The ‘Rest’ of the Story

Who remembers the famous line from Paul Harvey’s broadcasts, “And now you know the rest of the story”? If you don’t know who Paul Harvey was, I feel for you. He always used this phrase to conclude the backstory or hidden and forgotten truths about people or events. He was a master at building tension, leading up to the final target of the incredible stories he told. While I am no Paul Harvey, today I want to tell you about the ‘Rest’ of our story.

Our story is the greatest story ever told. It is the story of Jesus, the Son of God. He was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life. He was the Word made flesh, and He was not only the Son of God, but God Himself. Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross for all those who would believe and accept Him as their Savior.

What he did, He did for us. He was our substitute in life, death, and punishment so that we could be free. As Solomon said, life is in the blood, so His blood has given us a new eternal life in Him. We couldn’t live a sinless life or fulfill the law on our own. We had no way to be in right standing with the Father, so He came to be the Way for us. Now we who have believed on Him and received Him as our Savior have become the righteousness of God in Christ!

Just like in one of Paul Harvey’s stories, in our busy day-to-day Christian lives, it’s easy to forget this important truth: we are called to enter God’s rest. Jesus, the One we have received, lived the life we couldn’t live on our own. His intent here was for us to accept what He has already done, cease from our own attempt at righteousness, and rest in His work—the finished work of the cross.

I want to encourage you to stop striving to be better. Gosh, that sounds like something a pastor shouldn’t say, doesn’t it? What I am trying to say is this: The harder we try to be better, the more we mess it up. That’s what trying to keep the law leads to: failure, missing the mark, aka, sin.

The only way we can be righteous is in Him. There is nothing we can do to gain His approval other than accept Jesus. That’s really it. Yes, we should strive to walk in Him. Yes, we should be disciplined in study, prayer, worship, gathering, and all things God. But just know that none of those things make you any more accepted, forgiven, or eternally alive in Him. You do not have to work to gain God’s approval!

You’re probably thinking: So, if we need to do those things you just mentioned, Pastor, then what exactly is the ‘Rest’ you are talking about? Because those things don’t sound like rest to me… Great question!

The rest in our story comes from the grace we have received in Christ. You see, the Greek word for grace means God’s free gift of favor. It is the revelation of God’s inherent nature to give Himself to mankind, and that is exactly what He has done in Christ. He has taken up residence in us. He said it this way: “I will write my laws upon their hearts.” This means that the Him in us is to carry them out. In other words, He is the hope (absolute assurance) of His glory within us.

Yes! He lives in us and is working out the process of our redemption as we engage with Him. This engage, what does it mean? It means having a relationship with Him. Talking, sharing, listening, reading, meditating, worshiping, you know, living our lives in Him. We make time for the people and things that are important to us. Somehow, we often mistakenly think that performing so-called ‘righteous’ or ‘religious’ acts is the important thing. They are nothing more than a roadblock to our rest.

Jesus invited us to take His yoke upon us. The yoke was a heavy wooden beam that was placed across the necks of two oxen to pull a plow. They would typically yoke an older, strong, seasoned ox with a young one. The young ox would tend to fight the yoke, but just like the story of The Bell on Old Blue by Red Steagall, the old ox would drag the young ‘n 10 mile! It would be at this point that the young ox would surrender and follow the old ox’s lead.

Our stubbornness to continue doing life our way shows up even in our Christian walk. Our attempts to be righteous are no different than the young ox fighting the yoke. Jesus invites us to trust Him and lean into the yoke, because when we do, we find that it is easy and light. We find that He is carrying the load and pulling the plow for us. All we have to do is walk beside Him. In doing so, we begin to understand that He is King, and because of that, everything is as it should be: all is well. That, my friends, is true rest.

I think the Message bible says it best:

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matt 11:28-30

And now you know the ‘Rest’ of the story.

In the passionate pursuit of His Kingdom,

Pastor Jason

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