In his book, “The Pursuit of Happyness,” which was later made into a movie starring Will Smith, Chris Gardner tells of his childhood memories and how he and his sister Ophelia coped with being poor.
“Ophelia and I lived vicarious lives as we played a game we made up with the household’s (Spiegel) catalog. We called it ’this-page-that-page,’ and it was played simply by flipping randomly to a page and then claiming all the treasures pictured on it as mine, or hers. ‘Look at all my stuff,’ I’d say after flipping to my page. ‘Look at my furniture – all those clothes are mine!’ and Ophelia would follow, flipping to her page, singing, ‘Look at my stuff, my nice stove and my jewelry!’ The Spiegel catalog must have been three hundred pages or more, so we never tired of this-page-that-page.”
“In the dead of winter one year, we changed the game in recognition of Christmas. When it was Ophelia’s turn, she flipped to a page and smiled her big-sister smile, announcing that this page was for me, pointing to all the stuff she was giving me for Christmas. ‘I’m giving you this page. All this is yours.’”
“Then it was my turn. I flipped to a page and exclaimed, ‘I’m giving you this page for Christmas. This is all yours!’ I wasn’t sure what made me happier, getting a page all for me or having one to give.’”
Those who follow Christ can honestly say, when they read the pages of the Bible, “Look at all my stuff! All of these promises are mine! Everything that God says I have – I have!”
That’s an amazingly uplifting and encouraging thought!
We’re in the Christmas series, “Finding Calm in the Chaos” based on the letter to the Hebrew Christ followers of the First Century. They were second generation believers whose lives were very chaotic due to the fact that they were being persecuted for their faith in Christ. Consequently they were considering turning back to their prior Old Testament way of relating to God - a religion based on God’s message received through prophets, angels, the priesthood and the law.
So far, in chapters one, two and three of Hebrews, we’ve seen the writer build an airtight case against turning back since Christ is “better than” all of the Old Covenant messengers. God’s message through Jesus is better than the prophets, better than the angels, better than human priests and better than Moses the lawgiver.
Jesus is also better than anything you or I could turn back to when our lives become chaotic and we’re tempted to relax our energies following Christ.
In fact, I’ve been thinking a lot about this application to this information in Hebrews. You may think that just because you haven’t seriously been thinking about turning back that you don’t need this stuff.
But...have you been slowing down in your pursuit of doing God’s will?
If you are less enthusiastic about following Christ today than you were a month ago, or a year ago, then the message of the Hebrew letter may be just the thing for you! The chaos in your life may have caused you to settle for complacency, it may have sidetracked your spiritual vigor. And lukewarmness in your spiritual life – living at a spiritual standstill - is just as problematic as thoughts of turning back.
You say, “Then where do I find the strength to keep moving forward in the midst of my tests? Where can I find calm in my chaos?”
The theme of the Hebrews letter is Jesus and we’ve been re-emphasizing the fact that He is the ultimate source of calm in our chaos!
That’s one of the reasons I chose the letter to the Hebrews for our Christmas series this year. Since Jesus is the source of calm in our chaos He is the catalyst to renewed enthusiasm and zest for life if you have lost spiritual steam.
Read the theme of Hebrews and our theme for this series out loud with me,
“Keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.” Hebrews 12:2a (NLT)
Don’t ever take your focus off of Jesus. He’s the focal point of our faith from start to finish.
Christmas is all about God’s gift of Jesus. God came to us “in person.” This time He didn’t send a messenger. He came Himself! Not a prophet, nor angel, nor priest, nor lawgiver. Therefore we celebrate Christ’s birth, and that’s fitting. But we also need to apply the truths associated with His becoming man to be our Savior.
What does God becoming man in Jesus mean to us?
Today in Hebrews chapter four we come to the very heart of finding calm in our chaos. Here the author of the letter writes about “rest.” The key word in this chapter is “rest.” When my life is chaotic or when the world around me is full of chaos, where do I go for rest? Not physical rest, I can get that easily enough, but rest for my mind, my heart and my soul. Inner rest. The rest that brings deep, abiding inner peace.
With all the shopping and other activities getting ready for Christmas we all probably need a little peace right now so that we can rest.
Two young children presented their mom with a poinsettia for Christmas but they wanted to get her something more. The older of the children said with a sad face, “There was an arrangement we wanted to give you at the flower shop. It was really pretty, but it was too expensive. It had a ribbon on it that said, ‘Rest in Peace,’ and we thought you would like it since you’re always asking for a little peace so you can rest.”
Every one of us wants to rest in peace but we don’t want that kind of rest in peace. However we desire inner peace so much that we sometimes travel down the wrong avenues pursuing it.
We eat too much because food gives us comfort and we mistakenly think it will give us peace. Instead it gives us health problems.
We lust after material things because we think they will satisfy this longing for heart and soul rest. But, no, countless biographies insist that doesn’t work either.
We care too much about success and other people’s opinions of us. We drive ourselves to accomplish things that God could care less about us accomplishing. Our soul longs for rest and we struggle and pursue every opportunity for spiritual rest when the answer is obvious and easy to grasp.
Trivial things cannot meet our inner spiritual needs.
We long for calm in our chaos. Calm from the chaos of having a fallen nature. Calm from the chaos of living in a fallen world. The chaos brought on by the occasional trials and tests of life. Where in the world can we find peace?
That calm in our chaos is found only in Christ who said,
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.” Matthew 11:28-20 (NLT)
Hebrews chapter four is about finding “rest for your souls.” As we read this chapter I’d like for you to notice how many times the word “rest” appears.
I’d also like you to notice the number of times the word “so” is used. The writer mentions something about God’s rest and then writes, “SO, here’s why God’s REST is so important and here’s what you need to do in order to experience and enjoy God’s rest.”
Verse 1 “God’s promise of entering his REST still stands, SO we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news — that God has prepared this REST — has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. [Some manuscripts read they didn’t combine what they heard with faith.] 3 For only we who believe can enter his REST. As for the others, God said,
“In my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of REST,’” [Ps 95:11.]
even though this REST has been ready since he made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God RESTED from all his work.” [Gen 2:2] 5 But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of REST.” [Psalm 95:11]
In the previous chapter the writer had already related the story of how the wilderness wanderers of Israel did not get to experience REST in The Promised Land. That’s the “them” he’s talking about. SO what? SO…they wandered around in the wilderness for forty years when they could have been enjoying the land of milk and honey.
This is a tremendously powerful biblical illustration of why it’s so important to experience God’s REST and one that the Hebrew converts to Christianity could easily relate.
Today a lot of us following Christ are making a similar mistake. We sometimes doubt God and at other times we flat out disobey Him. The result is that we fail to experience God’s REST. Our souls stay in turmoil because we aren’t experiencing the rest Jesus came to give us. REST that’s so strong that it supersedes any chaos we face.
Ask yourself right now, “Am I enjoying God’s REST?” When your life is chaotic do you have inner peace? Do you have calm in your chaos?
The good news is that you can enjoy God’s REST. And the Bible’s not just talking about enjoying God’s REST when you get to heaven. It’s talking about experiencing God’s REST right here and right now!
The writer goes on to say that you and I can experience that REST today!
6 SO God’s REST is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 SO God set another time for entering his REST, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:
“Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.” [Ps 95:7-8]
Once again the writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 as he did in chapter three.
Psalm 95 has been called a “Royal Psalm.” It’s called a Royal Psalm because it speaks of God as our king, as our reigning royalty. (Verse 3) The first portion of the Psalm is full of praise to God as king. But the second half of the Psalm is a warning that it’s not enough that God’s people praise Him and talk to Him – we must also listen to Him!
The more receptive I am to the voice of God the more I’ll experience His peace!
Speaking of listening to God, listen as I read the 95th Psalm to you. It won’t be up on the screen in power point. It’s not in the worship folder. Just listen and hear from your heart and soul. Psalm 95:
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert,
9 where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways."
11 So I declared on oath in my anger, "They shall never enter my REST."
Did you hear it?
You can talk to God in praise. You can extol Him as your King.
But that does not exempt you from listening to Him and showing that you have paid close attention to what He said by heeding His Word! Praising God as my King is not enough. I must be a loyal subject of His kingdom in order to enjoy His REST.
Don’t doubt God’s Word. Don’t disobey God’s Word. If you do, you miss out on His REST.
God offers REST to you TODAY…SO…Don’t harden your heart. Open your heart to hearing God and doing His will and you will enjoy His REST!
The fourth chapter of Hebrews continues…
8 Now if Joshua [Moses’ successor, and someone else that Jesus is “better than.”] had succeeded in giving them this REST, God would not have spoken about another day of REST still to come. [Joshua was a great general, a great leader, but he could not force the people to listen to God. Listening to God is a personal decision. Whether or not I experience God’s rest is up to me!]
9 SO there is a special REST [Or a Sabbath REST] still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s REST have RESTED from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 SO let us do our best to enter that REST. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. [When I disobey God, when I don’t mix hearing His word with believing, I fail to experience His REST.]
The REST that I experience “today” is a sampling of the REST that I will experience forever in heaven. God gives me a little taste of heaven when I listen to Him and trust Him. There is a peace that exceeds human comprehension and it comes when I trust God.
Look at what Paul says to the Philippians from his incarceration in Rome.
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
Paul’s in prison for preaching the Good News about Jesus and he speaks of a calm in his chaos that exceeds anything humanly comprehensible!
Where can I get that? Read verse 6 again. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 THEN you will experience God’s peace…”
This is one of hundreds of Bible promises to those who trust in God. If I stay in the Word of God, the Bible, I will be flooded with reminders of God’s love for me and His promises to take care of me – even in the midst of my chaos! I can say, “This stuff on these pages belongs to me!”
That’s why the writer of the Hebrew letter says this next.
12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
God’s Word provides the necessary ingredients for my soul REST. My problem is not that I don’t have the information to find calm in my chaos. My problem is either failing to read the Bible, or failing to believe it (or "claim it" as some would say), or failing to obey God’s Word.
You can talk to people that claim they’ve read the Bible and it didn’t do them any good.
Evangelist Gipsy Smith told of a man who said he had received no inspiration from the Bible although he had “gone through it several times.” “Let it go through you once,” replied Smith, “then you will tell a different story!”
I must be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer. Then what will happen?
14 SO then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. [The recipients of this letter were considering letting go of what they believed. You should never let go of belief in Jesus! Why?]
15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 SO let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
If I’m going to experience God’s REST I must trust and follow His Word!
But where can I find the strength, the motivation to trust in God and His wonderful Word?
God is so good a God that He gives me the strength to do what I need to do by initiating the process!
I can come boldly before the throne of God to find grace to help when I need it most – not because I deserve it – but because God is a merciful God.
In a Dennis the Menace cartoon there was a vivid picture of mercy. Dennis was shown walking away from the Wilson’s house with his friend Joey. Both boys had their hands full of cookies. Joey then asked, “I wonder what we did to deserve this?” Dennis delivered an answer packed with truth. He said, “Look Joey, Mrs. Wilson gives us cookies not because we’re nice, but because she’s nice.”
If I depended on my deservedness to come boldly before the throne of God I would never go. But I go boldly because of Jesus, my great High Priest! He understands my weaknesses. He faced all the testings I face yet He never sinned. He never failed a test.
SO He became someone who not only understands my testings – but also has the holiness to stand in for my sin debt before God the Father!
And SO I can come before the throne of God – TODAY. I can experience the rest of heaven, God’s REST – TODAY!
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you REST. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find REST for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-20 (NLT)
And do it, “Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts.” [Ps 95:7-8]
