Our True Sabbath Rest - July 3 Reading: Hebrews 3-4

Today’s Readings

Context

I remember a deacon ordination council we held many years ago. The candidate met every qualification and answered every question. As we were closing the discussion, we asked if there was anything else we needed to go over. He got a very serious look on his face and said, "Yes, there's something I need to share with you." I was taken aback, wondering what deep, dark secret he was going to share. He proceeded to tell us that sometimes, on a Sunday afternoon, he would go out and work in his garden.

I laughed in relief and I think I offended him a little. I come from a background where "keeping the Sabbath" was not a big deal and he came from a church where an admission like his would have ended his candidacy. The fact is that what it means to keep the Sabbath holy is a big issue for modern Christians, one that is answered differently by different people.

The author of Hebrews gives the definitive answer in this passage and though it is a complex answer, it is a powerful one. Our rest is not primarily a one-day-a-week thing, but a rest that we are blessed with every day as we rest from our works and trust in Christ's grace. 

Devotional - Our True Sabbath Rest

Most of us live lives of stress and of tumult. Even when we lay our heads down on the pillow at night, our brains continue to race - thinking about money or relationships or job stress or life circumstances or whatever else life has thrown at us. Rest comes hard. Relaxation isn't always easy.

But in Hebrews 4 we find out about a different kind of rest, the kind that God gives to those who repent of their sins and believe in his Son. Verse 1 makes an assertion and gives a warning.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 

God promises us that there is rest - his rest, perfect rest. But he is talking about far more than just a good night's sleep, more than relaxation or unwinding from the stresses of life. God's rest is a life of complete trust in God, a life lived by faith instead of the stress and strain of good works. We cease to depend on ourselves to achieve righteousness and to please God and trust in the finished work of Christ - that true rest.  

This is our true Sabbath rest as believers, a rest from our own works. As God rested from his works, we are to rest from ours. Consider verses 9 and 10. 

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

We are not talking about taking a break from holiness, but living the life that God wants by faith, not by our own effort. It is about total dependence on God and not on a set of rules or on my own efforts. I am redeemed because of what Christ did - I simply trusted my life to him. And I am made holy by the work of Christ as well, trusting fully in his presence and power, his Spirit and his finished work. 

But there is a warning attached to verse 1. This perfect rest that God has provided for us, this Christ-purchased and Christ-provided rest is not automatic. Many of God's people miss it. Instead of living in dependence on the Christ who gave all for them, they stress and strain to make it on their own, depending on themselves and their own resources instead of on God. And it is such a waste. Verse 11 sums it up. 

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Now that's a strange statement, isn't it? "Strive to enter that rest." Work hard to rest? But that odd wording demonstrates an important point. We must daily put our faith in God, renounce dependence on our own works and our own abilities and rest fully in him. Every single day. It is a constant battle, one that is accomplished by dependence on God, but it is a battle nonetheless.

May we battle every day, working hard to rest in Christ. Coming to understand that conundrum may not be easy, but it is one of the secrets of understanding Christian living. 

Father, I rest in you and trust in you. When I've trusted in myself, I have lived in fear and stress, and I have failed. But when I walk in faith, you are faithful. Thank you for your wonderful rest. 

Think and Pray

Are you resting and trusting in Christ every day, or are your struggling, stressing, and straining in your own strength and abilities? Thank God today that it is in Christ that we rest!