Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 8, Number 1, DeMotte, Jasper County, 2 December 1937 — IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY School Lesson [ARTICLE]

IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL Lesson

By REV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST,

Lesson for December 5 CHRISTIAN REST LESSON TEXT--Matthew 11:28-30; Hebrews 4:1-11. GOLDEN TEXT--Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.--Matthew 11:28. PRIMARY TOPIC--When We Are Tired. JUNIOR TOPIC--God's Great Invitation. INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC--How Christ Gives Us Rest. YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC--Christian Rest. “Time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away," so sang Isaac Watts in 1719. One wonders what he might say today! The mad rush of modern life, its relentless drawing of us all into its terrific tempo--leaves us distraught, nervous, overanxious. Nervous disorders are on a rapid increase, even among children. The condition prevails in the country as well as in the city, although it is aggravated in metropolitan centers. Let us lay down the burdens of the universe for a bit and counsel quietly about that almost forgotten Christian virtue, rest. Nowhere can the troubled spirit find calm of soul as surely and as quickly as in God’s Word--and in the One revealed there, for true rest is I. Found in Christ (Matt. 11:2830). Rest for our souls is found not in the cessation of activity, but rather in joining with Christ as our yokefellow and in going on with him in meekness and lowliness of heart. Most of life’s restlessness is the result of pride, of driving ambition to be somebody or to attain something. True humility removes all such disturbing factors. But we do have a yoke and a burden tp bear. Yes, it is true that not all is easy in the Christian life. But as someone suggested, the burdens are like the burden of feathers on a bird. They may seem to be too heavy for his little body, but as a matter of fact they are the thing he flies with! Such are the “burdens" of Christ. II. Received by Faith (Heb. 4:3). who believe enter into rest. Faith in God through Jesus Christ brings a man into an abiding place that the storms of life may beat upon but can never move. Fair weather followers of Jesus who fall into a frenzy of fear and worry when sorrow or loss comes upon them need to learn to walk by faith. “Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you,” is more than the pious expression of a hymn writer, it is a statement of fact. III. Rejected by Unbelief (Heb. 4:1, 6-11). “The worst thing in the world’’ is unbelief--because it effectually closes the door to God’s blessing. Jesus could not do “many mighty works” in his home town of Nazareth “because of their unbelief” (Matt. 13:58). Unbelief will keep us from the rest that God has prepared for his people, for it not only hinders men from coming to the Saviour, but keeps them from resting in him after they are saved. IV. Necessary to Useful Living (v. 11). Only when the follower of Christ appropriates that rest of soul which results from turning from his own efforts and trusting himself fully to Christ will there be that absolute surrender of every detail and problem of life to him which will bring out in daily living the glorious beauty and power of a life at rest with God. A poem by Fay Inchfawn which has blessed the writer’s soul is here passed on, with the prayer that it may help you who read these notes: "Well, I am done. My nerves were on the rack. I’ve laid them down today; It was the last straw broke the camel’s back. I’ve laid that down today. No, I’ll not fume, nor fuss, nor fight; I’ll walk by faith a bit and not by sight, I think the universe will work all right, I’ve laid it down today. "So, here and now, the overweight, the worry, I’ll lay it down today; The all-too-anxious heart; the tearing hurry; I'll lay these down today. O eager hands, O feet so prone to run, I think that He who made the stars and sun Can mind the things you’ve had to leave undone. Do lay them down today." How true it is that we are prone to bear all the burdens of the universe when God’s Word has told us to cast all our care upon Him, for He careth for us (I Pet. 5:7). It is a powerful testimony for Christ when distraught and worry-ridden non-Christians see God’s children walking steady and true in the midst of disappointments, trials, and sorrows. And the opposite is also true, that failure to trust God is a practical denial of our professed faith.