Rest

Hebrews 4:1-11

“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, ‘As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter rest,’ although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

This is a rough summary today's sermon, based on my notes.

The promise of rest was given to the Israelites with the Promised Land. However, they disobeyed and were forced to wander the wilderness instead of coming into their rest. This promise of rest, however, didn’t just apply to the Israelites. It is a long-standing promise to God’s children. It remains even today. To attain it, we must first of all believe that it is indeed still available to us. Second, we must also fear greatly that we might miss it. We must also unite faith in the messages we hear. If you don’t apply with faith the Word of the Lord, the messages you have heard will do you no good and you will not reach rest. Through faith and peace in Christ, we will find the rest in God. There is always still room for us. We must still strive to enter the rest, however. It doesn’t come freely. If we do nothing, we will get nothing. But if you apply God’s Word to your life through much effort, you are truly striving to enter rest.

Revelation 14:13

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

Fear

Fear sometimes grabs at me and won't let go. Irrational, ridiculous fears for the most part. Sometimes they’re nameless, and I’m not entirely sure what I’m afraid of. But sometimes they are truly troubling, and I think the root cause is not reading God's Word on a regular basis. When I stopped reading it most recently, I literally didn’t care what the world did to me. I felt like there was no hope. I knew the cure; continue reading the Bible. It truly is an oasis to my soul. If I read it every day I would feel myself growing in Him. I love that feeling. But when I somehow fell out of the pattern of Bible study, Satan took hold of my soul and filled my life with excuses for why I just couldn’t seem to “find the time” to read the Word of God. Then the fear returned. I knew this was sin. Could it be that I was simply fooling myself into believing I am truly saved? I want nothing more than eternal life with Christ, but did I desire it simply because I don't want the eternal pain of hell? I feared sometimes that I'd just been pretending and didn't even realize it. I took a step back and looked at my life. I had a hard time sleeping some nights as questions burned through my mind. Am I not a Christian because I don’t read my Bible frequently? Am I not a Christian because I disobey my parents? Am I not a Christian because I am afraid to witness? Am I not a Christian because I'm lazy? Am I not a Christian because I see the way out of temptation and don’t want to take it and then I continue in my sin? Or was this all just a dark time where I could see every fault and crack in my Christianity? I felt like I couldn’t see God. I felt desperate and alone, even when friends told me how much they loved me or that they liked being around me. It wasn’t depression, I was just terrified of not being God’s child. This was not one of the irrational fears that I have trouble with occasionally. Somehow I couldn’t bring myself to run to the shelter and love of His Word. “What is wrong with me?” kept running through my thoughts. I thought I couldn’t get back into reading the Bible if I didn’t have a desire. But a Bible study I heard changed my mind. Everyone goes through dark periods where they have no desire to continue reading God’s Word. But it’s no excuse. The only way I would ever get back that desire was to read the Bible anyway, regardless of if I wanted to or not. I began reading through Proverbs. It was not as refreshing as I’d hoped. I didn’t understand many of the Proverbs and most days it seemed it was all going in one ear and out the other. I love history, so I thought going through Acts might be easier, so the night after I finished Proverbs 31, I began reading Acts 1. It was amazing. Reading about the lives of the apostles in the early church, I could picture myself there. I could almost hear Peter and Paul preaching to the crowds. I understood what they were telling me, and I could feel the darkness and despair falling away. Examples of how to live as Christians and reminders of the love of Christ filled my soul again. After finishing Acts, I went on to Romans. Then I jumped into John. Then First and Second Corinthians. Each night I continually feel myself growing more. The love of Christ fills me and lifts me up. I finally have found peace.

Worthy

Read Acts 4:1-22 and 5:17-42 and think about it. How amazing is verse 41? “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” I can’t get over it. I’ve thought about it on several occasions, and I still can’t begin to tell you how amazing I find this. Why am I not like this? My attitude towards trials in life should be exactly like this. The apostles had just been imprisoned, freed by an angel, imprisoned again, put on trial, and finally beaten severely and set free. And yet, they leave the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake.

 The rejoicing is one thing. Thankfulness for such an ordeal can only come through the grace of God and a deep adoration of the Lord. I wonder; if I ever went through something like that, would I rejoice at the end? Do I have such joy in Christ that I would be thankful and joyful for the trial I just went through?

 But there’s another thing that gets me. They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer! Worthy? Meaning that outside of Christ, they would not have had the privilege of being tortured for His name! I don’t normally consider torture a privilege. But they did. They loved Christ so much, that being beaten was an honor, the least that they could do to show their adoration of Him.

 If the apostles responded like this to being persecuted, why can’t I respond in the way I should when I go through a trial? I’ve never been persecuted or even gone through a major trial in my life and walk with Christ. Yet when the smallest things come my way, I’ll lose my patience and act in a way not at all honoring towards God. Every time a new trial comes my way, insignificant though it may be, I need to remember the apostles’ attitude here in Acts and model my behavior after them. If they can act like this after persecution, how well can I act when something doesn’t go my way?

Spring

I keep glancing out the window now that it's nearing 6 o'clock in the evening and expecting to see the light outside dimming. Instead, I am pleasantly surprised that the sun is still brightly shining down on the world, lighting up the beauty of the bluest sky I've seen in awhile and the green glory of the trees. It makes me want to take a book outside and just bask in the gorgeousness of it all. "Golden hour" is approaching, my absolute favorite time of day. I can't help but be happy every time I look outside and see the world bathed in soft golden light. I want to praise the Lord for His creation every time I see it. I've never liked the annoyance of changing the clocks but I gotta admit, I'm loving this time change. :) I just want to grab my camera and go take a million pictures of the beauty just out my front door. Flowers are blooming, trees are green again, the sky is a rich blue, there's a gentle breeze... Spring has arrived and I am most definitely happy about it!