WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 –> 00:00:06.320 to be back, having been out of the pulpit for some weeks. I think that I am eminently 00:00:06.320 –> 00:00:15.640 qualified to speak on today’s subject. Give yourself a break. Enjoying God’s gift 00:00:15.640 –> 00:00:18.639 of rest. Going to be our focus for the next three weeks—it’s 00:00:18.639 –> 00:00:24.879 a very, very important theme that goes to the heart of living the Christian life. I 00:00:24.959 –> 00:00:33.080 wonder if you’ve ever asked the question, what does it mean to rest? Is this flopping 00:00:33.080 –> 00:00:40.000 down in front of a television with a remote control to exercise your thumb? If so, why 00:00:40.000 –> 00:00:45.560 is it that it is possible to sit in front of a television for an hour, two hours, or 00:00:45.560 –> 00:00:54.860 three hours and at the end feel more frustrated than you feel rested? Ever experience that? 00:00:54.860 –> 00:01:02.580 Is it going to sleep? Is it taking a vacation or lying on a beach with a good book in the 00:01:02.580 –> 00:01:09.040 sunshine and a cool drink? Yes, but it is possible to lie on a beach in the sunshine 00:01:09.040 –> 00:01:19.500 with a good book and a cool drink and a dreadfully troubled mind. A soul in turmoil. What does 00:01:19.639 –> 00:01:28.500 it mean to rest? And what do you know of it in your own life? Well, I reached for the 00:01:28.500 –> 00:01:35.680 trusted concise Oxford Dictionary and found these two definitions. Here’s the first, 00:01:35.680 –> 00:01:43.160 rest. To repose or sleep the Oxford Dictionary says, especially in bed at night. Isn’t 00:01:43.279 –> 00:01:49.580 that very profound? Now, I want to suggest to you that that is not what the Bible means 00:01:49.580 –> 00:01:55.459 by the word, rest. It cannot mean going to sleep, especially in bed at night, for the 00:01:55.459 –> 00:02:02.459 simple reason that the Bible tells us God rested and God does not need to sleep. 00:02:03.180 –> 00:02:10.179 In fact, the Psalms tells us very specifically that God never slumbers nor sleeps. The reason 00:02:10.240 –> 00:02:17.240 that God rested on the seventh day after creation was not that he was exhausted and didn’t have 00:02:17.279 –> 00:02:22.020 energy for anything else until he had time to catch up. God is never exhausted. God is 00:02:22.020 –> 00:02:29.020 never tired. He is never worn out, but he does rest. And he tells us specifically that 00:02:30.460 –> 00:02:34.460 he wants us to enter into his rest. 00:02:34.539 –> 00:02:41.539 So whatever that rest is, it’s not lying in bed at sleep at night. So I ploughed on and 00:02:42.639 –> 00:02:49.639 found this definition in the dictionary, to be relieved from exertion, or action, or movement, 00:02:52.380 –> 00:02:58.119 or employment. And again, I want to suggest to you that that cannot be what the Bible 00:02:58.300 –> 00:03:01.960 means when it talks about rest, for the simple reason that 00:03:01.960 –> 00:03:07.240 if you look in Isaiah chapter 57, which will be our focus next week, the Bible makes it 00:03:07.240 –> 00:03:14.240 very clear that there is no rest for the wicked. That the wicked are like the troubled sea 00:03:14.699 –> 00:03:19.679 that cannot rest. In other words, the rest that God talks about 00:03:19.679 –> 00:03:25.800 and that he wants you to know is something that, by definition, the wicked cannot experience. 00:03:26.740 –> 00:03:31.800 Now, it is perfectly obvious to us all, surely, that wicked people do go on vacation. It is 00:03:31.800 –> 00:03:36.679 perfectly possible for a wicked person to read a good book on a warm sunny day on the 00:03:36.679 –> 00:03:42.339 beach with a cool drink, is it not? So, whatever this rest is that God is talking 00:03:42.339 –> 00:03:49.339 about, it is something more and something other than this definition of ceasing from 00:03:50.139 –> 00:03:57.039 activity, or from employment. So, I want to offer a working definition that 00:03:57.039 –> 00:04:01.100 we’ll use over these next three weeks, that you’re going to explore as we go through 00:04:01.100 –> 00:04:06.660 the Scriptures together. And it’s simply this. That at its root, the 00:04:06.660 –> 00:04:13.660 biblical concept of rest is all about a purpose fulfilled or a project completed. 00:04:13.979 –> 00:04:20.980 A purpose fulfilled or a project completed. We find the root of that in Genesis in chapter 00:04:23.420 –> 00:04:30.079 three when God had finished his work of creation. He saw that everything was good, and because 00:04:30.079 –> 00:04:36.399 that project was completed, because that purpose was fulfilled, He entered into rest. All that 00:04:36.399 –> 00:04:40.679 God had purposed to do with regards to the creation of the world was accomplished, and 00:04:40.739 –> 00:04:47.739 so He entered into rest. You find that also as we think about this experience of the wicked 00:04:48.160 –> 00:04:55.160 never resting. Why is it that the wicked never rest? Because the wicked have decided to pick 00:04:55.579 –> 00:05:01.160 a fight with God, and if you decide to pick a fight with God to resist the claims of God 00:05:01.160 –> 00:05:08.160 on your life, then your purpose will never be fulfilled, your project will never be accomplished. 00:05:08.359 –> 00:05:13.640 The wicked are engaged in a struggle they can never by definition win, because to be 00:05:13.640 –> 00:05:19.839 wicked is to oppose yourself to God. That is why by definition all of their lives, and 00:05:19.839 –> 00:05:24.140 for all eternity, the wicked are restless. 00:05:24.140 –> 00:05:31.140 The wicked cannot escape from God. The problem is, there is simply no place for them to go. 00:05:31.399 –> 00:05:38.399 David says in the Psalms, where can I go from your spirit? Where could I flee from your 00:05:40.160 –> 00:05:47.160 presence? If I go up into the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, 00:05:47.299 –> 00:05:53.220 you are there. Now if you love God, that is something wonderful! There’s no place in 00:05:53.220 –> 00:05:59.679 the world where I will be outside of the reach of His loving care. But if you are the wicked 00:05:59.679 –> 00:06:04.059 and you have set yourself against God, that is absolutely terrifying. There’s no place 00:06:04.059 –> 00:06:11.059 in the world or in eternity you can ever get away from Him. Even death, if you chose it, 00:06:11.480 –> 00:06:18.480 would only be a corridor that brings you immediately into His visible presence. 00:06:19.119 –> 00:06:25.200 So the wicked can never rest. Their purpose in life of resisting God can never be fulfilled. 00:06:25.260 –> 00:06:30.579 Their objective of avoiding Him can never be completed. 00:06:30.579 –> 00:06:36.579 Then, if we think on into the New Testament, when Jesus speaks about rest. Remember, He 00:06:36.579 –> 00:06:41.380 said, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. We’re going to think about 00:06:41.380 –> 00:06:48.380 this in two weeks’ time. And Jesus said, I will give you rest. What did He mean? He’s 00:06:48.440 –> 00:06:54.140 telling you this, your life has a God given purpose. And if Jesus says you come to Me, 00:06:54.140 –> 00:07:00.519 I will lead you into that purpose for which God has created you. Follow me and take my 00:07:00.519 –> 00:07:06.279 yoke upon you, become my disciple, and everything that God has purposed to do in you and through 00:07:06.279 –> 00:07:09.380 you will be fulfilled. 00:07:09.380 –> 00:07:16.380 Come to me, and I will give you rest. Or if we look back in Psalm 37 and verse 7, I’m 00:07:18.380 –> 00:07:21.940 quoting from the authorized version particularly here, though the meaning in other translations 00:07:21.940 –> 00:07:28.940 is the same. We find one of the great secrets of the Christian life, Psalm 37, which we 00:07:30.399 –> 00:07:37.399 quoted in prayer earlier. The wicked, we see this in our newspapers, are frenetic in their 00:07:39.799 –> 00:07:46.799 activity. Sometimes they seem to be very successful. The Bible says to us, don’t fret because 00:07:46.820 –> 00:07:53.579 of the wicked. Don’t worry about them, instead trust in the Lord and do good. Then David 00:07:53.579 –> 00:08:00.320 says, Psalm 37 and verse 7, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. So beautifully 00:08:00.320 –> 00:08:06.519 put to music by Mendelssohn. Oh rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for him. 00:08:06.519 –> 00:08:13.519 What does that mean? To rest in the Lord? To rest in the Lord means to live in the anticipation 00:08:14.420 –> 00:08:20.480 of the completion of all things. To know deeply within your soul that whatever is going on 00:08:20.480 –> 00:08:26.160 in this troubled world, God will fulfill every one of his purposes. Every one of his projects 00:08:26.160 –> 00:08:33.159 will be complete. When Jesus Christ returns in glory, there will be no loose ends. There 00:08:33.599 –> 00:08:39.539 will be no unfinished business. Not in your life. Not in the life of his people. Not in 00:08:39.580 –> 00:08:44.700 the whole creation. When we see him we will be like him and so in the middle of 00:08:44.700 –> 00:08:50.119 all your struggles and all your disappointments, hold on to this, every one of God’s purposes 00:08:50.119 –> 00:08:55.460 will be fulfilled. All of God’s projects will be completed as you struggle with anxieties 00:08:55.460 –> 00:09:02.020 and fears over money and career and children and grandchildren and health. 00:09:02.020 –> 00:09:04.500 Rest in the Lord. 00:09:04.500 –> 00:09:13.359 Now the question for before us then is how are you going to enjoy God’s gift of rest? 00:09:13.359 –> 00:09:18.520 And we’re going to begin today by exploring God’s model of rest right at the very beginning 00:09:18.520 –> 00:09:24.679 of the Bible in Genesis in chapter 2 when on the seventh day after his work of creation 00:09:24.679 –> 00:09:33.039 God rested and thereby introduced the principle of Sabbath which is one of the very important 00:09:33.260 –> 00:09:38.039 and much neglected themes that runs right the way through the whole of the Bible. 00:09:38.039 –> 00:09:39.500 So I hope you will open your Bible with me. 00:09:39.500 –> 00:09:41.900 Genesis chapter 2 and verses 2 and 3. 00:09:41.900 –> 00:09:45.479 Let’s just focus in on what the word of God says. 00:09:45.479 –> 00:09:51.359 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. 00:09:51.359 –> 00:09:58.359 So on the seventh day he rested from all his work and God blessed the seventh day and He 00:09:58.700 –> 00:10:00.859 made it holy. 00:10:00.859 –> 00:10:07.140 Because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. 00:10:07.140 –> 00:10:14.140 So notice that God makes for his people a special day and on this special day He does 00:10:14.299 –> 00:10:15.239 three things. 00:10:15.239 –> 00:10:19.140 Number one, God rested on this day. 00:10:19.140 –> 00:10:26.140 Number two, God blessed this day and number three God made this day holy. 00:10:26.559 –> 00:10:32.700 Now of course this theme is taken up in the fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath day 00:10:32.700 –> 00:10:36.359 we read in the 10 Commandments by keeping it holy. 00:10:36.359 –> 00:10:41.099 Six days you shall do your labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath 00:10:41.099 –> 00:10:45.719 to the Lord your God. 00:10:45.719 –> 00:10:50.659 Now before we get into this further I think it’s important and helpful to acknowledge 00:10:50.659 –> 00:10:57.400 that Christians have disagreed for centuries over the way in which we should understand 00:10:57.400 –> 00:11:03.059 this Sabbath principle and the fourth commandment and all kinds of debates about how we relate 00:11:03.059 –> 00:11:06.260 it to Sunday in our culture. 00:11:06.260 –> 00:11:12.719 Let me just by way of perspective very briefly say that there are three ways in which you 00:11:12.719 –> 00:11:18.539 can go on this issue, three paths, and I’m going to indicate which one we’re choosing 00:11:18.539 –> 00:11:20.559 as we press forward. 00:11:20.580 –> 00:11:27.280 The first I’d have to describe as the dead end of legalism, I have to say I think I 00:11:27.280 –> 00:11:33.979 know about this because the culture I was raised in was full of it. 00:11:33.979 –> 00:11:38.659 If you were a good Christian in Scotland in the years that I was growing up you certainly 00:11:38.659 –> 00:11:43.280 never had a Sunday paper, which always struck me as illogical because people were working 00:11:43.280 –> 00:11:47.659 to produce it on Saturday night but that’s another point. 00:11:47.659 –> 00:11:50.179 You wouldn’t have gone to a restaurant on a Sunday. 00:11:50.239 –> 00:11:55.760 There were a whole list of what you would do and what you wouldn’t do. 00:11:55.760 –> 00:12:03.700 And the culture enforced it with a kind of rigidity that is still found in many, many 00:12:03.700 –> 00:12:04.700 places. 00:12:04.700 –> 00:12:11.380 That’s one way you can go, it’s not where I’m heading and not I think where the Scriptures 00:12:11.380 –> 00:12:13.619 would lead us. 00:12:13.619 –> 00:12:18.080 Many Christians have taken everything that is said in the Old Testament about the Sabbath 00:12:18.179 –> 00:12:23.760 and just maked a straight transfer of all of that onto Sunday. 00:12:23.760 –> 00:12:28.659 Others have gone even further and said, well, you can’t even do that. 00:12:28.659 –> 00:12:32.359 Christians have no right to change the day, and Christians are under the same Old Testament 00:12:32.359 –> 00:12:36.299 obligations to observe a day on the week, but it must be the seventh day, and you folks 00:12:36.299 –> 00:12:40.260 have no right changing it to the first day. 00:12:40.260 –> 00:12:45.460 The problem with all this kind of approach that comes, it seems to me, from a fundamentally 00:12:45.599 –> 00:12:51.760 legalist mindset, is that it looks remarkably like the mindset of the Pharisees who went 00:12:51.760 –> 00:12:57.840 to such lengths to codify exactly what could and could not be done on the Sabbath, and 00:12:57.840 –> 00:13:03.840 Jesus gave absolutely no support whatsoever to their position. 00:13:03.840 –> 00:13:08.099 And in the New Testament the Apostle Paul warns us very severely, and we have to be 00:13:08.099 –> 00:13:12.859 careful about this, recognizing that there will be different views even within this community 00:13:13.099 –> 00:13:18.559 these issues. We have to be very careful about judging one another on the decisions that 00:13:18.559 –> 00:13:22.960 are made with regards to these issues, in which I’m going to argue God has given us 00:13:22.960 –> 00:13:29.119 liberty. Do not let anyone judge you, he says in Colossians, 00:13:29.119 –> 00:13:35.340 with regard to a Sabbath day. A second path that many people have taken, 00:13:35.340 –> 00:13:39.820 and perhaps in reaction to those who have become more legalistic in their approach, 00:13:39.979 –> 00:13:43.260 I’m going to call the quagmire of antinomianism, 00:13:43.260 –> 00:13:47.580 and I apologize for long words, but antinomianism. 00:13:47.580 –> 00:13:52.719 Nomos means law so antinomos, against the law, antinomianism. 00:13:52.719 –> 00:13:58.820 It is a word worth knowing because it is the whole mindset of people who don’t see a place 00:13:58.820 –> 00:14:05.299 for law in the Christian life at all. And I’m suggesting to you that just as legalism 00:14:05.299 –> 00:14:13.340 is a dead end, that antinomianism is a quagmire. 00:14:13.340 –> 00:14:20.099 Now, there are those within the family of God who are deeply convinced that the Old 00:14:20.099 –> 00:14:24.700 Testament has nothing to do with us in the New Testament. I hope, after our journey through 00:14:24.700 –> 00:14:29.580 the Bible, that we think very differently about that. That the New Testament, they say, 00:14:29.580 –> 00:14:34.000 gives us liberty to do whatever we want to do with regard to the Sabbath, and therefore 00:14:34.119 –> 00:14:38.119 we are free to do whatever we like, and will do so. 00:14:38.119 –> 00:14:43.400 The problem with that, and if that is your mindset, I’d like you to think about this. 00:14:43.400 –> 00:14:53.919 The problem with that is that we quickly lose the value of a gift that God built not even 00:14:53.919 –> 00:15:03.159 just into the Ten Commandments, but into the very shape of creation itself. And so I want 00:15:03.159 –> 00:15:07.039 to suggest that, avoiding these two routes, the dead end of legalism, and the quagmire 00:15:07.039 –> 00:15:12.799 of antinomianism, that we pursue a third path, which I’d like to describe as the responsible 00:15:12.799 –> 00:15:17.380 use of Christian liberty. 00:15:17.380 –> 00:15:25.580 God gives us, in Jesus Christ, wonderful liberty. It’s why we’re not to judge one another. 00:15:26.260 –> 00:15:35.559 The question is, are you going to make responsible use of that liberty that He’s given to you? 00:15:35.559 –> 00:15:41.359 Now, I want to suggest three ways in which you might do that, make responsible use of 00:15:41.359 –> 00:15:46.599 the liberty that He’s given to you with regards this particular gift of a special 00:15:46.599 –> 00:15:54.239 day that is so clearly outlined right on the very first page of the Bible. 00:15:54.239 –> 00:15:57.000 Three ways in which you might pursue this. 00:15:57.000 –> 00:16:02.359 Number one, finish your work. 00:16:02.359 –> 00:16:03.840 Genesis two, verse two. 00:16:03.840 –> 00:16:15.840 By the seventh day, God had finished the work He had been doing, so – do you see that 00:16:15.840 –> 00:16:24.200 – so, on the seventh day He rested from all His work. 00:16:24.419 –> 00:16:27.020 God, had finished His work. 00:16:27.020 –> 00:16:29.159 His purpose in creation was fulfilled. 00:16:29.159 –> 00:16:31.280 His project was complete. 00:16:31.280 –> 00:16:36.340 And that was the foundation of His rest. 00:16:36.340 –> 00:16:40.400 So here’s the first principle of enjoying God’s gift of rest. 00:16:40.400 –> 00:16:44.760 And it’s very obvious when you state it but we miss it in practicality so often. 00:16:44.760 –> 00:16:49.559 If you are going to enter into God’s rest, if you’re going to experience it, you have 00:16:49.559 –> 00:16:52.679 to get your work done. 00:16:53.640 –> 00:16:55.599 Now someone will probably say immediately, ah, 00:16:55.599 –> 00:16:58.000 that’s my problem right there. 00:16:58.000 –> 00:17:00.640 My work is never done. 00:17:00.640 –> 00:17:03.159 That’s why I never enjoy a proper rest. 00:17:03.159 –> 00:17:07.000 I’m absolutely overwhelmed by my work. 00:17:07.000 –> 00:17:08.160 My work is never done. 00:17:08.160 –> 00:17:12.239 Let’s try and think biblically about that claim because it’s very often heard among 00:17:12.239 –> 00:17:13.800 us. 00:17:13.800 –> 00:17:18.260 We often feel the weight of that. 00:17:18.260 –> 00:17:21.500 Work is a wonderful gift from God. 00:17:21.500 –> 00:17:23.739 The Bible begins with God working. 00:17:23.739 –> 00:17:24.739 Think about that. 00:17:24.739 –> 00:17:25.739 He gives us the pattern. 00:17:25.739 –> 00:17:32.800 The mandate to work is as important as the invitation to rest. 00:17:32.800 –> 00:17:36.099 His work is creative, fulfilling, enterprising, and beautiful. 00:17:36.099 –> 00:17:39.900 And we are to follow after that pattern. 00:17:39.900 –> 00:17:46.140 God gives Adam work to do, but when Adam was working in the garden, he was never overwhelmed 00:17:46.140 –> 00:17:49.300 by his work. 00:17:49.300 –> 00:17:58.719 Being overwhelmed by your work is something that was only experienced after the fall. 00:17:58.719 –> 00:18:00.979 Work is good, and it is a gift from God. 00:18:00.979 –> 00:18:09.520 Adam enjoyed it, but being overwhelmed by work is something introduced as an effect 00:18:09.520 –> 00:18:13.119 of and consequent to the fall. 00:18:13.119 –> 00:18:18.160 Therefore, being overwhelmed by work is something you and I need saved from, right? 00:18:18.839 –> 00:18:21.219 If it’s something that came in after the fall. 00:18:21.219 –> 00:18:25.420 I don’t need saved from work, but I do need saved from being overwhelmed by it. 00:18:25.420 –> 00:18:31.780 And God’s saving purpose is to restore to you and me everything that Adam lost through 00:18:31.780 –> 00:18:36.180 the fall, including being in a position of superiority over his work. 00:18:36.180 –> 00:18:39.599 God said, rule! 00:18:39.599 –> 00:18:42.739 We find ourselves under. 00:18:42.739 –> 00:18:46.400 God says, when you come into the new heaven and to the new earth, you will reign. 00:18:46.900 –> 00:18:52.760 You see, you’ll be brought back to that position in which you’re restored, not under but over. 00:18:52.760 –> 00:18:56.260 That’s what his saving work in eternity will ultimately look like. 00:18:56.260 –> 00:19:02.819 And that saving work is begun in you now. 00:19:02.819 –> 00:19:11.380 Now, I have to face my wife after this sermon. 00:19:11.380 –> 00:19:14.979 So I am gonna be honest and say I’m a fellow struggler. 00:19:14.979 –> 00:19:20.819 We all struggle with all of the effects of the fall, don’t we? 00:19:20.819 –> 00:19:28.400 But when we realize that this is a spiritual issue, that this is actually a dimension of 00:19:28.400 –> 00:19:34.479 God’s plan for your life, that it is actually part of his salvation, that a man or a woman 00:19:34.479 –> 00:19:39.880 be brought from the position of being overwhelmed by work to a position of being in control 00:19:39.880 –> 00:19:42.939 of work. 00:19:42.939 –> 00:19:47.619 That will greatly help you, because at least you will begin to pray about it. 00:19:47.619 –> 00:19:51.439 At least you will begin to see that it is something that is not arbitrary, but something 00:19:51.439 –> 00:19:56.260 in which God calls you to grow. 00:19:56.260 –> 00:20:03.640 To reflect your character, o God, I must gain control of my work. 00:20:03.660 –> 00:20:11.020 As you are in control of your work, I cannot live with my work controlling me. 00:20:11.020 –> 00:20:17.520 That could change a lot of homes, that, couldn’t it? 00:20:17.520 –> 00:20:21.619 God’s whole purpose in your life is that he will reflect his glory and this God is a God 00:20:21.619 –> 00:20:22.839 who finishes his work. 00:20:22.839 –> 00:20:27.020 You say, how do I get a handle on that? 00:20:27.020 –> 00:20:30.439 I see a principle here, how do I get a handle on it? 00:20:30.439 –> 00:20:31.439 Well. 00:20:31.439 –> 00:20:34.359 How do you stand on your work if there were only six days? 00:20:34.359 –> 00:20:37.280 It’s pretty fundamental. 00:20:37.280 –> 00:20:42.260 God gives you six days to get your shopping done, get your bills paid, get the house clean, 00:20:42.260 –> 00:20:48.900 get the lawn mowed, get the homework done, get everything done at the office. 00:20:48.900 –> 00:20:55.060 As soon as you allow your mindset that says, well I can always finish that on Sunday, you 00:20:55.060 –> 00:21:00.000 will lose the ability to enjoy God’s day of rest. 00:21:00.000 –> 00:21:05.979 God gives you six days to get everything done so work on that principle. 00:21:05.979 –> 00:21:10.239 Second, learn to divide your work. 00:21:10.239 –> 00:21:15.420 People spend a lot of money on management books to learn things that God has actually 00:21:15.420 –> 00:21:17.239 put on the very first page of the Bible. 00:21:17.239 –> 00:21:22.300 Don’t you think that’s fascinating? 00:21:22.400 –> 00:21:30.219 God who could have completed his creating work in a single day or in a millisecond if 00:21:30.219 –> 00:21:32.959 he had chosen to. 00:21:32.959 –> 00:21:34.439 But he does not do that. 00:21:34.439 –> 00:21:43.099 He models for us a pattern in which there are rhythms of rest and work. 00:21:43.099 –> 00:21:48.219 Evening and morning the first day, the second day, and when he has completed his work he 00:21:48.219 –> 00:21:51.979 enters into the seventh day. 00:21:51.979 –> 00:21:55.099 There is beginning, there is ending, there is evening, there is morning, there is the 00:21:55.099 –> 00:22:02.560 joy of reviewing what has been done, God says … he saw that it was good. 00:22:02.560 –> 00:22:04.439 The work is divided. 00:22:04.439 –> 00:22:11.119 Now you know, the Bible is speaking to us about something that actually paralyzes some 00:22:11.119 –> 00:22:14.439 of us in our working lives. 00:22:14.439 –> 00:22:19.339 We sit there with this mountain of what is ahead of us to do and we are paralyzed by 00:22:19.339 –> 00:22:20.640 the fear of it. 00:22:20.640 –> 00:22:27.260 We have no way of getting into it, we have never discovered how to divide it, as God 00:22:27.260 –> 00:22:29.780 does. 00:22:29.780 –> 00:22:34.459 So what is it that you have to do in the next year? 00:22:34.459 –> 00:22:36.319 What is it you have to do in the next month? 00:22:36.319 –> 00:22:37.780 What do you have to do in the next day? 00:22:37.780 –> 00:22:40.660 Get a to-do list! 00:22:40.660 –> 00:22:43.859 Break it down into bite-sized chunks. 00:22:43.859 –> 00:22:47.260 I cannot fulfill my life ministry in the next week. 00:22:47.280 –> 00:22:52.819 I can fulfill what God gives me to do in six days — and I must try and describe that. 00:22:52.819 –> 00:22:54.739 I must try to plan that. 00:22:54.739 –> 00:23:00.579 And I must enjoy what God shows me to enjoy, the completion of what I have done, rather 00:23:00.579 –> 00:23:05.660 than the awesomeness of what I have yet to do. 00:23:05.660 –> 00:23:08.819 Each day has enough trouble for its own Jesus said. 00:23:08.819 –> 00:23:14.800 Let tomorrow worry about itself. 00:23:14.800 –> 00:23:17.540 And then keep your eyes on the prize. 00:23:17.540 –> 00:23:18.540 Notice the pattern. 00:23:18.540 –> 00:23:22.319 It is not that God rested so that He could work, it was that He worked so that He could 00:23:22.319 –> 00:23:23.699 rest. 00:23:23.699 –> 00:23:33.560 He completed the work so that he could enter into this summit experience of rest. 00:23:33.560 –> 00:23:43.199 And I am convinced, and I see patterns of it at places of my own life, as well as around, 00:23:43.199 –> 00:23:50.839 that the biggest reason that many of us miss out on God’s gift of rest is that we waste 00:23:50.839 –> 00:23:56.880 time when we should be working so we end up working when we should be resting. 00:23:56.880 –> 00:24:02.239 I live with the struggle as you do, but I am coming increasingly to the conclusion that 00:24:02.239 –> 00:24:08.199 if I cannot fit my work into a six-day cycle, then either I am trying to do something that 00:24:08.300 –> 00:24:14.479 God never intended me to do, or I have allowed myself to become distracted onto other things 00:24:14.479 –> 00:24:21.479 and have wasted time that God intended for the work that He has trusted to my hands. 00:24:21.479 –> 00:24:27.680 So approach each day so that at the end of it you will have the joy of completion, of 00:24:27.680 –> 00:24:34.739 that part that has been allotted for the day. Focus on it. Continue that so that at the 00:24:34.900 –> 00:24:41.900 end of six days you will be able to enjoy God’s gift of rest. If you want to enjoy 00:24:41.900 –> 00:24:51.459 God’s gift of rest—finish your work. Well I know how accountable I’m gonna be held 00:24:51.459 –> 00:25:01.800 on all of this. Second—enjoy God’s blessing. Here’s a second thing that God did on the 00:25:01.800 –> 00:25:06.739 day of rest. Notice chapter 2 and verse 3. God blessed the seventh day. He blessed 00:25:06.739 –> 00:25:14.160 it and he made it holy, because on that day He rested. In other words He invested 00:25:14.160 –> 00:25:25.500 a blessing in the experience and the day of rest. There is a blessing God wants 00:25:25.500 –> 00:25:31.900 you to enjoy that you will experience as you enter into the rest that comes to 00:25:31.900 –> 00:25:41.420 those who have finished their work. I read a beautiful piece from a Jewish 00:25:41.420 –> 00:25:46.579 writer Abraham Heschel, who writes on the subject of the Sabbath was great beauty 00:25:46.579 –> 00:25:54.880 and penetration. This is what he says. The Sabbath is not for the sake of the 00:25:54.880 –> 00:26:03.839 weekdays. The week days are for the sake of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not an 00:26:03.839 –> 00:26:15.280 interlude. It is the climax of living. Isn’t that beautiful? It is the climax of 00:26:15.280 –> 00:26:23.319 living. I finish my work so that I may enter into the climax of living. There are 00:26:23.640 –> 00:26:27.079 joys in work. God saw that what he did in his work was good. 00:26:28.359 –> 00:26:32.680 But when it came to the 70 he blessed it and he made it holy, because this 00:26:32.680 –> 00:26:37.800 is the climax of living. This is to be a snapshot, a picture, a 00:26:37.800 –> 00:26:42.839 foretaste of all that life is to be about, even for all eternity. 00:26:43.640 –> 00:26:50.119 This is a day that God gives to us to anticipate the climax of all things, 00:26:51.479 –> 00:26:57.160 a day when your work will be complete, a day when God’s people will be gathered together, 00:26:57.160 –> 00:27:01.959 a day when his presence and his blessing will be particularly known among his people. 00:27:03.160 –> 00:27:08.920 The whole sabbath principle, even in the Old Testament was intended to be a taster of eternity, 00:27:09.239 –> 00:27:17.239 to be a taster of integrity. That’s why not only built into the rhythm of ordinary life 00:27:17.239 –> 00:27:21.800 was there the special day in which God’s blessing was to be known in the community 00:27:21.800 –> 00:27:25.079 gathering together to worship and to rejoice in his goodness, 00:27:26.199 –> 00:27:33.800 but it was extended so that in the seventh year, for example, all debts were cancelled. 00:27:34.199 –> 00:27:39.959 Isn’t that fantastic? Can you imagine visa writing it off every seven years? 00:27:42.359 –> 00:27:47.400 Now this is what the old testament law says, why? Because God wanted to give an anticipation 00:27:47.400 –> 00:27:50.920 that there would be a day when every obligation would be released. 00:27:53.160 –> 00:27:59.000 And after seven lots of seven years, they had this marvelous thing called the jubilee every 00:27:59.319 –> 00:28:05.239 50th year, in which inherited land that had come to a family but it had to be sold 00:28:05.239 –> 00:28:10.119 because they’d come on hard times was actually returned to that family. Why did they have that? 00:28:11.319 –> 00:28:15.239 Because in this sabbath principle, God wanted to give a glimpse of what lies 00:28:15.239 –> 00:28:19.959 ahead in eternity. That one day, the inheritance that has been lost, 00:28:19.959 –> 00:28:26.119 everything that adam mortgaged through his folly and his sin is going to be restored to 00:28:27.000 –> 00:28:30.119 Jesus Christ and we’re going to rejoice in it for all eternity. 00:28:30.119 –> 00:28:33.239 So, let’s have a snapshot of that, even in time. 00:28:36.680 –> 00:28:41.079 God says, there’s a future. I want you to think 00:28:41.079 –> 00:28:44.599 about its richness. You can’t begin to imagine what it’s like, 00:28:45.640 –> 00:28:50.199 but I want you to have, as far as you can grasp it in this world of space and time, 00:28:50.199 –> 00:28:59.800 just a little taste of it now. Don’t let a week go by without you having a sample of eternity. 00:29:00.599 –> 00:29:05.640 A sample of that day when your life’s work will be done. A sample of the day when 00:29:05.640 –> 00:29:10.839 God’s people will be gathered together and His presence will be known with joy and worship. 00:29:10.839 –> 00:29:18.199 A sample of what fellowship and community is really all about. A sample of the climax of living. 00:29:21.000 –> 00:29:25.959 It’s why we gather for worship. It’s why it’s the best day of the week. 00:29:27.479 –> 00:29:35.239 It’s why it’s the greatest day for fellowship together and rejoicing. It’s a day for ministry. 00:29:35.239 –> 00:29:39.800 It’s a day for getting into the Word of God and anticipating and rejoicing in all that He’s given 00:29:39.800 –> 00:29:45.640 us. It’s a day for reaching out in acts of mercy, for caring for someone who is alone, 00:29:45.640 –> 00:29:49.640 for finding a way to share this blessing that God pours into our lives. 00:29:50.760 –> 00:29:56.680 It’s a day to tighten your grip on eternity. 00:29:59.640 –> 00:30:01.640 And some of us have lost a lot of these things 00:30:03.800 –> 00:30:11.800 because it’s become just a day like any other day and our lives have become in their shape secular. 00:30:15.000 –> 00:30:17.160 And so that leads me to the very last thing briefly. 00:30:18.040 –> 00:30:20.920 Make it different. 00:30:21.400 –> 00:30:22.119 Look at this. 00:30:22.119 –> 00:30:27.239 God blessed Genesis 2-3 the seventh day and he made it holy. 00:30:28.680 –> 00:30:34.280 He made it holy because on it he rested from all his work of creating that he had done. 00:30:34.280 –> 00:30:37.560 He made it holy. 00:30:38.680 –> 00:30:44.920 Now, the root meaning of this word holy in the Bible is really to cut, to cut, 00:30:45.400 –> 00:30:52.040 so, if I go home after these services and were to be chopping carrots 00:30:53.000 –> 00:30:58.520 and were to sever my thumb, I could hold up the thumb 00:30:59.400 –> 00:31:02.520 and say this thumb is holy. 00:31:03.079 –> 00:31:06.119 This is an illustration for the kids, you could draw this one. 00:31:06.119 –> 00:31:08.199 It’s a very delightful little picture. 00:31:08.839 –> 00:31:11.800 A more useful thing, of course, would be to rush to the emergency unit, 00:31:11.800 –> 00:31:13.560 but I hope you get my point. 00:31:14.439 –> 00:31:18.439 When I said the thumb is holy, I would mean the thumb is severed. 00:31:19.479 –> 00:31:22.040 It is disconnected from the rest of the body. 00:31:22.040 –> 00:31:23.640 It is a thing to itself. 00:31:23.640 –> 00:31:25.160 It now stands alone. 00:31:25.160 –> 00:31:27.640 It is not bound up with everything else. 00:31:27.640 –> 00:31:29.000 That’s what the word holy means. 00:31:29.000 –> 00:31:33.079 By the way, that’s why it’s so important in our day to know that God is holy, 00:31:33.079 –> 00:31:35.479 just about the most important thing the Bible says about him. 00:31:35.479 –> 00:31:39.800 Because what that means is that God is not bound up in the universe, 00:31:39.800 –> 00:31:42.359 as the new age people keep telling us He is, 00:31:42.359 –> 00:31:44.280 as the pantheist keep saying he is. 00:31:44.280 –> 00:31:46.520 No, the Bible says God is holy, He is other. 00:31:46.520 –> 00:31:49.319 He is high and lofty and over the universe. 00:31:49.319 –> 00:31:51.400 He is holy, He’s separate from it. 00:31:51.400 –> 00:31:53.239 He’s another thing altogether. 00:31:55.640 –> 00:32:00.920 Now, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, another thing altogether. 00:32:03.000 –> 00:32:05.319 And that’s the heart of the Fourth Commandment, isn’t it? 00:32:06.359 –> 00:32:10.280 And we’re going to apply this in different ways within the bounds of our Christian liberty. 00:32:12.439 –> 00:32:15.800 God says to us, remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 00:32:16.680 –> 00:32:19.079 Make it different from all the rest, whatever you’re doing. 00:32:20.520 –> 00:32:24.680 God gives you wonderful liberty in this, but make sure it’s different. 00:32:26.920 –> 00:32:31.479 One of the tragedies of our society is that we have bounded up and made it essentially 00:32:31.479 –> 00:32:33.000 like all the rest. 00:32:34.599 –> 00:32:36.439 And we’re losing our grip on eternity. 00:32:37.000 –> 00:32:40.359 Suppose for a moment that the President of the United States were to take a new 00:32:40.359 –> 00:32:43.959 initiative this week and address the nation by television from the White House, 00:32:43.959 –> 00:32:45.079 and say something like this. 00:32:46.839 –> 00:32:51.400 My fellow Americans, our nation is in crisis. 00:32:52.920 –> 00:32:54.520 Families are becoming splintered. 00:32:54.520 –> 00:32:56.680 Stress is at record levels. 00:32:56.680 –> 00:33:01.000 We all share the American dream, but instead of living it, we are burning 00:33:01.000 –> 00:33:02.680 ourselves out in the pursuit of it. 00:33:02.760 –> 00:33:05.880 Therefore, today, I am announcing a new initiative. 00:33:07.400 –> 00:33:11.079 From the beginning of next month, we will, 00:33:11.079 –> 00:33:15.479 on a weekly basis, be instituting Wonder Wednesday. 00:33:17.479 –> 00:33:19.880 On Wonder Wednesdays, the schools will close. 00:33:19.880 –> 00:33:21.000 Businesses will shut down. 00:33:21.000 –> 00:33:23.079 There will be no trading on the Stock Exchange. 00:33:23.079 –> 00:33:27.400 Wonder Wednesday will be a day for the renewal of your soul. 00:33:28.119 –> 00:33:30.199 Will be a day for the renewal of your soul. 00:33:30.199 –> 00:33:33.000 It will be a day to rediscover why you’re alive. 00:33:33.000 –> 00:33:35.800 It will be a day to reconnect with people you love. 00:33:35.800 –> 00:33:38.199 It will be a day that will renew America. 00:33:40.119 –> 00:33:41.000 You know what would happen? 00:33:42.520 –> 00:33:45.079 Within a year, Wonder Wednesday would be like any other day. 00:33:48.199 –> 00:33:50.280 That says something about what we value. 00:33:52.839 –> 00:33:53.479 Make it different. 00:33:53.560 –> 00:33:59.400 For God has given you such a day, and it’s bound up in the very heart of his purpose 00:33:59.400 –> 00:34:02.040 for you in this world, and for you in eternity. 00:34:04.839 –> 00:34:08.120 The best way for you to use this day is to remember why God gave it to you. 00:34:08.120 –> 00:34:13.239 He gave it to you as a day of rest, a day in which his blessing should be known, 00:34:13.879 –> 00:34:16.120 and a day that would be different from any other, holy. 00:34:17.800 –> 00:34:19.959 So take this day as a gift from God. 00:34:20.760 –> 00:34:26.760 So take this day as a gift from God, today and in every other day that he gives to you like it. 00:34:28.439 –> 00:34:35.399 Use it in such a way that at the end of the day you could look up into his face and say 00:34:36.919 –> 00:34:43.479 Lord, you gave me a day to rest, a day to savor your blessing, 00:34:43.479 –> 00:34:55.399 a day that would be different from any other. This is what I did with it today. 00:34:57.399 –> 00:35:03.080 And as you do that you will find that each week of your life becomes a little snapshot 00:35:03.080 –> 00:35:08.760 of your life as a whole, because if you blow this pattern that God has given us for a week 00:35:08.760 –> 00:35:13.399 up very, very large, you have a picture of your whole life, because 00:35:14.600 –> 00:35:18.679 you do what God has given you to do for the years He gives you for your life 00:35:18.679 –> 00:35:23.800 and when that work is complete, you’re going to enter into God’s rest. 00:35:25.000 –> 00:35:29.320 You’re going to enter into the joy and blessing of His immediate presence. 00:35:29.320 –> 00:35:34.760 You’re going to enter into a day that is unlike any other you have ever known. 00:35:34.760 –> 00:35:42.679 And so God says now once a week, every week, I want you to get a little bit of practice 00:35:44.280 –> 00:35:47.800 so that you know what you’re living for. Why you’re here? 00:35:48.919 –> 00:35:52.280 And so when it comes, you’re going to be ready. 00:35:54.360 –> 00:35:59.399 Father, help us to strengthen our grip on eternity in this world that presses around us 00:35:59.959 –> 00:36:05.159 and seeks to obliterate that knowledge from us. 00:36:05.159 –> 00:36:13.000 Let this day be one unlike any other in which not only in the service of worship we have shared 00:36:14.360 –> 00:36:16.600 but throughout the time that lies ahead. 00:36:18.360 –> 00:36:26.760 We walk in the knowledge of your rich blessing and anticipate all that is yet to come 00:36:26.760 –> 00:36:33.719 and it is yet to come. For these things we ask in Jesus name. Amen.