The Discipline of Rest

What does it mean to rest well?

Perhaps this should be obvious, but it really means exactly what it’s saying doesn’t it?

Do a good job at resting.

Rest could be doing nothing, it could be sleeping, it could be unplugging from the world, it SHOULD PROBABLY mean a slower heart rate.

If I sit down with a book to read, I can rest. Some of you might sit down with a book, and your heart rate might go up.

YOU might find great rest in tending to a garden, whereas my heart rate goes up and I get anxious from all the weeds!

Resting well might look a little different for each person, but some basics need to be present.

The point is... we all need rest. God made us this way. Without rest people face all sorts of complications both on the physical and spiritual level.

Without rest you experience a general slowness, increased sickness, inability to think clearly, higher risk of heart disease, forgetfulness, accident prone… just to name a few.

Now, I KNOW these are physical issues…but I don’t have to convince you that these sorts of things will directly affect your walk with Christ.

How many of you are tired right now? Why? don’t answer.

And I’m tired too, so I’m preaching this to myself, but I’m just laying out this thought so that we can truly examine ourselves at the core…

Are we resting well, and are we resting to the glory of God?

To understand the discipline of rest we need to believe that rest is a good and godly thing. Rest is not laziness or carelessness or unproductive in and of itself. How do we begin to believe this? By looking at God!

God rested

Genesis 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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. 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.”

How do we KNOW that rest is godly? Because God rested.

Now, we know God did not rest out of necessity, but to set an example and a pattern for His people. He rested at the completion of His work of creation. The work was completed, so he rested from His work.

This carried through as a pattern for Israel to follow.

It’s the 4th commandment - Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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. 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.”

Notice v15 - You were a slave, but God brought you out.

You were oppressed, but God has freed you from that

Therefore, keep the day of rest

Now, I say all this to just establish that rest is clearly God’s idea, and so was work and productivity. The pattern is to work, and rest. Be creative, and rest. Be productive, and rest. Cultivate and rest.

It’s imperative that we don’t forget this.

Then Jesus came on the scene and set another example for the sabbath rest. First of all, he did many miracles of healing and mercy on the Sabbath day, and stirred up a ton of trouble with the Pharisees. But one thing he made clear is that the Sabbath was not about limiting what we can do in a weeks time. It was about allowing us to do even better what God created to do.

Mark 2:27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Rest is a good gift from God.

Today, with Christ having fulfilled all righteous requirements, we know that Sabbath is not a work by which we are saved. But the pattern of work and rest is no less valid or godly.

My concern with thinking about the discipline of rest is not so much that you pick the right day to rest on, but that you are at rest in the peace that Jesus has brought to you by his death and resurrection.

Just as he freed Israel from the the slavery of Egypt, he has freed us from sin and death

With the Gospel in our lives, all our work and our labors need to come FROM a place of rest.

Just as God completed the work of creation and rested, so we can look at the finished work of Christ and rest.

Here’s a couple words to think about:

Solitude - Jesus often got away from the crowds to pray to the Father. Jesus, in his humanity, needed to be alone from time to time. So do we!

Silence - the noise of the world is endless. Our jobs, friends, our community issues, the media, technology, other obligations. IT is so loud. We need to take time to be silent. Jesus did this even when the crowds were pressing at the door to be healed.

Matthew 14:23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

Mark 1:35  And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Is there place in your home, on your property, at the beach, or the library, or walking around town, that can become your place for intentionally resting, getting silent before the Lord, and just being with Him in Worship?

Remember, this is not a law, but a discipline. God set the pattern in Genesis, and all we have to ask ourselves is this…Is the rhythm of working and resting a good rhythm? And we know the answer is yes. Jesus fulfilled out deepest strivings by dying for our sins, and taking the burden or our slavery away from us. Now this is our call:

Matthew 11:28 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

That’s the call of God to the one who IS rest. Egypt was a constant task master. Work with NO rest at all. When he brought them through the red sea and crushed the enemy, guess what returned to them? The good and holy rhythms of work and rest, and at the foundation of it all was the worship of God. We will end with this:

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2  He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3  He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.