1 Corinthians 7: 29-31 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; ³⁰ 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; ³¹ those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

 For this World is Passing Away

 You know, as I select which one of the lessons to preach on each Sunday, I’ve never had the nerve to preach on the one we’re hearing about this morning. Let me read that first verse again and maybe you can see why I haven’t. Paul wrote, From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none. I don’t mean to sound flippant, or make us question what the Bible says, but certainly those words sound a little strange, when so much of Scripture encourages husbands to love their wives as much as Christ loved the church, and we are reminded to love and honor our husbands and wives, and then along comes Paul with this advice… it doesn’t sound quite right, does it? But this morning we’re going to take a look at these verses from 1 Corinthians chapter 7… and we want to see that they are no where near as politically incorrect as they may sound, and in fact they have a positive message behind them… the message: Love Your Life… 1) love your life now, 2) but love your life to come more.

 First let’s talk about what Paul really meant as he said, “…live as if they had no wives.” I understand... those words could sound a little objectionable, especially to someone who is a wife. A woman, especially a wife, could hear Paul’s words and wonder, “Did he really just say that?” Well, yes he did, but let’s take the time to understand ‘why.’

 As is so often, so important, we need to look at the context in which words are spoken. A few verses earlier in verse 26 Paul refers to a “present crisis.” He is answering a specific question about whether or not to marry, and he says, “Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.” That doesn’t mean Paul is against marriage. It means he was answering a specific question at a specific time. There was some apparent threat right then to the Christians in Corinth, some ‘present crisis,’ perhaps a famine, perhaps an outbreak of persecution, and in answer to a question about whether or not it was a good time to marry, Paul said “Perhaps not.” Then he goes on to give some principles to live by, for that time or any other, and he reminds Christians that we are to be in the world , but not of it.

 And so he says, the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; ³⁰ 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; ³¹ those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. Literally, that first verse says, “The time has been shortened.” Maybe he means that that present crisis meant the end might have been near for some of his readers… so live your life ready for the end. Or maybe he meant something that applies to us as well… that each and every day that passes, the time to the end is shortened. We don’t know when the end will be, but each day we live by God’s grace means it’s one day closer. What will our response be? Knowing that the end will come… are we going to stay focused only on this life, or on the one to come?

 And the answer is really, both. There are plenty of passages in the Bible telling husband and wife to love and cherish one another. There are plenty of passages saying work if you want to eat… take care of your family in their physical needs as well as their spiritual needs. Clearly Paul didn’t mean that husbands and wives should suddenly pretend they’re not married. And clearly we can’t all just quit our jobs and simply wait for the end of the world instead. No, we have a life to live here and now, it just isn’t the most important one. So it’s OK to say, “I love my life.” And if you have been blessed by God so that is how you feel as you look at life, wonderful... enjoy that blessing. Love your life… it is God’s gift to you, through which he has perhaps made you a blessing to many others. But Paul says, love the life to come more.

 So which life do we love more? Once again, the answer is probably both. Some days we love the life to come the way we should… we manage to stay focused on the fact that heaven is our home. But other days maybe we struggle with thinking about this life too much. And that can be the good and the bad things of life. Paul said, From now on… those who mourn, [should live] as if they did not; and  those who are happy, as if they were not. It can be both the joys of life and the trials of life that distract us from the life to come. Paul says to those who are mourning… why? What can have you so down, that Christ isn’t the answer to it? He has conquered sin, death, and the devil. The troubles that come our way in life because of sin… ours or someone else’s… Christ has overcome them. Even death itself… Christ has given us the victory. So Paul, says, no more mourning… not when we have the life to come. 

 And not too much rejoicing either… that shouldn’t distract us from the kingdom of God. Paul says, “Are you happy? … Don’t be too happy.” Now, he isn’t saying we must be some kind of sour-puss who can’t enjoy life… but if we’re enjoying it, we should also always remember this isn’t lasting joy… that kind of joy comes in heaven. And the things of this world… the material possessions, the things God blesses us with, Paul says… those who buy something, buy it as if it were not theirs to keep; ³¹ those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. 

 My dad always taught me, when you borrow something, return it in as good of condition if not better than when you borrowed it, after all it’s not yours. Paul says the same thing. Sure… buy what you need for life, but buy it as if it’s not yours to keep. All we have is only entrusted to us by God, to be used faithfully for the time he gives us. So how well are we using the blessings God has given us? How wisely are we spending the money with which he has blessed us? Those are questions you have to answer for yourself… but I would venture a guess every one of us can think of ways we could honor God better with the blessings he has given us, be it in our offerings or in our focus… we are to use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. 

 That word ‘engrossed’ is sort of interesting… it means overly involved with or in. Sometimes my wife and I have seen stories of people winning the lottery… or a sweepstakes, and we wonder, what would we do if we won a million dollars? It’s fun to think about… I hope we wouldn’t do all that much differently, but I fear we probably would. Getting something you want often only leads to wanting more. We can enjoy our blessings, we can rejoice over winning something, but let’s never be engrossed by them… obsessed with these things. Then we’re loving this life too much, and forgetting about the life to come.

 But the most important lesson to learn from this whole text is summed up in Paul’s reason for everything he says. In verse 31, he writes, For this world in its present form is passing away. That sentence starts with that important word, “for.” When reading the Bible, especially, these epistle lessons, when you see the word ‘for’ it’s helpful to ask what’s the word ‘for’ there for? It means the reason is about to be given for whatever else has been said. And that’s the case here as well.

 Paul tells us why we can love our life, but need to love the life to come more. It’s OK… love the life God has given you. But understand, this is all going to go away. Then you had better have you heart set on the life to come… the things of God. Jesus said, “What good does it do a man to gain the whole world, and yet forfeit his soul?” We should be willing to part with all the riches of the world, if that’s what we have to do to have heaven.

 And we don’t know when God will come back, looking for faith in our hearts, looking to see if we love this life more than the one to come. And since we don’t know when, we need to live our lives ready for the end. Which makes us think of the opening verse again…the time is short. What are we waiting for when it comes to getting more serious about our faith in God? What are we waiting for when it comes to sharing the faith, or when it comes to encouraging a wayward brother or sister in the faith? Because the time is short. Someday, maybe someday soon, it’ll be too late. And all of our good intentions about talking to that loved one, talking to that neighbor, or taking God’s Word more seriously ourselves, then all those good intentions will be too late. For this world in its present form is passing away.

 Love your life… it is God’s gift to you. Love the life to come more… it is God’s greatest gift to you.

AMEN