Rest is Good!

Introduction (5m)

Are you getting enough rest?

In western society, employees notoriously bad at recognising they need to rest - we focus on the short-term rather than the long-term

Untaken holidays, work piling up when away, worry replaceable

In some companies, work-life balance is frowned upon

Jealousy, lesser workers.

But business now slowly beginning to realise that rest is important

Wellbeing and productivity, positive mindset, actually decreases levels of clinical depression, reduces amount of sick days, workplace performance improves, best work especially in creative industries.

Explanation (5m)

Business is only really catching up on what God created - he commands us to rest regularly

Genesis 2:2-3 “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.”

Heb. Shabbat - to cease, desist - Cessation from all work to benefit from spiritual/physical benefits

Sabbath - 10 Commandment, reinforced by prophets and by rabbis - marked Jews out from pagans, reminded them God’s people

By Jesus’ day, people needed reminding why God commanded us to rest regularly

Mark 2:27 “Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.”

The Pharisees needed reminding God’s purpose for Sabbath was a day of rest - what his people needed

Set aside normal duties, rest, worship.

Perhaps because it seems too good to be true, Pharisees had made Sabbath impossible burden

Good lawyers: “what does ‘no work’ mean?” Left nothing to chance - every conceivable possibility from everyday life explored/documented. Boiled down to 39 forbidden acts on Sabbath including reaping. Appointed themselves judge and jury to see everybody in area was observing properly.

Jesus cuts through all of this and reminds Pharisees Sabbath was made to meet the need of the people for rest and space to worship

Application (5m)

Do we need to hear Jesus’ reminder today? - Sabbath was made for what you need - rest and space to worship God

Sabbath = day when we celebrate “time rather than space.” (Abraham Heschel, Jewish teacher). Time is where goal is to be rather than to have, to give not to own, to share not to control, to be in harmony not to subdue:

Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world. (Abraham Heschel, Jewish teacher)

Advertisers will tell us it is for something else - a takeaway, shopping, a sports event, all sorts of other diversions

When we fall for this we lose the gift of a day when we can reconnect with the holy and recharge our spiritual/physical/emotional/mental batteries.

But this is not about what we do as much as it is about accepting God’s gift of Sabbath rest

If we say Sabbath must look like this: whether it’s a day full of church activities, or something else, then we move towards becoming like the Pharisees and in danger of squeezing out the divine-human interaction that is intended.

You cannot become a Christian or deepen your worship of God simply by abstaining from all work and all pleasure on a Sunday. If all you had to do was attend church, say prayers and read the Bible on a Sunday, being a Christian would be easy!

But neither should we go the completely opposite way (as many Christians do in this post-church, postmodern world) and simply not practice Sabbath at all

Instead, we need to ask, does what I am doing on a Sunday - each individual act - help me accept God’s gift of rest and space to worship and deepen my relationship with him, or not?

Hope worship meeting does. For some, walk in nature will, spending time with family, meal together, meeting with friends/small group. Maybe even lying in if that’s what you need, but that’s different to lazing around in bed simply because you can’t be bothered to get up - there’s a difference in motive!

My prayer is we will be free from the consumer lifestyle that is killing our souls and polluting the earth and that for one day a week - the day of rest that God gives to us - our lives will not be dominated by money, work and consumption

That we will find the rhythm God purposes for us and for rest for our souls.

Next Steps

SB 746 - Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile

Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile, Weary, I know it, of the press and throng; Wipe from your brow the sweat and dust of toil, And in my quiet strength again be strong. 2 Come ye aside from all the world holds dear, For converse which the world has never known, Alone with me and with my Father here, With me and with my Father not alone. 3 Come, tell me all that ye have said and done, Your victories and your failures, hopes and fears; I know how hardly souls are wooed and won; My choicest laurels are bedewed with tears. 4 Then fresh from converse with your Lord, return And work till daylight softens into even; The brief hours are not lost in which you learn More of your Master and his rest in Heaven. Edward Henry Bickersteth (1825-1906) Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. 30158 Copied from The Song Book of The Salvation Army Song Number 746