Enter His Rest

Have you ever been tired?  What a silly question.  Of course you have been tire!  Have you noticed that in our culture we all just operate in a semi-exhausted state?  Nowadays if you are considered lazy if you don’t work so hard and have a thousand things to do all the time.  If you have kids this is especially true of you with all of the sports, school, activities, etc.  We as a society have become so busy, so tired, so burned out, that we often are just trying to keep our heads above water.  Well, Jesus has a message for you today!

Matthew 11:25-30

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Things to think about:

·      Read the passage again…where do we find rest for our souls?

·       It is interesting that when Jesus asks, “Are you tired?” his answer for being tired is to have more of Him.  So, are you tired?  Seek after Christ and you will find rest!  Regardless of what is going on in life, regardless of the struggles, the pain, the stress, the anxiety, the worry, you will find rest for your soul in Jesus Christ! 

·      Notice that it isn’t about what you can do to earn a place of rest or how hard you work in order to achieve this light and easy burden…it is about who Jesus is and what he has done!  Praise God that He is so gracious and generous to call us into His rest!  May we go and find satisfaction for our souls…

Grace, grace, and more grace...

Have you ever felt like you just weren't good enough?  Good!  Because you’re not!  That may sound harsh, but it is true.  The grace of God seems small in our eyes when we start thinking we have it all together.  “I am pretty good,” we start to think, “but Jesus just makes up the difference; because nobody can be perfect…right?”  But then it happens.  Maybe on one of those days where things don’t seem to go your way, or a person makes a comment that reminds you of your failures, it all seems to come flying in your face how undeserving you really are.  On those days and at those times the answer is not to remind yourself that there is “always tomorrow” and think of the “good” days.  The answer is to think of the cross!  You did not deserve that!  It was all grace.  We do not meet God half way; He comes to us in our rebellion and depravity to rescue our undeserving, lifeless corps.  It is only by God’s grace that we know life, that we know light, that we know good, that we know love, that we know anything at all.  When we are reminded of God’s grace in daily life, we are reminded of God’s grace for eternal life.  Praise be to God that it does not depend on me, but rests completely on His love, His mercy, His Grace, His death, His will.

Romans 5:1-11
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Things to think about:
• The first sentence of this passage blows me away…we have peace with God!  Peace!  No more strife, no more trouble, no more fighting over sin, no more rebellion, but Peace!  And this peace comes not by good works, obedience or anything in me, but by faith.  (And that faith given to me by the grace of God…Eph. 2:8-9)
• If the first verse were not enough we get to verse 2 and Paul says we not only have peace but we have obtained access into God’s unlimited Grace.  You bet we should rejoice in our hope of the glory of God!
• Now comes the hard verses – how do we rejoice in our sufferings?  How does this fit with the theme Paul is explaining in this passage?
• I quote Romans 5:8 all the time because for me it represents God’s grace for us sinners.  But, maybe I should keep going and say verse 9 and 10 as well…We are not only saved from our sin, we are brought into life!  True life with God.  True life in communion with the creator and sustainer of the entire universe.  We have been made right with God through the grace of Jesus Christ.  We believe by faith and wait for the day when our hope becomes reality.

One final passage to think about on your own…or possible to memorize because it is so good.

1 Timothy 1:15-17
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.  To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.”