The Lutheran Hour
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"Not in Vain"
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Text: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
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Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia! Because Jesus lives, our future is assured. Because Jesus lives, the promise of eternal life is ours. Because Jesus lives, we have the assurance that we will be with Christ when we depart from this mortal life, and we have the sure hope that ultimately our bodies will be raised, glorified, and dwell with Christ and all the saints in a new creation. Alleluia indeed!
But what about this life—now, today? It’s a great comfort to know that our future life is taken care of by the Lord Jesus. But does the resurrection also impact and affect our present life? To be sure, as the apostle Paul tells us, if it were only for this present life that we hoped in Christ, then we should be pitied. A present-tense religion with no future confidence would be very hollow indeed. But what about the opposite? What about a faith that only speaks to the future life, with no care or implication for the present?
The apostle Paul helps answer this question in today’s reading from 1 Corinthians. I’d like to read to you from 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. Paul writes,
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Throughout 1 Corinthians 15, Paul testifies to the promise and the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He speaks first to the fact of the resurrection (vv. 1-11), then to its necessity (vv. 12-19), its unfolding (vv. 20-34), and its character or nature (vv. 35-49). And in this final section of the chapter, Paul points up the triumphant, dramatic climax of his entire argument.
Or does he? Maybe you picked up on this. After some 57 verses unpacking the meaning and majesty of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the hope that all of us who believe in him will likewise rise—after all of this profound and persuasive prose, Paul says in verse 58, “Therefore …”
“Therefore.” That’s a significant word. One of my teachers taught me that whenever you see a “therefore” in Scripture you ought to ask what it’s there for. Therefore tells you Paul is about to set out the implications of it all. Therefore is the heads-up that you’re gonna get the payoff, the big takeaway. Therefore tells us, Pay attention: here’s the point.
So Paul writes, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Now, this is a lovely thought, a sweet sentiment, but at first blush it can look less like the dramatic climax of Paul’s argument and more like a disappointing anticlimax. After all this talk of the resurrection, you expect him to burst into songs, maybe—“When we’ve been there ten thousand years …” Or I anticipate him closing out with one final flourish about the joys and glories of eternity. Therefore, he might have said (and does say in other places), keep your eyes fully fixed on the future.
But that’s not what Paul says here. Instead, he turns to talk of toil and labor. Rather than rhapsodizing on the pleasures of paradise, he turns our attention to the meaningfulness of our work in the Lord now. He says, in effect: Because Jesus lives, we ought to keep the shoulder to the wheel in our vocations. Because Christ is raised, we can be confident that our labor—no matter how small or insignificant it may seem—has inestimable, eternal worth in Christ. What might seem at first like an anticlimax is in fact just the message we need.
How so? What makes me say that?
Let’s think back to the Old Testament. The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes is helpful here. King Solomon, the author of that book, is unflinching in its assessment of our life in this world—especially what it’s like apart from knowing God. “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity”—that’s the unforgettable refrain of the book. In itself, all is transient, temporary, even absurd.
And at one point Solomon turns his attention to our work. He writes, “What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.” Solomon looks at his labor and says, If this life is all we’ve got, then what’s the point of all our work?
Solomon is saying that it’s like we’re all just making sandcastles by the seashore. Some might build grand, impressive sandcastles that win the admiration of all the onlookers. Others might just build humble little sand-huts. But all of them will likewise be washed away by the tide of time. All that labor is in vain. So it can seem.
Maybe you’ve felt this. You’re a teacher, say, year after you try to impress upon your students the value, the importance of math or English or biology. Sometimes it seems like they get it, at least for a moment, but then you see the test scores. Vanity.
Or you’re in healthcare—a doctor, a nurse, a physician’s assistant. Again and again you serve people making bad choices with their health. You try to help, to heal, but more often than not they just don’t change. Vanity.
Or you’re a parent, a grandparent. You have sought to love your kids, raise them right, only to see them as adults forget, to walk away from all that you tried to give. Vanity.
In these ways, and countless others, in view of the tide of time, the sting of sin, and the press of death, it can feel like all our work, all our toil, all our labor is in vain. Like it’s nothing more than making sandcastles by the seashore that we know will be washed away.
Not so, says the apostle. Not so. This is the glorious, liberating, life-affirming significance of his final admonition of 1 Corinthians 15.
See, when Jesus died, was crucified, laid in the tomb, it looked like the greatest waste of all. Here was vanity at its uttermost absurdity. Even the Son of God succumbs to the tide of time? Even Christ Jesus gets wiped out by the grave? What hope could there be for any of us?
But Jesus did not stay dead, alleluia. The grave did not have the last word. God the Father raised His Son from the dead and said, I will not let My Holy One see corruption. I will not let His life be lived in vain. He shall be raised incorruptible, imperishable, indomitable, never to die again and instead to establish an eternal city with rock-solid foundations, a kingdom that has no end.
Dear friends, for you who trust in Christ, the resurrected Lord, your life is no sandcastle on the seashore. Instead, you, yourself are the holy temple of our Lord, founded on the rock of Jesus’ indestructible life. And because He lives, Paul says, our labors carried out in Him, by faith in Him—however small or insignificant as they may seem—those labors are not in vain. Even more than that: In the eyes of our loving Lord, they are of extraordinary worth—more glorious that you and I could ever know.
In his book The Great Divorce, author C.S. Lewis provides an imaginative picture what this looks like. The book recounts one pilgrim’s imaginary, fictional field trip from hell to heaven. And at the climax of the story, the pilgrim sees this awe-inspiring parade. He’s struck by the majesty and the ceremony and he can only wonder what hero could prompt such a party? But he thinks he knows. He whispers to his guide, “Is it? … is it?”
The guide says, “No. It’s someone you’ll have never heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.”
We quickly learn from the story that fame on earth looks different than fame in heaven. Sarah Smith of Golders Green didn’t capture or command any attention in her life on earth. Her name is about as vanilla as it gets. And yet in heaven a grand procession is held in her honor. Why?
Not for anything that we would find especially remarkable. We learn that she treated every child she met as though they were her son or daughter—even though she had no kids of her own. We learn that she loved and cared for animals. We learn that she didn’t know a stranger, taking every chance to show hospitality.
Well, this is all fine and well, but it doesn’t justify a parade in heaven, does it? Sarah Smith of Golders Green is an obscure saint if ever there was one. She seems to have done no great things, accomplished no ambitious feats, won no laurels while on earth. And this is just the point. The pilgrim’s guide explains:
”It’s like when you throw a stone into a pool,” he says. “And the concentric waves spread out further and further. Who knows where it will end? Redeemed humanity is still young, it has hardly come to its full strength. But already there is joy enough in the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life.”
The waves spread out further and further. Who knows where it will end? The story of Sarah Smith of Golders Green reminds us that a meaningful life doesn’t have to take place on some grand scale. In fact, more often than not, it will look quite little—as little as a pebble in a pool. But in the eyes of your Lord, those little labors are not for nothing.
Because Jesus lives, your future is certain, your eternal destiny is assured. And what’s more, because He lives, you can be confident that your present life has meaning and worth in the eyes of God—more than you could ever know. And so, dear friend, “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Reflections for April 19, 2026
Title: Not in VainMark Eischer: Once again, here’s Dr. Michael Zeigler.
Mike Zeigler: Thank you, Mark. I get to visit today with our guest preacher, Rev. Dr. Ryan Tinetti. Thanks for hanging around to chat with us, Ryan.
Ryan Tinetti: Happy to. Thanks.
Mike Zeigler: And also thanks for the message today. I love how you ended with this great picture that C.S. Lewis … it comes from the imagination of C.S. Lewis of this parade in heaven for an obscure saint: Sarah Smith from Golders Green. Who are the Sarah Smiths that you have in your life that you anticipate are going to have this kind of reception from the Lord?
Ryan Tinetti: Yes. Mike, like you, I’m a pastor and so it’s been my privilege across my years of ministry to see all sorts of Sarah Smiths or Sam Smiths, if you will, these seemingly obscure saints who are by no means obscure to the Lord. But I think I’d be remiss, here we are just a few weeks before Mother’s Day, not to mention my own mom and how she has been a quiet saint and someone who has faithfully lived bringing up me and my brother and as wife to my dad. And I’ve just seen her in so many ways attend to the little things in life and be faithful in it. For years, she worked in a hospital laboratory, and it was in the basement. She would carry out her vocation each and every day with joy in her heart, with songs on her lips, and it really was an impact on her co-workers and on those she served because she had that sense of she was doing it for the Lord and not for men. And so she’s really a “Sarah Smith” in my own life.
Mike Zeigler: These kinds of examples, they relate to the closing chapter of your recent book that came out, The Quiet Ambition. And you title this concluding chapter “Think Little.”
Ryan Tinetti: Yeah.
Mike Zeigler: If we have this grand promise, as you talked about in the message from 1 Corinthians 15 that your labor is not in vain, then why do you conclude with “think little?”
Ryan Tinetti: The message in our world so often is “think big.” And the reason that is, is because the responsibility is all on your shoulders. But we have a God who has accomplished all things for us already. And so it’s liberating for us to recognize in the littleness, the Lord is at work. And we don’t have to make much of it. That’s His job. We have this freedom to see it with new eyes, resurrection eyes, if you will, because we know that in the Lord, that labor is not in vain.
Mike Zeigler: Another image you talk about in the book is from Martin Luther. God uses our work callings like masks that He puts on.
Ryan Tinetti: Yes.
Mike Zeigler: And so it’s not so much us, but God who is at work serving. And that’s what makes it a big deal.
Ryan Tinetti: God is at work in and through us, that He uses us. It’s our joyous privilege as believers just to walk into what He has already prepared. And so, as Luther talks about it, he says, listen, while you are a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker, whatever vocation you might find yourself in, there’s the Lord working in you and through you. And that’s where the Lord is able to do good work. For you and me, it’s in the hustle and bustle. It’s in the warp and woof of everyday life that then we’re able to serve our neighbor in a concrete way.
Mike Zeigler: Again, the book’s called The Quiet Ambition. You end with this fictitious story from a TV show called The Bear about a family who runs a restaurant and Richie—would you share just a bit of that?
Ryan Tinetti: Well, just to be clear, the show The Bear, which is a really interesting show, it’s not a faith-based show or anything like that, but the character Richie is a middle-aged man and he finds himself just kind of lost and adrift. And he has this perspective on his work that it’s manual labor, that’s menial labor, and it doesn’t really matter. He’s got to get his paycheck just so that he can put food on the table. But he has this epiphany. He has an opportunity to help out for a time at a really nice restaurant. The job that he’s given is not to be up in the front of the house, cooking, doing all the cool, fun stuff in a restaurant. Instead, the job that he’s given is to polish forks for eight hours a day.
And it finally drives him to the brink of despair and frustration. And he just storms out at one point, and his supervisor comes and follows after him and he says, “Man, I’m a middle-aged man. Here I am, I’m polishing forks. Is this really what my life is all about? ” And the other fellow, the character’s name is Garrett. Garrett looks at Richie and he says, “Don’t you realize that people, when they come to this restaurant, we have an opportunity to make their day. And if they’re willing to give their hard-earned money and devote this time to share with us, the least we can do is to give them forks without streaks on them.” And in that moment, Richie realizes, he changes from a mindset where, okay, I’m just working for myself to instead an attitude of service. For us as believers, we can understand that we are doing work for the sake of others. Indeed, we are polishing forks for the kingdom of God, preparing for that marriage feast that has no end when our Lord Jesus returns.
Mike Zeigler: It makes me think of another C.S. Lewis book, The Weight of Glory, and you reference it at the end of your sermon here too, that when we see people as they are, as God intended them to be, we’ll be tempted to worship this person who looked so beat down and decrepit. Like he says, this yonder saint, there’s already power and joy in her little finger that could awaken all the dead things of the universe that that’s who we get to serve, these wonderful creatures, people that God has made in His image.
Ryan Tinetti: That makes me think of, again, another letter from Paul and his letter to the Romans. He says that we are to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. And I think of that as the renewal of our imagination in a sense, that the Holy Spirit is opening our eyes and expanding our vision so that we can see our everyday life, not just in the way that the world would look at it like, okay, yeah, there’s just people who are moving from point A to point B, there’s just jobs to be done and we’re killing time. Instead, to have this sanctified imagination, this renewed vision on life that, in fact, all of it is sacred and holy because it’s carried out under the blessing of God Almighty, seeking to serve and seeing people as God sees them: eyes like our Lord who looks at you and me, who looks at our neighbors in love. I really think that it transforms our perspective on everyday life.
Mike Zeigler: Amen. Thank you for joining us.
Ryan Tinetti: My pleasure.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Crucifer” by Sydney H. Nicholson, arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“If Christ Had Not Been Raised from Death” by Christopher Idle & Phillip Magness. (Text © 1987 Jubilate Hymns, Ltd. admin. Hope Publishing Company. Music © 2003 Phillip Magness)
“This Joyful Eastertide” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“This Joyful Eastertide” arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.