Sex, Marriage, Singleness

Sex, Marriage, Singleness I Corinthians 7

    This chapter contains some difficult concepts. But they are not difficult because they are to hard to do, or they simply don't make any sense, they are difficult because we have allowed the world and the TV to tell us how all this is supposed to work instead of God.

1. Avoid physical contact before marriage or outside of marriage (1)
2. The only acceptable sexual arrangement is a husband and wife committed to each other (2)
3. Husbands and wives should freely give themselves to one another sexually to satisfy each others needs and to avoid temptation to satisfy those needs elsewhere. (3-5)
4. Being single is a viable option if you have enough self control to avoid the sexual temptation, so you can give more attention to God's work (6-9, 25-35)
5. Separation may be necessary at times, but divorce should be avoided (10-24)
6. The challenge of a father giving his daughter in marriage (36-38)
7. Widows have the option to marry or remain single (39-40)

    Much could be said about each one of these topics. Let's not be guilty of saying, "Well, that won't work in America", or "We live in a different age". Each one of this principles will work in our society and our time. God's Word knows no boundaries of culture or era.
    Also, let's be careful about how we treat single people. Because of a fixation on being in relationships, we have made it weird to be single. We play match maker and try to push people into relationships. We ask young children if they have a boy friend or girl friend yet. We whisper behind the back of a single adult and ask if they are homosexual or not. Paul said that singleness is a perfectly legitimate choice. In fact, he said the single person in many ways puts themselves in a better position to serve God. Let's stop trying to fix single people, because they are not broken.