Paul

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0:00 We're still reading this book. I'm still reading this book. We're almost done. It's fun to read like acts like it's going through the acts of the apostles and Paul's letters and putting it together because it likes to do things chronologically so it's like giving you where he's writing the letters from what he's writing the letters about. It's kind of compelling to read in that

0:32 way and you get more of the sense of like it's just people doing a thing instead of like sacred scriptures which I really like but there was one little phrase that stuck out to me that really hit me it was in 1 Corinthians if you want to follow along it's in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and Paul's writing this letter to this church in Corinth that he helped start he spent a lot of

1:02 time there and he's going to send somebody there to help him he's not there now and he's frustrated at the way that they are living he's like I came in and taught you this way of life and remember that Paul had to like explain to people what it meant that Jesus was alive and king and they had to it was not a rule book or a manual he had to figure it out and he was frustrated that then when they continued to gather they were like separating along wealth lines or

1:39 socio-economic lines that they weren't taking care of each other that they were valuing one thing over the other and ostracizing some people so he's writing about that but then in 1st chapter 15 he comes back to the story of the resurrection and we've used 1st chapter or 1st Corinthians chapter 15 for Easter sometimes because he talks about how I've delivered to you remember when I he says I delivered to you that which I received and he almost says the apostles creed to them we we think Paul wrote this letter in 1st Corinthians

2:11 this first letter to the Corinthians in the 60s maybe 57 maybe as early as 57 so you know if Jesus ascended late 30s this might be 20 years after the ascension of Jesus he actually says that many of the 500 whom Jesus appeared to after his resurrection before his ascension were still alive so by the time he writes this letter in Corinth a lot of the people who were dispersed at the first persecution of the church that we talked about last week that they were

2:41 they were fleeing from the church was persecuting the followers of the way of Jesus and they went home to their hometowns a lot of those people had seen Jesus before he ascended and now they're in these little synagogues they're reading in these homes and they're like oh yeah like we hung out with the dude full-body really alive it was weird he popped in and out of space and time but they knew Jesus they had seen him and Paul says there's a lot of people who still alive though many have fallen asleep and so he's talking about the reality of the resurrection and the importance of the resurrection and when

3:14 he gets down in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 to verse 50 he says I tell you this brothers flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable behold I tell you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 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 for this perishable body must

3:46 not put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality and when the perishable puts on imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is your victory oh death where is your sting verse 56 the sting of death the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ that's all

4:19 very cool stuff the twinkling of an eye like Paul is trying to describe that the reality of the resurrection how do you describe something that goes beyond logic but Paul is a genius so he does a nice job but what struck with me was this this next sentence here in verse 58 first Corinthians 15 verse 58 therefore my beloved brothers and sisters be steadfast immovable always a bounding in the work

4:51 of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain I love that I'm gonna read one more time therefore my beloved brothers and sisters be steadfast immovable always a bounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain this idea of being steadfast he uses a couple of places it's translated a couple of different ways in the NIV it

5:25 says let let nothing move you be immovable which is like really interesting obviously Paul somebody who's definitely on the move remember remember that he was there overseeing the stoning of Stephen last week and they come and lay their robes at his feet here hold my robe saw we got to go kill this guy and Saul's looking on with approval as they murder Stephen the first martyr of the church and Stephen looks up to heaven and sees Christ and says don't hold these

5:58 sins against him and then in fervor Paul starts going around Jerusalem saw does starts going around Jerusalem and taking people out of homes this person is a follower of the way this person is a follower of the way they had hoped that when they killed Jesus they would squelch the followers of the way but then when he was raised from the dead they seemed to be popping up all over the place so they kill Stephen and they're going to start killing more and then Saul arrests as many as he can in Jerusalem and he gets permission to go to Damascus where he thinks there's more of them and he's out on the road now on

6:29 a mission to not just purify the church in Jerusalem but the church to purify the church against the movement in the church in Damascus Saul's a guy on the road man he is moving but Saul says interestingly the the invitation to the followers of the way of Jesus is to be immovable don't get caught up or carried away be this one says be steadfast I was thinking

7:06 about what might he mean you know there is a place where Paul when he in some of his letters he's telling trying to explain to Christians how to live and he says hey whatever station in life you're in stay in that station some people might think that Paul goes around Asia Minor starting churches and recruiting people to follow him you know hey we need more missionaries come on to be a missionary

7:37 with me Paul is not recruiting missionaries man every place he goes he's like hey stay in your station we said last week but I'll say it again because it blows my mind Paul was the first one to write down that husbands should love their wives like hey stay in your place and take care of the people that you've got do the job be steadfast steadfast and immovable this is what got me to our call to worship Psalm 46

8:12 and I want to invite us to kind of sit with Psalm 46 a minute so if you've got the energy get straight in your seat put your feet on the ground if you don't have the energy fake it just take a nap which is both are fine if you need the nap take it but this this Psalm is about being steadfast and I just want to

8:47 invite you like Paul is saying don't be overrun by the problems of the world he's sewing don't be pushed around by the things you can't control don't be swayed by the kind of raging of emotion and the per the particular panic of the day don't be dismayed or disheartened be steadfast and as I thought about this Psalm I thought there is lots on both scales like on a global scale and in a

9:23 personal scale that might blow you around that might wash over top of you and it's interesting when Paul is right into the church in Corinth where the Roman people are trying to impose their authority and the church is coming at them and they're trying to figure out how do we live under the reign of Jesus that he has this idea to be steadfast and it resonates so strongly with this ancient Psalm from 46 so get yourself centered and listen here to the first part where this will go in

9:56 three parts you might close your eyes but whatever you got to do to focus on the words God is our refuge and strength a very present help and trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam though the

10:28 mountains tremble at its swelling I'm going to read it again and I want you to think about what in your life feels like it might give way at this time might be unstable under your feet might wash over your head God is our refuge and strength a very present help and

10:59 trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam though the mountains tremble at its swelling okay the second part there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God

11:38 the holy habitation of the most high God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God will help her when mourning dawns the nation's rage the kingdom's totter he enters his voice in the earth melts the Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our fortress read one more time and think about the voice

12:15 of God with you though the nation's rage and the places in your life taught her and feel unsteady or unstable there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God the holy habitation of the most high God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God will help her when mourning dawns the nation's rage the kingdom's totter he utters his voice the earth melts the Lord of hosts is with us

12:46 the God of Jacob is our fortress and the last come behold the works of the Lord how he has brought desolations on the earth he makes wars cease to the end of the earth he breaks the bow and shatters the spear he burns the chariots with fire be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the nations I will be

13:19 exalted in the earth the Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our fortress here the invitation is to remember that God will not be overturned overrun or overwhelmed so no matter what's going on globally or internally we can be at rest here at one more time come behold the works of the Lord how he has brought desolations on the earth he makes wars cease to the ends of the earth he breaks

13:53 the bow and shatters the spear he burns the chariots with fire be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the nations I will be exalted in the earth the Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our fortress it's kind of hard to imagine how a physical and real the resurrection of the

14:31 dead would have been for somebody like Saul Paul you know like he thought he was accomplishing the work of God in the world he was fighting for the purity of what he knew to be the church he was accomplishing what the people above him told him to go and do and then physically in front of him on the road comes the one who he thought they had successfully killed stands in front of him and speaks to him and then remember that like Paul had miracles happening all around him in

15:09 his body and outside of his body like it's hard to imagine what you would do if you knew that like there is a life to come like what context it would put on the work that you had to do on the like machinations of all of the rest of everybody else when you knew that this world wasn't all there was that we were

15:45 headed for something else if you knew that physically and in reality this is what I think part of what he's trying to convey to the church in Corinth there's a lot going on but as Christians we could be steadfast immovable not untouchable not impenetrable not not above it all like in it all he you know the nation's rage that happens he says he will be exalted he's maybe

16:21 not exalted in all the places now he says the wars will cease he doesn't say that they have all ceased so Paul says amongst it therefore beloved brothers be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord so for me as I the reason part of the reason this hit me is because I can't quite make sense of what's happening globally I keep trying to figure out is her moves open or not open like are we obliterating countries or are we just negotiating like and then

17:02 I keep trying to figure out what's my like job in the middle of it like what do I need to do like what what is faithfulness look like what is fidelity look like and and how should I handle should I when the when the investments or the money or the inflation should I be really managing that like maybe my dollar is not going to be worth what it should be should I was like listening to tax things and like should we be doing I it's like there's too many things I'm

17:37 saying to figure out how to be faithful that's what I'm saying and maybe for you that doesn't even touch like how do I handle things that are just mine and saw rights to the church in Corinth to be immovable so I get the idea I'm starting to get the idea that as I look at all of the things I should put them under the

18:10 light of the resurrection of the life of the world to come and it helps me hold it loosely you know whether however nations negotiate and govern themselves Christ is coming back and he will be exalted okay thanks but Saul is really smart so he says therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast immovable and then

18:41 he says always abounding in the work of the Lord which is a really nice phrase but he doesn't really define it sometimes I wish he would define it he doesn't really define it the closest or the one that I liked is in Ephesians he says a little bit about it in Ephesians chapter 2 he says for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of your own doing it is the

19:12 gift of God not a result of works so that no one can boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared in advance that we should walk in them Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians he says give yourself 100% to the work of the Lord and in his letter to the Ephesians he says your works don't save you but God saved you in order that you would do good work so I can handle all the machinations of the world and the

19:51 problems in the world if I remember that Christ has risen but I still got to figure out what to do with myself and Paul says give yourself to the work of the Lord and when you read his stuff completely and laid against the work of Jesus the best work of the Lord is annoyingly simple it's just that you're supposed to love your neighbor

20:25 good luck it's interesting to think that the call of Saul as he's inaugurating the reign of Christ on earth spreading the good news of the gospel as the children said building churches throughout Asia minor he walks around and is like everybody calm down be steadfast Christ is risen and love your neighbor would you now that includes everyone in your house husbands love your wives

20:58 wives love your husbands children respect your parents the work of the Lord is that you would fulfill your roles I was thinking about the places that I was thinking about the places where Paul where Jesus gives work the work of the Lord so this is interesting if we think about Paul telling people in the

21:28 first church to give themselves to the work of the Lord I might think it was like build the church get more people tell the story but when but the story when Pete when God is giving work to people throughout the story of scripture it's not that think about the very beginning when he gives Adam a job he's like hey come and name these animals with me it's about mirroring the creative act of God it's about being fully human by doing the job and taking care of the garden and then there's another one when when Jesus is around and he gives the

22:04 disciples work there's one time where he sends the 72 out and tells them to go announce the good news but most of the time it's just hey would you take care of the people around you my favorite is when they come back and they're like all right we've done all the teaching and the healing all the important things now send the people away so that they can eat and Jesus says hey why don't you just feed them just take care of them the perhaps the most touching one that came to mind when I was thinking about what is the kind of work of the Lord what's the work that the Lord would give us is when he's hanging on the cross in

22:36 the gospel of John and he sees his mother and his friend standing watching him die and he says hey John behold your mother Mary behold your son because it's important that she have a son to care for and he have a mother to love him because this is the work of God that we would mirror the creative activity of God that we would love our neighbor well and we would honor the relationships that he puts us in so Paul is saying hey church and Corinth I know the world's

23:08 going crazy I know you can't figure out how you should live just be steadfast in the context of the resurrection and then give yourself fully to the work of the Lord which is love your neighbor and fulfill your vocations be sons and daughters be mothers and fathers be husbands and wives and good neighbors do your job love your neighbor fulfill your family just be immovable and give yourself 100% to the work of the Lord knowing that

23:43 this is the favorite verse for me knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain wouldn't it be nice if every choice you made mattered if somebody remembered when you made the hard choice to do something right when you made the

24:17 difficult choice to lean in in relationship wouldn't it be nice if none of your hard work were wasted or pointless or foolish or hopeless wouldn't it be nice if it were all worth it Paul 2000 years ago told the first people trying to live the way of Jesus in a crazy world hey calm down be steadfast

24:47 Christ is risen just give yourself to the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain this has become a refrain for me in my heart and mind your labor is not in vain do the good quiet work because in trying to give yourself to the work of the Lord you'll fail over and over again but the the

25:18 benefit of your work is not in your behavior but in the the resurrection of Christ and so no matter how well you do at loving your neighbor at fulfilling your vocation God is still risen and your work still counts so the message we have from Paul today is to put everything in context to commit to the work we have and to take heart and knowing that none of it will ever be in vain let's pray that we could continue in faith like those first ones hey Lord thank you for your cross and resurrection for the story of your

25:52 Apostle Paul for the hope that we have in the resurrection of Christ would you solidify that hope in our hearts and minds today that it would drive us to love our neighbor to work mirroring your act of creation and provision and that we might fulfill each of the callings you've put on us knowing Lord that you take notice of it all in Jesus name we pray