How Should Christians View & Steward Rest?
In this series of teaching on stewardship, John Cole revised and taught from a published course made available without copyright by local church pastors shared for churches like ours. Read the handout notes here...
As with money, stewarding our time can get pretty counter-cultural.
1 Corinthians 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
What if we were to say that “The purpose of rest is to recharge us for the real work God gives us”? Is that true?
What’s wrong with this as a purpose statement for rest?
1. Rest IS part of the real work God gives us.
2. It’s incomplete—rest does more than recharge us.
3. It assumes part of our time is separate from our stewardship. (ALL of our time is God’s.)
THE BIBLE’S TEACHING ON REST
Genesis 2:1–3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Exodus 20:11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Deuteronomy 5:15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Deuteronomy 12:9 For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you.
They stopped their daily work to worship and enjoy God in community for who He is and what He’s done.
Leviticus 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation [assembly/summons/reading]; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
Psalm 95:6–8 O come, let us worship and bow down: Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Psalm 95:9–11 When your fathers tempted me, Proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, And they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath That they should not enter into my rest.
Hebrews 4:8–10 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Hebrews 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest…
Hebrews 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
When we rest, we imitate God, Who also rested. In so doing, we participate with God and share a similarity.
Sleep emphasizes our difference from and dependence on God.
Psalm 121:4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Psalm 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: For thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.
Mark 6:31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
1) Rest in the Bible is mainly about having a right relationship with God and being reconciled to him .
Ezekiel 5:13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them…
1 Peter 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you…
It’d be wrong to think that the Sabbath and God’s rest are mainly about us and our own rest. Instead, they’re pointing to the ultimate rest that we enjoy in heaven, when we finally enter into God’s rest.
2) Rest in the Bible isn’t merely a ceasing of activity but ceasing of one activity so we can do another —
enjoying God and His goodness in community.
3) Rest in the Bible shows us more of who God is and who we are .
While God is independent of all things, all things are dependent on God.
Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
PURPOSE OF REST
Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
1) Rest helps us recover from our labor .
2) Rest shows our dependence on God .
Our limitations are actually a gift from God.
Isaiah 40:28–31 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, That the everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; And to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings as eagles; They shall run, and not be weary; And they shall walk, and not faint.
3) Rest encourages us to enjoy God .
1 Timothy 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
4) Rest helps build relationships with others .
Good stewardship in God’s sight is heavily invested in relationships.
Luke 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
Philippians 1:24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
Hebrews 10:24–25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
To evaluate our activity, we need to ask at least two questions:
1. Are there areas where this activity is leading me to sin , even if the activity itself isn’t sinful?
2. Is this activity a God-glorifying way to steward my time?
Christians are to view rest as a way to enjoy and glorify God both in what we do and in what we stop doing .