1. Title: God’s Plans For Retirement
2. Text: Hebrews 4:1-13; Matthew 11:28-30
3. Audience: Villa Heights Christian Church, AM crowd, July 23, 2006, in the series “Nothing Better Than The Best”
4. Objectives:
-for the people to understand the meaning of “rest” in Jesus Christ and how we cannot fully appreciate rest until we’re in heaven; to understand the rest we’re looking forward to as a motivation for our faithfulness right now.
-for the people to feel encouraged that, no matter how tired we may feel now, we have a rest that’s on the way
-for the people to work with the rest in mind; to not allow Satan to sidetrack them because there is a great plan at work here: hard work followed by real rest
5. When I finish my sermon I want my audience to look forward to the rest we’re promised in Jesus and to be motivated to faithfulness and hard work now because of the promise of that rest
6. Type: textual
7. Dominant Thought: God’s people are looking forward to a great rest that is yet to be fulfilled
8. Outline:
Intro: We’re about to embark on something that you may not have planned on this morning. That’s OK. Everyone ends up making some changes that they hadn’t counted on. It’s just that you thought it was safe to come here this morning and do this. Well, just when you thought it was safe and sane to walk into worship hour at VHCC, we get Hebrews 4, which tells me that what we’re about to do isn’t safe.
So, reading from the new paraphrase – “The Great News for Post-modern Man”: The word of God is quiet and comfortable. More cushiony than any La-Z-Boy Chair, it calms the inner person right down to his toes; it takes you away from life’s troubles and hides you away where everything is safe, glossing over the things inside you that you’d rather not think about…
Oh, wait - that’s not what it says, is it? What does your Bible say about itself in Heb. 4:12-13? It says that what you’re about to do isn’t for the fainthearted. It says you’re about to pick up a loaded weapon.
Hebrews 4:12-13
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Why do we need to exercise great care? Because God’s word is living and active. Because this word that we’re about to look at today isn’t just a history review. It reaches into our lives. It’s a step into our current attitudes and into our futures. In fact, God knows our hearts. He hasn’t just written about them. The thoroughness of this book, the power of this book, the captivating nature of this book, is to the point where we’re absolutely in His hands – naked and vulnerable – in all of this. That’s what the words used here mean: “Naked” and with “our necks at someone else’s mercy.” Sounds like someone on the operating table, doesn’t it?; someone totally at the mercy of the knife-wielding surgeon.
So, what do you say we get up on the operating table for surgery today, and without the benefit of anesthetic?
There’s a sure way to boost attendance – we can advertise that everyone who comes next Sunday will get a free appendectomy, or tonsillectomy or whatever removable parts you may still have attached – all the while doing our best to make sure that during it you won’t go to sleep. Wouldn’t that raise a crowd? Probably not!
When we open this book, we’ve got to have an attitude that says the pew you’re sitting in this morning smacks more of a dentist’s chair than an easy chair; that we’re here, because we need to be, to work and to be worked on by a double-edged cutting tool, not to hold up a score card at the end and say, “That was a nice talk, Preacher.”
Yes, I take this time seriously – 2nd to the Lord’s Supper, in fact – and I’m asking you to take it just as seriously with me whether that was in your plans or not. Put away the shopping list. Stop passing notes. Take care of restroom breaks now. Ask the person next to you to poke you if you doze off. Open your Bible. Get ready to take notes. And let’s pray together that the Divine Author of this unsafe sword will help me swing it the right way this morning.
(Prayer)
We’re interested in rest. At least, as a nation, we are because
9 yrs ago, CNN reported Sleep problems were estimated to be the #1 health-related problem in America
We sleep on average 6.9 hrs/day, almost an hour less than a few decades ago. One estimate reports that almost 74% of all Americans don’t get enough sleep each night, which explains why ½ of all Americans can’t get up without an alarm clock.
51% of adults say they have problems sleeping at least a few nights each week ; Almost 1/3rd have trouble sleeping every night; 65% of Americans lose sleep because of stress
Vehicular crashes are the 3rd leading cause of death and injury in the United States, and up to 20% of them are sleep related; 30-40% of heavy truck accidents are sleep-related
Among adults aged 20-44, use of sleep medications doubled between 2000 and 2004, while spending among the age group for a restful night jumped 190% over that period. Americans filled more than 35 million prescriptions for sleeping pills in 2004, spending $2.1 billion.
We’re interested in rest. At least, as a nation, we must be, because there has been so much attention given to the Social Security System and Medicare. There’s even an American Association of Retired Persons. If you work for a large company, you’re most likely informed about that company’s pension plan, and you’ve probably given some thought to what you’re life will be like once they give you a gold watch and a thank-you dinner. Why? Because you’re tired! Because there are some days where it’s hard to get out of bed. Because many of you just want someone to stop the world so you can get off, at least for a minute, and catch your breath.
I have good news for you tired, rest seekers. God has a promise of rest for you. We saw it in ch.3 last week, and now in ch.4 it becomes the subject at hand. God has plans for retirement – not His retirement – yours! And it doesn’t depend on your retirement fund or the viability of the Social Security System. It depends on some other conditions…
In fact, this whole thing starts out with a sure way to miss God’s plans for retirement.
Here’s a question: When is the Gospel message of no value?
I mean…
we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. (I Co. 9:12)
By this gospel you are saved, (I Co 15:2) amen?
through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, (Eph 3:6) amen?
All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, (Col 1:6)
the gospel is the power of salvation for those who believe, (Ro. 1:16) amen?
Sounds like the gospel is powerful! Right? So, when is the gospel message of no value?
Hebrews 4:1-2
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.
Let’s not make the same mistakes. See, Israel was also “evangelized.” That’ the word here. It simply means they had good news delivered to them. So have we. Their good news was a lot like ours: They were brought out of slavery. They were in God’s care. They had the bright future of a Promised Land ahead of them. But when they heard it, they didn’t accept the reliability of the good news.
They wanted a never-ending supply of bottled water. They wanted a Wal Mart Supercenter at every stop they made in the desert, or something like that. They wanted some tangible, physical certainty that they could journey on into the desert and not worry about having their needs met.
God said “Go” and they hesitated. They didn’t believe Him. And when it came time to enter the Promised Land, God told them He would help them drive out the enemy there, and Israel wanted tanks and missiles and air support – or something – something more than just God’s promise that they’d win.
God gave Israel good news: Hey – I’m rescuing you from slavery. I’m going to make you My special people. I’ll protect you from diseases. I’ll deliver you from your enemies. I’ll bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey. I’ll do all this for you and establish you as a great and glorious nation.
And that message from God was worthless. Why?
V2 “…because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”
God has given us good news too: I’ll rescue you from slavery to sin. I’ll make you My child. I’ll deliver you from death itself. You can share My already-secured victory over the enemy. And one day, I’ll bring you into heaven to live with Me forever.
If your attitude toward the gospel is lax, if you hear it but just don’t accept it, if you know the story of Jesus but as far as you’re concerned, you’re not going to put your trust in Him, then, for you, the gospel has no value. What should be the power of salvation in your life is worthless to you, and you stand to miss out on God’s plans for your retirement.
You want to guarantee that you won’t experience God’s rest? Just listen to the message and refuse to believe it.
Why should you care about this rest that God tells us about? What’s the big deal about it? Remember, you’re interested in rest. As a nation we are. And every time you’re tired of school, tired of your job, tired of something breaking, tired of being disappointed by people, tired of growing old, you’re just reminding yourself that you really do care about rest.
Now, I’ve had moments of rest. So have you. God designed us to need a day off. Don’t blame me for that. It was God’s idea. One out of 7 days to rest is a way to keep life in balance. We’ve got a 7 day week because of that concept. It includes a day of rest – a Sabbath. But, that’s been around since Adam. And look how many of us are still tired! The rest we’re talking about this morning is…
I. It’s Better Than The Rest of Sabbath
The 10 Commandments contained this command, #4:
Exodus 20:8-11
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Sounds like a good plan. The problem is, people missed the point of it. Instead of it being a holy day for the Lord, it became a subject for fighting. Exactly what is “work”? In the Jewish Mishnah and later the Talmud, there are 24 chapters all devoted to defining what constituted “work” that couldn’t be done on the Sabbath. 24 chapters. As you can imagine, there are some pretty ridiculous ideas there.
The standard measure for forbidden food was the size of an olive. Eating anything bigger was work.
The standard measure for what size of load you could carry was a fig
A radish could be dipped into salt, but it couldn’t be left there too long, since that would be making a pickle, and that would be work.
Carrying rainwater that fell from the sky was OK, but if that water had run down a wall, that was work.
Women were forbidden to look in a glass on the Sabbath, because they might discover a white hair and attempt to pull it out, which would be work.
While it was supposed to serve man and give him some rest, the Sabbath became a reason for stress and ridiculous attention to details. Before you get too critical of the people who did that, think about what we do with the very things that are given to us by God that are supposed to help us. He lets us have a beautiful time for unity and remembering Jesus around the Lord’s Table, and we make it a reason that Churches split. He gives us the gift of music, and we fight over the age or style of it. Yeah, those Jews are really silly fighting over the Sabbath, aren’t they?
Hebrews 4:3-7
Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, ’They shall never enter my rest.’" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."
The rest that God has for His people isn’t the Sabbath. Those Jews all had the Sabbath rest, but God says, “They won’t enter into My rest.” So, it’s not talking about the Sabbath. God has something better in mind.
II. It’s Better Than The Rest That Would Come In The Promised Land
We might say, “Well, of course. In Ps 95, when God says they will never enter into His rest, He’s talking about Canaan – The Promised Land – The Land Flowing With Milk and Honey. He didn’t let them enter the Promised land.
Sure enough, Every person 20 years and older wasn’t allowed to enter the Promised Land. They wandered around in the wilderness for a full 40 years until every last one of them died. That was because of their unbelief. God said it. It happened. That settled it. The next generation, everyone then 59 and younger, was the nation that entered the Promised Land.
Compared to wandering around in the desert, that sounds a lot more like a good rest. Cities with walls, vineyards, pasture land, orchards – it sure had to beat eating Manna 3 times a day, every day! Finally – rest.
But was that really rest? They still had to conquer the land. They still had to work the fields and the vineyards. They still had to establish national defense. They still had to pay taxes and tithes and have a court system. They still had a lot of day-in, day-out work to do.
Hebrews 4:8
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.
We too often get the idea that we’re going to actually experience real rest here. That someday, man, I’m going to win the lottery, my ship’s going to come in, I’m going to make enough money, I’m gonna retire, and I’m going to kick back and enjoy life and it’s going to be…nice.
Before the Fall, before the earth was cursed, before Adam was told "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." – before God put that on Adam and all of his children – (Gen 15:2) God put the man in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. “Roll up your sleeves there, naked boy, and get to work.”
Real rest is more than just moving into the right place or reaching the right time period in life.
Some make the mistake of thinking, “If I could just retire, that will mean I feel rested.” That’s not what real rest is about. In fact, a lot of people reach that point in life, try doing nothing for a while, and find out that it’s not restful at all.
III. It’s Rest That Remains
Joke - Seth Yates of Glendale, AZ was with his parents at church during the Lord’s Supper. He watched as his mother Sherri took it and bowed her head to pray. A few seconds later, she stole a peek at her unusually quiet son to see what he was up to. He was by then intently watching his daddy at prayer after taking communion. She was touched to think he was observing the solemnity of the occasion. "Good parental example," she thought. The gratification of the moment was short-lived when Seth leaned toward her and whispered: "What’s in that stuff? You eat it and go right to sleep."
A lot of people would really like to know where they can get real rest. It’s not the Sleep Comfort Bed. It’s not Calgon bubble bath. It’s not Motel 6, where they leave the light on for ya.
Hebrews 4:9-11
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
There’s no rest for the wicked. That’s not just a trite cliché. It’s a fact of Scripture. Since real rest is what’s coming, we have something to do! We’re supposed to make every effort – to show diligence – to make sure that we don’t follow the example set by that generation of Israelites who refused to take God at His word and put their trust in Him.
We haven’t entered into that rest yet. We still have things to do. We still have good works which God prepared in advance in order for us to walk in them. Until we’re there, the opportunity to mess it up is always here. But, it seems to me, the reason we’re reminded about this rest is because it helps us not give up. Students need to be reminded that there’s a summer break coming. Workers need to be reminded that Friday’s coming. Marathon runners need to hear that the finish line is getting closer.
People who are tired in life need to remember that there’s a break coming up. It’s not here yet! Don’t give up! Don’t let up! There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Conclusion:
Aren’t you tired? I am! I’m tired of a world that doesn’t satisfy me. I’m tired of a world with mixed-up priorities that promises more than it can possibly deliver. And I’m remembering the words of Jesus:
Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Life in Jesus is a break from the world and a preview of the rest that we have coming. Aren’t you tired? I believe Jesus when He tells you, “you will find rest for your souls.” Do you? It’s time to answer His invitation…
