βTherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lordβ (I Cor. 15:58).
It is such an encouragement to me to know that, no matter what, my labor is not in vain in the Lord.
But if that be so, why did Paul tell the Galatians,
βYe observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you,Β lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vainβ (Gal. 4:10,11).
And what about what the apostle told the Philippians:
βDo all things without murmurings and disputingsβ¦that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain,Β neither laboured in vainβ (Phil. 2:14-16).
And donβt we find the same thought in I Thessalonians 3:5?
ββ¦I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you,Β and our labour be in vain.β
If it was possible that Paulβs labor for the Lord might have been in vain, how could he tell the Corinthians thatΒ theirΒ labor couldΒ notΒ be? How could the labor of a godly apostle be in vain, but not the labor of the carnal Corinthians?
We believe the answer is found in the context of the verse, where right before telling the Corinthians that their labor was not in vain, Paul spoke to them about the Rapture (I Cor. 15:51-57). InΒ thatΒ day, when we stand before the Lord at the Judgment Seat of Christ,Β noΒ believerβs labor will be in vain, forΒ allΒ of our labor for Him will be richly rewarded.
And so it is that, if the Galatians persisted in their legalism, if the Philippians continued to do things with murmurings and disputings, if the Thessalonians abandoned the faith, Paulβs labor among them would have been in vain inΒ thisΒ life,Β but not in the next life!Β And if you are feeling discouraged aboutΒ yourΒ labor for the Lord because people whom you have led to Him have departed from the faith, or believers to whom youβve introduced the grace message have turned their back on that blessed truth, you too can rejoice thatΒ your labor is not in vain in the Lord! source
