What does it mean to stand firm (1 Corinthians 15:58)?

How immensely valuable and important in view of all this, is the first part of our workman's motto! "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast and immovable." The "therefore" throws the soul back upon the solid foundation laid in the previous part of the chapter in which the apostle unfolds the most sublime and precious truth that can possibly engage the Christian's heart- truth which lifts the soul completely above the dark and chilling mists of the old creation and plants it on the solid rock of resurrection. It is on this rock we are exhorted to be steadfast and immovable. It is not an obstinate adherence to our own notions- to some favorite dogma or theory which we have adopted- or to any special school of doctrine. It is not anything of this kind, but a firm grasp and faithful confession of the whole truth of God of which a risen Christ is the everlasting Center.

But we have to remember the other side of our motto. The Christian workman has something more to do than to stand firmly on the ground of truth. He has to cultivate the lovely activities of grace. He is called to be "always abounding in the work of the Lord." The basis of sound principle must never be abandoned, but the work of the Lord must be diligently carried on. There are some who are so afraid of doing mischief that they do nothing; and others, who rather than not be doing something, will do wrong. Our motto corrects both. It teaches us to set our faces as a flint where truth is involved; while on the other hand, it leads us to go forth in largeness of heart and throw all our energies into the work of the Lord.

The main idea in both these passages is that of stability. We are to be stedfast or firm, and unmoveable, and if this is to be we must stand fast in the faith. There can be no stability of Christian character unless our faith strikes its roots down deeply into the faith, and for this we must be well instructed in what the faith is: "nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine," as the apostle says to Timothy. If we are to attain to this we must be diligent in our reading of the Word of God, and give it its proper place of authority in our souls. To approach it with any degree of confidence in our own intellectual abilities is fatal. We shall then begin to read our own thoughts into it rather than extracting God's thoughts from it, or we shall feel inclined to fall out with it and dispute its instructions as the Cornithians did. There seems to be almost a touch of sarcasm in the apostle's words, when he wrote, "What? came the Word of God out from you? or came it to you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write to you are the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14:36 and 37). In truth the Word of God came to us only, never came out from us. Our place is to receive it humbly and implicitly, and the more spiritual we are the more fully we shall do so.

"THEREFORE," says the apostle, "be ye stedfast, unmoveable," and stedfast we are, as the risen Christ and the world of glory connected with Him, shine brightly before our faith: we then become unmoveable. Facing bonds and afflictions, and even the inroads of wolves among the flock, and an impending breakdown amongst the shepherds, the apostle could say, "But none of these things move me" (Acts 20:24). But this was the man who could write the third chapter of Philippians as the expression of his own heart experience, which means that the risen Christ in His world of glory was the object by faith of his soul.

Further, we are to be "always abounding in the work of the Lord." The Christian who, as to the faith and as to character, is most unmoveable, will be, as to service in the Lord's interests, most mobile. He will not be erratic, pursuing the uncertain zig-zag course that marks the flight of a butterfly; he will move rather with the business-like precision which marks the flight of a bee.

(V. 58). Wherefore, on account of the mighty victory that Christ has gained by His death, and that is witnessed by His resurrection, and the full blessedness of which we shall enter into in the twinkling of an eye, let us be firm in maintaining the truth, unmoved by any attacks of the enemy, and abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that any toil or suffering will have a glorious answer and not be in vain.

And this victory of the Lord Jesus over death God had seen fit to recognize as on behalf of all who trust His beloved Son. It is a matter as settled as though it had already taken place: the victory is ours, through our Lord Jesus Christ. What a basis for the exhortation of verse 58: Since nothing can change this, therefore let nothing change our stedfast, undeviating devotion to Christ. And along with firm, consistent stability, let us combine the active faith that abounds in the work of the Lord. We know such labour is not in vain in the Lord. Present appearances are no real indication of the value of labour, no more than was the outward appearance of defeat when our Lord was crucified. Let the reality of His resurrection power have vital effect in all the walk and service of the beloved saints of God.

Resurrection however is a glorious certainty. Christ is risen, and we, being of His heavenly order, are to join Him in His heavenly likeness. These things being so, THEREFORE an unmoveable stability becomes us. Instead of fooling away our time eating and drinking, we are to abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that nothing really done for Him shall be lost. All shall be found again as fruit in the resurrection world.

Are we living in the light of that resurrection world? We may recite the creed correctly, and have resurrection as a prominent item in it; but if our souls really have it full in view, we shall be diligent and untiring workers in the service of the Lord, as He may be pleased to direct us.

The Apostle not only speaks of the stimulus which the knowledge of resurrection gave to him in his labours for the Lord, but he concludes by exhorting others to let it also affect them in a similar way. “Therefore,” he writes, “my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” No toil, no testing, no suffering gone through in faith for the Lord will be lost. All is treasured up, and in the resurrection, in the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, it will be found to praise, and glory, and honour.

“For I know that … though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Two ways of life appear in the resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, in stark contrast with each other. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (verse 32), and “Let us be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (verse 58). The former is ever popular. The life of F. B. Hole was emphatically not of the former kind, filled with the kind of merriment which goes with carousal, careless of the future. Though by no means without its own kind of merriment, equally emphatically it was of the latter kind. He was steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. What stands between? What makes the difference? It is the resurrection of the dead. “Let us eat and be merry” might be a reasonable philosophy of life, if death were the end, and if “the dead rise not.” Holy Scripture gives to every believer the certainty of the resurrection life. With regard to the general fact, hear the Saviour: “The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth unto … resurrection” (John 5:28-29). On the fact of the Christian’s resurrection to life with God, Paul speaks by the Spirit: “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. … For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Also, “for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: … and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:16-18). And so here is a life which proclaims, not: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, but rather, with a rising crescendo of triumph: Since in Christ shall all be made alive, since we shall bear the image of the heavenly, since tomorrow we live, it is infinitely worthwhile to be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding.

In writing to the Corinthians Paul says "He that standeth stedfast in his heart … doeth well". Whilst this verse has what is special in view, the principle involved would, without question, cover every detail of the Christian pathway. Stedfastness is not the result of fleshly effort, it springs from the affections being right with God. We have seen from Psalm 78 that stedfastness was absent from God's earthly people because "their heart was not right with Him" (verse 37). Nothing is more calculated to regulate our affections than the wonderful expression of God's own love in the gospel — "how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3). As we read this most remarkable chapter we see the mighty results of Christ's holy movements into and out of death — the triumph of the resurrection; the establishment of the Kingdom and the ultimate glory of the "day of God". But the end of the chapter reveals that we are ourselves to be an integral part of this wonderful matter - "thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord".

How immensely valuable and important in view of all this, is the first part of our workman's motto! “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast and immovable.” The “therefore” throws the soul back upon the solid foundation laid in the previous part of the chapter in which the apostle unfolds the most sublime and precious truth that can possibly engage the Christian's heart — truth which lifts the soul completely above the dark and chilling mists of the old creation and plants it on the solid rock of resurrection. It is on this rock we are exhorted to be steadfast and immovable. It is not an obstinate adherence to our own notions — to some favorite dogma or theory which we have adopted — or to any special school of doctrine. It is not anything of this kind, but a firm grasp and faithful confession of the whole truth of God of which a risen Christ is the everlasting Center.