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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Resting In Christ

It is amazing how the default setting in contemporary Christian culture tends to oppose the concept of spiritual rest when that is exactly what Jesus promised to give those who follow Him. (See Matthew 11:28-30) This concept requires a new mind set for most people, especially in western culture. We live in a society where people go on vacation with their Blackberrys and laptops. To rest in Christ, trusting Him to express His life through us sounds lazy and negligent after having lived in the wilderness of rigorous religion for such a long time. Many mistakenly think of rest as some sort of passivity, which it is not. Resting simply means to trust Jesus Christ as our Life-Source, depending upon Him to empower our actions with His strength and direction.

For many years the concept of rest was so foreign to me that I couldn’t comprehend it. I didn’t know rest was a gift from God. I thought it was a sin. I sincerely believed that the only time we would find complete rest was when we died and went to heaven. There was a verse I used to read at funeral services to give comfort to bereaved families. I would share Hebrews 4:10 with them: “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

When I shared this verse, I would tenderly point out that our beloved friend who had died “has now entered into God’s rest and ceased from his own labors.” I talked about how heaven is a place where there are no more struggles. It is a place where we simply rest in Christ and enjoy Him forever.

Entering into His rest and ceasing from our own works. It sounded like dying and going to heaven to me. Then one day I read the next verse in the passage — Hebrews 4:11 says, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall down through following the example of disobedience.” What? Be diligent to enter that rest? Now I was in trouble. I had always taught that rest means dying. Now here I was being confronted with the verse that says to be diligent to enter that rest or else I would be disobedient to God. I knew I had better go back and reexamine that verse again and hope that my interpretation had been wrong or else I was in serious trouble! I didn’t know at the time that I had already died with Christ and was able to cease from my own works.

“I understand that salvation is a gift, but when we become a Christian we do have certain responsibilities in living the Christian life, don’t we?” somebody asked me. “We don’t just sit back and coast to heaven with no obligations in the meantime.” Her concern is common. Her statements reflect a belief that if we don’t take ownership of certain things that we must do for God, we may become passive and lazy.

What is the responsibility of the believer toward God? The disciples once asked Jesus about the works they were to do for God. “They said therefore to Him, ‘What shall we do that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28-29). When asked what we are supposed to do in order to do the work of God, Jesus gave one work. Believe.

If we are to take the words of Jesus at face value, faith is the sole work of the Christian (and even that is a gift from Him — see Ephesians 2:8). That fact doesn’t mean that nothing else will be done, but that nothing else can be done unless it flows from the abiding relationship of faith in Him as our constant Life-Source (See John 15:5). The activity of our lifestyle comes from the overflow of our intimate union with Him. As we trust Him, we will discover the reality of the truth that “Faithful is He that calleth you who will also do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24, KJV)

4 comments:

  1. I look at dead works or religious jargon even, as lack of faith righteousness specificly it's our 'fixing' something God wants us to take our hands and will off of. True power of God is coming to us to overwhelm our weaknesses we see as we trust and abide in Christ, our Source. Christ in union in you will 'take the fix' off, and animate Christ's works through you. This ceasing from 'our works' in activation will match position of that verse in Hebrews that says: "He that is entered into His rest has ceased from his own works as God did from His." We labor for that. Outstanding blog Steve like a blllboard in it's benefit (To me personally.)

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  2. Hi Steve,

    “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

    I believe Hebrews is very clear as to the explanation of this "rest". The rest that was offered to the Israelites was an earthly rest which was a shadow of what was involved in the heavenly rest. The rest being offered in Psalm was a spiritual rest. Superior to the rest that Joshua obtained. Israel's rest was filled with the attacks of enemies and the daily cycle of work. The heavenly rest is characterized by the fullness of heavenly promise and the absence of any labor to obtain it. This is the rest that we obtain at salvation. This is the invitation of Christ. He does give rest to our souls. And there is no work that we can do to obtain that rest. It is by faith and that faith is also a gift from God, as you said.
    ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28-29). When asked what we are supposed to do in order to do the work of God, Jesus gave one work. Believe. That is exactly right and refers also to "salvation".

    "That fact doesn’t mean that nothing else will be done, but that nothing else can be done unless it flows from the abiding relationship of faith in Him as our constant Life-Source (See John 15:5)."

    I agree that abiding in Him is most important. I just would like to know, what does that look like to you, abiding? How do we obtain this "intimate" union with Him?

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  3. I believe that the rest promised to Israel isn't a picture of rest in heaven, but rather the spiritual rest we can enjoy in Christ right now. That's the meaning of what Hebrews teaches about rest. As to how to obtain this intimate union, we do nothing to obtain it. The union is an objective reality in our lives now because of the finished work of Christ but in order to become a subjective, experiential reality to us we need to believe it and simply trust Him that He IS our rest. How that looks is a lifestyle in which we have abandoned ourselves to Him, knowing that He is our very life-source. It is a lifestyle of trust in our Father and one of love toward people around us. Thanks for writing - I hope this helps answer your questions.

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  4. I believe the Holy Spirit guides us into and strengthens us for the rest of God and/or Jesus. You know when you're trusting in God and what the effects of that abiding produce. A union with the Lord shoots us into 'a groove' where we're doing the things right and breathing in God's truth. We don't have to neglect the victorious rest in Jesus Christ by sinning. God hides us in His love and brings us to our knees that we may know as a result, Jesus more and more. To know Jesus and His word equals peace and to not is not peace. Scripture says there is a rest awaiting the people of God which Jesus gave us more of than Joshua and heaven will be the final complete rest we anticipate with hope, faith, love for God in the Savior Jesus. There is no condemnation to those in Christ only peace and life from the Holy Spirit Romans eight. Spirit is mentioned many times in that chapter.

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