Tag: Rest

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Jesus Napped – Ecclesiastes 4:5-6

The Kohelet here writes about a balanced approach to rest, both noting that laziness is wrong and self-defeating but that rest itself is vital.

We see rest throughout scriptures, starting in Genesis where God Himself models rest in the creation of the universe, to Exodus where God promises to bring Moses rest by way of His own presence, to the gospels where we see Jesus napping on a boat while the a storm rose up.

There are a few principles we can use when we look to build an intentional practice of rest. First, we should set aside time to do things other than those that are designed to “move the needle” or “get ahead” whether in our career or school goals or earning the approval of others. For some, mowing the lawn may be a restful activity, for others it is an extension of anxiety about social approval. Grocery shopping can be a peaceful activity or it can be work depending on how you are coming to it.

At the same time, we should understand that the presence of anxiety does not mean we are not being restful. Rest itself means priorizing our mental and emotional health – so it can encompass getting counseling or even medication. Just as we go to the doctor while still trusting in God for physical healing, we can do the same for our mental, behavioral and brain health.

This can be countercultural, as even in the church we absorb much of society’s pressure to work hard and get ahead. But we are called, even commanded, to prioritize rest.

Not only that, but we are promised that the small patches of rest we are able to scratch out for ourselves here on earth will find their fulfillment in the ultimate rest offered us when we meet our creator face to face.

— Sermon Notes, Alison Robison, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, July 2, 2023

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Growth Requires Rest – Romans 15:14-20

One of the key things you learn as a baker is that you cannot rush the process. The time it takes for dough to rise, the “rest,” can be influenced by all kinds of things, from the type of bread to the weather. The movement of the Holy Spirit can be like this. Rest is needed for growth.

But waiting is hard. We like to stick to our own time lines, but the Spirit does not work like that. The Holy Spirit works in us even when we do not feel it.

But there is a point when you have to stop waiting on the bread – it will start to lose its flavor and even become hollowed out. Likewise, there is a time when we have to stop waiting – when we have to make decisions and act.

The goal for us should not necessarily be for us to guess at when that time is, but to be open to the leading of the Spirit, and aware that His time is not our time. The goal for us is to have that personal relationship with God that enables us to teach each other, as Paul writes in this passage – and to do so in a “somewhat daring way.”

But this also requires an open heart – teaching each other does not mean an argument. But it does mean different perspectives – it must mean differing perspectives, in fact, because how can we teach each other if we are all the same?

The yeast needs to rest for growth to happen. But that rest is only for a time. There comes a time to act and even to speak into others’ lives about the growth we may have experienced during that period of rest.

We see the difficulty of this waiting in the scripture. King Saul did not wait for Samuel to make sacrifices, and that was the final straw that led God to cut his time short. He acted rashly because he was afraid, and that should be a lesson to us not to act out of fear.

As Paul writes, we are filled with the knowledge and goodness that we need in order to teach each other. Let us not let fear hold us back from that.

– Sermon Notes, Uriel Tzec, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, June 26, 2022

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Rest Your Body – 1 Kings 19:3-8

We are in a hurry in our culture – the urgency to get where we are going immediately has been built into us from childhood. Getting to school, getting to work, getting to the next thing. Waiting for the oven to preheat or the document to download or the Amazon delivery to arrive  – things that have been getting faster and faster still take too long.

There’s a sickness in that hurry – it leads to burnout and dissatisfaction Ave cynicism. The church is not immune from this – there have never been so many pastors leaving the profession as there are today. Does God have something to say about all this?

In this story, He does, as he takes care of Elijah in very simple, physical ways, while also looking after His emotional state.

This story comes right after the epic showdown at Mount Carmel, when Elijah faced down 450 prophets of Baal and God sends fire from heaven. It’s a major victory, but immediately afterwards we find Elijah on the run, terrified and in deep depression. The same can be true for us – we can experience the very real presence of God in our lives, yet still experience fear, doubt and weariness.

But God sends an angel to minister to him, bringing food and water. He doesn’t send the angel to chew him out or rebuke him, but to provide for him tangibly and physically, preparing him for the 40 days of journey ahead of him. This is a mirror of the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, in which ministering angels come to him after that same 40 day period.

This notion of rest calls back to the Creation story in Genesis, where God rests on the seventh day. Now, God does not get tired such that He needs to rest. But His resting and settling apart the sabbath as Holy is a part of the boundary setting and differentiation throughout creation – sea from sky, water from land, work from rest.

We are particularly bad about those boundaries. But if God Himself can rest, surely we can do the same? Resting itself is an act of worship – a tithe of our time and our sense of work and urgency and control to God. This is part of what it means to be a living sacrifice.

Rest and exercise are both “of some value.” We see this in God ministering to Elijah, and we see it in Jesus’ patterns of ministry, regularly retreating to isolated places to reconnect with His Father and His followers.

As the angel told Elijah, the journey will be long. God will not remove the work from us, but He will give us what we need to accomplish. The lie of the race is that there will not be enough time to accomplish everything we need to. But God will provide all the time we need in order to accomplish all He has for us to do – and no more. We can rest in that.

And we can rest in the words of Christ – “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

– Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood, WA, May 22, 2022