Always Abounding

was meditating on this passage a bit today and shared this with the family 1 Corinthians 15:58 is a a good verse for a funeral not just because it Comforts our hearts but it also instructs us as to what we are to do those of us who are uh still trotting this Earth First Corinthians 15 helps us 1 Corinthians 50 155 he says now this I say Brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption so at that point that's a little of a problem right but we keep reading behold I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised Incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this moral must put on immortality so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this Mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in Victory oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy Victory The Sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my beloved Brethren be ye steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord Lord help us as we look at this passage together I pray that you would help us to learn as your children how we ought to approach the brevity of life and the the purpose of Our Lives that we would as faith-filled Believers be always abounding in the work of the Lord I pray you would help us now in jesus' name amen powerful Passage teaching us to be always abounding and I tell you we're all human and so we have days where we're always drowning it seems like uh or barely surviving uh in the work of the Lord but uh this is to be uh what we are trusting God for and as Christians with Faith and Hope and all that he has for us we should be looking at our lives with uh with the the perspective of we're on the victory side and we can abound because of Jesus it's a powerful passage I think I have read this passage at every single graveside service except for one uh the lady requested I not read it because the word Trump was in there I'm not kidding I said can I just say trumpet she's like nope get a new verse and so we got another verse there's a lot of verses in there uh but aside from that uh the at the last trumpet uh we the Bible says will be changed today uh they took the they took the uh the uh casket couldn't come up with the word they took the casket which was was prepared for the uh it wasn't the ground it went into a wall in the what do you call it melum I think and uh uh that's where brother Carver's Earthly Tabernacle resides and I was thinking about it as I stood there and I took pictures of this beautiful wall with all these name plates and various things and flowers and I was looking at this wall and I thought to myself there's coming a day where the trumpet will sound and these beautiful tiles are going to come popping off of the wall and out will come those caskets not all of them hopefully a lot of them and I just sat there as we were waiting for everybody to gather I just sat there looking at the wall and just thinking about that and then I looked out the window in a beautiful grounds and I looked at the the headstones and I imagined what that's going to be like that's going to be wild as those graves will open you know um somebody might say that's pretty far-fetched that's pretty crazy you know it already happened once when did it happen when Jesus died on the cross the Bible says that many graves were opened and we got a little bit of a down payment you might say a little foreshadowing of of what would happen and and the Dead uh many were resurrected and walked and talked with people it was a sight to behold it was something else so don't say it can't happen it's already happened once and uh it but it was a welcome thought to me as I sat there preparing my heart for what I was going to share with the family uh and to think of that beautiful wall but those whose bodies uh reside there who knew the Lord they will one day in the twinkling of an eye they the dead shall be raised Incorruptible they're going to rise first and will be changed and we'll have our glorified bodies and we will be forever ever with the Lord I want to start we're going to look at always abounding but I want to start first of all with just looking at the matter of death and the truth about death we don't talk about this all the time but it's on my heart because uh today we we've spent all day with the family and uh uh just thinking about these these things and I've talked to my kids my kids have questions and it's good to have those questions it's good to have those talks but death is one of those things that people don't want to face people don't want to talk about a lot of people refuse to go to funerals because they just don't want to have to face this uh this subject it's interesting that In this passage he refers to this as a mystery he says there behold I show you a mystery and truly for us from our perspective there is quite a bit of mysteriousness surrounding death none of us have ever done it and survived okay uh you know with anything else you can go find somebody talk to them and say hey what was that like what was it like when you I don't know jumped out of a airplane and you know uh the freef fall and the parachute and so forth talk me through this I think I want to try it for almost anything in life that you want to do or that you may face you can find find somebody that you can talk to and engage with and so forth uh this is one of these things that's more of a mystery to us and because of that wherever there is unknown there is anxiety even if you know the Lord Jesus as your savior even if you know what the Bible says you can still have some anxiety and and uh I remember as a kid I had all sorts of anxiety about this and I remember spending oh I don't know how many nights just sleepless nights thinking about death and what's it going to be like and so forth now I do remember that almost all of that cleared up after I got saved when I was 10 years old I got saved it still would come back some but I could put those feelings to rest but I can tell you uh that I spent oh I don't even know how many hours in my bed thinking all of this through and and very very anxious uh and there like I said there's been Seasons even since I've been saved where those thoughts have come back and I've had to work through scripturally but you know this is one of those things that though it's a mystery he says he showed us the mystery in other words he's he's solving it for us he is he's telling you the secret and he's giving us what we need to know uh that first of all we know flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God tells us very clearly there corruption cannot inherit incorruption uh so something has to happen but because of Jesus we shall be changed the dead raised we're changed uh Incorruptible Immortal glorified bodies because of what Jesus did on the cross those who have received him we have life I talked about it this afternoon in the in the in the message uh the funeral message uh Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die I tell you Chuck I don't think uh had uh in the way I see it when he went into the Lord's presence I personally think he couldn't tell what was the cut off between Earthly life and it's just life just continued of course it got better real quick so there's a clue there but there's not like this Gap or know it's just life just continues Linda uh this afternoon she gave me two pictures of Chuck uh when she found him by his bedside and I've got those and it's amazing he he literally just fell to his knees by his bed and it looks like he's in prayer I don't know if he was uh but he spent all night the coroner said he spent all night by his bed on his knees with his face just resting on the pillow it looked like I don't know but it looked like he went to be with the Lord praying and I tell you that's a way to go that's one way to go and he was talking to the Lord and then he was talking to the Lord um uh but uh just in moment he was translated what the Bible does in so many passages is it brings back the curtain so you can see backstage to see how this works and what's going on so that we as Christians don't have to sorrow as those who have no hope so we don't have to be plagued with anxiety and fear but so we can have lives that are full of purpose without all of the stress and anx xiety and angst that this world has we will be changed glorified bodies you know there's several passages as I'll have us turn to Luke 9 I didn't put it in the slides I apologize but just turn over to Luke 9 if you have your Bible and just be reminded when you come to the Transfiguration of Jesus it's not just a cool story about Jesus being transfigured it's a story that also tells us among other things that Moses and Elijah Aren't Dead that's what the story tells us in verse 28 and it came to pass about 8 days after these things he took Peter and John and James went up to Mountain to pray as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered his reignment was white and glistening what what's happening here uh the we shall be changed that we just read in 1 Corinthians 15 he showed us a little bit of it well he he showed Peter and James and John and he's we're getting to see it through these words but he showed a little bit of that and behold there talked with him two men didn't say two ghosts didn't say two dead people two zombies you know no that's not how this worked it just says they they came to him two men which were Moses and Elias that's Moses and Elijah who appeared in glory appeared in glory what does appeared in glory mean it means they appeared in their glorified uh uh uh body well well at least their glorified appearance there and they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem would you have like to have been a fly on the wall they came to talk to Jesus about his death that was the reason they came why was he in the garden again he was preparing his heart for what his imminent crucifixion it was going to be the next thing the very next thing that's going to happen is he's going to be betrayed he's going to go down that horrible uh path of of accusation before the high priest and then pilot and then the cat of nin tales and the crown of thorns and all these things are going to happen which will culminate on the cross after this moment in the garden all the chain of events just start to fall like dominoes this is his last moment to repair his heart he goes he prays he he sweats he agonizes he even asks the Lord if it's possible could you could I pass on this cup but if not I surrender to it oh no I'm sorry that was Yes actually I think I'm getting two two things confused there that was later I apologize but um but that's going to happen very closely and they come to to minister to him concerning his death now Jesus as we talked about on Sunday he was the god man he was God With Us Emanuel and he was not uh in his in this state he was not so um uh he was divine but he laid aside some of his his his uh Divine activities or for his Divine rights and privileges so that he would feel pain he would feel suffering he would feel Temptation and so forth like he did in the fourth chapter of Luke and so also as he's preparing himself for the cross he needed to be Minister unto just like after he was in the Temptation in the garden I'm sorry in the Temptation in the wilderness he was ministered unto By Angels here he is at the Transfiguration and he's ministered to by Moses and Elias and they're comforting him concerning what death he would die and what's the purpose of it what God's going to do through it and let me just tell you they're not scared death is one of those things that humanly speaking is scary and movies I think do a lot to reinforce that and uh uh those who don't know Jesus yeah have a lot to be afraid of with death but for us even in death God has a purpose and God knows what he's doing but my point there with going to the Transfiguration primarily was that Moses and Elias Aren't Dead you also have um the question of in Matthew 22 the question of the Widow who had seven husbands they all died and who gets her in the resurrection and he says you guys don't understand how this works uh they don't marry they're not given in marriage in in in heaven but uh the bottom line is they're alive okay Lazarus he got to die and be raised again and and then he he got the whole thing twice but you know the Bible says God is not the god of the dead that's Matthew 22 but of the living and I've taken great comfort in the fact that God's word from book from from the first cover of the book to the end gives us so much insight into this mystery and as a Christian we have so much purpose we have so much hope and we have so much that can guide us the mystery has been solved we will be changed the last Trump we will be caught up together with him and then it goes on and we see that death is swallowed up in Victory death is swallowed up in Victory The Sting of death is gone the grave lost the cross won the strength of sin which was the law is no longer strong it's all broken because the cross won because Jesus made a way you look at this it says oh death I'm sorry go back uh to verse 54 so when this corruptable shall have put on incorruption incorruption and this Mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in Victory oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy Victory The Sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my beloved Brethren and he goes on we'll come back to that in a moment Jesus made a way and so for us when we come to the subject of death or funerals there ought to be a thanks be to God there ought to be a gratitude as those who have been granted the victory we have the victory over sin over death over hell and Jesus one I would encourage our young people if you have questions talk talk to your parents talk to others in the church this should not be a subject we cannot talk about I think every funeral is so important because it brings these thoughts up again it's not something that we should dread I told my kids said I want you to say this and this at my funeral and make sure you say this make sure you say that no I didn't but uh we talked about it this afternoon and uh it's not something that we have to fear but it's something that we can be prepared for and even in those times of Sorrow because we are parted from those we've come to love and come to hold on to so dearly we can still uh be at peace because Jesus made a way he gave us the victory well what about the last verse this is given in context of all of about uh death and Eternity verse 15 sorry verse 58 of chapter 15 speaks to us directly therefore my beloved Brethren be ye steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord what is the point here well when you look at these two words steadfast and unmovable if you look at at the definitions of these words they're very very similar steadfast has the idea of sedentary or sitting uh but also steady firm constant in other words you're just staying right on the truth that God's parked you on I'm not moving from that I'm in Jesus Jesus is in me I'm saved I'm forgiven I'm redeemed I'm alive and I can never die this body will die but even several times in the scriptures it's referred to as sleep not not that that's actually what's happening physiologically no the body is dead but Jesus refers to it as sleep like Lazarus he said that Lazarus sleepeth I go to wake him they said H he he doesn't sleep and Jesus said he's dead but I'm speaking of it as though he sleeps because it's almost the same thing uh uh it's it's not the end in other words so we are to be settled we are to be sitting firm constant steadfast in our resolve concerning what the word of God says the word unmovable it means almost the same thing not to be moved from its place unmoved firmly persistent a little different Nuance but almost the same thing so why is it repeated well it's repeated for emphasis uh in the Greek language specifically if you ever have something repeated and same with English we do the same thing but you repeat a word or give a a similar word just to really sit on this and emphasize it fully we are to be steadfast and unmovable in our resolve to keep these truths in Focus you know when you look at who Paul was writing to in his day he was writing to people who were going to face death and some of them very gruesome deaths and so this is no trit thing that he is saying be steadfast unmovable when they were going to be tortured when they were going to face who knows what in the Coliseum or whatever and yet they could have this rooted steadfast hope because they knew what the word of God said and they knew what they'd experienced we'll see that in a moment you who are alive therefore my beloved Brethren and that word beloved is is a tremendous word meaning he cares for us you I've heard people say why could how could God let anybody body die everyone dies but that's not the end if you know Jesus you are his beloved he cares for you and he has made a way so that you can continue to have eternal life with him he says be fervent I'm sorry be be steadfast in your resolv settled unmovable and then be fervent in your service always abounding in your work for the Lord always abounding this word comes up 39 times in the Bible it means to be going over and above to be Superfluous to exist in full quantity to be abundant to increase greatly you get the idea you see if death was the end you get discouraged and we' just Peter out Bo I tell there's persecution there's people dying oh that's terrible well what's it matter doesn't matter what I do for the Lord you can get discouraged real easy but when you have a Biblical settled faith and what his word says concerning eternity concerning death you can say hey let's make this time count let's get after it let's make sure that we by faith Faith are using every second every day we're not promised tomorrow the Bible says that so clearly it is for us to always be abounding in our work for the Lord that word has the idea that word working is the idea of laboring toiling for the Lord we have the privilege of serving him with our life and yet our life every day is being spent that's how it that's how it works what are we spending it on you know I you've probably heard this but we pay for things with money but where does the money come from you work 40 hours for that paycheck and so if you wanted to you could figure out the minutes how many minutes of your life filled up your gas tank how many minutes of your life fill up your stomach how we pay for everything in time we pay for things with our pieces of our life how much of that is working for the Lord how much of that are we throwing ourselves into always abounding in our fervent expectant service for the Lord Jesus be fervent in your service I think about it this way you know Chuck stepped into the presence of the Lord well Linda had just gotten there right and who else recently alul love Dorothy Beck Sue chony was very recent I know there's been several and uh you know I I I picture it in my mind you know Sue looking what are you doing here so soon you know it's eternity I think we're all going to arrive together on the Eternal time time frame I don't know how it works okay I've never experienced anything but time but it's different than how uh we experience things chronologically God says we have a vapor and yet we treat it as though we have all the tomorrows that we can possibly imagine how much fervency are we giving for our work for the Lord there's a song We Sing work for the night is coming when man Works no more it's a privilege for us to be in his service and it's just interesting to me that this is where he goes after he Comforts our hearts with uh after he covers our hearts hearts with what happens in this mystery of death and he puts to rest the idea that death won and he says death lost its sting the grave has no Victory thanks be to God which gives us the victory now don't forget this be settled steadfast unmovable on that point you're on the victory side death didn't win now having said that let's work let's always be abounding in the work of the Lord because Jesus made a way be steadfast be unmovable be fervent in your service always abounding working for the Lord and that last phrase for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord well what is this sometimes we sell ourselves short sometimes we sell God's word short we sell his power short and a lot of times we just say ah whatever I'm doing is not going to matter I'm just a little old me I'm always messing up I'm always sinning I'm always this I'm always that it's not going to work I try I pray I serve it's not nothing's going to nothing's going to pan out for me and he says don't sell God short everything you've done in the Lord is not in vain and that's a key phrase in the Lord in his strength for his purpose selflessly trusting him that which we do for him in his strength is not in vain for ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord that word no is the Greek word meaning to to see with your eyes to perceive by experience and often times they translate this word to see many times this is translated it would have been translated for you see that your labor is not in vain in the Lord in other words uh he's saying if you'll open your eyes you can see what God is doing God is using you God is using his word God is using his church God is using his people don't let Satan through discouragement and doubt and unbelief cause you to close your eyes to what God is doing no you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord and go to your grave abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain the witnessing to that unsaved family member your labor is not in vain in the Lord the work that you're putting in in your church well what am I accomplishing in the big scheme of things your labor is not in vain in the lord it's just a Sunday school class it's just a bus it's just insignificant there's nothing insignificant that is done in the Lord as we wrap this up here God wants us to live an always abounding Life Death has no Sting the grave has no Victory thanks be to God who giveth us the victory now what are we going to do with our lives another verse I've been chewing on here lately was in John 12 where it says uh let's see first John 12 and verse 24 verily verily I say unto you except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit he that loveth his life shall lose it he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be if any man serve me him will my father honor you've got to take that at face value that's what his word says your labor is not in vain the Lord if you serve him and follow him God will honor you he will honor your his word working through you but I think about verse 24 except a corn of we wheat fall into the ground and die Jesus was willing to go to the Cross to even die so that God's work could be done through him he was selfless and he gave us that pattern of selfless living He that loveth his life shall lose it he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it into life eternal now that doesn't say hate your life that's not what it said my life stinks I hate my life and it's biblical nope got to keep reading it's he that hateth his life in this world in other words uh and the word hate you can look it up and do your own word study has the idea of to lightly esteem you just don't take your life in this world that seriously oh that didn't work out for me that's all right I got I got a mansion I didn't get get that promotion no worries my father own the cattle on a thousand hills and he's never let the righteous be forsaken nor his seed begging bread oh I've got I've got a illness a grave illness well my father is the great physician so I think I'm going to be all right but whatever it is you hold this life lightly because you've sunk your teeth and you've sunk your fists into Eternal living He that loveth his life shall lose it if if you're all into life in this world and all the things and all the stuff and by the way when you're all into this life when it does come to funerals funerals hurt way worse than when you have more of an eternal focus and you're able to as it says hate his life in this world other words lightly esteem life in this world not that it's a Carefree carelessness not saying that but you've just got it in perspective and you recognize there's something greater that God is doing and you're able to serve him and follow him and where he is there shall my servant be and if any man serve me him will my father honor therefore my beloved Brethren be ye steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord praise God death is not the end the mystery has been solved you don't need to fear you can be settled steadfast unmovable on that point we have the victory don't move from there the only place we're supposed to move is into service be always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing your labor is not in vain in him we serve the god of the living not the god of the Dead let's give these Earthly moments to him in full service and that God would be glorified

Channel: Ann Arbor Baptist Church

Views: 89

Keywords: Ann Arbor Baptist Church, Pastor Jonathan Barber

Id: srt9J3E-ryk

Length: 36min 3sec (2163 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2024