1 Corinthians 15: Your Labor Is Not in Vain in the Lord

Introduction

At the thanksgiving service of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, Peter Masters preaches on a single verse: "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord's work, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58, WEB).

His subject: the only attitude that makes sense for a Christian, the one that is useful, productive, rewarded and fruitful. "Almost every word counts for us tonight," he says. So he goes through the verse word by word, before giving thanks for God's faithfulness to his Church over the years.

Outline of the message

1. "Therefore, my beloved brothers": in the light of the victory

• The verse builds on what Paul has just written: "Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory? [...] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:55-57, WEB).
• At the end of life's journey or at the return of Christ, the believer will receive an immense victory: over judgment, over the power of sin (already possessed through regeneration, fully given then), over death, corruption and all the hostility of the world.
• This victory comes from what Christ alone has done, not from our works. He suffered and died for us, and he removed the condemnation that hung over our heads.
• Once born again, we long for a righteous life and fight the sin that remains: "What used to be our friend becomes our enemy." No effort earns salvation, but because we are saved, we strive to honor him, and he strengthens us.
• "The Christian who does not pray will always fall, or fail to some degree."
• "My beloved brothers": people tend to exaggerate the faults of the church in Corinth. Yet the apostle loved it, knew many of its members, and prayed and worked for them.
• There were real problems: a party spirit around certain preachers, confusion between the fellowship meal and the Lord's Supper (some ate everything before the others arrived), people who wanted to push themselves forward, no discipline toward a man who had fallen into serious sin, and a few who doubted the resurrection.
• But those must have been a small number, because the church as a whole is "my beloved brothers": serious people and true believers. A church with problems to correct, "like most churches, because we are sinners."

2. "Be steadfast, immovable"

• The word translated "steadfast" comes from a Greek verb meaning to fix, to establish. To be steadfast is to be stable, assured, firmly attached to the Lord, to his cause and to his work.
• The Corinthians needed to be taught doctrine, all the precious truths of the Word, so that they could see them in their full light. Sometimes even people who are truly converted can be unstable because they stop learning.
• "Immovable" is not quite a synonym: it means that you are under attack. "It is a war." All sorts of things come to distract your attention.
• You can be shaken by strong temptations, but also by the desire for things that are not necessarily bad: they are attractive and you want more of them than you need, you want to enjoy them excessively.

3. "Always, abounding, in the work of the Lord"

• "Always," and not only in certain seasons. Some Christians are very zealous when they are young, then they marry, start a family, get a promotion, take care of everything else, and their hearts grow cold toward the Lord's work. "It is tragic."
• The superlatives pile up in the text: it could be translated "an ever-growing abundance." "How precious are those who never stop, never let up and always increase."
• The pastor defends the principle of the "working church": everyone, according to their circumstances, is encouraged to take part in God's work. It is not reserved for the pastor or the leaders. There is organized witness, witness in the neighborhood, and service among children and young people.
• In Spurgeon's day, the Tabernacle was organized into societies, each chaired by an elder. We know this from their annual dinners, often chaired by Spurgeon, whose reports appeared in the magazine The Sword and Trowel. There were about 57 of them, "like the Heinz varieties."
• A society of about thirty women knitted scarves and gloves for the London police, who were not given any. The condition: that an evangelist from the church could hold an evangelistic service once a year in each police station.
• There were also some twenty schools for poor children (the ragged schools), before public education, to teach street children to read and write so that they could read the Bible. In Walworth you can still see buildings above the shop windows that look like chapels: some missions came out of them and still exist today.
• One society cooked the Christmas meal for poor families who had nothing to cook with. The famous class of Mrs. Bartlett gathered six hundred young domestic servants who could not get away on Sundays. All these societies had a purpose of mercy, but also of evangelism.
• Some cannot get involved: large families, dependents, two or three jobs just to live. "That is understandable. We are a caring family" that prays for every difficult situation. But the ideal is to serve where the Lord gives us the opportunity.
• Converted in his late teens, Peter Masters remembers what he was told right away: pray every day, read the Bible every day, witness to the Lord every day, think about what you can do for him, devote yourself to a Christian activity. The hymns of Frances Ridley Havergal mostly contain the word "consecrated." That conviction is fading today.

4. "Your labor": work that costs

• The word translated "labor" (labour in the King James) refers in Greek to exhausting work. It may be linked to the idea of "cutting": picture the workman covered in cuts and bruises from heavy tools, laying roads or lifting slabs of granite.
• "We are ready to do anything for him," even making visits late in the evening, in the cold, and knocking on doors. We do not say: "It's too hard. We are much better off warm in front of the television." That is not the Christian life.
• We were saved by the blood of Christ, delivered from a life of sin and from the empty illusions of this world. The Lord has been so merciful, we deserve nothing, we belong to him. We said: "Take me, I will be yours alone forever," but we do not mean it.
• A year or two ago, an anonymous article, published in a Christian magazine read in strict Calvinist circles, attacked the principle of the working church. It was full of historical errors and, above all, it discussed no biblical text, neither this one nor the New Testament verbs that speak of work. "I imagine the author was a rather lazy Christian." Sadly, some true believers take this position.

5. "Knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord"

• Today we would translate "knowing that" as "since you know that." The Greek word rendered "vain" means "empty": your labor is not empty, not fruitless, not useless.
• On the contrary, it has a value you will never measure: how many have been saved, blessed, touched? What part did you have, through the work of the Spirit, in someone's salvation or sanctification? You may only find out in glory, but you can be certain of it.
• "In the Lord" means: at his command, under his direction and at his call. There are preachers who appointed themselves. Saying "I want to do something so that people will see me" is not work in the Lord.
• Peter Masters mentions organizations launched by individuals, like a "Bill Smith Evangelistic Association": no one sent them, no church established them, and God's people have not recognized them according to Scripture. Blessing is not promised to them.
• It is promised to those who act in the Lord, following prayer: "people of prayer first, Sunday school teachers second; people of prayer first, visitors second; people of prayer first, preachers second."
• They do it by his strength, with his blessing, for him and not for themselves. The pastor warns against those who talk a great deal about being "in the Spirit" and then applaud themselves for their gifts and promote the flesh, the hero, the great personality. Service is done out of love for the Lord and for the Gospel, out of compassion for souls and for the young.

6. The Lord holds the pillars

• "Over the years, we have stumbled in many ways," the pastor admits. But where we have prayed and obeyed the Lord, despite weakness, he has blessed powerfully.
• Technically, this is his fifty-sixth thanksgiving service. In the past, the day began with a prayer meeting at 7 a.m., then resumed at 3 p.m. Members put their offerings in an envelope, and the treasurer would come regularly to announce the rising total.
• When he arrived in 1970 with his wife, the congregation fit on two or three pews. The average age was in the early eighties, mostly women, very few men. After the war, the bombings and the displacement of populations, the church had declined like almost all those in the city center. In the building, "we felt lost."
• First decision: a separate prayer meeting on Mondays, since Spurgeon had been opposed to a meeting that mixes prayer and Bible study. Then a fellowship for students and nurses, whose room quickly filled up. And for four years, not a single funeral: among those elderly women, there was a real prayer group waiting for "a new dawn."
• The pastor is convinced that the Lord kept this group alive until he saw a new gathering and a new period of growth. Many have passed through and many have been saved.
• There was a time when the week's offerings barely covered the heating bills. But the Lord allowed much to be done and has kept the church to this day. "And he always will."
• He quotes Archibald Brown, at the East London Tabernacle in the early twentieth century, who spoke of the decline of Christian influence in the country: it does not matter, things can go very low, "but the Lord holds the pillars." There will be no extinction.

7. A call for those who have not yet responded

• "This may be, for my wife and me, our last thanksgiving service. We are very old."
• To those who attend church without ever having turned to the Lord: "What a perilous situation!" This whole community prays that they will recognize their need, repent, seek the Lord and find him.
• To the one who is a Christian, who has received every blessing but has not really given his life to service: sometimes drivers are lacking, sometimes teachers for the large number of children. "And you have not tried."
• "The best thing you can do is the one that seems difficult": commit yourself to the Lord's service, be used, know his nearness, his strength and his blessing, and bear fruit.

Key takeaways

• Christian service flows from the victory won by Christ alone: we do not serve in order to be saved, we serve because we are saved.
• Steadfastness comes from continued teaching of the Word; being immovable is tested against temptations and distractions, even legitimate ones.
• "Always": the Lord's work is not a season of youth, it runs through marriage, family and career.
• Only work done "in the Lord," through prayer, at his call and for his glory, carries the promise: it is never in vain.
• The Lord holds the pillars: he can keep a weakened church and give it growth and blessing again.

Personal application

1. Are you still learning the truths of the Word, or have you stopped at what you knew when you were converted?
2. What things, bad or simply attractive, are drawing your attention away from the Lord's work today?
3. Has your zeal cooled since your marriage, your family or your latest promotion?
4. Which service seems difficult to you right now, and what would you need in order to commit to it?
5. When you serve, do you do it first in prayer and for the Lord, or to be seen?

Verses cited

• 1 Corinthians 15:58
• 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

Frequently asked questions

What does "be steadfast, immovable" mean in 1 Corinthians 15:58?

For Peter Masters, being steadfast means being established in all the truths of the Word and continuing to learn. Being immovable means holding firm when everything tries to distract you: strong temptations, but also things that are not necessarily bad that you desire more than you should.

What is a "working church"?

It is a church where everyone, according to their circumstances, takes part in the Lord's work, and not only the pastor or the leaders. In Spurgeon's day, the Metropolitan Tabernacle had about 57 societies for Christian service. Those who cannot serve because of their family or their job are supported and understood.

What does it mean to work "in the Lord"?

It means serving at his command and at his call, and not to be seen. It means being first a person of prayer, then a teacher, visitor or preacher. We do it by his strength, for him, out of love for the Gospel and compassion for souls. The promise is attached to this work: it is not in vain.