Due to technical difficulties, we weren’t able to record this sermon on February 5th, however, we’re going to share the sermon notes in hopes it can still be helpful, especially if you missed. Continue to engage in DNA.
Sermon Notes
Introduction
SHARP: Chronic fatigue (38%), restlessness, burnout is the leading cause of people leaving their jobs (according to a Business Insider Study on the “great Resignation”
Burnout, is when the gap between what is expected and what is required of us is greater than our capacity can bare….
55% of Americans say no amount of rest or time off helps them regain focus or feel energized…according to National Library of Medicine study, if left unaddressed, even if Americans eat better, exercise more (reduce our levels of obesity to nearly zero), these conditions will grow as account for our burnout/fatigue: heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, and will account for the number one underlying reason people will go to the ER and seek medical care….
We don’t have a work/life balance problem…We have a LIFE problem…
Some of us might say, well Americans work too much and have too many responsibilities and take more time for hobbies, exercise, vacations, et…
….in the history of the world, there’s never been more money spent by a society on leisure, vacations, hobbies, childcare, food delivery, etc…(According to Fortune Magazine, the Economist, and GDP data)
Some have supposed that in modern life, we’ve turned liesure into work…the same parts of our brain that are filled with responsibility, stress, and threatening outcomes that come from work are now also found in our leisure time…That’s wild…
We are an Exhausted culture.
Here’s what all of this means to me, even when we’re doing all the self-care, all the CALM apps, all the vacation days and all the hobbies…we’re still tired because we haven’t found true rest..
“We were made for God and our hearts will not find rest until they find their rest in Him.” African Theologian St. Augustine of Hippo
Now, Wouldn’t that be something: “To Find Rest.”
Today we come to the sabbath (literally the seventh day). Throughout this year, we plan to talk about restful godly delight or sabbath rest three more times this year as part of our vision to become a people with a deep satisfaction and joy in Jesus…There’s so many angles…Today we start with the first day of restful delight as God created time and space without labor and with contentment.
I hope I lead you to water today, and some of us (maybe even all of us) will grow in a desire to drink deeply of a contented life in Christ…., explains how that is the truth woven into the universe by the most holy, always blessing, and content God…
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
Genesis 2:1-3
Part 1: God Blessed it and made it holy
The Last Day is a Significant day… The order of lasts…the last thing is the best thing…the thing everything has been building towards…
I.e. main purpose and aim of a movie isn’t the screen play, the costumes, the editing, or the acting. No, it’s when it all comes together and is viewed by an audience. That’s why the final award at the oscars is for the producer who pulls all of those things together.
***This is how Hebrew literature and Narrative works, too. The end of the narrative section is pointing to the purpose…What has God been working towards, a seventh day of rest.
This account, Genesis 1, is saying the grand thing: all of the forming and ordering of creation was bent towards one outcome and one outcome alone: God’s gracious rule and blessing…The temples and tents we make are merely shadows…of the Work God has done which he now says is complete, and he pauses, on this day…
There were other ancient creation accounts—Oddly/Not oddly if you think about it, they have lots of similarities…a god forming and giving purpose to all things, delegating roles, even the sequence. Here’s the three main differences, which lead us to seeing the main significance of what God is saying in Genesis. In the other accounts…
The creating god makes other gods in charge of each thing (Sky, Moon, Earth, Water) in Genesis, Its only God!
In other accounts humans a made as slaves to God and the gods, to work and build their world.
Lastly, the seventh day. A God At Peace. At Rest. Content. Glad. — All others have an anxious God, a hurried God who wants more and more…
It Genesis is says, God looked at what he made and said, It is complete!
— I think we might have a view of God that’s more inline with ancient pagan thoughts: A God frustrated..A God wanting more…But this gives us a profound picture: A God content.
Rest = Ceasing/Pausing from Work
Existing in stability/completion/security — Not relaxation…Not a spa day.
Only Day Blessed, “Blessed Day” (Humans blessed in their endeavor, Animals, Fish, and Birds are blessed to multiply) But this is God creating time, moment, a day… — The Hebrew Bible views time itself as a thing to bless.
Holy Moments are formed “God made it holy”…which stands in contrast a hurried world that says time is money…Time that is Holy…Set-apart.
But God wasn’t doing something alone, he was doing it with us…We are invited into it! More like ushered into it.
Part 2: Humanity Begins with Rest
God commissions the people, gives them purpose and his imprint on ever essence of their being and then, right from the start, their very first moments are God saying, That’s very good…humanity is thinking, “Okay, now what do we do now?”
Now, what’s the first step? What’s the first agenda item? Is it the mission to all nations? Is it the building of a new society of grace? Is it political revolution? Is the top of the agenda rules, regulations, and procedures?
No…it’s joining God in rest…it’s peace…it’s contentment. It’s delight. It’s God saying, “lets rest in this holy moment I’ve created.”
It’s like this: Get hired for a new Job (You’re not sure you’ll be up to it,, CEO brings you in, says we’ve got lots of work to do…really an eternal amount of work. Do you think you can handle it? Yup, okay…welll first order of business…Let’s take a day off together. And just be and know each other.
Sabbath, now remember, this is being heard by a people worked to the bone and told their only purpose in existence was to produce for someone else’s pleasure. Pretty familiar, our education system, and view on all things in this society is: You were made to produce and you were made to consume. Produce Monday through Friday, Consume Saturday-Sunday…
God is saying we were created with a purpose and it starts with rest for God’s delight…
Shorter Westminster Catechism: “Chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
John Piper, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
Sabbath is an invitation to be satisfied with God, as he is satisfied with creation…
But that’s not for us is it?
You might think, well that was then….this is now! Sin has messed it all up but then Jesus changes everything… now our first step is work for God and the Gospel and then we can rest later in eternity…That’s when we get the seventh day!
On the night of Jesus’ arrest he does a few things:
First, he washes his disciples feet…He says, I don’t call you my servants, I call you friends…I called you together, you heard my voice, I’ve made you disciples…
Then…he gives them a new command, to love one another…Sacrificial LOVE!
Then he tells them: Abide in ME! Then he says, lets eat a meal. Let’s pray, lets take a walk to the grove of olive trees in the evening light…
Then, he’s arrested, beaten, and killed and on the cross he says, in the echos of His own voice in creation: “It is finished!” (The It is done, it is done of Genesis 2, is re-spoken by the voice who created all things, but now is saying: redemption is finished!)
The next day, Sabbath, he’s in the tomb, but then on Sunday he comes out of the grave this is what they’re tasked with, before they are scattered across the world to proclaim the hope of resurrection: He says this as his first words, “Peace!”, he has a meal with them, he embraces them, then, he invites them to a breakfast on the beach that he prepared for them.
I know that’s a lot of story, but it tells me this: The gospel doesn’t produce a work now rest in eternity later, but it is Christ’s Work on the cross was complete, sufficient, and generous and our first step in the Christian faith is to Rest in his work, to know that this moment is holy, and to enjoy God forever and in doing so live out the mission of God….
The Christian life is an extravagant abiding (not in fancy cars, paychecks, or clothes) in the prosperity that is knowing and receiving the love of God from step one…
Again, we enter that rest, that sabbath rest:
1) is an active resistance against the lie that we must earn salvation, mercy,. That we are our work. And instead embrace the truth that Christ’s work is more than enough and His Work Defines who we are….+
2) As a way to to recognize Christ’s control of the cosmos and his rule over the cosmos….and his kingdom coming
3) Delight in the holy reality that Christ is with us, for us, and in us. He’s made us holy! That, Family, is Freedom.
Part 3: Practical Sabbath
Now, how should we do “a” sabbath?
Headline: Mark 4: “Sabbath was made for man! Not man for the Sabbath”
Prepare
Play
Pray
Sabbath with kids and particularly small kids
— Take a break from parental worry and parental control…Relax…as an act of saying, “God is going to write their story!”
— Make it sweet
— Try to know your children
— Nap-times are key (not for errands as you typically might, but for connecting as spouses, for prayer, for rest together)
— you’re actually teaching them about The Father…and shaping their view of God, Tell them, I’m so happy with you. I love you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
— Play and Pray…
Conclusion
He’s done all the work. He’s formed the church. He’s building it up. He’s advancing his mission. He’s recreating all things. Welcome and rest.