While I was visiting in the hospital one of the workers came in
and a patient said, “Are you still working?” “Yes,” she said, “No rest
for the wicked, and I guess I am awfully wicked.” We have all
heard this at some time or another, but the thought came to me that
it is ridiculous to apply that to manual labor, when as a matter of
fact the righteous have to and ought to work just as hard and
harder. The biblical origin of that statement has an all together
meaning that would not likely be bantered about as a bit of humor if
those who use it knew.
The wicked, says Isa. 57:20-21, “are like the tossing sea; for it
cannot rest, and its water toss up mire and dirt, there is no peace,
says my God, for the wicked. In Rev. 11:14 we read, “And the
smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no
rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image...”
The biblical context to that statement than is that the wicked person
has a turbulent meaningless life now, because he is not at peace with
God, and will have no rest for all eternity if he does not come to
Christ.
On the other hand, those who do come to Christ enter into His
rest as we read in Heb. 4:1-3, and which Jesus invites us to in Matt.
11:29, where he says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for
I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your
souls.” Rest means a great many things in the Bible. We use that
one 4 letter word to translate over 16 different Hebrew words and 7
different Greek words. The term as we are using it simply refers to
the fact that wicked are not right with God, and so they are restless.
The righteous in Christ are right with God, and so they are restful.
As Augustine put it, “Our souls are restless till the find rest in God.”
Now getting to our text, we see another aspect of this whole
matter. We see that there is a very real sense in which the
statement, which is wrongly applied to the wicked, can be rightly
applied to the righteous. We can appropriate a misused saying and
fill it with biblical content by saying there is no rest for the
righteous. Paul in verse 6 says therefore, that is, since we are
children of the day and not of the night, let us not sleep as do others.
The others being those of the night, or non-Christians. We see here
that there is a sense in which we as Christians are not to rest or
sleep.
No one takes this literally and tries to stay awake 24 hours a
day. What Paul means he does mean very literally, and that is that
the Christian must be always wide awake in his relationship to
Christ. We must at all times, and in all places, be conscious that we
are Christians, and that we have been bought with a price, and there
will be a day of judgment. Being wide awake to this means a life
without rest in terms of our labor to win men to Christ, and in our
striving to be more Christ-like ourselves in every aspect of life.
There is to be no sleeping on the job, for we are to be always wide
awake to our responsibility.
In New York there is a Church Of The Heavenly Rest.
Seminary students jokingly refer to it as The Church Of The
Celestial Snooze. There is a good deal of joking about sleeping in
church, and its humor grows out of the fact that it is often so true.
One sermon snoozer poet wrote, “I do not see my preacher’s eyes,
However bright they shine. For when he prays, he closes his, And
when he preachers, closes mine.” Paul is not writing here about
sleeping in church, but about the sleeping of the church in the sense
of ceasing to be the instrument of God for the advancement of His
kingdom. Paul is concerned about the danger of lethargy and
indifference as to God’s plan in history. It is the danger of becoming
a spiritual Rip Van Winkle. Jesus gave this same warning in His
parable of the 10 virgins. Five of them slept unprepared for the
bridegroom, and they were shut out of the wedding feast. Samson is
also an illustration of the danger of sleeping and not watching.
Paul says it is perfectly consistent for non-Christians to sleep
and be unconcerned about the things of God. They are children of
the night, and that is when people do sleep, and that is when
wickedness thrives. Spiritually speaking, we see there is rest for the
wicked in the sense that they are not bothered about the will of God
and the great task of service in a accomplishing that will. Instead of
there being no rest, the fact is, there is no work for the wicked. They
have no task to perform, and they have no goal to seek in terms of
the kingdom of God.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses use to have a slogan that said,
“Thousands now living will never die.” Paul is saying here,
“Thousands now living are already dead.” They are in a stupor that
leaves them oblivious to God. They are dead in sin, as Paul says
elsewhere. This is not the case for us in Christ, for we have been
raised from this death, and have been given life and light. Now we
are to watch and walk in the light as He is in the light. Satan will
seek to lull us into indifference and contentment, but we must
constantly remember that there is no rest for the righteous. We
must sound the alarm:
Awake my soul, stretch every nerve,
And press with vigor on;
A heavenly race demands thy zeal,
And an immoral crown.
Karl Marx said, “Religion is the opiate of the people.” The Bible
says just the opposite is the case. It is the stimulant of the people. It
is sin that is the opiate that dulls men’s minds and allows them to
sleep with eternal judgment facing them. Consider for a moment
the paradox of this biblical contrast of Christians to unbelievers.
The more we look at paradoxes and see that they make sense, the
less problem we have in understanding the conflicting ideas we often
find in Scripture. The Bible makes it clear that those who never can
rest are those who are sound asleep, and that those who sleep is
sweet are those who are always awake. The paradox is a result of
using the same analogy or word in different ways. We need to
understand the meaning in each context.
In this immediate context, for example, we have one word
meaning 3 different things. In verse 6 it means spiritual sleep. In
verse 7 it means literal physical sleep, in verse 10 it means the sleep
of the body in death. Life is many sided, and so is language. You
cannot limit yourself to only one aspect and expect to make sense of
the Bible, or any other book. The context tells you what aspect is
being considered. For example, when Christ is called the Lion of the
Tribe of Judah the aspect of the lion which makes us think of
kingship is what comes to our mind. When the same word is applied
to Christ’s arch-enemy, which is Satan going about like a roaring
lion seeking whom he may devour, we have the aspect of a lion’s
ferocious nature come into our mind. Two totally different concepts
are using the same animal to illustrate. So also sleep can mean one
thing when applied to the believer, and a completely different thing
when applied to the unbeliever. It can be either a good or bad thing
depending on the context.
Prov. 3:24 says, “If you sit down you will not be afraid; when
you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” We recognize sleep as a
precious promise to those who put their trust in God. Ridley faced
death at the stake and his brother said he would stay with him and
comfort him. He responded, “I mean to sleep as gently as ever I did.
I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou Lord only
makest me dwell in safety.” The next morning the jailor had to
wake him in order to take him to the stake. Then when we turn the
page we read in Prov. 6:9-11, “How long will you lie there, O
sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a
little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will
come upon you like a vagabond...” We see sleep referring to laziness
and indifference rather than trust. We need to learn this principle
of interpretation: The context determines the meaning of words. A
different context makes it clear that the Christian has the sweetest
sleep and most perfect rest. In another context it is seen that he
must never sleep and rest, but be ever awake and watchful.
For the Christian to be asleep and unconcerned about his
service for God is to be a soldier on guard who is sleeping while the
enemy advances. Such a guard is less than worthless. He is a
positive aid to the enemy, and he is worthy of the firing squad. A
sleeping Christian is Satan’s greatest delight, and that is why
Charles Spurgeon cried out to his congregation in England, “Sleepy
Christian, let me shout in thine ears: Thou art sleeping while souls
are being lost, sleeping while men are being damned, sleeping while
hell is being peopled, sleeping while Christ is being dishonored,
sleeping while the devil is grinning at thy sleepy face, sleeping while
demons are dancing round thy slumbering carcass, and telling it in
hell that a Christian is asleep. You will never catch the devil asleep;
let not the devil catch you asleep.”
Spurgeon sounded the alarm in his day because Christians had
it so soft that they were in danger of being satisfied with their good
life. They did not want to get involved in anything that might spoil
it, such as being a constant witness for Christ. It cost to be a
Christian who is awake and active in the service of Christ. It is so
much easier just to sleep and not get involved. Involvement,
however, is the only hope for our world. If Christians do not take a
greater role in society, there is no hope that it will ever be a great
society from God’s point of view. Materialism may give us greater
comfort in our present life, but it will only lull us to sleep if we do
not see beyond it to the spiritual needs of people.
We ought to pray that poverty will be wiped out, and that
diseases be destroyed, but even more ought we to pray that the
church will be awakened to the need to pursue the task of bringing
people to a redemptive relationship with Jesus Christ. To do
nothing in a world of such great need is to be asleep while the enemy
overruns the fort. As Frank Lauback said to the church, “It is
either wake up or blow up.” May God help us to be among those
who are fully awake and who recognized that there is no rest for the
righteous.
