Rest and the Sabbath – Drive By Theology

Gospel Rescue

If you’re losing sleep at night, the false gospel is why. lightstock_78868_medium_blake

In Galatians, the apostle Paul describes how the gospel is actually designed to “rescue us from the present evil age” (Gal. 1:3).

But a false gospel will throw you into confusion (1:7). It will cause you to be disturbed, troubled, and will take away your peace.

The gospel that saves us from this present evil age saves us from having to figure it all out, and rely on on ourselves, and society’s false promise of “doing whatever you want.” God has given us his way, and it leads to freedom. And true freedom is not a response to your own sense of lack of worth. Because we can’t even live up to our own demands.

And when you throw in with the issues of the day, wherever it is you land on the scale will still not be far enough for anyone, because people on either side of an issue- which is everyone else besides you, will always want you to go further.

Conversely, your worth isn’t in routines, religion, or even law following. The evil age will always say you can do it, so pat yourself on the back. But you can never be good enough apart from Christ- out of the sight of Jesus.

The true gospel is is a thing of rest and peace, while the false gospel will keep you up at night.

Will You Rest?

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In Hebrews 4:1-13 the author alludes to the rest God offered to the Israelites entering the promised land. But can Christians enter that rest today?

According to the author of Hebrews, the answer is yes. This rest is a place where his audience (Christians) have the opportunity to enter “today.”

Interestingly though, he writes that some may have fallen short (v.1)- (not meaning that they are not saved.)- while others have entered the rest already (v.3).

So you can be a Christian who rests- or you can be a Christian who doesn’t rest.

Depending on when you catch me, I’m both.

The key is in v.2: the ones who rest and the ones who don’t-both have had the “good news” (gospel) proclaimed to them- they are Christians- but its their response, with/without faith, that determines whether they are able to rest.

Do you really practically believe, in every area of your life, every day, that your acceptance is found in Christ?

What rest means for the believer today is this: you can rest in Christ today because of His work. Or… you can march on in your anxious frenzy.

You can only rest when you don’t feel that you have to seek acceptance anyplace else, whether its through following the law like a set of rules, or seeking approval from vocation, wealth, friends, parenting, or whatever else drives you.

Most of the anger I have as a parent stems from the pressure I feel to solve everyones problems, provide for them and put my own time aside for their time. When I’m angry, I’m not so much angry at others as I am angry in myself for the potential for failure- either as a parent- or in all the other things I spend time on- like writing this blog:)

But if I’m resting in Christ, those pressures are off, because in Christ, the believer is loved without exception by the God of the universe. And my anger gets short circuited when I remember that whether I fail or not, God still loves me and the sun will rise tomorrow.

That may shock. What? No Ten Commandments for me? And I can be a deadbeat in my life too?

Au contraire, mon frère. We are to uphold the law even more now (Romans 3:31)- but in a different way. The believer is now free to follow the law, not out of fear of rejection, but out of love for what Christ has done for us in following it himself. The pressure is off in our own success or failure. We can rest.

And in following that law, the other aspects of our lives: work, parenting, relationships- become easier, precisely because I don’t need to be accepted for my success or failure in any of those areas. And I can find rest. I’m no longer worn out worrying if I miss a swim practice drop off.

So I am actually even freer to follow the law and resist the culture even more.

I’m not so pressured for acceptance by others that I have to break God’s laws to conform to the culture’s laws.

That is rest today. Will you rest?

Resting at Work

The deep peace of knowing we’ve been accepted by Christ should be changing the way we work and rest… into rest at work. There is more to rest than our past and our future. And there is also more to rest than a day off or a vacation.

Think about your past. When you accept Christ as Savior- there is rest in knowing you’ve been forgiven for all your sins.
Think of your future. Because there is also the hope of the future rest we will have in heaven.

But there is also a rest today. The author of Hebrews writes: “Now we who have believed enter that rest…” Now. So not only do we get a physical day or two off once in a while., but as we go about our daily work, whether at our jobs or as parents, or whatever else it is that you do, you can not only occasionally rest FROM it, you can rest IN it, too. If your truly resting in your unconditional acceptance by the God of the universe, your work should look a lot different than the harried, blowing up at co-workers, late again for the meeting, yelling at the kids, thorns and thistles that everyone around you is experiencing as work. Here’s how:

Because you rest in Christ, you’re going to work towards excellence, but you’re not going to worry about the outcome, because good or bad, that’s up to God. You are not accepted based on outcomes.
Because you rest in Christ, your work doesn’t define you, Christ and his acceptance of you is what defines you.
Because you rest in Christ, you don’t overwork- because you’re not approved by taking on more than you can handle. And you’re not lazy- because you trust God will provide the rest you need.

So now Christians have a choice: we can do our work the old way or the new way. We can strive and contend and struggle or we can “rest at work.”