Created to Rest

Introduction

Well, good morning! Listen, it feels great to have our whole church family together this morning…worshipping together…fellowshipping together. This is what the church is supposed to be…this is where we’re at our fullest as a body because as Scripture teaches…its when we’re together, in Christ…its at this point, we’re at our most complete. And so, I’m just excited to see what God does this morning.

Alright, before we get started, let’s recite our mission verse together…Remember our mission statement, “to become a church without walls,”…and our vision statement, “to deliver, disciple, deploy”…these statements, they come out of Matthew 28, verses 19 & 20.

And so, the verses, they’ll be on the screen…I’ll get us started.

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

[Prayer]

Alright, if you have your Bibles, open ‘em up with me to Genesis chapter 2…Genesis chapter 2.

This is our first week in this chapter…our seventh week in this study of Genesis. And so far we’ve been looking at the creation narrative…looking at what God did through the first six days of creation…we paralleled what He did in creation to what He does in our salvation…we looked at His character…we looked at how He created man in His image…we looked at the special responsibilities that came with being created in that image…And so, this morning, we’re gonna look at the final day of creation…the seventh day.

And honestly, outside of man being created on the sixth day…this last day of creation, it tells us the most about the heart of God and the intentions that God had when He created man.

Listen, you guys ever here that country song, “I’m In a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)?” Alabama, they were the one’s to sing this song, but it goes like this:

I'm in a hurry to get things done Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun All I really gotta do is live and die But I'm in a hurry and don't know why.

I think it’s safe to say that those lyrics, they define many of us in this room today, right? It doesn’t matter what stage of life we’re in, it just seems things always get busier and busier for us.

I told Brittany not too long ago that I was so ready to finally be done with school…I’d have so much more time to do other things, right? But she looked over at me and she said, “You’ll just find something else to fill your time up with.” And you know what?…she’s absolutely right!

Even though we live in a culture where we have more technology than anyone before us…technology that was meant to save us time…we’re still the busiest generation that’s ever existed. And listen, this technology…it does save us time…but what happens, we now have more time to give to other things. And so the problem now, because of our fallen nature, we always have this way of filling our time up with things that just pull us further and further away from God…and we’ve done this to the point that there’s now this expectation in our culture…we’re expected to be busy. And honestly, I believe this is just another plan of Satan’s to keep us from the presence of God…because we’ve become so busy, that outside of Sunday morning, we just don’t have time for God anymore.

In the words of Debbie Dine…she tells me all the time....busy, it just mean’s “being-under-Satan’s-yoke.”

But listen, this morning, as we look at this last day of creation…just like what we saw going on in the first six days…there’s a very physical meaning here…but more importantly, there’s a very spiritual meaning here. And listen, what we’re gonna see, it’s that we were created for rest…and more importantly, we were created to find fulfillment in Christ.

And so, if you’re there with me, let’s stand together as we read, starting in verse 1. It says this:

Genesis 2:1–3 (ESV)

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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. 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.

Thank you, you can be seated.

Listen, as we dive into this text this morning…we’re gonna do a little bit of jumping around in Scripture because what we see, this idea of rest…it’s the heart of God. It’s what He wants most for us…and this is just something we see over and over again throughout the Old and New Testaments. And so, there’s two things we’re gonna look at this morning: Number 1, how the Bible shows our need for rest and then finally, number 2, how the Bible models our need for rest.

Listen, about half of this message is gonna be explanation (so what does the Bible say)…and then the last half, we’ll apply what this means for us as Christians today.

And so, if you’re ready, let’s dive right into it.

1.) The Bible Shows Our Need for Rest

Pictured in Creation

Point number 1…the Bible shows our need for rest…and listen, this is first pictured here in these verses through the creation narrative. Our need for rest, it’s pictured in creation.

What we see is that God created rest because it was exactly what man needed. This sabbath rest that we’re gonna talk about…it was meant for man. It was meant to draw us closer to God. It was meant to rejuvenate us and replenish us. Sabbath rest, it gives us everything we need physically…it gives us everything we need spiritually, to be the people God created us to be…to be people that properly reflect His image to the world.

Look at our main passage again…it says that on the seventh day, God rested. Now, we have to understand what this word “rest” means if we’re really gonna understand what it means for us. Obviously, we know the nature of God…and we know that on this seventh day God certainly didn’t just rest from sustaining the world, right? We know, based on Scripture, God has to sustain everything in order for it to remain good for man. We also know that God’s omnipotent, He’s all knowing, He’s all powerful…He doesn’t need rest. He doesn’t grow weary. And so, what’s this mean?

Well, that word “rest,” it literally means to cease…to stop. If you remember the accounts we’ve been walking through, the first six days of creation, God’s now stopping His work in that creation. It’s been completed. He’s perfected it. That’s why He steps back in the last couple verses of chapter 1 and He says, “It’s very good,” right? And so, this last day…after the heavens and earth were finished…after all the angels and all the animals and after man was made in God’s image…God finished His work....He “rested,” He “ceased” from all His work that had been done. There was nothing else that needed to be completed…creation came to an end…it was perfect. And so, He stopped.

And guys, when he stopped…when He ceased His work…the text says He blessed this day. Now listen, this is important…because this is the third time God blesses something. We saw it in Genesis 1:22 where He blessed the animals…we saw it in Genesis 1:28 where He blessed man…and now we see it here again in Genesis 2:3. But listen, the reason this is so important is because every time He blesses something, its always attached to fruitfulness. Right after he blesses the animals, he tells them to “be fruitful and multiply.” Right after he blesses mankind, He tells them to “be fruitful and multiply.” And so, as we read about this third blessing, its only natural for us to relate this blessing to fruitfulness. Just as God’s blessing made animals and humans physically fruitful, His blessing here makes this seventh day spiritually fruitful. You understand what I’m saying?

One commentator writes, “God’s blessing bestows on this special, holy, solemn day a power which makes it fruitful for human existence. The blessing gives the day, which is a day of rest, the power to stimulate, animate, enrich and give fullness to life. The seventh day is one of a perpetual spiritual spring - a day of multiplication and fruitfulness.”

But listen, our text also says that God makes this day holy. In fact, its the first time in the Bible the word holy’s actually used. Of course, we’ve looked at this word multiple times but it means to be set apart. It means to cut something off or to separate something into its own unique category. And so, God was setting this day apart from every other day. He’s making it a special day. He’s cutting it off and He’s separating it from every other day of the week. It’s a distinguished day…a unique day. And notice, this last day of creation…it also doesn’t finish like the other days of creation…it’s left open…we don’t see this “and there was evening and there was morning.” It’s just different. It’s distinct…it’s unique from all others.

And so, naturally, it leads us to the question…what’s the significance of this day for us today? Well, because Genesis was written in conjunction with the other five books of the Torah, I think we have to read about what God prescribed in the commandments when He gave them to Moses in order for us to understand what it means for us today.

Prescribed in the Commandments

Turn over with me to Exodus chapter 20. In order to answer our question, there’s several other passages in the Bible we have to examine and this is one of those. It’s in this passage where God explains the fourth commandment. He this says starting in verse 8:

Exodus 20:8–11 (ESV)

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 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. 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.

Doesn’t that last verse sound pretty familiar? He’s referencing our main passage in Genesis. He’s using it as a reason for commanding the Israelites here to keep a weekly Sabbath day.

Now, I wanna be clear…it’s important to remember that God’s commanding this to the nation of Israel. He’s not issuing this command for people outside of Israel…it’s for His people. Now, that doesn’t mean that there’s no relevance for us today…You see, what God was instructing physically to Israel, we’re gonna see that God expects the same from us spiritually.

If you’re familiar with the Exodus accounts…the Israelites they were slaves in Egypt…God raised up Moses to deliver these people…He performed 10 different plagues to demonstrate His awesome power and favor for the Israelite people…and the Egyptians allowed these Israelites to go free.

And so, these people, they begin to leave and as they make it to the shores of the Red Sea, the Egyptians, who had now changed their minds, had sent their entire military force to wipe out the Israelites. Well, God parted the sea and He allowed His people passage and as the Egyptians were barreling down on these Israelites, God released the waters and wiped out their entire military force. God saved His people.

And so, later in Exodus, as these people are wandering around in the wilderness, these Israelites, they start to complain…they complain that there’s no food. And so, God hears them and takes care of them. He provides them with mana and with quail. And He tells them, “every morning I’ll provide these things to you…but only gather what you need for that particular day,” right? Or else, it’ll get worms and it’ll spoil. But He says, on the sixth day, you may gather twice as much because on the seventh day, its a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. The extra food you gather on that day, it won’t spoil. Exodus 16:29 says:

Exodus 16:29–30 (ESV)

See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.

You say, “Okay, yea…but what’s all this mean?” Well, if you remember, when God instructed them to keep it…He said, “to remember the Sabbath,” right? This physical Sabbath Day, it was meant for His people to celebrate creation…they were called to reflect on what God did in the first six days, where He took nothing and gave that nothing life…it was meant for them to celebrate salvation…they were called to look back on what God did for them physically by saving them from their oppressors…it was meant to remind them of the covenant between them and God…that God was gonna keep His promises to them…to make them a great nation. No other people had a Sabbath, because no other people had been blessed in the ways Israel was. This command to keep it holy, it was a reflection of the grace that God had bestowed on them. When God said to remember the Sabbath, He was telling them to remember everything He’s done for them. The idea of remembering, it was to make it a regular part of their schedule. Reflect on God so that it allowed them to constantly walk with God. That’s why Moses writes in Exodus 31, verse 12:

Exodus 31:12–13 (ESV)

And the Lord said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.

And listen, this was a pretty serious deal to God…in fact, those that didn’t honor it were sentenced to death.

And so, that’s how the Old Testament defines the Sabbath, but let’s flip over to the New Testament and see how the Sabbath’s perfected in Christ.

Perfected in Christ

Listen, by the time we get to Jesus…the Jews, they’ve added all kinds of additions and amendments and manmade requirements for this command of the Sabbath…so much so that there were now 39 different categories on how to actually honor the Sabbath. There’s all these things they had to do to keep this Sabbath Day…and even now, Jews today go back to these 39 different categories. And listen, all these requirements they put on this day, it would even make our tax laws look like cliff notes in comparison. The Sabbath had become something that man invented for their own gain instead of something that was meant to honor God. Like everything else man got ahold of, they distorted it.

And so, Jesus comes on the scene…of course, He knows the condition of mankind…He knows how they’ve distorted all these laws that were set forth…He knows that these were the conditions that were put on the people by the Pharisees…and He comes along and He makes it very clear that the Sabbath rest is perfected in Him. Matthew 5:17 puts it as clearly as it can be put.

Matthew 5:17 (ESV)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

He says, “I didn’t come to abolish the laws…I came to fulfill them....they’re perfected in me.” That’s why He says in other places that He’s the Lord of the Sabbath. That’s exactly why Jesus says in Matthew 11:28:

Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV)

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.”

You realize what’s Jesus is saying here? He’s offering a rest that these people could never find. All those people, trying so hard to keep the Sabbath…keeping all those regulations…all those requirements…and here’s Jesus…giving them…giving us…the simple invitation… “come to me....and I will give you rest for your souls.”

And trust me when I say this…this kinda of rest…its so much better than a two hour nap or a two week vacation. It’s an eternal rest.

And of course, many of Jesus’s altercations with the Pharisees, it involved Him not keeping with the Sabbath…He’d go around and perform these miracles and in the action of that miracle He’d break the laws according to the Pharisees because He was working. On one such occasion, Jesus takes some mud, He rubs it around in His hands, He put’s it on the face of someone He’s healing, right? But that act of the mud moving around in His hands was what got these Pharisees so bent out of shape. And so, Jesus would make it real clear to them in Matthew 12:8. He says:

Matthew 12:8 (CSB)

For the Son of Man (referring to Himself) is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Meaning, “I’m the boss…I call the rules of the Sabbath…I say what can and can’t be done…I say ‘come to me…and I’ll give you rest for your souls.”

Can I stop right here and just say this? There’s some of you here this morning…you came in…and your soul’s troubled…there’s a hole in it…you’re here because it’s what you do…you’re here because you gotta keep the “Sabbath,” you gotta check that box off for the week…you went to church…but your soul’s troubled. Guys, if you’ve never come to Jesus…and just simply believe in what’s He’s offering. Can I challenge you?...make today that day. And you, based on the promise of our risen Savior…you have the assurance that He’ll provide the rest that you’re really looking for. Rest for your soul. And as a by-product…if you honor the Sabbath…you’ll get the rest you need physically.

Listen, one more verse…Mark’s gospel adds a little more detail to this thought. Mark says in Mark 2:27:

Mark 2:27–28 (ESV)

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Meaning, God gave us this Sabbath rest because ultimately we needed it. And He gave us His Son, because ultimately we needed Him…He created us for rest, but because of our fallen nature…we distorted the good things He gave us…and so to continue giving us what we needed both physically and spiritually, He gave us Jesus to fulfill and perfect that rest…again, for our benefit. Jesus alone fulfills the Sabbath, and because of that guys, Jesus alone is where you can find true, satisfying rest…are you taking advantage of that?

I mean just think about that…what if we took the principles of the Sabbath and stopped seeing them as a burden and started seeing them as a benefit. Think about what that would do for our worship time…for our quiet times with Him…think about the satisfaction we’d actually find in Him…think about the rest we’d actually receive.

And when Jesus says, “It is finished” on the cross. I believe this parallels to the finished work of creation. Jesus says it’s finished…you don’t have to work any longer…find rest in me.

Practiced in the Church

And so, we see this idea of the Sabbath perfected in Christ. But real quickly, how’s it practiced in the church? Because I think it’s important to remember the grace of Christ through the gospel…we can’t make anything legalistic…we can’t become Pharisees ourselves and we have to make sure we only cling to the gospel and the gospel alone for our salvation.

Concerning the Sabbath itself and how’s its practiced in the church…Paul, I think, he’s pretty clear on how we should approach it. He says in Romans 14, verse 1:

Romans 14:1 (ESV)

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

He says in verse 5:

Romans 14:5 (ESV)

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

And so listen, what I think Paul’s talking about here is how people in his day approached the legalistic aspects of the Sabbath. Basically, he’s saying, “You wanna observe the Sabbath, go for it…you certainly don’t have to…you’re not obligated to observe it....you have freedom in Christ,” right? It’s not a sin if you don’t do it…it’s not gonna bring you salvation if you do it…Is it good for your soul? Absolutely…but as you mature in your faith, you’ll realize that. That’s exactly what Paul’s saying here…its the difference between a “have to” mentality and a “get to” mentality. It’s a privilege now. We wanna spend time with God…we see it as a privilege now…a need…we have to be in the presence of Christ just like what we see with Moses on top Mount Sinai when he was in the presence of God…he didn’t wanna leave.

Listen, in our freedom....in our relationship with Christ…we’ve been brought together as brothers and sisters. And when we come together as the church…that’s when we’re at our most complete…that’s when we’re able to fully reflect the glory of God…that’s when we’re able to truly worship God. And we see this idea in the New Testament where the church moved their Sabbath Day…their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. And so, we practice part of the Sabbath by coming together corporately to worship…but there’s also an individualistic approach to this as well…the thing Jesus wants most for each of us…it’s to find rest in Him…its to find satisfaction in Him…that’s what the Sabbath’s all about.

And so, what’s that look like? How do we do that as individuals? How do we find rest when it seems our lives are just busy and hectic?

2.) The Bible Models Our Need for Rest

Well listen, real quickly…let’s look at the applicational part of this. Point number 2…the Bible models out need for rest. And listen, I wanna give you this corny acronym....R.E.S.T....REST.

R-Remember & Reflect

Let’s look at this first idea…we’re to remember and to reflect. We’re to remember that we’re not God…we were created with limitations…we’ll talk more about this idea next week, but man was created out of dust. We were created to find rest…to need rest. Even Jesus modeled this in His earthly life…when He became man, His body required rest, right? And rest is good for us…we’ve created this culture where its looked down upon for us to rest…guys, its good for us…that’s why God, in the Old Testament, instituted a day of rest. We need it. And so, what we should be doing…we should be looking at our calendars and scheduling a regular time of rest because ultimately you were created to rest…you were created with those limitations because it’s when you rest, you’re reminded of God…which allows you to reflect. That’s what God said to Moses concerning the Sabbath in the 10 Commandments. They were to reflect on everything God had did in creation and in their salvation from Egypt. Guys, we’re to reflect on everything God did for us…that we no longer have to work or do all these things to be in His presence. We’re to reflect on what it is He’s done for us through His Son, Jesus. That’s even the purpose of things like the Lord’s Supper, right? We’re to reflect on the grace and the mercy He’s given us.

E-Enter & Enjoy

E…we’re to enter and enjoy. As believers, we’re to enter into His presence…we’re to accept His invitation to come to Him…just as He said in Matthew. We come to Him to find rest for our souls…we enter into His presence. Listen, if I asked you to come to my house…have dinner with my family....what would you do? You’d come to my house, right? You’d enter my home…you’re not gonna sit outside on the step and wait til dinner’s over…you’re gonna enter. Jesus said to come! And so, how do we do that? We intentionally set aside time to enter into His presence. We intentionally set time aside to go to His Word to communicate with Him…This is what I call a quiet time, right? We have to be intentional about it…we have to set time aside…and when we do that, we enjoy His presence. We enjoy communion with Him. We should enjoy this relationship with Jesus. But if you’re not spending time with Him, it’s hard to enjoy that, right? You’re not gonna enjoy anything you don’t invest in.

S-Stop & Separate

S…we have to stop and separate…Guys, when it comes to the Sabbath for us…finding a time to rest spiritually, we first have to stop. Looking back on our main passage…what’s that word “rest” means? It means to stop, to cease, right? God, stopped from His work…that’s how He defines rest. Listen, when we enter into His presence we have to stop. We have to be intentional about it…We can’t be worried about everything else…we’re to stop and to focus on Christ. Some of us struggle with our quiet times because we just don’t know how to stop. Now, this means we have to communicate with our loved ones…it means you have to turn your phone off and not respond…you have to separate this time and make it important…make it holy in your routine. Isn’t that what God did on the seventh day? He separated it from every other day. This time you set aside, you need to separate it and make it important…let others know its important…and listen, you separate this time with the intentions of focusing solely on Jesus. Now listen, this doesn’t necessarily mean its a 24 hour day…most of the time for me, its a certain time frame every day, right? I block off a hour every day for my quiet time…I even have it in my calendar…and no matter what’s happening in my life, I’ve separated it from everything else and made it important…even more important than visiting people in the hospital or preparing sermons…or my family time or anything…its holy for me…its important and set apart. You have to stop and separate…otherwise you’ll never enter into or enjoy His presence.

T-Thank & Trust

And then finally…T…we have to thank and trust…naturally when you’re spending time with Him and enjoying His presence and doing all these things…its gonna grow your faith…you’re gonna be able to reflect on everything He’s done for you…its gonna cause you to be thankful, right? Our times of rest should be a time of thanksgiving. We should be grateful at the work God’s done to give us the ability to be in His presence…and naturally, it should lead us to trust more and more in Him. When we’re resting in Him, we’re more likely to lean and depend on Him.

Closing

And so, I’ll close with this question…are you finding rest? Are you resting in Christ? Or has your life and schedule become so hectic and so crazy that you just can’t find the time? Are you resting?

Every head bowed and every eye closed.

Guys, you were created for rest…you were created to need physical rest…you were created to find spiritual rest…what’s that look like in your life. Maybe even now, you need to let some things go and you need to reprioritize what’s important to you…maybe now, you need to come down to the altar and just lay it at the feet of Jesus and just make what’s important, important. What do you need to do this morning to find real, lasting, rejuvenating rest in Christ? Guys, do it…do whatever you need to do to make that a priority in your life. Find time to enter into the presence of Christ.

For some of you…you’re here but you’ve not been regenerated…you’ve not been changed by the power of the gospel…so you can’t find rest in Him. You’re still broken…you’re confused…you’re hurting…maybe experiencing some kind of real pain and suffering. Listen to me, there’s a God out there that loves you and when you were still a sinner, Christ died for you. Jesus was the perfect picture of sacrifice…He was the perfect picture of selfless service and costly love. The God of the universe He came, not to be served…but to serve. He came to give His life as a ransom for others. There’s never been a greater act of love than Jesus on the cross. Think about that, He endured the cross, experienced the pain, took the shame…with joy! Because He knew what He was buying…He knew with His payment, He was purchasing your salvation. He was taking on the punishment that you deserve…that’s the gospel…It’s the heart the gospel. It’s that on your own…you’re rebellious, sinful…separated from God…and that you need a Savior because your decisions, they’re leading you down a path of destruction…and if something doesn’t intervene now, you’ll have to experience that punishment and eternal separation from Him forever. And guys, you realize that…you’ve experienced your helplessness on your own…That’s why Jesus came. He came to take that burden from you…to give you new life…to restore you.

And guys, when that truth, when that good news captures your heart, you know what it does? It begins to change you, it begins to transform you…it melts your heart into this condition where you can be completely reshaped into the image of Jesus. Our response, the only reasonable response to this gospel, its to turn to Him.

And listen, if that's you today…you say, “I need Jesus…I need salvation…I realize I’m hopelessly lost…I’m doomed.”...would you just stand up…would you come down and come talk me right now? Would you let me talk to you about turning your life to Him…about placing your trust in Him? Come! Let Him change you this morning!

And so, listen…whatever it is....I’m gonna give you a few minutes to pray…to seek God…to ask Him to put people on your heart…These steps they’re open for you…I’m down front if you need me…and so, you come…you get your hearts ready as we prepare to take the Lord’s Supper together.

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 says, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [Pray for the bread – eat the bread]

Continuing in 1 Corinthians 11, verses 25 through 26 say, “In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” [Pray for the juice – drink juice]