Living Unhindered (I Corinthians 7:25-40)

We're gonna be in First Corinthians chapter seven.

Starting in verse twenty-five.

Whole rest of the chapter.

And if you're able, please stand for the reading of God's word.

First Corinthians chapter seven, verse twenty-five.

Now about virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is faithful.

Because of the present distress, I think it is good for a man to remain as he is.

Are you bound to a wife?

Do not seek to be released.

Are you released from a wife?

Do not seek a wife.

However, if you do get married, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.

But such people will have trouble in this life, and I'm trying to spare you.

This is what I mean, brothers and sisters.

The time is limited.

So from now on, those who have wives should be as though they had none.

Those who weep, as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not own anything, those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it.

For the world in its current form is passing away.

I want you to be without concerns.

The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.

The married man is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and his interests are divided.

The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and spirit.

But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but to promote what is proper, and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

If any man thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, if she is getting beyond the usual age for marrying, and he feels he should marry, he can do what he wants.

He is not sinning, they can get married.

But he who stands firm in his heart, who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will, and has decided in his heart to keep her as his fiance will do well.

So then, he who marries his fiancee does well, but he who does not marry will do better.

A wife is bound as long as her husband is living, but if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants, only in the Lord.

But she's happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion, and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

And Lord, as we study your word, I ask that you would be glorified, that you would fill me with your spirit to teach your word accurately, that you would fill the listeners with your spirit to rightly divide and discern what is from you.

Please just have your hand on every aspect of this.

In your name.

Amen.

Go ahead and have a seat.

So depending on what translation you have, there may have been a little bit of differences toward the end.

So at this moment, I'm not going to go into why there may be a little bit of difference.

Why am I not going to go into that?

Because normally I wait until about two-thirds of the way through the sermon to make people mad.

So at the beginning, not so well.

So we're just gonna wait a little bit.

So, but with that, having that said, there may be a little bit of a different wording with that, and that's okay.

There's no controversy with that.

So for those of you who don't know, one of the things that we do is we teach through whole books of the Bible.

So we started in 1 Corinthians 1, and we're teaching through every chunk on the way going through that.

So this chapter, and then it's certain some of these sections are like one of these ones where sometimes people kind of go past it really quick because it's either uh odd, or how do we apply this, or how does this work?

And so we get the opportunity just to kind of hit these passages head on and go, what are they talking about?

And what does this have to do with me?

And where do we go with that?

And so it's a blessing in that way.

We don't get to skip over the things and pick the pick and cherry pick the ones that we like.

So, with that in mind, this whole thing is one big flow.

There are no chapter breaks in the original letter to the Church of Corinth from Paul.

There are no little headings where it says about the unmarried and widows.

About married people.

Like they're reading Paul's letter and they're like, please turn the tape to side B.

And some people who are like, What's a tape?

I don't know.

With that in mind, it is one big flow.

So the last few weeks we've been going over this.

That this chapter is really about what now?

So I've given my life to Jesus.

What does that mean for me?

And so the first chunk is uh I'm, for example, like theoretically, hypothetically, I'm married, and I just gave my life to Jesus, and my spouse is not saved.

What do I do with that?

Should I divorce my spouse?

Uh no.

What do that was the answer.

It's like just stay, just chill, stay, stay how we are, we're okay.

And then the next chunk is, well, I'm not, you know, I gave my life to Jesus.

Is it necessary to be circumcised?

No.

Or should I be upset about the fact I am uh following Jewish law in that sense?

No.

If I am a bond servant under contract to serve somebody else, should I be getting out of that?

Well, if you can, yeah, but not necessarily.

All these different things he's talking about, these people are going, like, what do I do now that I am a follower of Jesus?

What does this mean for me?

How does this work for me?

And this is just the next step.

So, how look at this as how to thrive in Christ with an undivided heart.

That's the big topic.

So sometimes when we hit these odd passages, we go, well, what does this really mean?

What is he trying to say about this specific thing or whatever?

It's like, what is he trying to communicate?

And so the spoiler alert here is what he's trying to communicate is live in a way that your heart is undivided before God.

Whatever that means for you.

So he starts off now in verse 25.

Now about virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is faithful.

Two things we need to pull apart in that passage just to get good context.

Number one, now about virgins.

This word is culturally referring to a unmarried woman.

So that is a cultural understanding, and that is somebody who is not yet married.

Somebody who has not yet been betrothed in that sense, or is betrothed and is not yet had the marriage ceremony.

So, in other words, say you're engaged at this point and you give your life to Jesus, and you go, Well, should I should I get unengaged?

Should I not?

That's one of the big topics that we're talking about here.

Um we look at these passages often through our 21st century American lenses, and you go, Well, what does that look like?

Well, you know, when when a man and a woman love each other very much, then eventually they decide they can get along, they get engaged, and then there's that period, and then they're planning a wedding, and then they almost break it off because wedding planning is stressful, and then they get through that, and then they have their ceremony, and if the if the guy and gal are nice, then they talk to each other's um, then they talk to the other people's family beforehand to get their blessing, but it's not necessarily a thing because they're their own person and they do what they want.

Not the case here in first century world in that sense, especially with uh, especially if you're coming from a Jewish perspective.

There's this idea that a female who is growing up in their family's house is their child the responsibility of their parents, and has their parents have full control over them, is the cultural aspect with that, until they are engaged, and then there's a contract that is verbally signed basically, and then once the wedding happens, you're basically handing over all responsibility and authority of that individual to the husband.

What does that look like for the husband?

That he is working, living, in a part of the community, he has to go to the uh parents of the girl and demonstrate that he is a functional member of society and can support his uh bride and can actually house her and is not going to disgrace their family in that way.

And they make that agreement.

Guess who doesn't have a say there?

The bride, unfortunately, in that sense.

But ultimately, the parents are making that decision, and hopefully they can consult with that, but ultimately then they are betrothed.

Then he goes and starts preparing a house for her.

And he's working, and then at the set time, they have the wedding ceremony, moves out of parents' house into the house prepared for her.

So that is this context.

Now, I'm not I'm not signing off on everything with this, I'm not saying it's 100% biblically accurate, but the best way I think I've seen this uh depicted is there's that uh movie The Nativity Story from a while ago, from quite a few years ago.

Has a real there's a really good depiction of how all that works in that story.

But ultimately, when he's saying now about virgins, it's all pertaining to the concept of marriage and engagement.

And when his next statement, I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one by the Lord's mercy is faithful.

We talked about this a little bit at the beginning of chapter 7, but when he's saying this, it's not like he's saying, hey, everything up until this point is the authoritative word of God, and now I'm just gonna pause and give my own opinion, and now, okay, unpause back to that.

Because this is all still part of Scripture.

Nobody told the Holy Spirit that we're unpausing the inerrancy and the authority inspiration of scripture with that.

Here's how I see this.

Keywords being I have no command from the Lord.

And what's going to follow here is less black and white, here is exactly what you need to do, and more, here is wisdom principles based on context for how to live undivided, if that makes sense.

That's the best way that I can see how to explain this.

Paul is not saying uh I'm gonna just give my opinion here and you can take it or leave it.

He's saying, I'm not giving you a one-size-fits-all command.

I'm giving you principles based in this in this context, so that depending on your context, you can make a decision in a way that can live holy before the Lord.

Which is nice, but also hard because we want the easy answers.

We want the simple answers, we want the black and white.

And so, especially it's a sophomore, if I can put it this way, it's kind of the sophomore stage of our growing in Christ, where like everything's new and crazy, and then we start learning things, and then we hit this point where it's like everything's black and white, everything has this answer, this answer.

If you're not aligned with my answer, probably a heretic, and in these different ways, and then there's a certain point where you gotta gotta go.

There are things that require wisdom.

It's not always that simple.

So, in here, when he's talking about the concept of marriage and betrothal and engagement here.

26.

Because of the present distress, I think it's good for a man to remain as he is.

Are you bound to a wife?

Don't seek to be released.

Are you released from a wife?

Don't seek a wife.

However, if you do get married and you haven't sinned, and if a virgin marry, she hasn't sinned.

But such people will have trouble in this life, and I'm trying to spare you.

So, this statement, what is the obstacle here?

This present distress.

They're living here under the not only the anticipation, but the expectation that following Jesus is hard.

That it comes with very real, visceral, tangible uh persecution.

Not like things that we may experience today, where if we just call anything that doesn't go our way persecution, but there it is literal like difficulty that can wreck them physically, financially, uh, culturally, have them cut off from their families by choosing to follow Jesus.

Because of that, I think it's good for a man to remain as he is.

So again, just hey, chill.

It's a good idea, if you can, to stay the way you are.

So if you're married, that's fine.

If you're engaged, that's fine.

You don't need to break it off because now you're following Jesus.

And if you're not, if you're released from a wife, recommendation, just stay as you are.

However, but if you're getting married, also fine.

And a virgin marries, she has not sinned in this way.

So once again, we're seeing this area where it is giving general principles in a context where it's you're following Jesus, expect it to not always be easy, and your difficulty in this world may be compounded by having to think of another person all in that variable rather than just being you alone making unilateral decisions, which we'll talk about a little bit later in that.

But if you do get married, that's not a sin if you haven't.

If a virgin marriage, she hasn't sinned, but such people will have trouble in this life, and I'm trying to spare you.

So, the obstacle one in this context is the present distress.

The reality that life as a Christian is not always easy.

Also, that people have trouble in this life.

It's not gonna be easier necessarily to be navigating that in a married situation.

But if you think that's best, okay, that's fine.

And it continues, verse 29.

This is what I mean, brothers and sisters.

The time is limited.

Pausing there for a second.

There's obstacle number two.

The time is limited, the time is short.

Two things about that, because there are two different perspectives on what he means by that.

Number one, they're living in ardent expectation that Jesus could come back at any moment.

Which is great.

Also, the life that we live here on earth is the blink of an eye compared to the scope of eternity.

Yes, amen to that.

And so, with that, having that said, they're living in expectation, we don't have a whole lot of time left here, but then also the time that we do have is nothing compared to eternity, which is such a blessing in that.

Because he just talked about the difficulty that's gonna be a part of following Jesus.

He's gonna talk about the trouble in this life that comes with following Jesus, and it's like, well, that's kind of sobering, but the time is short and the time is limited, and so it's okay, it'll be okay.

Whatever decision is made there, it's gonna be fine.

And it's so encouraging to remember that.

I am sure that somewhere back in 2015, I had a terrible day.

I'm sure I had a really hard day.

That seemed like the worst day ever.

I don't remember it now, but in the moment, it sure seemed hard, right?

And that's gonna be what eternity is like, praise the Lord.

Walking with Jesus in that.

And that is such a blessing to know that.

But we are in that moment, and so therefore, continuing verse 29, those who have wives should be as those who had none.

Those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they didn't own anything, those who make the world, who use the world as though they didn't make full use of it, because the world in its current form is passing away.

So, the time is short, and so you should live accordingly.

Don't put all your eggs in this basket.

And the we all know how much eggs cost these days.

Navigate it in such a way that that's not the most important thing in the world.

We are not building our kingdoms here on earth, which is beautiful in that.

We are strangers, sojourners, passing through in that.

Our citizenship is in heaven, and so it is like you are going to a foreign country as a citizen of the United States.

When you go to a foreign country, you don't necessarily go, huh, that's a weird law.

I'm gonna change it.

I'm gonna I'm gonna be here for a week and I'm going to actually completely rewire this whole system.

Or I'm gonna get in the it's one of those things of like, okay, I understand that we're gonna bear with things, and then we're gonna go home.

So, with that in mind, the decisions that he's talking about making here about should you be married at that point, should you go through with the marriage that you are a part of, should you not?

Either way, the time is limited, and the world in its current form is passing away.

This is not all there is.

So the decisions we make are important in this context, but it's not going to carry on.

Continue forward that way.

So, verse 32.

I want you to be without concerns.

This is one of the cruxes, I think, of this passage.

This is the heart of it.

So his his heart here, as I see it, is not him saying, You need to not be married, or you need to be married, or don't go through with it, or do go through with it.

What he's saying is live in a way that you're not constrained, that you don't have those concerns placed upon you.

And he continues in verse 32, the unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.

The married man's concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife.

And his interests are divided.

The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and spirit, but the married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

So, marriage brings about a potential divided focus in that sense.

Now, if you are married and you are not concerned about the well-bearing being of your spouse, that's bad.

That's not the conclusion here to be making here.

That's it is natural to live in such a way, number one, because um that's how humans act, but number two, that's what scripture calls us to do.

We're supposed to be functioning in that way to where we are actually serving one another as spouses and giving of ourselves for the benefit of the other and laying down our life for the other.

We're literally called in Scripture to do such.

So, with that in mind, it's not like he's saying, hey, you need to not really be so worried about the concerns of your spouse and just, you know, you do you, go team.

It's a lot more of an important thing to remember, but it's a reality to keep in mind.

That if, and he's talking to people who may not have yet pulled the trigger on their marriage.

And so he's saying, hey, you really should think this through.

Is are you going to be able to effectively serve the Lord in this way if your concerns are naturally divided in that way of how not only to please the Lord, but also to please your spouse.

So that is obstacle number three is the concerns.

So, verse 34, his interests are divided, and the unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, so she may be holy embodied spirit, but the married woman concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

In verse 35, I'm saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but to promote what is proper so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

Again, we see the heart of what he's trying to say here in this context of how to live a new follower of Jesus in the context here of engagement slash betrothal.

Just as he said in verse 32, I want you to be without concerns.

Here in 35, he's saying, look, I'm not saying this to put a constraint on you, but for your own benefit.

That you would actually benefit from this and to promote what's proper, and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

So, whatever decision you make in this context, the goal is to promote what's proper and to be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

Can you promote what's proper and be devoted to the Lord without distraction while single?

Yeah.

Can you do can you uh promote what's proper and be devoted to the Lord without distraction while married?

Yeah.

Both of those bring their own difficulties and both of those bring their own challenges that are need to be overcome.

Can you promote what's proper and be devoted to the Lord while engaged?

Well, yeah.

All of those different situations, it's possible to do that.

You just need to know what you're up against, and this is what he's warning us about in this context.

So then we hit verse 36.

If any man thinks he is actually Improperly toward the virgin he's engaged to.

If she's getting beyond the usual age for marriage and he feels he should marry, he can do what he wants.

He's not sinning, they can get married.

And I'll pause there for a second.

Depending on your translation, that may be that may read a little bit differently.

So here's the reason for that is that different translations prioritize different manuscripts, different things with that.

Do we gather here in a chascadero in this room on Sunday morning?

While not thinking about the Super Bowl, thank you very much right now.

You can do it afterwards.

Gather together in order to have an argument over majority text versus Nestle Alon United Bible Society's 28th version.

No.

That's not what we're here for.

Are those things important?

Sure.

Yes, it's possible.

But that's why different translations may you it may treat this passage differently.

And so I'm gonna translate, I'm gonna interpret this in the way that I see it here in our translation that we use here, the Christian Standard Bible.

And that's why I'm reading through with that.

But your translation may be taught to see it as a if a man is thinking he's acting properly toward his virgin daughter.

So two different focuses there is either the person they're engaged to or the person they're responsible for possibly marrying off.

Either way of those situations, none of those are immensely problematic.

It's not like one of those is like this is clearly the right way to interpret this, and this is clearly the bad way.

So you may have two different things in that.

So this is all centering around this word Parthenos, virgin, which is translated many different ways in Scripture.

You have that for Mary, you have that for a bunch of different contexts in that as well, for an unmarried woman.

You also have that for Philip, where he has four virgin daughters living in his house.

It's not 100% clear, but it's also not a hundred percent important.

So that's why we're not making a really, really big deal in that.

So I've heard it interpreted both ways, I've heard it translated both ways and taught both ways.

Ultimately, what is important here is how to thrive in Christ with an undivided heart.

Whether you're talking about your own engagement, which is how the CSB translates it, or you're talking about how to handle the engagement of the person you are responsible for as a daughter.

Both are okay.

I have to say, I, in all my years of ministry, serving actively in ministry since 2003.

I was two then.

I was associate pastor from 2010 to 2013, church planner from 2013 to 2015, and on and on and on.

Never once have I had somebody approach me to say, I need help knowing whether or not I should let my daughter get married or not.

It's really just not really a part of our cultural context.

I have had people ask, what if I'm called a singleness?

What if I'm not?

What does that look like?

Am I?

Am I not?

What's more important here?

I've had multiple conversations along those lines.

And so that's why I'm going toward that vein, because it really, in our world and our culture, is a little bit more applicable than in the other sense in that.

So, having that said, as we see here, if any man thinks he's acting improperly toward the virgin he's engaged to, she's getting beyond the usual age for marrying and feels that he should marry, he can do what he wants.

He's not sinning, they can get married.

And again, Paul is saying, sure, that's fine.

But, verse 37, he who stands firm in his heart, who is under no compulsion but can control his own will, and has decided in his heart to keep her as his fiancee will do well.

So then, he who marries his fiancee does well, he who does not marry her will do better.

So, either way, continuing forward with these wisdom principles, if you think that it is more advantageous to be devoted to the Lord without distraction, to promote what's proper to be without concerns by getting married, that's great.

If you think that you will be without concerns and live properly and be devoted to the Lord without distraction by not being married, that's great.

Ultimately, what needs to do, what is more important is how we can live in Christ with an undivided heart.

And you can see the Corinthians in the subtext basically being like, just tell me what to do, man.

But it's not always that simple in that, because it's more of like, who are you and how do you function and how are you wired and how do you follow the Lord in that.

So he does say, the council is very situational, but self-control and propriety being the goal.

So we do need to address here, as is talked about at the beginning of the chapter, and is talked about later here, because I've heard some interesting things that come out of passages like this, that basically are like if you can't control your lust, you should probably get married.

And if I can be honest with you, if that is your mindset, you will have a very hot marriage.

Self-control is a fruit of the spirit, correct?

We are called to do that no matter what context we are in in that situation.

And so if an individual has over-compulsions and over-addictions in that sense, that will not be cured in your spouse, and you will damage your spouse by trying.

Take this into 21st century stark and real.

Um, your spouse will not cure your porn addiction.

That's a sin issue and that's a heart issue before it is a satisfaction issue in that sense.

It's very important that we address those things because I've I've seen and I've even seen in practice, even among church leaders, these things to where they get there's this weird thought that basically, like, look, if you have a hard time controlling yourself, then you, number one, you should get married, but then number two, um, your spouse needs to satisfy that.

We we need to be satisfied in the Lord no matter what.

And so any of the appetites we have and any of the desires that He's given us, whether that is sex, whether that is food, whether that is drink, anything else in that, is to be done with joy and in proper use and with self-control, which is great.

So, having that said, verse 38, he who marries his fiance does well, he who doesn't marry will do better.

Verse 39, a wife is bound as long as her husband is living, but if her husband dies, she's free to be married to anyone she wants, only in the Lord.

So, look, you shouldn't get out of your marriage as long as you're living, but hey, if your husband dies, you can marry again, but please marry a believer, because remember the first part of this passage?

Yeah, the first chapter, first part of chapter seven, that it makes it complicated in that sense.

So he's recommended, hey, if you're gonna get remarried, now that you're here, now that you're understanding this, marry somebody who is a follower of Jesus.

Don't be unequally yoked in that sense.

Verse 40, but she's happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion.

And I think that I also have the Spirit of God wisdom principles for an ultimate greater goal of how to live in Jesus.

Sometimes when we're looking for the this is what it says and this is what we do, we're actually not achieving that goal of how to live healthily in Jesus because we're wired differently as people.

I have known people who have, for various reasons, um, choose to remain single, and it is more healthy for them to do that.

It is more they serve the Lord better in that context, and they are more vibrant followers of Jesus in that context.

I've known people who serve the Lord better in marriage and follow Jesus better in that and become better in that way.

For those of you who have spent roughly a millisecond with my wife, know that it is good for me to be married because she's the same one.

So, absolutely, and so with that in mind, I have no, I have no doubt in my mind that the Lord put us together in that way to grow in him.

But that's not the case for everybody.

And so, as we're wrapping up this chapter, once again he starts up at the beginning in chapter 7, this idea of like, look, if you want to get married, okay.

And if you don't, that's okay, but don't leave your spouse now because you are a believer.

And then he continues forward.

Look, if you are following Jewish custom and you're circumcised, that's fine.

If you're not, then don't go out and get circumcised.

Are you under contract as a bondservant?

Uh well, you should try to get out of that, but don't freak out if you can't.

Serve your time.

And if you are, that's okay.

And then here, are you engaged?

Are you betrothed to someone?

You don't need to break that off.

But just remember that it life is hard.

Life is difficult as a follower of Jesus, not only because external circumstances that uh there will be difficulty in this life, as promised, throughout the entire body of Scripture.

Internal circumstances, we will have conflict, we will have internal conflict and difficulty, and knowing should I uh what's the greater goal here?

Following what I want the Lord to do, or following what my spouse thinks, how do we navigate that?

Different conflicts, which one's better?

I really want to do this for my spouse, but I feel like the Lord is doing this.

You know what's cool about this?

The Lord has an amazing way also of working through those difficulties of the conflicts of the potential divided interests in that in such an amazing way.

Um, I can't tell you how just the blessings of, well, for example, uh, all the way back in 2011, um, I was four then, uh, that all the way back then praying about like leaving this area for a church plan.

How do I tell my wife that?

We have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, like, and leaving everything with that?

He was already working on her heart, which is awesome.

Now let's flip that.

It's now 2018, and we're all the way over Panama City, Florida at that point.

And the Lord is working on her heart of like five dollars calling back to California, and she didn't want to bring that up.

And how do you bring that up?

He was already working on my heart on that.

And so, having that said, the division is the difficulty of those divided interests is not always a problem because the Lord is able to overcome that.

So, uh, marriage is good, singleness is good, and both of those need to be done.

Number one, verse 32, without concerns, and then third, and then number 35, for your own benefit, to promote what's proper so that you should maybe be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

And that is the amazing thing about following Jesus, but then also being a part of a body, is knowing how am I wired?

What's the best way that the Lord uses me?

What has he called me in that way?

And also, we are horrible self-analyzers.

I know other people, not me, of course, but other people tend to think the absolute best of ourselves and the absolute worst of others.

And we tend to not, we have lots of blind selves, blind spots about ourselves.

And so I want, okay, I'm gonna out myself, I want all of the grace for me that I'm really not willing to extend to somebody else unless the Lord convicts me in that way.

And so having a body here to where you have people who know you and love you, and you have that relational equity, to where somebody can say, hey, what's what's going on there?

Hey, what's good, and be able to bounce that off of them so they can have an honest relationship is such an important thing.

And it's such a sweet part of following Jesus.

So it's just another reminder: this is why we gather together.

That this is why we don't just you know lifestream, although sometimes that's necessary, obviously, but being together, that is why we gather in home groups.

We talked about that this week.

That's a part of our church culture as a part of discipleship, is being able to gather in that way.

As individuals, to pray for one another, to know and to be known in that way.

And ultimately for the purpose of being without concerns and to being able to walk properly.

For those of you who have followed Jesus for a long time, has it sometimes, have we sometimes forgotten that that idea of marriage is not the most important thing, wealth is not the most important thing, is completely foreign to someone who doesn't follow Jesus.

And yet, he has called us by his spirit and given us new purpose and new priorities in that way.

And so it is really true that these things that we hear sometimes in our churching is sound like, well, yeah, duh, of course.

But then, like to somebody who has never uh known Jesus, it's like, for we are this world is only all we have, and why wouldn't I do this and take every advantage and every opportunity?

And so I just want to say for anybody who's listening to this who does not know Jesus, he is better, and he is greater.

And I know what you might say, well, that's because your marriage is bad.

No, marriage is amazing, and I love it with that, but he is greater.

Following Jesus is greater than anything else that we could possibly know or experience or understand.

And so I pray that the Holy Spirit would work on your heart if you don't know Jesus, to be drawn to him and to crave that and want that.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, you are good.

You are greater than anything this world has to offer.

And yet you have made great things in this life for us to enjoy and to grow us in you.

Give us the wisdom to follow you without concern, without duplicity.

Give us the brothers and sisters in you to be able to speak into our lives in ways that we may not know.

Please be working on the hearts of the unbeliever.

Work idling by your spirit.