As I was thinking this past week about what to talk about, I decided to share with you a little about where I am in my spiritual journey and what God has been showing me recently. No matter how I live throughout the year, every year around the holidays I find myself tired. Have you ever thought to yourself, if only I had another hour in the day? Have you ever gotten to the end of your day and wondered where the time went? Wondered if you really accomplished anything? Wondered if you were more than a chauffer or a maid? Did you ever get home from a vacation and feel like you needed a vacation?
Why is that? Why do we seem to run through life at breakneck speed? Why don’t we stop? We have this feeling that if we stop, someone will pass us. So we press on. We continue in a rhythm that we can’t live with, a rhythm that is not sustainable. So we commit to another committee, we sign our kids up for another team, we join another group, take another assignment at work. All good things, but as a popular saying goes in the business world, good can be the enemy of great.
We read Psalm 46:10 where we are told to be still and know that God is God, and we think, that is nice, but not possible. So we press on.
Have you ever felt like God was far away? Have you ever wondered if anyone heard your prayers? Like when you prayed it just hit the ceiling and came back down? Why is it that everyone else seems to hear from God, but you can’t figure that one out? What about going through our day and not feeling fulfilled at the end?
I think one of the main reasons we feel like we do, is because we have gotten out of the rhythm that God designed us to have. Starting in the first chapter of Genesis, at the beginning of the Bible, we see this rhythm. God creates the world, each day has a different creation, but after 6 days he rests. Genesis 2:3 says God made the 7th day holy (which means set apart, different from every other day). He set it apart because he rested on it.
Fast forward to the book of Exodus. The nation of Israel has spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt. After coming out of Egypt God reminds them of the rhythm of life by giving them the 10 commandments. One of them is has to do with rest.
Exodus 20:8 says remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the 7th day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. Then in verse 11 God reminds them of creation: For in 6 days God made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the 7th day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy, set apart.
What takes place after this is astounding. The religious leaders in the Jewish nation set up laws around the commandments that God gave them. God gave the nation of Israel 10 commandments, but to keep people from the breaking the commandments, the Priests set up 613 other laws so that you wouldn’t break the 10 commandments. So when God says don’t work on the Sabbath, they defined work. They defined how far you could walk, you couldn’t walk a mile. You couldn’t cook, you couldn’t, you couldn’t. So what God created to bring freedom the religious leaders made into a burden. It’s a good thing we aren’t like that.
So to help them get it, after allowing them to live with these laws God shows them a new one again in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus 25 God gives them a new rhythm. It is called the Sabbath year and the year of jubilee. To go along with the Sabbath day, God tells them to work the land for 6 years, then the 7th year shall be a Sabbath year, where they rest and live on what God has given them. The year of Jubilee was to be every 50 years, so they would have 2 years of Sabbath years when the year of Jubilee rolled around. Imagine, here is God who brought them out of Egypt, took care of them for 40 years in the Wilderness on their way to the promised land. Do you know how long the journey Egypt to the promised land should have taken? 11 days. It took them 40 years because of how much they trusted God and how much they trusted in themselves. Do you know the sad thing about the year of Jubilee? They never experienced it.
What about our world? It’s different than when the Israelites were coming out of Egypt. Is it even possible to rest in today’s world?
Prolonged stress, worry, anxiety, fear and lack of peace can break us down physically and mentally. Research shows that under stress the body and the mind rise to meet the occasion. Our energy burns at a higher rate, our respiration is at a higher rate, blood pressure goes up; even our body temperature goes up. The immune system breaks down.
It’s been calculated that somewhere between 75 – 90% of all doctor visits are stress related. The word stress is from a Latin word which means “to be drawn tight.” And some us, inside this morning, feel drawn tight emotionally and physically. The holiday stress is minor compared to what is really going on. The rest of us are probably in denial.
As we talk about finding rest, I would bet that there are some of you who are thinking I push hard, I work hard, I play hard, but I don’t need rest I’m fine, thank you. You’ve been slugging it out and you know it. You work extra hours, push hard to get that next promotion, to get that raise, to stay afloat.
Maybe for you that whole concept of rest seems soft, it seems passive, it seems complacent, like you have given in or eased back on the internal rpm’s. Like you have traded your steel resolve for krispy kreme character.
So what does Jesus have to say about this? This what he says in Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
This is how Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase the message puts it: "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly."
I love that phrase, the unforced rhythms of grace. That is what rest is, grace, a gift.
If you break down this passage into a single statement here is what I think it says, “Being with Jesus leads to rest.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel, who is a great Jewish writer said, “The Sabbath gives the world the energy it needs to exist for another 6 days.”
The word here for weary literally means “to struggle, to toil, it means self effort.” Think about the last few weeks of your life, how hard you have been pushing yourself. Whether at work, or at home, or at school. Think about how crazy its been shuttling kids around, perhaps taking care of aging parents or siblings, getting ready for the holidays, braving the malls, traveling between two families, writing the cards and the letters, preparing for parties. We hope for peace, but instead we have pandemonium.
Think about your daily life, the early mornings, the late nights, often because you have to. But they are taking a toll on you as you work and simply try to keep up. Think about the sleeplessness that goes on.
There is a guy named Robert Sullivan who has written about this. Either sleeplessness by choice or by insomnia affects 70 million Americans. In fact, 38,000 deaths are attributed every year to sleeplessness. 64% of teens in school blame sleeplessness on poor school performance. The most severe cases occur between the ages of 30 & 40. And 50% of the over 65 population suffer from insomnia. We want rest. I would guess that if I hit the pause button on this message, turn down the lights, put on some soft music, you would probably be very grateful. But I won’t do that. But you know when I said that, some of you thought, you know that’d be nice. Do you know why? We want rest.
Jesus talks about the weary, but the other word he used was burden. The word for burden means “to be overloaded.” The picture that Jesus is painting is of a person who has so much heaped on them that they cannot take anymore, they are at their limit. Every step reduces their strength and it becomes more and more oppressive. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that we as Americans have a lot of added weight. Rising prices, war, terrorism, the world our kids are growing up in, what are kids are growing up to be, the way our marriage is going or has gone, our relationships with parents, siblings, and co-workers. The list goes on, just reading that feels heavier and heavier.
So how do we experience all that God wants us to experience? How do we experience the rest and rhythm that God has designed us to experience in our day? The tough thing about that answer is that it is different for everybody. Here is how I want to come at it though. I believe the answer is wrapped up in this, our job as Christians is the unrelenting pursuit of who God created us to be. Your job, my job is the unrelenting pursuit of who God created you and me to be.
The point behind God’s original gift of Sabbath was not only rest, but refreshment. Bringing new life, that is what the Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee was about. It was a gift. Not something we had to do, but something we get to do.
For me, I am refreshed playing with my wife and daughter. We try to bike each day. Reading, learning, taking a nap. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap. Sometimes you need to meet with God at Bedside Baptist and listen to Reverend Sheets. That’s allowed. Being with God, reading his word. While that is the obvious answer, it is the one we miss the most. Going slow enough through life to find those moments. A few weeks ago I was driving into downtown Tampa where we live. There is a long bridge that goes into downtown. If you drive over it in the morning, there is endless water on both sides and you can see the sun come up over the skyline. At that time of day, it is breathtaking. I was having a hard time and it was a reminder to me that God was still God and I wasn’t, that I could rest in him and trust him.
Do you know why I think this is so hard for us? We are doers. We are people who get things done. We have lists so that at the end of the day we know how much we did. Who has time to stop? I don’t.
For some of us, this is easy. Slowing down, resting. For others, it would mean that we would have to cut some things out of our lives.
The most common thing we say when it comes to resting, who has the time? Who has the time to take a break? I don’t, and we give our list of things to do. Here is what I have learned, we have time to do whatever we want to do. Here’s an example. I am a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I have a friend who can’t figure out how I have time to watch every Steelers game. You make the time. The same way you make the time to exercise, to take a class, to come here to church. Whatever you want to do with your time, you do.
What is a common complaint about time though? We never have enough of it. How many times have we said that? Do you know what I would do with another hour in the day, I would add something else to my schedule. I would sign up for something else, make another commitment.
Maybe in your life, you need to cut something out. Maybe you need to stop pursuing some of the things you are pursuing or giving your time to.
When Katie and I lived in Maryland after we got married, we had a couple that was a mentor to us. The husband was very successful. He worked for the government at the NSA. He made a decision a few years ago that he would leave work everyday at 4:30, unless there was a national crisis. He had to work things around in his schedule, but he decided that keeping a balanced life and being with his family was more important to him. He got passed for some promotions, but this past year he had the opportunity to join the staff of the National Security Advisor. This is a huge honor, he would be one of the top people on that team. It would mean a big raise, but longer hours. He wouldn’t be able to keep his rhythm and schedule. Do you know what he did? He turned it down. That is what it might take for some of us.
The reason I think this is hard for us has to do with fear and our trust in God. When we rest, when we take a break, we are telling God that we trust him to be God and take care of us. But here is God saying, come to me, be with me, take what I want for you, rest. Take it, let me worry about your problems for you, let me take care of you. Be my child.
As we close, I want to read a poem to you. This poem was written by a girl who was not a teenager when she died of cancer. It is called Slow dance.
Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down
Don’t dance so fast
Time is short
The music won’t last
Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask “How are you?”
Do you hear a reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast
Time is short
The music won’t last
Ever told a child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say, “hi”
You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast
Time is short
The music won’t last
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift
Thrown away
Life is not a race
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over
I want us to spend some time as we close reflecting and slowing down. We are going to listen to a song that is from the perspective of God singing to us, reminding us who He is, and what he wants us to experience. The peace and the rest that he gives.
