Let’s Take a Brake
Notes
Transcript
Rest is not the absence of occupation but doing what God has called us to do.
INTRO:
How many of you had resolutions for this 2024? I read an article on Linked, and about 80% of the ppl that made a resolution will fail before February. So if made a resolution, and have not quit, give yourself a palm in the back and say, good job! Keep up the good work. And in the list of new resolutions, either eat healthier, save for an emergency fund, exercise more, how many of us had a resolution to REST MORE?
God Instituted Rest, and He was the First One who Rested on the Seventh Day
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.
1. Did God stopped working on the Seventh Day? Did God turned on Netflix and watch His favorite show all day and did nothing?
NOOOOOOO
We see God working through the Judges, Kings, Prophets, in the the Birth of Jesus, Paul, and ultimately, reigning forever as the King of King and Lord of Lords.
2. The Seventh Day is different from the previous six days of Creation.
a. The Day does not have the closing refrain, “and it was in the morning and evening of the…day
b. It was created to enjoy a perpetual rest created by God
c. It is the only day blessed by God, the rest, God said, “it was good.”
God does not create a start and ending to REST, He simply steps into resting, and creates the seventh DAY for REST, He also blesses this day, and sanctifies it.
God originally created rest for us to simply step in. He did not created rest to be legalistic, like the Pharasees made out of the Sabbath. Or the third Commandment.
So Jesus In Matthew 11:28 invites us to rest.
V.28
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
It is an invitation, it is not a commandment.
ILLUSTRATION: Difference between when you have to be there, or when they invite you to be somewhere.
2. It carries the thought that Jesus is the only one with access to the Father. John 14:6 “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
3. It is an invitation to “ALL” who are tired and “weary and burdened.”
It includes literally All PEOPLE, that are stressed out with life’s burdens.
4. He offers something to give us, He offers REST
a. Restore. Ruth 4:15
15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”
b. Resting Place. Psalm 132:14
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
3. To lean on, to rest on something
APPLICATION
Jesus wants to restore you, to restore your broken heart, to restore relationships that seem helpless. He wants to be our resting place, in a world that no matter where we go, it is restless. He wants us to lean on Him when we are in distress, when sometimes we find no friends and we feel isolated, We can lean on Jesus.
TRANS: So, Jesus invites us to do something
29 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.
Yoke: a means of placing an animal in service, subordination, it is a burden. But Jesus said,
29 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.
Take my yoke:
a. Jesus is asking us to bond with him
b. Jesus is asking us to be submissive NOT to the Law but to Him
Learn from me:
Learn through instruction. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And to be a disciple of Jesus is to learn from Him. We usually see Professors and Teachers as someone who is superior. But Jesus affirms He is gentle and humble in heart.
He took the form of a servant. Philippians 2:7 “7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
In “HEART”: thoughts—‘heart, inner self, mind. intention,’ ‘purpose,’ or ‘desire
Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 320). United Bible Societies.
In other words everything that involves the person of Jesus was gentle and humble. Jesus is inviting us to learn His gentleness, and humbleness.
“And you will find rest for your souls.”
a. Jesus is not talking about physical rest. He is talking rest for our SOUL.
a.1. Jesus argues about the Sabbath
27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
(Said to the Pharisees)
a.1 a M any have made the Sabbath for them. And we focused the rest day for physical rest. This is why when Monday comes, we are so tired, because our Soul has not rested.
a.1.b. but if we let God be the Lord of the Sabbath, then we start accepting Jesus invitation to rest in Him. To restore what was broken in our week, for us to find peace in the middle of the struggle, to lean on HIM when we need the support.
a.1.c. To obey the Sabbath is not a check mar on my week. I went to church, CHECK. It is to live a life resting completely in the person of JESUS CHRIST.
And circling back to the yoke Jesus asked us to take. He explains what kind of joke this is
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus does not call to extensive worrying existence. But a life of service that is pleasant.
CONCLUSION
