I recently listened to an excellent sermon from John Piper, entitled “Single in Christ: A Name Better Than Sons and Daughters.” Here are some highlights from the sermon (which is worth listening to in its entirety):
“Renounce the primacy of your natural relationships and follow Jesus into the fellowship of the people of God.”
“So I say it again to all singles in Christ: God promises you blessings in the age to come that are better than the blessings of marriage and children.”
“For those of you who remain single, God calls you to display, by the Christ-exalting devotion of your singleness, the truths about Christ and his kingdom that shine more clearly through singleness than through marriage.”
“Take heed here lest you minimize what I am saying and do not hear how radical it really is. I am not sentimentalizing singleness to make the unmarried feel good. I am declaring the temporary and secondary nature of marriage and family over against the eternal and primary nature of the church.”
“Marriage and family are temporary for this age; the church is forever. Being in a human family is no sign of eternal blessing, but being in God’s family means being eternally blessed. Relationships based on family are temporary. Relationships based on union with Christ are eternal. Marriage is a temporary institution, but what it stands for lasts forever.”
“Marriage is temporary, and finally gives way to the relationship to which it was pointing all along—Christ and the church—the way a picture is no longer needed when you see face to face.”
