Contentment

 We come to the seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians where Paul discusses some specific issues within marriage. The spirit of our times has made these matters – sexual immorality and the difficulties of marriage – particularly problematic. Paul found that the church in Corinth had adopted the mindset and values of the world, and we find the same mindset in the church today.

 The Paul who wrote about marriage to the Corinthians also wrote Ephesians 5, where he gives a really beautiful description of marriage. There he states that God ordained marriage in order to illustrate the most sublime of all spiritual truths, namely, the way the Lord Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and faithful husband of the Church, and how we, the Church, are his bride. Paul is not saying something utterly different here in 1 Corinthians. He says that marriage is good. But notice, he is not saying marriage is the only good.

 A good friend of mine, Howard Hendricks, who is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, spends a lot of time counseling Christian people. He says one of the difficulties he discovers in marriages, Christian marriages, especially among some of the young couples associated with the seminary, is that one of the spouses, usually the wife, thinks that somehow sex is not the kind of thing a godly person would do. So when the husband has a desire for a sexual relationship, the wife holds back and thinks, “Well, you know, he’s young and immature yet. I suppose it’s the sort of thing you have to do, but maybe as he grows in the Lord, this will become less necessary.” That is a terrible thing.

 In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul talks about a third issue, divorce. He says, “The husband must not divorce his wife. A wife must not divorce her husband.” But somebody will say, “Well, what about a condition where a Christian is married to a non-Christian?” Marriage is to be a union in the Lord, and this spiritual union is possible only if both parties are Christians.

 You may think, “I don’t think I can stay unmarried.” Or you may say, “I don’t think I can stay married.” The problem is not your martial status; it is a problem of sin. In our sinful state we are so focused on ourselves, and so stimulated by our culture to focus upon ourselves, that we cannot imagine continuing in a situation, which, from our point of view, is not the most personally satisfying relationship we can imagine. That is not Christianity.