Taking a Break

Genesis 2:1-3

Taking a Break

Intro: How busy would you say you are in a given day? How much of that busy-ness is productive and how much is just being busy? Here is my or our usual day, feed the cats and the dogs How many of you make a to-do list, either written or at least in your head to make sure you get everything done in a given day or week?

In the late 18th century, 10-16 hour workdays were normal because factories "needed" to be run 24/7. When it became clear that such long days were both brutal and unsustainable, leaders like Welsh activist Robert Owen advocated for shorter workdays. In 1817, his slogan became: "Eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest."

Do you stop working when your list is complete? Or do you keep working until you pass out. We watch a show called Homestead Rescue and one lady said that there was so much work to be done on their small homestead, she was building a fire with an IV in her arm. The reason was that she had gotten the flu so bad, but she still needed to do the normal work.

Read Verses: Genesis 2:1-3

MP: God rested after His work was complete, why can’t you?

I. God Rested because the Job is Complete

Explanation: God just performed the most important job, creating everything and he completed the job in six days. For Him, presumably it was easy. There is nothing God can’t do within the realm of logic.

Moses wrote the book of Genesis so it is presumable that perhaps the institution of the Sabbath as a holy day is from the Ten Commandments and it is reinforced here from the beginning of the world. In fact, this call to rest is not just for the Jews because it is before the establishment of the Law with Israel. This is for all mankind.

Illustration: Is there anyone here who has never moved houses or apartments? Think about how much work or how long it took for you to pack up your things. If you are moving yourself, without a moving company, then it probably takes a few days at least if not longer. When the movers do it for you, even with 8 people it may take two days to pack and then another day to load the truck.

So you make your to-do list: Getting boxes, packing material, pack up everything. Label the boxes so you can find them easier when you pack the hammer before you are done with it. Renting a truck and loading the truck.

Driving to the new house and then unloading and unpacking. But it is late and you are physically exhausted. Do you keep pushing or do you unpack what you need and then do the remainder of the work the next day or so?

You might say well I need my clothes, my shoes, and my lunch box for work tomorrow, I need to have my bed to sleep in and I need sheets and blankets for that. We need dishes and cups for breakfast tomorrow. There is still work to be done. And then I might as well get all of it done tonight.

Application: God knew when to pause and we should too

A. Pauses are Necessary

God did not need a day off. He does not get tired or run down. But we are finite creatures with finite energy stores. We need to eat, drink, and sleep. But God took time, even along each step of the job, in each of the days, to stand back and look at his work. The seventh day he rested and declared it Holy.

For many Sunday is easy to take off and so that is still the Sabbath day for Christians. Sometimes in different seasons of your life you cannot do that. But what is important is that you have a day to take off. This doesn’t mean you don’t do anything. Dinner needs to be made or at least ordered. But you can do things that are reenergizing for you.

Some people would argue that this is not right and we should always observe Sunday, but life gets in the way and I think this is what is meant when Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man made for the Sabbath. We do not have to shoehorn all the rules in place just to make man and God happy. This is dangerous because the rule becomes the ruler and we become legalistic in our approach and we take joy and pride in observing the Sabbath instead of Observing God.

Jesus understood the importance of rest and he went off by himself several times in the Gospels to be away from people. Mark 6:31“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

B. Pauses allow you to see what you have already done

If you have a never ending to-do list you are always thinking about what you have to do or where you have to go. This can be overwhelming because it seems like you are never done. But when we pause we can stop and appreciate what we have done or has been done for us.

We pause at Thanksgiving to give thanks. We pause on Sunday Mornings to recognize and reflect on God.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

1 Corinthians 1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,

The greatest rest we have is the one we have In Jesus Christ.

TS: We should take pauses also because there are days that are more special than others.

II. God Rested and Declared the Day Holy

Explanation: What does it mean to be Holy? It means to be set apart. The entire world was untainted by sin. Everything was perfect just as God is perfect. A similar, but expanded instruction is given to Israel in Exodus 20:8-11, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 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. 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.”

Thus God declared it Holy. The term holiday is a shortening of Holy Day.

God made certain commands throughout the bible to the Sabbath. He command the Jubilee year so the land would rest every seventh year. When the Israelites ignored this command they were exiled to Babylon for seventy years to make up for the few hundreds of years they missed it.

2 chronicles 36:20-21 says [The King of Babylon] “took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had made up for its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfil seventy years. “

Illustration: What are the special days in your lifetime? Birthdays, anniversary, first day of school? If you are looking just for today, there are a few holidays today: it is national Sanctity of Life day or Pro-life day. Life is something that should be celebrated. It is also national coffee break day, national cheese lovers day, penguin awareness day, so watch out for any penguins walking around.

People thought Coffee was so important to American culture that there had to be a day to commemorate the coffee break. It seems a little odd to celebrate a time when you sat around drinking more energy juice, but even with that we are celebrating taking a break and you can do it with a delicious beverage that God made, coffee.

But we commemorate things that are important to us. People really love cheese and coffee and penguins. But we also love to remember our kids when they were going to the first day of school and the last day when they graduate. We love birthdays until there are too many candles and it could cause a fire hazard.

When we get into a funk or depressed or mad at someone else, what do we usually say? It is just another day. There is nothing special about it.

But there is because God made all the days but on the seventh day he said it was Holy and so it is the Lord ’s Day.

Application: Whatever you do, do it for the Lord because it is His day.

We serve a Holy god so our activities, not just on the Sabbath, but every day should be pleasing to the Lord and exult Him.

A. The Rest should make us Focus on God

Isaiah 58:13-14 says “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.”

If we focus on God we will delight in him. What will please God? Your faith and love toward God and your love toward others.

Hebrews 4:9-11 tells us that 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[e] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

Psalm 62:5“Yes, my soul, find rest in God: my hope comes from him.”

B. When we focus on God, our works and our lives are put into perspective.

We did not create the universe. God did. I have seen a sign or a meme going around that said why do you work so hard for a company that will replace you in a minute? That is the bad news and it may sound harsh to some because we like to think that we are extremely irreplaceable in what we do. This puts your life into perspective as to what we do as employees.

But there is good news, God finds you important. He has given you important roles to fill in your family’s lives, in your friend’s lives, and the church’s life. What you are doing in those areas is far more important than how many widgets you were able to sell or make in your lifetime. Your children and friends and coworkers ability to hear and see the Gospel of Jesus Christ lived out in your life and talked about is far more everlasting than anything else.

If you are demonstrating that you are a follower of God by your faith you can demonstrate that you take it serious.

When we focus on God we see what we do and what God has done.

What has he done? From the verse we are talking about, God created the world and everything in it. He has kept the world moving in a direction to bring about the incarnation of the Second person of the Trinity.

And that work Jesus performed restores the world from man’s sin. This act this work saves you from God’s wrath.

The Holy Spirit, places the faith in your heart to believe and have faith that this system is how it works and how you can have ultimate rest from trying to work and earn your salvation. We can rest in Christ Jesus. We are made holy just like the Sabbath. The author of Hebrews says 11 For both He who sanctifies [Jesus] and those who are sanctified [Us] are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.

If you can master this restfulness through God, you can start to act in a way that Peter instructs us in 1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. helps us explain to others why we are so rested.

Transition: “Sabbath isn't about resting perfectly; it's about resting in the One who is perfect.” ― Shelly Miller, Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World

Conclusion

We can take a physical rest because we need to be fresh for the work that needs to be done. This includes the day-to-day items such as feeding the animals and people, laundry and the work in or outside of the home but it also includes the work we are doing for the Lord.

If we are followers of Christ, then we should rest because God rested. He is our example and has commanded us to take a break. But is not an idle rest, but one that focuses on Him. Because God is our true rest. Our refuge from the world that beats against our door and makes our to-do list grow longer in order to compete with others on how much you did today.

We can spend time doing God-honoring things, worshipping together, eating together, talking about god and wat he has done this week for us and we can pray on what he will do for the coming week.

This week, take a break, spend time with loved ones, and talk about God. Are you being productive in your work or just being busy because you have a need to keep going? That need can only be truly fulfilled by God.

Closing Prayer

Psalm 62:1-2 “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”