A Sermon on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
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A sermon on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 “Voting as a Resident Pilgrim”
If you have them, please take your Bibles and turn with me to Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Today we are going to look at 1 Corinthians 7:29-31. We wrapped up the book of Hebrews last week and where we’re going after this is we’re going to do a couple of overview, introductory sermons that will point us towards a sermon series on the basics of the faith as they are found in the Apostles’ Creed. So we will spend the next few months going through the Apostles’ Creed.
This will take us through the first of the year looking at those basic foundational truths, first looking at why we have creeds and confessions, then looking at a couple other things before we move straight into the creed. But today we are going to consider how we as pilgrims, as strangers and aliens in this world should vote. So let’s look in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 beginning in verse 29.
“What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none, those who mourn as if they did not, those who are happy as if they were not, those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep, those who use the things of the world as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.”
Let’s pray.
God, our helper, by your Holy Spirit we would pray that you open our minds, that as the scriptures are read and your word is proclaimed that we may be led into your truth and taught your will. We ask all of this for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
INTRODUCTION
The prophet Jeremiah was called to preach a message to the Israelites, and, very much like the prophet Isaiah, he was going to preach a message that was not listened to. He was called to preach to the Israelites that they should repent of their idolatry and their sin before God so that God would not bring judgment upon them. But they did not listen.
So some of them were taken into exile during Jeremiah’s ministry to the nation of Israel. At the end of his ministry Jerusalem was defeated and the rest of the nation was carried away as well. And God, in light of the fact that he knew, the infinitely knowing God knew that the Israelites would not listen to him, wrote a letter to those Israelites already in exile.
And we have that letter in Jeremiah 29. Beginning in verse 5 we read,
“Build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there, do not decrease. Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it because if it prospers you also will prosper.”
God tells the Israelites that where he has placed them in Babylon they are to build their lives and they are to seek the prosperity of the place in which they have lived because as Babylon prospers they will prosper. And just like God told the Israelites to seek the prosperity of Babylon, you and I are directed to seek the prosperity of the community, the county, the state and the country in which we live.
One of the ways we seek the prosperity of where we live is through the ballot box. We have the privilege, we have the responsibility to vote for the leaders of our nation, our state, our communities. Every two to four years we vote for county commissioners, city council members, mayors, governors, senators, representatives and presidents.
And the perceived problem for you and I is that the Bible does not explicitly direct us how to vote. There is no 14th commandment that says, “Thou shalt vote in a certain way.” So today I want us to look at the teachings from the apostle Paul that we have already read and to consider and to apply them to our voting situation.
Today I want us to ask and answer three questions. First, how should we vote? Secondly, what should we care about in a candidate? And thirdly, what should we do once we vote?
HOW SHOULD WE VOTE?
First, how should we vote? This answer may come as a bit of a surprise and hopefully it makes you think just a little bit about the nature of your vote as you enter into the ballot box. But John Piper presents the short answer to the question, how should we vote? He presents it in this way. We should vote as though we are not voting.
That sounds strange to us, but I want us to look at these statements that Paul gives us and then apply them to voting.
First, he says that from now on, those who have wives should live as if they had none. Does this mean that those who are married should set aside their spouse so they can focus exclusively upon the work of the church? By no means. What this means is our attachment to our spouse should be such that it is overshadowed by our attachment to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I am not Michelle’s ultimate hope of redemption in this world. And all of you should say thank Jesus. Michelle is not my ultimate hope of redemption in this world either. My ultimate hope of redemption, Michelle’s ultimate hope of redemption is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And my prayer often for Michelle is Michelle love Jesus far more than she loves me. It is good that she be more excited about her time with God every day than she is about spending time with me. Jesus told his audience at one point that they had to hate their family to be part of the kingdom.
I would be a far, far better husband, son, brother, father and friend if my love for Jesus was so great that it looked as if I hated all of those relationships. We are to be spouses as if we had no spouse.
He goes on to tell the Corinthians to mourn as though they were not mourning.
It is hard when we lose loved ones, be they friend or family member. But we do not mourn without hope, brothers and sisters. Paul in First Thessalonians 4, 13 reminds the church that they do not mourn like the rest of the world mourns because we know that our mourning has an end.
When Jesus returns and brings in that eternal life where God wipes away our tears and makes the hard things of this world be wiped away. While we mourn the losses, while we feel the pain, we are reminded that we have more to this life than just this world.
Paul looks at the flip side of that coin and he says to rejoice as though we are not rejoicing.
Just like losses in this world cause us to mourn, there are things that we win. There are things that we gain that cause us joy. We win ballgames. We get married. We have children and grandchildren and great grandchildren.
But the joy that we experience in this world—while we should experience it—is nothing compared to the joy of knowing that we are reconciled to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and what that means not only for today but for all of eternity.
He goes on and he talks about the goods of this world. He says to buy and to use the goods of this world as though you were not buying them, as though they were not yours, and as though they would pass away. Because brothers and sisters, they are not yours and they will pass away.
Yes, we are called to engage in commerce, but our culture is driven by the idol of consumerism. We need the newest, the latest, the greatest things in our lives. Your cell phone company tries to convince you every, if you’re lucky, every year that you need the new cell phone that’s coming out.
And if you don’t have it, your life is something less than full. We as Christians find our meaning in our Savior who paid an infinite price for us and we hold on to the goods of this world loosely. That means we use them for God’s honor and for God’s glory rather than for our own fulfillment.
And so Paul says to be married as though not married. He says to mourn as though you were not mourning, to rejoice as though you were not rejoicing, and to interact with the goods and services of this world as though they were not yours, as though they were passing away.
So what does that have to do with voting? Voting is important, brothers and sisters, but it’s not ultimate.
Regardless of who is elected on November 5th, our King still reigns. Yes, we may be sad if we lose, but we don’t let it consume us when we lose. Yes, we may have joy whenever our candidates win, but we do not allow that joy to consume us to the point that we begin to look down on other people who may disagree with us.
We engage in the process of voting while knowing that this process is not ultimate. And we also don’t become so engrossed with the political process that we ignore our responsibilities to God, that we ignore our responsibilities to the church, and that we ignore our responsibilities to our neighbors. In short, we vote as though we were not voting.
WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK FOR IN A CANDIDATE?
Second question I want us to ask, what should we look for in a candidate? The list is long and somewhat depressing. Well, if we look at the candidates, it can be depressing. Deuteronomy 1:15-18, God tells the nation of Israel what to look for in leaders.
Beginning in verse 16 of Deuteronomy 1, he says, “I charged your judges at that time, hear disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien. Do not show partiality in judging. Hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it. And at that time, I told you everything you were to do.”
And then in chapter 16 of Deuteronomy, beginning in verse 18, “Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes and every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Follow justice and justice alone so that you may live and possess the land your Lord, the Lord your God is given you.”
Basically, we need to look for wise and experienced people when it comes to candidates that we either present or vote for. We need to look for candidates who judge righteously, who judge when we talk about judging righteously, that they apply the law in the right way as they are called to do so.
To judge righteously means to judge with impartiality, not swayed by power or swayed by weakness, not intimidated by those who supposedly pull the puppet strings, not perverting justice and not accepting bribes.
God cares about justice in this world, and he cares about justice in the way that his law is applied, that we don’t weigh the scales in favor of the powerful, and we also don’t weigh the scales in the favor of the weak.
God has defined what is right and wrong, and he has called the governments of this world to apply that definition of right and wrong and to restrain sin and harm against the image of God in our culture.
And the men and women that we vote for are to seek to rule righteously and with integrity. They are to seek justice in this world. They are to care about the weak, and they are to restrain the appetites of the powerful.
The thing about our two-party system is a thing of balance. One pundit makes the case that both parties need the other if the country is to flourish. Conservatives need liberals to remind them that causes of justice are important, and liberals need conservatives to be reminded that the government is not that good at managing justice.
We should look for men and women of integrity when we look to vote, and that leads us to a truth about the voting box. If we truly understand what God calls a leader in this country to be, we will leave the ballot box disappointed, disappointed. Regardless of the candidate you cast your vote for, you will understand that they are not always people of integrity.
They will not always judge righteously. They will not always be impartial. Sometimes they will be intimidated.
Sometimes they will pervert justice. Sometimes they will accept bribes. And so while we vote, we do so oftentimes disappointedly, but we still need to look for and to pray for those candidates of integrity.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO ONCE WE VOTE?
And the third question I want us to answer today is, what should we do once we vote?
Well, actually, once you vote and before you vote, you should pray. People come to me occasionally and say, “What do I need to do? What’s the most important thing I can do for my family? What’s the most important thing I can do for my church? What’s the most important thing I can do for my community?” My answer should always be “Pray.” God works through prayer, and he works mightily through prayer.
If you can do nothing else but pray, you have done more than most. Pray for wisdom, brothers and sisters.
It’s hard to know. It’s hard for me. I don’t know. It might not be hard for you, but it’s hard to know as we walk into that ballot box.
Man, do I actually click the check mark next to that name? Because I know they fall far short of what God calls a leader to be. But pray for wisdom as you walk into the ballot box. Pray for the candidates.
If you have already decided in your heart who you are going to vote for, are you praying for that person? If you have decided in your heart who you are going to vote for, are you praying for the one you are not going to vote for? Because we should be praying for all of the candidates that are there, whether we agree with them or not. We should be praying that they are drawn to God. We should be praying that they are drawn to wisdom.
We should be praying for their eternal souls. Pray for the candidates.
And pray for Jesus’ return. This is not an escapist prayer. Being confronted with the glory of the new heavens and the new earth, the Apostle John, who walked with Jesus at the end of his letter, prays, “Come soon, Lord Jesus.” We wrap up our service every week with that prayer.
It is a good prayer because it reminds us that there is more to life than what we see. There is more to life than the ballot box. And so we should be praying earnestly for Jesus’ return.
Be informed as well. Be informed about the candidates, both the main party candidates and third party candidates. You might find somebody who fits that bill that you could put your vote behind with less disappointment than the main candidates. I don’t know that there’s that person out there, but you might find that.
I would say that if you’ve already made your decision and no new piece of information is going to sway you from that decision, I would encourage you to turn off the news, whichever news channel you listen to, whether it’s your favorite news channel or whether it’s that other news channel out there that’s spreading lies and deceit, or maybe it’s that channel that’s spreading lies and deceit. And I don’t know, I get confused.
They make their money by keeping you enraged. That’s how they make their money. That’s how they keep you watching, is making you angry all the time.
It’s not good for your heart. It’s not good for your neighborhood. It’s not good for your community. It’s not good for your church. If you’ve already made up your mind, turn it off. But be informed on the party platforms and also hold them accountable.
Man, the technology today, you can get a hold of a candidate or at least a candidate’s assistant with the blink of an eye. They make promises to you to get your vote. Hold them to those promises.
Email them and remind them, “Hey, look, your election’s coming up in another two years or four years or six years, depending upon the office you’re running for. You promised this and I voted for you for that.” Hold them to account for that.
CONCLUSION
So how should we vote? We should vote as though we don’t vote.
I’m going to put this kind of bluntly. Jesus and John the Baptist called their listeners to repent for a very specific reason.
And the reason was not this. They did not say, “Repent because in 2,000 years, Christians in America will have an opportunity to vote. And if enough of them vote for the right political party, the kingdom of God will arrive.”
That’s how many of us act oftentimes. I see it on social media. I hear it in the coffee shops and the restaurants.
Well, if we don’t vote for so-and-so, the church is toast. It’s not what Jesus said. He said repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
The kingdom of God has arrived and it is sustained by God regardless of who wins or who loses on November 5th. God calls you to exercise your vote in a way that promotes the prosperity, the well-being of the city in which we live. But we are not to hold on to that vote as if it is the ultimate thing.
We are also called to seek candidates who exhibit a certain level of integrity and character and candidates who truly pursue godly justice. Now, we understand that no human being except for the one who was already enthroned at the right hand of God will ever live up perfectly to either of these criteria. So we do vote with a certain level of disappointment, but we do the best we can and we leave the results to God.
Dan Doriani says, “Thoughtful Christians will come to a different conclusion on this, but it is clear in scripture that God’s people often do what is right and leave the results to the Lord of history. We know good consequences normally tend to follow the right action, yet it is not our duty to control history.”
We talk about justice. We talk about justice in the area of life, both life at the beginning and life at the end. Both are very much under attack and that’s important, but it’s also important that on a national level neither major party has as a plank in their platform to protect life. Maybe individual candidates do, but neither platform has that as a plank any longer.
It should make you weep because you and I have different priorities within the parameters of character and justice. Sometimes our votes look different and that’s okay for the most part. I would encourage you brothers and sisters to vote as though you aren’t voting.
The God of history holds all things firmly in his hand and no matter who wins in November, the church is safe and the kingdom of God is here.
Let’s pray.
God and Father above, we need revival. We need revival in our hearts. We need revival in our homes. We need revival in our neighborhoods, in our cities and communities, in our counties, in our state, and in our nation.
And Lord, that does not come in the ballot box. That comes by your Holy Spirit working through us. Give us wisdom, however, as we go to the ballot box.
And may we leave knowing that you are sovereign, disappointed in the human candidates, but never disappointed in you because you have all things in your hand. Lord, your king is seated upon your holy hill. He has subdued us to salvation and he is subduing his enemies and our enemies as we speak.
We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
We leave this place to go about our daily lives, to work, to parent, to be grandparents, to seek to serve God in every area he has placed us. And as we seek to serve God in those areas, he gives us this blessing.
“Peace I leave with you. My peace, God’s peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus.
This transcript of a sermon on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 has been lightly edited for ease of reading.
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