From African colonial history comes this interesting tale:
In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trip. Native porters had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning the tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat, as though in deep thought. When he inquired about this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.
Psalm 23:1-2
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters.”
All sense a need for deeper rest… a rest that eludes us…the shepherd has competition.
PSALM 23 ANTITHESIS
The clock is my dictator, I shall not rest./ It makes me lie down only when exhausted./ It leads me to deep depression./ It hounds my soul./ It leads me in circles of frenzy for activity’s sake./ Even though I run frantically from task to task,/ I will never get it all done,/ For my "ideal" is with me./ Deadlines and my need for approval, they drive me./ They demand performance from me, beyond the limits of my schedule./ They anoint my head with migraines./ My in-basket overflows./ Surely fatigue and time pressure shall follow me all the days of my life,/ And I will dwell in the bonds of frustration forever./
-By Marcia K. Hornok, Submitted by Barb Stephens, Fort Collins, CO+
Perhaps that antithesis of Psalm 23 has a ring of truth… reminding us that we’re not really finding the kind of rest God that God has at hand.
Our cultural crisis of leisure - Two-fold : quantity and quality
Quantity –
· A fascinating phenomenon has taken place in the very recent decades. In the 1940’s…. psychologists and sociologists began writing articles about the future crisis of leisure time…= TOO MUCH….. because of technology. Something happened… the 40 hr work week didn’t turn into the 30… but 50.
· Often time-saving technologies don’t save time. Instead, they compress and consume time. "The high-tech world of clocks and schedules, computers and programs, was supposed to free us from a life of toil and deprivation," explains technology critic Jeremy Rifkin in Time Wars, "yet with each passing day the human race becomes more ... exploited and victimized."
· Leisure time has actually declined in America every year since.
The even greater loss may be…
Quality –
One study concluded that the qualities that now define American leisure are “boredom, search for distraction, fear of spending time with oneself, sensuality, escape into comedy, violence, and horror = the fun of being frightened.” = nothing redemptive, enriching, or expansive for the soul.
Restless culture…. insomnia has become a major challenge.
> Most of us would agree, we’re a people who need to recapture…
God’s Redemptive Rest
1. The cycle of labor and rest is rooted in God.
Genesis 2:2-3
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”
Not in recuperative sense… but in stopping to mark completion.
Often translated ‘ceased’…. As same root word for Sabbath.
Old Testament
The word sabbath comes from the Hebrew shabbat, meaning “to cease” or “desist.” The primary meaning is that of cessation from all work.
His cycle of work and rest is to become our own.
· When I relax I feel guilty > ‘feel Godly.”
2. God placed into the landscape of our lives, a provision of both practical needs and pleasure.
Genesis 2:9 (NIV)
And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
Look at the vast amounts of beauty that fill this world… and ask what kind of God surrounds us?
> A God who wants us to share his joy… enter his joy.
3. Sabbath rest is given to God’s people (Israel) as a fundamental boundary to set them apart.
First functionally established (Exodus 16)
Then formally established (Exodus 20:8)…. As the 4th commandment.
· 10 Commandments – the fundamental qualities to protect human life… to raise our humanity.
· Do you ever think of rest as one of the fundamental boundaries? When we think of holiness we rarely think of rest.
4. Redemptive rest finds it’s meaning in relationship to labor.
· Commanded to gather then to cease.
Ø We are co-creators… who then share in the rest.
Ø We’re to work unto the Lord… and rest unto the Lord.
· Redemptive rest honors neither idleness nor idolatry (of work)… rather it is a boundary that assures God is honored as the ultimate provision maker.
· It also honors our humanity by keeping us from being reduced to merely a functional value… reduced to what we do.
· It’s not just a matter of us keeping the Sabbath… but it’s the Sabbath rest that keeps us.
· Clearer when you consider God’s call to Israel to exercise a SABBATICAL YEAR…. That every 7th year all debts were to be released. Credit card companies may not go for it…. but what does it reveal about God’s intent to release people from the burden they carry?
5. Christ redeems this quality of redemptive rest.
· Like all laws… the intentions can be lost in religious tradition.
· Meant to bless our humanity… not burden humanity.
Mark 2:27-28
Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
Col. 2:16-17
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Relates to practice of Sabbath… how strictly we’re to set aside one particular day?
· Long debated…. Essential shift took place… law to Christ (“… came not to abolish but fulfill.)
· In the Law – God was revealing something even if symbolically. But Christ fulfills all that was symbolized in the law… but never fulfilled. What set Israel apart…is now Christ… God’s rest.
· And so the early church shifted from the centrality of the Sabbath Day (last day of the week) to Sunday (the 1st day… and day of Christ’s resurrection)… good precedent for us to follow.
6. Christ is God’s ultimate good provision of reconciliation and security in which we find our ultimate rest.
Matthew 11:28
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Entering God’s Redemptive Rest – What kind of qualities are involved?
Definition: “Setting apart a break from our provision making to honor God’s good provision.”
Provision making = more than job…. Refers to all practical necessities / obligations in life; i.e. shopping, fixing the car,
> The key is freedom of necessity.
To honor God’s good provision
> Demands trust
· cf. – tithing
· Embrace influence, release control
Setting apart
· Calls for a conscious choice. … It’s more than spare time.
· “In the first place it’s an attitude of the mind… a condition of the soul.”
· Free time may be a prerequisite… but it’s not a fulfillment.
> Key is REDEMPTIVE rest… more than just veg’ing
vast majority of leisure is given to vegging… diversion. If we cultivate more Sabbath redemptive rest into our lifestyles… we’ll feel less need for the diversionary and vegging leisure that’s become so common.
= Sabbath like leisure is time devoted to freely chosen activities that are a part of God’s good provision for our soul.
Not implying three distinct activities… but three qualities involved
1. Celebration – that which lifts our souls.
· Leviticus 23 outlines 6 religious festivals… all had a prohibition from work and life’s survival necessities. Full of festivity…. Food…and worship…. FOCUSED ON WHAT GOD HAD DONE….. HIS PROVISION. (like our Thx Day).
· Christ came “eating and drinking”
· If were to mark out time that find and celebrate God’s redemptive rest… we need to learn to celebrate in the simplicity of good food with good focus.
· Too often our special mealtimes… have either no focus or wrong focus. We should try not to come too fast… or too fancy; neither too glib… nor too gluttonous.
2. Recuperation – that which provides recovery to our souls.
· Jesus when disciples return from having been sent out to share in his labor…. Return and are called to rest.
· For those agrarian = cease from physical activity…. but today our labor often leaves our minds overworked and our bodies under worked.
· So can recreation be a part of recuperation? If it brings recovery to the soul.
· ‘Restoration’ - To bring back to a former or original condition.
o It is said that a piano can go out of tune by hard use. The constant striking of the strings may loosen them, and from time to time they need to be adjusted if they are to continue producing harmonious sounds.
3. Contemplation – that which enriches our souls.
A key word we derive the word leisure from is the Latin ‘skola’ from which we get the word school… hardly something we think of as leisure. But the root meaning is ‘to stop’ and was understood to refer to our need to stop doing so that we can develop.
Might come from reading, reflection, engaging the arts… art is able to help us reflect on life.
Conclusion: Who is your shepherd? Will we allow the Lord to be our shepherd… or will it be our potential as providers?
