“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor in not in vain in the Lord.”
This verse is Paul’s conclusion of his great chapter on the resurrection of Jesus. That is why he used “therefore” to start the verse. Basically, the verse is the description of the kind of servants that we should be in the light of Christ’s resurrection. We need to look at this description and see where we are in our service. Paul tells us to be “steadfast.” The meaning of this word is to be firm, established and unwavering in our devotion to Jesus Christ. We are to be like the person described in Psalm 1:3a “He is like a tree planted by the streams of water…” The idea being that such a tree is always close to life-giving water. If we would be steadfast in our service, we would stay close to the Lord in prayer and Bible study, and be fed constantly by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This closeness would establish us in our relationship to the Lord, and in our service to Him. It also means that we are firm in our convictions on biblical truth. We should be careful to be unwavering in our devotion to our Lord and in our service for Him. The day in which we are living calls for such men and women. Are you one of those “steadfast” Christians? Paul tells us to be “always abounding in the work of the Lord.” “Abounding” carries the idea of having plenty. By “abounding in the work of the Lord” we should be plentiful in our service for the Lord, and fruitful, in our service for Him. Psalm 1:3b describes this person: “He is like a tree planted by the streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” This is described in what Paul wrote to Timothy, “be instant in season and out of season.” (2 Timothy 4:2) If we are steadfast in the work of the Lord, He will prosper us in that work. We can’t always see the “fruit” of our steadfast service. We sow the word and leave the reaping to the Lord. That doesn’t mean that we will not always see the fruits of our labors. What it means is that we keep on abounding in the work even if we don’t see great rewards. I have come to the conclusion in my preaching that when I preach the word, the Spirit is doing something in the lives of the people. This is also true in your Sunday School class, or whatever service you render for the Lord. In this sense, being an “abounding servant” of God is to keep on keeping on, without letting discouragement, and a sense of failure, cause us to give up. Enjoy and thank God for the fruit that you see, and thank Him for what He is doing through you that you can see and in what you cannot see. Finally, Paul left a word of encouragement to close the verse: “forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” This is what I meant in the paragraph above. When we steadfastly serve the Lord, the reward is in the service itself. There are men of God who see great movement in their service for God. Thank God for those great men of God. But to the majority of us, we do not see great movement that these men see. Nothing, however, that we steadfastly do for the Lord is ever in vain. Believe it! Do you see yourself somewhere in this verse? Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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