The Spiritual Rest in Christ Jesus!

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

Jesus Christ urges us to come into Him and rest in Him, due to the fact that world and religion burden us. This is because Christianity is “faith-orientated” that is not like any religion (Ephesians 2:8-10). Christians also worship only one true God (Exodus 20:3-7), who leads us to have eternal life as Jesus proclaims, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7) In addition to these, John 3:16-18 and John 11:25-26 declare that we must believe in Jesus Christ until the end of the age, to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. However, we must not believe in Him, just for the qualification of the eternal kingdom but we ought to believe in Him out of our love (Mark 12:30) To be more specific, we must work out our faith for Jesus Christ to love Him with our souls, hearts, minds and strength as love is the last stage of faith (2 Peter 1:5-7). At that point, we should believe in Him until the end of the age. Furthermore, due to the fact that we believe in Him so much, we should do good works (Ephesians 2:10) and serve Him (Colossians 3:23-24) all day long (Galatians 6:7-10). The main reason for this is that faith goes together with works. Otherwise, they are considered to be dead (James 2:14-26), and if we have religious momentum until the end of the age, Jesus probably is going to call us ‘evildoers’ as what Matthew 7:22-23 states. Thus, overall, we have to come into Jesus and rest in Him through faith first and then we should worship Him (John 4:23-24) by serving Him until the end of the age.

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. (Titus 3:3-8)

Therefore, we should deny our sinful nature, such as our worldly desires and passions and completely rest and meditate in the Spirit of God to test and approve what the will of God is (Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 5:24-25) This is because we are supposed to live not for ourselves and world but for God and His kingdom (Romans 6:23), due to the fact that He created us to be images of Him (Genesis 1:27). “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) In addition, Jesus Christ declares, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.” (Matthew 16:24-27)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,  because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:1-13)