Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
– 1 Corinthians 15:58
I love this verse, I love this chapter. 1 Corinthians 15, is a glorious picture of the resurrection of Jesus. And not just his resurrection, but the resurrection of all who trust in him.
1 Corinthians 15:58 Encourages Us to Trust in the Promise of the Resurrection
This whole chapter is just filled with hope… With joy over the reality of our resurrection bodies. That when we die, when Jesus returns, he’s going to resurrect our bodies to be like his body. And when you get to the end of this chapter… You see just a triumphant proclamation about death being swallowed up in victory… Death having no more sting, the sting of death, the power of sin is the law… But thankfully to God, he gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even as I’m meditating on this verse and about to pray according to it… I think about a friend of mine who died way too early on this day years ago. I’m so thankful for the hope that he has, we have in Jesus, which gets to verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brothers, in light of this, in light of the resurrection of Jesus and our resurrection to come, be steadfast, be immovable, always abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
I don’t know what you’re walking through in your life today, what discouragement you’re facing, what challenges you are enduring. I would want to just encourage you with 1 Corinthians 15:58 today. Be steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord, trusting in God, proclaiming the hope of God. Abound in this work because this world, the challenges that you’re enduring, the trials you’re facing are not the end.
1 Corinthians 15:58 Teaches that Physical Maladies Will Not Prevail Forever
The resurrection of Jesus is real, and the resurrection of our bodies is coming. For those of you who are walking through physical challenges right now… Including some who are really, really close to me… Be encouraged today that this physical body will one day be raised to life. And heart struggles and cancer diagnoses and tumors will not have the last word. Jesus will have the last word. Your faith and your labor and the Lord is not in vain. So God, I pray this over every single person listening right now that knows you, Jesus, that you would help them, help us to be steadfast in faith. Trust you today to be immovable, to abound today in your work, wherever you have called us to live and work. God help us to trust in you and to point others to you, to be disciples who are making disciples.
Help us to abound in your work, knowing that in you, our labor, our faith, is never, ever, ever in vain, that we live and we work and we will die in hope with rock solid, confident hope that you’ll raise us up to be with you, resurrected bodies like Jesus, and specifically that one day soon, 1 Corinthians 15:52, the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised, and this perishable body will put on imperishable and this mortal body will put on immortality and all of this saying will come to pass. Death has no sting, death has no victory. You have given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer for the Hunan Iu Mien People
And God, we pray for people who don’t know this victory. Lord, we pray for this spread of the hope of the resurrected King Jesus to all the peoples of the world. God, today we pray for the Hunan Iu Mien people of East Asia, hundreds of thousands strong among whom there are no known followers of Jesus, nobody who knows the good news of resurrection in Jesus. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel, for the Hunan Iu Mien people. Please bring it about for them and for all the peoples of the world that they might know the power of your resurrection, of eternal life with you. God, cause laborers to go and abound in work among these people groups in the world, so that they might know 1 Corinthians 15. In Jesus’ name, we pray all of this according to your Word with hope, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
