With the theme
of uniting by faith with those who listen and obey God’s word,[1] here are some thoughts about how this
unity requires both the strong and the weak to come to Jesus together. As
Joshua and Caleb did not experience the promised rest of the Promised Land
until the next generation was ready to go in, there are things about coming to Jesus
for soul-rest that require the corporate experience of the body of Christ.
In the next
verse of Hebrews 4, the writer states, “For
we who have believed enter that rest.”[2]
While we may instinctively see this as many people believing in Jesus on an individual basis, there is too much evidence in the New Testament directing us
to think of this as the “we” of the
united body of Christ.
When Paul
tells us that we must “walk in a manner
worthy of the calling to which you have been called,”[3] he
immediately describes this walking worthy in relational terms. In order to walk
worthy of being this one new man that is created in Christ Jesus out of both
Jews and Gentiles,[4]
we must relate to one another, “with all
humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.”[5]
If that is not
clear enough that living worthy of the gospel, living worthy of the experience
of finding our rest in our Lord Jesus, must be viewed in corporate terms, Paul
continues with the admonition, “eager to
maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”[6]
When all of us are eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond
of peace that is ours in the cross of Jesus Christ, we all find rest in God
together.
If it is not
yet clear that our rest is a corporate rest, that it is “WE who have believed” who “enter
that rest,” Paul makes it even clearer when he reminds the church, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as
you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in
all.”[7] We
come to Jesus for our rest, but that brings us into his one body, by his one
Spirit, called into one hope, trusting in one Lord, taking the yoke of Christ
on ourselves through the one baptism, approaching the one God and Father of all
through faith in his Son.
This united
approach to God is made clear when Paul calls the church to unity in prayer. He
writes,
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus.[8]
When the
church comes together as that one new man, the one body of Christ, and unites
with a common resolve that we will not be anxious about anything, we become a
corporate strength to those who are weakest about anxiety, worry, and fear.
When we take anything that could discourage the church if we gave free-reign to
anxiety, and we join together to make our requests known to God through prayer,
supplication, and thanksgiving, we come into this corporate experience of “the peace of God.”
As soon as we
realize that the “will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus,” speaks of a corporate experience where
everyone’s hearts and minds are guarded by God’s peace, we can then turn from
our private experiences, highly valued as they are, and also seek to encourage
church life that pursues God in prayer, rejecting all temptation to spend our
time expressing anxiety, and entering into the body-life of peace with God. Or,
as Jesus said it, entering into that corporate experience of coming to him,
yoking ourselves to him through his Spirit, experiencing one heart and mind as
the body of Christ, and so finding rest together.[9]
This corporate
experience of coming to Jesus Christ for rest is a wonderful gift that the
mature give to the weak. As Paul wrote, “We
who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak.”[10] In
the context of the church gathering together, the weak would easily fall into
expressing anxiety. If we left them alone, they would not have the strength to
climb out of their downward spirals of discouragement.
Therefore, God
prescribes that we are to come together, and the strong are to bear with the
failings of the weak, leading the way in prayer, supplication, and
thanksgiving, presenting all manner of requests to God, so that everyone,
including the weak, can feel the peaceful rest that comes to the body of Christ
through the Holy Spirit.
I love the
beautiful way Paul expresses this after calling the strong to bear with the
failings of the weak. He says, “May the
God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one
another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice
glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”[11]
This says that
God is the source of endurance and encouragement. Instead of the strong only seeking
God for endurance and encouragement in their alone times with him, we come to
God together, asking God to grant us “to
live in such harmony with one another,” that the weak benefit from the
faith of the strong. It is the strong who seek the harmony that would build up
the weak. It is the strong who lead the way in raising our voices to God in
prayer, not as a distinct, elite group of prayer warriors, but as the strong
giving the voice that the weak can sing along to.
I have seen
this in practical terms when I have been in a large group of people made up of
strong and weak singers. When the strong singers focus on singing their hearts
out, and raising their voices in jubilant praise to God, the weak singers hear
such a strength of words and music that they know they can sing along without
pulling anyone else down. The weak singers get to enjoy a wonderful time of worship
and praise because the strong singers surround them with the beauty of song
that the weak could never produce on their own.
In the same
way, when the strong come together with the weak, bearing with the failings of
the weak, setting an example for the weak to follow, the church comes together
in prayer the weak would never have imagined praying. The church puts aside
anxiety in ways the weak would never be able to do on their own. The church
raises supplications, and petitions, and requests of all kinds, things the weak
would never have thought of presenting to God in prayer. The corporate body
becomes drawn into thanksgiving that the weak never felt when they came to the
gathering, but now feel as everyone joins in harmonious thanksgiving to God.
With this hope
of the church unifying with “one voice”
to “glorify the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ,” the strong can take heed of Paul’s concluding exhortation,
“Therefore welcome one another as Christ
has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”[12]
How did Christ welcome us? In the supreme example of a strong person bearing
with the failings of the weak. Now the strong are to welcome “one another” in the church, including
all who are weak, all who come into the church still feeling the weariness that
was theirs outside of Christ.
As the strong
lead the way in welcoming one another, following the example of Christ
welcoming us, our likeness to Jesus Christ our Savior gives glory to God, the
very thing we unite to express in harmonious worship and fellowship. As we
settle into the fellowship of prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, the
anxieties of the weak are lost in the faith of the strong. At the same time,
the peace of God wonderfully guards everyone’s hearts and minds, just as Jesus promised
when he declared that, in coming to him, we would find rest for our souls.
© 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.)
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