One of the verses that has always perplexed me as a Christian is:
Matthew 11:28
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
You would think from this verse that there would be no weary Christians then. The problem with my experience is that there are many weary Christians. Weary of the financial difficulties they are facing, weary from working so much, weary from giving so much in ministry, weary of doing good or dealing with certain people. So are all these people missing Jesus? Does that mean they are not saved then? Was Jesus talking about something different from salvation here?
One of the interesting aspects of our lives is the effect that our spiritual condition has on our physical condition, and the effect our physical condition has on our spiritual condition. Jesus promised rest, and rest is something he offers. This is explained more in Hebrews 4:1-11. The problem comes with a mindset that we are working our way up the mountain getting closer to God. The correct paradigm is that of a relationship that is becoming more intimate. A relationship with a king. It’s like in a human relationship when you have moved from the point of impressing each other to the point of defending and developing each other. You trust he has already accepted you and you no longer need to impress him, but he does have expectations of you to obey his commands. Grace is what saves and sustains. If only that wasn’t so hard for us to grasp.
I was at a Bible study the other day at another church and they were discussing grace. The pastor was speaking on that passage in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that says “My grace is sufficient for you.” One of the people asked if grace was like a power that you ask God for to help you do more, and that pastor stated it was not. I do agree that there are times when God asks us to do more than we think we can and He gives us the strength to do it. Those are times when His grace gives us extra strength to do what He has told us to do. But I think that all too often what happens is that we take on more than we can handle, things God has not told us to do, and then we ask God for grace to do it all, and quote the verse “I can do all things through Christ who strenthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Often in our culture in America today, there is a misunderstanding of what is important to God. God is much more interested in us doing the things He asks, not the things that others ask, or even meeting every need we see. His rest comes when we are surrendered to Him, and it is a rest of the soul. No more striving is needed to impress Him and prove ourselves worthy of Him.
I think that the rest that Jesus is talking about here is is rest from the Old Covenant and the demand that we will be blessed if we obey and cursed if we disobey; as found in the book of Deuteronomy. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life of obedience to God’s commands in our place and dies on the cross as our substitue to suffer the curse we deserve as lawbreakers. By virtue of His resurrection, he gives his people the git of Justification-full satisfaction of the Law’s demands. We can rest in the reality that becuase of what Christ has done, God sees us a having satisfied the demands of his Law and we will never be condemed-even though we continue to be miserable sinners who deserve nothing but temporal and eternal punsihments. All glory to the work of Jesus Christ who gives us rest from the Law. This is the same point made in Hebrews chapter 4 when it talks about resting from works.