NOT IN VAIN – 1 Corinthians 15:58

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 9, 2020 under 2020 |

Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; February 9, 2020 from 1 Corinthians 15:58

Theme: We should give our all to Jesus’ cause; because our labor is not in vain in Him.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

Click HERE for the audio version of this sermon.

I call your attention this morning to just one verse of the Bible. It’s the last verse of 1 Corinthians 15.

It’s a verse that sums up all that the apostle Paul taught in that chapter about the resurrection of Jesus Christ—and of our future resurrection as believers in Him. There is a sense, too, in which it is a verse that sums up all that the apostle Paul taught in the whole letter of 1 Corinthians. But more than even that, it is a verse that really sums up the reason Paul gave for a whole-hearted devotion to the Christian life.

In 1 Corinthians 15:58, the apostle Paul wrote;

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58).

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This is a great verse. And whenever I read it, I think back to a conversation I had with one of my former professors from Bible college.

I had just graduated from seminary, and was visiting with this professor in his study. And as we were chatting, he told me about how, one evening, he had read the verse that I had just quoted to you—1 Corinthians 15:58. It had been at a very frustrating time in his ministry; and that particular verse made him even more frustrated. He read it over and over—especially the part where it says, “knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord”. He told me that he prayed, “But Lord; if this is true, then why do I feel like my ‘labor’ has been so much ‘in vain’ lately? I work, and work, and work; and yet, it doesn’t seem like I accomplish anything! My labor sure is in vain!”

And he told me, “And when I read that verse again, Greg, I realized what my problem was. It says that our labor is not in vain ‘in the Lord’. I was trying to do it all in myself. And so long as I did that, I had no hope of my labor having any value at all. I repented; and I said, ‘Lord Jesus, I quit doing my work in myself. I yield to You; and I ask that You do it all through me.’”

I have never forgotten that conversation. It reminds me of why it is that we keep on going and keep on growing—even when it seems as if, from this world’s point of view, nothing comes from it that we can see with our human eyes—even when it all seems to be a waste of time. It reminds me to turn my gaze away from the temporal things of this world that I can see; and to turn my eyes back onto the Lord Jesus Himself—to look by faith upon Him as the resurrection Savior, and to believe on His promise that, as He Himself was raised in glory, so also I will one day be.

And as a result, I’m motivated—knowing that whatever it may be that He calls me to do—even if it doesn’t seem like much in this world’s perspective—my labor is not in vain in the Lord.

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The whole matter of ‘motivation’ in the Christian life is what is behind this verse. It was what Paul was seeking to deal with in the whole of 1 Corinthians 15. Let’s take a moment to review.

Paul started off by reminding his Corinthian readers about the gospel message that he first preached to them. He told them;

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures … (vv. 1-4).

He went on to affirm that Jesus’ resurrection was an actual event. The fact that He was raised alive from the dead was confirmed by many multiple hundred eyewitnesses—Paul himself being one of them. It was an essential part of the message of the gospel that Paul preached: that Jesus is bodily alive, and that Paul and many others physically saw him.

But that’s when Paul confronted a problem that was plaguing the Corinthian Christians. He wrote in verse 12; “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Apparently, some within the church were messed-up in their theology. They may have believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead, but they didn’t go further to believe the promise Jesus Himself had made; that those who believed on Him would—like Him—one day be raised up in glory.

This problem of disbelief was destroying the whole motivation these Corinthian Christians needed for the Christian life. Paul went on to write;

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable (vv. 13-19).

Unless it has sunken down deeply in our hearts that Jesus Christ rose from the dead—unless we have become convinced in our own spirits that we will most assuredly be raised with Him in glory at His coming—then it would be no wonder that our labors in the Christian life might seem to us to be ‘in vain’. If we have no genuine expectation of being raised in glory, then it would seem to us that our labors in the cause of the Lord Jesus are of no ultimate value. In fact, if there is no resurrection, the whole Christian life truly is a waste of time.

“But now Christ is risen from the dead,” Paul wrote,

and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive (vv. 20-22).

To have ‘fallen asleep’ was Paul’s metaphor for those who have died in Christ—those who had placed their faith in Him, and went to the grave with the expectation of being ‘awakened’ to life. And Jesus being called ‘the firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep’ was Paul’s way of saying that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the first resurrection—the one that guaranteed many more were yet to come.

After answering some questions we might have about that future resurrection, Paul writes in verses 50-57;

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:50-57).

And that’s when we come to our verse this morning—verse 58.

It begins with the word “therefore”; pointing our attention back to all that Paul had just said about Jesus’ resurrection—and about our own resurrection in Him. He calls his readers “beloved brethren”; which was not only an expression of his deep love for all those who believe on Jesus, but also of the glorious expectation of glory that is shared together by him, and they, and all of us who believe on Jesus. We’re destined to be raised together in victory! We’re destined to live together forever in the Father’s house with our Lord! We’re destined to share together in His eternal glory!

This is as sure and certain a thing as Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead. It ought to affect the way we live right now. And so Paul says;

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord (v. 58).

What a great verse this is! What a great motivation we have! We should give our all to serving Jesus Christ and His kingdom’s cause! We should never give up—never quit! It’s worth all we are and have! And this is because our labor is not in vain in the Lord!

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Now; if you look closely at this passage, you’ll see two important phrases. They are (forgive me for the grammar lesson here) ‘participial phrases’. A participle is an “-ing” word; and a participial phrase is one in which a verb is used to give active punch to something that is being said about a noun.

The first participle is “abounding”; and that’s where Paul says that we are to be “abounding in the work of the Lord”. That’s what you and I are to be doing—every single day—always. We’re not to be lazy or passive or inactive. We’re to get to work in the Christian life. And the second participle tells us why. It’s the word “knowing”; and that’s where Paul says that we’re to be hard at work “knowing” that our labor “is not in vain in the Lord.” That’s what you and I are to be believing with all our hearts.

So; let’s begin by considering the doctrinal part of this verse. The thing that we are to be “knowing”. We’re to know that, because of our future resurrection in glory, our labor is not in vain in the Lord. In the original language, this speaks of a confident and assured knowledge of something that is settled once and for all. It’s a knowledge that is established as true forever for us by the fact that Jesus Himself has been raised from the dead. Paul wrote that we’re to labor confidently, “knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

When Paul speaks of our “labor”, he is using a word that means hard and strenuous and wearisome work. And that’s what the work of our Christian life very often is; isn’t it? The Christian life is no easy path. Jesus said that it is the narrow and rough way—not the broad and easy one. It involves sacrifice. It involves persecution. It involves sweat and strain. No one knew this better than Paul. And all who walk in obedience with Jesus soon learn it too.

But it’s labor that is not in vain. Our efforts are not forgotten. Hebrews 6:10 tells us;

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister (Hebrews 6:10).

God our Father will raise us up again to the remembrance of all we did for Him. We’ve got to keep in mind, of course, that it must be labor that we perform “in the Lord”. Jesus Himself said;

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

Like the psalmist said in Psalm 127, “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it …” But because of the promise of resurrection, we can rest assured that what is done in the Lord will never prove to be in vain. We will absolutely be raised in life again to stand before Him in glory, and to hear Him say, “Well done!” Every sacrifice we make in His cause—every hour of hard labor and toil for His sake—every price we must pay in this world for our obedience to Christ—will be fully remembered by Him and gloriously rewarded.

No matter what it may cost us now, we’ll be glad on the day we stand before Him that we gave our all for Him.

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Now; that’s what we are to be “knowing”. That’s the doctrinal truth that stands behind our practical duty. And now, let’s consider the duty that Paul urges us to. He writes that we are to, “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord”.

I think of these two commands to be ‘steadfast’ and ‘immovable’ as two sides of the same coin. But there is a difference between them. ‘Steadfastness’ is a quality that has its focus on what is inside of us; and ‘immovability’ has its focus on what is outside of us.

To be ‘steadfast’ means that—as an internal state of my spirit—I am settled and established in the truths of the gospel. I stand firm in my faith, and I do not depart from it. I remember hearing once about someone—a professing believer—who became very seriously compromised their faith with regard to moral issues. This was because of family members who were living in openly sinful lifestyles. This person was asked about it; and they said, “Well, I used to believe what the Bible teaches; but my truth changed.” Just think of what a tragic statement that is! And it was incorrect. It wasn’t that the truth changed. It was this professing Christian that changed. They were not ‘steadfast’ in the truth of the gospel.

Because of our confidence in future resurrection and future glory, we don’t depart from a firm standing in the truth of God’s word. We remain ‘steadfast’ in it. The apostle Paul once wrote to the Colossian believers about the expectation that God will

… present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister (Colossians 1:22b-23).

Let’s make sure then that our knowledge is grounded in God’s promise of our future resurrection and glory. And if we do, we will be ‘steadfast’ in our faithfulness to the truth of the gospel and in our service to Jesus’ kingdom.

We’re also called to be ‘immovable’. And this has to do with the external circumstances of life. We are called upon to live faithfully for Jesus Christ in the midst of a dark and fallen world that fights against our faith every single day—and that tries to knock us away from it. We are constantly under the pressures of the world, the flesh, and the devil. But if we know confidently that our destiny is to be raised in glory with Jesus, then we are immovable; and do not let these pressures move us from our faithfulness to Jesus’ kingdom.

The apostle Paul once wrote in his letter to the Ephesians that we—as followers of Jesus—are to grow together in maturity in our faith;

that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ (Ephesians 4:14-15).

We’re not to be people who are unstable and uncertain—who question and doubt our faith every time we hear someone slander it, or criticize it, or express their unbelief about it, or speak badly of us for holding to it. We have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. We have a settled knowledge that God has raised Him from the dead. We have the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit—through the promise of God’s word—that we are destined to be raised in glory with Him. And having these convictions established in us—having them fixed into us as a confident, settled knowledge—then we will be immovable! The external pressures of this world will not throw us off our sure confidence in Jesus.

And in these two states of being with respect to our faith in Jesus—that we are ‘steadfast’ and ‘immovable’—we are to also be “always abounding in the work of the Lord.” It’s to be the Lord’s work; and we are to be “in” it. In fact, we are to be “abounding” in it—doing all we can; bringing it to bear in all of life; giving ourselves to it to the utmost; and supporting our brothers and sisters in Christ who do the same. And we are to be “always” doing so.

What kind of work is it that we’d be doing? For one thing, we’d always be abounding in the work of advancing Jesus’ kingdom. We’re not to make the pursuit of our own concerns on this earth the main thing in life—what we will eat, or what we will drink, or what we will wear. Instead, Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). In all that we do, we would seek to advance His kingdom and His cause in this world.

We’d also be working to advance His kingdom rule in our own lives. We will be ‘working out’ our own salvation. Jesus has saved us by His blood; but it’s our task to grow in that salvation. That’s one of the greatest works we do when we do the Lord’s work. It’s also one of the hardest. But as Paul told us in Philippians 2:12-13;

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).

That was a work that Paul himself constantly labored at. In Philippians 3:12-14, he wrote;

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (3:12-14).

If we’re abounding in His work, we will also be actively laboring to fulfill the Great Commission. Jesus said;

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

It may not be that God has given it to you or me to ‘go’ far away to make disciples. But He most certainly has called us to ‘go’ where we are—right here at home, at work, at school, and on our street. If we are truly expecting to be raised unto glory at the coming of Jesus, then we’d certainly work and pray hard to invite others to trust Jesus and join us!

And if we are abounding in the work of the Lord, we will seek to glorify Him in all that we do. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul wrote that whether we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, we are to “do all to the glory of God”. In Colossians 3:23-24; he wrote that

whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

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All these things—and many more—spring from the sure and certain expectation that we will be raised in glory with Jesus Christ. Are you convinced of that future in Christ? Is it your sure and certain expectation? Paul once wrote that

… our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:17-21).

That was his expectation. That was why he labored so hard in the Lord. And if it’s our expectation, we also will live accordingly.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Click HERE for the audio version of this sermon.

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