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July 23, 2006 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1st Corinthians 15:58) The discourse from Paul the Apostle in chapter fifteen of First Corinthians begins with the shortest version of the Gospel message spoken or written by any Apostle. The discourse continues through the eyewitness accounts of the resurrected Christ and the meanings behind all the revelations concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Upon ending his thoughts, Paul spoke the above to “my beloved brethren” (remember, Paul dictated the bulk of his correspondence to scribes). The entire discourse was for believers. Even to the present day only believers fully comprehend the doctrine contained in Paul’s explanations of the Gospel, the Resurrection, the Rapture of the True Church and the Work of the Christian in his daily witness to the world. The call is to be “steadfast, unmovable” and yet “always abounding in the work of the Lord”. Naturally, the steadfastness would be in the consideration of the witnessed miracle of the resurrection. How could anyone deny what they had personally witnessed? In modern times people scramble to attest to things they’ve seen. Eyewitnesses are sought out during every extraordinary event that happens in the world. We’ve read of the heroism of soldiers and the survival of tsunami victims. We see “Amber Alerts” quickly posted to aid those who might have seen kidnappings in progress or who might yet see kidnappers escaping with their prey. Eyewitnesses are a valuable asset to all manner of criminal justice operations. The key to the eyewitness is a steadfast and unmovable account of what it is they witnessed. Proven eyewitness accounts leave no doubt for one to arrive at a conviction that what was seen was real. Paul could call for steadfastness because of what he knew to be absolutely true based in the testimony of the actual witnesses to the events of the ministry of Jesus. The ministry of those who had the eyewitness accounts did abound. There were thousands of souls who believed in the testimony of Peter during his very first sermon and the group of faith-filled believers grew in such numbers that later persecutions had no effect. The testimony was just too powerful. It was also just too true. Paul found out as “one born out of due time”. He was not an original Apostle, but he was recruited by Christ personally and received the same three years of training as the others. Peter could find no difference in Paul’s Gospel from the one preached on the Day of Pentecost. His message was sanctioned and Peter declared Paul’s letters worthy the weight of scripture. The Christian knows his “labor is not in vain in the Lord”. Every time a testimony is given and the word is spoken it has the effect God prefers it to have upon the hearer. The Christian might never witness the result of his testimony, but, believing the promise of God the Christian can always be assured that is work is never in vain. The Christian is responsible to declare the message of life to anyone who will hear. Peter was not afraid on the Day of Pentecost. He was bold and decisive in his presentation of the words of the Prophets and the relationship of these words to the Christ. That too was the ministry of Paul. Every city he entered he would seek out “the Jew first”. If the Jew failed to hear, then the Gentiles would come under the blessing of “grace through faith”. Paul faced persecution and death every day to see souls brought into eternal life. He remained “steadfast and unmovable” in his labor for the Lord. How the Christian faith came to be is a miracle with one lowly man who happened to be the Son of God on earth, explaining God’s relationship with men from the beginning. While other men, seeing the truth of the words of this Prophet, carrying on the birthing of a spiritual bride that would one day wed her bridegroom and complete the ultimate eternal relationship. The work of the Christian continues. One day the Lord will return and every eye that witnesses the return will then know for certain the words of the Prophets of God are always to be trusted. That realization for many will sadly, be one day too late. ------------ Email Skip: skiptoomaloo@hotmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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