Faith + Work: Rest Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15

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1 Faith + Work: Rest Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15 We ve spent the last two weeks in a series discussing how scripture speaks to our working lives. In the first week we examined the way in which Genesis 1 lays a foundation for our work. God forms: and fills the world, he takes the dust and he shapes it in to things which are useful and beautiful. Finally he makes man, and he says that we are to bear his image. This means we re to work in the world like God does. -This lays the foundation for us for why work has dignity, God works and we who are made in his image are called to work and make something of the world that he s made. -There es more to be said, because like everything after sin work has gone wrong and it must be redeemed. Gospel Work: Last week we talked about how the Gospel intersects with our work. If we are truly to be saved then Christ must save and redeem every part of our work. He does that in the incarnation, through taking on our human nature, and taking our human work as a carpenter and sanctifying it. But more than Jesus just sanctifying our work, he gives us an end towards which we can work. -Many Christians labor under the perspective that what they re doing in the world doesn t really matter, because the end game of the Christian life is dying and going to heaven. If that really were all that this was about than our jobs, our work, our planet it really wouldn t matter all that much But the good news of the gospel is better than that, God is not taking us out of the world and leaving it to rot, but that Christ is returning to make this broken world whole again. So now, in the Gospel, we can labor knowing that it is not in vain. With these two pieces in place it seems as though there s still more to say, because maybe you re like me and you ve got a bit of an obsessive personality. When I recognize that what I m doing is important, and it has meaning I can become obsessive in my work.

2 -During the spring last year one of the bands I was playing in decided to track a record, and although we had a schedule set, I ended up being there every single night of the week. -There was this obsessiveness over what I was doing, and the work I was putting in. This doesn t just happen to people who are in jobs they like, this can happen to those who are in jobs they hate but are struggling financially. It can happen to those who are indifferent and looking to fill the time, this cycle of work can become a straight line. -This is a distinct problem in America, before service today I was reading an article from NPR that recounts that half of the people working over 50 hours a week don t use their vacation time. 30% of them just do work on their vacation time We ve talked about how good work is in the Biblical perspective, yet the bible calls us not just to work but to rest, it calls us to a pattern of work and rest that allows work to be a good thing which we celebrate, without it becoming an ultimate thing which destroys us. Today is going to be a bit different from other days, so if you ve got your bible turn in your bible to Exodus 20:8-11 and Dueteronomy 5:12-15 Remember the Sabbath and Keep it: This passage comes to us in the middle of the 10 Commandments which are so well known, but it s worth reflecting on this just briefly. Because much of the ten commandments contains regulations for things which we think are profoundly important. -Don t commit adultery, don t murder, don t worship idols, don t bear false witness. These are issues that are taken seriously in our society by people who run across the religious spectrum, and yet smack in the the middle of these is a commandment about rest. What does that tell us about who God is? -It tells us that he is a God who is deeply concerned with us not just spiritually but physically. It tells us that this is a God who is not removed from the frustrations that come for working in a fallen world

3 This is a God who is not deaf to your exhaustion, this is a God who is not just holy but is kind Yet so often we find excuses for why we would not accept the kindness of God in this commandment. -I was supposed to take the first portion of this week off from work I haven't actually taken a real vacation day in months. Probably since before Christmas. Tom came in to my office and asked why I wasn t somewhere else doing something else and I fumbled around with excuses about being busy. Most of us would do that, and some of us truly are in hard times and in this season we need to work more than most. But many of us, by refusing to rest and sabbath actually betray a startling lack of confidence in the work of God. We are gripping out material needs so tightly that to let go for just a day and to trust God with them seems unthinkable. -To take time to rest from our labors is to declare that your confidence in the sovereignty of God. To refuse is to continue to insist that you are the master of your own destiny and that God can t take care of things without your help. Sabbath Extending: What s so interesting about this sabbath is that it doesn t just extend to the people in positions of power, it s not just for those who can afford to take a break. This rest is not even just to the people of Israel but from the slaves, to the foreigners, down to the animals. -Which speaks in profound ways to what it means to be the people of God, because we are to be a place of rest for those around us. You know, you haven t properly grasped the concept of rest if you use your day off to be a terror to the people who are still working. It s a corruption of the sabbath to go to church on Sunday and curse out the waiter at lunch afterwards. Or to take a day off and force your kids to mow the yard. The sort of rest which God is interested in is the kind of thing which blesses everyone around us.

4 Not Laziness but Remembrance: There are some of us, however, who are doers. It s hard for you to sit still, you hate the idea of not doing anything. The idea of taking a whole days worth of rest every week sounds more to you like laziness than holiness Yet I want to draw your attention here to something which I think is important, the kind of rest which God is calling us to is not passive rest, but active rest. This is not the sort of rest which demands that we lay in the bed and stare at our ceilings all day. The book of Dueteronomy documents Moses s farewell speech. He restates the law as the people of Israel stand on the edge of the promised land. When he gets to the ten commandments he makes this statement. Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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 or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day The sabbath is not just there so that you can take a nap, it s not just you twirling your thumbs. This sabbath rest for Israel is a time for them to consider what god has done to redeem them so that they can work the next 6 days in light of it. For us as Christians, the Sabbath filled to the brim. Because we are now looking back on the greatest exodus that God has ever accomplished, the delivery of his people from slavery to sin. and now we set aside time weekly to rest in the Gospel, the work of the cross. Far from rest being a momentary delay in productivity, Sabbath rest is the fountain from which our work flows, as we remember the work of

5 Christ, it shapes our own work in the world that he has redeemed by his precious blood So we find ourselves here, recognizing that work is important, our labor is not a throw away aspect of our lives. Your job is not a means to a paycheck, but it is part of bearing the image of God well. And yet its not enough for us to be a people who work, we have to have a foundation for that work, a source of fuel which drives us. The Christian life is governed by these two great Rhythms which are shaped but the one true Gospel: We work in light of what God has done, and we rest in light of what God has done. Prayer for Vocation For the Students Pray for wisdom and discernment Pray for endurance in their studies Pray that they would think through their studies in light of the Gospel Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, origin of all being, graciously let your wisdom dwell in these students Take from them the double darkness in which I have been born, an obscurity of sin and ignorance. Give them a keen understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant them the talent of being exact in their explanations and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and kindness. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in the completion of their studies. I ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

6 For the Artists-Poets, Musicians, Dancers, Actors, Painters, Sculptors, Graphic Design Artists Pray for renewed creativity Pray for skill in their craft Pray that they would encourage us to see God s work and world in fresh ways O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For the Scientists-Engineers, Mechanics, Astronomers, Lab Workers, Biologists, Computer Technicians, IT Specialists Pray for wonder as they study God s world Pray for care in their approach to creation Pray for clarity in their thinking and in their work Lord this is your world, and you have spoken it in to being. You grant to us the awesome opportunity of thinking your thoughts after you as we study it. Our temptation since the fall has been to push you out of the world and to see it as independent of you. I pray that you would guard these men and women against such a temptation. By the Spirit, grant them a sense of wonder at the world of your hands, and clear thinking as they seek to perceive your world more clearly.

7 For Those Working With People-Doctors, Nurses, Counselors, Teachers, People In Service Industries Pray that they would recognize the dignity of those they serve Pray for patience as they deal will brokenness Pray for a heart of service Christ, you have affirmed that human beings have dignity in the incarnation, in the way that you cared for the sick and the vulnerable, in the way that you loved those who were unloved by society. For those of us who are working to counsel, care for, educate, and serve our follow image bears we ask that you give them compassion through the spirit. Give them patience as they interact with those who are difficult, and place in their lives those who will minister to them even as they minister to others.