Work Doesn't Mean Neglecting Rest

Bible Introduction (2m)

Are you overworked or too busy?

Daily routine: work, rest and worship. Compartmentalise/overindulge. Need to find balance - rhythm God intended for us.

Help us find rest for our souls

But we begin with work!

Introduction (5m)

What do you think about work?

Picture 1

Picture 2

Loyalty / Willingness to go beyond / Positive mood / integrity or Negative mood / That’ll do / laziness / aggression / blame / disruption?

Explanation (5m)

Paul tackles attitudes to work

2 Thessalonians 3:12 NLT

We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living.

Why did Paul need to deal with a problem of idleness?

Imminent return of Christ / Greek attitude to manual labour - suitable only for slaves (Jews - honourable - even rabbis expected to have trade). / Wealthier members providing for poor. Some may have taken advantage.

What did Paul mean by accusing some Thessalonian Christians of being idle?

Greek: ataktos. Idle not broad enough. Disorderly, unruly, out of order, out of place, like soldiers not keeping rank or army in disarray.

Is Paul being harsh?

2 Thessalonians 3:10 NLT

Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”

What gave him the right to say this?

Genesis 1:27–31 NLT

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened. Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Understanding of work/vocation rooted in creation story. We are called by God to work.

Service. / Adam was expected to work for his food. / Healthy view of work rooted in creation. / Called to work because that is how God created world.

When our work is painful and frustrating, it is because sin entered the world

Genesis 3:17–19 NLT

And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

Now hard work. Toil. Sweat. Pain. Frustration. And yet, still: “you will eat of its grains”. Part of our duty in this world is to work for our living.

Paul issues the command to work because it is part of God’s created order

When God created world, it was good. Everything in order. Everything in right place. Work was orderly. Work was ordered by God. By following God’s command to work it resulted in peace. Shalom. Well-being. Everything was ordered rightly.

When sin entered the world, everything became disorderly, out of order and out of place

Sin brought disorder. Peace/shalom was disrupted. Adam was out of line with God’s intent.

The Church’s mission is to help restore that order, to help to bring everything back into line with God’s intent

Work is part of that. The idle, out of order, out of place, Thessalonian Christians were threatening the return of God’s good order. Wasn’t just about not working and being “idle” but creating disorder in church and society. It was absence of shalom.

Application (5m)

Do you need to change your attitude to work?

Allows us to eat, pay bills, enjoy entertainment, invest in things we’re passionate about. But also exhausting, frustrating and sometimes demotivating, especially if we don’t enjoy it.

Paul’s explanation of work as part of God’s good order helps us have the right attitude to work

Go every day with mindset of working for God and worshipping him as we do it, helps bring lives into right rhythm.

I suspect more of us need to remember that rest is part of God’s good order too

Genesis 2:1–3 NLT

So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

Work important, but so is rest. Relaxation, recreation, leisure is not idleness. It is part of God’s good order.

As part of God’s good order, in order to fulfil our mission to help bring shalom to our community and our world, we need to find the right rhythm between working and resting

Work when we should be working and rest when we should be resting.

Next Steps

SB 456 - Dear Lord and Father of mankind

Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways; Reclothe us in our rightful mind; In purer lives thy service find, In deeper reverence, praise. 2 In simple trust like theirs who heard, Beside the Syrian sea, The gracious calling of the Lord, Let us, like them, without a word Rise up and follow thee. 3 O Sabbath rest by Galilee! O calm of hills above, Where Jesus knelt to share with thee The silence of eternity, Interpreted by love! 4 Drop thy still dews of quietness Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of thy peace. 5 Breathe through the heats of our desire Thy coolness and thy balm; Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire, O still small voice of calm! John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. 30158 Copied from The Song Book of The Salvation Army Song Number 456

Questions for Reflection/Small Group Discussion

Have you ever thought about your work being a form of worship? Can you give an example?

Do you think our society puts too much priority on work and not enough on rest? Why or why not?

What is your “work, rest, worship” rhythm like?

Prayer Subjects

For those who are workaholics and don’t get the rest they need.

For those who would love to work but cannot – either because they cannot find a job or because they are unable to work, for whatever reason.

For the employers in Basingstoke, that they would treat their employees fairly and value them as part of their business.