Sermon Series: Awed By His Love | How Can We Rest And Still Accomplish Much?

Pastor Lionel Goh followed on from the message in the previous week, saying that God invites us into His rest. This is the “Sabbath rest”, which is both emotional and spiritual rest, given by God for His people. From Hebrews 4:9-11, we are called to make every effort to enter that rest. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus addressed the people who were burdened by the many Jewish laws and traditions with over 600 do’s and don’t’s . A bullock cart has a yoke and a heavy frame. Jesus invites us to come and strap ourselves to Him and He will do most of the pulling. His yoke is easy, the burden is light and we will find rest for our souls.

The secret to rest and fruitfulness is therefore abiding in Christ (John 15:4-5). Biblical rest can be described as spiritual (salvation) rest and practical rest. The former means there is no need to strive in our own self effort to please God and earn our salvation - we are in Christ and we are the beloved of God! The latter is having the peace and faith in God that He will meet all our needs and life challenges! We can totally abandon ourselves to God and have full confidence in Him.  This is not passivity but focused and fruitful activity as directed by God. He also cited the example of Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission (OMF).  During the Boxer Rebellion, 58 missionaries and 25 children were murdered but Hudson was able to find the needed rest in God. Pastor Lionel shared that he had a tough boss in New Zealand, but he prayed and asked God to give him the grace to work with the difficult boss and God granted him favour with the boss. Heidi Baker in 1995 was a missionary in Mozambique looking after 200 orphans and 2 churches. She was stressed, had tuberculosis and pneumonia. She went to Toronto and was prayed over by Randy Clark. There, she was touched by the Holy Spirit and was immobilised for 7 days and had a vision of Jesus using His body and blood to feed thousands of children. Her ministry ‘exploded’ once she realised that her responsibility is just to obey and abide, and that God will provide. Now, she has 15,000 churches and thousands of children but she is no longer stressed as she spends 3 hours daily spending time with God. She also realised that 5 minutes of intimacy with God and receiving downloads from Him are far more effective than years of fruitless striving. Fruitfulness and intimacy with God requires us to create time and space to be with God!

Pastor Lionel then shared on the account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 to illustrate this point (Mark 6:30-44). Jesus showed his concern for His disciples in v31 - Jesus is always concerned for us! In v34, Jesus had compassion for the multitude - though they would not starve by missing one meal, yet Jesus wanted them to eat. This is contrasted with the hardness of the disciples’ heart in v35-36 in viewing the multitude as a problem to be pushed or wished away. However, Jesus already knew what to do when He demanded that the disciples feed the multitude. The learning point is that when God calls us to an assignment or put us in a situation, God already knows what needs to be done.

Jesus then showed in v38-42 how His disciples could partner Him to feed the multitude. We learn that no matter how meagre our talent, resources or abilities, whatever we give to the Lord in love and devotion, Jesus takes it all. He gives thanks to God and He will multiply it! Pastor Lionel also observed that the disciples organised the people into small groups and said that organisation was simple but important to prevent a stampede. The disciples simply became channels of Jesus’ grace to the multitude and it was not difficult to feed the people. A miracle happened!

How can we find rest and still accomplish much? First, we must be still and discern God’s heart in any given situation. For example, know that God loves your wayward kids and will take care of them, and also know that only God can change their hearts. All we, as parents, can do is to give them a safe and caring home environment. Secondly, we must prayerfully distinguish which tasks are God’s responsibilities and which are ours to bear. Thirdly, we must surrender ourselves and our meagre resources to God. Fourthly, we are to hear the Lord’s prompting and simply obey Him. We will then find that things will begin to change. Finally, we are to abide in Christ and be His channel of blessings to others.

 

Discussion Questions

1) Discuss the practical difficulties for Christians to enter into God’s rest. [10 min]

 

2) Read through Mark 6:30-44. Focusing on Jesus, which part of the account about Jesus do you find most impressed you personally and why? [10 min]

 

3) Read John 15:4-5 on God's promise for us to bear much fruit. How we can rest and still accomplish much? Share from your own personal life a specific area where you would like to commit to God. [20 min]