If Only… (1 Corinthians 7.17-24)

Our topic this morning is God’s call.

I’d like to start by talking about a family I met last year in Lyon.

Eight children. A radical decision: to sell everything and leave it all behind. Home, city, comforts.

They had packed the essentials into a van and set off without knowing where they were going.

They had found a flat, but only for a few weeks. No clear plan. Just this conviction: “God is calling us to take a radical step; he will show us what comes next.”

I admired their zeal. But as I listened to them, I sensed the conviction behind it: to truly live as God intends, one must change one’s circumstances. Change one’s setting. Change one’s life.

Leave one’s nets behind, like the disciples.

This idea is nothing new.

In the 3rd century, an Egyptian named Anthony did the same.

He heard Matthew 19:21 — “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me” — and took it literally.

Leaving everything behind to live in the desert.

His example gave rise to monasticism: men and women withdrawing from society to live in monasteries.

Behind this lay a conviction: to be truly devoted to God, one must change one’s circumstances.

True spiritual life requires a break from one’s circumstances.

I wonder if any of us have ever thought of that.

Not necessarily becoming a monk…

But asking oneself: am I truly living for God if I do not leave everything behind?

Am I a second-rate Christian if I work in an office?  Am I spiritually mediocre if my life resembles that of my non-believing colleagues?

Am I responding less to God’s call if I’m a postman rather than a pastor? An economist rather than an evangelist?

I remember, as a young Christian, reading this verse from Matthew and feeling guilty. I hadn’t left everything behind. I was at secondary school!

Where was my obedience to God’s call?

If you weren’t to identify as a Christian this morning, you might be wondering: does becoming a Christian mean having to literally give up everything?

Hence our question: do we need to change our circumstances to live the life to which God calls us?

We are in 1 Corinthians 7.

In the church at Corinth in Greece, some married people were wondering whether they should separate in order to be more devoted to God.

Others thought they should cut off relations with non-believers.

The question was the same: do we need to change our circumstances to live the life to which God calls us?

***

The answer from this passage: no.

Let’s read it together

1 Corinthians 7:17-24:

Furthermore, let each person remain in the condition in which the Lord called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone circumcised when he was called? Let him not seek to hide it. Was anyone uncircumcised when he was called? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; what matters is keeping God’s commandments. Let each person remain in the condition in which they were when called. Were you a slave when you were called? Do not worry about it, but if you can gain your freedom, make the most of it. For the slave who has been called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, the free man who has been called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a great price: do not become slaves to men. Brothers and sisters, let each of you remain before God in the condition in which you were called.

What defines us is not our situation.

It is God’s call.

A calling that can be lived out anywhere.

First point …

God has called us (17)

Almost every verse in this passage mentions God’s call.

Once in verse 17, twice in verse 18, once in verses 20 and 21, twice in verse 22, and once in verse 24.

What is God’s call?

I remember when I told my bosses at my old job that I was leaving to train as a Bible teacher. “good for you”

Translation: you’re completely mad’

But others said ‘Oh, have you received a calling?’

But God’s calling here isn’t a call to do a certain job or to a certain life situation.

It’s a call to follow Jesus.

It’s important to make that clear.

We might read verse 17 – that each person should live according to the calling with which the Lord has called them – as if God were calling us to a particular job or situation.

Some Christians speak like that.

God has called me to become a doctor, or a lawyer, or an opera singer.

I haven’t yet met anyone called to work behind a supermarket checkout.

I didn’t know the Holy Spirit was so bourgeois!

In fact, Paul means almost the opposite.

God is sovereign, and in that sense, it is he who has determined our respective situations.

But his call is one that he addresses to us whatever our circumstances may be.

Paul begins this letter by introducing the Corinthians as “those who have been led to holiness by Jesus Christ, called to be holy”

In chapter 1, verse 9, he says: “God is faithful, he who called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Just as God had called Abram to leave his country…

Just as he had called Israel to leave Egypt…

Just as Jesus had called his disciples to follow him

Just as he had called out to Lazarus, who had been lying in a tomb for four days: ‘Lazarus, come out!’

God has called us … to follow Jesus … to belong to Jesus … and to shine with the glory of Jesus

If you are a Christian, God has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light!

He spoke a word—the same one that called the stars into being—and we were set apart as his saints.

The saints are not the Christian elite: all Christians have been ‘sanctified’, set apart for God. Placed on his team to display his greatness and goodness!

It is glorious. Compared to the billions of years since the universe began and compared to the billions of light years that the universe spans… we are nothing!

Yet it is we who have believed in Jesus whom the King of the universe has called and set apart for his glory.

That is God’s call. Not a call to a profession or a position.

The call to be set apart for God.

I know that name-dropping is a bit dull.

I beg your indulgence. I was at school with three people who received a rather prestigious calling.

Rugby player Sam Warburton… called to captain the Welsh national team, with whom he won a Six Nations Grand Slam

Footballer Gareth Bale… called up to join Real Madrid, with whom he won the Champions League five times

Cyclist Geraint Thomas… called up to join Team Sky and who won the Tour de France in 2018

Three calls to be set apart to experience glorious things…

… and me?

I have been called by the King of the universe to be set apart as his holy temple on earth and to reign with him in the world to come.

You too, if you have put your trust in Jesus.

I don’t know if you remember the moment you answered that call.

It probably didn’t seem like much.

I was sitting on my bed at the age of 14. I asked God to forgive me and to help me obey him.

But at that moment, the King called us and set us apart for his glory.

If you wouldn’t describe yourself as a Christian, this is the call God is addressing to you today.

It’s not something to be taken lightly!

The family I met in Lyon certainly didn’t want to take it lightly!

Hats off to them!

If we were ever tempted to say to them: ‘calm down, you’re being a bit too radical…’

… God’s call is radical!

We cannot be too radical in the way we respond to it.

He deserves our all.

One might think that being a Christian is just a matter of upbringing or an interest in ‘religion’.

Some Corinthians thought that being a Christian simply meant following the spirituality that was flavour of the week.

As if Paul, Apollos and the other preachers were nothing more than the most fashionable influencers of the moment.

No, says Paul!

God has called us and set us apart for his glory. It radically changes the meaning of our lives.

It changes who we are.

This is not to be taken lightly.

But what about our life circumstances?

They may seem rather unglorious.

35 hours a week in an office just to make ends meet.

Cooking three meals a day for our family.

Where is the radicalism?

Wouldn’t we be more faithful if we gave up our jobs, our studies or even our marriages?

That is our second point.

God has called us…

… to live for him where we are.

God has called us to live for him right where we are

Paul says this three times:

Verse 17 – let each one live in the calling to which the Lord has called him.

Verse 20 – let each person remain in the condition in which they were when called.

Verse 24 – brothers and sisters, let each of you remain before God in the condition in which you were called.

One might read this and think: here are the ultra-conservative Christians!

Everyone must stay in their place, just like in the Middle Ages. To each their rank, their social position. Maintain the status quo.

That is not it at all.

Rather, God’s call is so radical that it renders our situation or social status fundamentally irrelevant!

Manager or labourer, banker or baker, married or single — that is no longer what defines us.

God’s call defines us

But since our circumstances no longer define us, since they are spiritually irrelevant, we can remain in them whilst living for God.

Any situation that isn’t inherently sinful — like being dealing drugs or burgling homes — becomes a place where we can glorify God.

Not that we’re not allowed to change certain situations.

But we don’t need to change them, and we can be at peace if for whatever reason we cannot change them.

Paul gives two examples to demonstrate this, one religious, the other social.

Firstly…

• Circumcision (18–19)

Verse 18

Was anyone circumcised when they were called? Let them not try to hide it. Was anyone uncircumcised when they were called? Let them not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing either, but what matters is keeping God’s commandments.

The example may seem far removed from our reality.

In fact, it is perfectly chosen.

Circumcision was the mark given by God to distinguish his people, Israel, from others.

In the Jewish mind, the great dividing line was circumcision.

You got rid of a piece of flesh that symbolised impurity.

But when Christ came and called us, he purified us completely and once and for all.

He took all our shame and guilt and nailed it to the cross.

Circumcision therefore no longer means anything. Anyone who believes in Jesus joins his holy people.

To non-Jewish Christians who might say: we must be circumcised, it is the historical mark of God’s people, Paul says: no! There is no longer any need!

To Jewish Christians who might say: ‘We must be uncircumcised, since circumcision no longer counts,’ Paul also says: ‘No!’

Circumcision no longer means anything at all.

Now, Paul does not choose this example because he fears that we might be tempted to be circumcised. Nor did he fear that the Corinthians might be tempted to be circumcised.

Here is why he uses it: if even the distinction given by God has become irrelevant to God, how much more any other distinction.

The family we come from, whether we’re aristocracy or have a title, our past, whether we are married or single… these things… do not in any way… define our status in God’s eyes! :-)

They are neutral.

What is not neutral is obedience to his commandments.

God cares far less about what our current situation is than about how we live within it for him.

Let’s not attach undue importance to matters that no longer define us.

What we’re going to study, what job we’ll do, whether we get married or not – these are big decisions.

But God says: you are free to do as you please. Where you are not free is in obeying my commandments.

Given the context of sexual immorality in Corinth, Paul was no doubt thinking first and foremost of the commandment to flee from sexual immorality.

Whatever choices we make in our relationships – whether to marry or not – that commandment must weigh on our decisions.

First example: circumcision

Second example…

• Slavery (21–22)

Verse 21

“Were you a slave when you were called? Do not worry about it, but if you can gain your freedom, make the most of it. For the slave who has been called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, the free man who has been called is Christ’s slave.”

In first-century Corinth, about a third of the inhabitants were slaves.

Slavery in the Roman Empire was not as atrocious as during the transatlantic slave trade.

It was possible for a slave to attain a relatively comfortable position, but one remained the property of another.

Paul says that if the opportunity arises, one can become free.

He does not forbid a change in circumstances.

But what he really means is that if freedom is impossible: don’t worry about it.

That is no longer what defines you.

You may belong to someone under Roman law, but in what matters most—eternity—you are free!

The slave who has been called by the Lord is set free by the Lord

He has set you free from sin, guilt and condemnation, and in relation to eternity, your current situation is an insignificant interlude.

And do not regard free Christians as having no constraints: “the free man who has been called is a slave of Christ”

When Christ calls us, He calls us into His service.

Absolute freedom does not exist. We always serve someone. Every Christian serves Jesus.

It is as if Paul were offering us a new pair of glasses.

In the light of eternity, it is not our situation or status that defines us.

God’s call has given us a new identity.

In the new creation, no one will care whether we were slaves or free, economists or refuse collectors, or even married or single.

What will matter is whether we had a relationship with Christ.

That is liberating!

We can be so self-conscious about our status. So insecure.

That is why employers are rebranding professions:

Sales assistants become sales advisors

Shelf stackers become stock replenishment assistants … so that it sounds more rewarding.

In France, we’re classified according to the famous CSPs – socio-professional categories – with some people being CSP+ or even CSP++.

We also talk about the ‘social ladder’, as if happiness were inevitably to be found on the next rung up.

Paul isn’t against social mobility; he says quite clearly, if you can become free, make the most of it… but… don’t worry about it too much.

You have been called… by God!

On the day of their call, I doubt the three athletes I mentioned had any trouble washing up for their families or taking out the rubbish. Their worth lay elsewhere; it was glorious, and when you’re sure of that, there’s no question of identity if you have to do thankless tasks. You know who you are!

In a group of this size, there are no doubt people doing a job they never imagined they’d do, or that their family never imagined for them.

Perhaps you didn’t train for it, perhaps it’s less prestigious or more gruelling than you’d hoped.

You have the right to change if the situation is getting you down.

But to make it feel less of a burden, perhaps you need to understand that your social status and job title are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. That’s not what defines you!

The call of God does!

Someone who embodied this freedom is a friend of mine called Anna.

I was in her Bible study group.

She’d studied drama but hadn’t found a job in acting.

She worked in a clothes shop, and whereas I saw that as a failure, she couldn’t have cared less.

Her identity came from God’s calling, not from her circumstances.

If that is the case, we should adopt a new motto for our lives.

Liberté, radicalité, banalité! (23-24)

This is the final point.

Realising that we have been called and empowered to live for God in every situation, whether ordinary or difficult, is true freedom!

If every situation is a good opportunity to glorify God, we can be completely at ease with our circumstances.

Verse 23

You have been bought at a great price: do not become slaves to men. Brothers and sisters, let each of you remain before God in the condition in which you were when you were called.

When Paul says: do not become slaves to men, it may seem like a contradiction.

He has just said that a slave may remain a slave.

There are many ways of being a slave.

One can be a slave outwardly, by being the property of a master.

But also internally, as slaves to the opinion of others or to the world’s standards.

It is from this second form of slavery that Paul wants to set us free.

We have been bought at a great price.

If you are a Christian, the King of the universe has bought you at the price of his blood.

What price could be higher?

God shed his blood for our freedom and has called us to be stakeholders in the resurrection, his holy priests, the heirs of the world to come.

No one is more privileged than the Christian!

Do not become slaves to the world’s ways of thinking!

God wants our freedom!

Perhaps this comes as a surprise.

One might think that God wants to stifle us with constraints. Christians have sometimes given that impression.

God wants our freedom. If you are looking into the Christian faith, this is what God wants for you, and he has secured it for you if you are ready to receive it.

Do not become slaves to men.

Paul says: your status in this world does not define you.

Do not live as if it did. That leads to slavery.

It can happen subtly.

The Corinthians thought they had to end their marriages to devote themselves to God. The same mistake as imposing celibacy on priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

Paul says no. You can devote yourselves to God whilst remaining married.

For all their zeal, the mistake made by the family in Lyon was similar.

Thinking that their situation was too ordinary to live out God’s calling.

The reality is that we can live a life of radical devotion amidst ordinary circumstances.

By nurturing our relationship with God, by obeying his commandments, by serving his people, by bearing witness to him around us.

Let us not be mistaken: sometimes, faith in Christ does indeed lead to drastic changes in our circumstances.

At Connexion, we have been organising mission trips to other countries for several years now.

I pray that some of you will leave Paris to serve Jesus where the Gospel is little known.

I pray that some of you will… go!

But not because you cannot live for God here.

You can be just as devoted to the Lord working by a supermarket checkout or in a call centre in the Paris suburbs as you can on a mission in the Amazon.

At Connexion, we train trainees.

This programme isn’t aimed at achieving a higher level of holiness, as if Eva, Dahlia and Silvain were some sort of monks or nuns.

No, this programme simply aims to train Bible teachers.

Perhaps some here would like to train for Christian ministry but, for one reason or another, now is not the time.

Brother or sister, that is a good desire, but even where you are now, you can live according to God’s calling.

One more word for those who want to change jobs.

There may be good reasons to change: more time with family, serving the brothers and sisters in the church, having more money to give.

But if that isn’t possible, remember who you are in God’s eyes, and live according to God’s calling right where you are.

If you’re looking for a job and can’t find the work you’d hoped to do, God wants you too to feel free and unburdened.

Taking a job just to make ends meet, at least until you find something else, is not a failure.

God doesn’t care about our job title… as long as we live for him whilst doing it.

That is true freedom!

I would like to address parents.

We have the right to encourage our children to pursue a good education, as long as we show them that the most important thing is to know Jesus, and that there is no need to worry if they don’t achieve the academic results they hoped for.

Or let’s talk about the issue that was on the table in Corinth: marriage.

It’s possible that some, like the Corinthians, feel they need to leave their marriage to live as God would want them to.

Perhaps a marriage to someone who opposes your faith or who seems to be dragging you down.

Far be it from me to downplay the difficulty and the pain.

But, as Jason said last Sunday, when you cannot change the situation, when divorce is not an option – that is to say, in almost all situations except a few extreme exceptions – God promises the resources needed to live for him in that situation. (Come and have a chat if you have any questions about this.)

But in my view, many of you are in the opposite situation: believing you need to leave single life behind and get married in order to live as God would want.

We’ll talk more about this next Sunday.

For now, just one thing.

We are free to get married if we want to.

But perhaps it isn’t an option right now.

I’ve been married for 16 years. I still remember what it was like to be single.

The hardest thing about being single wasn’t the lack of sexual intimacy.

For me, it was that feeling — and I want to put this delicately — of being someone who ‘hadn’t been chosen’.

That is a lie.

Everyone who believes in Jesus has been chosen and called by the King of the universe.

It is the only choice that will last for eternity.

Perhaps that is what you need to hear to find contentment today.

A little experiment to finish with.

I wonder how you would finish this sentence.

If only I could change ____, then I’d have the life I was meant to have.

What would you put in the blank?

My job? My education? My single life? My marriage?

God says: ‘you have been bought at a great price; do not become slaves to men.’

‘Brothers and sisters, let each of you remain before God in the condition in which you were called.’