TIMES OF REFRESHING - A Biblical look at Entering God's Rest

Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

The times of refreshing points to an experience that comes from God. The Greek word anapsuxeos means a cooling or a refreshing. It means rest.

Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Yet God is calling. He wants us to lay our anxieties, cares and burdens on Him.
 
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Is your picture of God's heart towards us one of constant care and love? Or are you like a little band of disciples in a boat on the Sea of Galilee?

Mark 4:37 And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. 38 Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" 39 And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.  


If we understand that God is over every circumstance in our lives then we must know His heart is good toward us in order to interpret our circumstances rightly. We all have faith of one kind or another but the disciples had no faith in God's care for them or Jesus’ power. They had faith in the things they knew about - wind, waves and boats.

Isaiah 32:1  
Behold, a king will reign righteously  
And princes will rule justly. 
2 Each will be like a refuge from the wind
And a shelter from the storm,
Like streams of water in a dry country,
Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.
 
Jesus' knowledge of wind, waves and boats did not cause him anxiety. He was in the place of refreshment in the middle of what drove others to great fear. Jesus was able to sleep in the midst of the storm because He knew who God was and he knew who he was. This was because he knew what Isaiah foresaw. He was the king who rules in righteousness He was the man who was the hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. He himself is the river of water in the dry place he is the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

We too can enter into this great place of refreshment and rest but first we must be convinced that it is for us.
 
HINDRANCES TO FIND REST AND REFRESHMENT
 
Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS"; 5 and again in this passage, "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST." 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

There are many things that keep people from entering into the rest of God. Two are found in this passage. These impact today as much as they did those to whom the letter to the Hebrews was written. These two hindrances are

1. Unbelief
2. Disobedience.

The Israelites failed to obey because they did not believe. The two go together like a hand and a glove. One without the other is not real. If the Israelites had truly believed that God was with them and would bring them into rest no matter what they saw they would have obeyed when God spoke.

THE CARES AND CRAVINGS OF THE WORLD
 
A third hindrance to rest is the cares and cravings of the world.
 
Mark 4:18 "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

WRONG PRIORITIES
 
Many times we fail to come into the refreshment God has for us because our priorities are not right.
 
Luke 10:38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

WOUNDS OF OTHERS

This particular hindrance is one of the hardest to deal with since the internal heart of a person has been damaged concerning the image of God. We who are more whole must make it one of our goals to help along those who are wounded.

Luke 10:33 "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 "On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.' 36 "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?" 37 And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."

A LACK OF PRAYER - A LACK OF THANKSGIVING
 
Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

ENTERING INTO GOD'S REST

Hebrews 4:9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

TAKE A DAY OF REST
 
Exodus 23:12 "Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.

ENTER INTO GOD'S PRESENCE
 
Exodus 33:14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

LOOK TO GOD TO REFRESH YOU IN TIMES OF STRUGGLE

Jeremiah 31:25 "For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes."

WAITING ON GOD - A SHORT COURSE ON FLYING
 
Isaiah 40:30
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
31 Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

For those who learn to wait on God three things shall happen - they will fly, they will run and they will walk, with refreshment in all of them.

FASTING
 
Isaiah 58:6
"Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?
7 "Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 "Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 "Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am '

REFRESH OTHERS
 
Proverbs 11:25
A generous man will prosper;
he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

BE A FAITHFUL MESSENGER OF THE GOOD NEWS

Proverbs 25:13
Like the coolness of snow at harvest time
is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him;
he refreshes the spirit of his masters.

PRAYING FOR OTHERS

Romans 15:30 I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31 Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, 32 so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.

LETTING OTHERS BE USED OF GOD IN OUR LIVES
 
I Corinthians 16:17 I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. 18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.

II Corinthians 7:13 By all this we are encouraged. In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.

II Timothy 1:16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.

Philemon 1:7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

God and Man at table are set down – Open Door Christian Fellowship’s Men’s Meeting - Saturday May 8, 2010

Communion and the Body of Christ

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:26-28 

Symbol, Substance and Covenant 

The Orthodox/Catholics believe that Jesus is physically present in the bread and wine. They take the words of Jesus literally. They believe they are eating the actual flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood.
The Protestants usually either believe that there is a spiritual "real presence" or the bread and wine are only symbolic.

Jesus is with us in communion.

I believe any understanding of communion based only on what is seen can miss a critical point. Jesus intended this act to be covenantal.

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-33

God calls us in the act of communion to a covenant relationship with Him.

Everyone who first partook of this meal knew exactly what it was for.

They knew it from the communion offering of Israel.

It was a covenant meal in which God, the priest and those who brought the offering ate together.

In doing so they were committed to a covenant of protection, provision and presence.

The Semitic world understood this.

Even today among the Bedouins if you are invited to eat with them they consider it to be an act of covenant.

There are other examples of God calling humans into covenant through a shared meal.

Abraham ate with God and two angels. The end result was the covenant promise of God of a child was fulfilled.

The Passover was a covenant meal that God attended. In doing so His divine protection came to the house.

Jesus made a covenant with his disciples in the Last Supper with them.

This covenant is the New Covenant Jeremiah spoke of.

Jesus himself attends this covenant meal every time it is shared with his disciples.

He is the one who calls us to the table.

He is the one who offers His Body and Blood to us as the tokens of the promise he made to us.

We have so lost the concept of keeping promises that the solemnity of entering into a covenant is almost foreign.

Perhaps the promises made in the marriage vows are the only picture we have left but even this is fading in our culture.

Blood covenants were the strongest of all.

This is the covenant Jesus makes with his people every time they sit down at table with him.

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

The emphasis on the bread and wine is important but the true focus of communion is that it is Jesus restating his covenant commitment to us each time we partake of them.

The next aspect of communion we need to let go deep into our hearts is that it is more than a physical, spiritual or symbolic presence in the bread and wine that makes it what it is.

Communion is the story of Jesus remembered every time we share it.

We remember him not just from long ago, but today, in his body and what his body is doing today and what we as part of that body are to be doing today.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 1 Corinthians 10:16

This story tells us because of his giving his body and shedding his blood we belong to Him.

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Revelation 5:9 

This story tells us that we belong to each other.

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. 1 Corinthians 12:27

It is for this reason that I believe we should stay with the biblical description of one loaf of bread and one cup of wine. The body is one. The blood is one. We all share it.

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12

It gives us the opportunity to see if we are getting the message.

But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 1 Corinthians 11:28 

Are we being broken for him and each other? Or are we breaking the Body of Jesus for ourselves?

The way we treat the least in Jesus' body is the way we treat Him.

" The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Matthew 25:40

We might say, "But they deserve it!" We are told to even love our enemies, how much more those we are genetically connected to. But here before us is the picture – we either let ourselves be broken or we will break others.

" Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." Luke 20:18

The way we treat our spouses, our employees, our children and our fellow believers is the way we treat Jesus. The way we treat our servants – those who serve us for no reward – is the way we treat Jesus. And this is the deep meaning of communion.

At the cross who stood with him when nothing was to be gained? His mother, A few women and John.

The women with Joseph of Arimethia and Nicodemus took his body - offered once again to us here – off the cross and buried it.

They cared for his body though they had nothing to gain and much to loose for doing so.

They disappeared again when the "important ones" who were not there to care for his body showed up again. But they did not disappear from God's heart.

We are to treasure his body both in memory and in his people today.

Before us we have the Life giving essence of Jesus.

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. John 6:53

What a beautiful reality is found in the story that is here. We bring our common life – the very natural elements of food and drink and he by his presence transforms them into life giving substance.

The story finally tells us we must suffer with him. His life comes through what we do here to strengthen us in our shared suffering.

At this table Jesus not only calls us to receive his life. He calls us to give ours to him. This is what a covenant means. It is two people giving their lives without reserve to each other.

He gave his life for us.
We give our lives for him.

He gave his life for our brothers and sisters.
We give our lives for our brothers and sisters.

He gave his life for the world.
We give our lives for the world.

In taking this bread we declare that we are willing to be broken for his body.

In taking this cup we declare that we are willing to have our blood poured out for him, for our brothers and sisters and for the world.

A song written by my chaplin at Oral Roberts University - Bob Stamps

O, welcome all ye noble saints of old,
As now before your very eyes unfold
The wonders all so long ago foretold,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Elders, martyrs, all are falling down,
Prophets, patriarchs are gathering 'round
What angels longed to see now man has found,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Who is this who spreads the victory feast?
Who is this who makes our warring cease?
Jesus, risen savior, prince of peace,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Beggars, lame, and harlots also here,
Repentant publicans are drawing near,
Wayward sons come home without a fear,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down