Laboring to enter into that Rest
I. Need For Rest
In The Twenty Four Hour Society, Martin Moore-Ede says our most notorious industrial accidents in recent years—Exxon Valdez, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, the fatal navigational error of Korean Air Lines 007—all occurred in the middle of the night. When the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian A300 airbus killing all 290 people aboard, fatigue-stressed operators in the high-tech Combat Information Center on the carrier misinterpreted radar data and repeatedly told their captain the jet was descending as if to attack when in fact the airliner remained on a normal flight path. In the Challenger space shuttle disaster, key NASA officials made the ill-fated decision to go ahead with the launch after working 20 hours straight and getting only two to three hours of sleep the night before. Their error in judgment cost the lives of seven astronauts and nearly killed the U.S. space program.
1. We ignore our need for rest and renewal at the peril of others and ourselves.
2. Lack of spiritual rest is no less important of our souls
II. Most of us go running from one thing to another without ever slowing down. We don’t just have tasks, we multitask.
Heb 4:11 KJV
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,
III. Laboring to Rest, that sounds like a paradox, or a contradiction?
Warren Wiersbe once said, “The ability to calm your soul and wait before God is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life.
Our old nature is restless...the world around us is frantically in a hurry.
IV. Rest has several meanings
A. Rest signifies a secure habitation with God.
It is applied to God as resting in His love among His people (Zeph 3:17,
B. Rest has the following figurative meanings: to lean, or trust in (2 Chron 32:8);
C. It is the sense of security and peace that flows from a right relation with God, the Father, through obedience to his Son, the Messiah, and membership in his kingdom.
1. Matt 11:29-30 NIV
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
2. Anapausis (an-ap-au-sis)
"Cessation, refreshment, rest" (ana, "up," pauo, "to make to cease"), the constant word in the Sept. for the Sabbath "rest," is used in Matt 11:29; here the contrast seems to be to the burdens imposed by the Pharisees.
Christ’s "rest" is not a "rest" from work, but in work, "not the rest of inactivity but of the harmonious working of all the faculties and affections — of will, heart, imagination, conscience — because each has found in God the ideal sphere for its satisfaction and development"
D. Rest in God means, "Being with the one who comforts you”
1. "A place to hide from your enemies."
2. "A place to run to for safety."
3. There’s a song in the hymnal that goes like this:
a. "There is a place of quiet rest. Near to the heart of God. A place where sin cannot molest. Near to the heart of God."
b. That’s what the writer of Hebrews 4 is talking about. A place where we can rest from the hard work of living a holy life in an unholy world.
c. The hard work of trying to battle our own sinful impulses.
d. The hard work of trying to be what God created us to be.
V. Heb 4:9 NIV
There remains, then, a Sabbath — rest for the people of God;
Sabbatismos (sab-bat-is-mos),
"a Sabbath-keeping," is used in Heb 4:9, RV, "a sabbath rest," KJV marg., "a keeping of a sabbath" (akin to sabbatizo, "to keep the Sabbath," used, e. g., in Ex 16:30, not in the NT); here the sabbath-keeping is the perpetual sabbath "rest" to be enjoyed uninterruptedly by believers in their fellowship with the Father and the Son, in contrast to the weekly Sabbath under the Law.
Because this sabbath "rest" is the "rest" of God Himself, 4:10, its full fruition is yet future, though believers now enter into it. In whatever way they enter into divine "rest," that which they enjoy is involved in an enduring relation with God.
VI. REST IS PRODUCTIVE, TOO
The story is told of two men who had the tiring job of clearing a field of trees. The contract called for them to be paid per tree.
Bill wanted the day to be profitable, so he grunted and sweated, swinging the axe relentlessly. Ed, on the other hand, seemed to be working about half as fast. He even took a rest and sat off to the side for a few minutes. Bill kept chopping away until every muscle and tendon in his body was screaming.
At the end of the day, Bill was terribly sore, but Ed was smiling and telling jokes. Amazingly, Ed had cut down more trees! Bill said, "I noticed you sitting while I worked without a break. How’d you outwork me?"
Ed smiled. "Did you notice I was sharpening my axe while I was sitting?"
Application:
Resting in God’s presence equips us to face the challenges of the world
a. Facing satins’ snares
b. Facing personal weakness
c. Finding strength for the battle
VII. How can I experience the refreshment God promises?
A. As we follow Jesus ever more closely, we will experience the rest and refreshment of his presence.
Ps 23:1-3 . . . He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength . . . (NLT)
B. Matt 11:28-30 Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" . . . (NLT)
VIII. What is the secret of entering into this rest?
A. It takes more than knowing about, it means knowing Jesus
1) Though Israel was called "God’s people" and though they had seen miracles and God’s great power, they failed to enter God’s rest!
2) Failure to enter was because of their failure to believe God’s Word, which led to disobedience..
B. Let Us Therefore Labor (Heb 4:11 KJV)
KJV - do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study.
1. "Labor" here means "give diligence" - let us give diligence to enter into this rest. To "give diligence" is just the opposite of "drifting" (2:1-3).
2. Nobody ever matured in the Christian life by being careless or lazy.
IX. Promise from God concerning rest
Isa 40:29-31 (NLT)
He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
CONCLUSION:
a. Another reason why we need to enter God’s rest is because no one understands our need for rest like Jesus.
Verse 14 says "Since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet was without sin."
Jesus knows what it’s like to feel powerless. Like you’re not able to have the kind of impact for the Lord that you wish you had. And
He knows more than anyone that what you need is to have God in your life every single day.
That when the going gets tough, it’s time to take a break and enter into His rest.
b. The servant who enters into Gods rest will finally hear, “Well done” from the Christ. Matt 25:21
