Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
The unmarried Christian may give his or her undivided attention to the things of God whereas the married has to consider the the spouse’s needs and adjust accordingly. Caring for the things of the world is a phrase alluding to the fact that the spouse’s needs are to be taken into consideration which may compromise the priority of the gospel.
Hymns: 559 Near the Cross 558 We Plough the Fields 400 Every Moment of Every Day
Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes
(Remember Now Thy Creator)
Living Wisely
Ecclesiastes 10:8-15
8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. 9 Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby. 10 If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct. 11 Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better. 12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. 13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. 14 A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him? 15 The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.
Exodus 1:15-22 (KJV) 15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one wasShiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 16And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew …
“Without carefulness” means “to be free from care or anxiety”, to be torn between two conflicting responsibility. The unmarried Christian, without the commitment of time in caring for spouse and children, can better devote time to serve the Lord “undistracted”. This is not to say that the married person cannot care for the things of God. Rather, the family’s needs requires the commitment of time and resources that the unmarried person can give better over the married person. This does not mean that the unmarried Christian necessarily would make such a sacrifice toward the service of the Lord.
The Christian is to set is affections on the things that has eternal value. This world passes away and all there is therein. Whether earthly relationship between husband and wife, the emotions that overtakes us during the various circumstances in life whether it be sorrow or joy, the material possession that we own in this life time and all that is in this world is but temporal.
Life on earth is but a fleeting existence, soon we die. Whether one is married or not married there is that time of reckoning that befalls every man, a time to die. And in view of this inevitable outcome, the plans made in life are truly, at best, uncertain in its fulfilment.
James 4:13-16 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
Acts 13:1-12 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.
Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians “The Glory of the Church” (Ephesians 1:15-22) OUTLINE What Hope! (v15-18a) What Wealth! (v18b) What Power! (v19-23) INTRODUCTION We have begun the study concerning the doctrine of the church from Ephesians 1:1-14. The Church is …
1 Corinthians 7:28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
There is no sin for a single person to choose to marry. “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled” (Heb. 13:4). Indeed, God instituted marriage from the beginning. This is God’s solution to “trouble in the flesh” remaining unmarried.
Genesis 2:20-24 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Showers of Blessing
– In Prisoner-of-War Hospital
When Major Daniel Whittle left home to join the Northern Army in the American Civil War, his mother placed a New Testament in his kit. It remained there, unread. At the battle of Vicksburg the major lost his right arm and was taken prisoner by the Southern Army.
While recovering in the hospital, looking for something to read, he found the New Testament. He read it daily and was reminded of the faith he had been taught early in life but had forsaken. Still, his heart was not moved to accept Christ.
One night, Whittle was awakened by an orderly who said that a dying man in another room needed someone to come and pray for him. The major protested that he did not know how to prayer or be of help. The startled orderly said, “But I thought you were a Christian; I have seen you reading the Bible.”