Physical Refreshment through Rest

Exodus 23:10–12 KJV 1900

10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: 11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. 12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

Introduction

Rest is a grace.

62 percent of Americans still “agree that it’s important for society to have one day a week set aside for spiritual rest.”

You need physical refreshment that comes through rest.

It is the way that God made us.

Mark 2:27 KJV 1900

27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

We are intended to live in a cycle of working and resting.

We see this on a daily basis with waking and sleeping.

God intends for us to experience it on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis as well.

It is the cycle of life ordained by God.

Genesis 2:1–3 KJV 1900

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

God gave the Jews the Sabbath, specifically because of the pattern that He established in creation.

Exodus 31:16–17 KJV 1900

16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

We are to engage in 6 days of creative, fruitful labor, and then find rest on the 7th day.

God did not rest because He was weary.

He did it to set an example for us to follow.

300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon Rest Is a Necessity in Nature and in Humans (Exodus 20:8–11; Deuteronomy 5:12–15; 2 Samuel 11:1; Psalm 23:2–3; Ecclesiastes 3:1; Isaiah 40:29–31; Mark 6:31; Hebrews 4:1–11)

No man can always work with the same intense activity. I do not believe that God intended that any man should do so; rest is a necessity of feebleness. Look at nature. How active it is in the spring! How the buds leap into verdure! Observe how active all things are in summer! But nature begins to relax somewhat of its vigor as autumn bronzes the leaves of the forest, while in winter vegetation sleeps, and the sap, instead of circulating rapidly through the tree, retires into the center and slumbers for awhile.

Yet who shall say that the months of winter are wasted? No, during the winter months the vegetable world is gathering needed strength for another spring, and summer, and autumn.

So it is with Christian men at times. They have their winters when the sap is driven to the center, when the spiritual life exercises itself rather about its own self than about anything outward, when the man’s care is rather about whether he himself is saved, whether his own spirit is in a flourishing state, than about the souls of others. Well, if the God of nature has so decreed it, so must it be.

It was modeled for us by Jesus.

Mark 6:31 KJV 1900

31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

Rest is an essential part of life.

Going without proper rest unbiblical and foolish.

You need to respect your body’s need for rest.

Respect other people’s needs for refreshment through rest.

Employers

We plainly see in our passage the requirement to provide a time of rest for those around us.

If you have people that work for you, respect their need for rest.

Give them every opportunity you can to let them rest.

If you are going through a particularly busy season, set up a time immediately following for them to be able to rest.

Parents

Most of our kids live in a cycle of work hard, reward, repeat.

This pattern fails to teach our kids how to rest.

We are subconsciously teaching our kids that their identity is wrapped up in what they do and not who they are.

Our refusal [to rest] roots human identity in mere achievement, productivity, efficiency, and accomplishment.

Our refusal to rest is killing us. It is killing our young. It’s leading to breakdowns in mental health, obesity, depression, broken relationships, broken families, and substance abuse.

Ministry Leaders

If you’re a ministry leader, here at the Baptist Tabernacle, you have a responsibility to provide for the rest of others as well.

We have a responsibility be good stewards of the servants that God has brought to our church.

That means incorporating new volunteers.

That means giving people the freedom to shamelessly take a break.

Rest is not...

An excuse for laziness.

Rest apart from the cycle of work is just idleness.

Rest is commended in the Bible while sluggardliness is condemned.

Proverbs 20:4 KJV 1900

4 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; Therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

A valid reason for opting out of church assemblies.

Hebrews 10:25 KJV 1900

25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon The Spiritual Sluggard (Ecclesiastes 2:24; John 5:17; Colossians 3:23; 2 Thessalonians 3:10)

You have heard, perhaps, of the very pious man who entered a monastery in order that he might spend all his time in devotion. When the time came for the brothers to go into the fields to work, he did not leave his cell. He was too spiritual to handle a hoe or a spade, so he continued in communion with angels. He was very much surprised, however, when the time came for the brotherhood to assemble in the refectory, that he was not called. After waiting until the demands of hunger overcame the claims of his spiritual being, he went to the prior and asked why he had not been called to the meal, and he was informed that, as he was to not work, it was thought that he was probably so spiritual that he could not eat. At any rate, the laws of the monastery did not permit him to eat until he had earned what he needed.

Something to be ashamed of.

Have you ever seen a company advertising their “guilt-free” desserts?

Does it seem like there is no such thing as guilt-free resting?

Instead busyness is a badge of honor.

Rest

Prevents burn out.

Optimizes our effectiveness.

There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.

Reignites our passion.

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 564: Rest

In the back corner of my yard, partitioned by a rose bed and a 40-year-old lilac bush, rests a pile, 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet high—my compost pile. Old-fashioned chicken wire stapled to well-anchored stakes holds it in place. Into it I toss every bit of yard scrap and a heavy dose of kitchen scrap … a bit of lime now and then, a good dose of dog droppings, and an occasional handful of fertilizer.

The compost pile burns hot, never smells, and each October yields about 70 bushels of fine black dirt, dark as midnight, moist and flaky, that I spread in the garden.… Gardeners call it “black gold.”—… It nurtures 80 roses and a half-dozen beds of perennials and annuals …

Could it be that what nourishes my plants nourishes me?

Timmerman compares his compost soil, which grows rich and fertile as it sits for months, to his life and the need of his soul for rest. Daily life hands us all kinds of things—good and bad—scraps, lime, and even “dog droppings.” But as we take sabbath rest, these things are transformed. Godly rest can turn the difficulties of daily life into a rich resource for spiritual fruitfulness.

Allows our bodies to heal.

My Favorite Illustrations Even Machines Need Rest

Years ago, I read about a railroad that conducted an experiment. It purchased two new locomotives. One was kept in constant service, regardless of Sunday. In the use of the other, late each Saturday they pulled its fire and released the steam. On Sunday it was allowed to cool down, thus re-tempering its metal. Then it was fired up again on Monday. Over the years they found that they had less maintenance and trouble with the latter than with the former. If rest one day each week so benefited a piece of machinery, how much more does the fragile, delicate human body and spirit need it!

Provides opportunities for others to be involved.

For those of us who tend to take on too much, our truest act of faith is to slow down, to embrace our limits, and to trust that the Savior will carry what we cannot.

Rest points to what we have in Christ now and what He will provide us in eternity.