When we fail to have commitment we are saying that it is about us and not about our spouse or about our God. Paul tells us that we cannot be physically one with another person without being personally one with them. The first embankment is commitment.
The second embankment is complement. I am using the word complement to mean complete. Man and woman are complements in that we are told that the two will become one flesh. The two parts are different. This is where homosexual marriages and relationship are wrong. Two men or two women are not complements but two halves that are the same. In order that sexuality is to remain beautiful it must stay within these embankments.

Two Misconceptions Old and New

During Paul's time in Corinth and in our time today there are two misconceptions regarding sex. The first is that is better not to have any sexual relations at all – even in marriage. The Corinthians (and some in the church today) only knew sex in a broken form. The second was anything goes after all sex is just another appetite. Food for the stomach and stomach for food, sex ... well you can fill in the rest.
Both these view come from a wrong view of the body. It is a negative view. First, the body is evil so we must avoid anything that has to do with it. Second, the body is nothing therefore why not just do whatever you want. Paul quickly points out that the body was created by God, it is the temple of the Holy Spirit and your body will be resurrected. The body is much more than a container for our emotions and appetites.
So how should we view sexual relations in light of the high view that Christianity puts on the body. That is a topic for another day.

The More things Change...

The more things change the more they stay the same. Take money and sex for an example. In the Greek culture of Paul's day the people of Corinth regarded money as sacred but sex was easy come, easy go. However, along came the church which turned things upside down. The Christians believed that sex was sacred and money was easy come, easy go. Are things any different today? To the general population sex is casual but money is to be protected. The church must remember that as it was in Paul's day so it is in our day. We must keep sex sacred while money is casual.
The question of the sacredness of sex is a topic that needs to be pursued and I will do that in a later blog but there is one more thing that seems to be the same as it was 2000 years ago.
Take cohabitation. Society says what difference does a piece of paper make anyways, if we love each other isn't that enough? Society looks at sex without commitment. What is the problem? Again it is a topic for another blog but let me say that it comes again from a wrong view of sex. I think we need to talk about what sex is all about. Tomorrow?