Called to Victory and Not Merely Forgiveness by Brother Curtis Hansen

         This morning our scripture reading will be out of the book of 1 Corinthians. We will be in the 15th chapter starting at verse 53. Paul is nearing the end of his first letter to the church in Corinth.

        53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

        54 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.

        55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

        56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

        57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory though our Lord Jesus Christ.

        58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unlovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

        Now, before we begin to get into the heart of the message, there is an admission I need to make. I don't want to play games I cannot win. If I'm not good at something, I will avoid it. Our Christian walk is similar in that way. You fail a lot in your walk, yet, if there is even but one victory you can point to, that keeps your faith firm even among the setbacks you could encounter. It is within our human nature to be the best in everything, and subset of people where that competition is unhealthy. If you lose consistently through life, if you make mistakes and fall sort, if you can't seem to catch a break, this disconnects you from parts of your faith. You disassociate yourself as a means of recovery and you blame people and things to salvage your ego.

        As a sold out believer you should change your mindset from the bleak, despair, dark, and deathly nature of the world. Your mindset needs to be kingdom minded. It is the end in mind. Paul is speaking about Jesus in verse 55. Sin leads to death. Sting of death is sin. What strengthens sin is the law. Sin is not some abstract thought or construct. Sin is in different forms for different people. What I may have to put on my cross may be far removed from someone else's sin. That sin in verse 55 is different for each person.

        Let us focus on verse 58. Paul had to tell himself this even as he was writing to the church in Corinth. When the option of dig deeper and be steadfast was presented to Paul as a choice, he would choose that.

        God doesn't want you to live in just grace or forgiveness. There is no spiritual growth sitting in that area. God wants you to live in victory. 

        There is phenomenon in the job field for the past 2 years that ties in with this message. Since the pandemic began, there were deficiencies in many different areas which were brought to light. Income and worth were among them. A phenomenon began in the form of quiet quitting. Quiet quitting is showing up physically for your job, do the bare minimum because you feel undervalued and under appreciated. You don't go anywhere else right away because in spite of your check being too little in your eyes or your health benefits may be small, not many places are going to offer you a health package. So you go to work, mentally checked out, doing the bare minimum. You are a filled slot on a schedule. 

        If you treat your relationship with God similar to quiet quitting, your heart is not in it for the long term. You may not have ever truly surrendered your heart to Jesus. There are ups and downs, peaks and valleys in life that put our walk to the test. The one body object we have no problem running is our mouth. We can tell off family, give unsolicited opinions to friends, yet conveniently forget the reflection in the mirror. You get off the path after so much rejection and set back, you lay down and disassociate. 

        There are a few quiet quitters in the Bible, so if you feel like you're in that spot this morning, you have some company. Look at Judas in the gospels. He was physically with Jesus and travelled with him during Jesus' ministry, yet was more about the money. The prophet of Elijah. He prophecies a long drought, confronted hundreds of Baal prophets, fire from heaven consumed Elijah's offering, Elijah slays the prophets and then he turns and quiet quits after a messenger from Queen Jezebel threatened death to him. Your inner voice is your biggest antagonist. Look at King David. He should have been with his men going to battle and instead was at his palace when he spotted Bathsheeba. Look at Moses. Moses had spent 40 years in the wilderness with a needy and complaining people so much that even though Moses was promised to cross into the promised land, because he acted out of anger smiting a rock twice for water, Moses was only allowed to see into the promised land. 

        I tell the highlights of Moses' quitting because there are those sitting who think that they are promised many things when they become a Christian. I'm here to say that God's promises can removed or changed based on your actions. 

        There is a bumper sticker that has been on a few vehicles here in the area. It reads "Christians aren't fallen just forgiven." That's not entirely true. You have not been called to live content in just forgiveness. It is quite the Pentecostal thing to exclaim "Quit sin and follow God!" Since sin is tailor made for each person here where what you struggle with, I may have no problem, the question is what things in your life take you away from God? One sin does not fit all. You have to be honest and recognize what your flesh really likes. Once you identified that, you need to ask yourself if it's an idol. God wants you to live in victory. In you stay in forgiveness, you drift into frustration and then into quiet quitting. As you grow older, you should want to make better choices, to seek more knowledge for your walk. 

        If Jesus beat the grave what do we have permission to lay down? The answer is nothing because we are to live in victory. You can keep Jesus as a baby in a manger in your mind, and not recognize the man who sweat blood in the garden before his death. That man is whom I seek of this morning. Verse 57 gives us the victory. Verse 58 is where our work comes in. Which verse do we rest our faith in today? 57 or 58? Things you overcome today will circle back to you tomorrow. 

        If God is going to give you the victory you are going to have to stand fast, be sure of yourself. It is beneficial to your life and to others. You have to commit yourself fully to Jesus. Give yourself to prayer, to fasting, to coming to church. One final question for you this morning; How can we expect total victory and live in partial obedience? The answer is we can't. This walk isn't easy for anyone. It is why we are always changing and growing through our whole life. Stand fast and firm for God. A half heart will not lead you to victory.