The Wisdom of Rest Part 2
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Introduction:
Introduction:
The goal of the Proverbs is to teach the people of God how to live well in the world
They offer us miniature models of reality
The way things should go
King Solomon has 10 heart to heart talks with his son (in some talks) or sons in others
His main objective is to motivate them to learn to love wisdom and to pursue divine wisdom with intentionality and desperation
Review:
Review:
Last week, we began to talk about the wisdom behind resting
The deceiver has led the culture to believe that either work is evil and should be treated as punishment and therefore do as little as you can while making as much money as you can
OR, going in the opposite direction, find your meaning and your identity in becoming a workaholic
And, fill your life with so much activity that you feel that your life is important or even that THAT’s what it means to show your family that you love them
Social media has only brought this evil out so much the more
If you want others to think you have a life, you’ll need to broadcast all of the good parts of your CRAZY BUSY day
How do we resist the idolatry of work and busyness?
We can’t just take a vacation (where we pack our schedules)
We can’t just medicate with TV and video games or just sleep it off and then right back at it
What we need is to do is address the inner turmoil - this soul work is vital not only at the spiritual level, but at the physical level as well.
23 The fear of the Lord leads to life,
and whoever has it rests satisfied;
he will not be visited by harm.
By the way, life hacks and strategies are not sinful. They are only hacks and strategies, soul care happens when the mind is renewed and the heart is reformed. Let’s start with a renewed mind. Renewing the mind (through the Scriptures) means that we’re not comparing what the Scriptures say up against what American or any other culture has taught us. It means we’re forsaking those lessons for a better teacher - The Creator God...
A Theology of Rest
A Theology of Rest
1. The All Sufficient Creator Rested from Labor
1. The All Sufficient Creator Rested from Labor
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
ESV31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth 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.
ESV2 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.
Two significant observations
The LORD rested from all His work
The LORD enjoyed all His work
Resting is not just a ceasing of our labor, it’s an inner satisfaction of our labor that leads to an enjoyment of God’s work and our work.
There will always be more work to do.
But when what we learn from our LORD is that it’s OKAY and right and good to put down the tools and say, “I have done this with all my might unto you LORD.”
Then step back and give thanks to Him for your ability to work.
Give thanks to him for the job you have.
And enjoy your work.
This is easier for certain trades like artisans, architects, and designers, not so easy for analysts and parents and others who won’t see the fruit of their labor until much later.
Either way, God initiated our labor to cease when he ceased from His own work to enjoy it.
“Work is a blessing. God has so arranged the world that work is necessary, and He gives us hands and strength to do it. The enjoyment of leisure would be nothing if we had only leisure. It is the joy of work well done that enables us to enjoy rest, just as it is the experiences of hunger and thirst that make food and drink such pleasures.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, Discipline: The Glad Surrender
2. Rest is a Command, Not a Suggestion
ESV9 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.
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.
a. Interestingly enough God commanded that all work cease by everyone and everything here.
b. God is saying, “I want to show you, I am your God and I will take good care of you.”
c. The fact that our bodies need to turn in to useless sacks of dust every night should be enough for us to recognize that we’re not as important as we think we are.
D. We sleep 1/3 of our entire lives. Dead men for 33% of our existence.
The spiritual rest, which God particularly intends in this Commandment, is this: that we not only cease from our labor and trade, but much more, that we let God alone work in us and that we do nothing of our own with all our powers.
—Martin Luther
So, if the Creator God modeled rest, designed us to need rest, and then commanded us to rest this is not something we can tinker around with and say, “I’ll get to it when I can.”
And here is the reality, we are communicating something about our heart and our belief system when we choose to be deliberate and serious about rest and when we don’t… Let’s allow the Scriptures not only to inform but transform us...
3. Rest is a declaration of Freedom
ESV12 “ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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 or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
12 “ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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 or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
a. When we don’t rest regularly (Sabbath was weekly here) and we overwork or are plain busy, we’re putting the bonds of slavery back on our hands and feet.
b. If you cannot rest from your work and your busyness (not just your employment), you are a slave and you’re harming the soul.
c. Our response is usually that “we HAVE to in order to live the lifestyle we want to live”
ESV6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
ESV1 Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
ESV1 Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
1 Better is a dry morsel with quiet
than a house full of feasting with strife.
a. God (your Creator) designed you to NEED rest and sleep and quiet in order to be happy and productive people.b. Pastor Jason, you just don’t understand the pressure we’re under to produce. I’m required to go above and beyond what was originally expected. And for some of you that’s true and worth thoughtful consideration.c. Perhaps what you don’t understand is that NOT resting is also producing fruit:i. Health is staggeringii. Focus is waningiii. Relationships are fragmentediv. Heart is hardening
a. God (your Creator) designed you to NEED rest (silence, solitude) in order to be happy and productive people.
b. Pastor Jason, you just don’t understand the pressure we’re under to produce. I’m required to go above and beyond what was originally expected. And for some of you that’s true and worth thoughtful consideration.
c. Perhaps what you don’t understand is that NOT resting is also producing fruit:
i. Health is staggering
ii. Focus is waning
iii. Relationships are fragmented
iv. Heart is hardening
ESV26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
If you’re in such a bind that your work is not valued high enough to take care of your family and your soul, you need to do what it takes to be obedient. That may mean taking the drastic steps - changing career or uprooting and going where your work is valued and you’re able to rest satisfied.
4. Rest is a gift to the wise worker
ESV12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
a. There is a sweetness that comes with a tired body.
b. Fatigue and weakness are gifts of God.
c. A personal invitation to be reminded that you are not the all-powerful, all-sufficient, ever-present God of the universe, but there is ONE who is more powerful, totally sufficient, and everywhere Ruling and Reigning the cosmos without breaking a sweat.
5. Rest is a deep contentment of the soul
ESV10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
a. This is the key to the understanding your work and rest.b. Once you rest from seeing your work as being the agent of your acceptance in God’s sight and realize that you can’t live up to that, THEN we see Christ.c. Christ is our Sabbath rest. When we place our trust in the work of Christ, we can experience a deep contentment in the soul because we know that IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.d. If it is well with my soul, our work will not cease, but we will have a deep contentment while we’re working.e. If you’re a parent, you will be able to say, overloading my children with activities is no longer needed because I’m not relying on them providing significance for me, for Christ is my significance.f. If you’re a spouse, you will be able to say, raising the expectations on my spouse and setting that bar higher isn’t necessary because I’m not relying on him/her to be my fulfillment, for Christ is my fulfillment.g. You can rest at work and from work for Christ has done the work.
a. This is the key to the understanding your work and rest.
b. Once you rest from seeing your work as being the agent of your acceptance in God’s sight and realize that you can’t live up to that, THEN we see Christ.
c. Christ is our Sabbath rest. When we place our trust in the work of Christ, we can experience a deep contentment in the soul because we know as the song writer proclaimed, “IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.”
d. If it is well with my soul, our work will not cease, but we will have a deep contentment while we’re working.
e. If you’re a parent, you will be able to say, “Overloading my children with activities is no longer necessary, because I’m not relying on them providing significance for me, for Christ is my significance.”
f. If you’re a spouse, you will be able to say, “Raising the expectations on my spouse and setting that bar higher isn’t necessary because I’m not relying on him/her to be my fulfillment, for Christ is my fulfillment.”
g. You can rest at work and from work for Christ has done the work.
ESV28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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.
Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.
-Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
So, at the head level, rest was modeled by our Creator and then commanded; and at the heart level when we choose to rest or choose not to rest, we’re communicating to ourselves, our community, and the world that we’re free or slaves, and we’re announcing that we’re content and satisfied in who we are in Christ, but at the practical (hands) level, what does this rest actually look like?
If you want to live well in the world as it pertains to work and rest, it will not happen on accident or automatically just because you’re a Christian. There is an intentionality that follows a serious disciple of Jesus, so let’s look at His life:
ESV31 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.
6. Jesus is the ultimate example of a rested man
31 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.
a. Jesus rested from working to think and plan.
b. Jesus rested from working to pray.
c. Jesus rested from working to sleep.
d. Jesus rested from working to be empowered by the Spirit.
e. Jesus rested from working to be in community.
f. Jesus rested from working to worship.
Jesus had a deep trust and contentment in the Father, that didn’t make Him lazy, it actually made him uniquely productive and efficient.
The disciples urged him to eat after a busy day and he replied, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”
And once when everyone was freaking out because the boat they were on was about to be wrecked by the storm… what was he doing? Sleeping on the boat.
But, when after a long day of ministry he asked his disciples to watch and pray with him, what were they doing? Sleeping.
My encouragement to you this morning is that you will spend some time to develop a plan to rest
How will you rest in God’s Fatherly care over your finances?
How will you rest in Christ’s promise to give you rest over your legalism?
How will you rest from communicating that your busy life, your work, or school is Lord of your life?
This is a tremendous week to make such a plan. Your plan should involve the symmetry that Christ’s life projects
It should include both feasting and fasting
It should include both solitude and community
It should include both silence and celebration
Above all, if you have not found rest in the finished work of Christ, the invitation is for you to come to Him today and find rest for your soul.
[1] Perman, Matthew Aaron; Perman, Matthew Aaron (2014-03-04). What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (p. 55). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.