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