Diligence 2011

Teach Them Diligently:

The High Calling of Christian Parenting

Saturday, July 16, 2011 ~ Sioux Center, Iowa

Diligence 2011 is over, but the conference addresses and seminars

are now available here and as podcasts on iTunes!

Click Here for Conference Website

Click Here to Download Conference Addresses & Seminars

Click Here to Access Conference Addresses & Seminars on iTunes

 

Verse of the Week ~ Genesis 2:2 (ESV)

“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.”

There are two reasons why we sit down to rest.  One is that we are tired; the second is that we’re done and there’s nothing left to do.  So why did God rest after the work of creation?  It can’t be because He was tired.  An omnipotent God does not ever grow weary.  So it had to be because He was done.  By resting on the seventh day, God was testifying to us that His work was complete.  All that He had made was sufficient to our needs.  And as we rest now on the first day of each week, the significance is the same.  We are testifying to God that we are trusting Him, that we are relying upon His work for us, and that we have found rest in what Christ has done for us.  When we rest on the Lord’s Day, we must rest because it’s done and there’s nothing left to do.  Salvation is the gift of God in the all-sufficient, finished work of Christ for us.

Do You Love Christ? [John 21:15-16]

(2012 Question of the Year)

To Love Christ is to Want to Know Him Better - In Philippians 3:10, the Apostle Paul writes- “I want to know Christ” (NIV).  This was obviously written by a man who already knew and loved Christ, but here indeed is the expression of true faith, that we will want to know Christ more.  The way Paul anticipated knowing Christ better was by suffering for Him and thus with Him, and we too should be prepared to know Christ better through our suffering as Christians.  But we should also seek to know Christ more through our study of God’s Word.  Dear reader, do you love Christ?  Surely you do if  He suffered and died on the cross for your sins.  And if so, then seek to know Him better!  Study the Word.  Find Him by promise, types, and shadows in the Old Testament.  Walk with Him in the pages of the Gospels.  Listen to the Apostles teach you more of who He is and what He did for you by His life, death, and resurrection.  To love Christ is to want to know Him better, and surely you will find that to know Him better is to love Him all the more.

Word of the Week

rest (verb) - to give rest to; refresh with rest; to lay or place for rest, ease, or support

 

Example: “God rest you merry, gentlemen; let nothing you dismay.”

 

Link: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rest

 

Reflection: The lyrics of the famous Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” are often mispunctuated.  It’s not, “God rest you, merry gentlemen,” but instead, “God rest you merry, gentlemen.”  The comma comes after the word “merry,” because “merry” is not first describing the gentlemen but the rest that God gives them.  God gives us a merry rest in Christ and thus in our remembrance of Him.  This is because Christ has done all the work of our salvation for us.  When we rest in Christ, we do not rest in dismay, only to continue our weary work.  When we rest in Christ, we rest merry, because the job is completely done and there is absolutely nothing left to do to be saved from our sins.  Here is the glory of the Gospel, that salvation is ours, not as we work, but as we sit down, put up our feet, and rest.

This must be the sense of our rest on the Sabbath.  We mustn’t rest because we have to, that is, because it is required of us, but because the work is done and there is nothing to do but rest.  If we are resting on the Lord’s Day out of obligation, or if we are neglecting our Sabbath rest, then we are missing a great blessing.  Observing the Sabbath is not a cold duty, nor a command to be explained away, but an opportunity to taste a bit of heaven and to gain a powerful reminder that Christ has come, that He has obeyed the Law for us, and that His life, death, and resurrection are all the finished work that He accomplished for our salvation.  May God give you a merry rest in Christ, by His finished work for you!