(I delivered this short sermon to the graduating students of TEMI last December 2019, together with friends of the school after dinner at Boosog Restaurant, Cebu City.)
It’s very nice to see old friends and old faces. But Pastor Garingo’s face looks the same as the last time we met. Just amazing!
The good thing about preaching to Bible school students is that they are supposed to understand faster than the average Christian. So I will go straight to the point.
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:48). This verse is an exhortation by Paul for the Corinthians. An exhortation is “language intended to incite and encourage.” (Merriam-Webster) To exhort is to urge someone to take action. Paul’s closing words in chapter 15 is a challenging exhortation. It has to do with the work of the Lord. It has to do with the Corinthians doing the work of the Lord.
You and I are doing the work of the Lord. TEMI is the work of the Lord. It is the work of Sharon and Dan and Pastor Garingo. But it is really the work of the Lord.
If you are a student in TEMI, you are part of the work of the Lord. If you are a teacher in TEMI, you are involved in the work of the Lord. If you are a supporter of TEMI, you are part of the work of the Lord.
In our involvement in the work of the Lord, we are to do three things.
Be Steadfast
“Therefore” (hoste) means “for this reason, so then.” (Friberg) Therefore, for this reason, so then, be steadfast. What was the basis for Paul’s “therefore”?
I see four things in chapter 15 that form the basis of his therefore. First, it is the gospel. “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain” (vv. 1-2). They stand on the gospel. They are saved by the gospel. They believe in the gospel. They hold fast to the gospel. Therefore, Paul says, be steadfast.
Second, it is the resurrection of the dead. Some people taught that there is no resurrection of the dead. So Paul refuted that false teaching. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then our preaching and your faith are in vain; and you are still in your sins, Paul wrote. If there is no resurrection, then the dead in Christ have perished (vv. 12-18). But in fact, Paul wrote, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the firstfruits of all those who have died in Christ. Because Christ has risen, the dead in Christ shall rise from the dead (vv. 20-23).
Third, it is the resurrection body. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. So the resurrection body will be imperishable and incorruptible. Then Paul wrote in vv. 51-54.
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
Fourth, it is our victory over death. We who are alive when Christ comes will be changed in our bodies. We will receive new resurrection bodies. Those who are dead in Christ will be raised with incorruptible bodies. Thus we have victory over death (vv. 55-57). Therefore, for this reason, and so then, Paul wrote, be steadfast.
In the Greek, the adjective “steadfast” (hedraios) means “to being firmly or solidly in place” (BAGD). In regards to faith, it means to be “settled in one’s thinking or belief” (Friberg); or “firmly established in one’s position or opinions – ‘firm, steadfast, unwavering.’” (Louw-Nida)
The word steadfast is a picture of a building. Remember the ground work in Cebu Provincial Capitol? They went deep into the ground and removed the soil. Then the new governor, who is in the opposition party, took over and told the contractors to cover it! If you’re not blind, you see a lot of digging into the ground going on in Cebu City.
They dig deep down and excavate the ground. Why so deep? To lay down a deep foundation. To make the building stand on a deep foundation. The deeper the foundation, the stronger the building.
That’s what the word steadfast means. To be steadfast is to be established and to be settled deep down.
Paul says be steadfast—stand on the gospel like a building. Be steadfast, be unwavering in your belief in the gospel. Some of them were wavering in their belief in the resurrection. Thus, Paul says, be steadfast, be unwavering in your belief in the resurrection of the dead.
In the Greek, the verb “be” is ginesthe from gigomai, which means “become”—become steadfast. It means to develop to become steadfast, firm, and unwavering. Don’t be confused about the gospel. Don’t be skeptical about the resurrection. Become firm in your belief in the gospel. Become unwavering in your belief in the resurrection.
Be Immovable
The adjective “immovable” (ametakinetoi) is from ametakinetos, “not being readily shaken in one’s opinions or beliefs” (Louw-Nida). It is from the root metakineo, which means, “shift, change.” (BAGD) Thus, immovable means “no shifting, no changing.” Again, this is a metaphor of a strong immovable building. If the building is to be steadfast, it has to be established deep down. For a building is to be immovable, it must not be shaken.
I remember when a strong earthquake hit Cebu City. Our house was shaking to and fro. There was a sound of an earthquake. The house was emitting all the noises; everything was shaking. I ran out of the room and shouted for my daughter. She ran out of the room and together with our helper, we ran out downstairs. Downstairs, I shouted looking for my wife. She wasn’t there. So we ran out. I shouted again, “Where’s Mylene?” (my wife) She was nowhere to be found downstairs, so we rain outside. Outside, my wife was already standing on the road looking at the house. She ran out already.
“One way to make a simple structure more resistant to these lateral forces is to tie the walls, floor, roof, and foundations into a rigid box that holds together when shaken by a quake.
“The most dangerous building construction, from an earthquake point of view, is unreinforced brick or concrete block. Generally, this type of construction has walls that are made of bricks stacked on top of each other and held together with mortar. The roof is laid across the top. The weight of the roof is carried straight down through the wall to the foundation. When this type of construction is subject to a lateral force from an earthquake the walls tip over or crumble and the roof falls in like a house of cards.
“An 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile in 2010 killed more than 700 people. On January 12, 2010, a less powerful earthquake, measuring 7.0, killed more than 200,000 in Haiti.”[1]
More people died in Haiti with less earthquake than in Chile with more earthquake. Why? Because of the construction of the houses and buildings in Haiti.
See the shaking of a well-constructed building. (Picture of a shaking building that has posts and beams constructed underground.) Notice that the lateral shaking is mostly and largely underground, not above-ground, like this. (I then shook my hips and legs without my upper body moving. The audience had a good laugh!)
Be immovable, Paul wrote. Don’t shift from one belief to another. If the doctrine is Bible-based and Bible taught, don’t shift to another. Our faith is based on the Bible, our strong and sure foundation.
Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” (Matt. 7:24-25).
You believe in the true gospel. Your body will be transformed when Jesus comes. You will rise from the dead in the twinkling of an eye. Therefore, be steadfast, be immovable. Don’t change your beliefs that are grounded in the Bible.
Be Always Abounding
The present participle “abounding” (perisseuo) means “to be in abundance” (BAGD). But applied to persons, it means to “be outstanding” or “excel” (BAGD); “being considerably more than what would be expected” (Louw-Nida) It’s the same word in Col. 2:7, “Overflowing [perisseuo] with thankfulness. (NIV)
We are to be abounding, excelling, and overflowing in the work of the Lord.
Last December, 2019, our church ladies who call themselves Dorcas brought food, cheers, and the gospel to the destitute and dying elderly folks in a home in Cebu City. It was very touching seeing them serve and talk to the old folks. They saved money every month, bought the food, and then brought it to the home. Of course, their husbands did the hard work of driving, loading, and unloading the stuff!
Last Friday, I was privileged to do a store dedication of two new branches Oro Galleria pawnshop. Then the sales manager asked me if I would like to teach a Bible study to the employees. I immediately said yes. That’s a door that the Lord has opened for us and we will abound in the work of the Lord.
How often are we excelling and overflowing in the work of the Lord? Paul says, “Always.” Always, all the time, and at all times, we should be abounding, exceeding, and overflowing in the work of the Lord.
Then Paul wrote, “Knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” The adjective “vain” (kenos) means “without effect, without reaching its goal, (in) vain.” (Gingrich); “empty, futile, without result (1TH 2.1)” (Friberg) We are to keep knowing that our labor in the Lord is never in vain, never without purpose, never futile, and never without results. We may not see the results today. But the results will happen in God’s time.
Isaiah 55:11 says, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (NKJV).
Our labor will produce the result that the Lord has planned it to be.
We believe in the gospel. We are saved by the gospel. We will rise again from the dead. Death has no power over us anymore. We have the victory over death in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Let us pray.
[1] “Earthquake-proof Buildings,” Cited December 8, 2019. Online: https://www. imaginationstationtoledo.org/educator/activities/can-you-build-an-earthquake-proof-building.
The Glory of His Grace 