Various Passages

Below is a sermon manuscript from October 19, 2025. Watch the sermon here.

Introduction

Just you wait! Have you ever heard that before? I remember when we were just new parents of twins. We were struggling and learning our way, and other parents would say, “Just wait, it doesn’t get any easier!” My thought: “Thanks… but that’s not helpful at all.” This happens often in marriage as well. A young couple is excited about their life together, and another, older couple says, “Just wait, the honeymoon doesn’t last forever.” Again, not helpful!

We tend to focus on the difficulties and challenges of marriage and parenting rather than seeing them as good gifts. This is a continual temptation in living in a fallen world, to focus solely on the corruption, the thorns and thistles – if you will – and miss the beauty of God’s good design. We don’t have time to exhaust each of these this morning, living for Jesus at home could have several series dedicated to just this topic, but my goal is merely to show that though many have a call to the workplace, all of us will find an aspect of this calling relevant for where we are.

Live for Jesus While Single

I want to begin and end with callings that we each participate in, at least for a season. The first is the calling of singleness. Singleness is something that each of us participates in, at least for a season of our lives.

Use this season well for God’s glory and your neighbor’s good

We might not think of singleness as a calling, but this is exactly how Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 7:17. He says 

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.^[1]

This comes in the context of his discussion about singleness and marriage. The word called here is the same word that we have seen elsewhere. Again, it’s where we get the idea of vocation. We not only have paid vocations, but we also have many other vocations. One is the marital and family status that we have. Paul’s instruction does not mean that a person can’t pursue or desire marriage if they are single, but it does give value and distinction to the call of singleness. In 1 Corinthians 7, he gives several benefits of the single life. One of those is that it is a calling that frees one up to focus on one’s ultimate calling. As we have said in the first message, we have one ultimate calling and several subordinate callings. Our subordinate callings are ways that we live out the primary call. But when we have fewer obligations in our secondary callings, it can free us up

If you desire another calling, you are seen and loved

I want to acknowledge that some are called into singleness even as they desire to be out of that particular calling. This is a good desire, which can make your present circumstances that much more difficult. But God’s grace is with you right now. You can live for him right where you are. If you desire to be married one day, use this time to grow in character and prepare yourself well if God has that in store for you.

Be careful of temptations that come during this calling

One temptation that Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 7 is the struggle for chastity while single. Sex is a good gift that is meant for the context of a husband and wife in a marriage covenant. The act draws them together and is oriented toward producing children through their union. Each of us is prone to reject this good design in a variety of ways, and Paul says that the temptation toward lust is prevalent for those who are single. If you have failed in this area, there is grace in Jesus. But we need to recognize that chastity is a part of the call to singleness.

Unfortunately in a desire to be married, many settle for a spouse. I want to make clear that if you are married, you are called to be married. So this is not for those who are already married. If you are married, God will give you the grace needed. His mercies are new every day. Love him through your vocation as wife or husband. We will talk about this more in a bit. But if you are not married and long to be married, be careful of a spiritual mismatch. 

Those who don’t know Christ can certainly love their spouses well because of God’s common grace; we should be thankful for that. But without a conviction of our primary call, as we have discussed in this series, it removes the kind of self-giving love that we are called to give our spouses from the objective basis of Christ’s work for us. It’s to this love that we now turn, having marriage as a theatre for God’s love.

Live for Jesus While Married

Not all are called to life-long singleness. Marriage is a gift from God, and it is also a calling. 

Husbands and wives are called to serve Jesus through how they treat one another

Wives are called to reflect the church’s relationship to Christ through submission

The concept of a wife’s submission has been hyper-focused on in the church. Often, this has been used to abuse and mistreat women. But the call here is for the wife; there is no call for husbands to ensure this takes place. Men are called to their role. This needs to be seen in light of the teaching that all Christians are called to submit to one another and die to themselves. This is already in Ephesians 5. Verse 1 and verse 21. Also, the husband and wife are one flesh. We see in 1 Corinthians 7 that in the one flesh union, each is responsible to the other. 

Still, there is a call here for submission. Within the context, it seems like it is a call to respect the husband and his role in the marriage. The call is to do so as the church submits to Christ. It is something that is done willingly. The church follows Christ not out of fear of punishment but is motivated by Christ’s love for us. It’s a love that lures and carries us along. We love because he first loved us.

The text distinguishes the husband and Christ; Jesus alone is the savior. And the wife is called to her task as to Christ. This seems to place limits. It also echoes other sentiments that see secondary callings as subordinate to the primary call to Jesus elsewhere, like Luke 14:26.

Still, as the wife respects and loves her husband in the context of marriage, she does so as a service to Jesus and in a way that reflects him. This can give value to this call, and it gives a perspective beyond the immediate. There are times when love is not being reciprocated, when a wife is fighting to find something of value in her husband, but that fight is God-honoring.

Husbands are called to reflect Christ through sacrificial service

Paul doesn’t tell husbands, “And make sure she does what she needs to do.” Instead, he reminds husbands of their unique calling to love. We said before that we are primarily called by Christ, to Christ, for Christ. In this calling, we are united to Jesus. We live this out in our various secondary callings, which bring God glory and also benefit our neighbor. For married couples, our closest neighbor is found in our one-flesh union. 

The call to headship is not a call to dominion but to responsibility. But it’s a call to responsibility by a God of love and grace and one who empowers by His Spirit. Husbands live out their call in a way that would be very controversial in the day. It is a call to die to self, to self-sacrificial service to their wife. Just as Christ came not to be served but to serve, so husbands are called to serve their wives. They don’t do this in order to get something from their wife, but they love their wife freely as those who have been loved while they were yet sinners. 

It’s often said that Scripture is just a product of a time gone by, and we need to update it in order to “get with the times.” It’s always helpful to dive deep into church history and ask, “Is this accurate?” Listen to the words of John Chrysostom, known as the greatest preacher in the Eastern Church. This is in the fourth century. 

Pay attention to love’s high standard. If you take the premise that your wife should submit to you, as the church submits to Christ, then you should also take the same kind of careful, sacrificial thought for her that Christ takes for the church. Even if you must offer your own life for her, you must not refuse. Even if you must undergo countless struggles on her behalf and have all kinds of things to endure and suffer, you must not refuse. Even if you suffer all this, you have still done not as much as Christ has for the church. For you are already married when you act this way, whereas Christ is acting for one who has rejected and hated him. So just as he, when she was rejecting, hating, spurning…brought her to trust him by his great solicitude, not by threatening, lording it over her, or intimidating her or anything like that, so must you also act toward your wife…win her over with your great love and affection for her.^[2]

In a fallen world, this can be a challenge, but also gives opportunity for forgiveness and grace

One of the ways we model Christian marriage is through forgiveness and grace. As people who have been shown grace ourselves, our marriage gives an always-ready context to extend grace toward one another. We have a responsibility not to take advantage of our gracious and merciful spouse while also being ready to be gracious toward them. Forgiving doesn’t mean that consequences for decisions don’t remain. One way to work against this is to be quick to repent, quick to acknowledge wrong, develop a sensitivity to sin ourselves while growing in character and virtue.

I intentionally used the word “while” at this point. The purpose is not to downplay the permanence of marriage. Marriage is a life-long covenant. While Scripture does give limited exceptions, even if these pertain, they are not ideal. Scripture is clear that God hates divorce, Malachi 2:16. It is always a result of sin and living in a fallen world. This is also true when the great enemy, death, takes away a spouse. 

Live for Jesus as Parents

Parents are called to care for and instruct their children

Children are a gift, and parenting is a calling. Parents give of themselves for the good of their children. Jesus tells us that this is just how things were designed to work and reflects our Father in heaven, who does this perfectly. In Matthew 7:9-11, we read,

⁹ Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!^[3]

The family is a context of love for those whom they are called to care for. This includes establishing guardrails and discipline in order to protect children who don’t know any better and to lay the groundwork for the law, but it is done so in a Christian context, one that is seasoned by grace and filled with prayer. We see in the call to fathers in Ephesians 6 that they are not to provoke their children to anger.

Again, we get an example of God’s fatherly love in the parable of the prodigal son. This son rejects the Father, goes his own way, and winds up spending his inheritance and living in the pig pen. But what does he decide? He thinks, my Dad takes care of people in his care, even the servants are provided for, and here I sit. It is the love and safety of the home that serve to compel him home. 

The call to instruct and guide is not limited to fathers. We see that Timothy knew God’s Word because his mom and grandma taught him. Fathers may be addressed because of their responsibility, but mothers are integral to the task. Church history hangs on the prayers and guidance of godly mothers.

Parents teach through words and actions

We teach and instruct not only with the words that we use, but in what we care about, and how we live. What do you make time for? What do you sacrifice for? How do you respond when things are hard? Does your life match what you say is important? 

Again, Chrysostom is helpful. He challenges parents not to be solely focused on the material prosperity of their kids, but instead to focus on their character. He explains that a person can be rich but not content and therefore miserable. He clarifies that this does not mean neglecting natural instruction and developing skills, but he wants parents to be aware that the moral life is not reserved for monks in the monastery, but is for each of us.

Let us give them a pattern. Let us make them from the earliest age apply themselves to the reading of the Scriptures. Alas, that so constantly as I repeat this, I am looked upon as trifling! Still, I shall not cease to do my duty.^[4]

Since God works through our callings, they have the potential to give a false understanding

Finally, as we think about this idea, we should note that just as our callings can and should image God to our kids, they do so imperfectly. This is not to excuse sin, but it is to rightly recognize it. There is grace for parents, and there is grace for kids with bad parents. But grace and forgiveness do not necessarily cancel out consequences or effects of sin. 

We are called to imagine eternal realities. God does give parental imagery and marital imagery simply as illustrations, but these are examples of true and greater eternal realities. We imagine or reflect them in a creaturely and, often, sinful way. But even our dim reflections are important pointers. Still, we can so gum up this with that it can deeply affect our kids. For this, we need to be careful. Too often, God as Father conjures negative instead of positive images. 

Live for Jesus as Children

Children are invited to reflect Jesus

Think about this, children are invited to reflect Christ. A child may not be able to read or understand the deep truths of Scripture, but as they obey their parents, they are living out God’s call on their lives. Of course, parents are accountable for how they lead their children, and the call here is that they should follow in the Lord. This puts limitations on this. But the call to do this in the Lord also helps kids see that they can serve Jesus, too, in their role. What an amazing reality. Adults have so many ways to serve the Lord in all of life, but kids aren’t removed from that. They can serve Jesus, too, in the safety of the home.

Jesus, the child

Have you ever thought about Jesus as a child? Sometimes we skip right to Jesus fully grown and doing miracles, teaching, maybe we miss that altogether and just look to the cross and resurrection. But Jesus was born to Mary. She and Joseph raised him. If you are a kid or if you have children or grandchildren, think about that. Jesus knows what kids are going through personally. Not only that, but he knows what it’s like for his parents to get on his case a little bit. Remember when he was in the temple, sitting and learning. This is a bit of a creative retelling of the story, but I can imagine his parents freaking out a bit. “Where were you? Why didn’t you come along? We were worried sick. Get your butt out of here now, young man!” Here is where Jesus can relate if you have had something similar, but also differs from each of us, we know he didn’t do anything wrong. Parents can be wrong, but so can kids, but here we know for sure that Jesus didn’t do anything wrong. But what was his response? Did he talk back? Did he say, “Listen here, you forgot me!” No, the Bible says that he submitted to them. It’s the same word that is used for wives to husbands here in our passage. He submitted, and what was the result? It impacted his mom. 

All children honor God as they honor their parents

Another aspect of this that we shouldn’t miss is that as we grow, we still honor God as we honor our parents. Perhaps you have a terrible relationship with your parents, but there is still something that you can grab hold of to honor them. Just as God knit us together, our parents were involved in our being here. We owe them at least that. Too often, we have a black and white approach to how we view people. Or we allow bitterness and resentment to grow. Be careful of this. You can view things differently and still fight to respect and honor where you are able. 

As Christians, we can do this because of God’s love for us. Luther said it like this, 

God’s love does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. Human love comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.

The good in us is because of God’s grace at work in us. Rejecting the good in another is rejecting God’s grace in someone’s life. But honoring them where we are able is honoring God’s work in and through them for our good.

Conclusion

Our calling at home is one way we live out our primary call. Some of us will have more family obligations than others in this season of our lives, but each of us can live for Jesus where we are at. We don’t do this alone, but in the power of the Holy Spirit who has been sent for us. We don’t do it in order to gain God’s favor. God is not a distant father who is looking to shame us and point out our flaws. As 1 John 3:1-2 tells us, 

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.^[5]

This is our Christian hope. It’s what we look forward to. It’s what the Lord’s Supper points us toward. One day, we will be with the one who loves us and made us his children. Is this you? . Apart from Jesus, we belong to the world that is passing away, and our sin reflects another family, one that is against God and his ways, but Scripture teaches we are made God’s children through adoption. The possibility for adoption into God’s family was secured in Jesus’ work in conquering sin and death for us so that all who turn from their sin and trust in Jesus belong to Him. 

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 7:17.

^[2] M. J. Edwards, ed., Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 195.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 7:9–11.

^[4] John Chrysostom, “Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians,” in Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. William John Copeland and Gross Alexander, vol. 13, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1889), 154.

^[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 3:1–2.