We have seen in the previous lesson that the believers can experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in serving and worshipping God. In this lesson we will see that the believers need to experience this dispensing also in working and laboring for the Lord.
The believers serve and worship God, and they work and labor for the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 15:58 Paul said to the Corinthians, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” According to the context of this verse, Paul is dealing with the matter of resurrection (vv. 1-58). This indicates that the truth of resurrection causes us to be filled with hope concerning our future, and it also causes us to be filled with faith in the work of the Lord with the expectation of pleasing the Lord in resurrection at His coming back.
The believers work and labor for the Lord by the Lord’s resurrection life and power, not by our natural life and ability. Paul worked and labored for the Lord by His resurrection life and power, as indicated in verse 10: “By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me.” Grace, mentioned three times in this verse, is actually the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit (v. 45) to bring the processed Triune God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply that we may live in resurrection. It is by this grace that Saul of Tarsus, the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15-16), became the foremost apostle, laboring more abundantly than all the other apostles. His ministry and living by this grace are an undeniable testimony to Christ’s resurrection.
“Not I but the grace of God” equals “no longer I...but... Christ” in Galatians 2:20. The grace that motivated the apostle and operated in him was not some matter or thing but a living person, the resurrected Christ, the embodiment of God the Father becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who dwelt in him as his everything. It was by this grace that Paul could be what he was. Throughout the centuries all the servants of the Lord have had this resurrected Christ living in them. We can testify that He lives in us, enabling us to do what we could never do in ourselves.
Our labor for the Lord in His resurrection life with His resurrection power will never be in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). Rather, our labor will result in fulfilling God’s eternal purpose through preaching Christ to sinners, ministering life to the saints, and building up the church with the experiences of the processed Triune God as gold, silver, and precious stones (3:12). Our labor will also be rewarded by the returning Lord in the day of the resurrection of the righteous (1 Cor. 3:14; Matt. 25:21, 23; Luke 14:14).
First Corinthians 15:58 speaks of something in resurrection and is closely related to resurrection. If we are in resurrection, this verse applies to us. But if we are not in resurrection, we may mistakenly think that this verse encourages us to strive and to be energetic. Based on verses 1 through 57, Paul encourages the believers to be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord. According to the natural life, we can be shaken even by a small thing. Only by the resurrection life in us can we be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord. Furthermore, resurrection also causes us to know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. Therefore, resurrection not only encourages us; it also motivates us to do the work of the Lord.