Are You Firm Yet Merciful?

13 Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be brave and strong. 14 Your every [action] must be done with love. 15 Brothers, you know the household of Stephanas: they are the firstfruits of Achaia and have devoted themselves to serving the saints. I urge you 16 also to submit to such people, and to everyone who works and labors with them. 17 I am delighted over the presence of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, because these men have made up for your absence. 18 For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore recognize such people.

19 The churches of the Asian province greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord, along with the church that meets in their home. 20 All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 21 This greeting is in my own hand-Paul. 22 If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him. Maranatha! 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus. ~ 1 Corinthians 16:13-24 (Holman Christian Standard)

Apostle Paul, the Great Encourager begins his closing words to the church in Corinth by telling them to be alert to stand firm in the faith and be brave and strong. In this letter, Apostle Paul addresses conflicts in the church. Specifically pagan roots still holding sway within the community, immoral behavior, idolatry, and the division of beliefs. Paul is clear that this was not a letter to shame them but to admonish them, to urge them to live as a resurrected people, to be imitators of Christ. These are the same dangers we face today, we see people placing their trust in all sorts of things other than El Elyon, the Most High God. We see people giving into the fleshly desires of immoral behavior.  Those who participate in idol worship of every kind, the love of money and success to worshiping false Gods and declaring jihad on anyone who believes differently or looks different. We see division in the Church, everything from all grace and no law to all law and no grace. We see churches who water down God’s word and question if the Holy Scripture is even the Word of God. We must be alert, the more danger we are in the greater vigilance we need for our security. We have to stand fast in our faith we must keep our ground and adhere closely to the revelations of God! We can not give up to the wisdom of the world or give into its corruption. We must stand firm in our faith of the gospel, maintain in it even to death! It is by faith alone that we will be able to keep our ground in the face of temptation.

Yet in the face of all this Paul reminds us that our “every action must be done with love.” We are to devote ourselves to serving the saints (God’s people), we are to commit ourselves to serving one another in love. Paul urges us to submit to everyone who works and labors for Christ. Our zeal and constancy must be consistent with compassion. We must defend our faith while maintaining our innocence, not devour or destroy thinking that the malevolence of man will invoke the righteousness of God. Our benevolence is not only command our hearts but radiate in the way we live our lives. There is a huge difference between being unchangeable and brutality, between Christian determinedness and frenzied outrage and rapture. We can never accomplish our Christian faith more than when our charity of is most emphatic. When we are able to relate with the mistaken brothers and sister and resist our open enemies of our holy faith in love. When everything is done with heartfelt mercifulness, when we treat one another and those who oppose us with a spirit of meekness and good will, that is when the whole world will know Christ and His Good News will be carried to the ends of the Earth! Maranatha! The Lord is coming! Amen. <><