Dakota Community Church
March 4, 2007
Soul Rest
Matthew 11:28-29
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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.
Introduction:
We are now on the second Sunday of Lent – but Easter is coming, last week we looked at the temptation in the wilderness and how it relates to our own struggles, this week I want to look at entering into that rest that is promised to us as the people of God.
We looked at how the enemy will challenge who God says we are and even whether we can really trust the heart of God at all, we looked at how the abundant life is not always an easy life – we go through Friday for the sake of Sunday, - and now this week we will look at finding that place of rest, that place of peaceful trusting in God.
Our desire is to put the teachings of God’s words into practice, not just to engage in philosophical discussions leading to more learning. If we believe the Word teaches us to be givers, then we want to actually do some giving, if it tells us that prayer changes things then we want to pray, if the Bible teaches us to love one another then we do it.
1 John 3:18
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
If Jesus says that in Him there is rest for our souls, we want to be a people who enter that rest – for real! - Read Hebrews 4:1-13
Hebrews 4:1
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
Hebrews 4:9-11
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
Is resting an issue for you? Are you able to cease from working? Have you found yourself with time on your hands as a result of the self denial you are practicing, (Maybe fasting TV or gaming?) and yet you still are not using that extra time to draw near to God?
This morning I want us to take a couple of moments to rest, maybe even to be silent for a few minutes, if that bothers you, then you may have found your issue.
1. Who is this God in whom we are to rest?
What is He really like, if I am supposed to be able to rest in Him, I must be assured of security. Humans do not rest or find peace when there is no trust or security.
It goes to the question we looked at last week – can we trust the heart of God?
Psalm 103:3-8
…who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. The LORD is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger, abounding in love.
Here is how Jesus describes Him, does that sound safe to you?
Luke 6:35-36
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
I like the way Jonah reacts in anger when things unfold the way he knew they would because God is the way He is.
Jonah 4:1-4
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
Again in the words of Jesus answering Phillips desire to see the Father:
John 14:8-9
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’?
Psalm 100:5
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
The Hebrew word translated forever is, “5769 –owlam” and means “to the vanishing point; perpetually, at any time.”
And finally
1 John 4:16
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
I want to encourage you to let go of any other image you have of God, He is “agape”
You are God’s beloved, now. Not after you overcome some issue or defeat some sin. Can you make a leap of faith this morning and believe that right now?
2. Where is this place of rest?
A better question might be, “Where is it not?”
In truth it is everywhere and at the same time it is no where.
Psalm 139:7-8
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
Romans 10:6
"Do not say in your heart, ’Who will ascend into heaven?" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or ’Who will descend into the deep?" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart
Remember the Nooma DVD from a few weeks ago?
Yod Hey Vah Hey.
When you breathe you breathe His presence, you say the name of God.
Acts 17:24-28
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ’For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ’We are his offspring.’
Look at the desire of God. He longs for us to recognize that place, to refuse to allow life to separate us from that place. He is not somewhere else; He has done what He has done in Christ to secure this place for us. We do not search for God, He has already found us!
2 Corinthians 6:16-17
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
Come out, be separate, refuse to let the world rob you of the awareness that He is with you, giving you each breathe indeed, giving you life itself.
3. What does resting in God look like?
My motivational gift is encouragement, which results often in a desire to fix problems. There is a lot of doing in my version of Christianity. I like to identify steps of action that can be taken to solve whatever issues arise. If you have a problem, I have the book you should read in order to fix that problem. That is not always the best way to handle things, or the way that God wants to handle them.
In the eastern culture that Jesus lived in there is this idea of just being “in God” with all the troubles and relationship problems and difficulties and just letting Him lead, letting Him speak. Look at what Jesus prayed for us.
John 17:20-21
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
So Jesus is in God, and God is in Him and He wants us to be in them in the same way so that a unity will be attained that the world will recognize as being from God.
There is a life “in God” that brings unity.
There is a resting “in God” that does not require every problem to be solved.
There is a rest in God that ceases all striving and just is, just stops the drive and basks in Him!
Matthew 11:28-29
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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.
Hear it Preached: www.dakotacommunitychurch.ca and click "Listen".
This sermon and the others in this Lenten Series are based on the 2006 Lent Series from Mars Hill Church. You may purchase the original messages here: http://www.marshill.org/teaching/
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
