Download Sermon Isaiah 30.15-25a Hebrews 4.1

Sermon
Isaiah 30.15-25a
Hebrews 4.1-11
‘Entering into God’s rest’
Introduction
I and many others have used the metaphor of journeying to describe faith. Pilgrim’s Progress is
probably the best well known book, and hymns down the years have spoken of our pilgrimage or
sojourn of faith. Faith is described as a process: we grow in faith as disciples or learners so there is
progression and maturing in the faith as we learn to trust God in various stages and challenges of
life.
Yet there is another metaphor throughout the Scriptures which describes faith. It is rest! Faith is not
always striving seeking and working out our salvation. It is also resting in what God has already done
for us. It is a condition in which we participate in the presence of God now and in the future. Rest
like peace and wholeness, it is used as a synonym for salvation. So in our reading from the prophet
Isaiah today we read, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your
strength.’
We of the Protestant churches have a healthy and good work ethic. Have any of you heard a sermon
on rest? I haven’t. Although we believe we are saved by faith, we do believe that we are to show our
faith by our actions. Protestants have done much for the poor and needy through different charities
and societies. I’m not in any way decrying or wanting to diminish the importance of service of others
and showing God’s love. I am simply offering a different biblical metaphor that helps give a balance
to our lives as God’s loved people.
Text:
Isaiah 30
The motif of rest starts back in Genesis 2.2. When God finished creating the galaxies, stars and
planets, the world and all the creatures in it, he stepped back and admired it and said it was very
good. And then God rested from all the work that he had done. If God, who we read elsewhere
neither sleeps nor slumbers, and who is always watching over, sustaining and re-creating this world,
stopped to have a rest, how much more do we need rest built in to our lives to be healthy and
whole. There is a time for activity and productivity and there is also a time for pausing from our
striving and serving to relax in God’s grace and mercy, knowing we are loved and accepted as his
precious people.
God’s people of old, the Israelites, were invited to enter God’s rest – the promised land was
described as rest, that God gave them. In the promised land they found rest from their wandering in
the wilderness for 40 years. And then they were to show justice and kindness in their sharing and
caring for the land. Provide for the poor leaving grain at the side of the land to harvest. Story of Ruth
is an example, where she gleaned from the side of a field. The Israelites were to show justice in their
dealings and mercy through jubilee years, returning land to those who lost it through debt.
However about 700 years before Jesus was born the Israelites were in difficulty. The nations to the
north, Assyria were gathering armies to invade them. They were very strong. So Israel decided to
make alliances with their old enemy Egypt to increase their power to resist. But Isaiah declares that
disaster will follow, because in their partnership they started to follow the Egyptians ways rather
than God’s. The Egyptians worshiped false Gods. They offered human sacrifices to these Gods. They
were unjust and deceitful. The Prophet Isaiah gives God’s invitation instead to return to God and to
trust God to protect them. Bu they panic and flee, but their pursuers will be faster and they will face
defeat and disaster.
Yet even then Isaiah brings hope that afterward the Lord will bring healing. Those who suffer
adversity are encouraged to remain faithful to God will grow and learn through their hardship, and
have the promise of restored prosperity. Again the prophet urges them instead of putting their trust
in men, their enemies, the prophet urges them to put their trust in God. To wait for God to act.
Because God is stronger than human rulers and he is good and just and will bring peace and fairness.
Instead of striving they can rest in God with the knowledge that God loves them and has promised to
care for them, and that God is merciful as well as just. God will give them a glorious future. The Lord
will come to save them. There is an enigmatic mention of a ‘teacher’ who at the end times will bring
healing and salvation. They do not need to do anything, but return to God and let God rescue them
and bring them healing. And God through the prophet Isaiah promises salvation, that he will restore
the fruitfulness of their land. It is a gift from God, not one that they have to earn or work toward.
They will find tranquillity and the riches of agriculture and animal care. God will provide rain and
sunshine and they will provide the labour to run their farms.
Hebrews 4
But we read in Hebrews that God’s offer of rest was not accepted by the Israelites because of their
disobedience. We are heirs of God’s salvation. Romans chapter 11speaks of how the Israelites were
broken off yet would be restored. It describes Gentile believers as those who are grafted into the
root of Jesse, David’s family. Hebrews says since the Israelites were unable to enter God’s rest
because of their unbelief, God’s rest remains open to those who will put their trust in him. ‘The
Sabbath rest still remains for the people if God; we are to cease from our labours as God did from
his.’
I think this means that we are to receive the gift of salvation that God has achieved through Christ;
we do not have to work to obtain our salvation, but give thanks for all Christ has done on our behalf.
What is that rest? To find peace and God’s presence with us, forgiveness and mercy; God’s grace to
remove our guilt and give us freedom to follow him and serve him all our days. That is why the
writer to the Hebrews says, ‘Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one
may fall through such disobedience as the Israelites of old.’ They trusted in Egyptians instead of God.
We need to trust that God through Christ will give us security – not wealth and property and social
position. Christ Jesus alone has obtained salvation, nothing and no one else has done that; and we
may have eternal life if we simply trust him.
It is true that we can look around the world and still see disease, decay, disasters and death. But we
need to trust that Jesus has overcome the powers of evil and death and is now working to reverse
these powers, and one day will renew and restore the entire earth and give us new life.
On the one hand this rest is a present reality – God’s presence is with us always through the Spirit;
giving peace and strength; on the other it is a future reality when there will be no more suffering or
pain, no more death, crying or mourning; all the former things will be gone and God will be all in all.
We can look forward to the rest of God’s presence in eternity.
Conclusion
No I am not saying that, now that you have got up early to come to church that you can now go back
to bed! No ‘rest’ is not physically lying down but spiritually trusting in God. So as well as the image of
pilgrimage to describe faith, we have a striking image of rest in the presentation of the Christian life.
Salvation includes both movement and rest; journeying with God, and trusting in God and resting in
his salvation. Let us find rest for our souls as we enjoy what God has done for us and give thanks and
celebrate at the feast of remembrance in the Lord’s Supper. AMEN.