Covenant Sermon: The Argument for Rest 12/29/2024 by Nate Williamson

When I was a kid I remember watching the movie Amadeus with my family. If

you don’t know, the movie is about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who is one of the

greatest composers of all time. He was a child prodigy composing a symphony by

the age of eight. And an opera by the age of eleven. In the movie, they portray him as

a wild, reckless teenager that just oozed talent while still enjoying life. But he had a

contemporary, Antonio Salieri, that was jealous of Mozart’s talent. And so he devised

a plan to cause Mozart to basically work himself to death. In the movie, it showed

Mozart intentionally sleeping only a few hours a day (in reality, he only slept 5 to 6

hours a day) and working nonstop on all of these musical arrangements to get

himself out of debt.

Of course Hollywood rarely gets the facts right although it is said that Mozart did practice 7 to 8 hours a day and died at the age of 35. But what stuck out to me about the whole movie as a child was how a person could work themselves to death. I determined that would not be me because I saw how much Mozart missed out on because he was driven by his work and lack of sleep. Easier said than done, right? Most of us don’t get the balance of work and rest right.

As kids, we probably err on rest over work, but as we become adults, we

succumb to the demands of the job or the desires to own and live comfortably, but

don’t take the time to enjoy the comforts we have attained. This morning I want to make an argument for rest. Over the first weeks here in 2025, I want to preach a topical series on the balanced Christian life.

I believe most of us live imbalanced, which leaves us susceptible to wrong attitudes, burn out, temptation, and missing out on the best things in life that God has for us daily.

The first argument for rest is given us by example. In the second chapter of the first book of the Bible (Genesis), God has just created everything we can see and know in a matter of six days. This is no small feat. In fact, it is such an amazing thing that humanity keeps trying to extend this process of creation over millions of years, but the reality is that Genesis 1 measures each day by a 24-hour period.

So God quite literally created all life and the universe in 144 hours. But he does something

amazing in Genesis 2:1-3

1 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was

completed. 

2  On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested [ a ]  from all his work. 

3  And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy,

because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

Is this proof that God gets tired? Not in the least! For Isaiah 40:28 states,

“Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting

God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary.” So why did he

take a day to rest if he wasn’t tired?

For multiple reasons:

God was creating our work week, seven days, that still is in existence to

this day. So every week we remember how many days God created the

universe and all life and have a day to rest and reflect. Because we need the rest. Nearly a third of our every day is spent sleeping. But that is not enough rest. He wanted to ensure that we take a full day to rest every week by his design.

He made the day holy which means “set apart.” It isn’t supposed to be like

any other day. And if God can rest from his labor for a full day, the one

who holds everything together, we have no excuse.

This is not just something God established at creation and changed his

feelings over time. What God makes holy, he does not make unholy. In fact, he

ensures that the Sabbath (which means “day of rest”) was always observed. When

the people of Israel were rescued by God from slavery in Egypt after 400 years, they

were all messed up. They didn’t understand rest properly like us. How doe we know

this?

When God called Moses to deliver his people from the hand of Egypt, he

didn’t start off right away with the plagues. In fact, it all began with a simple request.

Moses and his brother Aaron talked with Pharaoh and asked that they be allowed to

take the people out into the desert to worship God. They asked for a three-day

journey, which round trip probably would take a week or so.

What does Pharaoh say to a week of vacation for his unpaid slaves?

4  Pharaoh replied, “Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the people from their

tasks? Get back to work! 

5  Look, there are many of your people in the land, and you

are stopping them from their work.”

6  That same day Pharaoh sent this order to the Egyptian slave drivers and the

Israelite foremen: 

7  “Do not supply any more straw for making bricks. Make the

people get it themselves! 

8  But still require them to make the same number of bricks

as before. Don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy. That’s why they are crying out, ‘Let

us go and offer sacrifices to our God.’

9  Load them down with more work. Make them

sweat! That will teach them to listen to lies!” (Genesis 5:4-9)

Why would Pharaoh not want to give the people time off to worship God? If

the people are loaded down with their work, they don’t have time to think for

themselves. And if you can’t think for yourselves than you are more easily controlled

and manipulated. Pharaoh didn’t want the people to believe they had any rights or

freedoms. He wanted them to ignore their faith and the God who chose their

forefathers and made promises to them. He wanted them to only think of making

bricks.

Is our enemy any different today? Are you so busy about your work and

duties that your faith, time with Jesus, and even your personal rest is constantly

being sacrificed? It doesn’t have to be hard physical labor that is stealing the very

life from you. It could be busyness with good things that have caused your life to

become imbalanced.

This is the culture and the mentality that the people of Israel are coming from when God delivered them from Egypt. They were a people that weren’t allowed to have a thought to themselves and so now that they were free physically, God had to take the time to free them mentally and show them what a free life is to look like. And so at Mt. Sinai, he gives them the Law.

The instruction and truth as to understanding what is right and wrong. Not based on the pagan gods of Egypt but the very character of the one true God. And the core of that law is discovered in what we call the Ten Commandments. These are the most key fundamental truths that all the other laws and governance for this new nation of Israel was built upon.

And wouldn’t you know it, but right there smack dab in the middle of these

Ten Commandments, at #4, is a command about the Sabbath day of rest that God

made at creation. I am sure they weren’t allowed to follow it in Egypt even if they

did remember it, but God is making sure they understand how essential it is to the

life of every human being. In fact, there is more elaboration on this one

commandment than any of the other nine.

Exodus 20:8-11 states, “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it

holy.  9  You have six days each week for your ordinary work,  10  but the seventh day is

a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your

household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male

and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.  11  For in

six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but

on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set

it apart as holy.”

Now hearing this as a command often makes us want to be militant about

keeping it for fear of breaking the Law. And that is where the religious leaders were

during Jesus’ day. They got on Jesus’ disciples for picking heads of grain and eating it

while they were walking because they considered that “work.” They started to plan

to have Jesus killed after he healed people on the Sabbath multiple times because

that was “work” as well.

Jesus told these Pharisees in Mark 2:27-28, “ 27  Then Jesus said to them, “The

Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the

requirements of the Sabbath.  28  So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”

Jesus was telling them, “You are missing the point! Your life is too structured

and you need to rest.

Stop stealing the joy out of a day that I made holy by being militant about it.” And so we observe Jesus visiting the Temple and the synagogue on the day of rest. We see him going to people’s homes and enjoying fellowship with them on the day of rest. And we see him healing people on the day of rest. We see him walking the countryside and enjoying creation. So rest doesn’t mean you have to stay in bed all day and cook bacon in a George Foreman next to your bed.

The Sabbath means a day holy and set apart to delight in God and to reflect

upon and enjoy the fruits of your labors. It is a day where it is okay to so, “no” to the

things you normally feel mandated to say ‘yes’ to and “yes” to the things you

normally would say ‘no’ to.

What does a day of rest do for us?

- It gives our bodies a break. No matter your job, career or lifestyle, the body

needs to rest to heal and grow. Even athletes need days of rest or their bodies

break down.

- It keeps us from temptation. When the body and mind are worn out, we get

desperate to fill our desires of fulfillment that we have neglected. Most

temptations are quick fixes that don’t last and leave us with regret.

Consistent rest gives us those key desires that God has provided an answer

for if we take the time to receive it.

- It gives us a heart of appreciation and gratitude. Because it slows down our

work driven focus, we take the time to look around and appreciate our

accomplishments and be thankful for what we have and our relationships.

- It gives us a proper mentality. Remember the Jewish day begins at sundown

rather than sunrise. So God designed humanity to work out of rest and not

work toward rest. A day of rest frees us from how the modern world thinks

where everyone is driven to accomplish now as quickly as possible, but the

mountain of accomplishment never shrinks. Our culture naturally pushes

back rest and reflection until the job is done. But the job is never done. That

is how Pharaoh created slaves. Be free from that. Allow God to create a new

mentality in you that works from rest and not to rest.

- It gives us a clear day to delight in our creator God. When we work, we get

distracted and time is not our own. But a day without a to-do list gives us the

freedom to make time for the most important person in our life: Jesus. This

can mean time in worship at church, lunch with fellow believers, a nap in the

afternoon, quality time with your kids or spouse. At sundown, do what you

need to for the workweek, but create the space to just be thankful in God’s

presence.

Let me end this message with a clear message I think most of us need to hear. It

is not wrong to rest and enjoy life. In fact, we are breaking God’s law when we do

not take the time to do it weekly! God sets the standard for our daily and weekly

patterns, not our work or our culture. The weariness and heaviness you have

been feeling can change when you start obeying God and his weekly pattern for

your life.

If it helps, all of our earthly accomplishments will mean nothing in the scope and

scale of eternity. But what will matter is the time we have spent in God’s

presence and with other people. Are you obeying the call to rest? How can you

make your Sabbath day set apart like God commands? Do it! And see the change

in your life.