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Because He Lives
This sermon was preached September 15, 2010 at a Mission in Downtown Birmingham, AL by Jake Hanson.
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For some more recent thoughts on the Resurrection, see "Worth Living For: The Meaning of the Resurrection"
I want to look at a passage tonight that brings me great encouragement, and I hope and pray that it will bring you encouragement as well.
You see, there are moments of weakness when I wonder if it is worth it to live the Christian faith in full obedience. There are times when I wonder if what I am doing for Christ has any value or worth. There are times when I wonder if a life of sin, where I let my passions run wild, is not more enjoyable than the life of righteousness. Is all this hard work against sin worth it?
And I do not think that I am alone. Many of you also wonder. Is this all worth it? Indeed, sometimes I look at people living in sin, and wonder, with the prophet Jeremiah and the Psalmist who wonder the same thing: “Why, Lord, do the wicked prosper while I suffer and toil?” And I am tempted to take off my breastplate of righteousness, and take on a cloak of wickedness. To set aside the life that God has called me to.
Then, I am constantly reminded of this verse from 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58 which we will look at tonight. Read this verse with me.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
I. “Therefore” and the Resurrection
Two questions immediately come into my mind as I reflect on this verse. Why should I continue to live a life dedicated to the Lord? And perhaps a more difficult question for me: How can I, a wicked and sinful man, live a life dedicated to the Lord?
I find the answer to my questions in this chapter. Verse 58 begins with the word, “Therefore.” Whenever you see the word “therefore” in the Bible, you should ask, “What is the ‘therefore’ there for?” In this instance, it points us back to the previous verses of this magnificent chapter. And in this chapter, we find Paul’s great explanation of the event and the meaning of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this chapter, we read that “that [Jesus] Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, [and here is the important part] and that He was raised on the third day…” And because He is alive, those who put their trust in Him are also made alive—made to live forever, in new, resurrected bodies which are not subject to sinful passions and sickness and disease and death.
And this brings me back to my question: Why should we live a life of righteousness instead of follow our sinful passions? You see, sin leads to death. “The wages of sin is death.” “The sting of death is sin.” But Jesus Christ came that you might have life and have it to the fullest. Why should we stand strong? BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST LIVES.
And my other question: How can I stand in the faith in righteousness? I can only stand—sinful and wayward as my heart is—Because Jesus Christ lives and is not in the grave. Because He lives, I also can live in Him by His resurrection power. And this is why the “Therefore” begins our verse. We can, and should live lives committed to the Lord because Jesus Christ lives!
II. Be Steadfast, Immovable
And then we have this command from Paul in verse 58:
“Be steadfast, immovable.”
In other words, “Be firmly established. Do not be moved” from where you are in the faith.
Now, these two words, and words like these, are used constantly throughout the New Testament. “Stand firm,” we are told. “Be established.” “Be rooted.” There are multiple images in the Bible of being immovable from the faith.
Colossians 1:23 uses these same words, if you turn a few pages forward in your Bibles to Colossians and keep your finger on 1 Corinthians.
“21And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—23if indeed you continue in the faith [and here come our two words] firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven…”
You see, the Colossians were people who were being moved from the hope of the Gospel in two major ways, and ways which threaten to move us from the Gospel of Jesus Christ if we are not careful. First, some were being moved from the Gospel by a different Gospel. Teachings which were not true. And second, they were being moved away from the Lord by their lustful passions.
Many of you have heard and received the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have heard, and believed, that Jesus Christ came into the world to die for the sins of those who would believe in Him, not as a result of our works. You have heard, that not only did He die, but He conquered death, that we who believe might live in Him. And you have heard that one day the Lord will raise those of us up who believed to reign with Him forever in glory in our newly resurrected, and completely transformed, bodies. And many of you have received this Gospel.
But trials are coming. You will be tempted in your passions and in your faith to be moved. Paul tells the Corinthians in chapter 10:
“…let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”
I hear men here at BB tell me all the time, “I will never turn back to my old ways.” But the sad truth is that some of these men do turn back, and you know some of them. “…let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” Peter tells us in his first letter, that you must
“…be on the alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9But resist him, firmly established in your faith…”
Satan wants to destroy you. He will throw everything he can at you. But do not be moved. Why? Brothers. Because Jesus Christ lives. How? By His resurrection power. Because He lives!
III. Always abounding in the Work of the Lord
And then we come to these words in 1 Corinthians 15:58:
“Always abounding in the work of the Lord…”
“Always” and “Abounding,” or “overflowing” in the work of the Lord. What a difficult command! It’s like when Jesus commands, “Be ye perfect!” I mean, don’t we get a vacation or a break from doing the work of the Lord? And can’t we just do a good deed here and there and get by? No! Always be overflowing with the work of the Lord in your life.
Don’t you think that it is odd that Paul writes this command and this verse to the Corinthians of all people? I mean, I could understand if he were writing to a pastor, or church leader. But he writes to the Corinthians these words. In this long letter, he had laid out what type of people the Corinthians were, and the issues in the Corinthian church. There were fights and divisions and tensions in their midst. There is a man in the church who had been sleeping with his father’s wife. There was other sexual immorality in Corinth. There was drunkenness. The Corinthians were even abusing the Lord’s Supper with gluttony, drunkenness and even greed. Their worship services were out of control with abuses of spiritual gifts.
It is to these people, regular, sinful people like you and me, that Paul writes, be “always abounding in the work of the Lord?”
We are tempted to believe that “the work of the Lord” is reserved for pastors and preachers and teachers and apostles. But even if we look at chapter 16 of Corinthians, we see a list of people doing the work of the Lord. Timothy, Apollos, Stephanas and his family, and Fortunatus and Achaicus, and Prisca and Aquila.
The work of the Lord is for us all!
Listen to these words from Titus 2:
11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14who gave Himself for us [and listen to this] to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, [people who are] zealous for good deeds.
We have not been saved by our good deeds. We have been saved by grace through faith alone. But we were saved in order that we would be zealous for good deeds. Zealous and excited for doing the work of the Lord.
The fact that this command is to the Corinthians—as sinful as they were—gives me great hope. We struggle with many of the same things the Corinthian church struggled with—with arguments, with drunkenness, with sexual immorality. Paul doesn’t say they were doing drugs, but I bet you if drugs had been nearby, they would have been struggling with those, as well. But still, we are called to always overflow with the work of the Lord. It is these sinful Corinthians who are being called to be “always overflowing” with doing the work of the Lord. And they—and we—can only do that because Jesus Christ is alive. He is not dead. He is alive, and He brings us life, that we might bring life to this lifeless world. It is only because He lives!
IV. Your Toil Is Not in Vain in the Lord
Finally, we have these words in verse 58:
…be “always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
Your toil is not worthless in the Lord. Toil. Hard, painful work. /If you choose to follow Christ, many times it will feel like hard work. Always fighting against the sin that so easily entangles you. Always, having to keep your wits about you to look out for danger, and to be alert for the devil who would like to sift you like wheat. Always fighting against the waves that you might stand firm with the Lord Jesus Christ. But take heart my brothers. Your toil, your fighting, is not worthless because the Lord Jesus Christ lives!
Paul speaks a lot of things being worthless, or in vain, in this chapter.
He warns the Corinthians in verse 2 that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ saves you, unless you believed in vain. That is, unless your faith is worthless, you are saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Then in verse 14, Paul says that if Jesus Christ died and did not rise from the grave, then his preaching (and therefore my preaching) is worthless. And then in verse 17, he says that if Christ did not rise from the dead, then our faith is worthless. And then Paul gives a big, “But” in verse 20.
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead.”
In other words, my preaching and your faith is worthless if Jesus Christ is dead. BUT He lives! And because Jesus Christ lives, our faith is full of great value. Because He lives, He brings us life, and life abundant. Because He lives, when He returns to raise us up to glory, we will be changed, transformed, given new incorruptible bodies that will see no more pain, or sicknesses, or death, or be subject to our sinful passions. Because He lives, our work in the Lord brings the savor of the knowledge of Christ to every place. Because He lives, our toil is not in vain in the Lord.
I want to close tonight with a story. Some of you might be familiar with Christian singer and song-writer Bill Gaither and his wife Gloria.
Bill and Gloria Gaither were trying to be steadfast and immovable, and they saw their music as a work of the Lord. But in the late 1960s, they ran into some difficulties which threatened to discourage them from this very work.
You see, Bill Gaither had gotten sick; his wife had just had a child four months previous and they learned that she was once again pregnant. Bill’s sister was in the middle of a divorce which was a major family crisis and devastated the family. And perhaps to top things off, one of their close friends accused them of using their “work of the Lord” in order to make money. As a result, Bill got very depressed. Maybe he should just give up, he thought.
But, in the midst of these trials, another close friend came to them and prayed over them. And as he prayed, both Bill and Gloria sensed the Holy Spirit come upon them and reassure them.
And out of these trials, and the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they wrote a most wonderful song with these words:
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.
And then one day I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain.
And then as death gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives.
There will be times when you will get discouraged. You will at times be wondering if staying with the faith in obedience is worth it. There will be times when you wonder if your life of sin was more pleasant than your life of righteousness. You will at times wonder if the good works that you do are worth it, or if you should just give up. But my beloved brothers, “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” because He lives.