Be Fruitful for Jesus – Foundation Class – Genesis 2:1-3
Remember the Parable of the Sower
མད་ཐཱ། 13:23 – ས་བོན་ས་རྒྱུ་བཟང་པོ་ལ་འཐོར་བ་ནི་དཀོན་མཆོག་གི་བཀའ་ཐོས་ནས་རྟོགས་པའི་མི་དེ་ཡིན། འབྲས་བུ་སྨིན་ཏེ། འབྲས་བུ་ཁ་ཤས་ལྡབ་བརྒྱ་དང༌། ཁ་ཤས་ལྡབ་དྲུག་ཅུ། ཁ་ཤས་ལྡབ་སུམ་ཅུ་བཅས་སྨིན་” ཞེས་གསུངས།
Matthew 13:23 – As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
The key to being fruitful for Jesus is “the one who hears the word and understands it“. Knowing and understanding the words of God is foundational to obedience and doing the will of God.
This lesson addresses God’s initial institution of the Sabbath rest.
བཀོད་པ 2:1-3
1དེ་ལྟར་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་ས་གཞི་དང་དེའི་ནང་ཇི་ཡོད་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་ཆ་ཚངའགྲུབ་པར་མཛད་གནང་ངོ། 2ཉིན་བདུན་བར་དུ་དཀོན་མཆོག་རང་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ཕྱག་ལས་གནང་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་འགྲུབ་པར་མཛད་དེ། དེ་ཉིན་ངལ་གསོ་གནང་བར་བཞུགས་སོ། 3ཁོང་གིས་ཉིན་བདུན་པ་དེ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རླབས་ཤིང་དེ་ལ་དམིགས་བསལ་གྱི་ཉིན་ཞེས་དབྱེ་བ་གནང་ངོ་། གང་ལ་ཟེར་ན། ཉིན་དེ་ཁོང་རང་གིས་བཀོད་པའི་ཕྱག་ལས་ཐམས་ཅད་འགྲུབ་པར་མཛད་དེ་ངལ་གསོ་གནང་བར་བཞུགས་པའི་ཕྱིར་རོ།
Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
These words in Genesis 2 that God “rested from all his work” is not liken to what human do as work and labor which results in physical fatigue and our body condition show signs of exhaustion and we need to stop labor.
This “God rested from all his work” signify the completion of His creation and transformation on Earth, including the laying of foundations and laws how things should function and be productive, to ensure a livable condition for all living creatures.
God created the earth environment to function and provide sustenance for all living creatures and Man was to be a care-taker. God provided all that is needed for survival and reproductions of all living creatures.
The Sabbath day rest was instituted from the time of Genesis and it teaches us
1) to honor God as creator and owner over His creations.
2) our dependency on God for provision and protection
2) our obligation to find rest in God as God rested
3) a complete state of rest in the presence of God
4) a practice of sanctification and holiness as God commanded
The commandment to rest on Sabbath was repeated in Exodus when God gave His words and commandment through Moses when establishing His covenant with that generation of Israel leaving Egypt and preparing them to enter The Promised Land.
Note – God said to remember the Sabbath
སྡེབ་ཐོན 20:8-11
8ངལ་གསོ་བའི་ཞག་སྲུང་ནས་ཉིན་དེ་ལ་དམ་པར་རྩིས་ཤིག 9ཞག་དྲུག་གི་བར་དུ་རང་གི་ལས་དོན་ཚང་མ་བྱེད་ཆོག 10འོན་ཀྱང་ཉིན་ཞག་བདུན་པ་དེ་ནི་ང་ལ་བསྔོ་འབུལ་བྱེད་པའི་ཉལ་གསོའི་ཉི་མ་ཡིན་པས། དེ་ཉིན་ཁྱོད་རང་དང་། ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་བུ་ཕྲུག་དང་། ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་བྲན་གཡོག་ཚོ་དང་། དུད་འགྲོ་དང་། གཞན་ཡང་ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་དུ་གནས་སྡོད་བྱ་མཁན་ཕྱི་རྒྱལ་བ་ཚོས་ཀྱང་ལས་གང་ཡང་བྱེད་མི་ཆོག 11གང་ལ་ཟེར་ན། ཉིན་ཞག་དྲུག་གི་བར་དུ་ང་གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་ས་གཞི་དང་། ནམ་མཁའ་དང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་དང་དེའི་ནང་ཡོད་པ་ཚང་མ་བཀོད་དེ། ཉིན་ཞག་བདུན་པར་ངལ་གསོ་བ་ཡིན་པས། དེའི་རྐྱེན་གྱིས་ང་གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་ངལ་གསོ་བའི་ཞག་དེ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རླབས་ཏེ་དམ་པར་བྱས་པ་ཡིན་ནོ།
Exodus 20:8-11
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
The commandment to rest in God is important because restlessness have become a worldwide human problem. Restlessness due to anxiety for survival is pervasive among people regardless of race and nationalities across the world.
Today we are living in an environment saturated with human strive and conflicts related to limited resources and scarcities of supplies. Human struggle for survival is rooted primarily in being separated from our dependency on God for provision and protection. Trying to survive on our own without God’s blessing and covering.
Wars and conflicts across the world throughout the history of human civilization due to resources are rooted in human greed and unequal distribution. Even in times of natural disaster God have shown in the example of Joseph in Egypt how government management could help resolve human needs for basic food and survival.
Environmental pollution today that damage food sources are due to human error and mismanagement. We should know the industrial revolution had done more damage to Earth then what politicians promised as “improve lives and help economy”. Across the world our human lives did not actually improves due to human interventions and political control. In fact human interventions and political control had led to more conflict and unequal food distributions.
If we human had listened to God and continue to live in obedience to God’s words the Earth environment would have been very different today.
གསུང་མགུར 24:1 – འཛམ་བུ་གླིང་དང་དེའི་ནང་ཇི་ཡོད་ཀུན། གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་རང་གི་ཡིན་པ་དང་།
ས་གཞི་འདི་དང་དེའི་ནང་གནས་པ་ཀུན། གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་རང་ཉིད་གི་ཡོན་ནོ།
Psalm 24:1 – The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,
God provided that we may find rest in Him!
We should know only in a situation of peace we can find rest. And for that perfect satisfying peace and rest we need to be in the presence of God. And the path to the presence of God is in our acts of obedience to His words.
Scripture have a long list of reference about rest in God because we are to find rest in God and many failed to find proper rest in God. So we are going to be looking into scriptures and change our priorities of life so that we may find proper rest in God
སྡེབ་ཐོན 33:14 – དེ་ནས་གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་བཀའ་གནང་བ། ང་ཁྱོད་དང་མཉམ་དུ་འགྲོ་ཞིང་ཁྱོད་ལ་རྒྱལ་ཁ་སྤྲོད་རྒྱུ་ཡིན།
Exodus 33:14 – And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
From the time of Moses when God gave His laws and commandments to the children of Israel it was already revealed to them the key to finding rest in God is in His presence. Therefore the Torah (the writings of Moses) teaches about separation and division, sanctification and holiness, God’s covenant and obligations, God’s provision of atonement, forgiveness and cleansing, in order for Man to seek the peace and presence of God.
If God did not provide atonement for our sin we will not be able to draw near to God. But God did provide the means for us to seek Him and to be in His presence.
One must seek the presence of God through obedience and repentance. Jesus taught about obedience and repentance.
ཡེར་མི་ཡཱ 31:25 – ངས་ཐང་ཆད་པ་རྣམས་ལ་སངས་པར་བྱེད་ཅིང་ལྟོགས་ནས་སྐྱོ་པོ་ཡོད་པ་ཚོར་ཟས་ཀྱིས་ཚིམ་པར་བྱ་རྒྱུ་ཡིན་ནོ།
Jeremiah 31:25 – For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”
The result of finding rest and peace in God is that our soul gets replenished.
Many people across the world suffer from fatigue – mental and spiritual fatigue – and it is a growing social problem. Depression is becoming a common illness.
It is the will of God for our souls be replenished and that we have peace of minds.
གསུང་མགུར 3:5 – ང་ས་ལ་ཕབ་ནས་ཉལ་བ་ཡིན། མཚན་གང་གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་ང་ལ་སྐྱབས་གནང་ངོ་།
Psalm 3:5 – I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
Insomnia – a condition of sleep disorder when a person has difficulty falling to sleep after getting to bed – is becoming more common across the world. Many have sort medications and all sorts of therapy to get a good sleep. The very few who did found help soon realize their relive are temporary. Many continue to suffer chronic insomnia and their mental health suffer.
It is the will of God for us to have a good sleep and be at peace with Him.
གསུང་མགུར 4:8 – ང་ནི་ཞེ་བདེའི་ངང་དུ་གཉིད་ཉལ་སྐབས། ཀྱེ་གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཁྱེད་ཉིད་གཅིག་པུ་ཡིས།
ང་ལ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པའི་སྲུང་སྐྱོབ་གནང་༎
Psalm 4:8 – In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
The lack of peace, safety, and security can disrupt our sleep. But when we learn to trust God we learn to rest under His protection and provision and be in the state of peace with God.
གསུང་མགུར 116:7 – ང་ཡི་སེམས་ཉིད་ཁྱོད་ནི་བློ་ཁལ་པོ་བྱོས་ཞིག།
གང་ལ་ཟེར་ན་གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཁོང་གིས་ང་ལ་བཟང་པོ་གནང་།
Psalm 116:7 – Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
Wondering souls find no rest. Being separated from God because of sin and disobedience can cause a person to wonder aimlessly and deprive our souls of having proper rest in God. Therefore this message is a call for repentance and turning back to God.
གསུང་མགུར 127:1-2
1གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཁོང་གིས་ཁང་ཁྱིམ་མ་བཟོས་ན། ཁང་བཟོ་པ་ཡི་ལས་རྣམས་དོན་མེད་ཡིན།
གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཁོང་གིས་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་དེ་མ་སྲུང་ན།
བསྲུང་བ་ཚོས་ལངས་ནས་སྲུང་རྒྱུ་དེ་དོན་མེད་ཡིན
2སྔ་དྲོ་ལངས་ནས་མཚན་མོ་ཕྱི་པོར་ཉལ། དེ་བཞིན་འཚོ་ཕྱིར་ངལ་རྩོལ་དོན་མེད་ཡིན།
གང་ལགས་ཟེར་ན་གཙོ་བོ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་གཅེས་པར། ཉལ་སྐབས་དེ་ཚོར་མཁོ་ཆས་ཆ་ཚང་གནང་།
Psalm 127:1-2 – A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Societies and nations driven by human greed and covetousness have caused many to work beyond their limits without satisfaction. Today we often hear of constructions projects gone bankrupt and workers laid off. Labor unions and workers go on strike and more endless problems. Our living environment is in chaos due to human mismanagement and excessive constructions.
When will human stop meaningless constructions?
མད་ཐཱ། 11:28-30
28དཀའ་སྡུག་ཆེན་པོ་མྱོང་བ་དང་ཁུར་བོ་ལྕི་མོས་མནན་ཡོད་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་བདག་གི་དྲུང་དུ་ཤོག༌དང༌། བདག་གིས་ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ལ་ངལ་གསོ་སྟེར་བར༌བྱའོ།། 29བདག་གི་གཉའ་ཤིང་ཁུར་ལ་བདག་ནས་སློབས༌དང༌། བདག་ནི་གཤིས་རྒྱུད་འཇམ་ཞིང་སྙེམས་ཆུང༌ཡིན། དེ་ལྟར་བྱས༌ན། ཁྱོད་རྣམས་ཀྱི་སེམས་སུ་ངལ་གསོ་འཐོབ་ངེས༌ཡིན། 30རྒྱུ་མཚན་ནི་བདག་གི་གཉའ་ཤིང་བདེ་ཞིང་ངའི་ཁུར་བོའང་ཡང་ངོ་ཞེས་གསུངས༌སོ།།
Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus was preaching to people who had been through wars and conflict, wearied and tired, and seeking for eternal rest in God. But notice Jesus said to take up His yoke instead of just lay back and relax.
This yoke Jesus speaks of is referring to His teaching and practice of obedience to God. How Jesus trusted the Father and lived within the provision and protection of God the Father.
Jesus is teaching us to find true rest in God by turning away from the worldly human ideology of living without the provision and protection of God and to live in trust and obedience to the laws and teachings of God.
ཨིབ་རི་པ། 4:9-10
9དེས་ན་དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་རང་གི་མི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་ཆེད༌དུ། ངལ་གསོ་ཞིག་བསྐྱུར་ཡོད་པ་ཤེས་ནུས་ལ། 10ཁོང་གི་ངལ་གསོ་ནང་དུ་ཞུགས་མཁན་ཡིན༌ན། དཀོན་མཆོག་གིས་རང་གི་འཕྲིན་ལས་ཐམས་ཅད་ནས་ངལ་གསོ་མཛད་པ་བཞིན། རང་གི་དོན་རྣམས་སྒྲུབ་མཚམས་བཞག་སྟེ་ངལ་གསོ་བྱས་པ་ཡིན༌ནོ།།
Hebrews 4:9-10
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
This message from Hebrews is speaking of Sabbath
A) as our weekly observation to rest in the Lord as according to His commandment
B) in seeking the presence of God through sanctification and practice of holiness through observation of the Sabbath
C) our future eternal rest in the presence of God in His kingdom
We are to practice observation of the Sabbath to honor God as creator and owner over His creations.
Observation of the Sabbath is an act of faith about our dependency on God for provision and protection.
Keeping the Sabbath is believers’ practice of sanctification and holiness as God commanded.
We may be living in a world of turmoil, political chaos, but through faith in God’s words we can practice obedience to God and let God show us the path to peace and rest in Him.
In-His-Service
David Z
The Life of Yeshu 