What Does Not Change: A Reflection Based on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

            Michael Hutchence was the lead singer of an incredibly popular band back in the 1980s called INXS. They sold millions of records, filled arenas. You heard their songs on the radio all the time. A supergroup. But as the 80s moved into the 90s, INXS couldn’t keep up with the changes in popular music. Their record sales declined. Fewer and fewer people would go to their shows. INXS fell apart. But for Michael Hutchence, the fall was much harder.

            There’s another supergroup that has managed, in spite of themselves, to keep selling their records and filling the arenas. They go by the name of U2. Their lead singer, Bono, was friends with Michael Hutchence. Michael could not handle his fall from fame well. He was stuck in the past glory and could not adjust to his present reality. He took his own life. And his suicide inspired Bono to write a song called “Stuck In A Moment.” Part of the lyric is: “You’ve got to get yourself together, you got stuck in a moment, and you can’t get out of it. Don’t say that later will be better, you’ve got stuck in a moment, and you can’t get out of it.” Bono goes on to write about how much he was inspired by Hutchence’s music. But then he writes, “You are such a fool to worry like you do. I know that it’s tough, and you can never get enough of what you don’t even need now.” Hutchence wanted more fame, more fortune, he just couldn’t get enough of it even though he didn’t need that. He had made a name for himself. He had achieved great fortune. He was so wrapped up in the need for that fame that when he lost it, he lost his meaning for living.

            Anyone who has been paying attention lately in the football world has been hearing all about deflated footballs. But there’s another story. What will Payton Manning do? Will he play one more season or will he retire? He’s non-committal. It appeared as this past season wound down that he wasn’t his best, that he couldn’t throw with as much accuracy and speed as we are used to seeing. Is it time for him to call it quits? This conversation about what Payton might do reminds me of the drama of Brett Farve who took forever to finally get to the point where he could say that he needed to stop playing professionally. I feel for those guys. From the outside looking in, it appears their whole identity is wrapped up in football, and playing football on the biggest of stages. To just let that go and walk away, something that is so central to your identity. That’s got to be tough. Will life have any meaning for them outside of playing football in the NFL? Of course, there is a life outside of the game. But I imagine for them that’s a hard thing to accept.

            Life is always changing. Things happen to us we didn’t expect. Chance brings us Alzheimer’s or cancer, a freak accident or a financial catastrophe. What used to work well for us doesn’t work as well any more. New challenges are confronted and it’s not always clear what to do or how to make it through these challenges. Life has a lot of ups and downs, bends and curves, and we have to try to make our way through the world as best we can.

            Paul, like the rest of us, had to figure out how to make it through this crazy thing we call life. But for Paul, everything changed when Jesus rose from the dead. When Jesus did that, a whole new order began. Jesus, according to Paul, is the first fruits of a new creation that God has initiated. It’s a new order in that death no longer has the last word. In this new order, life is persistent, life conquers death, life has the last word. This present age of decay, diminishment, and death, for Paul, is passing away. God’s new creation has already begun.

            This being the case, a central question for Paul was this: “How do Christians, who are already part of this new order, live in this old world order that is passing away?” One option is to completely separate ourselves from the world. Just gather all the believers together, run off into the wilderness, build a Christian commune and have nothing to do with outsiders. That’s been tried. That’s not going to work for Paul. Another option would be to just live in the world like any non-believer, as if the death and resurrection of Jesus didn’t make any difference. That didn’t seem right to Paul either. No, the answer must be that Christians have to live in the world but not be of the world. Or, as Vincent Wimbush puts it, Paul understood  that the world is the sphere in which Christians live their lives. But Paul rejects the world as a source for the values and identity of Christians.

            For Paul, the single, highest priority in life is not fame or fortune, not even to have a family, or be successful, or comfortable in your retirement. The single highest priority is to be devoted to God and give glory to God as a child of God. That’s what life is all about, to give glory to God. Sometimes you hear the word orthodox and it is often used to mean “right beliefs.” But no, orthodox means “right glory.” That’s what life is about, to give the right glory to God. The big question then becomes, how do you do that? How do we manage to give glory to God when we live in a world that has values, social norms, regulations and laws, institutions, economic systems, culture, that are not designed for the purpose of giving glory to God? That’s a tough question to answer. We are trying to live a certain way of life in a world that is not designed for that kind of life to be lived out.

            Paul’s suggestion is to live your life “as if not.” If you are married, live as if you are not married. If you are sad, live as if you are not sad. If you are happy, live as if you are not happy. If you are buying something, live as if you don’t own it. If you have dealings with the world, live as if you don’t. Please note, Paul didn’t say you should live “as not” but “as if not” and that makes all the difference. Obviously, when Paul says married people should live as if they are not married, that doesn’t mean get separated or divorced or ignore your spouse. Of course you stay married. He’s not saying that if you’re sad just suck it up and don’t cry. He’s not being a killjoy, saying if you are happy then you need to snap out of it. Christian’s aren’t supposed to be happy. Come on. He’s not saying Christians shouldn’t buy things or make business deals. Of course not. We have to live in this world. But we don’t have to be controlled or ultimately defined by the world, by who we are in relationship with, by our feelings.

            For example, let’s look at what Paul is saying about marriage. 1 Corinthians 7 is all about marriage. Basically, Paul is not a big fan of marriage or having kids. He wasn’t opposed to marriage. He understood it’s a divinely sanctioned institution. He understood that if everyone was celibate then the human race would come to an end, and I’m sure that’s not something he would want to see. Paul’s concern was that if the main thing in life is to give glory to God, to be totally devoted to serving God, then having a spouse and a family can be a source of problems. Those of us who have families know what it’s like to be pulled in several different directions. Marriage and family life forces us to juggle all kinds of demands. Family life can create all kinds of distractions and interruption. And also, family life can sometimes be used as an excuse to avoid devoting your energies toward serving God. I know this from personal experience. Divided energies and distraction. That’s what Paul would wish that we could avoid. That’s why he says that although there is nothing wrong with being married, it’s better not to be married. It’s one less source of aggravation.

            But it doesn’t have to be just that. I remember a parable Jesus taught about the king who had a banquet and invited his friends, but each one had an excuse for not attending. One had just bought some land and needed to check on it. Another had just got an ox and he needed to check on it. One had just got married, and they were heading out on their honeymoon, so he couldn’t attend. All these excuses because people had put other things or other relationships as a priority over devotion to God. It’s a constant struggle over competing priorities, isn’t it?

            So the trick is, in every moment of life, whatever the situation might be or whoever you find yourself relating to in that moment, to figure out how to give honor, glory, devotion to God in that present moment. How can your marriage give glory to God? How can you give glory to God by the way you raise, guide, and spend time with your kids? How might you give glory to God with the things you own and the work you do? That’s the heart of the matter. When Paul says to married people to live as if they aren’t married, he is saying that marriage is not the number one priority. The number one priority is to be devoted to God and marriage is the context in which to do that.

            Giving glory to God, for Paul, is the number one priority because of Jesus, who defeated death and rose again. God has begun to make all things new and Christians are a part of that new thing that God is doing. The things of this world aren’t permanent. Nostalgia, longing for past glory, is nothing but devotion to the past. That’s not devotion to God, that’s devotion to what once was. Anxiety about how it seems the world is falling apart, that’s not devotion to God. That’s devotion to the need to keep things the same, the way it’s always been, to be in control. No, to be devoted to God, to give glory to God, requires being in the present moment and asking how you can give glory to God in that moment.

            Life is constantly changing. There’s ups and downs, successes and failures, joy and sorrows. People come into our lives and leave our lives. But in every moment of life, God is always there. God is everlasting. God never changes in that God is always present and God always loves you and me. God’s love endures forever. Our challenge, as we make our way through life, is not to forget that. Our challenge is to remember this, and stay devoted to the One who is the very source of life, the One who is always about making all things new.