Labor To Rest
Part iii
What do I mean? It is simply coming to the place of complete surrender and abandonment of this world. Though God so loved the world, He gave His son, Christ Jesus. But we must remember there was a reason God did so. He gave Christ to make a payment for sin and to offer a way of escape from the destruction to come to this world (Rev. 21:1). Therefore we cannot get so caught up in the message of love that we ignore that His love was displayed in death. And Christ’s death was God’s response to sin. Therefore, He loved us enough to pay for our sins that we may have victory over sin (Romans 6:4-14). Christ’s death was a direct result of His complete resistance to this world’s thinking, culture, and living. He was blatantly in contrast to the wisdom of this world.
Have you ever thought of how horrible sin is to God that He clothed Himself in flesh, left His glory, came to a sinful world, to have His creation reject Him and put Him to death in a humiliating horrific tragic way? Least we forget, Christ did all of this while being completely innocent and completely willing to take the punishment for us. His face was marred beyond recognition. He was slapped, spat on, cursed at, beaten, pierced in His sides, not so we can stay in our sinful states but so we could have a way, an escape from this world. Therefore as we see in Hebrews 4 the author tells the reader/believer to labor to enter into the rest that Christ has prepared for us. In our last blog, we touched on the rest of God in this earthly realm. We have dealt with the ugly and treacherous spirit called unbelief that can cause us to abandon willfully the rest of God while we are here on earth. Which is all the more reason to understand why we are enduring this hardness (2 Tim. 2:3-4). But the ultimate rest of Hebrews 4 is eternal. The author gives instructions, beyond the confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior, on how to enter into that eternal rest.
Hebrews 4:1 starts out with a strong warning…. “Let us fear” lest at any point we fall short of the Rest Christ has offered. This fear is a strong concern, taking careful attention, reverence, carefulness just like that of 2 Corinthians 7:11 when Paul speaks of the lifestyle of repentance. As you may gather by now, the rest of God is two-fold, our spiritual rest while on Earth and the Eternal rest with Christ. The writer points out that the same Gospel that is now preached to the converted Jews was also given to the children of Israel, who God brought out of bondage from Egypt. They were guilty of unbelief (Hebrews 4:2). After all the miracles, Israel still did not believe—follow after, adhere to, cling to—God. And for that cause they murmured, and complained. Ok, let us stop right here. Ask yourself, what causes me to doubt God? Do I murmur or complain? Is it secret rebellion? Whatever the cause, deal with it. If you do not know, ask His Holy Spirit to reveal it to you. Why? Because you must understand what it is that can cause you to forfeit the rest of God.
What I love about this chapter is that the writer does not just warn but also gives instructions on how not to forfeit this rest. I find it that warnings and corrections do not seem as grievous when the corrector is also showing you how to get to your goal. In this case, the goal is eternal rest—heaven—with Christ.
The writer gives the following instructions:
1. Cease. Hebrews 4:10 says, “For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” One of the most important things we will ever do in our Christian walk is to surrender completely to Christ. Cease from our own works and agenda and acknowledge Him in every way, so Christ can direct us Proverbs 3:6.
2. Labor. Hebrews 4:11 says, “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief”. Seems contradictory from the last scripture. One says cease the other says labor. But it is not contradicting. Ceasing from your work is surrendering to Christ, and yielding to His strategy. This labor is not physical exertion and it is not a bunch of works. It is diligently applying and remaining true to Christ’s strategy and requirements to enter into His rest. It is laboring not to take another way that is not fully approved by God. What was that same example of unbelief? That example was Israel, who did not enter into the promise because they failed to believe God. The generation who was delivered out of Egypt, but yet died in the wilderness. They failed to resist the human nature to rebel against God and gave in to their own desires. And for that they never saw the promise land. But thanks be unto God who always keeps His covenant. That unbelieving generation did not enter into the Promise Land, but their children did.
Let us labor by committing daily to Christ and to His word completely , which is labor within itself. Especially in this world where many versions of Christ have risen, where faith seems glamorous, where Jesus is fashion and not a lifestyle. Laboring to hold true to the purity of one’s faith is a must. It is labor to stay in The Way when this world often demands various ways to God. There is only one way. And that is through Christ. God would never put His son through such mocking and degradation just so we can decide there is another way to Him. His son paid the price. No one wants something else in replace of what is bought. It is the same with God. He paid for our redemption with the precious blood of His Son. Therefore, God does not want our solution on how to get to Him. He gave us one, Christ Jesus.
Well, this ends our rest series… I am sure we will write things on rest again. But we are pleased that God has dealt with you during this series. He wants us to completely be in Him. Not a version we create or what the world says He is. But the Christ of the Bible, creator and ruler of the universe and galaxies we have no knowledge of... For He is the beginning and the end and the God who is outside of time… That God wants you. Do you want Him?
See you in 2018.... We will move on to Prayer. This should be fun!
Let’s Be Converts