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A Sabbath Rest

Vicar Todd Liefer
October 18, 2009

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Word of God that engages us this day comes from Hebrews chapter 4, the Epistle reading for today. Dear friends in Christ...

I doubt many of you follow marathon runners in the news, so Tera Moody may not be a name that you know. Her race times this past year have earned her national attention. Just last Sunday, Tera took 9th in the Chicago Marathon. And she's a likely qualifier for the Olympics in 2012.

But Tera Moody admits that she has a big problem. Rest. Tera Moody can't sleep. This 28-year-old from Colorado Springs actually suffers from chronic insomnia. Now, you have to understand, marathoners need their rest! Lots of these runners get 10 to 12 hours of sleep each night. But not Tera.

Actually, last month Runner's World magazine got a hold of her story, and ran an interview with Tera. In the article, she said that since 6th grade, she hasn’t gotten 7 hours of sleep in one night. Even back in her school days, her mind would race at night, thinking about tests and upcoming soccer games. Today, it's not much different. At night she's stressing over races, projects at work, and family issues. She'll go to bed every night at 9, but by 3:00am, after tossing and turning all night long, she gives up the fight. She gets up, and, usually, goes for a run. Each week, she may run 100 miles, but each week, can't get more than 20 hours of sleep. One thing's for sure, there's not much rest for Tera Moody.

You know, there was a group of people in the Old Testament who also suffered from restlessness. Only they weren't marathoners; they were slaves. I'm talking about the people of Israel, stuck in captivity in Egypt. Now, you have to understand, their captivity was awful. They were worked to the bone. Pharaoh forced them to build CITIES for him. Exodus 1:14 tells us that "their lives [were] bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly" (Exodus 1:14).

So for years — 430 years, to be exact — they were worked ruthlessly. Day after day, they'd labor in the hot sun. Sweat pouring down. Egyptian slave drivers shouting, "Work harder. Work faster." The Israelites weren't able to rest. You think they got a day off? Hardly. Vacation time? Not a chance! Generation after generation didn't know what rest was like. They were worked to the bone — worked ruthlessly — until they died. One thing was for sure, in Egypt, there wasn't much rest for the people of Israel.

But God saw their restlessness. And he came down to give them rest. You know the story. He struck the Egyptians with plague after plague, he parted the Red Sea, and the people of Israel were set free. No more slavery.

But that's not all! Because in the very next chapter, God gives them something. This is the chapter where God gives them manna and quail in the desert. But you know what else God gives them? A day of rest. The Sabbath Day. This was a gift! A day set apart where they didn't have to do any labor. Six days they labor, but on the seventh day they rest. They could spend the whole day resting and praising God for what he had done for them. So for 430 years they had been worked ruthlessly; now under the God of Israel they can REST.

Some days, don't you wish that you could rest like that? I sure do. And I'll bet you do, too.

But you might be thinking, "I can't rest. I already work too many hours. I'm stressed out. We don't even eat as a family anymore!"

Today, most of us are running ragged on jam-packed schedules, dropping the kids off here or there, making dinners, cleaning the house, and taking care of family. We're already physically exhausted. But here Satan sees an opportunity. He sneaks in with his temptations and lies, and he makes us exhausted in our spiritual life. Satan keeps us as far away from God as possible. You know what he does? Satan takes the things that God intends for rest — like worship, his Word, and prayer. Anything that comes close to things like forgiveness of sins or promises of eternal life. Satan takes things like this and makes them sound like work — the opposite of resting!

You know his tricks. Satan says to us, "You don't need to read your Bible. That's not resting. That's work! Take it easy. Read the paper. Do a Soduko. Now that's relaxing."

Or Satan says, "Prayer? No, what good does that do? That's not resting. That's work. You need to clear your mind. Check out what's on TV instead!"

He says, "You don't need to go to church. That's not resting. That's work! You've had a long week. Take this Sunday off. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Satan has been up to these kinds of tricks as long as he's been around. He especially got to the people of Israel, and that's what we read in our text today from Hebrews 4. Even though God gave the people of Israel had a Sabbath Day, they weren't able to rest. Why? Because the people of Israel looked for rest outside of God. They tried trusting other gods, trusting their own ideas; they tried to find rest in themselves. Not in God. And like our text tells us, these people never entered God's true rest.

Satan does the same for us today. He teaches you to find rest in yourself. And he is a master at this! Whenever our sins, our guilt starts to trouble us, this is what Satan does. He says, "Forget about those things. Get 'em out of your mind. Don't run to God's word, or prayer, or worship. Don't waste your time with that stuff! You know what you need? You need a break. Go rent a movie. Turn up the radio. Take some time for yourself. That'll make you feel better."

In all this, the devil teaches us to look to ourselves for rest. Rest from our sins. Rest from our guilt. But soon we find out, there's no rest to be found. We can't take away our sins. We can't find rest from our guilt, from our failures, from our letdowns. It's an endless chase. These may even be things that physically keep us awake at night. But our sins keep building up. Our guilt gets worse and worse. And eventually we become exhausted. One thing's for sure, there sure doesn't seem to be a lot of rest for us today.

Well, today, God sees your restlessness. Hear the words from the author of Hebrews: "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God." Today, God has come down to tell you these words: "I take away your sins. I forgive you. I give you rest." Today, God gives us his rest because of his Son, Jesus Christ. Today, God gives us a Sabbath rest. Our Sabbath rest is Jesus Christ.

Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Sabbath. That day of rest for the people of Israel was a day that had been pointing to Christ all along. Christ is the one who said in the Gospel of Matthew: "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." And also "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Christ is our Sabbath Rest!

When Christ came, he showed that his rest was even better than the Sabbath Day that God gave the people of Israel. Because our Sabbath-rest, Jesus Christ, isn't just for one nation, but Christ is for all weary people, including you. And our Sabbath-rest, Jesus Christ, doesn't just give us physical rest, but our rest gives us rest from our sins. And our Sabbath-rest, Jesus Christ, doesn't just give us rest one day of the week, but our rest is found every day. Like the writer of Hebrews tells us, our rest is found TODAY. We don't have to wait 6 days, 5 days, 4 days. No we rest in Christ TODAY.

We have rest TODAY because Christ has died for us on the cross. He was weak. He was tired. He was exhausted. Nailed to a tree. And then he was left there, restless, writhing in pain on the cross, until he breathed his last, and tasted death. For a short time, it seemed like Satan had won.

But God himself was a little restless. Because God the Father didn't leave Christ in the grave, but he raised him from the dead. And with his resurrection, Satan was crushed, our sins are gone, and now we can rest in Christ.

So TODAY, hear this. Today, Christ comes to you and says, "I forgive you. I take away your sins. I am here to give you rest today." He tells us, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

We cling to these words of forgiveness from Christ. We realize that Christ alone can give us rest. When we're tired, troubled, or tormented by our sins, when worries threaten us with sleepless nights, we can rest easy. Because we're not the ones in control. Christ is. Christ gives us rest. Christ has taken care of our eternal salvation. And that assurance gives us true rest.

The people of God can truly rest easy, because we have so many opportunities to experience the rest we have in Christ.

So today, people of God, rest easy. We have God's Word that we read every chance we get. We read and hear TODAY and every day about the rest we have in Christ. This is why the people of God go to Bible Studies, so you can study God's Word, so you can be trained to read it for yourself, and then take your Bibles home, and read about Christ's forgiveness all the time. That's what the people of God do. Today, tomorrow, every day. Now that is resting!

Today, people of God, rest easy. God has given us prayer, where we can talk to our God who has taken away our sins. We can come to him ANYTIME and ask for forgiveness. When we wake in the morning, before we travel, before we eat, before we sleep at night, and even during the night. That's what the people of God do. Today, tomorrow, every day. Now that is resting!

Today, people of God, rest easy. We have worship opportunities every week — sometimes more than that! — where we can gather and hear God's Words of forgiveness. We hear about Christ's death and resurrection. We hear how he has taken away our sins. That's why the people of God come to worship. This week. Next week. Every week. Even when we're on vacation! The people of God come to worship every chance we get because we know how important it is to rest in Christ. Now that is resting!

This is what the people of God do. We hear God's Word, we pray to him, and we worship him. This is how we rest. The writer of Hebrews couldn't be more right: "There remains then a Sabbath-rest for the people of God." Jesus Christ. Amen.