Title [Today’s Sermon] ‘Rest’ as a Sabbath
Contents
Genesis 2:3
God has given us two gifts for a healthy and happy life. It is work and rest. In harmony and balance between these two, human beings enjoy joy and happiness. However, the rest of modern people is not a real rest.
We must keep the rest as the 'rest' that God established in the beginning.
First, you should get rest rather than rest. For modern people, rest is another hard 'work'. Playing is becoming stressful. Moreover, human rest makes creation sick. Because people are destroying nature. We must change this humanistic culture of rest into a biblical culture of rest that is recognized according to God's providence of creation.
In Genesis 2:3, it says, “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he rested from all the work that he had created and made” (Genesis 2:3).
Humans must stop and rest according to God's creation order. We must also stop worrying, worrying, and worrying. Pauses and pauses are not a waste of time. It is God's providence of creation to accomplish a greater work. We must all create a culture of pause and rest according to the providence of creation.
Second, we must spend rest through sharing, not possession. The rest of modern people has an ownership-oriented rest. I try to own nature and think of the streets as my trash. People act as they please as long as I am happy. Nature and other people act as if they are well rested no matter what.
The spirit of the Sabbath day, the Sabbath year, and the Jubilee year must be instilled in our rest. The spirit of the Sabbath, the Sabbath, and the Jubilee is ‘sharing’ and ‘recovery’. In the sabbatical and jubilee years, people, animals, and nature find true rest and liberation.
The Bible says, “In the seventh year, do not plow, but leave it alone, that the poor of your people may eat, and the rest of the wild animals will eat, and so shall your vineyard and olive grove” (Exodus 23:11). Therefore, it should not be the only pleasant rest. God first, you first, and my faith must be shown in rest.
Me, you, nature, and God must also be a pleasant rest. Only then will you be blessed by God.
Third, rest should be a meeting time, not a departure. You don't have to go somewhere unconditionally to take a break, but you should have a meeting time through rest. Stopping work and rest should lead to an encounter with God. Even when Jesus was resting from His ministry, He met God without fail.
The Bible testifies that Jesus “went up the mountain by himself to pray after sending out the crowd, and at sunset he was alone there” (Matthew 14:23). On vacation or weekends, don't just play around, take time to meet God.
You should also make time for family reunions. I have to meet my parents, relatives, and brothers who I can't see because of my busy schedule. Saturday rest due to work 5 days a week should also be a day of rest and filial piety. We need to let our lives overflow with encounter and love through rest. Then, the rest and restoration that God gives us will come to us.
You should get rest rather than rest. We should spend rest as sharing, not possession. Rest should be a meeting time, not a departure.