He’s Got This.

He’s Got This - Resting in Strong Hands of Jesus

“I’ve got this.”

Those words were a huge relief one evening when a group of people I was working with was due to appear before the city council on a major building project. We were all pretty nervous about the outcome and more than a little uncertain about whether anything we’d prepared to say would help or hinder our case. In the end, our colleague was exactly correct. Because of him, we could leave behind all the anxieties about our performance and rest in his ability to win the day. We never had to say a word. 

When we confess the bad news - that we are sinful, under judgment, and need a Savior - we are led by grace to the good news, that we not only have a Savior but the Savior and he offers us what the writer of Hebrews called ‘so great a salvation.’ We can’t save ourselves but what a magnificent deliverance is ours in Jesus. We can’t work to gain our salvation. Far from it. We rest in the salvation he freely bestows on us as a gift. When it comes to forgiveness and eternal life, “He’s got this!”

We even note this in something as basic as our church membership vows. The second membership vow, like the first, has to do with the Gospel and addresses the issue the first vow raises, namely our fallenness. In that first vow, we confess that we really are broken, sinful, condemned people and apart from God’s mercy would have no hope of any change in that status. The second vow looks at that very ‘negative’ truth and responds with an incredibly ‘positive’ affirmation. If in the first vow we acknowledge our great need for the Savior because of our fallenness and sin, with the second vow we acknowledge our great trust in the Savior because of His perfect holiness and love. This is highlighted by three very beautiful words in the vow, ‘believe’, ‘receive’, and ‘rest’.

Here’s the second vow’s question:

Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?

When we say “I do” to this question we affirm that we believe not only in our need for a Savior but that God has provided that Savior in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ.

“Believe” is a loaded word though. We sometimes use ‘believe’ to mean that we hold an observation to be authentic and truthful, as in “I believe that the price of gas is high right now”. Sometimes we mean that we accept a historical claim as accurate, as in “Yes, I believe Birdman won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2015.” On other occasions, we use ‘believe’ in reference to a more abstract philosophical or religious proposition, as in “I believe all people are created equal.” Finally we might use the word in reference to ‘trust’, as in “I believe the doctor’s diagnosis is correct so I’m having the surgery.”

So what do we mean when we say, “I believe in Jesus”?

Do we mean that we believe Jesus Christ is the person the Bible reveals to be the Savior? Do we mean that we believe Jesus was a real person, historically here, born of Mary, dying on a cross, and in between those two events living in such a way that he gathered many followers who claimed he was Israel’s Messiah? Do we mean that Jesus’ words were true and that the words of his followers about him, namely that he rose from the dead and that by his death he defeated death and forgave sins, are accurate and trustworthy? Well, yes. All of that.

But we mean more than this as well.

While the Christian Faith certainly includes propositional truths and historical claims, it also means adherence to and trust in the person of Christ. To ‘believe in’ is not simply to ‘believe about’, but to ‘trust in’, and that means to place the whole weight of one’s existence and destiny in the hands of another, in this case, Jesus Christ.

There is even more, however, and that’s where the little word ‘rest’ comes in. To be at ‘rest’ in this context means that we trust completely and exclusively in Jesus’ life and death on our behalf. Christ lived the life I was called to live but didn’t; he died the death that should’ve been mine but wasn’t. I can’t add to what he did and I can’t take away from what he did: In his own words, “It is finished” (John 19). Since my standing with God is founded on what he did, and not in any way on anything I have done or could ever do, then all that is left to me in regard to my standing with God is to be at rest. I am at peace because all that must be done to secure my friendship with God has already been done.

Paul put it this way: “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).  The past tense act of complete justification (“having been justified”) leads to the present-tense experience of joyful rest (“we have peace”).

There is a wonderful hymn we sing that captures the beauty of this life-transforming Gospel truth.

Chorus: Jesus I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart

Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee
And Thy beauty fills my soul
For by Thy transforming power
Thou hast made me whole

Jesus I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart

How great Thy loving-kindness
Vaster, broader than the sea
How marvelous Thy goodness
Lavished all on me

Yes, I rest in Thee beloved
Know what wealth of grace is Thine
Know Thy certainty of promise
And hath made it mine

In the Gospel, we hear Jesus say, “I’ve got this!”, or perhaps more meaningfully, “I’ve got you!” What a great cause for joy and peace! Being loved so tenderly, so beautifully, so sacrificially, and so completely leads us to a life of gratitude and deep, lasting contentment in the One who is our Beloved Redeemer. We can cease the frenetic pace of our current culture and rest - really rest - in the strong hands of Jesus our Savior.