Finding Rest in the Stress

Easy Lessons

I have found that it is much better when I learn from your mistakes than when I learn from my own.

Thank you very much.

And, of course, I am doing my part for you.

One of my last roommates before Sara and I got married was an accountant. On his way to the CPA exam.

He tells me figuring my own income taxes is easy. He shows me how in an old booklet.

Sara and I are just married. She’s got a good job. I’m a seminary student. We bought our first house. All of these things affect our taxes.

We lived on her salary. Mine paid for school. Debt free.

Married, filing jointly, Education expenses, Mortgage interest deduction, charitable contributions. Got it.

Adjusted Gross. Taxable net.

Look it up in the right section, find the amount of tax owed, subtract what was taken out of our paychecks. Write the check, sign the docs, mail it off.

It was really simple. Much more simple than it is now. As a pastor I get a lot tax advantages. It’s a pretty complex deal. But then, not much to it.

One day, shortly after I had masterfully filed our income taxes, I go out to the mailbox and there is a envelope from the IRS.

It’s a check for $4,000. Apparently, I underestimated the amount of refund we were supposed to get. I have no idea how I messed that up.

Simple, right?

As we thought about that, Sara was quick to point out it could have been an error in the other direction. We could have owed that money. And, there was no way we’d come up w/ that amount.

So, I learned. Never again. I have never done our taxes since. I have a good accountant that we kept who is in Texas. I collect everything, add, subtract, send them the amounts and they put them on the right lines and tell me how much I owe.

I learned. I hope you can learn from my mistake, too.

A friend told me once you cannot pay too much for a good accountant, good lawyer, and a good doctor.

Reminds me of a quote our SIL reposts w/ some regularity.

She’s a family practice doc in Tucson.

“Please don’t confuse your Google search w/ my medical degree.”

There are too many costly mistakes we can make when we try to do what others went to school for years to learn how to do.

When the Rough Riders go out, or when you go out on your own into the forest, make sure your gas tank and your tires are full.

Please learn from my mistakes.

We first had a quad. It was in good shape. But about 10 years old and used when we bought it. The gas gauge didn’t work.

We never had a problem when we went out w/ the Rough Riders from the church.

Occasionally, Sara and I will go out for a picnic in the forest just the 2 of us.

One day we do this. We buzz down the 91. Check out the aspens on 91B. Come back north on the 700. Head up to Antelope Park and then head over to Mormon Mountain.

We leave Antelope Park and make that right turn to Mormon Mountain and the engine quits. Dead. Out of gas.

I didn’t fill it up before we left, but I looked in and saw we had nearly a full tank. And we’d never come close to running out when we were out w/ the church.

Except, when we go out w/ the Rough Riders, even if we go that far, we never drive that fast.

When you’re w/ a group you make sure everyone is keeping up. But when it’s just us, I pick up the pace a little.

And, when I pick up the pace, I use up the gas.

Fortunately, there’s a good cell signal around Mormon Mt. We called friends who came and brought us a tank of gas. We set our chairs up in the shade of the trees and enjoyed our picnic while we waited.

And, yes, I have flattened a tire b/c I started w/ it too low, driving over big rocks it broke the seal on the rim and immediately flattened the tire.

Fill your tank and your tires before you go.

I do that now, every time, no matter how little gas or air I have to add, I do it to unnecessary trouble.

Easily avoidable things.

You stay close to me you’ll learn some things. Not b/c I know a lot. But b/c I mess up a lot. I can save you so much headache, heartache and trouble.

A good accountant, lawyer, doctor, air compressor, and gas station.

When we don’t avoid this trouble it adds stress to our lives. This stress is completely avoidable.

You don’t need to experience these things, trust me on this, learn from my mistakes, avoid trouble, and enjoy better rest.

It is always better to learn from other people’s mistakes than your own, avoid the trouble they got into, and rest better.

This is the message of Hebrews 3:7-19.

Remember this was written originally as a sermon. First preached to c.1 Xians who were experiencing a growing level of stress.

Life around them was hard. A lot of unknowns. The future was trending in an even more difficult direction.

So, now the question for them was, should they continue to trust God or should they do something else?

What happens if they bail on God?

Learn From Them

Hebrews 3:7–11 NIV

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

He’s quoting Ps. 95 that was written about events that occured after Israel left Egypt and was on their way to the PL.

We are reading the NT book of Hebrews, quoting the OT (Ps. 95), about events recorded in the books of Numbers and Exodus.

These events happened in and around Kadesh Barnea.

Ps. 95 is a call to worship. Don’t do what they did in the Kadesh Barnea. Do this.

What happened in Kadesh Barnea?

They were slaves in Egypt. Owned nothing. Used and abused by the Egyptians.

God not only go them out, but got the Egyptians to give them all their wealth and make them leave w/ it.

They are out, thru the Red Sea, on their way to the PL.

For you and me, on a direct route to the PL, it would take about 2 weeks to walk.

But, 2 million ppl came out of Egypt w/ all their livestock and possessions. It should have taken a month or 2.

But God had some things to teach the Israelis. He needed to work on their heads, hearts, and behavior. So they started wandering right away.

Their circuitous route took them thru Kadesh Barnea several times. And each time, something happened that demonstrated their lack of trust in God to do what He promised.

They came thru on 2 different occasions and they were out of water. So they complained. And complained. And grumbled.

We’re going to die. God brought us out here, He won’t let us go into the PL, we’re out of water, we’re going to die a miserable death.

Moses prayed. To teach Israel an important lesson about God’s provision, the first time he told Moses to hit the rock w/ his stick.

It immediately gushed water. Out of a rock. Enough water for all 2 million ppl and their livestock.

Lesson learned right?

Then it happened again. And they grumbled. God instructed Moses to talk to the rock this time. But he hit it w/ his stick again.

That got Moses in trouble. But the rock still gushed water for them.

Another time they are running out of food in the area. And they grumbled and complained some more.

God graciously provided for them.

The worst thing that happened there was when they sent out the 12 spies into the PL to see what it was like and what it would take to occupy it.

They spend 40 days in the land. Come back w/ a report that the land definitely flows w/ milk and honey. It produces like land they had never seen before. But, the ppl who live there have large and well-trained armies.

10 of the spies say, there’s no way. Even tho the land is spectacular, there is no way we former, untrained to fight slaves can beat those armies. Let’s go somewhere else.

But 2 of the spies, Joshua and Caleb say, yes it will be hard. But God promised to give it to us. Let’s go.

The ppl sided w/ the 10. God was ticked off. B/C he had promised them they’d get it.

It had been about a year, but they would remember seeing the miraculous plagues that caused the Egyptians to let them go w/ all their wealth.

They walked thru the sea on dry seabed to the other side then watched the sea collapse in on the Egyptian army killing all of them.

They experienced water from a rock twice.

They saw God in the pillar of smoke by day and fire by night.

They had come to springs of water but the water was poisoned. the Hebrew word for bitter. God instructed Moses to throw a stick in the water and it purified the water.

They had seen and experienced all these miraculous things over the previous months and they still complained and grumbled that God was not going to take care of them.

The stress was intense. The issues were huge. The difficulties they faced were almost impossible. But that’s where God does his best work.

He had freed them from slavery. Made them the wealthiest nation on earth. Promised them the best land on earth.

But they wanted to go back to Egypt b/c they bel’d the Egyptians were more trustworthy to take care of them.

God reached his limit w/ their lack of trust and complaining. The consequence was none of these 2 million will ever see the PL.

They would wander for 40 years as every last one of them would die, either thru a mass casualty event, or individual occurrence;

Every single one of them died, except Joshua and Caleb.

It was these 2 who led them into the land.

They still had to fight to get the land and work it to get it to produce. There were no freebies.

The work grew out of their faith that God would protect them and provide for them. Using them to do it.

Back to Hebrews.

Today. That day. If you hear is voice. Implied was God was always speaking. Jesus is alive and speaks to us.

When you hear his voice, trust that He knows what He’s doing and will keep His promises to us. Respond in obedience and worship Him.

They were 30-35 years removed from Jesus being there the first time. All of his miracles and teaching, the power and the presence culminating w/ his crucifixion and resurrection.

Then the signs and wonders that marked the establishment of the church. The indwelling HS. The tongues of fire in the upper room.

All the languages they spoke as they came out of that room telling the international travelers the story of Jesus.

If these hearers had not witnessed it themselves, they knew ppl who did.

Today, when you hear His voice, in spite of the threat of prison or worse for your faith, respond w/ obedience to what He has called you to do.

Trust Him to take care of you. He will provide for you, protect you, and keep every promise he has made to you.

Learn from the mistakes Israel made around Kadesh Barnea and avoid the unnecessary trouble they brought into their own lives.

They didn’t get to experience the rest that came in the PL after the work.

If these Hebrews respond the same way, they will miss out on the rest God offers them in the midst of their rising stress levels.

Will they expect the right things from God? Will they trust Him to do everything He has promised to do?

How can they help each other find the rest they so desperately want?

Peer Pressure

Hebrews 3:12–15 NIV

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

Here, preacher brings application. He repeats the verses that start, “Today.” Just like I bring applications at the end.

Don’t turn away from God.

This is still part of the warning. This is the 2nd of 5 warnings in the book.

They had seen and experienced the power of God in their lives and the lives of those around them. The pressure was getting turned up. It was going to get worse.

Christians were going to die for their faith.

As the pressure ramps up, don’t start complaining that God has abandoned you.

Don’t lose trust that He will not protect you or provide for you.

It didn’t mean they wouldn’t get hurt, lose their jobs or homes. They might. But God would still keep every promise he ever made to them.

Just like Israel in the wilderness, wandering was hard. They never settled. The heard the promise repeatedly about the land that would produce. But, God would not let them enter in.

What is taking so long?!

They had heard Jesus’s return would be eminent. And, when He returns, He will establish His kingdom where we will settle and find rest.

Until that time, we have to deal w/ the persecution, a culture becoming increasingly anti-Xian, a virus, and more.

What is taking so long? Why can’t we get into the place where all our stress will go away?

The preacher here says don’t start complaining about God. That is a symptom of a a heart that is hardening toward God.

Don’t turn away, don’t turn back to Judaism, don’t look elsewhere to find the peace you can only get from Christ.

Don’t try to drink your way to peace, smoke your way to peace, buy your way to peace, chase women or men your way to peace, or try to control your life to get to peace.

v.14, is tied to v.6, hold firmly to the confidence and hope, our original conviction, that is continue to live your life boldly and publicly for Christ.

Be vigilant. Be diligent. Be disciplined. Hold your tongue from complaining and let it loose for praising God in all situations.

The word for rebellion, is the same root as bitterness. Like the bitter water that was poisonous and the bitter attitudes of the hardened ppl that poisoned the attitudes of others.

Encourage each other. Don’t drag each other down.

Back in the day the rebellious won the battle for the attitude of the ppl. They all paid a dear price.

Be the peer that pressures your friends who are struggling to lean into their relationship w/ Jesus and don’t let them pressure you to leave.

B/C the farther away from Christ you go, the farther away from rest you get. More stress, less rest.

More Stress, Less Rest

Hebrews 3:16–19 NIV

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Rebellion like this is real and probably way more common than we want to admit.

We all battle it. This is part of the growth God leads us thru.

In trials, will we remain faithful? Will we continue to trust that God is being faithful to us?

God is a gracious God and did not drop the hammer on Israel the first time they complained, the second, or even the third. It went on for a long time.

He gives us every opportunity to change our own attitude so we won’t suffer the same fate.

Notice, all 2 million, except Joshua and Caleb, died in the wilderness, and did not see the PL.

It does not say none of them went to heaven. There were faithful ppl among the unfaithful nation. They didn’t lose their faith or or their standing w/ God. They just lost the opportunity to find rest in the PL w/ everybody else.

Likewise, he is not saying faithful people today will lose their faith and lost their position in heaven. We can, however, lose the rest that is possible if we lose our bold and public life for Christ.

If they would just learn the lesson from the mistakes of those who went before them they would enjoy more rest and less stress.

And, that’s the lesson for us.

We don’t have to make those same mistakes. We can learn from the mistakes of others.

As the stress of the virus ramps up, stress from living in a post-Xian culture, stress living around those who have grown bitter; we can still find the promised rest.

We may have to fight for it like Israel had to fight for the land. And we might have to work for it the Israel had to work the land.

But when our work is born of our faith God will use our efforts in His work to protect us and provide for us.

Then, when we’re done. We rest.

Applications

When you hear his voice

We worship a God who is alive and He speaks to us. He leads, reminds, teaches, disciplines, and encourages.

He leads us to discover our ID in Christ. That is, who He created us to be.

When you hear his voice, listen, worship, and obey.

He will lead you away from stress and into rest.

Don’t grumble and complain

It takes discipline.

When you catch yourself complaining about God or anybody else, stop yourself, pray for help, turn it into a praise and a complement.

Complaining leads to hardening of the arteries around the heart.

And a hard heart doesn’t hear God.

So, it misses out on the rest.

Stop complaining.

Long memory

Remember God’s faithfulness from yesterday and a year ago.

We barely remember what we had for breakfast. Work at remembering God’s faithful work in your life daily.

Write it down if you have to.

God’s faithfulness in the past proves his faithfulness in the future.

No matter how it may look at the time, God is not bound by what we can see.

Watch for Him to work.

When we don’t avoid this trouble it adds stress to our lives. This stress is completely avoidable.

You don’t need to experience these things, trust me on this, learn from my mistakes and others, avoid trouble, and enjoy better rest.

It is always better to learn from other people’s mistakes than your own, avoid the trouble they got into, and rest better.