THERE was an investment firm that ran an advertising campaign many years ago with a tag line that went, “I did it the old fashion way, I earned it.” That idea of hard work and perseverance in achievement is lost in many a way in our current culture that likes quick fixes and easy answers. I mentioned in my comments last time how this current topic of Reckoning often takes time to both understand and appreciate; at least it did for me. In learning lessons from the garden I’ve noticed that success in the end comes from proper preparation in the beginning; that the ground, if not properly made ready will not accept, propagate, or produce healthy growth from seed or tender young plant. That’s why time is part and parcel to preparation, proper understanding and growth. To repeat, diligence and perseverance – Phil. 4: 10-15.
OUR hard work and perseverance here however, differs in how most would understand it. It is a labor of faith rest (Heb. 4:11). Our author provides an excellent summary as we near the end of our study, pointing us again to a “paradoxical” key to understanding our Christian walk, “laboring in rest.” I recall a faithful teacher referring to this as the doctrine of the “Faith Rest Life.” And indeed it is. So with that, let’s get to this important reading.
ONE more point before we commence. The excerpt below from our chapter reading is a little longer than normal. But it is important that this amount be read in context.
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas. 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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Chapter 52 — The Rest of Reckoning
“Leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection [full growth]” (Heb. 6:1, ASV). As hungry and growing believers, we press on—but we do not press to “produce.” The Holy Spirit instills within our being a determination that will not be denied, a hunger that must be satisfied. Our pressing on to His very best is fostered by the fact that we will never be satisfied in ourselves, but we will always be satisfied in Him. We are ever being drawn forward because of our realized need for freedom and growth. “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13, 14).
Thank God for our needs! They are the primary impetus toward His abundant life. Remember the wretchedness, agony, and frustration we knew, with very little hope or assurance that things would ever improve? We were overwhelmed by problems, and not yet aware of His answer to them. But we continued on in desperation, for deep within our spirit there was the constant yearning for freedom from struggle, and rest in His life. Our striving ebbed and flowed, but there was never a moment of rest. During our enslavement by sin and self, the faithful indwelling Spirit did not let us give up.
When the Holy Spirit has brought us into the depths of Romans Seven, we have learned enough about self to acknowledge that it brings forth nothing but death (Rom. 7:24). Then it is that the Spirit centers our attention anew upon the Lord Jesus, and we realize that He, not our futile struggling, has provided freedom from our bondage. “Who shall deliver me … ? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:24, 25)! Thus, when our reliance is wrenched from self and every other broken reed, the Spirit has us prepared to rest upon the written Word and in the Living Word. By means of the identification truths, the Spirit shows us the finished work of the cross and our life in Christ, and we begin to reckon.
What a difference our new reliance upon the truth makes! We press on with more determination than ever, and with an even greater hunger for His best. But now, the wonderful contrast is that in the midst of our pressing on, there is rest; the struggle is gone. We have entered into His rest because we know the facts; we know our position of freedom through the cross, and life abundant in our risen Lord. Now we have the assurance that, as we reckon upon the truths, the Holy Spirit will cause us to grow in them daily. There is rest in the midst of growth.
The Word presents an interesting paradox concerning this rest. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest” (Heb. 4:9–11). It is certain that there is no rest of faith as long as we struggle to “produce.” And the hungry heart will not cease its striving until the truth of the finished work is seen and counted upon. This is the principle of rest, by which we were born in Him, and by which we grow in Him. …to be continued.
