Resting from our Work

So we learned last time that God’s rest is sometimes called a Sabbath rest.  Just as God rested after six days of creation (a rest that provided a basis for observing the Sabbath), so we, upon entering God’s rest of walking in the Spirit by faith, are also to rest from our work.  “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.  For the one who has entered His rest has himself rested from his works, as God did from His” (Heb 4:9-10).

What does this “rested from our works” look like for you and me?  Are we just sitting on a cloud reading a magazine?  Or is there work for us to do even as we enter God’s rest?

The short answer is, “Yes, there is much work to do.”  The deeper answer is, “We are in fact resting even as we work because we are not doing the work in our own power.”  Let’s see how the New Testament connects work and rest.

First, we were created for good works.  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).  Even though these good works were created specifically for us to walk in them, we are not the one who is doing them.  What do I mean, “not the one doing them?”

Think for a minute about the yoke of Jesus that we were introduced to in our last post.  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My load is light” (Matt 11:28-30).

“My yoke is easy and My load is light” has tripped up many a believer who have yet to experience that Jesus’ load is light.  After all, the Christian life can look like a burden; an overwhelming job to keep up with the rules, to keep up with the expectation of always doing the right thing.  It appears to be anything but “easy and light”.

The key to understanding Jesus’ promise of rest in these verses is the yoke.  Yes, bound in the yoke, we are working.  Yes, the load we are pulling behind the yoke is a wagon of good works.  But look who is in the yoke with us; Jesus!  Jesus is doing the heavy lifting.  Jesus is bearing all the weight of us working, of us living a righteous life, on His shoulders.

How do we know this?  Because the promise throughout the New Testament is that Jesus and His Spirit will live their righteous life through you if we embrace their presence.  The rest promised and the yoke shared in Matthew chapter 11 is a beautiful visual image of the promise that Jesus Christ is here to live His resurrection life through you.

When we are resting in Christ, He is doing the work through us.  Our good cheer and diligence at doing good works comes from Him, not our own will-power or self-discipline or genius.  And the absolute beauty of this is we do not have to figure out and over-analyze “Is that Christ or me doing the work?”

Because our separation from the Father ended at our conversion, we can forge ahead doing the things God has asked us to do.  And we can trust that it is Christ Himself doing the work through us.  We are now one with Christ, one with the Spirit, and one with the Father.  And they are living and working in you!  And our beautiful Christian life becomes an ongoing dialogue of dependence on Him.

Entering God’s Rest in the Here and Now

The book of Hebrews in our Bible paints a clear picture of how Israel’s inability to enter the promised land due to a lack of faith is an example for us to learn from today.

“For who provoked Him when they had heard?  Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?  And with whom was He angry for forty years?  Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?  And to whom did He swear, that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?  And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief” (Heb 3:16-19).

This is Israel’s story.  They could not enter God’s rest because of unbelief.  And the rest they failed to enter is a picture of God’s rest offered to us today; the simple rest of walking in God’s Spirit by faith.  This thought is taken up in the next verse.

“Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.  For indeed, we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united with faith in those who heard.  But we who have believed enter that rest” (Heb 4:1-3).

Notice the emphasis on faith for entering God’s rest.  The promise of entering the promised land did not profit Israel because the promise was not accompanied by faith on the part of the hearers; was not “united with faith” as the Scripture says.  Israel’s lack of faith made the promise essentially useless.  Likewise, faith is the key for us to enter God’s rest today.  “But we who have believed, enter that rest” (Heb 4:3).

There is a beautiful rest promised to believers today.  Jesus described it in the gospel of Matthew.  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my load is light” (Matt 11:28-30).

This offer of rest for our souls is resting in God’s grace.  It is resting in Christ doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.  It is resting in Christ living the life we could not live.  Both His sinless life on earth that set the stage for His death in our place that took away the penalty of our sins, and the life He lives inside us now that defeats the power of sin in us.

To emphasize, the sinless life that Christ lived on this earth was a life we could not live.  Likewise, the Christian life that we have been called to live today is a life we cannot live… on our own!  We need the Spirit’s power.  We need Christ living His resurrection life through us.  We need Jesus to live the life.  And His promise is that He is here and ready and willing and able with what is needed for you to enter His rest; to enter the place where Christ is living His life through you.

Hebrews chapter 4 continues, “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.  For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience” (Heb 4:9-11).

When we enter God’s rest, what works are we resting from?  We will take up that thought next time.

At the Doorstep of the Promised Land

The Bible teaches us that Israel was unable to enter the promised land because of a lack of faith.  In Hebrews chapter 3, the author summarizes how the children of Israel “tried” God with their “evil unbelieving hearts” when they turned against God in the wilderness.  He concludes the chapter with these haunting words, “And so we see that they [Israel] were not able to enter [the Promised Land] because of unbelief” (Heb 3:19).

The author of Hebrews goes on in chapter 4 to explain that similarly, there is a “rest” for New Testament believers; a life of restful walking in the Spirit’s power by faith.  And just like the children of Israel, the danger for us is to miss that rest due to a lack of faith.  But before we look at that application for us, let’s go back to the test of faith that Israel faced the first time they approached the promised land.

Accompanying the children of Israel on their escape from Egypt was the promise that God would bring them safely into Canaan, the Promised Land, at the end of their journey.  They first arrived on the doorstep of Canaan in Numbers chapter 13 when “The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel” (Num 13:1-2).

Notice that God restates His promise, “… land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel.”  The mission of the spies was not to evaluate whether or not they should take the land.  It was not to make a decision whether to go in or not.  God had already promised to take them in and vanquish every foe in their way.  The point of the spies was to plan their approach to entering the land.

If you are familiar with the story, you know that the spies did see a land flowing with milk and honey.  The spies came back with pomegranates, figs, and giant clusters of grapes.  But they also came back with fear of the “inhabitants of the land who were strong with large and fortified cities” (Num 13:28).  And they turned their spy mission into a go or no-go decision about entering the land.

When Caleb reminded the children of Israel of God’s promise to take them in, the other spies (with the exception of Joshua), replied, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.  The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.  And we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (Num 13:31-33).

The children of Israel turned their back on the Lord’s promise because of unbelief.  They refused to enter the land because of a lack of faith in God’s promise.  We see it in this passage, and we see it emphasized again in the New Testament.  A lack of faith kept the children of Israel from entering into everything God had promised them.

Let’s fast forward to us today.  We stand at the doorstep of living life with Christ at the center.  Living life believing that God’s promises about His presence in us are true.  Living life with a restful walking in the Spirit’s power.  What lack of faith is holding you back?

Israel’s story was written as an example for us.  And we will investigate next time more of the book of Hebrews to understand how Israel’s lack-of-faith decision at the doorstep to Canaan is a warning for us today.

Canaan and the Enjoyment of Christ’s Indwelling

We learned last time that our old nature died with Christ.  So what is to take its place as the controlling principle of my life?  Remember, when you embraced the gospel message of Jesus Christ, you became a son or daughter of God.  And an incredible outcome of that is this, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ ” (Gal 4:6).

The controlling principle of your life, if you will, is God’s Spirit – the Spirit of His Son – living inside you.  In the New Testament, the Spirit living in you and Christ living in you are interchangeable.  “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the live which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal 2:20).

The old you is gone.  Christ is living His life through you.  I don’t think you can get a much more powerful “controlling principle” than Christ Himself living His life through you.  This is the promised land.  This is Canaan.  This is what Israel in the land of Canaan in the Old Testament represents; us experiencing the indwelling Christ by faith.

I first came across this idea of three types of people represented in the exodus story in a book by Major Ian Thomas, The Saving Life of Christ.  Let me quote his description of Canaan:

“It is this enjoyment of Christ’s indwelling which is represented by the land of Canaan – the land of promise and of plentiful provision.  Canaan in the Bible is not heaven.  It is Christ Himself, and right now, living His victorious life through me.  Indeed, it is only the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who is capable of living the Christian life.”

“As Romans 5:10 declares, He not only reconciles you to God by His death, but He saves you moment by moment by His life; that is to say, He died not only for what you have done, but He rose again to live in you, to take the place of what you are.  His strength for your weakness! His wisdom for your folly! His drive for your drift! His grace for your greed! His love for your lust! His peace for your problems! His joy for your sorrow! His plenty for your poverty! This is Canaan!”

Wow! So if this is the path – a radical transformation from lost and dead in our sin to Christ literally living His life through us – why the wilderness?  The short answer is that the transition from lost in sin to fully experiencing Christ in us is not automatic.  In fact, as we know from both our life experience and the teaching of Scripture, it is a process.  It is a process of growing faith and trust; of growing belief in the promise of Christ to live His life through us.  And it is a process that can include some detours into the wilderness.

Baptized in the Sea

Let’s go back to the beginning of the exodus of Israel and our three categories of men and women today.  Recall that the children of Israel in Egypt represents us in our lost condition; unbelievers under the taskmaster of sin.  Just like the Israelites were slaves under the taskmasters of Egypt.

After God rescued Israel through the ten plagues, they were finally allowed to leave Egypt behind.  But the outbound journey was not without peril.  After sending the children of Israel on their way, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army to bring Israel back to their life of slavery.  The escaping nation appeared to be trapped.  They were boxed in by the Red Sea ahead of them and the advancing Egyptian army behind them.

The story of what happened next is one of the most famous in the Bible.  God parted the sea.  Israel passed through.  The Egyptian army marched into the open sea in pursuit.  God closed the sea, drowned the Egyptians, and left them buried under the sea.

The apostle Paul describes this rescue as a baptism.  “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (I Cor 10:1-2).  The Egyptian taskmasters – who represent our slavery to our sin nature – were drowned and buried in the sea.  But the children of Israel passed through this place of death (the sea) which Paul referred to as “baptized into Moses”.  After this baptism, the children of Israel moved forward toward the promised land and a new life.

Compare this passage about Israel’s baptism in the sea to our baptism into Christ.  “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-4).

Do you see the connection?  The Egyptian taskmasters were left buried in the place of death; a place from which the children of Israel were miraculously “raised” by God as it were to go claim the promised land.  Likewise, our old self, our sin nature, our controlling flesh was buried with Christ in the place of death.  And we were “raised” with Christ to walk in a new life; to walk in the “promised land”.  (Remember, one of our three categories of people is a believer walking in the Spirit represented by Israel in the promised land.)

If we are unsure about this death to our old self, Paul makes it clear in the very next verses in Romans 6.  Continuing, he writes, “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin”  (Rom 6:5-7).

To summarize, the children of Israel left their Egyptian taskmasters behind in the sea of death.  We left the taskmaster of our sin nature behind when we were baptized into Christ.  That is, when we accepted and embraced the gospel message of Christ.

All of this leads to the next question.  If my old nature was crucified with Christ and has lost its power as a controlling principle in my life, what has taken its place as my new motivation, my new energy for living?  We will explore that very question next time.