RESTORING THE JOY
Part 5: Finding Rest in a Restless World
For the past few weeks, we have been looking at reasons why so few Christians have joy in their lives. Jesus said He came to give us “abundant Lives,” and yet we see very few people living abundantly. The Devil has a plethora, an arsenal of weapons he uses to destroy our joy. He uses discouragement, causing us to forget God is in control. He uses a lack of purpose, causing us to forget our first purpose is to love and worship God. He messes up our perspective, causing us to become ungrateful. All of these are great tools for joy-stealing. But, I believe one of the major tools the Devil uses in America, to rob us of our joy is a lack of rest. He simply keeps us so tired, so weary, and so stressed that there is no joy left.
The most notorious industrial accidents in recent years - Exxon Valdez, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, the fatal navigational error of Korean Airlines 007 - all occurred in the middle of the night. In the Challenger space shuttle disaster, key NASA officials made the ill-fated decision to go ahead with the launch after working twenty hours straight and getting only two to three hours of sleep the night before. Their error in judgment cost the lives of seven astronauts and nearly killed the U. S. space program. (Martin Moore-Ede. In The Twenty Four Hour Society, quoted in Sermon Central PRO)My friends, lack of rest, lack of sleep, can make you a danger to the people around you, and it will rob you of your joy.
We live in a society ruled by hurry and worry. We spend our time talking about how busy we are, how tired we are, and about how little sleep we get. In the frontier days, if a person missed a stage, they were content to wait 2 or 3 days for the next one. Today, we get upset if we miss a light.
We hurry, we rush, & we skimp on our sleep. My friend, a lack of sleep, a lack of rest, will rob you of your joy. Turn with me this morning to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8 as we see together one of the most important joy-protecting commandments God ever gave, but the one even Christians so easily forget.
- Read Exodus 20:8-11
Did you notice how many verses, how many words, God used in this commandment? God used an awful lot of room on that first stone tablet to record this commandment. God said, “Set aside a day when you do no work.” He didn’t stop there however, He also said, “On that day, you’re not to work, neither is any of your family, neither are any of your employees, nor is any of your livestock.”
My friends, you and I are to have 1 day a week that is different than all the other days. One day in seven we are to set aside and make it special in our lives. It is not a day to catch up on chores. It is not a day to finish the laundry. It is not a day to plan out the coming week. It is not a day to balance your checkbook. It is to be a special day, different than all the other days of the week.
Now, what are we to do on this day?
ACTIONS FOR OUR SPECIAL DAY
1. On our special day we are to Remember
This commandment begins with the word “Remember.” On our special day we are to remember.
a. Remember God is in Control - In verse 11, we are told that God made the heavens, and the earth, and everything that is in them. My friend, you and I are to have a special day each week when we stop to remember that God is still God. We are to remember that God is still in control. It is very easy to get so busy with daily living that we forget God is still sitting on the throne of heaven. It is easy to get so busy with the chores of life that we get wrapped up in ourselves and our situations to the point where we lose sight of the big picture.
God says, take a day a week and remember. Remember that I created all of this. Remember I see it all, and I am still the Lord of all. There is nothing beyond My power and My ability. Take a day and remember, I am in control.
One of the primary ways we remember God and remember He is in control is through worship. Our special day is a day to worship God. To praise His name. To sing and celebrate His goodness, His mercy, His power, and His love for us. Our special day is not just to be spent any way we want to, but on our special day we are place a special emphasis on remembering and worshipping our God, for “worship renews the spirit like sleep renews the body.” (Richard Clarke Cabot)
b. Remember You are Special - God says, “I made everything in 6 days and then rested on the 7th day. I want you to set aside a day a week, just like I did, to remember you are special.
My friends, it is easy, in the hustle and bustle of life, to begin to measure our value according to the things we are able to do, according to the job we do, according to the things we are able to accomplish. We compare ourselves to the people around us and measure our value or our worth on how good a job we do, or on how much we are able to accomplish compared to them. God says, “Stop it. Look, I set aside a day and I want you to do the same thing because you are special. You were made in My image. You were created by Me. You are special, not because of what you do, not because of how much you accomplish and not because of how successful you are in the eyes of the world. No, you are special because I made you special and said you were.”
Oh my friend, there is not a turtle, a spotted owl, manatee, nor a whale in the world that can say they were made by the hand of God, and created in the image of God. There is not an animal in the world that can say God loved it enough to send His Son Jesus Christ.
God says, “Stop. Take a day and remember. Remember I am still in charge, Remember, you are special to Me. I have not forgotten you. And thirdly, remember your freedom. Save your place and turn with me please to Deuteronomy 5:12.
- Read Deuteronomy 5:12-15
> Deuteronomy 5:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
c. Remember You are Free
I want you to under line the last sentence in verse 15. That is why the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
My friend, God wants you to set aside a day a week to remember that you are now free. It is easy, when the boss is pressing you, when the bills are piling up, when your friends and family are placing demands on you, to begin to think that you are in bondage. To think that you are slave. God says, “Stop. Set aside a day. I want you to remember that you are free. You do not have to be in bondage to those things or those people. You are My child. You are special. You are free. Don’t put yourself under bondage again.” Remember the freedom you have in Jesus Christ. Remember the sins and bondage He delivered you from.
My friend, if you want joy in your life, stop and remember. Second, if you want joy in your life, stop and rest.
2. On our special day we are to Rest
Many people in society have negative attitudes toward sleep, but listen to God’s word.
>Psalm 127:2 In vain you get up early and stay up late, eating food earned by hard work; certainly He gives sleep to the one He loves.
Listen, it is not a sin to sleep. It is not a sin to rest. On Sunday afternoon I usually try to get a nap, but it is amazing the number of people who find themselves making excuses when they rest, or sleep, or nap, like they are being unproductive or something.
The story is told of the day a woodsman challenged another to an all-day tree chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was tired and irritated while the other woodsman was joking around. The challenger was also upset when he discovered that his opponent had cut more wood than he, even though the man had rested.
“I don’t get it,” he said. “Several times when I checked, you were resting, yet you chopped more wood than I did.” “But you didn’t notice,” said the winning woodsman, “that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest.”
My friend, you must have rest in order to sharpen your ax. Did you ever notice how much Jesus accomplished, and yet He never seemed hurried or rushed?
In the book of Mark we find that Jesus had sent out His disciples. They came back and reported all that they had done and taught. The people gathered around Jesus and His disciples. Now was the time to strike while the iron was hot. What did Jesus do? He told His disciples in:
> Mark 6:31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest a while.”
My friend, if you are going to be effective, if you are going to retain joy in your life, Jesus says, “Rest.”
On your special day you need to remember. On your special day you need to rest.
"Some time ago, a newspaper in Tacoma, Washington carried the story of Tattoo, the basset hound. Tattoo didn’t intend to go for an evening run, but when his owner shut his leash in the car door and took off with Tattoo still outside the vehicle, he had no choice.
A motorcycle office named Terry Filbert noticed a passing vehicle with something that appeared to be dragging behind it. As he passed the vehicle, he saw the object was a basset hound on a leash. ’He was picking them up and putting them down as fast as he could’, said Filbert. He chased the car to a stop, and Tattoo was rescued, but not before the dog reached a speed of 25 mph and rolled over several times.
My friend, there is more to life than picking them up and putting them down as fast as you can. Stop and take time to remember, to worship. Stop, and take time to rest. Let your soul be rejuvenated! May your spirit echo the words of King David when he declared:" (Quoted in sermon Just Rest, by Darron Khan)
> Psalm 116:7 Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
