Congratulations to Terry Felton who has won our get a life giveaway. Terry, you should have gotten a an email explaining how to claim your books. For all the rest of you losers non-winners, be sure to subscribe to Borrowed Light. I have a giveaway about every month, so perhaps in the future you can totally redeem yourself.
no labor is in vain
“Well, that was for nothing”
That is a really dangerous statement when it comes to ministry. (Do not hear, “vocational ministry”—I mean the ministry that every believer is to be engaged in). It’s a dangerous statement but I bet we have all said it. As one that preaches, teaches, leads, writes, etc. there is much of my labor that I never see the fruit to. And sometimes I can be given to discouragement and think—“well, that was for nothing”.
In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul is encouraging the church at Corinth to steadfastly engage in ministry as a result of the truth of the resurrection. For 57 verses Paul defends and expounds upon the reality of the resurrection. Then in verse 58 he makes this doctrine practical:
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.
In other words Paul is saying, “because of the reality of the resurrection—drink from no other fountain, bring others in to drink, and do so confidently knowing that every bit of kingdom work is not in vain.”
The resurrection of Jesus marks of his exclusivity. Jesus is the fountain of life. All other fountains are murky waters that only sustain you for a season. Only the fountain filled with the blood that flows from Immanuel’s veins is able to remove the sting of death. All others cannot remove our death sentence. But Jesus gives eternal life and immortality.
Because of this exclusivity we must “be steadfast, immovable”. That means that we must reject the silly notion that any other fountain may satisfy. With Spirit-induced power we must resist the fleeting glamour of the perishing and cling to the often unattractive but yet eternally satisfying fountain of grace.
This also means that our enjoyment of Jesus is tied up in “abounding in the work of the Lord”. Jesus is not satisfied until all His people are home. And while we drink from the fountain of grace we do it with one compassionate eye towards those that are drinking themselves full of the perishable.
And we do all of this—both our own clinging and our calling others—knowing that no kingdom work is ever in vain. Everything else has the danger of vanity and emptiness. But that which will be eternal—namely, the kingdom of God—is the only thing that is never in vain.
Lord help me remember that my plodding today is not in vain. May I remember that the shiny moments and the dull moments are both—if done “in the Lord—for the sake of the kingdom and therefore are never in vain. May I, with my brothers and sisters in Christ, be about kingdom work. May this be my eternal aim.
Quotes You Don’t Expect From a Puritan #1
This gem is from Thomas Goodwin. He is speaking hear of how Christ longs for His own return:
The truth is, I cannot live without you and I shall never be quiet till I have you where I am, that we may never part again; that is the reason of it. Heaven shall not hold Me, nor My Father’s company, if I do not have you with Me, My heart is so set upon you; and if I have any glory, you shall have part of it. (From The Heart of Christ in Heaven Towards Sinners on Earth)
Nip it in the bud!
“Nip it, Nip it in the bud!”
That of course is one of the famous sayings of one Bernard P. Fife. His philosophy of the law is evidenced in the episode Barney’s Sidecar. Here Barney is patrolling with his new toy—a motorcycle. He decides to crack down on the trucker drivers going 5 over the speed limit just to get up a hill.
(The clip to watch starts at about 1:50 and ends at about 2:40)
Barney may be going a little overboard as far as the laws of Mayberry are concerned, but I think he is right on when it comes to sin. As John Owen once noted:
Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, if it has its own way it will go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every thought of unbelief would be atheism if allowed to develop. Every rise of lust, if it has its way reaches the height of villainy; it is like the grave that is never satisfied. The deceitfulness of sin is seen in that it is modest in its first proposals but when it prevails it hardens mens’ hearts, and brings them to ruin.
We see this pictured in Pharaoh. As you read through the Exodus narrative each time he desires to keep at least a little influence over the Egyptians. At one point he says “I’ll let just your men go”. Then he says, “I’ll let everybody go, but I’m keeping the livestock”.
That won’t do. God is not satisfied with only a partial redemption. All that He promised to deliver out of Egyptian slavery will be rescued. It is the same way with our redemption. Christ will not be satisfied until His sheep are absolutely rescued—both in number and extent.
Total Deliverance
But as you know we do not yet live in total deliverance. Yes, Christ has struck the death blow and has certainly secured our total redemption. But we are not there yet. We are positionally rescued out of Egypt but our hearts still have remnants of rebellion and our flesh still carries the stench of Egypt.
I think if given the option, on their own, the Israelites would have settled for just a little redemption. They, like us, would have probably been satisfied (at least at first) with the pain of slavery ceasing. It doesn’t have to be total redemption—just enough to keep me from being totally miserable. It is true, “we are far too easily pleased”.
And it is because of this ease of satisfaction that we refuse to “nip it in the bud”. We flirt with sin and dance with demons of deception. Rather than running out of Egypt we tend to walk with one foot towards the Promised Land and the other dragging itself out of bondage. We assume that we can let Pharaoh keep his livestock without that leading to a return to slave labor.
Just like Pharaoh, Satan wants us to allow him to keep just a little control. He is satisfied with that, because he knows that even one little seed of doubt can blossom into absolute rebellion, a destruction of humanity, and a defaming of God’s glory. He’ll take that “little”.
Thankfully that is not the end of the story. Even though we are content with just a little redemption, Christ is not. With the entire force of the Trinity, the Godhead is working for our complete redemption. Someday Christ will without question triumph and finally once and for all “nip it in the bud”!