1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, 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.
As we reach the end of Corinthians 15, Paul encourages us to stand firm in the truth of the resurrection, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He capsulated this good news in his earlier statement: So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. (45-49) Paul wants the Corinthians to give themselves fully to the work of the Lord, with an understanding that their labor will not be in vain for they will experience the resurrection as new creatures made eternal by the hands of God. As with them, we who are IN CHRIST will be resurrected. Our simple faith in Jesus and his works gives us the resurrecting power of the Holy Spirit within us. If Paul were with us, he would tell us, Let nothing move you. Let nothing move us from the truth of the resurrection and the reality of the eternal God living in us. The Bible refers to us as temples of God, for He abides in us. When we gather as the body of Christ, we do not have to call out to him to meet with us because every born-again believer possesses the Spirit of God. As we walk through the doors of any sanctuary, we bring the Spirit of God with us into that room. In that dwelling, with the fulness of God, believers can exercise every spiritual gift, speak revelations from God, all for the glory of the Lord. With resurrection power in us, we who are in Christ do not serve a God of fortuitous happenstance, or a God of chance by the whim of man's creation. We are not those who when we gather together, we might imagine He is there with us, or we might feel He is not in our midst. We do not have to hope that by chance He might come to us or by some alignment of the stars, he might favor us by his presence. As we read in the Bible, God said, "For I the Lord do not change." (Malachi 3:6)
Yet people doubt God when they meet problems. The children of Israel faced uncertainty in the wilderness when they ran out of water. They tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?" (Exodus 17:2) They complained to Moses that he led them out to the desert to die, for they knew the wilderness was too barren for survival. They lost the strength to proceed and probably did not have enough strength to make it back to Egypt. Consequently, they threatened Moses, God's messenger, finding him at fault for deceiving them into believing God would provide. But God said, in this place called Massah, they tempted him with their unbelief. Even though they knew the constancy of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night, they believed God had led them to a place to die. They failed to believe in a God of goodness, his protection. They chose to believe in a God of abandonment and disaster. They lost their identity as God's chosen people and lost faith in Moses and his God. In today's world, as Christians, we must hold onto the eternal truth that we are new creatures. Seeing how the Children of Israel tempted God and his leading in their lives, as Christians we must believe in God's intimate involvement with our lives. Christianity is not a mystical idea that God is out there someplace, perhaps hidden in the stars, abiding on another planet somewhere in space, or maybe floating around in the air above us. We also must reject the foolish idea that some drug or sentient experience will bring us closer to God. In some religions the followers chew or ingest substances to make contact with the spiritual world. These activities lead to demonic religions. Once we accept Christ, we believe God is with us in every circumstance of life. God abides with us and molds us into his likeness. Jesus said, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-18. We must hold to these truths with childlike faith, not trying to find God through empirical evidence or some experience the flesh can detect through the senses. No, faith is the coin of the realm. Faith in the Creator who made all things through his Word is the substance that puts us in contact with God, opening the door to eternal life. With that coin you enter into the kingdom of God, into his presence, ever known as a child of God.
Paul worked diligently to convince the Corinthians of the foundational truth of the resurrection. In the last few weeks, we have written many words elucidating Paul's message about the resurrection. But Paul's teaching and our words will not be enough if you do not believe in your hearts that Christ arose and we too will rise from the dead. Paul says, If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1 Corinthians 15:32) We might as well satisfy every desire and need of the fleshly heart, for tomorrow, we die permanently. Our footprints will fade away into eternity. But, if the resurrection is true, if Christ really returned in bodily form, revealing the truth of eternity, then we should take Paul's admonition to heart: Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Our labor is not in vain then, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) Our hope of eternity is in Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit who is in us, who will resurrect us to Glory. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:12, KJV) When we feel ourselves in the wilderness, when we can see little around us that will sustain our lives, we look within ourselves and know that God is with us. He has not left us. He is perfecting the work that He started in us. If you are struggling today, close your eyes and ask God to heal your difficulty. Ask him to heal the weaknesses within you: the unbelief, the uncertainties, the anxiety, the fear, the hysteria, and the like. Do you ask, "Where are you God?" Then know that He is saying, "I am with you. I am in you. I have given you an ear to hear me." Make a bigger space for him in your heart. Rid yourself of those things that clutter up the room where He desires to abide and remove the noise that so easily overwhelms his voice. Allow him to speak to you. Hear his loving words, "My son, my daughter, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Cast your cares upon me. Someday you will be resurrected to be with me eternally." He will always be your Abba Father. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.
No comments:
Post a Comment