(If you feel this sermon is helpful, you are welcome to visit https://danachau.thinkific.com/ for a free online course.)
Rest
Selected Scriptures
(Video) Happy Mother's Day, Everyone!
Last week I heard a conversation between my daughters. One said: "I'm not going to have kids. What if they don't turn out like me?
My other daughter added: "Worse. What if they turn out like me?"
Your kid know deep down how hard it is to be a mother. One day out of the year is not enough to honor the roles a mother has in her children's lives. Mother's Day is given to remind us to honor our mothers every day.
On May 8, 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. Thousands of years before that God commanded His people in Exodus 20:12, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you."
When we honor our parents, we honor God. Let us honor God in our worship service by honoring our mothers. Whether you are a grandmother, a mother or an expectant mother, will you stand? We want to recognize and honor you. I want to pray for you; after that, the ushers will present to you a Mother's Day gift from the Church. (PRAY)
This morning we'll be looking at a topic needed by Moms and relevant for many. The topic is rest. Next week we will look at the complement of rest, and that is work.
If I were to teach on rest five years ago, I would have felt like a hypocrite. In college I discovered the emotional high of high achievement through hard work. Being a new Christian at the time didn't help. It only increased my desire for perfection, and perfection required harder work.
In seminary, my counseling professor chided me: "Dana, leave the next generation something to do." One of the books on my shelf was When I Relax I Feel Guilty by Tim Hansel. That title described why I was driven toward workaholism. It took Parkinson's disease to slow me down.
We don't all have the same need for rest. Some of us need to rest more, while others need to work more. Some may think they're resting when they are really restless, bored or lazy. These are not the same as resting.
Tim Keller identified four current trends regarding work that leads to overworking and under-resting: 1) job insecurity, 2) high performance expectation, 3) technology that enables work from anywhere, and 4) deriving one's meaning and worth from work.
In the remaining time, we'll look at reasons for rest, ways to rest and the ultimate activity of rest.
Let's begin with the reasons for rest. First we are conditioned to rest. Matthew 8 records Jesus healing many sick people. It was an exhausting day of ministry. Jesus eventually leaves the crowd by boat, and he falls asleep in the boat before he arrives at his destination.
16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick....
18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.... 23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
Many of us are over-worked and overstressed. Whether driven from within, driven by deadlines or driven by crying babies or overscheduled teenagers. Parents, especially mothers who work outside the home, need to make rest a priority.
Here are some signs we need to rest: Crankiness, impatience, depression, anxiety, fatigued, overwhelmed, exhibiting poor judgment.
One survey found that 30% of Americans are sleep deprived, getting 6 hours or less of sleep per night. Sleep deprivation is a risk factor for chronic illness and work-related accidents. Sleep deprivation reduces our body's ability to fight off infections and our mind to make good choices. Sleep isn't the only way to rest; we'll look at others later.
Here's another reason for rest: We are created to rest. In the creation account, Genesis 2:2-3 reads, "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."
On the 6th day, God created mankind, his final creation. On the 7th day, God rested. Not because he was tired, but because he was finished creating.
Someone observed that God set aside the 7th day, which was mankind's first day, as a day of rest. The first day of mankind was not a workday. God made mankind's first day to rest: To prepare for the work ahead.
This doesn't exclude our need to rest to repair from work. But it suggests that rest includes to prepare for work. Prepare our bodies, our emotions, our relationship with God and family. These are just a few areas for rest to gain strength, not just to get well.
Here is a third reason for rest: We are commanded to rest. The fourth of God's ten commandments reads, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 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, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11)."
The Hebrew word for sabbath comes possibly from the Hebrew verb, sabat, which means to stop or to cease. The meaning of rest is given from Genesis 2:2-3, God's rest following the six days of creation.
In the fourth commandment, there is no suggestion of rest to repair from work or rest to prepare for work. The command is to rest as an act of trust in the example God has set. What identifies a believer is that he or she trusts the goodness of God even if he or she may not understand the guidance of God.
Human reasoning says, "If I can't get it all done in 6 days, I'll do it in 7 days." Or, "If I can make this much money in 5 days, just think how much two more days of overtime pay." Or do we trust in the example God set for us? 6 days of work; 1 day of rest.
Let's now look at the ways to rest.
First is to repair the mind and body from the demands of work. We saw Jesus took a nap between the demands of work. Mothers of young children, when your children nap, you might want to nap or eat something rather than do the dishes or clean house. Repair your worn-out mind and body first. Rest.
Ways to repair the mind and body in addition to sleep could include hydration, healthy meals, a massage, a walk outdoor, sunshine and fresh air. Talk with a good listener. Read from a daily devotional or meditate on a Bible verse. Listen to soothing or worship music.
If we don't repair our mind and body, negative emotions may build up in us. These negative emotions could show up in our interactions with family members or coworkers. Sometimes we might try to numb the negative emotions with over-eating or watching / streaming hours and hours of media.
Instead resting when we need to is the best solution. Resting could take 10 minutes or a good portion of a day, depending on your condition. Rest to repair.
Next is rest to prepare, to gain strength and strategy to handle the demands of upcoming work. This includes a good 7 to 8 hours of sleep at night. Regular exercise and nutritious meals. Recharging activities, depending on whether you are an extrovert or an introvert. Activity with friends for the extrovert. Reading a good book for the introvert.
Rest to prepare includes getting organized, which leads to greater peace. Comparing calendars with family members. Delegating chores and housecleaning to children or to cleaning service. I'm sure you can think of others.
Third is rest as an activity of trusting God. God commanded us to trust His example from His work in creation: 6 days of work; 1 day of rest, And setting one day aside for rest does require us to trust God. Trust God with what?
Trust God with our identity. On our off day, we have the opportunity to see we are more than our job. You are more than an engineer, a CCS teacher, or a student. You are a child of God, and you are valuable because God made you in His image.
Trust God with our insecurities. On our off day, we can see things don't fall apart because we stop working one day out of seven. The sun will rise and set. The earth will continue in her orbit. The company will open for work again. The family will carry on.
Unless our rest is an activity of trusting God, our rest is superficial. A momentary distraction from our work. But if our rest is anchored in trusting God with our identity and insecurities, we can rest deep to the core of our being.
This leads us to our final point: The ultimate activity of rest is trusting in God's goodness for our right standing with God in heaven. Romans 4:5 reads, "And to the one who does not work but trusts in [God] who justifies the ungodly, his [trust] is counted as righteousness, ...."
Man-made religions require people to work their way into heaven. As a result there is never any rest or certainty for such persons regarding their standing before God. The Bible, on the other hand, reveals that a right standing before God is justified by trusting God came in Jesus to die on the cross as full payment for our wrongs.
A couple of years back, after the bedtime prayer, I asked one of my daughters, "Are you confident that you would go to heaven if you were to die tonight?"
She thought for a moment and said "no."
And I replied, "I think I know why. It's because you were thinking about all the wrong things you've done. What if you were to think of what God did for you on the cross? Would you then have confidence you would go to heaven?"
She smiled and said, "uh-huh" and went to sleep.
The ultimate activity of rest is trusting in God's goodness for our eternity. God has done the needed work through Jesus. We simply trust in God's finished work on the cross. That's rest we all can use.
(If you feel this sermon is helpful, you are welcome to visit https://danachau.thinkific.com/ for a free online course.)
