Be Like Christ Right Where You Are

Be Like Christ Right Where You Are

“Be Like Christ Right Where You Are”
(1 Corinthians 7:17-24)

Series: Chaos & Correction (1 Corinthians)

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

 

•Take your Bibles and open to 1 Corinthians, chapter 7 (page 770; YouVersion).

We are preaching our way, verse-by-verse, through the Book of 1 Corinthians and we left off at verse 16 of chapter 7 so we will resume our study—much to no one’s surprise—at verse 17 of chapter 7.

 

What Paul is doing here in our passage this morning is telling the Corinthian Christians that becoming a follower of Christ does not necessarily mean that one needs suddenly to change everything, especially as it pertains to the external things of one’s marriage, socioeconomic condition, and so on.  The immediate context, you will recall from last week, concerns the matter of marriage and divorce.

 

Some of the Corinthians, having recently become followers of Christ, wondered whether they should leave their marriages, especially if their spouses were not believers.  And we saw last time that Paul said to them, “No, God’s ideal is for the two who became one to remain one.”

 

And now in verses 17 and following Paul broadens the scope of this principle and applies it to a number of outward circumstances that need not change simply because one has become a Christian.  In this text Paul is saying, “Don’t feel like you need to change the outward circumstances of your life just because you’ve become a follower of Christ.  Don’t leave your marriage just because your spouse isn’t a believer, don’t change your social situation, don’t assume you’re in the wrong place and you’re just stuck where you are and that God is not pleased,” Paul says, “No!”

 

This passage is eight verses in length and the main point of this text is, “Be Like Christ Right Where You Are.”  This idea is occurs three different times in this passage, in the beginning, the middle, and the end; in verses 17, 20, and 24.  Paul says in essence, “Be Like Christ Right Where You Are.”  Stay in the place were God has called you and follow Christ right where you are.

 

So before we read the entire passage, I want to invite you to note that recurring phrase about being like Christ right where you are, remaining in the very place where God has called you, the place or station in which you became a Christian. See it three times in verses 17, 20, and 24.  Look at it:

 

Verse 17, “But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk…”
Verse 20, Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.”

 

Verse 24, “Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.”

 

So you see why the sermon title is, “Be Like Christ Right Where You Are.”

 

•Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

 

17 But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches. 

18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. 

19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.

20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 

21 Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.

22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. 

23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 

24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.

 

•Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

According to the J. Walter Thompson Company, there is a new form of social anxiety known as FOMO, F-O-M-O, which stands for, “The Fear of Missing Out.”

 

FOMO, “the uneasy and sometimes all-consuming fear that others are doing something or experiencing something that you’re not,” was “first identified by marketers in the mid-‘90s (and) refers to the sometimes energizing, sometimes terrifying anxiety that you are missing out on something absolutely terrific. It could be a party, a new movie, a special relationship (a spouse, a child, a friend, or a grandchild)…”  The fear of missing out is:

 

…an age-old problem that has accelerated thanks to real-time digital-updates (of) the smartphone.  Social media expert Marc Smith explains it this way: “Those who used to dine (in private and eat) caviar now do so (more publicly).”  They “Tweet about it and can be seen by those sitting down to dinner at (more common restaurants).”

 

In The New York Times Jenna Wortham writes about a friend who works in advertising who told her that she felt fine about her life—until she opened Facebook.  She said, “Then I’m thinking, I am 28, with three roommates, and, oh, it looks like they have a precious baby and a mortgage.  And then I [wanted to] die.”  Wortham claims that social media updates can make our simple domestic pleasures pale in comparison with all the fun things we (feel we) we could (be doing) or should be doing.—Matt Woodley, managing editor, PreachingToday.com; source: “Fear of Missing Out: Executive Summary,” JWT Intelligence (March 2012).

 

The “Fear of Missing Out” is just another way to describe the human predicament of discontentment.  The inability to be content really is “an age-old problem” that has been around for thousands of years.

This passage helps us achieve contentment by reminding us that God is sovereign over the affairs of human activity and that our contentment as Christians comes as the natural byproduct of being in Christ.  God is sovereign over everything.  He knows right where you are in life and He is calling you to the noble task of being like Christ right where you are.

 

So this passage has much to say to us this morning about Christian contentment in Christ.  And if we’ll allow this passage to speak to us this morning, there are three points of encouragement for every one of us who is a follower of Jesus Christ.  How many of you are followers of Christ?  How many of you really aspire to be content in all things?  I raise my hand with you.  Listen to these three points of encouragement, number one:

 

I. Be Encouraged by God’s Placement of You (17)

 

By “God’s placement of you,” Christian, I mean that God has you right where He wants you.  You are where you are not by accident, but by design.  Consider where you are as a divine assignment, not a dreadful accident.  You are where you by divine assignment from God Himself.  Look at verse 17:

 

17 But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches. 

 

The first part of verse 17 is not as clear in the New King James as it is in other translations.  The word “distributed” there is translated in other translations as the word “assigned.”  For example, the New American Standard says, “As the Lord has assigned to each one.”  The ESV has, “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him.”  NIV, “Each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them.”

 

You are where you are by divine assignment.  This is the mystery of our free decisions as guided by God’s overruling sovereignty.  Solomon wrote in Proverbs 16:9, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”  This is a teaching that is meant to encourage us.  We make free choices and yet our human actions, our responsible choices, are in perfect keeping with God’s sovereign eternal plan.

 

I read a Tweet last week that I liked a lot.  I don’t know with whom it originated, but here is the statement: “Man is responsible, God is sovereign.  Believe both and you can wake up in the morning with purpose, and you can go to sleep at night with peace.”  Isn’t that great?!  “Man is responsible, God is sovereign.  Believe both and you can wake up in the morning with purpose, and you can go to sleep at night with peace.”

 

So God’s sovereignty in reigning over our human choices is meant to encourage us.

 

Paul says in verse 17 that God has distributed to each one, or assigned to each one, a unique placement in life.  That is when you were, verse 17, “called,” see that in verse 17?  “As the Lord called each one,” that is, “when you were called to salvation, effectually called, when you became a Christian,” you became a Christian in a situation in life very much known by God.  God knows where you are.  So Paul says in verse 17, “As the Lord has called each one, so let him walk,” or “so let him live.”  Put another way, “Bloom where you are planted.”  Or, “Be Like Christ right Where You Are.”

 

Of this verse, verse 17, Craig Blomberg says, “The entire verse implies that in whatever state we are when we come to the Lord, we should function faithfully in that state without immediately seeking to change it.”

 

Bloom where you are planted.  Be like Christ right where you are.  Be encouraged by God’s placement of you.

 

Of course there is an assumption here and the assumption is that one may remain in the state in which he is found so long as that state is moral, ethical, and legal.  So if one was previously a bank robber, he is now longer robbing banks.  As Jesus said to the woman caught in the very act of adultery, “Go and sin no more (John 8:11).”

 

Nor does verse 17 mean that one could never change his or her situation.  It’s not as though Paul were saying, “You’re stuck where you are,” as though it were a bad thing that could never change.  It’s rather that Paul is encouraging Christians to see God’s hand in their lives, to understand He is sovereign and providential and that, for the time being, He has them right where He wants them.  Be like Christ right where you are.

 

Because what is true of God’s sovereignty over our initial coming to faith in Christ remains true to our present situation in life, our present living for Jesus Christ.  God knows what He’s doing.  He’s got you right where He wants you to live for His glory.

 

God has providentially placed you right where He wants you.  Today you are in the right marriage, the right job, the right school.  Things may change in the future, but right now you are right where God wants you.  You are where you are not by accident, but by assignment.

 

So don’t fret about, “Well, I’m not happy where I am.  I’ve goofed up and made some bad choices and I’m not content with my present situation,” or, “I’m stuck here.”

 

Look: Do you think God is surprised by where you are?  Don’t you think God knows what He’s doing in your life?  Bloom where you are planted.  Be like Christ right where you are.

 

Be encouraged by God’s placement of you.  Number two:

 

II.  Be Encouraged by God’s Purpose for You (18-22)

 

God has a purpose for your life.  What Paul is doing now in verse 18 and following is to build on previous teaching where he addressed Christians regarding God’s placement of them with respect to their marital background.  You’ll remember from last week he says, “Even if your spouse is not a believer, stay in your marriage.  Remain as you are.”  Now Paul goes on to address these same Christians regarding their religious background and socioeconomic situation.

 

So he addresses first their religious background—were these folks Jews or Gentiles when they came to Christ?  Had they been circumcised as Jews or where they uncircumcised as Gentiles?  And what was their economic condition?  Had they come to Christ as a slave or as a free person?  And then Paul gives the same counsel: Remain as you are.  Be like Christ right where you are.  God has a purpose for you right where you are.  Verse 18:

 

18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. 

 

Circumcision was the sign that a Jewish man and his family were following the One True God.  Circumcision was commanded in the Old Testament.  Male believers were circumcised—and you can Google this later if you don’t know what circumcision is—but it was the outward sign that a man and his family were followers of the One True God.

 

So Paul says, “Look, if you are a Gentile, a Greek, a non-Jew, and you come to faith in Christ in Corinth, you need not be circumcised.”  As he’ll say in the following verse, this Old Testament command no longer applies.  So, “was anyone called while uncircumcised?  Let him not be circumcised.”

 

And Paul says to those Jewish folks who became Christians, “Let them not become uncircumcised.”  Now again, you can research this stuff later for more detail.  But just know for now that it was possible for a man to have a procedure that reversed the physical appearance of circumcision.

 

And I know you may ask, “Why would somebody do that?”  But if you can put yourself back into the historical and cultural context of the Graeco-Roman world, you may understand why.  Men gathered together regularly in these public baths and were comfortable being seen with one another—if you know what I mean—and the Roman gymnasium was another such place where men gathered together and were comfortable working out in the nude and so forth.  And so, these men were trying to be like everyone else, see?  And Paul is saying, “Look, the external outward sign is no longer important.  What matters is that your heart has been changed and that you are living for Christ.”

 

So from a cultural standpoint, a religious background standpoint, Jews are to remain as Jews and Gentiles are to remain as Gentiles because in Christ, as Paul writes in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

 

One does not somehow advance his standing before God by either obtaining circumcision or by seeking to reverse circumcision.  No Christian is either more or less spiritual than another based upon mere external circumstances.  There is no spiritual significance one way or the other and a person cannot make himself more or less acceptable to God.  Never forget that we are acceptable to God based solely upon our glorious union with Christ.

 

This is an important reminder in a day such as ours where we may argue some Christians are more spiritual than others based upon the externals of a job, or lack of job, whether the mother works or whether she stays at home, whether the children attend public school, private school, or are home-schooled.  These are externals that, in and of themselves, do not make one Christian more or less spiritual than another Christian.

 

In the words of David Garland:

 

The offer of salvation came to them without requiring them to alter their ethnic, social, or domestic status.  Any attempt to make changes for religious reasons, in effect, controverts God’s grace, especially if they think that these changes—such as exchanging marriage for celibacy—boost them to a higher spiritual plateau.  Such a move substitutes the call to salvation that rests upon God’s grace for one that hinges on works.

 

So Paul goes on in verse 19 to say:

 

19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.

 

It’s not easy for us to imagine what that would have been like for a Jew to hear Paul say, “Circumcision is nothing.”  For a Corinthian Jew to hear someone say, “Circumcision is nothing; no big deal” would be even more offensive that it would be to say to a Kentuckian, “UK Basketball is nothing; no big deal!”  If you’ll forgive the roughness of that analogy I think you’ll at least appreciate the shock level, anyway.  And again, the phrase, “Circumcision is nothing” would be more offensive to the Jew.

 

As noted before, the sign of circumcision was a sign that a person followed the One True God.  In the Old Testament it was commanded.  In the New Testament, however, following the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, circumcision was not longer commanded (see for example Acts 15; Romans 4:9-11; and Colossians 2:11).

 

The New Testament way of belonging to the Lord begins with salvation and the sign of this relationship is the ordinance of baptism (Colossians 2:11-15).

 

Paul says, “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.”  This is similar to what Paul writes in:

 

Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”

 

“Keeping the commandments of God is what matters.” It’s not that keeping the commandments is the way to be saved, of course.  Paul is addressing those who already have been “called,” who have become followers of Christ.  He’s talking then about living the Christian life.  And he says, “It’s not the external religious sign that is important, it is that you obey God’s commands, that you live out the Christian life.  God’s purpose for you is to live your life for Christ.

 

So to build on what we said before, “Be encouraged by God’s placement of your life,” now Paul says, “Be encouraged by God’s purpose for your life,” and what is God’s purpose for your life?  That you, verse 19, “Keep the commandments of God.”  He says that is “what matters.”

 

So “It’s not where you are that matters, it’s how you live where you are that matters.”  It’s not where you are that matters, it’s how you live where you are that matters.  That’s God’s purpose for your life, to keep His commands.

 

A Christian asks, “What is God’s will for my life?”  Short answer, “Keep the commandments of God.”  That’s “what matters.”  It’s like what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification,”

 

Listen especially those of you who are younger!  Just be like Christ right where you are.  If you will do that, God will honor that and lead you and show you where to go next.  So if you’re in school or you’re working and you’re like, “Man, what does God want me to do?”  He wants you to bloom where you are, to be like Christ right where you are.  Keep the commandments of God.  Live for the Lord Jesus Christ right where you are and God will make clearer His greater purpose in the future.

 

So Paul re-states this principle of being like Christ right where you are.  He says in verse 20:

 

20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 

 

This teaching has the potential to revolutionize the way some of us regard our work, our school, or just the place where are right now in our lives.

 

We’re tempted to think of ourselves as merely the product of our circumstances.  Some of us even regret the decisions we’ve made that have led us to where we are.  Fair enough.  Now, back up and see yourself as the Sovereign God of the Bible sees you.  You are right where He wants you and that’s a good thing.  Serve Him right where you are.

 

Then Paul uses the example of slavery or bondservants.  His larger point is that either being a bondservant or not being a bondservant does not put a person in some sort of advantage as he serves Christ.

 

21 Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.

 

It’s always helpful to pause at texts such as these and stress that the New Testament practice of bondservants is not to be understood as the same as the institution of slavery that was practiced in this country in the 17th through the 19th centuries.  New Testament bond servitude was not the same thing.  For one New Testament servitude was not based upon race.  Secondly, bondservants in Paul’s day were usually allowed to work and earn money for themselves which was often what many did to purchase their freedom.

 

Unlike slaves in the American Civil War era, New Testament bondservants were able to work as government officials, educators, doctors, merchants, and skilled artisans.  In fact, some bondservants who worked as teachers were better educated than their masters.

 

A bondservant who went on to purchase his freedom was called a “freedman,” hence Paul’s use of the term as applied to Christ in verse 22, “For who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman.”

 

The relationship between the New Testament slave and his master was often one of congeniality and, in fact, there is historical evidence that even when many bondservants purchased their freedom, they went on working for the same family, even adopting the family name.

 

Having said all of this, the New Testament also acknowledges that for one human being to “own” another human being is incongruous with God’s ideal for His creation.

 

As we have noted before in our study of 1 Peter:

 

We must remember that biblical writers address people in the situation in which they are found.  It is not the purpose of Peter’s letter to call for overthrow of slavery as an institution.  Such a call would have failed miserably as the overwhelming majority of people in the Graeco-Roman world supported slavery and if a tiny minority of people called Christians attempted to overthrow the institution, the attempt would have been dead in the water.

 

We must also remember that the Christian Gospel does not concern itself with social overhaul, anyway.  Rather, it addresses sinful individuals who stand before a holy God and addresses their need for reconciliation through the atonement of Christ.  Ultimate social change and social overhaul on a larger scale occurs through the personal life change through individual salvation on a smaller scale.—from Todd Linn’s previous message, “When Suffering Wrongfully” (1 Peter 2:18-23).

 

So Paul asks in verse 21, “Were you called while a slave?  Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.”

 

That is, if you can purchase your freedom, by all means do so.  But if you cannot and you are presently in this situation, then “bloom where you are planted.”  Be like Christ right where you are.  Verse 22:

 

22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.

 

This is Paul’s way of saying, “Even if you become a Christian as a slave, you are free because you are free from sin, free in Christ!”  It’s similar to what Paul says in Romans 6:18, “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

 

So the opposite is also true.  Paul says in verse 22, “Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.”  That’s a kind of freedom the Christian enjoys!  A slave of Christ!  A slave of righteousness!

 

Christians are free from the penalty of sin, the power of sin—if we keep God’s commandments—that’s our purpose, and one day the presence of sin.

 

So be encouraged by God’s placement of you, be encouraged by God’s purpose for you and, number three:

 

III.  Be Encouraged by God’s Presence with You (23-24)

 

Look at verse 23:

 

23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 

 

That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  Paul said this before back in 1 Corinthians 6, last verse of chapter 6, 1 Corinthians 6:20, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

 

So Paul again reminds Christians of their redemption, their having been purchased or bought by a new Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Verse 23, “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”  Verse 24:

 

24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.

 

Whatever your state, you are “with God.”  How encouraging is that!  Be encouraged by God’s presence with you.  Whatever state you are in—divorced, lonely, in a so-called “dead end” job, a school you’re not crazy about, a place you’re not crazy about, whatever state you are in, you are “with God” in that state.

 

You are not alone, Christian.  You are with God through your union in Christ.  With God!

 

So, bottom line: We often ask these question:
“What is God doing in my life?!”

“What should I do now?!”

 

Know that God’s got you right where He wants you.

 

Be encouraged by His placement of you, be encouraged by His purpose for you, and be encouraged by His presence with you.

 

Keep His commands and enjoy His presence.

 

•Stand for prayer

 

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