What does God’s word say about singleness?
Christianity is different from other world views
Judaism, celibacy is to be deplored
Koran encourages single people to marry
Mormons explicitly reject celibacy
Christianity affirms singleness
Who is single?
Is it OK to be single?
The Old covenant
Gen 2::18, It is not good for man to be alone”
Jeremiah told NOT to marry (Jer 16:1-4).
… a great nation (Gen 12:2)
Old Covenant, “is it OK in the eyes of YHWH to be single?”
“No – you need to aim at getting married and having kids”.
The New Covenant
Matthew 19
1 Cor 7:1, “It is good for a man not to marry”.
1 Cor 7:38, “so then, he who marries does the right thing, but he who does not marry does even better”.
1 Cor 7:7, singleness is a gift from God
1) A life of simplicity
1 cor 7:28
2) A sufficient life
1 Cor 7:29-31
3) A life that is ready and freer to serve
Singleness and sex.
Marriage is the ONLY God approved place for sex
The Struggles of Singleness
– a struggle with Contentment
– a struggle with Loneliness
Challenges
– Are we as a church as open to encouraging single people to serve the Lord as we are to married people?
– Do we include single people in our social group?
– When you got married did that end the time you spent with people who are single?
– Do you face the danger of being too self focussed?
One final word