4G - Rest From Ourselves

Rest From Ourselves

Intro -

[Thanks, then....] - Confessional about worship and doing…talk about 4g can sometimes become more about doing then being.

But as we do. As we add more and more to our lives through our faith journey, I need to, as a Pastor - much less as a friend - remind us that while we do this, we need to rest.

We need to rest from those to whom we wish to serve. We need to rest from the work that God gives us, sure enough. After all, “the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath!”

[to be rather than to seem]

But the past couple months, and in particular the past week, I am reminded that we need to rest from ourselves.

[talk about pastoring a transition…people still get sick and die, but have no pastor…weight of doing that while trying to learn how to best serve our new family]

be sure to stray away from “woe is me stuff”

[picofchurchwegotoatbeach]

[talk about how we depend on the wrong things and about worship on Sunday]

[text- , ]

You see, here I am, on vacation, trying to get a word from God. I just want to not have to pour into others - not that I don’t love that more than words can say - I do; but sometimes I just want to be ministered to, and not doing the ministering, you know?

So there I am ready for preaching. I have my Bible out, I am ready to be filled. And right then in that moment, God basically reminded me that my life is His, and if I really wanted to rest, if I really wanted to be rejuvenated, I would come to Him, and lay aside myself, and find the rest that I really needed.

The rest from myself.

[text- , ]

Mark 6:30–34 ESV

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

,

Mark 6:53–56 ESV

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

Mark 6:53-56

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pray

[first slide pic]

[setup text with context]

They had just witnessed - first hand - the power of God working through them! So I can only imagine that they were emotionally spent!

I mean just imagine…[expand of that]…who among us wouldn’t be just a little full of themselves?

Jesus saw it and knew that they needed to refocus, they needed to rest.

Mark 6:31 ESV

And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

[remove second half]

That is where I think our disciples are in this text. Men who, through no fault of their own, would think that they

Jesus says the same to us…come rest for a while.

Drop what you are doing, what you think is so important and rest! EVEN IF IT IS WHAT I CALLED YOU TO DO!

[talk about vacation and beach life...”so relaxing...”

Vacation is just as stressful as regular life! If not more so!

[examples]

It is stressful because it is all about me…or at the very least we! People jockey for position, are in a rush, are generally rude, all because they want a good experience for themselves!

THAT ISN’T REST! That is more work than work!

That is why Jesus tells the disciples, and us, to come rest with Him is a desolate place.

[desolatepicture]

You see, it is in those desolate places in life that we find the truth. Those moments when all we have is what God intends for us to have, that is when we will find rest...

[beach examples]

I rested when I was alone with my family - no phone, no internet, no plans, no stuff. Just moments alone - in desolate places figuratively - with God and family.

But there is another level at work here, just as with the disciples. You see, my family is always there! Reality is always confronting us! The work/rest balance is always in flux, and what is more, we can always find rest if we really want to!

The real problem is this - we don’t need rest from work as much as we need rest from ourselves. ******

And church we need it badly, if only because it is in rest that we truly find faith!

[talk about the idea of coming away to a “desolate” place....maybe use PB stuff - Beach didn't bring me rest. I found stress and obstacles there too...(describe). Vacation is just as stressful as ordinary life. I found the most stress free times to he time with just our family, and time riding bike. I wasn't torn then. I didn't want to be somewhere else or have something competing for my attention. I was focusing right where I needed to focus. That is where I found rest. When I got out of my own way and got rest from myself. ]

[picof workers]

As I said earlier, I am a fixer - a doer. And in that doing, I can see the result of my faith. I can see a tangible representation of by belief in God. But if I am not careful, those works, all that doing, can become for me a religion in and of itself!

That is part of the reason Jesus pulls them away in this moment - [expand briefly—talk about them getting full of themselves]

You see, we must always keep in perspective why we “do!” We don’t do for us, or for salvation, we do the will of God out of obedience to Him, and THROUGH His power alone!

And so we need rest…not rest because we are so tired, but a rest that refocuses us on our true calling - a rest that allows us to have our faith restored - not a faith in ourselves, but a faith in a Creator who calls for us to worship Him and live for Him alone!

Are you resting in Him that way? Are you finding rejuvenation in Him alone, and not in stuff?

[death was arrested]

That is the question we have to answer, church.

I finally felt that answer, and felt that rest, on the way back from the beach. I was thinking about all that had happened, and what I wanted to share with you today. And I couldn’t get out of my own way. I felt like I was thinking in circles, and that I just didn’t have anything worth while to share. I couldn’t focus. I needed a moment, a tiny moment, of rest.

And then this song came on. A song that reminded me, at least in that moment, of the One I truly rest in - and not only that - but of the truth about rest.

You see, rest isn’t only physical, though surely that is a part of it. Rest is an act of giving up to all those forces around you. Giving up those things that bring you down. Giving up that effort to be great and to do great - and instead allow God to BE greatly praised in your heart! To fill you and refocus you on the truth of our lives! We are His, and because of that, true life has begun in us! A life that begins in Him, and finds it’s rest in Him alone!

[sing]

[picofdisciplesbreadandfish]

!!!Rest from stuff. Only AFTER rest were they able to continue to do the work of God. (verse 54-56). When we are rested and refreshed people see us and come to us to be a reflection of Christ for them. In the same way, we must come to Christ for the rest we need. (come to me...)]

Only after we find rest in Christ can we do His work. Life begins in Him as we are made new by His Spirit and love.

And in that life, we can and must find rest in Him. Solitary moments when we allow Him to fill us with His love and Spirit. Moments when we give up fighting and allow His goodness to become the very thing we long to know!

Listen, God is always trying to draw us to Himself! His path and will are like a river flowing through our lives! And our stuff, our ambition, our social lives, our situations - they all get in our way of following Him!

It is like they are surrounding us and calling to us, so we swim out to save them! We will do anything to keep them afloat! But understand that when we do that, we are fighting against the current of God!

And if we keep fighting the current we will surely drown! We must give ourselves up to the Spirit of God, give ourselves up to the current, and float towards the truth of God!

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.”

:28-

Church - we have to lay all of that down.

All those burdens. Pride, busy schedules, worldly ambition, stuff. Christ calls for us to drop it all. And come to a desolate place - a place without Netflix, or our hundreds of channels on TV, without the wealth of entertainment options, or social media, or websites. A place where we no longer allow for those things to rob our lives of our rest and purpose!

Listen, if we gave in to those things, we would find that they will take every moment of our lives and we will look around and realize that we have wasted the life God has given us! They don’t offer us rest, they take our lives from us!

When we come to Jesus, and rest in Him - in those desolate places - we no longer find that “There aren’t enough hours in the day!” No, because we are actively resting in Him, we find time to help our neighbors, and those in need. We find the time to pray! We find the time to read the Bible! We find the time for God! And when we do that, church, we find true rest!

[talk about how we burden ourselves with pride, busy schedules, and especially stuff! We have hundreds of channels, netflix, hulu - a wealth of entertainment at our fingertips that if used to its full capacity, would take every moment of our lives and then still have not been fully used up!

“There aren’t enough hours in the day!” We say! We can’t find time to help our neighbors, and those in need, and the real reason is that we haven’t taken the time to help ourselves! And church, how can we take time, if we don’t make time!

Listen y’all, at the end of the day, we must face the fact that we can never take time, if we don’t make time!

“There aren’t enough hours in the day!” We say! We can’t find time to help our neighbors, and those in need, and the real reason is that we haven’t taken the time to help ourselves! And church, how can we take time, if we don’t make time!

And we make time for God when we rest in Him. When we release all those burdens. All that stuff. All those things that would beg our time and take our energy - Jesus calls to us, just as those disciples to “come to [Him]!” Go to a desolate place - a place without all that stuff. A place where there is just us and Jesus. A place where we can give our full attention and energy to the very one who created, sustains, and saves each of us!

Come to me! Jesus says. Come to me, everyone who feels the pressures of this life. Everyone who overbooks their schedules. Everyone who tries to fill their moments with deadlines and milestones. Everyone who lives life trying to grab the brass ring! Come to Me, Jesus says, just me alone! Not Jesus plus Netflix, not Jesus plus our plans, not Jesus plus our schedules!

Just Jesus! Come to Him and throw that other stuff down at His feet! Stop trying to worship Him, and just worship Him!

John 1:4 ESV

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Because, church, in Him is life - true life. And through that life, we will find that we can be a light for all people. We can find our rest in Him, and through that rest from ourselves, offer rest to everyone we meet.

[invitation]