I’m told that our theme verse for this week is 1 Cor.

16:13-14: Be on the alert,

stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
These four exhortations in verse 13 are powerful, communicating a sense of
urgency because Paul uses verbs in the present continuous tense. These were
things they were doing or needed to be doing now, repeatedly, and continuing on
into the future. Be—alert; stand—firm on the faith; act—like men; be—strong.
This gives Paul’s appeal to the Corinthians a military tone. Like a general talking
to his troops on the eve of battle, telling them what they must do to stay alive.
And that was absolutely true—the Corinthian believers were surrounded by
spiritual danger, they were at risk of some deserting the truth, of others falling
into a state of moral fatigue. And so, Paul gave them (and he gives to us) these
great exhortations.
Now I want to speak to all of these encouragements from Paul generally, and
perhaps to one a bit more specifically—standing firm in the faith. How do we
stand firm in the faith? Going back to the military example, one reason people in
the military do so much training is because a small amount of training is not
enough to prepare them for real-life situations. They say in a stressful situation—
this isn’t just in the military, it can be in anything in life—in a stressful situation
you revert to your lowest level of performance. Training is key. Spiritual life is no
different. It is why Paul takes this military tone, why he taught about putting on
the full armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6.
In order to stand firm in the faith we have to be trained for it. But what kind of
training? Training in righteousness. It’s what Paul was talking about when he told
the Thessalonians to stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught,
whether by word of mouth or by letter from us (2 Thess. 2:15.) Now, can
someone tell me how we get training in righteousness today? Don’t be shy, give
me an answer.
By studying the Bible, Holy Scripture, the Word of God. What does 2 Timothy
3:16 say? Someone tell me. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for
teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness; so that the man of
God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Jesus said in Acts 1:8 that we are to be his witnesses to all the earth. We are his
ambassadors.
I read an article this week by J. Warner Wallace, a homicide detective and
Christian apologist, in which he cited a study conducted by Lifeway that found out
87% of American homes possess a Bible, but only 53% ever read it. Only 19%
read it every day, and also only about 20% think about truths from the Bible
throughout the day. The sad result is that only about 17% of people who identify
as Christians consider their faith important. Another study says that only 52% of
Christians believe Jesus lived a sinless life. Most of them when asked said it was
possible to earn your way into heaven.
Wallace concluded that Christianity is less influential today in America than ever
before because its ambassadors don’t know what they are representing.
Professing Christians aren’t good with the Bible because they don’t spend time, or
not enough time, reading and studying what is in it! Can you share the gospel
with someone from scripture? Do you know what the future blessed hope of
every believer is? Know the difference between forgiveness and justification? To
know the answers to these questions you’ve got to know your way around the
Bible. To be an ambassador for Christ, to stand firm in the faith, you’ve got to
have the right training to do the task at hand. You’ve got to have training that can
only come from reading and studying the Bible. Only then will you be prepared
with what Wallace calls an informed, forensic faith that can stand up in the
marketplace of ideas. A faith in which you can stand firm. I implore you to read
and study and meditate on your Bible each and every day.