John Piper - Marriage, Singleness, and the Christian Virtue of Hospitality

1/25/14

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhOzMeqwQiQ&feature=share&list=PLAcB0f-21Xj26CR8Nc1FAo8dGccTuiFmQ&index=9)

Christ magnified through married and single people showing hospitality to each other.

If it's true that God's family comes into being by new birth and faith, that family is more central and lasting than family created by marriage, procreation, and adoption.

Way that spiritual family relates to each other is crucial in showing the world that we put supernatural workings over natural workings/relations.

Jesus: "whoever gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because he is a disciple, he will by no means lose his reward."

Giving water to enemy is Christ-like for sure, showing simple acts of kindness to believers precisely because Christ is their king is also Jesus' command.

Why did God create material universe and create people with bodies (drives like hunger, relationship, sex...)?

When His goal was on the Kingdom of God? Why didn't he just create us like angels, without material bodies?

So what's up with the bodies?

More than one answer to this question:

- BECAUSE God's not going to throw them away, but raise them from the dead. Our bodies will not be shedded, but will be made new into spiritual bodies.

- BECAUSE when they are rightly seen and rightly used, God's glory is more fully known/displayed than if he hadn't made them. The material world is not an end to itself. It is designed to give God glory and awaken our hearts to know/value Him more. It's all about worship! You have a body to make God look good.

Physical reality is good. He intends us to sanctify it in active worship with it, wherever we are.

He intends us to see the physical things in relation to Him and use it in the way it makes much of Him, so that doing that give us joy.

It protects us from idolizing sex/food as god/idols, and protects us from fearing sex/food.

We should not idolize them and we dare not fear them, as though God had not designed them for His glory.

They're not evil, they're instruments of worship, ways to make God look good.

1 Timothy 4:1-5 "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer." 

- The most important verse to manage sex and hunger and find meaning in God's design and purpose.

Sounds so self-controlled and ascetic, but Bible clearly says it's demonic and hellish.

What's God's solution?: everything is good if received by God-ward thanksgiving because in that act of thanksgiving, it is made holy (not intrinsically holy) by the Word and prayer.

We make food holy by using it according to the Word of God, in Christ-dependent prayer. (Sex as well)

Marriage: physical parable of covenant love between Christ and church.

Singleness: physical parable of spiritual nature of God's family that grows not by marriage/procreation/adoption but rather by regeneration/renewal of faith.

Don't idolize both marriage/singleness, don't fear marriage/singleness.

Some dangers:

- marriage/celibacy can both be idols.

- spouses can worship each other, children, wealth, sex.

- singles can worship autonomy, independence.

- married and single people might disdain each other.

There are Christ-exalting ways to use our bodies and appetites to make much of Christ, both in our marriage and in singleness.

1 Corinthians 7:9 "But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." 

- Paul talking to men AND women.

- When a person seeks to be married, knowing that being a single he/she will burn with passion, that does NOT have to mean marriage simply be a channel of sexual drive.

- Is marriage just a sexual release? NO.

When man resists and prayerfully ask God to lead him to the woman he's going to spend life with:

(1) he takes his sexual desire and brings it into conformity of God's word 

(2) he subordinates it higher love and care 

(3) he transposes the music of physical pleasure into the music of spiritual worship 

(4) he listens for the echoes of God's goodness in every nerve 

(5) he seeks to double his pleasure by making her joy his joy 

(6) he gives thanks to God from bottom of his heart because he knows he never deserves one minute of this pleasure

And thus everything is changed, he is a godly man with the way God made him.

Showing hospitality to each other. If marriage/singleness is a calling, it is a hard one.

1 Peter 4:7-10 "The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."

- We need to pray because (1) we don't want to meet Jesus as stranger and (2) in the last days the stress is going to be huge on marriage, singleness and not many will stand, will be swept away from true relationship with God.

- Love is paramount; it will be needed in the last day, we need each other when pressures are huge from the world.

- At the last day, we're going to sin to each other, but love will keep us from losing what we need. We need to cover each other's sins in the last day (married people to singles, singles to married)

- Don't depend on spontaneity when it comes to prayer (don't pray when you just feel like it). Plan your prayers, don't do it unintentionally. 

- Love = covers sins; Hospitality = shouldn't grumble (see the parallelism?) Love covers stuff that tend us make grumble.

- Love comes from God, and it is a work of God. We need to pray to get rid of our own self-preoccupation and to include others in my life.

- Open heart, open home. Especially those to who make us grumble. Our hearts are open to those in need when we are loved by Jesus on the cross. If we don't love others enough, we are not loving Jesus and his cross as much as we should.

- We don't show hospitality out of own resources; but grace comes in, hearts open, and grace flows out. We are the channel/steward of God's grace. It's not about you and the size of apartment, it's about grace.

Applications:

(1) Jesus calls that everybody welcome one another as Christ welcomed you.

(2) Married people - plan your hospitality to include single people.

(3) Single people - show hospitality to other single people & to married people.