Stand Firm in the Faith (2-11-12)

1 Corinthians 16:13 - "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."

The second exhortation the apostle Paul gives to his readers in this verse is to "stand firm in the faith." Our faith is built upon the solid foundation of Jesus Christ. He is the "Chief corner stone" and when a person gets saved they begin to build their lives upon Christ. In order to "stand firm in the faith" as Paul exhorts us, we need to be continually increasing in the knowledge of God through His written word. There are all kinds of belief systems in the world and many of them sound like Christianity, and if we are not grounded in the truth of Gods Word we are in danger of being blown about by every wind of doctrine rather than growing up in our faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul warns us about this in Ephesians chapter 4. In this passage he is talking about the unity of the Spirit and how God has gifted His people so that collectively we might be firmly rooted and built up in the faith. Ephesians 4:11-16 says - "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." We need to be firmly established in what we the Bible teaches and we need to be constantly growing in our faith. If we're not standing firm in the faith then we will be tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of me, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. This is a major problem in the church today. Christians do not know their Bibles and so when someone stands up in a pulpit and tells them something in the name of religion they simply take his word for it. And many of these teachers don't preach from the word of God. They deny the deity of Christ or preach that Jesus is a way rather than the way. They preach the, so called, "prosperity gospel" rather than the true gospel. They deny the existence of hell or promote salvation by works, and because of the lack of biblical knowledge, because church goers are not standing firm in the faith many who take the name "Christian" are being led straight to hell in the name of religion. Peter talks about these false teachers in 2 Peter 2:1-2 saying - "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned." This is certainly true in our world today, and that's why we need to stand firm in the faith.
 
Paul dealt with a similar situation in his letter to the churches in Galatia. After Paul had preached the gospel to the Galatians and had established the church there, some Jews came into the church and began to teach the people that, yes, what Christ did was good, but if we really want to be saved then we need to continue in the circumcision. And many of the believers were falling into this snare because they were not firmly rooted in the faith. So Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians to correct this error. This is what Paul writes near the beginning of his epistle to the Galatians - "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" Those are strong words but God doesn't take kindly to heresy. the apostle Paul addresses the issue in the Galatian churches and he says in Galatians 5:1 - "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." The root of the issue with the Galatians is that they were not standing firm in the faith that is in Jesus Christ. This is a matter of great significance and one that cannot be taken lightly. We need to take heed to Paul's exhortation in 1 Corinthians 16 and "stand firm in the faith."

Philippians 4:1 - "Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved."