Always abounding
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58).
1 Corinthians 15 is all about the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ and the blessings emerging from it. The whole of Paul’s ministry is founded on the resurrected and glorified Saviour. In Philippians 3:10-11 Paul writes, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead”. He explained his great desire to know the Saviour, who showed him such love, and to live in the power of His resurrection. He knew, too, that this meant having fellowship in His sufferings in a world that rejected Christ, as now. This involved judging the old nature by practically applying Christ’s death: being crucified with Christ; also living in the power of new life in Christ. Living so close to his resurrected Saviour and Lord was the reason Paul abounded in the work of the Lord.
After unfolding the power of Christ’s resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul ends the chapter with the marvellous words, “Therefore my beloved brethren. . .” It is wonderful to know we are loved by God and that we are in the family of God. These blessings should provoke in us a desire to serve our Saviour. Interestingly, Paul uses words that convey both stillness and activity to encourage a response in the hearts of his readers. Being “steadfast” is about being fixed and secure in one position. Christ’s death and resurrection is the ground on which we spiritually stand, and we are not to be moved from it. The death and resurrection of Christ have been continuously attacked for over 2000 years. In Corinth some denied the resurrection. Today there are those, within the realm of Christendom, who continue to deny it. Paul is absolutely clear that if Christ was not raised then our faith is futile (vv. 16-17), and we are still in our sins because we have no Saviour. But he immediately declares that Christ has been raised from the dead (v. 20). We rest in faith upon the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; nothing should move us from this position or from our desire to serve Him.
The Lord Jesus lived here in communion with His Father in heaven, and He abounded in the work the Father gave Him to do. We can have a tendency to emphasise worship, or service, as though they were in competition. But they are a harmonious expression of response to God, and one leads to the other; worshippers are workers. The certainty and security we have in Christ should stimulate us to be always abounding in the work of the Lord. The work includes “whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17). And we should do such work willingly and joyfully: “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Colossians 3:23). Paul assures his readers that our work is not fruitless, and the Lord values and will use what we do for Him. We should never forget that the God who numbers the hairs on our heads and keeps our tears in a bottle measures perfectly, not only what we do for Him, but the devotion with which we do it. He values our response to our risen Saviour; abounding grace produces abounding worshippers and workers.
