636 Jesus Transcends Circumstances - 1 Corinthians 7:20

We hear a lot today about calling and we also hear a lot of talk about what the Bible does or doesn't condone. Let's look at a controversial passage today. 1 Corinthians 7:20. 

Hey, I'm Mike Henry with Follower of One. Thanks for joining us on the Follower of One Podcast. I'm grateful that you joined us for this quick little four or five-minute introduction every morning to help us think like God's people as we go to work. Today, I want to read 1 Corinthians  7:20 from the English Standard Version. 

"Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called."

Paul is actually talking about, whether or not we were slaves or free or circumcised or uncircumcised at the moment that we came to Christ. And his examples are pretty specific. Some people use passages like this to claim that the Bible justifies slavery. But I don't think the Bible is justifying slavery at all.

The apostle Paul is reminding us that Jesus transcends circumstances. Sometimes the Holy Spirit prompts us to get out of a bad situation. And sometimes we're in a situation that isn't positive, but we can still make good things happen there. If you're in a negative situation that's your own choosing, or if you're in some difficult or illegal situation, by all means, get out.

But in this passage, I believe Paul is telling us, that our circumstances are subject to Jesus and not the other way around. I don't think Paul's talking about extremes either. When we look at the verse in context, we just see this over and over again. Jesus transcends our circumstances. If you became a Christian while you were a slave, don't seek to be freed.

This is the same thing about maybe employers and employees. I spent most of my career working for someone else. And many of the passages in scripture, the references to the slave are almost like employees. You sold yourself to someone and they supported you while you worked for them. That was a certain kind of slave too. 

We're not all called to be entrepreneurs. We're not all called to do our own thing. Many of us do perfectly well working for someone else as a salesperson or an engineer or an accountant. And we're not supposed to necessarily strive to put ourselves in another situation.

I remember thinking and begging God to get me out of my workplace. And one day, it wasn't an audible word, but what God seemed to be saying to me was, "Mike, I didn't save you to take you out of where you are. I saved you, the leave you in there." 

Where you work is part of the story and the people that you're around every day, they're part of your story. Let's not project some kind of belief system on all of scripture and all of Christianity from a passage like this. But we can apply it to our own situation. Am I in a circumstance that I can tolerate? If I am, then let me glorify God in that. And if I'm in a circumstance that I can't tolerate, then I need to glorify God as I find a way to get out.

Even if you choose to leave your job, find a way to leave in such a way that they would wish you weren't going. Make sure that when you go that you leave a hole; that they regret your having gone. 

I don't think that God calls us to leave all the time. Often I believe He calls us to glorify Him right where we are. We talked about this a little bit in the previous podcast. Our spiritual gifts are the way that we make God show up in the world. Your circumstances and your environment is the place where that happens.

And so let's lean on Him today. Thanks for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for considering how you can take your faith to work, and how you can glorify God in and among the people that you work with every day. Your actions matter. Everything we do because we follow Jesus matters forever. Thanks for being a marketplace minister.