During the time recently when I was going through the book of Hebrews a number of times, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who happened to be reading Hebrews too. He shared a thought that has stuck with me since. It was about the “Sabbath rest” in chapters 3 and 4.
He remarked that though we can taste of that rest in this age because of the work of the cross and the Spirit, the full expression of the Sabbath rest will be the millennial age that is to come after Jesus takes over leadership of the earth. But he went on to add that as he thought about Jesus’ life on earth, it struck him that Jesus lived the millennial lifestyle. In other words, He lived in perfect rest, doing only what He saw His Father do and saying what He heard His Father say. He didn’t try to make anything happen but lived in simple obedience and dependence on His Father by the Spirit. Jesus didn’t start any organized ministry nor try to capitalize on any “successes” He experienced in His life and walk with His Father.
I have come back to this thought over and over, and once again have realized how much we followers of Jesus have been influenced by the world, the flesh, and the devil in our measurement of what Kingdom fruitfulness looks like. We are prone towards building organized ministries around our spiritual successes or needs that we see.
As a result of this conversation with my friend some weeks ago, I have been asking myself the question: “What does living the millennial (Sabbath rest) lifestyle look like for me in this season of my life?” That question helps strengthen me to hold steady under the pressure to think that I have to make something happen in order to be fruitful in this age.
May the Spirit of Sabbath rest breathe on us as His people until all that we do and say is that which we see the Father do and say, and therein bear much lasting fruit. (The Song of Songs describes this lifestyle as that of "one leaning on her Beloved.") God bless you this week in Christ Jesus!
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