Most of us can agree today that peace is a sought-after commodity. Everyone is looking for it, yet surprisingly few actually have it. There are many methods by which we can attempt to get more peace: aroma therapy, music, even neuroscience – none of which are bad – but they all lack one thing… a solid foundation on Jesus Christ whom the Bible calls the Prince of Peace.
Today we will be studying the true rest and peace which God can bring. The same rest which caused Paul and Silas to rejoice and sing praises even in the lowest dungeon of prison, and the same peace and rest which can lead you out of your troubles today.
The scriptures speak rather often about the rest of God, but all of it centers around… you guessed it, Jesus. There is a really good reason for this fact: and that is without Jesus as your foundation you will never have true peace; because true peace can only come when you know that you have a right relationship with God, and that He loves you and is taking care of you. Yet if you have a doubt in your heart about your standing with God, and you still have some fear about your future, then peace will always be temporary and elusive.
So from this perspective we can see that all fear and lack of peace is ultimately caused by an unbelief or a wrong belief in God. Let’s take a look at Hebrews 3:12-19:
“Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end;
While it is said, To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke: however, not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
There is a very interesting point to note here in verse 12: the Bible links unbelief to an evil heart. This is a key to understanding these verses: If your heart is focused on things other than Jesus and His Words of life, your peace will not come. And there are a lot of people today trying to attain peace from everything else except Jesus.
I have talked to people who look to drugs as the source of their peace, others think that sex is the answer, which is why pornography is a huge business today. Some people (especially younger adults) think that marriage will solve all of their problems… if they could just find their “perfect match”, and many of these end in a bitter divorce.
The reason for this my friends, is that all of these other things cannot fill that one void in our lives that can only be filled by Jesus Christ alone. We sing that song which speaks of Christ being everything that we need, and then go in search of anything else to fill the holes in our spirit that only He can fill.
So how do we keep our heart from turning away from Christ? The answer is in the next verse, 13, which says that we should “exhort each other daily”. Now this word exhort is a very meaningful word in the original Greek language, which means “to call near, to invite, to cheer, to bless and to pray”. That’s an interesting combination of words there. It is a description of what Christ wants everyone to do with Him. To draw near to Him, to invite Him in, to cheer ourselves in Him, to allow Him to bless us, and to pray (commune) with Him. Look at verse 14… We are partakers of Christ. Now the word used here for partake has a root meaning which you might expect… to eat. And if you are on a normal healthy diet, then you probably eat multiple times per day, so the lesson here is the same. Partake of Christ Jesus multiple times per day as well. The beautiful thing about Jesus is that you can partake of Him constantly and your spirit will get fat (which is good) and your body will get healthy as His rest and peace fills you!
Matthew 11:28-30 contains the following words of Jesus:
“Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke on you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus invites us here to come to Him. We are not required to clean ourselves or to get anything in order before we come to Him, we just come as we are, openly and honestly. It is Jesus Himself who cleanses us. It is Jesus Himself who takes away our burdens and spirit of heaviness and replaces it with the Spirit of peace and lightness.
The phrase in verse 29 “take my yoke upon you” is often misused to preach a message of suffering, pain and hardship, but Jesus knew the lingo of the day. If you’ve ever seen a yoke, it is attached to two separate goats, one older, stronger and more experienced; while the younger goat is still learning the skill.
Jesus is saying here, take my yoke and learn from me, meaning that He is the stronger and more experienced one who is pulling the weight, while our task is to learn from Him and watch how He does it! What a Savior! What a God! This is our LORD Jesus!
My friends, we don’t have the ability to pull the cart by ourselves, and the other methods of getting peace and rest are only poor substitutes with no real foundation. Come to Jesus, and let Him give you real rest and peace for your complete being. Let Him fill every hole in you today, not some other thing which will only let you down. Stop looking to other sources and look to the One and only Source which always keeps His promises!