Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Decent Order of Grace - Part 12 - The Seated Position

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor 15:57-58

The word 'steadfast' (Hedraios G1476) is derived from the word Hezomai which means to sit. Hedraios means to be sedentary or to stay seated. We are not to move from the seated position. From that position we experience the overflow of God's work.

Like protesters sitting in peaceful protest we sit and keep sitting. We don't sit on some street somewhere chanting slogans... We sit in the finished work of Christ. The labor, of continuing in rest, is not in vain.

The labor is the refusal to do the work myself. The refusal to defend myself. The refusal to second guess myself. The refusal to consider that anything will be done outside of the Lord's work.

Asking to be led we go in rest. Opening our mouths we speak from rest. Grace causes us to labor. Love constrains us to give and extend ourselves. We sleep less in our resting because there is so much to do.

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." 1 Cor 15:10 NKJV

Chapter 16 launches right into the collection for Jerusalem and the concerted effort to be made so that the gift is ready ahead of time. They were to work hard from that seated position.

So are we. From a position of rest we can impact lives and ease suffering. From rest we can reach the World with the message of what Christ has done.

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