147-Resting at the Feet of Jesus#
147-Resting at the Feet of Jesus
(JP Text Group - Organized by the Lord's Grace)
In Luke 10:38-42, our topic today is called "Resting at the Feet of Jesus."
Let's read the Bible together:
Luke 10:38-42
38 As they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." 41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."
Let's start with a prayer:
Heavenly Father, we thank and praise You! It is Your love that draws us to Your presence once again, for we have needs and insufficiencies. Therefore, we come before You to receive Your provision. As a new week begins, we first come to the feet of Jesus to receive Your supply and Your abundance. We are willing to live with Your power.
Lord, thank You for renewing us once again through this time, so that we may gain something today. May we see the world through Your strength and Your eyes. We completely surrender the following time to You, and may the Holy Spirit personally guide each of our hearts. Let us enjoy rest in You! Hallelujah! In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray! Amen!
In fact, there are many things we need to do in life, right? Countless things to do in a day, a week, a year, a lifetime. Some things are unimportant, some are important, and some are essential. There are also things that are optional. Many times in our lives, where do we waste our time? We waste it on unimportant but optional things. What we must do in life, we often neglect.
What is the most important thing in life? That's right! Some say life is the most important. If we lose our life, then everything we do becomes meaningless, right? You may have many ideals, which is good. You might say, "I can get strong through exercise."
That's good. But what if your life ends? All of this becomes meaningless. So, Jesus first wants us to care about what is most important and what must be done, and we must not overlook this. As we start this week, we also know that in life, today we have believed in Jesus, and we have received life. Similarly, there are many things in life that are most important and must be done, and that is what we want to share today: to come to the feet of Jesus, Amen!
When we rely on ourselves, we can do things, but usually, it is like Martha, anxious and troubled! In this world, especially when you ask your friend, "Why haven't I seen you lately?" They say, "Oh, I'm busy." You go to their house and see chaos; this is a busy life. But Jesus does not want His children to live like this. We can be busy, but we must not be chaotic, Amen!
Jesus wants you to live each day fully, but He also wants you to live in His rest. You see, when Jesus preached the gospel in the world, during His three and a half years of ministry, He was very busy from morning till night, but Jesus was never chaotic; everything He did was orderly, Amen!
So, for us, our lives are very important. If your business is large and you are managing a group, then in this case, you cannot be chaotic. You may be busy, but what you need is an orderly life. And this is what Jesus can give you. We must first do one essential thing, which is to come to the feet of Jesus to receive His supply.
We will see that our Savior Jesus is very great; He often comes among the crowds with His supply and abundance, right? Jesus did not come among us saying, "Oh, Sister Wang, can I borrow some money?" Instead, He is a supplier. Jesus did not go to the doctor and say, "Doctor, can you check my illness and see if it can be healed?"
Jesus often comes among the crowds as the God who supplies healing; this is our Jesus! Why do we need to come before Jesus? Because He is such a supplier; when you are chaotic, He is not. When you come before Him, you will not be chaotic, Amen!
So now you might say, "I have a lot of pressure." That's okay; come to Jesus, and He will relieve your pressure. We see Him bringing abundance among the crowds. Then, in the flesh, we see the likeness of God. Today, He comes with what seems to be a weary body. When Jesus came to the world in the flesh, He also got tired, right? He also got weary; He also got hungry. Last time we talked about how Jesus was hungry, and this time we talk about how Jesus actually went to Martha's house.
After arriving at her house, Jesus might have looked really tired. In this situation, we see that Martha might have a motherly heart, a compassionate love. She saw that Jesus was so tired, so she said, "You all sit here; I will go prepare food for you." This is good, but one thing Martha forgot is who Jesus is; Jesus is the supplier, Amen!
Do you know what the difference is between us humans and God? Humans do not have that endless source of supply; God is that source, Amen! Let me give you an example: If you work from 8 AM until evening, you will be exhausted. If you are asked to work more, you might not be able to do it.
But God is different, brothers and sisters. I want to share with you about this Jesus. When you think God seems tired at this moment, do you know how to solve God's tiredness? When you work all day and are tired, what do you do? You rest, right?
But do you know how to solve Jesus' tiredness? When you sit at Jesus' feet and receive from Him, His tiredness disappears. Wow! Do you see our God as being like humans? When Jesus was thirsty and spoke with the Samaritan woman, He was indeed thirsty, but did you see that when He supplied the living water to the Samaritan woman, He was filled with strength? This is Jesus!
When He continuously supplies you, He becomes more and more filled inside. But our God is different; when humans give continuously, they become less and less. But God becomes more and more as He supplies! So, to solve Jesus' tiredness is simple; just receive from Him, and He will be filled with strength. So do not think of Jesus in human ways; that is incorrect.
Once, when I was talking to someone, they said, "We must obey; we must submit. Think about it, Jesus is the good shepherd. We should obey the shepherd, right? We should listen to Jesus." This is correct. Later, they said something that made me feel a bit overwhelmed.
Can you guess what they said?
"Think about it. If a person manages a family of several people, isn't that tiring enough?"
I said, "Oh."
They said, "Let alone Jesus! Jesus has to manage, oh, how many billions of people, all of whom are disobedient! Just think about how tired Jesus must be! So you need to obey and submit."
You need to do this and that...
Actually, this is thinking about Jesus in human ways. Amen! This is incorrect, brothers and sisters. When you see Jesus is tired, the best way is to draw from Him. Amen! Don't forget that even when He is tired, He is still God, right? The Bible says that even when He is weak, He is stronger than us! Amen!
So do not worry. Do not say, "Lord, I can handle this small matter myself. I will come to You when I have a big problem." No need; bring all your problems, your true self, your pressures, your worries, and come before Jesus and say: "Lord Jesus, I give all of this to You." Do not think it is a bother, Amen! And do not think, "Oh, can Jesus handle all these troubles?" He will definitely listen because He is the God who saves you. Hallelujah!
Martha and Mary both welcomed Jesus. When Martha was busy preparing food in the kitchen, brothers and sisters, look at this; this is busy preparation. You can imagine how great her pressure was. Do not forget that Jesus was with His disciples. Were they male or female? Male. Especially among them were several fishermen.
Do you know what characteristic people who do physical labor have? Ah, you all know they have a big appetite. So in this situation, you cannot say that when we go to Korea, the food is very delicate, right? Very small portions. It is impossible to say that when we go to Shaanxi, they give you a big bowl; that is not the case. Everything is very small and delicate. Martha cannot say, "Everyone can have a small plate of rice," because that would not even be enough for Peter to fill his teeth.
So she had to prepare a lot of things. In this situation, she was busy in the kitchen alone while there were more than ten men waiting outside. In this case, she had to prepare a lot, so she started to be busy alone. You can imagine her pressure, so we can see that Martha indeed encountered a problem. She saw that Jesus was indeed very tired, and she wanted to leave a good impression on Jesus. According to the customs of the Middle East, when you come to my house, I must prepare food for you.
Brothers and sisters, what was Mary doing? From a human perspective, Mary was indeed very inconsiderate. How could she do this? When someone comes to your house, you just sit there and listen to them speak. But we are different from God, Amen!
Earlier, I particularly analyzed the difference between humans and God. If you really want to solve Jesus' tiredness, continue to receive from Him, Amen! When you go to a living water source, if no one ever draws water from that spring, what will happen to the water? Right, it will become dirty.
And you cannot see any liveliness in that spring water. But if this living spring has someone drawing water from it every day, you will see what the water looks like; wow, this is the likeness of our God! He is the source of love! The source of supply! The source of strength! Amen! This means the more you receive from Him, the fresher and more abundant it becomes. God hopes you will receive from Him. Hallelujah! So Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to His preaching.
We want to emphasize again: God never said Martha's service was wrong; He never said that! If that were the case, our church would not need to do anything; everyone could just sit and listen to the sermon. You see, our church has service personnel; we do not need to serve; let the children play by themselves while we all listen to the sermon? God never said Martha's service was incorrect.
Jesus only said she had a heart that was busy and troubled, right? What Jesus wanted to remove was her troubled heart. What we want to talk about here is that what is more important than service is that you need to see Jesus' abundant supply, Amen! When Jesus came to Martha's house, He was actually there to supply her. Brothers and sisters, when you come before Jesus, He wants to supply you, right?
If Jesus came to your house, He would still supply you because He is such a supplying God, Amen! (Let me give a very secular example: For instance, if you went to Jesus' house, and Jesus said, "When you leave, you must take this big pile with you. If you don't take it, I will feel uncomfortable." So you went to Jesus' house. When you leave, you take a big bag with you. Suddenly one day, Jesus says, "I will go to your house to play." What is the first thing you think of? Isn't it that when I leave, I must also give Him a big pile?
But look, when you welcome Jesus, you see that Jesus comes with a big pile too!) This is our Jesus! So when you welcome Jesus, you can always receive His supply. Hallelujah!
Today we want to share: Jesus wants to supply His rest to you. He never opposes you serving Him, but when serving, you need to see His heart of supply. We serve with the love and power of Christ, which means we first receive from Christ. Receive His love, receive His supply, and serve with this strength, Amen!
This is very important, so receiving His rest at the feet of Jesus is extremely important! Then you serve with Jesus' power. Such service has a characteristic: there is no bitterness, no complaints. You will see that there are indeed some people who serve Jesus; no matter how tired or difficult it is, they are always joyful. Because they are not using their own strength—it's Jesus' strength.
Let's share the first point: Do not lose the heart to receive.
In fact, many times we see some people who are anxious and restless outside, and there are some people who are sorrowful, often sighing. Have you seen such people? When you call them, they go, "Oh!" (Hehe) In other words, you don't know, Sister Wang. Oh dear...
If you chat with such a person for an hour, how will you feel? You will start to sigh too. You will find that this thing is contagious, right?
Positive things are contagious, and negative things are also contagious. So when you come before Jesus, what are you infected with? It is Jesus' power! This is incredible! So spending more time with Jesus is a good thing. You see people outside who are anxious, sorrowful, sighing, or some people doing extreme things.
Last week, someone told me that a friend of hers committed suicide by jumping off a building, very young. Then she asked me why this happened. I said she might have had enormous pressure. Then she said her husband had an affair. At that moment, I was puzzled and said, "If her husband had an affair and she committed suicide, wouldn't that just benefit that couple?"
Why would she want to commit suicide? Such a person is stuck in a problem and cannot get out. They get trapped and finally the devil says, "Just die, just die, and the problem will be solved." So she jumped off the building. Brothers and sisters, this is a wrong way of thinking. Because she first lost her rest, right? So when she thought about how good she had been to him in the past, and now that he did such a thing, she couldn't understand it, losing her rest, and finally did something extreme.
Brothers and sisters, so receiving peace is very important, especially important. You see these anxious people; isn't this all fruit? But where is the root? Isn't it in the heart? You need to solve the problem in their heart. How to solve it?
You need to come before Jesus and receive Jesus' rest. The real reason is inside; if you want to completely solve the external problems, you must solve the internal problems. So you see the flowers in front of you. If you find that all the leaves on the flower are dry, it must not be the leaves that have a problem; actually, the root has a problem.
If the root has a problem, then you see a person's strange behavior and temper; the problem is actually inside. What to do? How to solve the internal problem? Come to Jesus and receive rest. There is no other way! Otherwise, you tell them, "It's okay, sister, just endure a little longer, and it will pass." That is not you; you try enduring it yourself and see if it works. So what is the real method? Come before Jesus; He can give His rest to this person, and this person will be healed.
So we see in Isaiah 30:15, there is a verse: The Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, has said: "In returning and rest you shall be saved."
In fact, our salvation is in returning to rest. The Hebrew word for returning to rest consists of two words: returning and rest. This word means how this word is composed; one word is returning, and one is rest.
Brothers and sisters, we return to rest; who is rest? (Jesus) That's right! So if you want to have rest, you must come before Jesus to seek rest. If you go to the wrong place, if today you run to the high priest, can you have rest? No, right? Originally, you were saying, "Oh, I feel uncomfortable inside." As a result, our Sister Wang went to the high priest, and the high priest said, "Hmm, I see you have a pimple on your face; you need to be quarantined." It became troublesome; originally seeking rest ended up making you even more restless. So do not go to the wrong place; come before Jesus, Amen!
Jesus can not only save your life but also save you from all kinds of problems, challenges, and difficulties in life! How to do it? Come before Jesus and receive His rest. This means every day, listening to His words is very important. So why do we want everyone to gather on the first day of each week? In fact, this is not compulsory; it just means if you want to live with the power of Jesus and be victorious, I suggest you come before Jesus every week, gather every week. Jesus supplies you with power, Amen!
In this way, your life will be different. So Martha and Mary represent two types of believers; both believe, but they are two types of believers. One is filled with rest, and the other is without rest. So many people are like Martha, which is what we call obsessive-compulsive disorder today, perfectionists. They want to do everything the best, but unfortunately, what is the problem?
Their strength is limited, so many problems they find are not as they imagined. So they try hard but cannot reach satisfaction. Such people have obsessive-compulsive disorder and need to come before Jesus to receive rest. When they find that their efforts cannot achieve perfection, they will feel discouraged inside, or if today they give wholeheartedly to others, but the result is not what they expected, they will feel wronged and uncomfortable.
In fact, this is all a manifestation of losing rest. If Jesus lived in this way, there would be no one left. Jesus healed so many people, often caring for others with love and supplying grace, but there were still a group of fault-finders behind Him. How did Jesus treat such people? He said, "You guys, look at my heart."
We often say, "I wish I could take my heart out and show you!" What good does that do? Even if you take it out, it is useless, right? Because they do not want this thing; it has a prejudice against you. So what do you do? In fact, Jesus never said, "I wish I could take my heart out and show you." Jesus never said that. Instead, He still supplies grace and everything inside Him. Because He is God! Hallelujah! So in this situation, you will find that many people's problems are solved when they come before Jesus.
But Jesus never said, "Father, look how pitiful these guys are; they are so unworthy of love. You still want me to love them." Indeed, many times we feel we cannot love the people around us. When we think about how Jesus loved us, were we lovable? But Jesus still loved us and supplied His love, supplied His grace, and supplied His rest to us. He knows we do not have rest, so the fundamental way to solve it is to give us His rest. So brothers and sisters, a heart of rest is very important. You need to come to the feet of Jesus to receive His rest, let His power, let His supply, let His love fill you!
Martha tried to serve God by relying on herself. Verse 40
Martha was distracted with much serving, and she went up to Him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?"
Isn't that a complaint? You will find it is indeed like this. Serving itself is a good thing. For example, today I will give a hypothetical example. We are currently preaching, and suddenly our Sister Gong Ping rushes in and says to me, "Teacher Ren! Look at you all sitting here; I have to take care of a bunch of kids! Don't you care? Hurry up and let Deacon Liu come help me (hehe)." Just joking. In this situation, what should we do? So Jesus' reaction seems not to meet Martha's heart.
If Jesus had said, "Hey, Mary, what are you doing? Hurry up and help!" At that moment, wouldn't Martha have been happy? "Hmm, that's good; Jesus still loves me." You see, immediately the relationship between these two people would have worsened. But Jesus did not do that. The reason is here, brothers and sisters. Jesus wants Martha to have the good portion like Mary. So He never reproached Martha's service, nor did He say her heart of service was wrong; He never said that. He only said that her heart was troubled. So Jesus' answer in verse 41 is: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things," which proves that at this moment, Martha had too many thoughts in her heart.
Brothers and sisters, we should not become like Martha. If you have too many thoughts in your heart, you will also suffer from insomnia, which is very bad. So what do you think Martha was thinking? Was it about cabbage? Was it about potatoes? Stewed or fried? No, too much oil, so let's boil it. Later, she thought, "How much cabbage do I need to buy?" Isn't it a lot of worries? You must remember that at this moment, she was not thinking about anything else.
That's right, brothers and sisters. So if we do not have Jesus now, we will think about these things. What should we do? Oh, how should we do this? Aren't there many people worried about what to eat? Especially housewives wake up in the morning and say, "Oh, what should we eat today? Potatoes, cabbage, or...?" You worry about many things. What should you do at this time?
Come to Jesus! If you come before Jesus, it actually does not matter whether it is cabbage or potatoes. You bless the cabbage in the name of Jesus, and the cabbage can provide health for your family, right? You bless the potatoes in the name of Jesus, and the potatoes can provide health for your family!
So with Jesus, you suddenly find that those problems are all solved. But without Jesus, you are left with a pile of worries: children's matters, family matters, company matters, all kinds of things, ah, ah, ah! Thinking until your head is about to explode. At that time, these people will start to complain, just like Martha. So brothers and sisters, the problem is that there are too many things to serve, which makes her troubled; this is her problem.
What Jesus wants to solve is her troubled heart. If you serve in your family, what do I mean by serving? For example, housewives serving, such as taking care of children, housework, serving at work; in fact, these are all serving. Helping the boss do things, or if you run a company, you are also serving these employees. In fact, it is the same. Among so many services, we must first see Jesus. Hallelujah!
If there is no Jesus, these problems will be enough to trouble you. How to solve it? Come before Jesus and receive rest, so you can serve without worries. You can choose another way to serve, which is to do things joyfully. What we are talking about is that only those who receive the most from Jesus have the best methods to serve, Amen!
Sometimes we feel that teaching children is too difficult, but when Jesus gives you wisdom, you will find it very easy. Let me share a small testimony that happened in my family: I have told you before that my son could call me "Dad" at eight months old. Wow, they said he was very smart. How did he do that at eight months?
My wife has always been puzzled about this. She said, "I let him call 'Mom' every day, but he actually called 'Dad.' I didn't see how you taught him." Hehe. Do you want to know the secret? Especially for those who have children who cannot call yet or are preparing to have children. Especially for the brothers, it is very simple. I only let him focus on one thing. So when I taught the child, I looked into his eyes, and he looked into my eyes, and then I just said it, and he learned it. You find that I only taught him the mouth shape, and as a result, he said it! It was that simple!
And my wife did not teach him this way; she used many methods, and it turned out none of them worked. In fact, one method is enough, the wisdom of Jesus. Hallelujah! You will find that when you have Jesus, other things that are difficult become very simple. This is Jesus' supply! Brothers and sisters, receive more from Jesus! You will have wisdom in your life, right?
This morning, I just saw an article saying that the first is the United States, the second is Japan, and these countries have very strong and high precision technology. Israel ranks among them. You will find that the entire country has 26% of graduate students. The entire country has 26% of graduate students; that is remarkable!
So you see this country has a small population, but everyone is very smart. In fact, their children learn what from a young age? They learn the first five books of Moses, the Old Testament. They are learning the Old Testament, and moreover, you know the Old Testament is about who—Jesus! The Old Testament is a shadow; who is the reality? Jesus.
So if you get to know Jesus more every day and receive Jesus, you will definitely be smarter than the Jews, Amen! So no matter what industry you are in, come before Jesus and receive His wisdom! So Martha was very angry and upset when she walked in; in fact, she was under pressure, right?
So brothers and sisters, if you are under pressure, do not take it out on your children, do not take it out on your husband or your wife. What should you do? Close the door and go into the room. Then say to God, "Jesus, I need Your rest; please grant it to me! I can't take it anymore; I am about to explode inside." Then Jesus says, "Go ahead and explode (hehe); explode in front of me; that is fine."
But if you explode in front of people? Exploding in front of whom will hurt whom, because at that time, you become a needle; whoever you focus on can be hurt. When you come before Jesus, He is gentle, so when you come to Him, all the strength disappears, and He can give you a joyful heart! Amen!
Martha was very angry at that time and said, "My sister has left me to serve alone!" Who is she serving? You! Isn't that the meaning? So brothers and sisters, such a heart is actually a heart of the law that needs to be renewed. It needs to be corrected in the rest of Jesus. I want to share with you another person; perhaps everyone understands this person. This person is very similar to Martha. Luke 15:29-30. Let's read together:
29-30 He said to his father, "Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!"
Amen!
This is the elder son's statement, right? Why did his father come out? What was the purpose of his father calling the elder son? It is actually very simple; his father wanted the elder son to join him in enjoying the feast of love, right? But what is the problem? The elder son refused to go in, so the father came out to invite him in, Amen!
In fact, this father represents our Heavenly Father! The elder son is the world. We find that when our hearts are filled with bitterness and various problems, it is our Heavenly Father who comes to find us. What does He do? He does not come to investigate your sins; He wants you to follow Him into His supply, into His abundance. Hallelujah!
In that situation, the elder son completely did not see his father's supply; what did he see? A stingy old man, so stingy. Then he said this: "I have served you for many years." Isn't that a kind of law? "I have served you for many years," which means, "Look, I have served you for so many years!"
But immediately he expressed his father's stinginess; he said, "I have never disobeyed your command!" Isn't that a kind of legal service? Brothers and sisters, many people say, "Lord, look, I have believed in You for so many years; why haven't You healed me?" This is the same as the elder son, the same as Martha. "Lord, I am busy alone; why don't You let her come help me?" In fact, the problem here is a complaint that is exactly the same! Then he said, "You never gave me a young goat to celebrate with my friends."
Brothers and sisters, many times we say the elder son does not know his father; he is far from his father. In fact, many of us are like this elder son. It is not that the father does not love the son; he loves this elder son very much. Although the father and son often are together, the elder son has never felt his father's love, right?
So many people believe in Jesus for many years, and they say they do not feel how much Jesus loves them. In fact, at this time, what do you need to do? Come before Jesus and truly receive His rest, rather than thinking about what to do to please Him when you come before Jesus. This way of thinking is incorrect because Jesus is a supplier!
Hallelujah! He is a supplier! Just like this father, he now calls the elder son to come to the feast and enjoy joy with him, but the elder son? First, he thinks this father is stingy. Second, he hates his younger brother. So brothers and sisters, this is where the problem lies! Under the law, first, he thinks God is a terrifying God. Second, when God gives you grace, he still looks down on you. He still attacks you; this is the problem.
So the law persecutes grace; this is the principle. So brothers and sisters, we understand it well. Isn't it very similar? The elder son is a kind of service that has lost rest, unwilling but afraid not to do it. I believe many of you in the past were like this. You say, "I do not feel that the Lord loves me very much," but I do not dare not believe. If your faith is like this, please correctly return to Jesus! Because your understanding of God is wrong. How to do it?
Re-know this God! So now this elder son is re-knowing his father. So at that time, you will find that this elder son has been suffering from a service that has lost rest for many years, right? So if you have believed in the Lord for how many years, how many years have you suffered? So you are like the elder son; hurry up and adjust your faith.
It is not about adjusting yourself; it is about adjusting your faith. You need to re-know God. So you will find that a little problem can cause a big conflict, and because of a fat calf, he turned against his father and complained about his brother. So in the church, you will find such people. When everything is good, everyone is fine, but when a little bit of interest arises, boom! The anger explodes!
So the problems of the elder son and the younger son all come out. But it does not matter; if they come out, they come out. The Heavenly Father still loves both sons, right? The Heavenly Father did not say, "Oh, you little guy, you have hidden it deep enough! You remembered it for so many years!" (Hehe) No, He did not. So He still loves this elder son, even though the elder son is like this, but God still loves him.
So today, do not look at how you are; do not say, "Oh, I have complained to God for many years." It does not matter; come before Jesus today and receive His rest! You say, "Oh, my problem is very bad." Come before Jesus and receive His supply! He can give, so when you see the father respond to the elder son, the father answers the elder son like this:
Luke 15:31 The father said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours."
Brothers and sisters, you say this elder son is pitiful. He has been with his father for so many years, and he did not realize that everything his father had was his. So what does the father's meaning mean? If you want a young goat to celebrate with your friends, what should you do? Just go and get it! Do you understand my meaning? It is like today, many people who believe in Jesus have diseases. "Lord, do You want to heal me? Do You really want to heal me? What must I do for You to heal me?" Isn't that the same as the elder son?
In this situation, you need to remember what the father said to you: "You are always with me, and all that I have is yours."
What is there with God? Isn't there health? So if you need health, do not ask me, "Lord, do You want to heal me?" I want to heal you. The father's meaning is, "Why do I raise so many goats? Isn't it for eating? Since you want to eat with your friends, just go and get it!" So today, if you want to be healed, what should you do? In the name of Jesus Christ, sickness, leave me! Go receive it, Amen!
So do not believe incorrectly; believing incorrectly will cause trouble. Just like this elder son, he gained nothing in the end and still complained about this and that, and finally was filled with complaints and bitterness.
Correct belief is very important. If you are not serving in rest, this is how people are. When you see others enjoying grace, how will you act? You will hit him; you will stop him from receiving this grace. In fact, the elder son's meaning is that the young goat is mine; why should he eat? So when you see people around you, of course, this will not happen in our church. But if you see someone around you, a sister who used to have this disease, and now after praying to God, she suddenly got healed, will you be happy for her? "Oh, that's great! God loves you so much!" But do you know how the elder son would react?
The elder son would say, "Lord, why do You want to heal her?" This is troublesome. But of course, this will not happen in our church. But it has indeed happened in other churches. We need to rest at the feet of Jesus and receive, Amen!
When you lose rest, the best way is to come before Jesus. Thank the Lord! So when you lose rest, you will see that everyone has problems. This world is unfair to you; all kinds of problems seem to target you, as if Jesus would also blame you. But to Him, you are still the most precious, Amen! So brothers and sisters, in this situation, you need to come before Jesus and receive His rest. Earlier, I said that the elder son is negative. Let's look at what true service should look like.
1 Timothy 1:11-12. Let's read together:
According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted, I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service. Amen!
You know, because we named it grace, many people have attacked it crazily because of this name. I almost said to change the name to the glorious gospel. In fact, it is just a name, right? As a result, those under the law could not stand it and said, "Why do you call it grace? Why does God's grace come upon you? Why are you so arrogant?"
In fact, it is not arrogance; it is our correct understanding of God, right? So if we change it to the glorious gospel, they will say you are an arrogant person. In fact, it is not. You see, is it not in the Bible? How did Paul serve God? Paul did not serve like the elder son. Paul did not say, "Look, I have spent most of my life in prison for You; I have suffered cold and persecution! What have I gained?"
Did Paul ever complain like this? No. Instead, what did Paul say? "Whether in poverty or in abundance, whether in hunger, I have learned the secret; I am content." Amen! So this is two different kinds of service: one is Martha's service, and the other is Mary's service. And today we want to learn that is Mary's service; she is receiving rest at the feet of Jesus. Before Paul served, he also received rest at the feet of Jesus, Amen! So in the end, he said, "I want to speak according to the glorious gospel entrusted to me." He believes that this gospel is the glory of God, and God has given this glorious gospel to whom? That's right, God has given this glorious gospel to you, Amen!
This means that when you receive this glorious gospel, what will you be filled with? You will be filled with glory, Amen! Then Paul said, "For this, I thank the Lord very much. I thank Him who gives me strength." You find that God gives you the glorious gospel and also gives you strength. Where does this strength come from? — Our Lord Jesus Christ!
So how did Paul view his service? He said, "Because He judged me faithful, He appointed me to serve Him." Do you see the difference? One is serving out of obligation; "I am Your son; I have to serve You." The other is, "Lord, You see me as a faithful person, so You let me serve You; this is so glorious!" Amen!
So I wish brothers and sisters would have such a heart, what kind of heart? A heart of rest. When this heart serves, everything will change. You say, "What kind of person am I that Jesus would use me to serve Him? What kind of person am I that God would give me strength, and I pray, and He gets healed? God loves me so much!" If we have this heart to serve, will there still be complaints? No, because he is in rest, Amen! Because he is in rest, so this is very important!
Share the second point: The essential thing is to come to Jesus every day to receive rest.
Rest is not doing nothing; rest is not sleeping, and it is certainly not laziness! Rest is to do things with Jesus' power, relying on Jesus' power in everything, and seeing all things through Jesus' eyes. So when Martha wants to say something, she actually wants to pull Mary away from this rest. "If I pull you away, I will be happy; you work with me."
But Jesus stopped her. Jesus said, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things," but He did not blame Mary. He said to Mary, "Mary has chosen the good portion." Amen! This is the essential thing.
So I wish brothers and sisters to treat this as an essential thing in your life. After you do this, other things will become orderly and not chaotic, Amen! Thank the Lord!
Many people tell me, "Teacher Ren, you do not know my situation. I have so many things at home, so much pressure. I have to support my family every day; I must take care of the children; I must ensure they finish their homework. I am very worried about my children's future!"
What should you do to advise these people? Do the essential thing, and you will not worry, Amen! If your child is still in elementary school and you are worried about his future wife, what should you do? Let him come before Jesus! Amen! Only by letting him come before Jesus and receiving this rest will his problems be solved. Let's look at a verse.
Ecclesiastes 2:22-23
What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night, his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
So I say that Solomon's wisdom is very profound. The things he realized are full of philosophy. Even if an unbeliever reads Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, they will find it very good. But one point that Ecclesiastes says here is that under the sun refers to our world. Labor is how? Remember, brothers and sisters, if you labor, you will feel very tired in your heart. What can you gain from all your labor? In the end, what can you gain?
What can you gain, brothers and sisters? You say, "I am working hard in this world to buy twenty houses. What can I gain?—Tired!" It must be tiring. In the end, the conclusion is that it is vanity, right, brothers and sisters? The reason is that without Jesus, this is the case. Brothers and sisters, and it also tells us that he worries every day.
Was Solomon worried at that time? Yes! With such a large country, how could he not worry? It would be strange if he were not worried. So many times we say, "Oh, being the president is great." When you sit in that position, you will know how tiring it is. You have to care about the country's peace and stability every day, right? You also have to prevent what? There are people around you who are coveting your position!
So brothers and sisters, as children of God, we also need to pray for our rulers! We need to pray for our country to remain in peace. This is something each of us needs to pray for. Because they are so tired, if you have the opportunity, tell them the gospel. In this way, they will not be troubled by their labor.
They need Jesus' rest because if they worry every day, their labor will turn into vexation. What does this mean? The more you earn, the more labor you have, the more sorrow you have. And it also says that even at night, your heart does not rest, which means our God knows our situation too well. The night does not rest refers to what? Insomnia? Isn't it this situation? So God knew long ago that in the last days, many people would suffer from insomnia. The best way to solve people's insomnia is God, right? Come to the feet of Jesus and receive His rest. You see, isn't Jesus the answer to everything?
No matter what problems you have, come before Jesus! You say, "I am very tired." Come before Jesus! You say, "I cannot sleep at night." Come before Jesus! You say, "I have a lot of pressure in life." Come before Jesus and receive His rest! This is the answer. Many vanities mean that it is useless; people do not remember God, nor do they remember. If you are tired, it is better to be tired in God because you are living in the world under the sun. Every day you worry, every day you are troubled, and in the end, your worries turn into vanity. What does this mean?
People will not remember you, and God will not remember your labor. But we Christians are different, brothers and sisters. When you believe in Jesus, if you worry about God's things, if you labor for God's things, you can rest assured. The Bible says that nothing He does is in vain. Isn't it completely turned around? One tells us it is completely vanity, and the other tells you that nothing is in vain; God remembers it! Amen!
So we are not under the sun; we are people above the sun. Keep your eyes often on the One above the sun. Who is that? Our Jesus, Amen! He governs the universe. So by looking at things in this way, you will find that many things are not very difficult to solve. So brothers and sisters, when you see Jesus supplying, you are in rest, Amen!
You want to say who is the most laborious? Isn't it Jesus? Just think about it. Jesus not only has to manage all things in the universe but also has to care about whose heart? He has to care about your heart, yours, and yours. Always remember that Jesus cares about your heart. He is concerned about you, Amen!
When you are worried in life, when you cannot sleep at night, Jesus says, "Come quickly to me!" So this is our Jesus. He hopes you will come to Him to receive His rest! So this is an essential thing, the most important thing, an indispensable thing. So every day, come before Jesus to receive His words. Every week, come before Jesus to receive His words. Hallelujah! If you do this, you can rest assured that your life will start to get on track. You will be busy, but you will definitely not be chaotic.
Let's look at a verse, Matthew 11:28-30.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
In fact, what Jesus means is that if you feel tired now, do not carry it yourself; come to me! I can give you rest, Hallelujah! Give all your worries, your problems, your pressures to Jesus; He can solve your problems. So I wish for us brothers and sisters, in fact, every day we send out spiritual food. So if you have WeChat, pay attention to the spiritual food we send out every day. Read it first, read it in the morning, and after reading it, meditate on it before going to work.
I write it very short; you can finish reading it in about two minutes. After reading it, you can meditate on it. If some people have time at work, for example, some people take an hour from home to work; you can completely listen to a sermon in that hour. When we finish, you will find that your day will become different, Amen!
Every week, I wish everyone would come before Jesus to gather because He wants to supply you with rest, Amen! Here, Jesus says clearly, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." So when you come here, you are receiving His supply, allowing Him to renew you, letting His rest fill you.
So when a new day begins, first entrust all your matters to Jesus, or read a passage of the Bible, or look at the spiritual devotion we send out every day. Let God's words enter your heart first, accepting the words that come from Jesus. If you come to receive strength every day, you will find that your life will be renewed unknowingly. This is Jesus' method.
It is very easy and simple. You will find that at first, Mary did nothing; she was just receiving rest and the word at the feet of Jesus. But later, Mary's service was without complaints, Amen! So I wish brothers and sisters would first come to the feet of Jesus to receive rest, receive His supply, receive His power, because He loves you, so He is willing to supply you with everything! Hallelujah!
My heart, you shall bless the Lord! Brothers and sisters, please stand, and let us sing together. Now everyone raise your hands, and you pray before God, giving all your burdens to Him!
You say, "Lord, I have no rest in my heart now; I want Your rest. Please grant me Your rest." He loves you so much. As far as the east is from the west, He has removed your transgressions from you! Today He covers you with His abundant grace! Just come to Him to receive, receive His supply! Receive His power! Receive His rest!
God hopes that when you are under the sun, you are not living in vanity, not living in chaos, not living in worry, but living in His rest! So come to the feet of Jesus every day to receive His rest! He is the source of rest; He can give you rest! His grace is willing to be abundantly added to you every day!
He forgives all your transgressions and sins; He has already forgiven you. He wants to heal your body and restore you; this is His heart. Every time you come before Him, He supplies you like this. He supplies you as long as you are willing to come, as long as you are willing to come before Him. Do not forget that He is a God full of grace. Do not forget that He is a God full of love. He is willing to supply you; He is willing to supply you! Because He loves you, because He loves you!
So when you open your mouth to pray to Him, He will give. Right now, He wants to give you His peace; He wants to give you His healing, His health! Do not worry; everything is under His control. When you reach out, He will hold your hand. He is a God full of grace! Hallelujah! Amen!
As high as the heavens are above the earth, so deep is His love. As far as the east is from the west, He has removed my transgressions from me. The Lord has compassionate love and abundant grace, from ancient times to eternity! Yahweh, You are my God; He is a God of rich love, from ancient times to eternity, Amen!
He is your God. So when you reach out your hand to pray to Him, you are taking Him as your God. You are willing to let Him save you. When you lose rest, come before Him! Bring your true self to seek Him; He will never despise you or abandon you! Because He is a God full of love, He is willing to help you! He is willing to save you from all evil; He is willing to give you His rest. So come and seek Him! He has the power to supply you.
A new week, everything will be different because today you have received His supply; you have received His supply! You know He is a loving God; He is not a stingy God as the elder son said. He is a loving God; He is a God full of compassion. He has thrown your transgressions aside! As far as the east is from the west, they have been thrown so far away!
So you can overcome all circumstances by relying on Him! He is such a help to you. So do not care about your current problems; care about Jesus' rest. Like Mary, receive His rest! Hallelujah! All glory be to You! In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray, Amen!