Be Steadfast

Be Steadfast — Ministry Focus for 2024
1 Corinthians 15:58
January 28, 2024

In the late 1980s, Henry Dempsey was flying for a commuter airline.  On one flight with an empty 15-passenger airplane, he and the copilot heard a rattling noise toward the back of the plane.  The copilot took control of the plane when Dempsey went to investigate.  As he was checking the door, the plane hit turbulence and he fell forward against the door and it opened.  He tumbled forward and fell out of the plane. As he tumbled out, he was able to grab the cable railing on the stairway.  With the plane traveling 190 mph and at 4000 ft. in altitude, he was hanging backwards and upside down with only his grip on those rails preserving his life. 

The noise of the rushing wind was so loud not only could the copilot not hear him when he shouted for help, he couldn’t even hear himself.  The copilot did notice the “door ajar” light come on so he changed course and headed for an airport 10 minutes away.  He did not realize that Dempsey was hanging onto the railing so he called the airport tower and asked for a helicopter to search for the body of someone who had fallen out of the plane.  Dempsey later said, “When I was first sucked out of the plane, I knew I was in big trouble…I thought I was fishbait.” 

The plane landed at the standard 100 mph and Dempsey’s head was only 12 inches from the runway.  “I thought I was going to die because there was absolutely nothing I could do.…[Then ] A strange sense of relaxation came over me.…I really didn’t feel any pain at first. Pain didn’t even enter the picture. I’ve been flying long enough to try and not panic.”  No he didn’t panic, but he did hang on tightly.  It took emergency personnel 10 minutes to pry his fingers from the cables he was holding. 

I expect (and hope) that none of you have ever experienced the trial Dempsey did.  But you know the difficulties, troubles, and sufferings of this world:

• You know the relentless attacks of temptation. The temptations are persistent, the lies deceptive, the cost so great. 
• You know the decadent rebellion of the culture. Aren’t you grieved especially at the attacks against our women and children?  We have degraded and harmed so many women and we are asking children to fight against temptations they do not understand and that they are ill-equipped to fight.
• You know injustice and inequity — “it’s not right” is not just the lament of young children.
• You know the sorrows of physical ailment and pain and death; you have walked or are walking through the valley of the shadow of death; while it is a shadow, the shadow is dark and heavy.
• You know the challenges of living with uncertainty about the future — “will I make it financially?”
• You know the burdens of difficult and broken relationships. And even more grievously, some of those damaged relationships have happened in the church and sometimes from the leaders who were given to protect and care for you.

We live in a broken world.  And while it seems to be getting more broken and more difficult, none of the things I mentioned are new.  You can open to just about any page in Scripture and find similar laments:

• “How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
  How long will You hide Your face from me?
  How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
  Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
  How long will my enemy be exalted over me?” (Ps. 13:1-2)

• “O LORD, the God of my salvation,
  I have cried out by day and in the night before You.
  Let my prayer come before You;
  Incline Your ear to my cry!
  For my soul has had enough troubles,
  And my life has drawn near to Sheol.” (Ps. 88:1-3)

• “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you…” (1 Pt. 4:12)

Our difficulties and suffering may also lead to a temptation to despair — and even to leave the faith.  And some are.  Some are trading their faith in Christ for false religions (what used to be called “apostasy” and is now being called “deconstructing faith”).  And some are going the way of Demas, trading faith for licentious living.  Our last two sermon series have been designed to fight against those temptations — so that we could see the victory of God (in Hebrews 11 and Zechariah).  And our theme for 2024 is designed to give us encouragement, hope, and strength to stay the course and not quit:  “Be Steadfast.” 

While there are many exhortations in the Bible to endure, remain, and persist, this admonition was taken from 1 Corinthians 15:58, which we are considering this morning.  In this verse we will learn: 

Endure in faith and ministry because of the hope of the resurrection.

As we look at this text, observe three aspects of Paul’s exhortation: 

1. Be Steadfast (the command)
2. Be Steadfast in Christ’s Work (the context)
3. Be Steadfast Because… (the cause)

Download the rest of this sermon on 1 Corinthians 5:58.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.