Genesis 2:1-3 God created: Stop and Reflect

Rest represents a break from physical labor and worldly striving. It provides a time for mental and spiritual restoration. In the midst of the sufferings and struggles of existence, people may long for rest. Rest requires a safe place, so the concept may be used to indicate peace (e.g., Deut 25:19; 2 Sam 7:1) and possession of land on which to rest (e.g., Josh 1:15).

Deuteronomy 25:19 (ESV): 19 Therefore when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

(ESV) 2 Samuel 7 1 Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”

Joshua 1:15 (ESV): 15 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

I. Stop and Reflect: Creating a time to reflect

A. Day 7 - Ceased activity Genesis 2:1-2

(ESV) Genesis 2 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his workthat he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

1. Not tired – ceased activity

2. Reflect on/ admire / enjoy what has been done

B. Set apart by God Genesis 2:3

(ESV) Genesis 2 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.

1. Principle of Sabbath rest

a. Grounded in God’s creative action of working six days and resting on the seventh,

b. Established prior to the Law – has some impact on all ages

2. A time to cease from distracting activity

3. A time to reflect on what God has done

C. Intended to impact man Mark 2:27

(NKJV) Mark 2 27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

1. A time to worship God

2. A repeating design for their sanctification.

a. Reminds Israel again and again that God completes his work.

b. A means to confess regularly that their God is Lord of all creation

c. The best interest of all people and all animals not a burden of rules and religion

d. A sign that the Creator has set His people apart for a special covenant relationship with him

e. Later Israel that they were slaves in Egypt but that the mighty Lord has redeemed them from servitude into rest

f. A time to worship God

D. Looking to a future reality Hebrews 4:4,9-10

(ESV) Hebrews 4 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” …spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest forthe people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

1. A time to rest in what God will ultimately do (Hebrews 4 a time of ultimate rest)

2. Already / Not yet rest

3. Have already rested from my work in Christ – His work is sufficient

4. Will one day rest from the continual Christian struggle when I go to be with Him

a. Gives concrete expression to the church’s realized eschatology the hope that when they cease from their labors after their fleeting days they too shall enter an eternal rest.

II. Stop and Reflect: (knowing the creator God) Making a difference in our lives

The creative work of God in us has ongoing ramifications for today. The same God lives. The same God is still involved. The same God is still at work.

Here are some examples for the prayers of the Godly that show how they responded as they applied God’ creative activity to their current situations.

A. Worship Revelation 4:11

1. In heaven the angels/elders

(ESV) Revelation 4 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

2. Worthy

3. Everything created by Him / for Him

(ESV) Colossians 1 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through himand for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

(ESV) 1 Corinthians 8 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

(ESV) Romans 11 36 For from him and through himand to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

(ESV) 1 Corinthians 8 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all thingsand for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

B. Trust Him for deliverance from trouble 2 Kings 19:15-19

1. Hezekiah facing Assyria

(ESV) 2 Kings 19 15 And Hezekiah prayedbefore the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. … 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”

2. If He made all things is He not capable of delivering from any of them – no matter how large / big / powerful

3. Will reveal that the creator God is in fact still powerful / not just start and forget --- Desires us to seek Him in trouble – faith He is who He says He is and will act on behalf of His people

C. Serve/witnessboldly Acts 4:24-29

1. Disciples after being imprisoned/warned by the Jews

(ESV) Acts 4 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earthand the sea and everything in them, … 29 And now, Lord, lookupon their threats and grantto your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,

2. Who to respond to ? creature or creator – fear which?

3. Implied He can protect if it is in His will as well / Can’t do anything that He doesn’t allow

4. But the emphasis -- Use the power that you used to create all things to give boldness to speak, even when there is great opposition

D. Rest our hope because He is faithful Psalm 146:3-7

1. A question of where one puts their trust

(ESV) Psalms 146 3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;

2. Not put trust in people / things --- no salvation there --- temporal

3. But trust in the One who made all things – worked in the life of Jacob, the uneven one, but who the Lord brought through in spite of his schemes

4. The One who has demonstrates His faithfulness / consistency as demonstrated in His creation

5. The One is just and works on behalf of the oppressed

6. The One who supplies for His creation

7. The One who sets free those who cannot get free --- in Christ