Why would this special rest have been so important to the readers of this book? The readers, Jewish Christians, had two important reasons to look forward to rest. (1) Jewish history was filled with wanderings and political turmoil. To finally rest in the full and realized promises of God would be great comfort. (2) Christians in the first century often faced deprivation and hardships, the animosity of Satan’s agents, and the carrying of one’s “cross”—identifying with Jesus.
Those who turned from the Jewish faith to Christianity often incurred the wrath of other Jews (facing excommunication) and of their families (being disowned). To enter God’s promised rest was a great promise—struggle will be done and pain will be over.
Yet this rest remains only for the people of God. Although the Jewish people who were originally offered the rest had refused it, God’s plan could not be thwarted; God offered it to others—both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior.
Paul reminds us that the rest remains for the people of God—the Christians. That rest remains and people will find rest from their labors. Does this “rest from labors” begin now, or do believers have to wait for heaven? Some suggest that it begins after death, citing Revelation 14:13. Most likely, however, believers do experience God’s rest in this present life, but will receive it completely and fully after death when they arrive in heaven.
The “labors” from which believers can rest do not mean inactivity. After all, believers have much work to do in this world in order to advance God’s Kingdom. “Labors,” therefore, may refer to ceasing from trying to work for salvation. Many of these Jewish readers had been brought up under the Pharisees’ system of strict laws and rule keeping. These Jewish Christians could rest from those labors, resting instead on what Christ had done. The promised rest for believers is the same as God’s rest, and just as certain; it will be just as God rested after creating the world.
This statement is an intentional paradox: let us do our best to enter that place of rest. We need to strive to obtain what is ours by promise but not yet ours by experience. The children of Israel had been promised the good land, but it wasn’t theirs until they possessed it. All believers must diligently work out their faith, seeking to obey Jesus day by day, drawing closer to God through experiences in life (Philippians 2:12). There is no time while living on earth at which a Christian “arrives” at spirituality. Each day God’s people are making a choice either to grow closer to him or to drift away.
Nevertheless, the message here is a warning to people who would be lazy in their spiritual life. Laziness can cause a person to fall into disobedience, and anyone who disobeys God . . . will fall. Today’s pressures make it easy to ignore or forget the lessons of the past. But the author cautions readers to remember the lessons the Israelites learned about God so they will avoid repeating the Israelites’ errors.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
As I read this passage today, I am reminded of the sermon from this past Sunday. I pray that it serves as an encouragement to keep on keeping on.
The choice that is before us today - really everyday -today - The ENDURANCE Choice – By the power of God, regardless of the storms of life that may come my way, I choose to keep on keeping on and stay on God’s path for my life.
The last beatitude we have to look at in this message series - Matthew 5:10-12 (NIV) “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
What do you do when you feel like giving up? When you feel like you can’t keep on keeping on? You have a choice. You can pack up your bags and quit, or you can dig down deep and make a stand. You can choose to endure. This idea of endurance is a them throughout the bible. Let me share a few passages that detail this theme of endurance…
Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:10 (NCV) – “But you have followed what I teach, the way I live, my goal, faith, patience, and love. You know I never give up.” 2 Corinthians 6:4 (TEV) say this – “Instead, in everything we do we show that we are God's servants by patiently enduring troubles, hardships, and difficulties.”
Hebrews 10:36 (NAB) says, “You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.” Folks, I don’t know your struggles. Stress? Worry? Fears? Attractions that I shouldn't have, to another person or something else? Addictions? Regrets? Diet? Relationships? Anger? Dishonesty? Laziness? Finances? You can't pay your bills. Overwork?
Perfectionism? Resentment? Critical Spirit? Fears? Bad habits? Maybe painful memories keep popping up. The need to control? Compulsive thoughts? Whatever area of life that God has been nudging you in – probably for years – to let Him have control in and work in your life, I know this – you will need endurance. God’s makeover in your life is never just a one shot decision. It’s day after day. Continually. That’s why we need to know about endurance.
The Bible tells us very clearly that there are six ways that God wants us to develop endurance in our lives.
#1. He wants us to Embrace God’s purpose.
That’s the starting point. In order to understand or endure anything you’ve got to have a reason behind it. People can understand or endure almost anything if they know there’s a purpose. But when they don’t see a purpose behind it they collapse.
1 Peter 1:7 says this about God’s purpose behind our problems. “These trials are only to test your faith to show that it is strong and pure. It’s being tested as fire purifies gold.” Your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold.
You know what that verse is saying? God says I can bring good even out of bad. God’s purpose behind your problems is always greater than any problem you’re going to go through. In fact the Bible tell us this in James 1:3-4 “You know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Endure until your testing is over. Then you will be mature and complete and you won’t need anything.”
The Bible says that the way we grow to maturity is by learning to endure. The way we grow to become complete – that means not perfect but mature in Christ – is by learning to endure trials, temptations, testings, delays, difficulties and dead ends.
Romans 5:3-4 says, “We learn to rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Notice it doesn’t say we rejoice about our suffering. That would be masochism. It says we can rejoice in our suffering. Why? Because of what we know about it. The Bible says we know that it produces endurance and endurance produces character. So if you’re going to endure the problems and difficulties of life first you have to embrace God’s purpose.
#2. The N in Endure stands for Nurture my spiritual roots.
In Mark 4:17, Jesus was talking about how there are four kinds of hearts in the world. He gave the parable of the soils and He says this. “Some people don’t have any roots and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard and the message gets them in trouble they give up." The message paraphrase of Mark 4:17 say this –“They’re such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives there’s nothing to show for it.”
What’s the point? The second key to enduring the problems of life is you’ve got to develop spiritual roots. The Bible tells us that you develop spiritual roots by building our lives into the word of God. We develop roots by sinking them deep into God’s word. Romans 15:4 says, “Everything written long ago was written to teach us so that we would have confidence through the endurance and encouragement that scriptures give us.”
The second way we get endurance in life is by nurturing the spiritual roots, by basing our life on something that’s never going to change. Circumstances change. Public opinion changes. Culture changes. But the Bible says the word of God lasts forever. When you build your life on something that doesn’t change then you are stable.
#3. The D in Endure is Direct my attention to Jesus Christ.
If you look at the world you’re going to be distressed, if you look within you’re going to be depressed. But if you look at Jesus Christ you’re going to be at rest. It all depends on what you’ve got your eyes on. You can either look at your problems or you can look at the solution. The solution is God.
The more you look at God the smaller the problem gets. The more you look at your problems the larger they get. The Bible tells us to do this in Hebrews 12 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus [that’s directing your attention] the author and perfector of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross [there’s that word “endure”] scorning its shame and He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
How did Jesus endure the cross? The Bible tells us. It says He looked beyond the cross and looked at what God was doing in His life, what God was doing through salvation. If you’re going to overcome the difficulties in your life you have to redirect your attention away from the problem and toward Jesus Christ who gives the solution.
The fourth key to learning to endure the problems and difficulties of life is
#4. Use your experience to help others.
2 Corinthians 1:6 says, “When we’re weighed down with troubles it’s for your benefit and salvation. For when God comforts us it’s so we in turn can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we endure.”
Did you know that sometimes God allows you to go through problems for the benefit of other people? He says, I want you to go through a difficult time, I want you to go through a period of darkness, a period of depression, a period of discouragement. Then God comforts you, the Bible says, so that you can turn around and comfort others with the very comfort you’ve been given.
In fact, our greatest life messages always come out of our weaknesses not our strengths. Who can better help somebody who’s recovering from alcoholism than somebody who’s been an alcoholic. Who can better help somebody who is going through the pain of a divorce than somebody who went through the pain of a divorce. And who can better help someone who is a parent of a Down’s Syndrome child than someone who is a parent of a Down’s Syndrome child?
The very thing that we often regret, the very thing that we often want to hide, that we want to not talk about, that we want to ignore is the very thing that God wants to use in your life not only to help you grow closer to Him and grow in maturity, but use in your life as a ministry to help other people.
Paul said this in 2 Timothy 2 “I’m willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen.” You may have never thought about how the problems you’re going through are not just to help grow you but they may be to help grow other people. God uses the problems we go through for the benefit of others. That’s what Jesus did. Jesus went to the cross. He suffered all kinds of problems, all kinds of shame, all kinds of difficulty, not for His benefit but for our benefit.
#5. The R in ENDURE is Rely on God’s power.
You’re not going to make it on your own power. You need God’s power to handle the difficulties of life. In fact, God never meant for you to go through life on your own power. The Bible says this in Colossians 1:11 - “His glorious power will make you patient and strong enough to endure anything and you will be truly happy.”
Romans 12:12 says this “Don’t quit in hard times. But pray all the harder.” God says I want you to use these circumstances to trust in Me. You don’t know God is all you need until God is all you’ve got. Ephesians 3:20 (NCV).
This is the sixth and final key to learning to endure the problems of life.
#6. E – Expect God to bless your Endurance.
God says you get to choose how much I help you through the difficult times. If you expect God to help you He will. James 1:12 says, “God blesses the people who patiently endure testing. After it is over they receive the crown of life God has promised to those who love Him.”
God wants us to grow in faith. When we follow God and trust God and obey God, especially in the darkest days of our lives – God is pleased. And God pours out his blessing on us. Folks, never doubt in the dark what God has told you in the light.
1 Peter 2:21 says, “This suffering is all a part of what God has called you to. Christ who suffered for you is your example. Follow His steps.”
Let me ask you today - Are you growing closer to the Lord because of your problems or are you growing further away? It’s your choice. You’re as close to God as you choose to be. You can’t blame anybody else. You can’t blame your wife or your husband or your mother or your father. You’re as close to God as you choose to be. The problems that are in your life others may mean them for bad, the devil may mean them for bad, but God means them for good. Endurance is one of the qualities that God wants us to grow in as believers.
I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course. ENDURE!
No comments:
Post a Comment