Be God's Eager Worker and Reap the Benefits
Based on 1 Corinthians 15:58
Khen Lim
Image source: clipartkid.com
Many of us in church do our best to make sure that the pastor
or the ministry leaders don’t end up choosing us to do the very work that we
enjoy watching but least want to be involved in. Sending out tracts? Going on
some evangelical mission? Get involved in some Bible study classes? How about
volunteering for some charity work or helping out in a home for the elderly?
These are tough asks for those who don’t quite understand the importance of
abounding in the work of the Lord.
The NLT version uses the phrase ‘enthusiastically for the
Lord” while other notable translations express it differently although the
meaning remains the same. In the NIV, it’s “give yourselves fully to the work
of the Lord” and the NKJV puts it as “abounding in the work of the Lord.” So,
here are the facsimiles: ‘Enthusiastically’ (NLT), ‘fully’ (NIV) and then
‘abounding’ (NKJV).
Three different words but they all lead us to understand that
we are to be enthused in working for the Lord and by saying that, I mean we are
to commit or dedicate ourselves to the best of our abilities to do God’s work.
Each of us Christians therefore must acknowledge that there is ‘labour’ to be
done for the Lord. In other words, there is hard work that is ahead for us to
commit to though Paul makes it abundantly clear that to the Lord, none of this
is “useless.”
Today’s society is full of people who want everything without
working for it. And if that means that they reap what others labour, that seems
fine to them. The rich and successful pay the hefty taxes but the slackers and
loafers unabashedly get the free handouts from the government. Very
unfortunately, we can also find the same attitude in many churches. You may or
may not be in one that exhibits such tendencies.
Pertaining to this, what then can we learn from Paul’s message
in 1 Corinthians 15:58? Three things come to mind.
It is we who are to do the work that needs to be done
In the verse, Paul addresses the message to “my dear brothers
and sisters,” which, if we revert to 1:2, we know that he was referring to “God’s
church in Corinth.” In a broader but no less precise application, we can safely
say that the work to be done for God is to be taken up by His children, which
means those who have been baptised into Christ:
“For you are all
children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united
with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.”
(Gal 3:26-27, NLT)
We are the brethren whom Paul is talking about. We are the
ones and not some secular or government organisation. Neither can it ever be
anyone or any particular body of people who are not “into Christ.” It isn’t
also any of the denominations of the world. If so, then their labour will be in
vain for it is said that:
“Unless the Lord builds
a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city,
guarding it with sentries will do no good.” (Ps 127:1)
If God does not sanction whatever that needs to be done, it
wouldn’t matter if we have a thousand slaves working on it, it will fail and it
will be a complete waste of time and effort. Getting a group of unbelievers to
do the work of the Lord is going to end up in tears for the very same reason.
Unless it is those who are baptised into Christ, no one else should take up
such a work. But when those in Christ labour to work for the Lord, then we will
see results.
It is what we do for the Lord that is most important
The emphasis here is on the nature of the work that is
required for us to do. This is no ordinary work. Neither is it casual or
whimsical work. It is “the work of the Lord” in which Paul reminds us that
nothing we do “for the Lord is ever useless.” The specific nature of the work
of the Lord includes three clear elements. They are evangelism, edification and
benevolence.
The word evangelism
refers to the work of spreading the Gospel by way of public preaching or
personal witnessing. We are all called to be evangelistic and that is central
to the work we do for the Lord, the work that can only be done by us. In Mark
16:15-16 (NLT), Jesus said, “Go into the
world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptised
will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.”
Edification is work that improves a person’s moral fibre, the very kind
we are all called to help build others up while others in turn build us in the
same way too. In his letter to the Ephesians 4:16 (NLT), Paul says, “He makes the whole body fit together
perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts
grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” It
is only in mutually edifying one another that we are able to build up the Body
of Christ so that it may function flawlessly as one.
Benevolent work underscores acts of kindness done without any reward. Actually
working for the Lord or doing the work of the Lord does come with a reward.
Paul does say under no uncertain terms that, “nothing you do for the Lord is
ever useless.” God’s reward, however, is not the same as the reward for doing
work in this world. While the Lord promises that the work we do for Him will
never go unrewarded – therefore, it is not useless – acts of kindness we do on
this Earth are to be done without any expectations.
When we help an elderly
woman to safely cross a busy street, don’t expect her to pay you. When we work
in a soup kitchen, don’t go looking for the same. When we sweat it out, helping
to bring some joy to the old folks at the elderly home, don’t wait for people
to thank you. They may or they may not but that is not our concern.
Remember Luke 14:12-14 (NLT) where Jesus says, “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,
don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives and rich neighbours. For they
will invite you back and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the
poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the
righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”
The work we do for the Lord will invariably require us to be
at our benevolent best no matter when that might be. Yet that opportunity will
arise where God will offer us the chance to do this and when we do, we must be
mindful of what it is that He expects of us:
“Therefore whenever we
have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in
the family of faith.” (Gal 6:10, NLT)
Because all of this are “the work of the Lord,” we as
Christians must be true to our identity in Christ in that we devote our life to
His glory. To do that, we must find the time of day to diligently study His
Word and commit them to our hearts. We must earnestly pray like we’ve never
prayed before, seeking the Lord with all our might. We must joyously praise and
worship Him by offering our fullness of being.
And all of this must derive from
our deepest faith and revolve around His glory. Let us be both humbled and
inspired by women like Tryphena and Tryphosa whom Paul proudly acknowledges as
“the Lord’s workers” and the much loved Persis “who has worked so hard for the
Lord” (Rom 16:12).
The work we do for the Lord is done by those with a strong spirit
It isn’t just the Lord who calls us to do His work but He has
also called us to possess the kinds of attributes in order to complete them to
His pleasure. In the verse, Paul uses two words to describe how we should be –
‘strong’ and ‘immovable’ – and then always with enthusiasm.
There is no question that God expects us not only to be
involved in His work but also to immerse ourselves in it. We are to be strong
in spirit, meaning that we resolve to do all we can to achieve what we can for
the Lord.
As a church, we must stay united in faith and kept occupied in the
pleasure of doing the Lord’s work. We must be so unstinting that nothing can thwart
our attention towards the work of the Lord. In other words, it is our
single-mindedness that largely makes us immovable and always our great desire
to please Him that makes us enthusiastic in doing His work.
When Jesus offer Himself as a sacrifice to vanquish our sins,
He did so in order to purchase a people “totally committed to doing good
deeds”:
“He gave His life to
free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us and to make us His own very
people, totally committed to doing good deeds.” (Tit 2:14, NLT)
Take note of the word ‘totally’ for it tells us how we must be
completely faithful, enthusiastic and
devoted to doing the work of the Lord. That doesn’t mean intermittently
committed. Instead it means we do the Lord’s work every day for the rest of our
lives, just as it was with the early disciples:
“And every day, in the
Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this
message: ‘Jesus is the Messiah.’” (Acts 5:42, NLT)
If we’re wondering whether or not we have the endurance to do
His work every day for the rest of our lives, always be reminded by Paul that
nothing we do for the Lord “is ever useless.” In Philippians 3:14 (NLT), he
explains further why it is never useless:
“I press on to reach the
end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ
Jesus, is calling us.”
It is not useless because at the end of our race on Earth, we
will “receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is
calling us.” That ‘heavenly prize’ is eternal salvation at the hands of Christ
our Lord.
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