The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
“Rest and Work”
“They ceased not from their own doings” (Judges 2:19).
“He that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works” (Hebrews 4:10).
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it” (Hebrews 4:1).
Every born again believer has ceased from his own works by giving up the vanity of seeking any other way of salvation than the reception of the freest gift ever given, purchased by the highest cost ever remitted. “For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (Romans 5:15). Christ only. Christ always. Christ forever. All born again by faith in the Lord Jesus trust solely in His works on our behalf. We rest in Him.
Christians can, however, “seem to come short” of such grace in our walk with the Lord and the works that proceed from rest.
“The flesh lusteth against the spirit” (Galatians 5:17).
Of all the characteristics of the “law of sin” that remains in our earthly members inherited from Adam, none more aptly describe its waywardness than independence (from God). Our flesh will be good, bad, or neutral, so long as we give it the chance to maintain influence and activity as the controlling factor of our lives. No Christian is beyond the temptation, and all sometimes fall into the trap of forgetting that God calls us to “labor, striving according to His working” (Colossians. 1:29; emphasis added). We overcome the enticement by faith, seeking to remember and affirm His faithfulness in leading and enabling us as we trust Him. “Nothing without Me” declared the Lord Jesus regarding our abject need. “All things through Christ” exulted the Apostle Paul of our Lord’s promise to work in us as we rest our hearts in Him (John 15:5; Philippians 4:13).
We do well to specifically apply this truth to particular challenges that confront us. Do we face the matter alone, as if the Spirit of Christ were not actively present and engaged in our hearts and lives? Must our mental, volitional, and physical efforts serve as the primary means whereby we seek to overcome the challenge? Must we strive according to our own working rather than first resting our hearts in God? When believers succumb to such temptation, we scandalously “seem to come short” of resting in Christ despite having in fact “entered into His rest” in the new birth.
We do well to often recall that which began our relationship with God, namely, we responded to the Holy Spirit’s convincing and convicting work, trusting Him and Him alone. We then remember one of Paul’s most vital statements regarding how we walk in faithful fellowship with God…
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6).
In essence, Paul commands, “Whatever occurred in the first moment of salvation, continue therein.” That which occurred was God promising and the believer trusting, God giving and the believer receiving, God working and the believer resting our hearts in Him. And so must it continue. We do much as believers. “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). However, works without faith are no less dead, being the product of the flesh rather than the indwelling Holy Spirit. Believers work for God by working from God. We rest in order to labor. We trust in order to act. Only thereby can we avoid the utter tragedy of having entered into the rest of God by trusting in the Lord Jesus, only to “seem” as if we have not done so by forgetting that we must continue as we began. Indeed, works proceed from rest as that which began our relationship with God motivates, guides, inspires, and empowers our fellowship with Him.
“For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
(Philippians 3:3)
Weekly Memory Verse
“He that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works.”
(Hebrews 4:10).
7837
No comments:
Post a Comment