Steadfast Part 2
Character is built through steadfastness through the trials of life. Thank God for godly men and godly mothers who mold and shape our character. According According to 1 Corinthians 15:57-58, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
How do we become steadfast and what does that mean? Steadfast means to be firmly fixed in place. In order to stand steadfast in him, God will need to crush the self out of ourselves. Through trials he will teach us that we have no control over our lives. We’re not the masters of our own circumstances….God himself is Sovreign overall. Anything I have is all of grace and none of me. For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast.
Every man reaches a fork in the road of life where he must decide what is more important: to please God or to trust God. The road that says Please God leads to a gathering of people where everyone seems to be having fun. When you approach the guest table, they hand you a mask. A banner on the wall says, “I’m working on conquering my sin to live a better life.” However, if we could conquer our own sin, then Jesus Christ would not have needed to pay the price on our behalf. A performance based Christian lifestyle will leave us frustrated and defeated. Many men leave the church in shame because they’re tired of lying to themselves and others. Shame says you don’t give enough, serve enough, pray enough, study enough, or love enough. When you become discouraged trying to please God and others, you slip out the back in shame and guilt. When you return to the fork in the road, you take the other road that says Trust God. This road leads to a house full of messy but honest people. They know that they are sinners saved by grace. In this room they live in the Liberty wherewith Christ has set them free. In this room God says, “I love you and I even like you. When I see you, I see the righteousness of my son Jesus Christ. There is nothing that you could ever do to keep me from loving you. By trusting me, you will learn to love me by spending time in my presence and abiding with me and within me.”
The world doesn’t teach us what it means to be a man of God. The world teaches that men must work for their own salvation. However, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The story of Les Miserables is an illustration of grace. When Jean Valjean had escaped from prison and was hiding in the shadows destitute, a passer by said, “you need to go to the church and see the priest.” He went to see the priest and the priest lovingly took him in. That night, Jean Valjean stole a costly candelabra from the church. When the gens d’armes arrested him for stealing the candelabra, they brought him before the priest. They said, “We caught him red-handed. We’re sending him to prison.” The priest said to his accusers, “The candelabra was a gift, he forgot to take this matching candelabra with him.” Grace is all of thee and none of me. We are all guilty as charged before a righteous and holy God. However God intervened in mercy and grace. For The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ his son.
The fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians shows us the foundation of remaining steadfast. We’re steadfast and unmovable because we have the hope of the resurrection. Because Jesus Christ conquered the grave when God raised him from the dead, we can rejoice in the hope of His return. Our new life in Christ is the witness of our resurrected Lord. In 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul said in his farewell address: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
What is a man of God? To answer this questions, the diagnostic question is: “Do you find your purpose in your Lord Jesus Christ?” As Paul said, the purpose for life is that we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace. Our victory is that through Christ’s death and resurrection, we have been set free from the bondage of sin and death. Our freedom is that we can live our lives to His honor and glory. A steadfast man is not confused about the purpose of life.
The average man on the street doesn’t know what it means to be a man. A survey of men concluded, “men no longer feel empowered.” When you approach a man in church and call him “man of God,” he will usually look down in shame and humiliation. When you ask him why he looked down, he’ll say, “because I feel unworthy.” In our own power we’re unworthy. However, A man of God comes to the revelation that the phrase “Man of God” means God’s man. It’s not who we are but whose we are. We’re no longer our own. A man of God understands that we are his and he is ours.
The prayer of repentance says, “I’m not the man that you meant for me to be, Please God make me that man.” This is a prayer that God will run to answer. We’re saved not because of who we are but because who he is. He is a God of grace, mercy, and love.
Our prayer of repentance is the same as David’s prayer in Psalm 51: “Against you only have I sinned. Blot out my transgressions and create in me a new heart, O Lord.” Acceptance of the grace of God will change our hearts. The law of sin and death is enforced by fear and intimidation. However acceptance of grace says, “Lord, I’ll gladly live my life to serve you because I love you.” According 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, Paul says, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 14. Let all your things be done with charity (the love of God.)” 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
Truth is that which is revealed. God will open the eyes of our understanding when we’re faithful to serve him from a heart of love. When we go the first mile, we’re doing it because the law of sin and death says to go one mile. When we go the second mile we will come to understand the meaning of service in love…. Not because we’ve got to but because we get to.
The word of God is profitable for doctrine, reproof, and correction. Doctrine means how to believe rightly. Reproof will convict us of our sin when we’re not believing rightly. Correction teaches us how to get back to right believing. Correction restores us to an upright condition. When we’re in a right position, then we’ll be blessed, not because of who we are but because of who he is. We’re not saved because we’re good but because he’s good. Not because we’re lovable but because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Because our resurrected Lord lives in us and through us, “be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael