I’m referring to Paul’s conclusion at the end of 1 Corinthians 15: Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (v. 58). That’s the implication of Christ’s resurrection. It’s the answer to “so what?” Since part of my ‘labor in the Lord’ is preaching, then the reality of Christ’s resurrection means that I must keep preaching even when the response seems tepid, apathetic, slow, or even negative. What pastor hasn’t approached God’s throne after a weekend of preaching and complained: “Lord, they just don’t get it!” Then again, what pastor hasn’t approached God’s throne after a weekend of preaching and complained: “Lord, I just don’t get it!”

Transformation takes time. Fruit appears gradually. I’ve preached a few sermons over the years where I’ve witnessed a dramatic response. For example, I remember eight college students giving their lives to Christ at the end of a message I preached a few weeks after 9-1-1. Most Sundays, though, I don’t see immediate results. But as a result of Christ’s resurrection, the reality is that my labor is not in vain!

God brought this idea to mind again yesterday while listening to my eighty-year-old father-in-law, James Perkins, deliver a brief sermon to ten residents of a care center in Ontario, Oregon. I’m on spring break with my wife and youngest son, and we’re visiting my in-laws. Every week my father-in-law and mother-in-law drive across the Snake River from their home in Idaho to lead the half hour service. My optimistic guess is that only three of the ten residents were actively listening. But my grandfather gave them the Word, and he contextualized his message to fit their situation. He used specific examples from their personal lives – a tactic you can use when you have less than a dozen listeners! What struck me was the passion and urgency evident in my father-in-law’s preaching. It’s something that emerges from a conviction that the resurrection is a reality, that our labor in the Lord is not an empty pursuit.

Christ is risen; he is risen indeed! So our preaching matters; it matters indeed!