Rest Don’t Strive – Sunday Service
True spiritual power, purpose, and peace are unlocked when believers move beyond religious striving and grinding and instead embrace resting in the finished works of Jesus Christ. This shift is central to deliverance and profound life change. The teaching series “Rest Don’t Strive” contrasts the futile effort of trying to earn God’s favor (the Law mindset) with the effortless fruit-bearing that results from spiritual union with Christ (Grace).
The enemy’s core strategy is rooted in the mindset of performance and obligation. However, God calls believers to enter His rest, recognizing that every essential aspect of their salvation and blessing is already finished, completed, and done.
1. The Power of Union: Fruit Without Effort
The key to escaping the performance trap is understanding the seamless, mutual union between the believer and Christ.
The Vine and the Branches Analogy
Jesus described this vital connection by stating, “I am the vine, you are the branches”. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, believers cannot produce genuine spiritual fruit without abiding in the vine. The branch does not sweat to produce the apple; the vine gifts the branch with the fruit.
- The Source: Jesus is the source of all spiritual life and fruit. Any faith that does not draw from Jesus as its source is a “fairy tale”.
- Effortless Display: When a believer understands this mutual union, fruit-bearing becomes “as natural as it is inevitable”.
- The Problem: Many in the church are branches “trying to sweat to produce something they don’t have the ability to produce”. This grinding and striving is often likened to the work of sinners attempting to achieve what can only happen through connection to the source.
Union Over Principles
Genuine spiritual flow comes from daily intimacy and union with Christ, not from following principles or performing religious duties. A relationship with principles is often easier but allows the individual to maintain control or take credit for blessings. True power comes from yielding to the Holy Spirit and following Him, understanding that God does not work for the believer.
2. The Finished Work: Victory is the Starting Line
The foundation for resting is the realization that when Jesus was on the cross, He declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30). This declaration signifies that the entire work of redemption is complete.
What is Finished?
The word “finished” means that nothing can be added to it. Key aspects that were completed once and for all include:
- Redemption.
- Reconciliation.
- Justification and Righteousness.
- The Blessing (Completed forever).
- Sanctification and Wholeness.
- Perfection in Christ.
The Seated Position of Rest
The completion of Jesus’s work is physically symbolized by His position in Heaven. Unlike the Old Testament priests who could never sit down because the sacrificial work was never finished, Jesus offered one sacrifice forever and sat down on the right hand of God. Sitting down represents that the work is completely done, signifying rest. The call to believers is to enter this rest, not to strive.
Righteousness: A Gift, Not a Goal
The righteousness we possess is a gift, not a goal to be achieved. Striving to achieve righteousness is attempting to finish what is already done. The only qualification for accessing this finished work is to believe. Trying to earn these finished blessings by following the law subjects the individual to judgment by the law, as the law is the strength of sin.
3. The Labor to Rest: Daily Alignment
Entering into this rest is not defined by inactivity (like taking a vacation). Instead, the Bible instructs believers to “labor therefore to enter into that rest”. This means engaging in a diligent, daily effort to maintain alignment in your mindset with what Jesus has finished.
Rest is Alignment
Rest means being in alignment with what Jesus has already done. If a satellite dish is knocked offline, the signal (God’s finished work) is still flowing, but you cannot receive it until the dish is realigned. This daily labor to rest ensures that regardless of emotions or behavior, the believer remains lined up with the reality of their finished identity.
Tools for Maintaining Alignment
The disciplined effort to stay in rest includes activities that keep the heart established in grace:
- Prayer: Prayer is the position of alignment. It is not begging God to do what is finished, but praising and thanking Him, asking for help to stay in alignment with what is done.
- Meditation in the Word: Reminding oneself of what is already completed and staying in line with finished work.
- Community and Fellowship: Being around people who also believe they are the righteousness of God helps maintain alignment and rest.
- Praise and Worship: These actions help deal with doubt and unbelief, assisting the believer to stay in alignment with what is finished.
- Spiritual Discipline: Choosing to cast down attacks, resisting the devil, and focusing on one’s identity (“I am righteous, I am forgiven, I am complete”).
The result of this effort is a life where God rearranges the individual’s “insides,” leading to transformative change.