›I Corinthians 7:29-31
›The Vision
29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
(I Corinthians 7:29-31, ESV)
›Main Point
› Paul establishes an eschatological framework in our understanding for how we relate to this world
› Christ’s supremacy and coming again shows us our place in this world
› Our focus is not to be on the world, but on Jesus who will come again
Application Points
› The Vision
– The Kingdom of God is “here”
– However there is also the “not yet”
– Christians throughout Church history have tried to wrestle with the question of our responsibility
– Within the first few centuries of the Church there came to be the “desert fathers”
– They sought Christian aestheticism
– Saint Simeon Stylites
– He was expelled from the order because of his austere lifestyle
– He was considered wise and holy so many came for his advice and prayersApplication Points
› The Vision (2)
– In order to further escape the world he decided to live on top of a pillar
– Eventually this led to a 50 foot pillar with a small platform on top
– He lived on the pillar for 37 years
– He died on that pillar
– Dearly beloved by the Church during his timeApplication Points
› The Vision (3)
– Another such individual is Saint Anthony the Great
– He had become a Christian and had inherited wealth from his parents
– He travelled and learned from Christian aesthetics, ultimately returning home to live among the tombs where he battled demons
– After 15 years he left human society completely
– He lived in an abandoned fort not seeing another human for 20 years
– People would travel, but he would not speak nor see them
– Ultimately this led to a large group of individuals who also lived around the fort!
Application Points
› The Vision (4)
– After 20 years he came to them not as an emaciated man, but with sound mind and strong body
– He taught them an aesthetic lifestyle of fasting and prayer
– He left to minister to the persecuted in Alexandria
– Then again to combat the heresy Arianism with Athanasius
“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’”
“This is the great work of man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.”
“Men are often called intelligent wrongly. Intelligent men are not those who are erudite in the sayings and books of the wise men of old, but those who have an intelligent soul and can discriminate between good and evil. They avoid what is sinful and harms the soul; and with deep gratitude to God they resolutely adhere by dint of practice to what is good and benefits the soul. These men alone should truly be called intelligent.”
“The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective: to obey and conform to the God of all. With this single aim in view, he disciplines his soul, and whatever he may encounter in the course of his life, he gives thanks to God for the compass and depth of His providential ordering of all things.
For it is absurd to be grateful to doctors who give us bitter and unpleasant medicines to cure our bodies, and yet to be ungrateful to God for what appears to us to be harsh, not grasping that all we encounter is for our benefit and in accordance with His providence. For knowledge of God and faith in Him is the salvation and perfection of the soul.”
Application Points
› The Vision (5)
– What is the point of these stories and quotations?
– It can be easy for us to conclude that such kind of monastic lifestyles, such aestheticism, is the kind of lifestyle Paul describes here
– We want to consider, however, what Paul is saying
– Those who are married, those who mourn, those who rejoice, those who buy, those who deal with the world
– Is Paul teaching a completely separatist understanding?
– We must remember that much of what Paul has described in this chapter is a “both and” rather than an “either or”
– Each are called for their particular purpose in a particular way for the glory of God
Application Points
› The Vision (6)
– Do we separate ourselves from the world?
– Paul does not say, “Do not have interactions with the world…”
– If Paul were telling us to have an aesthetic separatist lifestyle then he would simply say, “Do not…”
– Paul is not saying that we do not rejoice, do not mourn, do not engage the world…
– Our vision is not found in these things
– They are not found in this world
– Our vision, purpose, and meaning is found in God alone
– We engage this world in the light of Christ
– We understand it in light of the fact that Jesus has come, lived, died, rose, and is coming again
Application Points
› The Vision (7)
– The world does not, and should not, own us
– The way we deal and understand all these things is radically transformed
– The monastics remind us to not just seek this world, but know there is a world to come
– We do not have to abide by the rules and regulations of the passing world around us
– We engage this world because we are still in this world
– We still marry, laugh, cry, buy and sell, and deal with the world
– We do not have to let the things of the world control us or be our vision of the future
Application Points
› The Vision (8)
– We have a better vision in this world through Christ
– Our marriages are beautiful and fulfilled…because they are built on the foundation of Christ
– Should my spouse sin against me…should I be wronged…
–The world will say, “Leave! Find your own happiness!”
– Jesus says, “Stay. I am your happiness and your vision my glory. I bought you with a price, and what I offer you is everlasting.”
– My wife is not the end all be all for me, Christ is
– It is because Christ is the end all be all that I then love my wife so dearly
– The vision to honor Christ leads me to live this way for my wife
Application Points
› The Vision (9)
– The perspective, the reason, and what we would call the vision is set before me in all these things
– What will define me is Jesus
– It puts all these things in their proper perspectives…under His control
– This is the hope from what Paul is declaring to us
– The present form of the world, the darkness we see, the evil we encounter, it is a small and passing thing
– Because it is coming to an end
– When the new world comes, however, sin will never haunt us again, and darkness will be scattered forever
– In light of the forever before us, the darkness and evil of the present age is truly small compared to eternity
– Let us set before us the vision of Christ and His eternal light
Application Points
› The Gospel of Christ
– Origins
– Fall
– Redemption
– Glorification
