Hope for Our Labor
For Meditation
Over the last 5 weeks we’ve spent a good amount of time in 1 Corinthians 15, which we’ve noted is one of the most important passages about the resurrection in the whole Bible. Paul begins the chapter by recounting the gospel itself, “the mesage I received and on which you have taken your stand,” the good news of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. He spends the remainder of the chapter defending the resurrection and discussing its vast implications for our futures. But I’ve always found the end of the chapter to be intriguing and hopeful. After discussing the resurrection in incredible detail, you might expect Paul to say, “Therefore, since you have such a great hope for the future, sit back and relax because you know the great future God has in store for you.” Instead, Paul says, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
That is remarkable. Paul believes that when you are clear about the resurrection that is coming in the future, you will be empowered, motivated, and resilient in your ongoing work in the present. This is one of the reasons why it is so important that we get clear on the nature of Christian hope. If our hope is a disembodied, heavenly existence away from earth, then nothing that we do in this present world really matters. It will all get burned up and tossed into the scrap heap of history! If however we claim the true biblical hope that our future is an embodied, resurrected future in a new heavens and earth, then suddenly our current labor is filled with unspeakable, eternal meaning. Everything we do matters for all eternity. Somehow our labor in the present, whether at home, at work, or in the church, will last into God’s future that he is creating through Jesus’ resurrection.
This week we’ll explore a couple different ways that through Jesus, our labor is truly not in vain. In preparation for worship, read Isaiah 65:17-25. Think about all the ways that the coming new creation will embody our hopes for our work and labor, and how what we do currently can point to our coming hope.
Isaiah 65:17–25
17“See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
18But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.
19I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.
20“Never again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach a hundred
will be considered accursed.
21They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
the work of their hands.
23They will not labor in vain,
nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
they and their descendants with them.
24Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb will feed together
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.