R&R: The Rhythm of Grace

Rest—The Rhythm of Grace

RHYTHM & REST Part 3

(Matthew 11:28-30, Genesis 1, Mark 2:23-28)

Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG) – “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Today I’m preaching a message titled REST—THE RHYTHM OF GRACE.

**Prayer for listeners and hearers and doers of God’s Word**

We’ve been in a short series titled R&R—RHYTHM AND REST! Today is Part 3 and the final part of this series and finally, we’re going to talk about rest. The one thing everybody truly wants. Every single person on planet earth wants rest. Every soul desires it. Every physical body desires it. Animals desire it. Living organisms, everything, all of creation wants rest.

The reason why we are just now speaking to Rest and what it is and what it means is because there are some things that must happen first before you can find true rest.

That’s what the past two sermons have been speaking to. The first week, Pastor Brent spoke to the fact that we must be yoked to Christ, His yoke is easy (what Christ has for you fits you). That’s necessary to find true rest.

Last week I spoke on what have you yet to do? What part of your life isn’t His yet? If our lives have areas yet surrendered to Jesus, we think we’re holding on to them but they’re really holding on to us. And ultimately, last week was meant to set up this week because we can’t truly find rest if we’re still the center of our universe.

WITH YOU IN CONTROL, NO WONDER YOU’RE EXHAUSTED, DEPLETED, FRUSTRATED, ANXIOUS, ALL THE ABOVE—YOU’RE STILL IN CHARGE and Jesus doesn’t call us to give Him a portion of our lives—HE SAYS GIVE ME YOUR LIFE AND I’LL GIVE YOU A REAL ONE

IN FACT, IN THIS SCRIPTURE WE JUST READ—IT SAYS “GET AWAY WITH ME AND YOU’LL RECOVER YOUR LIFE” THAT’S REST!

THE R&R MYTH

See everyone thinks that what they need is R&R—rest and relaxation—but what you really need is RHYTHM AND REST. Rest and Relaxation teaches us to run away from the lives we have, whereas Rhythm and Rest teach us to steward properly all that the Lord has given us.

Why do we have lives that we need to run away from? Why do we have lives, that we’ve created, that we feel we need to get away from? Why work your whole life just so you can have better vacation?

Why not work and live from a place of purpose and fulfillment and peace at all times?

Jesus offers us TRUE REST AND TRUE FULFILLMENT but we must come into alignment with His Rhythm for our lives and that requires we step aside from the captain’s seat…

In our culture as Americans, rest is always after. After work, after this project, after this crazy season, after, after, after…

BUT IN GOD AND IN HIS KINGDOM, NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUE—REST IS ALWAYS BEFORE

Part of the reason why we operate the way we do is because of our calendars and the way we keep time and think about each day.

For example, we have a Gregorian calendar or a solar calendar. Defined and started with the Greeks and has defined most of western civilization. Basically, each day for us begins with the Sun rises and when the Sun rises, we rise and that’s the start of the day. That’s how we mark our calendars, our months, our days, our years, etc.

However, to understand God’s Word, we must understand the culture in which God’s Word was birthed and that is the Hebrew Culture or Jewish Culture and we find that the Jewish Culture days do not begin with the Sun, they begin with the moon. (Not trying to get too deep, but this matters)

We rise with the Sun, our days start with us and when our day is over, we will rest (rest is always after)

Their day doesn’t start with the Sun or when they rise, their day starts while they sleep

In fact, it’s very easy to overlook this scripture that has been blatantly in our faces forever

Genesis 1:1-5 (ESV) – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. ³And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Last time I checked, when we mark a day—it’s morning, evening—day one. But when they marked a day, according to God’s creation—it’s evening, morning, day one.

Hmmm…. Evening and morning—first day…. Let’s keep going.

Genesis 1:8 (ESV) – And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Genesis 1:13 (ESV) – And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Genesis 1:19 (ESV) – And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Genesis 1:23 (ESV) – And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Genesis 1:30 (ESV) – And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

There it is, the sacred Rhythm God established in creation from the very beginning. In other words, my day doesn’t start with me rising, it starts with me getting out the way. See while you were sleeping, God was developing the day that you would step into.

While you were, God was putting stars in their place and telling them where to go.

While you were sleeping, God was telling the Ocean where to stop.

While you were sleeping, God was orchestrating the day you would step into and it’s interesting that we don’t consult the maker of each day before we take off into each day. But I would say talk to Him about the day He’s made for you—anything I need to know about today—what’s your heart for me today? What’s your heart for my family? What’s your word for our lives today? (THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE AND I SHALL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT)

HE MADE THE DAY, WHILE I WAS SLEEPING BECAUSE WHILE I’M RESTING AND WHEN I’M OUT OF THE WAY—GOD DOES HIS BEST WORK.

In fact, it’s while Adam was sleeping that God created His wife. (Some of us are fighting over our relationships)

While Adam was trusting and out of the way, God could make for him what he could not make for himself and maybe our marriages aren’t what they should be because we’re still in the way.

While Adam was sleeping—God was forming something new.

Somebody say, “While I was sleeping”

In fact, God puts His goodness in all of the creation—every day (except the 2^nd day but ain’t got time), He looks at what He’s made and He says, “It is good”. He affirms His excellence and He is weaving His goodness into all creation—that’s why you can look at mountains and your breathe is taken away. You see Sunsets that cause you to marvel—because His goodness is seen clearly in everything He’s made—IT IS GOOD!

But when He made me and you on the 6^th day, He said it is very good. That if you’ve ever doubted your value—when God made you, He said it is very good. My image, my son, my daughter—unlike anything else—it is very good. It would appear that in the Hebrew, He was excited when He made you and I.

Lastly we find that God made man last. He creates everything then makes us to step into what He’s already finished. Y’ALL AIN’T HEARING ME TODAY!

He doesn’t call us to something He hasn’t already finished for us. In fact, the Bible says, “He knows the end from the beginning.” Myles Munroe said what that literally means is God finishes something and then backs all the way to the beginning and starts it.

It’s not that anything He starts He will finish. Anything He starts, He has already finished.

SO IF HE CALLS YOU TO IT, GO AHEAD BECAUSE IT’S ALREADY DONE.

WE STEP INTO FINISHED WORKS—THIS IS THE RHYTHM OF GRACE.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

PREPARED BEFOREHAND—FINISHED BEFORE I EVER KNEW WHAT THEY WERE—GOD ALREADY HAS MY LIFE PREPARED FOR ME—I’VE JUST GOT TO SURRENDER AND GET OUT OF THE WAY TO LET HIM DO IT. WE STEP INTO FINISHED WORKS!

Psalm 139:16-18 (NLT) – You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. ¹⁷How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! ¹⁸I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!

John Bevere said, “I’ve been married for 40 years, I’m doing an amazing job as a husband if I think about my wife every 12 seconds of every day. If I were to take all those thoughts and measure them in the sand, they would only amount to 10 sq. feet. Yet God says His thoughts for us outnumber the sand on the seashore entirely.”

HE’S GOT A PLAN, HE HOLDS YOUR FUTURE AND YOU CAN TRUST HIM WITH YOUR LIFE—YOU CAN REST IN GOD!

I DON’T WORK FOR REST—I WORK FROM REST. IT’S ALREADY FINISHED BEFORE I BEGIN.

What rest and actually GRACE TEACHES US is that nothing ever truly starts with us and it’s pride to think it does. We simply wake up into what God’s already doing and let’s participate and work hand-in-hand with Holy Spirit to accomplish His will in the earth.

We see the Rhythm of Grace once again at the Cross—when Jesus breathes His last breath—He said, “IT IS FINISHED” and that’s where we start. Where everything is already done. That’s where our faith starts, that’s where our walk starts. Christianity doesn’t start with you doing something—it starts with you sitting down in the revelation of what’s already been done for you—otherwise, you’ll build it wrong. Otherwise, you’ll focus on your works but it’s only BY FAITH AM I JUSTIFIED, ONLY BY FAITH, BELIEVING AND RECEIVING WHAT GOD HAS DONE, CAN I EVER TRULY COME TO CHRIST! Do you know what He’s done for you on that Cross? Sit in that for a while and let it change you.

He creates man last and the first day that man steps into is the Sabbath. Made last and we start in REST! God is sheer genius because He knows us and He knows how He’s made us. We work from rest.

AND GOD CALLS US TO HONOR HIM BY KEEPING THE SABBATH.

The Sabbath was made holy by God and commanded for us to keep.

Out of all the 10 commandments, remember the Sabbath or keep the Sabbath is the only one that tells us to remember. Mostly all the others say, Don’t—don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t lie—but the Sabbath is the only one that God tells us to remember (maybe because He knew we’d forget). KEEP THE SABBATH FOR IT IS HOLY TO GOD.

When these commandments were given, they were given to the Children of Israel while in the wilderness. They had come out of Egypt and were waiting to step into their promise. God had gotten them out of Egypt but now He had to get Egypt out of them.

They still thought, acted, and operated very much like slaves in their mindset—even hungered for the food of their past (I ain’t got time). God had to prepare them to step into their promise—so they couldn’t keep that slave-like nature and He commands a Sabbath of them.

The word Sabbath is pronounced SABAT and it means STOP, CEASE, END. Stop exerting, cease and desist, literally.

God commands this of the Children of Israel and we can see why. In Exodus 20 it says,

Exodus 20:1-2 (ESV) – And God spoke all these words, saying, ²“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

And then God goes on to speak the 10 commandments but the precursor is Him saying, “I’ve brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

In other words, I’m commanding this of you because you are no longer a slave.

Sabat, Sabbath—was not something a slave could have but God’s people can.

3 REASONS GOD COMMANDS THE SABBATH OF US

The Sabbath keeps you from thinking you’re a slave

Slaves don’t get rest, they wealthy do—and God was breaking this mentality off of His children and if you’re going to possess your promise—you can’t go into it with an Egypt mindset.

In fact, keeping a Sabbath is truly elemental kindness. When we don’t, we treat people or ourselves as if we are machines but we were never made to be machines. Machines just operate and operate and operate. When you don’t have a Sabbath, it’s very easy to see yourself as just a pair of hands and feet and lose your identity in what you do. A Sabbath preserves my identity by helping me to realize I am not what I do—I simply am who He says I am—His child.

So a Sabbath keeps you from thinking you’re a slave—you can STOP, you can CEASE. It breaks that poverty mindset off of your life.

The Sabbath keeps you from thinking you’re God

Look how big of scale we go from. We think we’re slaves, and then we think we’re God. Why can’t we just be in the middle?

But when you practice taking a Sabbath—it removes you, just like it removed Adam, from being in the picture and helps you to realize, that everything doesn’t revolve around you.

The world goes on and keeps spinning without you running it. Things can happen and still move forward without your efforts and energies in the picture.

It breaks the pride-like mentality that if I don’t do it and grind, nothing’s going to happen.

Culture teaches us to hustle and grind—God teaches us that His grace can do more than my hustle ever could.

The Sabbath removes us from the equation and helps us to see our value isn’t built off of what we do.

This one is hard for people that are hard workers—but how healthy is it if you miss a day and things fall apart—you probably built it wrong and it needed to mess up anyways…

YOU CAN REST

In fact, there’s only one person that the Bible describes as one who never sleeps nor slumbers and that’s God—so why are you in that category?

When you’re truly looking to rest and honor the Sabbath—it requires you to be sure you’ve built things correctly and intentionally. Keeping the Sabbath requires trust financially. (THAT’S WHY TITHING IS REST BTW—I’m giving God 10% and trusting that He will make the 90% go further than I could with the 100%–I’m resting, I’m trusting in God)

Keeping the Sabbath means trusting the provision of God instead of your hard work and efforts and energies. PLEASE DON’T LET THIS CONFUSE YOU—WORK HARD, BUT ALSO KEEP THE SABBATH SO THAT HARD WORK DOESN’T DEFINE WHO YOU ARE.

Resting is the greatest way to say I TRUST GOD

You’re sitting in the chair you’re in right now because you trust that it can carry your weight. So you rest in what you trust can carry you. You lean, rest upon what you believe in—JESUS SAYS BELIEVE IN ME AND THEREFORE—REST IN ME!

Mark 2:23-28 (ESV) – One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

HOW TO KEEP A SABBATH

Don’t make it legalistic
Have fun and pray
PRAY & PLAY
- Prayer is communing and spending time with God but a Sabbath only being prayer is tantamount to us building our identity off of works
- Play is the joyous fun, refreshing and intentional building of family relationships and emptying yourself but a Sabbath only being fun will create the idea that fun is separate from God
- These must both happen for it to be a proper Sabbath
It’s not a day to get ahead on something
Prayer on this day is reflection, gratitude, and listening to God’s voice for next week
Play is joy, refreshing, peaceful, family, whatever rejuvenates you—REST SHOULD LEAD TO RESTORATION OR IT WASN’T TRUE REST—WHAT RESTORES YOU? Go do that.
- (What do you consider a good time and does it restore you? And if it requires a substance—well God wants to be your substance…)
To pray and play for us may seem difficult to do both and weird to do both—but Eugene Peterson said, “Children do both all the time.” The Sabbath restores the childlike nature in us to rely and trust in our father. My son Uriah isn’t worried about the lights being on or food being in the fridge or gas being in the car. He just enjoys his home, eats his food, and rides in the car. When we’re a child—we trust our Father is taking care of things.
Put it in cycles of 7
- Every 7 days—Sabbath
- Every 7 weeks—Weekend
- Every 7 months—Vacation
- Every 7 years—Sabbatical

R&R: The Rhythm of Grace

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