Houston Trinity News

Friends,

You may not have noticed, but construction workers laid fiber cable across the front of the Church property last week. They were on the property most of last week: digging pilot holes, running the boring machine, driving the fiber under the driveway. I came in Monday morning and closed the gate as I always do. I don’t lock it but just close the bars. When I left to go to lunch there was a truck parked on Barker Cypress blocking the right lane and there was another truck with a generator on a trailer parked in our drive facing the street. The gates were open so obviously they had driven onto the property and turned around. As I left, i stopped at the truck intending to ask if they would like us to open our lot so they could park their cars off the street. I looked around but couldn’t find any workers. Then I noticed that they were all in the truck fast asleep. I didn’t bother them, just left and went to lunch. When I returned everyone was back to work.

My first thought, as I sat at lunch was that they should not have been sleeping when they were supposed to be working. The same is true for us, correct? We are called to be workers for our God. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:9 ESV). We should be diligent in our work because that is what we are called to be. Correct? We should do our best to present ourselves to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

There is profit in our toil says the writer of Proverbs. There is a harvest to be reaped, if we sow. There is gain in our work. The Gospel according to John gives the account of Jesus healing the man at the pool. In that accounting, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and is questioned by the religious authorities about working. His reply is a reply for us as well as the authorities. It is an example for us to heed. A lesson for us to learn. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” (John 5:17). God is always working. Jesus is always working. We should always be working. Correct?

But as I continued to think about those men sleeping in the truck I realized that we are also told to rest. The writer of Hebrews tells us “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:9-10) God rested, Jesus withdrew from the crowds and rested. We should rest also. But not just a rest from our work. Not just a rest from our weariness, but a rest that brings about renewal. A rest in a relationship with God. As Jesus says in Matthew 11:28 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Once again, I was conflicted. I like work. I like doing God’s work. I like seeing the joy and peace and comfort that comes from working to bring about relationships with God, to build community, to see God’s love shared among his children. I hunger for the opportunity to continue that work. But I get tired. I need that rest even though I think I should keep working. Yet, the harder I work, the longer I work, the more I work without stopping; the wearier I get.

Those men in the truck were a great reminder. They worked hard. They rested. And at the end of the day the fiber cable was laid across the front of our property, the holes were all filled in, the construction trash was all collected, and the job was finished.

Let’s work hard for the kingdom of God. Let’s work hard for each other. Let’s remember to rest and to encourage others to rest. So we can finish what we are called to complete.

God bless you. See you Sunday

Hebrews 11:29-12:2 (NRSV)

²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. ³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

³²And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets– ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented– ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

NRSV HEBREWS 12:1

THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.