“About a Certain Thing”

Text:“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Main Idea:  Our labor in the Lord is a certain thing in a risky world.

I.   “Dear brothers and sisters”

• You do know that you are dear to the Lord, right?
• See also Colossians 3:12 and 2 Thessalonians 2:13

 II.   “Stand firm. Let nothing move you.”

• This is not a call for personal fortitude. It is a call to dependence.  “Be strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10).
• 2 Timothy 4:16-18 16 “…but the Lord stood by me…”
• Judges 7:2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’
• Psalm 9:18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.
• So this is not a call to trust in the power of our flesh or will power but for divine power.
• There are no super Christians, just abundant grace.

 III.   “Give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord.”

• Don’t hold back. Don’t be afraid of mistakes.  Don’t be ashamed of “failure.”
• Let the work He is doing in you be a source of blessing to those around you.

IV.   “Because you know your labor (or “toil”) that it’s not in vain in the Lord.”

• Don’t do it to be noticed or appreciated.
• Don’t “fall in love” with “results.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:9 “Our ambition is to be pleasing to the Lord.”
• Our toil is not in vain because the Lord is not impressed by our “results” but by the love and faith that launches the effort.
• It is also not in vain because the Lord often blesses us in our serving in surprising and delightful ways.

“You have said harsh things against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape'” (Malachi 3:13-15).

• If we are not feeling or thinking this way, we have no room for looking down our noses at the people who said this. It’s only because of the grace of God that we think and feel otherwise.  There are no super Christians, just abundant grace.
• There are several major things wrong with the perspective of the people who made this indictment against the Lord: 1) Serving God is never futile; 2) The measurement is not between the have’s and the have nots but between the living and the unliving; 3) No one will “escape.”  That is why Jesus died for us.

Sometimes the purpose of a “small” manifestation of grace that the Lord prompts us to express is to prime the pump of our spirit for additional blessings to flow to others.  Sometimes a small act of love or service

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).