Latest / Chapel Talks / Inoculation for the Long Haul | 1 Corinthians 15:54-58 | James Robson

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Inoculation for the Long Haul | 1 Corinthians 15:54-58 | James Robson · Chapel Talks

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  Let's pray together, shall we? Gracious, loving
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  God, as we've heard your word read and now we
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  pause for a few minutes just to hear what you
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  have to say to us through that word. As we unpack
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  it together, may you speak to our hearts and
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  our minds. Encourage us, for we pray in Jesus'
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  name. Amen. Imagine yourself five or ten or fifty
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  years from now. You know your own vulnerabilities.
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  What is the situation that's most likely to knock
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  you off your perch? To stop you walking with
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  the Lord? To stop you in your own ministry and
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  your Christian life? Just a moment. You know
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  your vulnerabilities. It's different for different
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  people. Just a moment to think about that. For
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  some, it might be that sense of exhaustion. All
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  those efforts for the Lord, and there seems to
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  be so little fruit. Or perhaps just the exhaustion
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  of so many demands, so many plates needing to
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  be spun. It might be discouragement. You've poured
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  your life into somebody or to people, and you've
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  watched them wander away or make some dreadful
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  decisions and mistakes. It might be feelings
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  of isolation. There's no one else around you
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  in the parish or the church that you're in who
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  shares that same zeal and passion. It might be
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  frustration. There's so many roadblocks. It might
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  be relational challenges. Those you minister
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  with or to and all that comes from that. It might
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  be that you've invested so much, you've moved
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  on, and someone comes after you and the whole
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  thing unravels. You think, what was the point?
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  For me, early in my pastoral ministry, after
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  I'd been ordained, it was the crisis of seeing
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  Christians, people who'd drunk in the rain of
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  God's Word day by day, week by week, over many
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  years, behaving so bad they couldn't make sense
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  of it. Today is an incredibly special day. It's
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  a new thing, a commissioning service all together
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  like this. And it's, I hope in one sense, a really
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  joyful day. This is what you're going out to
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  do. We're commissioning you, notwithstanding
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  Thomas's point about baptism, to go and serve.
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  This is why you're here. But of course, it's
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  also a sad day. It'll be coming soon, I know.
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  Sadness of farewells, goodbyes, and we'll miss
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  the friendship and fellowship. You know, I think,
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  James, why on earth on this day have you chosen
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  such a downbeat way to start? I might change
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  my mind if you say it was a really bad idea.
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  In a few weeks' time, I'm heading to Namagongo.
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  I don't terribly enjoy injections. But before
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  I've gone to Namagongo, I've had some injections
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  for typhoid and polio and hepatitis. Unfortunately,
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  I'm exempt from yellow fever. To get ready for
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  then, now. To be ready for that moment, now.
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  And as I've been preparing and praying, reflecting
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  on this, I've come back to this wonderful little
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  verse at the end of 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians
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  15, verse 58. Do you remember the scene? Corinthians
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  letter as a whole Paul's planted this church
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  he started this church he's invested his life
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  in it but there are all kinds of issues and problems
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  that have been going on in the church family
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  and this particular chapter chapter 15 he's focused
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  very much on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
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  Jesus has been raised And so he continued. Do
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  you notice he starts in verse 58. Therefore,
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  in the light of all I've been saying to you,
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  says Paul, in the light of all I've been saying
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  to you. And then he continues with this lovely
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  little phrase. I think it's in our versions here.
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  My dear or dearly loved. Really, Paul? They were
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  a wretched lot, weren't they? Do you notice how
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  his heart, even for those who cause pain, is
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  about love? Never, never lose sight of love for
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  the people that we're serving. Never instrumentalise
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  people. And then he continues. Stand firm. Let
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  nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully
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  to the work of the Lord. Because you know that
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  your labour in the Lord is not in vain. In Ecclesiastes,
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  you may remember, everything is sometimes described
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  as vanity. It's foggy vapour. It's hevel. It's
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  futile. It's temporary. It's transient. It's
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  pointless. Something like that. The translation
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  is not easy to capture. In Mark 15, Christ has
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  been raised from the dead. So there's a whole
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  bunch of things through this chapter that are
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  no longer in vain. In verse 2. the corinthian
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  faith is not in vain christ has been raised from
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  the dead god's grace to paul is not in vain verse
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  10 christ has been raised from the dead verse
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  14 paul's preaching is not in vain christ has
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  been raised from the dead and then verse 58 our
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  labor in the lord is not in vain christ has been
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  raised from the dead extraordinary our labour
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  in the Lord our work done in union with him our
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  labour in the Lord not even death can erase Christ
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  has been raised from the dead what is this labour
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  in the Lord do you remember in Romans 16 Paul
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  does this great big shout out for a bunch of
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  people including a number of prominent women
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  There's Trophina and Trophosa. They're those
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  who've worked hard in the Lord. They've laboured
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  in the Lord. Or in Greek Persis, who laboured
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  much in the Lord. This speaks of the effort,
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  the investment in the cause of the gospel and
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  making Christ known. But alongside that effort,
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  you can see the work of the Lord in this verse.
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  Because it's not just the labour in the Lord,
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  it's also work of the Lord. This is a singular
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  work. It's not work that each individual person
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  does. This is this one work that we collectively
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  are invested in, giving our lives to, serving
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  in. this work of the Lord to make Christ known
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  and you can see that this work of gospel ministry
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  of building the church up and seeing it grow
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  from later on in chapter 16 verse 10 when Timothy
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  is himself described as carrying on the work
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  of the Lord and the message renders it like this
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  nothing you do for him is a waste of time or
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  effort nothing The New Living Translation, nothing
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  you do for the Lord is ever useless. Although
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  the force here is about the gospel ministry that
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  continues, the same logic actually applies to
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  all of our lives, our painting, our sport, our
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  business, our music, whatever it might be. That's
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  not the focus here, but the logic is exactly
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  the same. Everything endures. Because Christ
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  has been raised, nothing that you or I do for
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  him is ever futile, is ever in vain. Let's go
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  back to that scenario as you slumped on the sofa
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  in 5, 10 or 15 years' time. You're tempted to
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  think, was it all worth it? Is it all worth it?
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  Is it worthwhile? Or is it just futile, a waste
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  of time in vain? And the Apostle Paul, the Lord
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  says, absolutely not. Not even death. Nothing
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  can make that worthless. Because it is work in
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  the Lord, in union with him, and that endures
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  for all eternity. We don't know how exactly in
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  some cases, but we know that it does. And so,
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  see how Paul finishes? Stand firm then. Sit tight.
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  Don't drift off. Don't wander off. As so many
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  do, sadly. Sit tight. Stand firm. Let nothing
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  move you. Don't get knocked off your perch. Don't
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  get swept to one side. Don't drift off into either
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  things that take you away from the Lord or take
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  you away from the ministries entrusted with you.
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  Instead, give yourselves fully. to the work of
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  the Lord, says Paul. Why? Because our labour
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  in him is not in vain, it's not futile, it's
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  not wasted. So I hope this is maybe more palatable
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  than inoculation, but may the Lord write those
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  words on our heart. Nothing that you're doing
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  is wasted, whatever people may say. Amen.