Singleness is For Pleasing The Lord

Singles, your job is NOT to simply "wait" on God. And of course, when married people tell singles like us to wait on God, it usually means "wait for God to introduce you to a spouse." Waiting is SO much more than that. As if you have nothing better to do than wait for a lover. As if being single automatically means that marriage MUST be needed. As if you cannot be useful in the Kingdom of God as a single. You are LOVED. God wants to HEAL you. He has a work for His saved children to do. You have been commissioned to spread the Word. You are acceptable to God as you are, single and in Christ.

"...He hath made us FREELY ACCEPTED in His beloved. By whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to His rich grace.... according to His GOOD PLEASURE..." 
Eph 1:6b, 7, 9b

Be sure to read all of Ephesians 1 for a great boost in encouragement in the Holy Spirit. That passage is SO RICH in truth and comfort for His disciples. Single or not, this truth is for ALL disciples. 

Now don't get me wrong, waiting on God is extremely important for renewing one's strength and for getting proper guidance from Him in all things. But it is not just singles who must learn to wait. ALL Christians must learn to depend on His presence and dwell there. Married people must do this too (I was married once, so I understand this well). And for them, it will be even more difficult, due to having both God and a spouse to please. Now, as singles, waiting on God for a spouse CAN be important, IF one is asking God for a spouse and desiring marriage. But it should not be so important that it sidelines the work God has commissioned you to do today, or the fellowship with Himself that is so sweet and powerful. Believe me, nothing is so sweet and peaceful as dwelling in communion with Jesus' Spirit. Nothing beats dwelling in the presence of the Holy Spirit, the One who created the universe and owns it.

Singles only have God to please. This is very freeing. And guess what? There is SO much you can do in God's kingdom today. God longs for more fellowship with you. 

Now, I know some singles will complain to me and say "stop trying to get me to accept singleness." To that I say: It's not you or me that accepts it, it's the Word that accepts singleness. The Word sees singleness as an equal gift beside marriage. See 1 Cor. 7:7. I am not trying to get you to "accept" singleness. I am simply presenting the Biblical view of singleness and challenging people to let the Spirit change their thinking.

Besides, everything has a season (Eccl. Ch. 3). Marriage and singleness are no exceptions. Nothing on this earth lasts forever, not even singleness. Time on earth is short. The question is: are you willing to let the WORD shape your thinking? Believe me, I have had to change my mind in order to conform to Biblical thinking, many times. The Holy Spirit keeps expanding my understanding. My understanding is still not complete, but it is growing in Him. Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to shape your thinking on subjects like singleness? Is there room in your heart for Him to influence you? I have done a complete 180 on singleness. I used to avoid it, and not appreciate it. Now, through His Spirit and His power and His Word, I have a more Biblical view.

Whether you accept singleness as a gift or not is irrelevant. What IS relevant is that you obey the Lord Jesus, the One who you follow as a disciple. And like it or not, when you follow Jesus devoutly, and you just so happen to be unmarried, you are automatically making use of the gift of singleness. Paul said that singles can devote their attention to pleasing the Lord. Discipleship IS pleasing the Lord.

1 Corinthians 7:32-35 ESV

32I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.
33But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,
34and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.
35I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. 

So the disciples's life is to be spent in undivided devotion to the Lord. Married or unmarried, we are called to please the Lord through letting Christ live in us. 

The single person has the advantage here. Rather than seeing singleness as a "problem" that marriage can "fix" (so to speak), why don't we take Paul's attitude here and see it as a gift for pleasing the Lord?







 
Paul makes it clear in the passage above that marriage will cause a division of attention to some degree.
And yet, the married individual, by making an effort, is also able to secure undivided devotion to the Lord. After all, discipleship and pleasing the Lord must come first. 

See, Bonhoeffer in his book "The Cost Of Discipleship" makes it clear that discipleship is not a group event. Each disciple is isolated from the world in Christ and surrounded by Christ. Not even a marriage changes the fact that you are called to be an individual before the Lord. Your allegiance lies first with Jesus. You can have or do nothing without Jesus. You have no righteousness of your own. You only have HIS righteousness as your own. This is the life of a disciple. 

Understand that the kingdom of Heaven that Jesus proclaimed has changed the order of things. No longer is marriage and childbirth the main way for the Kingdom to advance. Because of death, earthly kingdoms and the now-finished Levitical priesthood relied on marriage and childbirth. Now, the Kingdom of Heaven and the Melchisedec priesthood supercede death. Jesus the High Priest and High King will not die. He died once and rose the third day. He will never die again. And we His followers will also live forever. Jesus is glorified. And as the one who stands on the basis of an endless life (Heb. 7:23-24), Jesus grows His Kingdom through evangelism and discipleship. These two things are how God grows His spiritual family. That means you can be EXTREMELY effective as a vessel of obedience to Jesus in growing the kingdom, WITHOUT even being married! Children are still important. But the Melchisedec priesthood does not rely on children in order to continue. Why? Because Jesus will never die! He is Priest FORVER after the order of Melchisedec (Heb. 7:21)! And we are being made priests and kings after the same order, under Him! (Rev. 1:5-6; Rev 5:10-11)

God's focus is on the heavenly. Man's focus is earthly. But it is time we looked up. Lift the eyes and see Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith.

Yes, Jesus allows and upholds Biblical marriage. And Paul makes it clear there is no sin in a man and a woman getting married. But Jesus does not REQUIRE it for His followers. Neither did Paul. They also did not FORBID marriage. And yet, both Jesus and Paul were single on earth. And they were EXTREMELY effective. Jesus was the One to PAY for all our sins, and bestow His righteousness on ALL who trust in Him. Jesus INITIATED the Church and Kingdom expansion.

He IS the Way into the Holy Nation, the Heavenly Jerusalem. 

Paul, after his conversion, worked to EXPAND the Church and the Kingdom and grew it through the power of God, through epistles, preaching, working a job, and also cooperating with other disciples. 

What God cares about most is what you can do as a single. He cares about YOU. He cares about the salvation, holiness, and growth of souls. This kingdom expansion cannot be stopped by marital status. 

So the next time someone tells you that singleness is for waiting, just smile and say,

"Actually waiting on God  is something all Christians must practice. But the season of singleness is for pleasing the Lord." 

And the Lord is pleased when we obey His Great Commission in Mat. 28:19-20.

He is pleased with placing us in the Body for growth and edification as in 1 Cor.  ch. 12 and ch.14.

And He is pleased when we abide in His presence daily, like a branch abides in a vine. He is pleased to cause the fruit of the Spirit to grow in you. He is pleased to answer the prayers of the fruitful branch. Singles can be a fruitful branch, without children!  See John 15, Philp. 1:11 (fruits of righteousness) and Gal. 5:22-23 (9 fruit of the Spirit). 

And He is pleased to heal us of all our emotional and physical pain. James 5:14-16

Jesus is pleased to give and receive Love. And He is pleased when we love our brothers and sisters in Christ. 1 John 4:19:21. 

- God bless.

Pastor Curtis

Thu May 19 2016 1:50pm EST