The tapestry
of God’s work in my life continued growing this morning by weaving together the
colorful threads of Matthew 11:28-30, and Hebrews 4. In the former, Jesus called
out, “Come to me, all who labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The latter calls us to make certain we have
entered the rest that is ours in the kingdom of heaven, so that we can be
confident that we will also enter that final fulfillment of all God intended
for our rest.
The fellowship
between these two passages of Scripture helped me to appreciate one of the
significant ways in which we need rest. There is a rest that fully unites us
with Jesus Christ, while accepting that this unity with our Savior means we have
disunity with those who will not join us in Christ.
This journey
through the promises of God regarding soul-rest has uncovered that one of my
greatest difficulties is accepting rejection. My first couple of decades trained
me well as a people-pleasing peace-keeper. My early experience in the church
taught me that such dysfunctional qualities are highly valued as necessary
ingredients to church life. Many programs can be operated when there are people
desperate to keep the peace by pleasing everyone around them.[1]
However,
people-pleasing is a bad goal, with plenty of people determined to block it. If
we can’t rest until certain people accept us, we will never rest. On the other
hand, if we can rest if Jesus accepts us, his call to come to him for rest is
very encouraging. That is, if we are willing to leave the rest behind.
What stood out
to me in Hebrews 4 was the reminder that the Promised Land of the Old Testament
was a symbol of God’s rest for his people. However, history reveals to us that
a whole generation of Israelites missed the rest that was promised because they
would not trust God to fulfill his promise. The writer of Hebrews wrote it down
like this, “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.”[2]
In historical
details, “those who listened,” refers
to Joshua and Caleb, the only two of twelve spies who believed God would give
them the land he promised to Abraham. Those who “were not united by faith,” to these ones “who listened,” were the other ten spies, along with the whole
nation they led into rebellion.
All the nation
of Israel heard the same message, the same good news that God was going to give
their generation the land promised to their forefathers, but for most of them, “the message they heard did not benefit
them.” It is like a coupon for a free meal offered to everyone in your
community, but most do not believe such a thing is possible, so they get no
benefit from the offer.
In the case of
Israel, even though the whole nation had witnessed God’s deliverance from their
Egyptian slavery, they would not believe God could finish the work and also
take them into the Promised land. They wouldn’t unite by faith with the ones
who listened to God, so they missed out.
On the other
hand, Joshua and Caleb outlived that generation for another forty years of adventures
in the Promised Land. They experienced God giving rest to his people as the
land he promised became their home.
The lesson for
me today was that Joshua and Caleb entered God’s rest by leaving the rest
behind. When ten of their brothers turned the whole nation to unbelief, Joshua
and Caleb left them behind. For forty years, they watched as one after another
of their peers was buried in the desert, until they were the only two men left
from that generation. Their willingness to leave all those people behind was a
necessary ingredient to them entering into God’s rest.
When Jesus calls
us to come to him so that he can give us rest for our souls, it will always
mean leaving something and someone behind. There is a way to unite by faith
with those who are listening to Jesus’ invitation, but with a corresponding
reality that we must then leave the rest behind.
It is
unavoidable that our hearts will be broken by rejection from people who do not
want to join us in following Christ. Sometimes this will be as close to home as
Abraham leaving his family and following God’s lead to somewhere he didn’t even
know.[3]
Other times it will be watching multitudes of Jesus’ disciples walking away
from us because they find Jesus’ teachings too difficult.[4] It
may pierce our hearts as personally as a Demas who deserts us because he loved
the world,[5] a
Judas betraying a fellowship of believers,[6] or
a Jezebel turning people’s hearts to sin.[7]
The point is
that entering into Jesus’ rest means leaving the rest behind. That is where God
is working on me for my rest in him, and I know he is leading me to the final
fulfillment of rest, where no one will ever leave me again. Let us not miss that
perfect rest to come just because someone refuses to join us in Jesus’ rest
now.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
I do not claim that every church is like this, only that I represent many
people who have experienced church life in this way.
[2]
Hebrews 4:2
[3]
Hebrews 11:8
[4]
John 6:66
[5]
II Timothy 4:10
[6]
Matthew 26:47ff; Mark 14:43ff; Luke 22:47ff; John 18
[7]
Revelation 2:20
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