February 2000

(Heb 4:11)

oes this title seem contradictory? The word, Labor means "work hard" and rest means "refrain from working"!! How does one "work hard" at "NOT working"? Does this mean Christ’s Body is supposed to be a lazy, unproductive people? Just the opposite! God wants to produce the most powerful people ever seen on the earth. But their Power Source must be Him, Alone! So He offers this key to Everlasting Peace- total trust and reliance in our sovereign God. Heb 4:10 says, "Whoever enters into God’s Rest has ceased from the weariness and pain of his human labors, as God rested from His Works (on the 7th day of creation; and 7 = perfection)." Heb 4:3 adds,"His Works were finished from the Foundation of the world". [And Jesus Christ IS that Foundation! 1 Cor 3:11 ] These verses do not say that God simply "stopped" His Works, but that He "finished" them; and then "rested" in them. Through all the generations of turmoil and tribulation, God has been able to rest in the confidence that His works are perfect and nothing need ever be added; Perfection lacks nothing! He knew "All things would work together for good" ( Ro 8:28 ) so He trusted His Workmanship! The question is, do WE trust His Work? What IS His Workmanship? Eph 2:10 says, "WE ARE God’s Workmanship; created IN Christ Jesus unto good works that we might walk in them ." In Jn 6:28 the apostles asked Jesus, "What shall we do that we might work the Works of God? Jesus answered , ‘This is the Work of God- that YOU BELIEVE ON HIM Whom He has sent!" There it is! That is our only ordained participation in the creative process of God: to simply BELIEVE in His Finished Work!! He wants us to TRUST CHRIST IN US to do every Good Work He created to manifest in our lives. In this way no man can boast or glory in God’s Sovereign Work. Having performed our "labor" of "believing and trusting" in Christ, we are admonished to "rest" as our Father did; in complete confidence that the end is secure.
                 Ministers are notorious work-aholics; but for whom do they work? God would ask them: "Do you PREACH FOR A LIVING (as a means of livelihood); or do you LIVE TO PREACH (resting in the knowledge that God will support His Own Work, so you do not LOOK TO MEN, but TO HIM for everything!] This is why Apostle Paul was ever ready to resume his work as a tentmaker, so that his ministry would never become a yoke on God’s people; but would allow JEHOVAH-JIREH to supply His miraculous provision. Should there ever come a time when He would have withheld that provision, Paul would have continued to serve God with his hands instead. How many ministers today could say in their heart of hearts they are ready at any time to relinquish their ministries and do whatever else the Lord requires? I was required to surrender a ministry many years ago and return to the world’s work force. It was a very hard thing to do but it was God’s will and so there was no other choice. In time, He raised up a greater and more demanding ministry butall the while He has not yet chosen to release me from laboring in the world for my income. God’s will may be hard to do at times, but "WHAT OTHER WILL WOULD WE CHOOSE"?!
                 "God is a Spirit" ( Jn 4:24 ), so all His Works are spiritual; but"The natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit" ( 1 Cor 2:14 ) so no descendant of the first Adam can fulfill God’s spiritual works! These are for just One Man, "The Last Adam, Christ, "The Lord from Heaven"! ( 1 Cor 15:47 ) So rest, dear one; "Let God be true, and every man a liar." ( Ro 3:4 ) Know that our Omnipotent God left absolutely nothing to chance or happenstance in His glorious creative Work. He planned every detail from the fall of the first Adam to the rising of the Last Adam. Nothing has ever gone wrong in the universe that made Him suddenly seek a remedy. Hear His Voice calling to "The troubled sea of our weak and wicked humanity" ( Isa 57:20 ), "Peace, be still!" ( Mk 3:4 ) Hear Him shouting from the rooftops, "Fear not; stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord!" ( Ex 14:13) and also ‘Be still and know that I am God!" ( Ps 46:10 ) With the pitiless taskmasters of our carnal minds striving and driving us to "do good works" in which Selfwill can boast itself, it requires herculean labor to enter God’s Sabbath Rest; but our reward is "His Peace that passes all understanding". ( Php 4:7 ) So let your labor be only to share God’s holy REST!! Amen.