Shared round the table at Padstow Heights Christian Assembly, Sunday 16 Aug 2009

By David Hayman.

We all know what it is to be,

The answer to weariness is,

Extra ordinary weariness in the body can be endured joyfully, if in the spirit we are being refreshed! But weariness in the 'spirit' is what wears people down to a standstill. What we need is to be continually refreshed in our spirit.

This is God's desire to bless us with in our spirit. This rest is known in the word as God's "holy sabbath" (Nehemiah 9:14-And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath). The Lord is wanting to make it known to us. And he will continue to reveal it to us as we grow in him.

God's sabbath is in fact a thing not a physical thing. It's not a particular day of the week on which we do no work. It's a spiritual rest where we trust in Christ and find great refreshment! (read Exodus 31:17) In the old testament it was made part of the law. But as we know, what we see in the old testament is an outward display of truths that we now should experience 'inwardly' (spiritually) in the New testament. (And without controversy, it is clear that in Christ we are not under the law, as it says in Romans 6:14 "Ye are not under the law, but under grace" and in Galatians 5:2 "If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing")

What has this got to do with the Lord's table? Everything! The Bible says in 1 Thes 5:9-10 that for this reason Christ died for us that we should live together with him. Learning to rest in Christ is fundamental to this 'living with him' and it is the very reason that he died for us. We may be saved, we know the Lord, but in what measure do we live with him?

As we come round the table this morning, this rest that God has for us in Christ is one of the things that we can for, from the bottom of our heart. Through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ we are able to enter into his rest, which is in Christ. May we know in a wonderful way these times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19).

Jesus Loves You

The Best.