Standing Firm in the Faith

Open your Bibles to I Corinthians 16:13-14

Culture is changing quickly.

Read I Corinthians 16:13-14

Paul closes out his letter to a conflicted church.

There are battles within the church.

There is sin within the church.

There are factions within the church.

Paul has said some hard words.

Paul is wrapping up his letter.

It’s now time for the Corinthians to put these things into action.

Things will not be easy.

Paul gives 5 imperatives to church in a confused world.

5 ways to put into action the hard things you read in Scripture.

Be Watchful

Be on guard

To not fall asleep

It’s the word Jesus used on the night He was arrested when He told his disciples to stay awake and pray.

To not become complacent.

It’s easy to relax and become complacent.

Think back to what you did before your conversion.

What did you do for fun?

How did you live your life?

What were your motivations.

Corinth was a church that had stopped being vigilant.

They’d stopped being awake.

They’d returned to some of their former ways.

They were immoral.

There were divisions.

There were lawsuits.

There were marriage problems.

Divorce

Celibacy

Affairs.

They were gluttonous.

Here was a church that was not awake.

The very first thing we are told then is to be watchful.

To be on guard.

To stay awake.

Remember there are dangers out there.

You may be converted, but the devil prowls around like a lion seeking someone to devour.

There is temptation.

Jesus told the disciples to keep watch and pray “that you may not come into temptation.”

We are to watch out for false teachers.

II Timothy 4:3-5

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. “

We also are to be alert for the return of Christ.

You do not know when Christ will return.

He will come like a thief in the night.

So we are alert, awake to do pursue holiness until the Lord returns.

Stand Firm

We live in a pluralistic culture.

There is little truth to any truth that remains in the culture around us.

Anytime a concrete statement is said, people are quick to try and find exceptions to it.

We however are to be different.

We are to stand firm.

Stand firm on the faith that has been given.

There are men who have come before us, who have stood their ground.

Their impact on history is notable.

John Calvin

Martin Luther.

I love his great quote when at the Diet of Worms.

He was called to appear before the emperor.

With a great pile of his own books in front of him, he was called to recant what he had said.

Instead of recanting he said, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.”

How could he stand so firm in such a precarious situation?

Because he stood on the Scripture alone.

He would not be swayed otherwise.

And I wonder how could these men do it?

If only I would be so bold.

If only more Christians would have that drive to stand firm in the face of opposition.

But it’s really not that hard to stand firm.

Read the Word.

Trust the Word.

Obey the Word.

It’s what Paul told the Corinthians earlier in the book.

I Corinthians 15:1 - “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, “

You know why Paul preached the Gospel?

Because he knew that if Corinth was going to survive, they needed to know truth.

This is a model to follow.

If you are going to endure, you need something to stand upon.

The truth of God.

But the moment you get off the firm foundation of God’s Word, it all goes haywire.

Ephesians 4:14 says, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

You want to be that man who stands firm?

Then trust in the marvelous word of God.

I love men like John MacArthur, but he’s really not that brilliant of a man.

I think he has a photographic memory, that part is pretty great.

But really, he’s a man who knows God’s Word, he stands upon God’s Word and he acts upon God’s Word.

Act like Men

This implies 2 things.

First, it brings with it maturity.

It is the opposite of acting like a child.

Paul doesn’t say, act like children.

He says, “Act like men.”

What is a man?

It’s a person who has grown up.

Matured.

Learned the skills.

And is able to put those skills to practice.

To put those skills to use.

Christians are to move beyond those early years of faith.

I Corinthians 14:20 Paul said, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.”

There is an expectation to grow up in the faith.

I Corinthians 3:1-2 - “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,”

When you are an infant in the faith, there are certain things you are not able to do.

If you are gifted in teaching, you still must learn.

If you are leader, you need to be equipped.

So the call is to mature.

Grow up in the faith.

As we live in a pluralistic and wavering culture, we must be equipped and mature.

This is the call for all Christians.

It’s not just those who will one day be pastors and elders who need to mature.

This is for all Christians.

Why?

Because discipleship is for all people.

Be Strong

Paul uses the passive tense here.

Which means his strength comes from outside of himself.

I used to love watching Popeye.

Where did Popeye get his strength from?

Did he hang out at the gym?

Did he work out?

How did he get his strength?

It came from outside of himself.

It came from spinach.

Spinach gave him super strength.

How about Samson?

Where did his strength come from?

I don’t think that Samson was a buff man.

I know we like to think of him as the original Superman or He-Man.

But his strength came from outside of himself.

Judges 14, Samson was visiting his parents, and a lion rushed upon them, looking to eat them for dinner.

Judges 14:6 - “Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.”

Later on in that same chapter, Samson told a riddle to the Philistines.

He said that if they could get the answer to the riddle, he’d give them 30 changes of clothes, 30 outfits.

They ended up cheating and finding out the answer to the riddle.

So Samson had to come up with 30 outfits.

Judges 14:19 - “And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.”

Where did Samson’s strength come from?

The Spirit of the Lord.

You are in a battle, and the battle is a battle to waffle.

To give in to sin.

To become like the world.

To cave to the world’s way of thinking.

To cave to what the world calls good or not.

This is the battle of the Corinthians.

They were worldly.

I Corinthians 3:3 - “for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?”

How do we battle?

We become strong.

And where does out strength come from?

The strength that we get comes from the grace that we have in Christ.

Ephesians 6:10 - “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.”

Remember what we have seen already.

God’s desire is for you to stand firm.

To not be swayed.

To stand strong.

And how are you going to grow and stand strong?

How are you going to be strong?

Colossians 1:10-11 says, “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;”

By increasing in the knowledge of Him.

The greatest of men, the godliest of men that stood their ground, weren’t strong because of their own strength.

But because they knew the Lord.

John Knox was a weak man.

He was permanently damaged from warfare.

He was captured in a castle after cannon fire destroyed where he was staying.

He was on the run from assassins.

He had constant headaches.

Burning fevers.

Gut-wrenching illnesses.

And yet, he was a man who faced kings, and queens.

He was a lone voice against bishops and politicians.

This notoriously weak man, who’s prayers were the greatest fear of Bloody Mary, Queen of Scots.

How did this weak man accomplish so much?

He wrote John Calvin where his strength came from.

“He whose cause we defend will come to the aid of his own.”

So wait on the Lord.

Find your strength in Him.

The more you learn about the God who created all things, the more you will be strengthened to stand firm in the Lord.

And finally, Do all in love

I love how Paul closes this thought.

It’s an often overlooked principal, especially in your quest for boldness.

As you begin growing in doctrine, and strength, and your foundation, there is a tendency to become rash.

James White has a phrase he’s called “The Cage Stage.”

When you first become engrossed in theology you become dangerous.

You lose patience.

You become judgmental.

You can become a bully.

We must not grow proud in what we know.

Instead, the command is to do everything that we do in love.

I Peter 4:8 says - “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

Be motivated by love

This passage describes the bold life that lives in the victory of Jesus Christ.

Life is scary.

Times are frustrating.

But you don’t have to live as a victim.

We may be under pressure, but we are not hopeless or brought to despair.

Because we have Jesus Christ as our Lord.

We now live this life to the glory of Christ.

Filled with joy.

Filled with hope.