Episode 112 – Disciple Up

Disciple Up # 112
Being Different: Called To Be Single or Married?
By Louie Marsh, 6-12-2019

I Want To Be A Clone By Steve Taylor

1983

I’ve gone through so much other stuff
That walking down the aisle was tough
But now I know it’s not enough –
I Want To Be A Clone
I asked the Lord into my heart
They said that that’s the way to start
But now you’ve got to play the part
I Want To Be A Clone

Be a clone and kiss conviction goodnight
Cloneliness is next to godliness – RIGHT!
I’m grateful that they showed the way
‘Cause I could never know the way
To serve him on my own –
I Want To Be A Clone

They told me that I’d fall away
Unless I followed what they say
Who needs the Bible anyway?
I Want To Be A Clone
Their language, it was new to me
But “Christianese” got through to me
Now I can speak it fluently
I Want To Be A Clone

Send in the Clones

Ah, I kinda wanted to tell my friends & people about ya know?

What! You’re a babe! You have to grow! Give it 20 years or so

Cause if you want to be one of His you have to act like one of us!

So now I see the whole design,

My church is an assembly line

The parts are there I’m feeling – I want to be a clone

I’ve learned enough to stay afloat, but not so much I rock the boat

I’m glad they shoved it down my throat! – I want to be a clone

IT’S OKAY TO BE DIFFERENT IF THAT’S WHAT GOD IS CALLING YOU TO DO.

The word of the LORD came to me: “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth. Jeremiah 16:1-4 (ESV)

2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Hosea 1:2-3 (ESV)

32 This is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:32 (NIV)

GOD SAYS BOTH MARRIAGE AND BEING SINGLE ARE GOOD

1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 1 Corinthians 7:1 (ESV)

6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. 8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. 1 Corinthians 7:6-8 (ESV)

26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 1 Corinthians 7:26 (ESV)

WHAT DOES GOOD MEAN HERE?

καλός kalos adj

Beautiful, good, excellent, advantageous, noble.Complete Biblical Library Greek-English Dictionary, The – The Complete Biblical Library Greek-English Dictionary – Zeta-Kappa.

kalos is an adjective found over one hundred times with the general meaning “good,” as well as a variety of nuances.

The sense of “excellent,” “choice,” “of high quality” is indicated in Matt. 3:10; 13:24 ff.; Luke 3:9; John 2:10; 1 Tim. 4:4; 2 Tim. 2:3.

kalos denotes that which is “morally upright,” primarily in relation to “good works” (cf. Matt. 5:16; Mark 7:27; John 10:32 ff.; Rom. 14:21; 1 Thess. 5:21; 1 Tim. 5:4, 25; Titus 3:8; Heb. 10:24). The description “good” is applied to the law of God in this sense in Rom. 7:16 ff.; 1 Tim. 1:8.

“Fertile” soil is indicated in Matt. 13:23

GENERAL RULE OF THUMB – I COR. 7

The general rule is that being single is morally excellent and being married is morally excellent. It’s up to us to choose.

BOTH CAN BE A CALLING

Jeremiah and Hosea were both called by God and both had the direct opposite calling.

GOD USES BOTH FREELY AND EQUALLY

Peter married, Paul single

BOTH ARE EQUALLY MORALLY EXCELLENT AND ACCEPTABLE AND PLEASING TO GOD.

GOD CALLS PEOPLE TO BE DIFFERENT

22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 (ESV)