Mary’s is the harder work. to...
● Believe
● Linger, engage, and listen
● Rest, and this…
○ Eternally in believing and trusting faith in Jesus/ provision of life
○ Daily in believing and trusting faith in Jesus’ provision for life - effective and productive
Making every effort… Luke 13:24; Hebrews 4:11 - we say we “believe in Jesus”, but do we have faith enough to rest in Jesus? That is to truly trust that He finished the work the Father sent Him to do?
To work to believe - John - we daily enter His rest - in many regards to keep ourselves from thinking the “work” is ours - the work is in the believing and the resting. And by the way, this is not a new prayer: “I believe, but help me with my unbelief” Mark 9
To grow in faith – Colossians 2:6-10; Romans 5:1-11 - persevere
To pursue as hunting prey - 1Peter 3:11 - seek and pursue
Peace in abundance… 2Peter 1:5 - making every effort, every day, to experience the “rest” of Jesus –
God’s rest is where we
● Charge and recharge
● Recount and celebrate
● Look back and look forward
● Contemplate and dream
● Hear and are heard
● Breathe deep sighs of satisfaction and enjoyment, of wonder and amazement
● Rest, be at peace, in the knowledge and experience of being His, here now, with Him
None of this happens without - rest. And, without entering into God’s rest, there is not peace
“...and peace to those on whom His favor rests…” Luke 2:14
This, this rest, this peace, begins with God Himself - the person and nature of God. Why? If we were made in God’s image and likeness - we can trust that what is good for Him, is good for us.
God loves Himself (God; Us, and Ours) and He loves us, His neighbor, or others, as He loves Himself. We can trust that His commandments, His ways, His way of life is best and that we, having been intentionally and purposely made in His image and likeness, are designed to live that way - His way - work and rest. And resting takes faith - a growing faith. And, faith takes work and this is the work to rest in peace.
Therefore, there is work and there is rest, and in that rest, we find our peace. And that work, is the work of God, and work of God, His kingdom, and that work is to believe… as our belief is validated or affirmed our faith grows, our assurance deepens, and our peace increases - because we become more and more confident. And it is in that belief, our believing, more and more, that we rest and find our peace.
John 6:29 “Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."”
Hebrews 4:11
It is Jesus who establishes for us, peace with God through grace, by faith...
Hebrews 3:1 “ therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess… Christ (Jesus) is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold on to the courage and the hope of which we boast. See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. but encourage one another daily, as long as it is today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first (Rev 2)
Having had this peace established, let us enter, daily in this rest, that our assurance would grow…
Hebrews 4:1-3a “..since the promise of entering God’s rest (still) stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we have also had the gospel preached to us (just as the Isrealites in the desert had - but the message they heard was of no value to them because those who heard did not combine it with faith)… Now we who believe enter that rest,..”
...making every effort to enter that rest now established…
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 (the disobedient Isrealite’s) example
Heb 4 Great high priest
2Peter 1:1-11a
