Rested
My freshman year of college I got to be friends with another guy on the dorm floor who was a premed major, on the highest scholarship the school gave, and he had given himself 3 years to graduate, all while working a part time job. He mapped everything out on paper of how he could do it all. It was doable he just had to sacrifice some luxuries. One of which was sleep. He did great… for a few weeks. Then to get ready for midterms he pulled a series of all nighters, bombed his tests because he couldn’t read them, came home and fell asleep for six days. Concerned roommates took him to the doctor and he was given strict orders to rest. He had completely exhausted himself.
If I ever need an example of what not to do, I will go to freshmen in college or rock bands. Perhaps his story is extreme, and less common, but today, burnout plagues many people.
Burnout is defined as a state of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual exhaustion caused by living too fast a pace for too long, or by living with too many stresses in our lives. and recent studies show 80 percent of people struggle with it. Common causes are: work pressure, overwork, not enough sleep, too little exercise or criticism from others.what might a day of rest do for people.
Gen z has higher levels of burnout than any other generation. A quick search on burnout will yield testimony from many celebrities who crumbled under the pressure of jobs. Working every day until they couldn’t. People need rest/margin.
It might raise the question of why do so many people struggle with this. Where is God when all this suffering is going on? Well, the answer is right before us. Jesus offers rest to his people, but they have to put down their work and come to him.
Prop: We are all prone to physical, emotional, and spiritual burnout, and that is why we need to find rest in God. Jesus is the Lord of rest and he alone is the one that refreshes our souls.
People need to rest. Families need to rest. And we serve a God who commands us to rest from our work and worries, so that we might find rest for our souls. If we are going to find rest and refreshment for our souls we must push back against the foolish burnout culture of the world, then we must push aside the pressures of the world and find rest in Jesus.
- The Lord Who Gives Rest
[28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Jesus is a Lord who offers rest to his people. He is not a harsh and demeaning dictator. He is one who cares for his people. Yes, he calls you to do hard things, but he is also concerned to give you rest. He is gentle and lowly. A bruised reed he will not break. He is tender and compassionate with his people.
He mentions rest: sleep, quiet, stillness. Itis to be physically refreshed. It is to give relief.
It is the opposite of. Weary: emotionally discouraged, physically tired, strong exertion. Heavy Laden: weighed down with difficulties or troubles, many hard things. A load has been placed on your back and you cannot carry it.
God care for his people to have rest is not new. Rest is part of his creational design. Rest was instituted at creation (Gen 2:2), follows God’s example (Gen 2:2,3), is listed in the ten Commandments (Ex 20:1-17), and here is affirmed a place in the Lordship of Christ.
[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. 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. (Genesis 2:2-3 ESV)
["Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 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. 11 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 ESV)
This is a command to rest. The Hebrew word sbat (Sabbath) means to stop doing something, to cease an activity. It means to rest. We need rest. We need to stop.
It establishes a regular pattern of work and rest. Work six days and rest. That is God’s design. It means people need to rest. One thing to note is that this command is also directed to heads of households. The head of the house was to ensure their children and servants were provided time to rest. You can google burnout with kids. They are not able to keep up with pace of their parents. They are stressed and tired.
[BB Warfield said, “This is the day on which the tired body rests from its appointed labor; on which the worn spirit finds opportunity for recuperation; an oasis in the desert of earthly cares, when we can escape for a moment from the treadmill toil of daily life and, at leisure from ourselves, refresh our souls in God.
Resting is a core part of the Christian faith. Work six rest one. This is given to heads of household but they are to ensure their servants, their kids, even their livestock observe it. May have something to do with fact that if your kids or animals aren’t resting then you aren’t either!
- Physical Rest - Take a break.
Roger Federer sleeps 11-12 hours per night. Usain Bolt 10. Lebron James 12 hrs. NBA star Grant Hill said sleep is as important as diet and exercise. You probably say, well I m not a professional athlete. Correct. And you may do intellectual work around a computer. When was the last time you got away for a solid 12 hours to rest your mind? How about 24 hrs. You need to rest.
[“Few things are as theological as sleep. Show me your sleep pattern and I will show you your theology.” Reset 54. David Murray
Coal miner. We work on computers.
Imagine going around all day with a fully flexed bicep. Are we giving our minds time to rest? The sabbath is a gracious act of kind to refresh us. Amazed how people get burned out and they fault everyone else for their problems even God.
**God cares more for you than what you can do for him.** God does not need your work. He is not dependent on you. He is pleased with your offering but he does not need them. He wants you and your heart.
- Spiritual Refreshment
The intent of a Sabbath day was not just idleness and sitting on the couch doing nothing, but it was also a day holy to the Lord. We rest from earthly work in order to focus on heavenly work. We are to make the day holy (Ex 20:8). We make it holy by ….
["Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Ex 20:8
[“The seventh day did not call for a withdrawal of activity but a renewal of vitality.” Samuel Terrien.
This renewal comes from activity that seeks God by keeping the day holy (Ex 20:8). Dont profane the day by idleness (WLC 119). It was Jesus habit to attend church service (Luke 4:16).
Honor this pattern. Also see it is more than just watching football or bikeriding all day.Your need spiritual refreshment and sharpening.
Times in prayer, Bible reading, church, bring us into God’s presence, but also help us see our lives and responsibilities from a divine perspective. These are a quieting of our hearts, a time of filling our hearts and mind with truths about our reality rather than the feelings of our circumstances. You need to rehab your soul. Take a day off. Spend a good portion of that reading your Bible. Memorize Scripture. Do this with your kids. PHysical and spiritual. Go to church, how we make the day holy.
- Healthy Rhythms
We need to have healthy rhythms of life. Do you have a conviction about resting? If you don't have a conviction about this you are not going to rest. There are too many things pushing and pulling you.
Work and rest. We need rest and we need it more than we think. Few people have defined patterns of rest and their lives just become a smudge of undefinable color of work and rest, neither working nor resting as effectively as they should.
Are we teaching and modeling for our kids healthy rhythms for life? Can you just sit quietly in a room or house with your kids? Do they see the value and place of church and worship. Or sitting together as a family resting. Not giving in to the frenetic pace of our culture. And generall valuing down time, daily devotions, holidays.
Resting requires boundaries. There are clear boundaries set in the Old Testament. There were boundaries in time and space. Think about that. You work certain days and you rest certain days. There were also sacred spaces. There were certain things done in parts of the temple that were not allowed in other parts of the temple. We are going to see that we have freedom in Christ and we should not have a legalistic understanding of rest, but let me also say the law and pattern given in the Old Testament function like training wheels. When you are struggling to ride a bike those wheels prop you up, when you are struggling to rest let these things prop you up.
Kids: play different games. Break cycle of addiction.
Might just have to talk. Might just have to enjoy being there, with who you are, being where you are. Not trying to get to where you want to be and who you want to be. But in who you are. Who your kids are. Who your family is. Silence the constant noise. Might hear one another.
- Taking His Yoke On
This is ironic. Yokes were associated with work and not rest. Put a yoke on your cattle and you are ready to work.
[V29 take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
Resting or not resting shows what is ruling over you. In order to rest you have to have a greater commitment to something or someone else.
Your ability to rest is directly connect to your ability to trust God. If dont trust him then you will not put his yoke on. If you have not learned from him then you will not find rest. You will not be able to trust him, his character, his promises. Live in rebellion and foolishness.
A yoke is what went around the necks of oxen when they were working. It connected them to the things they pulled. Yoke was a symbol of servitude and of being ruled by a person. It was sometimes used of the law, the yoke of the law. But servitude to Jesus is servitude to one who cares for you, who is gentle and loves you. It is servitude but it has a different spirit. This Lord gave his life for his people. If we want to find rest we must take his yoke on.
His yoke brings freedom. Now one of the things going on in this passage is that certain religious teachers called Pharisees are accusing Jesus of wrongdoing. They have a legalistic view of the sabbath. They didn’t want to break God’s law so they created all these ways to fence the commandment to ensure you didn’t break the command. Then that extra fencing became as important as the command.
People missed the point of the sabbath. Jesus let his disciples pick grain on the sabbath and the Pharisees got mad. Its a day of rest and you are breaking it.
They said things like: you couldn't walk more than 1200 feet (Acts 1:12), aid an animal fallen in a pit (Luke 14:5), or even light a fire (Ex 35:3). These were work and broke the commands. 1199 and you are fine, but not 1200. Might watch someone and think did he work or not. Lets get the tape measure out. They missed the point.
Jesus rejects this. One thing he does here is he does not abolish sabbath, but he shows the true intent of the command, and this cuts through the Pharisees wrong understanding.
Jesus changed the old testament commands. They find their true fulfillment in him. They are internalized. In matt 5 Adultery is not just a physical act but it is looking at someone with lustful intent. Murder is not just killing someone but even hating them. Idolatry is not just worship at the feet of a pagan statue but it is what we trust in our hearts. Some commandments are heightened but some experience a laxity, a loosening of the standard. The sabbath is one of those.
Jesus showed the true intent of the Sabbath was to do good and bring restoration. People were not created for the Sabbath but the sabbath was created for people. It was a tool to be used by them. David demonstrates that too. His men were fleeing for their lives from Saul, and they came to the temple and the only food to eat was the sacred bread of presence. They broke the tradition, because the true intent was for God to give his people life, not to bind them with punishment.
In a similar way, We are freed from legalistic standards. We are not going to have a right relationship with God because of how well we rest. We can only be made right with God through a relationship with Christ. We need to move from a legalistic observation to a willful observation of God’s goodness.
Now it is permissible to do work on the sabbath. The Westminster Confession mentions permitting works of necessity. Some have pointed out the disciples were certainly hungry but more than likely they were not going to die. So we are to observe a day of rest but we shouldn’t be legalistic about it. Some of you might need to tighten your observation of it.
Jesus brings freedom from legalistic rules. Difference between having to do something and wanting to do it. His yoke is easy and his burden light. Serendipitous: we find joy in a place we didnt expect. My experience in college.
One interesting thing in this passage is the external pressure on Jesus and his disciples around the topic of rest. The legalistic understanding is being enforced by people. People have expectations on them. They have expectations on you. We have external pressure too. We have external pressure on deadlines, people wanting things from us, the need to pass classmates for grades, getting into college, expectations on sports teams. The pressure is to do, do, do. They had pressure to do nothing.
You are going to disappoint someone. Are you OK with that? If not then you are going to get run ragged. Resting in God allows us to be at rest when others are disappointed even angry at us. Are you in that place?
Taking his yoke frees you from the yoke of everyone else. Family has demands, friends have demands, kids have demands. If you are trying to serve all of them you will be worn out.
The joy of obeying Jesus above all else. You find rest. Parents, your kids are going to be fine if they don't do a particular sport or activity. Does your schedule allow time to just be together. Don't feel like you need to change the other. Are you trusting God with their future? A lot of the pace kids experience is because of the parents problems.
Being a slave to JEsus frees you from being a slave to everyone else. Some are enslaved to their jobs, their bosses, their own goal, their kids.
Mom’s. You need time away and to recuperate. Your husband may not do things the way you want or you do them, but they will be ok. Get out for a couple hours a week and do something to refresh yourself. Find ways to get time in the word. Go for a quiet walk, enjoy God’s creation.
Not because we have to. Then rest simply becomes another thing we have to do. We believe God for it. We believe it honors him and is good for us.
Martha and Mary. Jesus was there providing what their souls needed. Mary sat at his feet eagerly learning. Martha was busy.
Jesus is the Lord of rest. You will not find it except through him. You have to take his yoke upon you. Detach it from the world. Cant have both. One of the reasons we get dragged all over the place is because we are not really connected to Jesus.
Daily rest. He is our refuge. He is the one we seek.
- Rest for Your Souls
We take his yoke upon you. Yoke is something used of work. Oxen were yoked together so two could effectively pull one thing. Jesus is offering his yoke to us. This implies
Rest for your soul. Going to the beach is a break, and may have a spiritual element, but true spiritual rest comes from a spiritual being. He fills us. If thirsty dont drink salt water.
The greatest rest that we need is not found in a day, a time, but in a person. We won’t find rest for our minds or bodies if we do not find rest for our hearts. Much of our frantic pace is trying to do things that will better us. But hasn’t Jesus done the very thing that betters our life more than anything else. He has atoned for our sins. Because of him we can enter into the rest of God . He has overcome Satan and death. He gives rest to our souls. That is rest. (Josh Blunt)
Can you rest in who you are and who God has made you to be?
Lord of the Sabbath. He is Lord of rest. Mental rest. Rest your minds. Give them healing.
Rest is impossible to find if your future is not certain. If you were on the Titanic, and you knew that the ship would hit an iceberg and sink, you would not be able to enjoy your time. The state of the art ship, the plush lounges and furniture, would provide you no joy. It might provide a diversion from you ultimate fate, but it would not provide you rest. We find rest for our souls when we know our future is secured. We can rest because we know he has us. He secured us.
Many people seek rest in things that cannot provide it. They are temporary reliefs to an eternal problem. They are like a massage for a man dying of cancer. That massage may feel good but it is not going to take the problem away, so you have it but are empty inside. He does not let us down. His word does not fail us. We trust in him and have a blessed assurance for today, tomorrow and for eternity.
