“... from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17, ESV)
When we think about God resting, often it's assumed that He is tired or worn out. That is not the case! God never tires. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When God started creating, He was not weary, nor did He become weary. You and I will get tired, but not God. He is what we call omnipotent, meaning all-powerful. Because He is all-powerful, He does not tire out, nor does he need to be refreshed. He is always at His apex! As James says, there is no variation or shadow due to change. God is always the same. Shadows move or change throughout the day because the earth is moving. It is changing positions. Not God! He never changes. The one who created and rested would lay the groundwork for how man would live in, and interact with, God's creation. God wanted man to experience His rest. He wanted man to experience Him. God provides man with beautiful opportunities for us to do this. 'Evening and morning' were the defining moments of the first six days. Man's work day would start with rest in the evening, followed by work in the morning. God would also create man on the sixth day. And man's first day on the job was God's seventh day, a day of rest! Rest is to be seen as very important to the heart of God and essential for man's life.
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"For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!" (Matthew 12:8, NLT)
God created the Sabbath rest. And Jesus is the Lord over the Sabbath! Everything else submits to Him at this point. The whole conversation occurs because the disciples pick and eat grain on the Sabbath, and are accused of working. But Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath, the day of rest. This day of rest belongs to Him as a day to demonstrate His mercy. He even names two places in scripture where mercy triumphed over the law. One was when David and his men ate the showbread in the Tabernacle. The other was when the priests profaned the Sabbath, while working/performing sacrifice, yet were blameless. The point Jesus is driving home is that life is more important than ritual. He is Lord of the Sabbath, and declares once again that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. People are more important than the Sabbath!! Exodus 20:8-11 confirms this. Jesus leaves the wheat field, enters the synagogue and immediately heals a man's withered hand. This causes the Pharisees to ask, "Can you do that legally on a Sabbath?" To which Jesus answers (my words), "I am God. I created this holy day for man. This man needs a new hand, so 'Yes!' it is legal!" The Sabbath was made for us! And Jesus is Lord of this extraordinary day. He wants us to experience life, wholeness and prosperity because God is totally into us today! “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:3, ESV)
On the day God finished all He had done in creating, He brought it to completion and rested. He ceased from all His labors. It is what He does next that must grip our hearts as believers. First, He blessed the seventh day! This means that God supernaturally endued the seventh day with power for success and prosperity! When God blessed the seventh day, He put abundant 'Zoe' life on it. It was His day, and His presence brought the blessing. Only He has the power to bestow blessing. We are called to enter that seventh day with faith to receive His life. Second, He made the seventh day holy because He rested from all His creation work. God set this day 'apart' because it was filled with God's purposes! It was sacred because God set it apart for man and His time to be with man. God inhabited this day. So, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because it was to be a day that God and man enjoyed each other. It was to be a distraction-free day that allowed man to receive God-life and find renewal. God did not need rest. He is God. God made the Sabbath for man. God created man on the sixth day. And man's first day on the job was the seventh day, and He was to spend it with God. "And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done." (Genesis 2:2, ESV)
God did something very interesting on the seventh day of the creation story. He rested. For six days, He created. On the seventh day He rested. For six days He labored. God had a dream in His heart and worked by speaking into existence the very dream He carried. On the seventh day He rested. The number seven in Hebrew means completion or perfection. Everything God had done up to this point was now perfect and complete. Day seven shouts praise to God! It was the day to look back and say, "It is good!' Two important things happened on the seventh day. One, God finished His work. He brought the process of creating to completion. Two, He rested from all the work that He had done. He put an end to all that He had been doing. One of the challenges we face, as followers of Christ, is the ability to cease our labors and put an end to all that we have been doing. Rest, by definition, is impossible without stopping work. I must restate that last sentence for emphasis. Rest, by definition, is impossible without stopping our labor/work. God could not rest until He stopped the process of creation. What would it look like for you to stop for one day to rest? "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Galatians 5:24, ESV)
I never thought I would ever participate in a crucifixion, but in Christ, I am called to carry out a crucifixion. Crosses were made for crucifixion. If a man were found guilty of a crime, punishable by death, he would be crucified. I was found guilty of sin, a crime punishable by death. There was only one way out, Christ Jesus. My old self must die for my new man to live! The old man must be crucified because he is guilty of sin! Crucify! Crucify! Crucify! The flesh/the old man with all its passions and evil desires must die! We die to ourselves so that we might live for Christ. Jesus personally experienced the cross in my place, taking all my sin, shame, and punishment. He did that so I would not have to die spiritually but could be born again. I identify with His death on the cross (He took the place I was supposed to be.) This means that I can say I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but the life I do live, I now live for Christ. I give Him my life, and He gives me His! The next time you are tempted to fall into sin and your flesh is crying out in lust and desire, stand to your feet and begin to shout: "Crucify! Crucify! Crucify! Lead your flesh to Calvary and let it be crucified! "you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." (Colossians 3:8–10, ESV)
When the new man moves in, the old man must move out. When you invite Jesus into your life, everything carnal must be removed. It has to go! Put off the old self with its practices and put on the new self by being renewed in the knowledge of Christ. The word 'put off' comes from a compound Greek word ‘apotithimi’. ‘Apo’ meaning away and ‘tithimi’ meaning to place or lay something down. When you put the two words together, it means: To lay something down and push it far away beyond your reach. If you are on a diet and someone hands you cake, you set it down and push it far away from you so you cannot reach it. Paul is telling us, as well as the Colossians, to set down these unholy attitudes and sin and push them far away to be out of our reach. He is also telling us to put on the new self! We have a brand new identity in Christ! And we are called to put on Christ so that our lives now look like His. When people see us, they are to see Christ in us. What do you need to 'put off?' "but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:15–16, ESV)
All New Testament writers write words of exhortation for their disciples/followers to put off every sin and attitude that is not Christ-like. It is only fitting that we seek to become like our Lord, holy. "Be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy." (Lev 19:2; 20:7). That we be holy is important to God and has been from the Garden of Eden. As he leads his followers, Peter gives them the same exhortation, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." Again, the message has to be in the messenger. His life must reflect the Kingdom in all that he says and does. His lifestyle must confirm the message that He carries on his inside. Paul also said this: "Don't you know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit?" If the Spirit in you is holy, then the temple must also be holy. You cannot get fresh water out of salty springs. As ambassadors of Jesus Christ, we are vessels, with living water flowing out of us, refreshing a dying world. We cannot let our lives 'muddy up' the water. We must be clean vessels of His glory. Our lives must match our message! "He who called you is holy. Therefore we, too, must be holy." "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." (John 17:17, ESV)
Thank you, Jesus, for this beautiful prayer! Sanctify them in truth. Jesus is praying for the very ones He is about to entrust with the Kingdom of God. This small group had just been with Him a short time, but they were about to receive the full responsibility of leading and expanding the Kingdom. His prayer is sanctify them. Clean them up. Cause them to be holy. Set them apart for Your specific purposes. Let nothing unclean come out of them. Jesus is asking that all of us who believe would be sanctified. Jesus desires that we would be set apart, unto God, as holy vessels, clean and prepared for every good work. Jesus knows that if God does not deal with the iniquity/sin in us that we will jeopardize the mission. Everything that hinders love must go! The Word of God sanctifies us, and this is His prayer. Sanctify them in truth. God's Word is truth. Jesus is the Word, and Jesus is also the Truth. A man filled with the Word of God is filled with truth. David said, "Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you." The message that will be preached requires a man whose life has become the message. To these, Jesus can entrust the Kingdom of God. To these, Jesus can release revival. This type of person can carry the Kingdom of God to the world! "And it shall be said, "Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people's way." For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite." (Isaiah 57:14–15, ESV)
We live in a time when God is moving on the body of Christ, removing everything that hinders love. Revival is an outpouring expression of God's presence. Love is a key characteristic of God expressing himself. Anything that gets in the way of love has to go. History shows that most revivals came to a close because carnal qualities overtook the hearts of those stewarding revival. Therefore, we must let the Holy Spirit get into the inner recesses of our hearts where the seeds of iniquity have been planted. In Psalm 51, David declares he was conceived in iniquity. That has to be removed from us. Isaiah shouts to us, "Remove every obstruction, for God desires to dwell in the one whose heart is lowly and contrite." The powerful declaration in our scripture is God saying, "I will revive! I will revive the spirit of the contrite, and I will revive the spirit of the lowly!" Heaven cannot stress enough how important it is to allow these dormant seeds of iniquity to be plucked up before they germinate in our hearts! "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:23, ESV)
As Paul nears the end of his letter to the Thessalonians, he prays that the God of peace himself would sanctify them completely. My experience in life has been that every time God sanctifies an area of my life, I enter a new place of peace. It makes sense that Paul would pray that the God of peace would do this work in them. If the God of peace is working on you—spirit, soul, and body, then a huge portion of that sanctifying work should be peace as you are conformed to Christ. What does it mean to be sanctified completely? The word sanctify comes from the Greek word 'hagios,' to make holy, consecrate, and set apart. Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians is that they would be made holy—spirit, mind, and body. He is calling for an agreement in the total person toward holiness. This sanctification of the believer would leave him in an incredible place of peace and keep him blameless at the coming of the Lord. Sanctification should be the goal and desire of every believer; to be more like Him. It is what John refers to, in 1 John 3:3, as the believer who purifies himself because he believes in the return of Christ. Sanctify us, O Lord! |
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