Jan 22, 2019 - Suggested Reading Psalm 62 for Jan 27th's message on 1 Corinthians 15:58 in our worship service at 9:00AM

One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard:

“Power belongs to you, God, and with you, LORD, is unfailing love”;

and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.”

Psalm 62:11-12 (NIV) 

There is no way we can overemphasize the importance of 1 Corinthians 15:58 in a Christian’s life! It is how a Christian will live their life - when they live in anticipation of the triumphal return of Christ, and our resurrection from the dead.

I am aware that some people pretend that the Old Testament contains no teaching on the resurrection nor triumphal return, but only teaches God's blessing in their present lives, as they live in the promised land, presumably by ignoring the many references like Hosea 13, Isaiah 25 and Job 19, as well as this passage in Psalm 62.

Verse 11 and 12 contain a very neat poetic ending of a psalm that begins with a statement of complete rest in our God. I wonder have we found our rest in our God?

Rest is a different thing than peace, though they are definitely linked together, and found in the same Person – our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace is dwelling together in harmony, working together, blessing one another - whereas rest is to cease from our work and striving. Finding our rest in Christ is part of Matthew’s gospel (Matt 11) and according to Hebrews 4 is a major indicator of true faith - yet how many of us are truly at rest in Christ.

David’s true rest comes from the knowledge that God rewards everyone according to what they have done- which according to the psalmist is the one thing God said, but the two things David heard is that God has all power and unfailing love. These two attributes of God - omnipotence and unfailing love - guarantee that God will reward everyone according to what they have done. A Christian who has found their rest in Christ Jesus will not allow the people around us (vs3,4) nor our ancestry or race (vs9), nor lack of wealth (10) to shake them. If we think metaphorically of shake as in shake a bottle (like Elvis’s song all shook up), we could realize that shaken is the opposite of rest. We can see pretty quickly that for David the reminder that he will stand before a Judge who loves him, and who will reward him for who he is, is what keeps David rested in God. This reminder centers David, calms him, and encourages him to continue in his life of faith and worship, and so a reminder of our Lord coming back in power and us rising to meet Him should center us on Christ's work, it should calm us and it should encourage us to continue in our life of faith and worship, knowing that our lives will not be in vain, but will be rewarded.