1 Corinthians 7:17-24 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 1 Corinthians 7:17-24. Let’s go!
1 Corinthians 7:17-24 (NIV)
17 Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.
18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised.
19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.
20 Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.
21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you–although if you can gain your freedom, do so.
22 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave.
23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
24 Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.
On verses 17-24: I suspect that there may have been a tendency in the church in Corinth to chase after certain experiences, whether it was the experience of getting circumcised (v18-19), which some Christians falsely believed was necessary in order to be truly saved, or the experience of winning your freedom legally if you were a slave in Paul’s time (v21-22), or the experience of getting married for those who were single (see v27b), or the experience of getting a divorce so that one could be single again (see v27). ((Those last two experiences are still commonly worshiped today.) It was this “grass is always greener on the other side” mentality, where Christians kept clamoring for what they didn’t have and looking down on what they did have. As a result, here Paul responds by encouraging the Corinthian Christians to stay where they are. He says the same thing three times:
· Verse 17: “each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him”
· Verse 20: “Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him”
· Verse 24, “Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.”
Instead of clamoring for what they didn’t have, Paul encourages them to see themselves as already having everything they need in Christ – thus Paul’s eloquent statement that a person who was a slave when they came to Christ is the Lord’s freedman, and the person who was free when they came to Christ is the Lord’s slave (v22).
Paul seems to suggest that the motive behind some Christians in the church of Corinth having the “grass is always greener on the other side” attitude was because they were so hung up on winning the approval of certain people. That is why Paul reminds them in verse 23 about who they really belong to – “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” (v23)
What can we learn from this? The most important call you will ever receive is not from your parents, your spouse or future spouse, or a future employer. It’s a call from God. God’s call happens when you hear His voice and respond in faith to Him.
Many people, after receiving their call from God, assume that the place they are to go next is “somewhere out there”. They have difficulty staying in one place. It could be a “grass is greener on the other side” mentality, where we tend to idealize and even idolize the people, places and things that are far away from us and unfamiliar to us. We might be tempted to think that way about the cities we live in, the workplaces where we work, the churches where we worship, the teams where we serve, even the families we’re a part of. We compare the worst of what we know about our current context with the best assumptions we make about what’s on the other side.
We might even try to spiritualize our “grass is greener on the other side” mentality by saying stuff like “I believe God is calling me out of here”, when really we’re just overspiritualizing our own ingratitude, immaturity and lack of follow through. Don’t overspiritualize a desire to leave your current context when in fact what God is really trying to teach you is to be thankful, content, loyal and persevering with what we have.
Don’t get me wrong. From time to time God will legitimately call a person out of one situation into another. But just make sure that it’s really Him calling and not your own selfish motives egging you on to go somewhere else.
Paul gives some wise teaching about this here in verse 17: “each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him.” Again he says it in verse 20: “Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.”
In other words, unless God is specifically calling you out of your current context, trust that the current place where you are is where God wants you to be. Do your best to be a blessing there. Don’t be shopping around all the time, ready at the drop of a hat to leave your current situation for that next place that you think looks so new, shiny and attractive. Be committed to your current context where God is teaching you to love, to persevere, to mature and to be a blessing, instead of sitting around looking out the window at the grass on the other side.
“But what if I’m so busy in my current context that I miss God’s call to go elsewhere?” You won’t. If God wants you to leave your current situation, God will make sure you hear it. So instead of waiting around for a call to go somewhere else, assume that right now where you are is where God has called you to be. Unless God specifically and clearly tells you to go elsewhere, see your current context as God’s calling for you.
It takes far more love, maturity and faith to stay and persevere in the place where God has called you than to bounce around from one place to another chasing your feelings. Learning to stay when things get hard is part of God making you more like His Son Jesus, who said, “Not my will, but Yours be done.”
Lord Jesus, thank You that I find everything I need in You. Not my will, but Yours be done. Let Your kingdom come. Let Your will be done, in my life as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
