February 1, 2026 Stand Firm | 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Today is Cadet Sunday, and we will be reflecting on 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, Stand Firm. We will reflect on being on our guard, standing firm, being courageous, being strong, and doing everything in love. The Cadets and their counselors will be leading us in the worship service.

Transcript

Stand Firm

1 Corinthians 16:13–14

Thank you, cadets, for leading us in worship this morning. It’s good for all of us to see your faith and the relationships you have with your counsellors as they lead you to trust in Jesus and grow into men who love and serve Jesus. Your cadet theme this year is, “Stand Firm,” reminding us that faith and trust in Jesus will not always be easy, that there will always be people who won’t understand why you trust Jesus and follow him. The verses from Paul also remind us that there will be people who will try to make you not trust Jesus and to even stop following Jesus. This is why the verses from your theme this year are so important to hear.  

These verses come near the end of Paul’s letter and out of his relationship with them. In some ways, these verses are like a prayer that he has for them, to shape who they are in their faith. Paul’s writing as both a friend and a teacher. “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” In these 2 short verses, Paul gives us 5 commands to help us stand firm in our faith: “be on your guard,” then he goes on with, “stand firm in the faith.” Paul then calls us to “be courageous,” and then to “be strong.” Finally, Paul tells us to “do everything in love.” When we live with Paul’s words in our hearts, we’ll be able to stand firm when challenges to our faith in Jesus show up.

Paul commands them to “be on your guard.” Guards protect the people; they actively patrol their area so that nothing bad happens and enemies aren’t able to sneak in and hurt people. any danger they come across they deal with quickly, even before the people they’re protecting even know about the danger. Peter talks about being alert and watching out for Satan, 1 Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Paul warns about lies or temptations that might cause people to doubt Jesus and his love for us. We protect each other from the lies and temptations, and to do this, we need to know what we believe about Jesus and why. This is why Bible study is such an important part of the cadet meeting, this is why your counsellors have committed themselves to learning the Bible and Jesus so they can help you grow strong in your faith and recognize the dangers when they come and help you stand against them.

Paul then calls us to “stand firm in the faith.” This is a command to trust in Jesus and what you believe so that you don’t fall. It’s like when you stand and push against each other; it takes work to not fall over or step backwards. If someone is sneaky or tricks you, they can fool you into falling. This is why Paul puts standing form in the faith right beside “be on your guard.” Satan is not only like a roaring lion, he’s also a liar and trickster, always looking for ways to get you to fall into sin, into doing things that Make God unhappy or even angry. Trust in what your parents and counsellors are teaching you about Jesus, but also read the Bible yourself, talk to God in prayer asking him to help you stand firm, and come regularly to church on Sundays to praise God. These are 3 pillars of faith we’re focusing on here in Bethel to help us “stand firm in the faith.”  

Now Paul encourages us to “be courageous.” Paul seems to be echoing Psalm 31:21, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Courage and strength are often connected to each other in the Bible. Courage is doing what you know is right even if you’re scared. It’s easy to do what’s right when everything is going well and everyone agrees with you. It takes courage to do what’s right when things are hard and people strongly disagree with you, and may even be trying to get you to not do what is right and will make God and Jesus happy, doing what the Holy Spirit is guiding you to do. They may try to force you to do wrong, they may trash your reputation, mock you, and chase your friends away, they may even try to hurt you, insult you, or do even more to stop you from doing what God says is right. It’s hard to be courageous, it can be lonely to be courageous, this is why God gives us friends who also follow Jesus, gives us a church family to help us be brave.

Along with being courageous, Paul calls us to “be strong.” How do you get a strong body; do you lie on the couch or bed all day watching videos, playing games, doom scrolling, or watching tv? Do you get strong by eating junk food and not exercising your body and just slacking off? It’s a lot of work to become strong physically, and it’s just as much work to become strong spiritually in the Lord. To become strong physically you need to eat right, work out and exercise, get enough sleep, and doing all the right things to build your muscles. It might make you sore at first, but it slowly becomes easier. To become strong spiritually to help you be courageous, it also takes hard work. 

Becoming strong spiritually in your faith takes exercising your heart and mind. Studying the Bible with your family, friends, at cadets and church is one of the big exercises. It might seem hard at first and there will be lots you don’t understand, but slowly you’ll learn more and understand Jesus better. Doing the things Jesus tells us to do by putting your faith in action like helping others, even if it means missing out sometimes on things you want to do, being generous with your time and even money, encouraging each other and building others up, standing up for what is right, protecting the weak and oppressed who are being bullied are some of the ways we exercise our faith to become stronger and braver. We do this together as cadets and as a church family so the world can see who Jesus calls us to be. 

We become stronger in the faith together by putting God first, focusing on learning the Scriptures instead of being on your phone, talking to God instead of chatting with people online, spending time with fellow Christians and praising God instead of focusing on yourself. Satan will try to get you think that God isn’t really that important, he will try to get you to think that a little sin isn’t that bad, he will try to distract you from paying attention to Jesus. The more you read scripture, pray, and spend time with your Christian friends and worshipping, the stronger your faith grows and the deeper your love for God grows. This is why your parents and counsellors are so important, because they set you an example of being strong for Jesus by trusting in him and following the way of Jesus.

Paul ends these commands by encouraging us to “do everything out of love.” This echoes Jesus’ command “to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbour as yourself.” This looks like caring about others and wanting what is best for them. This means that part of love is wanting them to know Jesus and God’s love for all people, love leads to a willingness to forgive and to offer grace. Naomi Tutu writes, “How we walk through the world makes a statement about the world we want.” When we see in the Bible how much God loves the world he created by sending his only son Jesus to come to earth to bring us back to God, take our sin away on the cross, and show us how to follow God, we ask God to show how to live in our world with others. We know how importance being in a relationship with Jesus is, of knowing why Jesus came for us, and together working to become the cadets and people Jesus teaches us to be as his followers.

Cadets helps us to be ready, alert, strong, and courageous in living for Jesus, doing this together, not by ourselves. Not always easy, need to help each other, encourage each other, build each other up so we can stand firm in what Jesus teaches that shapes what we believe and who we are. We can stand firm because Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit to help us be bold and strong for him, and to stand firm in the faith. when it gets hard, Jesus calls us to come to him and he will fill us with his strength and protect us. We know that we can trust him because out of his love for us, he protected and saved us from our sin and evil through his sacrifice on the cross. Trust in Jesus’ love and sacrifice, trust in his strength and promises, walking together as we stand form in our faith.