High School | LLLB #1 Trust by Resting

Note: Series outline and content supplemented by Live Lighter Love Better; Twelve Biblical Decisions for a meaningful life by Cary Schmidt. These lessons are prepared for our LifeGroup

Trust by Resting

Truth: I am not designed for perpetual motion.

Ecc 1:14 “14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

Solomon was a man winning on the outside but rotting on the inside

We all are on a sort of internal identity quest

Our hearts cry “Someone acknowledge me. Someone love me - notice my success, value my importance, see me as significant.”

Nothing, absolutely nothing, under the sun will satisfy your soul.

Solomon is stuck in his head Ecc 1:16-18 “16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. 17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. 18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”

He is sad. His soul aches. Ecc 1:3-4 “3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? 4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.”

Take a trip to your deathbed. Have you lived light and loved well?

We have a Savior who satisfies the Soul

Jer 31:25 “25 For I have satiated the weary soul, And I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”

Psalm 107:9 “9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, And filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”

"What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could 'be like gods'—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves...invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."~ Mere Christianity

See we can only truly rest if we do not have to save ourselves.

We cannot sustain ourselves either.

John 4:14 “14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Truth: I am not designed for perpetual motion.

Ecc 2:22-23 “22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? 23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.”

Question: How many of you hated naps as a kid?

Kids nor adults do this willing. We both need a command.

Don’t buy into this lie: “I am exhausted because I am busy. If I am nusy, I am important and needed. If I am needed, then that means I am valuable. If I am valuable that should make me happy.”

Understanding Busyness

Ecc 2:4-10 “4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: 5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: 6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: 7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: 8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.”

This dude is super busy and as a result seems to be super successful.

But we get the rest of the story Ecc 2:20 “20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.”

It kept him up at night. Ecc 2:23 “23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.”

Perpetual

There is always more to do.

We have an “urgency addiction”

God calls us to work, but not perpetually.

When we worship our work or hobbies we don’t find our true identity in Christ but bondage.

Pointless

Driven by the weak motive of self-fulfillment.

Solomon lost sight of what matters. He lost sight of His King.

Restless Lifestyle, Restless Soul

Busyness is not Solomon’s greatest problem, it is merely the fruit of it.

Lordship is his problem.

Ecc 5:12 “12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.”

Embracing Finiteness

Question: Have you ever ran out of gas because you refused to stop?

We get fixated on getting somewhere while ignoring the need for fuel.

Ecc 2:15-16 “15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. 16 For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.”

No amount of money will change the fact you will one day die.

God created us with limits that He might call us to dependence.

If you refuse to act, stopping will be forced upon you.

Prioritizing Restfulness

Exodus 20:8-11 “8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

God’s laws are expressions of His grace

They re good for you because they come from the good heart of God who desires to bless your life.

Sabbath was God instructing them to put their days into His hands.

Solomon has many regreats Ecc 2:23-24 “23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. 24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.”

Conclusion

What is resting?

1. Resting is trusting

2. Resting is restoring. / Michael Jackson went 60 nights without sleep. It cost him his life.

3. Resting is re-creating. / you need it spiritually (trust), emotionally, and physically.

Decision 1

Jesus, I chose to trust by resting.

Next week: Cherish Now: “Right now” is pretty special