David Platt- Created to Work & Rest for the Glory of God OCT 11, 2020 RADICAL

today i want to take us in a direction that is totally different from what i had been thinking about this week so over the course of our bible reading the past few weeks specifically in exodus we have seen god's command to rest on the sabbath no less than five different times and in various conversations with many of you people have asked like what does that mean for us today because god seemed pretty serious about this back then so are we supposed to set aside a day for rest if so what day and what does that look like what do we rest from and as soon as we start thinking about rest that inevitably leads us to think about work and what god says about work and both of these are pretty critical topics in our lives think about it the majority of the people in this church spend a significant portion of your week at a place of work doing a job and i'm including here students in school i'm including those who may be moms working at home with children or men and women working at home for any other reason think about it if you work 40 hours a week for 40 years of your life then you will put in over 80 000 hours at a job during your lifetime if you go to college then kindergarten to college is another 15 000 hours preparing to work then there's commuting on top of that which we know is sky high around here so you can just like double some of these numbers so you put it together that's a lot of hours and i think many christians wonder how do all these hours fit in god's purpose for my life and god's purpose in the world so is your work in sales or as a teacher or engineer or lobbyist or whatever you do just a way to put food on the table or is there more to it than that and we say all the time that god has created you for the spread of his glory among the nations so how does your job fit into that plan because most people in this church family are not pastors or missionaries you're working in what i often call like a secular profession so does that mean you're relegated to a minor role in this great commission that we quote at the end of every week or is your job only significant if you have a bible study with your co-workers on your lunch break or do you sometimes think i do this job for a living during the weekdays and then i serve god by doing this or that on the weekends or on weeknights so we spend hours at various jobs and then you add rest on top of that think about those hours studies show that we will spend between 20 and 30 years of our lives asleep about a third of your life is spent like you're dead what is that about god didn't have to design us like this and we're made in his image he doesn't sleep so why did he imagine this for us we could have been created in a way that we would never have to sleep think of all that we could do we could all have two jobs never feel tired every one of us can have a ministry job and a secular job we can accomplish so much so why do we have to sleep what a waste of time and beyond sleeping is there any other type of rest that's important when it comes down to it you spend a lot of time working and a lot of time resting so my question is how do you do both for the glory of god that seems like a pretty important question right as we were reading through the bible exodus 31 just jumped out to me so if i as i have prayed for you i have not been able to get past this so i want to go back to this chapter in our reading from a couple of weeks ago and i want us to hear what god says about work and rest for his glory in our lives so let's read it together this is the word of god exodus chapter 31 the lord said to moses see i have called by name bezalel the son of yuri son of her of the tribe of judah and i filled him with the spirit of god with ability and intelligence with knowledge and all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs to work in gold silver and bronze and cutting stones for setting and then carving wood to work in every craft and behold i have appointed with him o halayab the son of ahi-samakh of the tribe of dan and i have given to all able men ability that they may make all that i have commanded you the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony and the mercy seat that is on it and all the furnishings of the tent the table and its utensils and the pure lamp stand with all its utensils and the altar of incense and the ultra burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and stand and the finely worked garments the holy garments for aaron and the priest and the garments of his sons for their services priests and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the holy place according to all that i have commanded you they shall do and the lord said to moses you are to speak to the people of israel and say above all you shall keep my sabbaths for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that i the lord sanctify you you shall keep the sabbath because it is holy for you everyone who profanes it shall be put to death whoever does any work on it that soul shall be cut off from among his people six days work shall be done but the seventh day is the day of a sabbath of solemn rest holy to the lord whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall be put to death therefore the people of israel shall keep the sabbath observing the sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever it is a sign forever between me and the people of israel that in six days the lord made heaven and earth on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed and he gave to moses when he had finished speaking with him on mount sinai the two tablets of the testimony tablets of stone written with the finger of god all right so let's think together about what the bible is teaching us here and other places about god work and rest and hopefully you have notes that you receive that are in the back of that bulletin when you came in you can follow along the picture here in exodus 31 is god has given instructions for building the tabernacle this place where the glory of god would dwell among his people and there was a ton of work to be done sawing sewing wood carving metal working stone cutting and so on and moses was not the man for all those jobs if moses was anything like me he was not the man for any of those jobs i am totally incompetent when it comes to construction repair when i mentioned that in the nine o'clock gathering my wife over here just started laughing out loud i could recognize her laugh because she knows how true that is she can testify to my complete incompetence and uselessness so god calls out these two men bezalel and o hawaii who have ability intelligence knowledge craftsmanship artistry to make the tabernacle a reality and in the first half of this chapter we see that god delights in work and has designed us to work god delights in work and has designed us to work we see this all over the bible on a side note there's a great book written by a couple friends of mine called the gospel at work written by greg gilbert sebastian trager that i would highly recommend so i'm going to pull from it at a couple different points today but just think about how in reading the bible these last few weeks we have seen this truth that god delights in work from the very beginning of the bible we see god himself working creating forming psalm 104 verse 30 later says may the lord rejoice in all his works god delights and work and i put in your notes two particular ways this plays out in relation to us so one god works for us that's what's happening in the beginning of the bible god is creating man and woman he's providing for them nourishing them sustaining them and he continues to do so think about it the only reason you are breathing right now is because god is working for you [Music] and if he were to stop so would you we see this here in exodus 31 did you catch the language in verse 3 god says of bezalel i have filled him with the spirit of god i have filled him with ability and intelligence i have filled him with knowledge and craftsmanship why does bezalel have these gifts because i gave them to him god says every gift you have for your work comes from god we are able to work because god works for us there might be some maybe many in this room and other campuses who think but i've earned where i am i get up early i stay up late i studied hard in school i've worked hard to get where i am and i don't doubt that but where did you get the energy to work hard who gave you the mind to study in school the only reason you have what you have is because god and his grace has worked for you and is working for you even when you don't acknowledge him god works for us by his grace and god works through us so follow this since god is working for us when the work we do is actually work god is doing through us think about it in terms of exodus 31 god could have built this tabernacle all by himself without using bezel l or o'halai or anybody else but he chose to work through them and he chooses get this god chooses to work through you and me that's a pretty breathtaking thought i love the way german reformer martin luther put this luther said when we pray the lord's prayer we ask god to give us this day our daily bread and he does give us our daily bread how does he do this though he does it by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain the baker who made the flour into bread and the person who prepared our meal luther said god could easily give you grain and fruit without our plowing and planting but he does not want to do so instead god works for us by working through us which is why from the very beginning the bible what did god do remember genesis chapter 2 verse 15 the lord god took the man put him in the garden of eden to what to work it and keep it do you see this god created you and me to work remember this is before sin entered the world so work was not a result of sin instead work from the very beginning of creation was a part of god's good design for us a fundamental part of who we are i love what tim keller says in another excellent book on work called every good endeavor he says work is so foundational to our makeup that it's one of the few things we can take in significant doses without harm indeed the bible does not say we should work one day and rest six or that work and rest should be balanced evenly but directs us to the opposite ration leisure and pleasure are great goods but we can only take so much of them if you ask people in nursing homes or hospitals how they're doing you will oftentimes oftentimes hear that their main regret is that they wish they had something to do some way to be useful to others why because god's good design for our lives involves work this is so important to understand i think many people even in the church maybe even especially in the church view work almost like it's a necessary evil in the world something we have to endure in order to make money to get by and some people have to suffer through menial less important jobs in order to make that money but it's just kind of what you have to do in this world and that kind of thinking is totally unbiblical work is a foundational part of the good design of god for our lives we are made in god's image and just as he is a working creator we are working creatures which brings dignity to any and every kind of work we do unless that work is sinful of course so stealing cars selling drugs would not be included as god glorifying work but assuming your work doesn't go against god's word no matter what you're doing in work you're reflecting the image of god and that is glorifying to god that makes every type of work important here in exodus 31 moses had a role to play and so did bezalel and o'halaib and all kinds of other people who would be involved in this project all were important think about this today it is a good thing that all kinds of people here in this room and other campuses do all kinds of different work and all are important think about it if all of us were pastors like we me that would be a horrible thing for sustenance in this world sure we know how to teach the bible we wouldn't know how to do anything else if we were all salesmen and women we wouldn't have any products to sell we were all police officers we'd be safe we'd also be hungry if all were politicians or lawyers well we'd all be in trouble and we would never get along we need each other like every single one of us listen to what one author says i read this and thought what a great picture of how important every one of our jobs is he writes look at the chair you're lounging in could you have made it for yourself how would you get say the wood go and fell a tree but only after first making the tools for that and putting together some kind of vehicle to haul the wood and constructing a mill to do the lumber and roads to drive on from place to place and short a lifetime or two to make one chair if we work it's not 40 but 140 hours per week we couldn't make for ourselves from scratch even a fraction of all the goods and services that we now call our own our paycheck turns out to buy us the use of far more than we could possibly make for ourselves and the time it takes us to earn the check work yields far more and return upon our efforts than our particular jobs put in he goes on to say imagine that everyone quits working right now what happens civilized life quickly melts away food vanishes from the shelves gas dries up at the pumps streets are no longer patrolled and fires burn themselves out communication and transportation services end utilities go dead those who survive at all are soon huddled around campfires sleeping in caves clothed in raw animal hides the difference between a wilderness and culture is simply work see this like all human work however lowly the world might deem it to be is dignified because it reflects the glory of our working god and this is critical for us to understand so that we don't ever set up some false dichotomy some artificial distinction distinction between some whose work is more nobler than others pastors more noble than bankers or missionaries more noble than telemarketers william tyndale another reformer in the church who translated the bible into the language of the common people said if we look externally there is difference between washing dishes and preaching the word of god but as touching to please god there is no difference at all that's a biblical view of work and there's no difference when done in the honor of the lord between preaching and washing the dishes you say do you really believe that the preaching and washing the districts are just as important to the glory of god absolutely i believe that you take something like house cleaning imagine what if it's not done before long there are germs all over the house viruses and infections to threaten to make you and i sick that eventually could kill us that's absolutely fundamentally important work of all kinds is dignified a part of god's beautiful design for our lives god sustains us by working for us and through us in all kinds of ways so what about god and rest well god is the author of rest and commands us to rest god is the author of rest after six days of making a world what did he do he took a break genesis 2 tells us thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them and on the seventh day god finished his work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done so god blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it god rested from all his work that he had done in creation and then as we read in the ten commandments god told his people to do the same exodus chapter 20 verse eight remember the sabbath day to keep 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 you or your son or your daughter your male servant or your female servant your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates for in six days the lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day therefore the lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy so now exodus 31 makes clear that this day of rest was really important this was central to god's people not just something on the side so bezalel o halayam even though their work in the tabernacle was extremely important they were not to be so consumed with that work that they couldn't put it aside they were to keep the sabbath or they would die god is the author of rest and commands us to rest from physical labor in our lives now we're going to talk more in a few moments about the extent to which this command and the way it played out in the old testament the old covenant between god and the israelites applies to our lives today but in god's example and command we see a clear priority on resting from physical labor in our lives and not just resting from physical labor but resting with total trust in his love total trust did you catch how god gave this command to his people for their good the purpose of the sabbath verse 13 is that you might know that i the lord sanctify you in other words i the lord have set you apart as my people that you may know me god had entered into a covenant relationship with his people like a marriage this was the day to set aside work and rest in him trusting his love for them they would be tempted to think but oh we need to work we need to sow or reap in the fields we need to do this or that and god said trust me i will take care of you set aside this day to rest in me to trust in me to grow in your knowledge of me and my love for you and i will provide for you what a great gift and now this passage starts to make sense we wonder why the penalty for breaking the sabbath was so severe one writer put it this way the penalty seems harsh but not when we realized what the sabbath was intended to do by not keeping the sabbath the israelite was showing that he or she was not interested in knowing god breaking the sabbath was an act of defiant rebellion it was a repudiation of the covenant it was a way of saying to god my relationship with you is not important to me you are not worth the time it would take to get to know you and this starts to make sense when it comes to rest for us rest involves trust in god when we put aside work we say i don't have to be working all the time i set aside time specifically to focus on you to grow in knowledge of and relationship to you god and i trust you to provide for me the problem though is that centers entered the world a lack of trust in god this is where we realize that sin has affected both our work and our rest remember genesis chapter 3 i'll put it up here on the screen verses 17 through 19 right after sin entered the world god said to adam because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which i commanded you you shall not eat of it cursed is the ground because of you in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life thorns and thistles that shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for your dust and to dust you shall return so this good gift from god called work becomes well something that's not so good that we experience in work work was designed to be fulfilling for us but because of sin in the world work god says will be frustrating something i'm guessing we've all experienced students do you ever get frustrated with school one of my favorite quotes from one of our kids in the heat of a tense moment when he was working on math we said son you have to do your math to which he replied exact quote in an exasperated voice this is not math this is torture school is frustrating work is frustrating every type of job even those who thoroughly enjoy their jobs find themselves frustrated at times in their jobs school work can even feel pointless listen to the author of ecclesiastes when he talks about how we try to do meaningful things when we come to the end it's like it's all for nothing ecclesiastes 2 18 says i hated all my toil in which i told unto the son saying that i must leave it to the man who will come after me and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool yet he will be master of all for which i've toiled and used my wisdom under the sun this also is vanity so i turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun he goes on what has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun for all this days are full of sorrow and his work is a vexation ecclesiastes a pretty depressing book in the bible but it's real something we can identify with when we have those moments we're just asking what's the point why am i why am i doing this and work and the process can become pretty self-centered just think about the tower of babel in genesis 11 workers constructing a building to make a name for themselves which is the name of the game in the working world right assert yourself over and above others cutthroat competition and of all of this we are prone to sin in two broad general categories and i'm pulling these from the gospel at workbook this is so helpful here so one we are prone to make an idol of work and this happens we make an idol of work when we overvalue work thinking that it will provide us ultimate meaning we overvalue work when you spend thousands of hours at work there's an obvious temptation to be consumed and controlled by work in a way that's not healthy in a way that we start to look at our work as a source of identity as a source of meaning we can wrap ourselves up in work to the point where it becomes the primary object of our passions and our energy and our devotion oftentimes to the exclusion of our families or the church or most importantly our intimacy with god this is particularly dangerous if we are successful in our job and just you know this is just as much a temptation for me as it is for any worker in any job if we are not careful we can end up looking to our job for things that god alone can provide and when we look to work like this then we resist rest we resist rest we can't put our work aside we can't put our phone down we're always checking emails always making calls we're constantly consumed by this or that and our work can't get it out of our minds and we see rest almost like an enemy an impediment to us being able to get more done i'll be the first to admit guilt here this is a wake-up call that i'm so thankful my wife gave me at a particularly important moment in my life in our marriage where she said david you don't sleep you don't eat some meals because you're working there's always more and more and more that you see needs to be done and you don't stop and she was right i was idolizing my job in a way that i'm guessing many of you are idolizing your job you might not say that or admit that out loud but if you look at the pattern of your thoughts and your lack of rest and your focus and its implications in your life it's true it's what we do when we overvalue work now there's an opposite end of the spectrum some of you are already thinking it we don't want to be lazy and not do anything and you're exactly right so the other sinful distortion of work is we are prone to be idle in work and this happens when we undervalue work thinking that has little to no meaning and this plays out in different ways for some this looks like laziness there are some people who have the ability to work 40 to 50 hours a week and yet aren't working obviously i'm not referring here to people who have lost your jobs and are actively looking for work others of you who are suffering from some sort of disability that keeps you from work instead i'm referring here to people like those paul addresses in second thessalonians when a lot of people had quit their jobs saying jesus could come back any day so we don't need to work and paul writes an entire book in the bible to say get a job he says second thessalonians 3 10. if anyone is not willing to work let him not eat the bible commands us to work and earn a living as we are able remember that god's command was to work six days rest one not the reverse so there's laziness included here but when we talk about idleness and work undervaluing work we also need to think about the tendency to work yet see little to no meaning in that work to see work is drudgery that we have to do so either we don't work or we work and we don't care about our work the result is a whole host of emotions that we identify with work joylessness complaining discontentment dissatisfaction discouragement dreading monday morning in the middle of it all we lose sight of god's purpose for our work and the glory god receives and us doing that work well no matter how menial we or others might think it is and when we miss this you know what we do in our country and our culture in particular so many people see work as something to be avoided or endured until the next opportunity for recreation just get through the week and ultimately just get through your life where we exalt retirement the goal we prioritize rest in this sense work is something we endure until we get to the weekend and in a larger sense worth is something we endure until we finally attain the goal of not having to work and we retire a concept that if we are not careful we'll miss god's good design for work in our lives i want to be clear here i'm not talking here about those who are physically unable to work and i'm not talking about people who retire from a job in order to be able to do work that doesn't require a salary there are many people across this church who are past a certain age and are no longer employed on a payroll somewhere but are working to the glory of god in this city and around the world in all kinds of different ways and that is extremely glorifying to god i was talking with gene hunt from prince william campus this week he was telling me how he recently retired he was sharing about all kinds of things he was doing here in d.c and around the world i think about ron and carol bowen out at pw ron's a lay pastor out there wrote a book called soaring into heaven about the critical role seniors can play in the spread of the gospel during retirement years the glory of god being made known i read an article this week about a woman who started a 550-week bible study that is being used by kids and adults across africa and she started the bible study project when she was 75 years old she's now 90. all this to say this idea that we have in american culture that the goal of our life is to get to the point where we no longer work is not what god has designed for us we'll even say i can't wait to rest in heaven but while there will be rest there there will also be work in heaven and you might hear that and throw up your arms and think it's never going to end but that's where we realize we're missing the point god has designed us to work in good ways work is a good gift from a gracious god that we will enjoy for all of eternity the difference is that in heaven there won't be sin so there won't be this frustration and struggle we associate with work the key is we must be careful not to buy into the lie that our culture sells that work is to be avoided to be endured because we have to do it until we don't have to do it anymore no work is a fundamental part of god's good design for us and god desires to save us from an unbiblical view of work and redeem us to a satisfying life of work in this world which leads to the gospel work and rest so the gospel the good news that though we have all sinned against god god has sent his son jesus to die on a cross for our sins to rise from the grave and victory over sin so that anyone anywhere who turns from sin and trusts in jesus as savior and lord of your life will be forgiven of all your sin and reconciled to relationship with god how does that good news the gospel affect the way we work and rest i'm so glad you asked three ways in particular one the gospel secures our salvation freeing us to rest in jesus's finished work so in light of this picture of the sabbath in exodus 31 listen to this verse in colossians 2 16-17 therefore let no one pass judgment on you and questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath these are a shadow of the things to come but the substance belongs to christ do you hear what the bible just said the sabbath was set up by god as a shadow to point us to christ what we're seeing as we read through the bible it's all pointing us to jesus this picture of rest from labor and trust in god's love and the old covenant is intended to point us to rest from labor and trust in god's love and the new covenant in jesus so it's no surprise then to hear jesus come on the scene in matthew chapter 11 verse 28 and say come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest and the author of hebrews the new testament speaking about those who trust in jesus says in hebrews 4 9 10 so then there remains a sabbath rest for the people of god for whoever has entered god's rest has also rested from his works as god did from his this is the gospel hear it there is no amount of work you can do to save you from your sins make you right with god salvation from your sins a relationship with god comes through resting in jesus as your savior this is so big this is why martin luther who i mentioned earlier was so passionate about all work not just church work being seen as equally glorifying to god because think about it if our works specifically our religious works earn us some kind of favor before god then it only makes sense that leaders in the church do the most noble work they have the most favor before god and everybody else is kind of second class but luther realized if we are accepted before god all of us solely based on faith in the finished work of jesus then there is no amount of work we can do no kind of work we can do to increase our status before god jesus at the cross has secured our salvation which means we are free to rest in his work as the only superior work please hear this the bible is teaching that the point of sabbath rest in the old testament is to point us to the rest we find in jesus as savior in the new testament this is the life transforming truth that some in this room and other campuses need to hear today you cannot work your way to god but the good news is god has worked his way to you god has sent jesus to pay the price for your sins so that when you rest when you trust and his love for you you can be saved from your sins and fulfilled you can find meaning in a relationship with the god of the universe in the words of augustine in the 4th century you have made us for yourself oh lord and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you supreme rest can be yours in relationship with god through faith in jesus and his finished work on your behalf and this then changes everything about our view of work in this world follow this because the gospel doesn't just secure our salvation the gospel secures our satisfaction freeing us from the idolatry of work think about it when you trust in jesus you are reconciled to god which means you have found ultimate meaning in god your ultimate source of joy is not in what you do but in who you know your identity is not in your job your identity is in jesus christ my identity is not pastor mclean bible church my identity is son of god your identity is not this or that profession your identity is you are an adopted child of god that means jobs come and go this stays the same forever and then think about this think about how this changes everything because now you are free from looking to your job to try to find what jesus has already purchased for you ultimate joy ultimate meaning ultimate satisfaction in him gilbert and traeger write christ's work provides an anchor for your soul without it it's inevitable that you will be blown around like a leaf by the winds of stock stock market gyrations temporary successes and failures performance reports bosses who do or don't treat you well and your own desires whatever they're whether they are met or not jesus frees you from that kind of life will you experience frustration discouragement and despair at work sure you will it's the reality of work in a sinful world but just as soon as you do those realities will remind you that your work is not your source of meaning not your source of joy not your source of satisfaction not your identity jesus is and he alone can provide all your soul most needs and most desires so let frustration your work drive you to satisfaction in jesus [Applause] your boss is not your source of joy that's good news jesus is your source of joy if you're on staff at this church well amen that because amen that amen that 100 percent and then keep going here keep going here because the gospel secures our significance freeing us from idleness and work so picture this jesus infuses significance and meaning and superb and purpose into all we do including as we've mentioned even the most menial of tasks and jobs it's as if jesus is addressing the speaker in ecclesiastes and says you're right your work is pointless in this world if this world is all there is to it but there's more to it there is a god who loves you and has designed you and your work for his glory and i've made a way for you to experience his purpose his eternal purpose and your day-to-day job which then leads to the so what of this picture to quote from our former pastor lon so what does this mean for your life on monday morning and here's the encouragement i want to give you one i encourage you by the grace of god then based on the word of god a work diligently to display the character of god it's it's obvious okay bezalel o halaib exodus 31 they're given work to do constructing the tabernacle that will be the display of god's glory his character but this is where i want you to see that you have been given the work you have to do this week for the same purpose listen to god's word to you in colossians 3 23-24 whatever you do work heartily as for the lord and not for men knowing that from the lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward you are serving the lord christ do you hear what the bible's saying right here and everything you do including your work your job the bible is saying you are bringing glory to god because you are working serving the lord christ like worship is not just singing worship is working all week long because when you work no matter what you do who are you ultimately working for colossians 3 23 for the lord verse 24 you are serving the lord christ no matter what job you are in no matter what work you do you are not ultimately working for this boss or that employer you're working for god and that changes everything about how you work talking about meaning and work purpose and work now you realize that what you do nine to five every day is not secular work what you do when you serve the church on sunday is spiritual work no it's all work to the glory of god every bit of it see this realize this be encouraged in this when you're writing a memo at your desk this week when you're talking on the phone with a customer when you're preparing a lesson for your class when you're selling an item serving some food making some decision managing a company placing an order hammering a nail fixing a leak performing a surgery whatever you do you are worshiping god as you work you are literally serving jesus discipleship to jesus is not just what you do when you have a bible study or you serve with a soup kitchen yes it's that and it's every other detail of your life on a daily basis this totally changes your life the way you view it your work so work with excellence with integrity with respect for those around you with your eyes fixed on jesus above you i find gilbert and trager really helpful here they tie this back to sin's distortion of our work and they ask do you ever experience satisfaction or enjoyment in your work if not it might be worth thinking about why you don't do you lack enjoyment in your job because you idolize it expecting it to do things for you that only jesus can do or is it because you've lost sight of the purposes for which god has called you to work in the first place and you've become idle in your work you don't necessarily have to enjoy the mechanics of what you do in order to find a measure of enjoyment and satisfaction in your work maybe your job is cleaning on the grease pits in a hydraulics factory and you work in a non-air conditioned metal warehouse in the brutal 110 degree heat of east texas hardly anyone can be expected to enjoy the mechanics of that particular job yet if this describes your work you can still find satisfaction and enjoyment in it by doing your job well and knowing you are doing it for the king's glory and as an expression of love for him think about it our memory verse this week deuteronomy chapter six verse four and five i'll put it on the screen so let's say it out loud together if you memorize it don't look at the screen hear o israel the lord our god the lord is one you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might i see it work is a way to love god all your hearts soul and might and work just to keep going second greatest commandment like what jesus says is to love your neighbor as yourself think about the good that others receive from your work your work leads to support of your family it provides resources for you to give to others and not just that all work and god's good design is for the good of others think about it go back to the guy in the grease pits of the hydraulics factory this is the guy who's working long hours every week in what many would call a menial task so that factory can run so that it can serve people in all the important ways that it does our jobs are extremely important avenues for loving people in the world we love people by working in all the different ways we do think about that old cliche that nobody gets to the end of their life and wishes they'd spent more time at the office and to a certain extent that's true especially when we resist rest but if we're not careful we'll devalue what's been done at the office even if it's been a lifetime 40 years of doing a desk job in whatever field that time at the office has been extremely valuable when it's spent serving the lord and filling a void for good in the world sure it's only one small piece of the puzzle in the world but who of us is so arrogant to think that our piece of the puzzle is that big in the first place by the grace of god work diligently to display the character of god and then second by the grace of god work strategically to advance the mission of god so this is where we come back to the good reality in god's design that we're not all pastors we don't all work for the church because god is accomplishing a mission in the world and he's doing it by deploying his people as salt and light in all kinds of occasions so that the gospel and the grace of god penetrates every facet of society and culture we don't necessarily need more pastors or staff members for claiming the gospel we need more lawyers and engineers and teachers and accountants and builders and consultants which i've figured out as code for all kinds of secret jobs around washington d.c so you tell me you're a consultant i'm not asking you any more questions okay sounds good secret's safe with me the point is the point is god has called his people all across this church to do all kinds of jobs for the spread of his goodness his gospel and his glory all over the city i love just thinking about that's part of what's driving me to dive into this today because as i read exodus 31 and reading about beslow and o'hallive i just pictured faces all across this room and other campuses doing all kinds of different jobs and all kinds of different places and just praying god make your glory known in all these different domains in all these different vocations where your church scatters all during the week and not just here but around the world we've talked about this we'll continue to talk about god has given jobs all across the church that open doors for the spread of his glory and his gospel around the world when you look at countries today that are least reached by the gospel you can't get into those countries as a pastor or a missionary but you can get in as an engineer or a teacher or a nurse or doctor or consultant and not just jobs that take you around the world but jobs can be leveraged for the spread of god's glory around the world i think about lesson karen bell in our church who i know could retire but continue to work specifically so that they can support national missionaries around the world they're having a massive impact by god's grace work diligently to display the character of god strategically to advance the mission of god and as you work rest unfortunately we don't have time to get into an exhaustive discussion today about how the command for the israelites to observe the sabbath in the old testament applies today to believers under the new covenant because many bible-believing christians and pastors believe that it's still binding today others believe it's not even among those who believe it is binding there's disagreement on what level of activity once you do on the sabbath what day that involves this is definitely one of those areas where bible believing christians and pastors agree to disagree even in the same church but where all bible believing christians and pastors do agree is that we celebrate blood bought rest at the start of every week meaning we gather together at the beginning of the week and sundays for a reason this is not random since the beginning of the church acts 20 says on the first day of the week the church has gathered together to celebrate the resurrection of jesus yes we celebrate on easter in particular but the reality is we celebrate his resurrection every single week every sunday we gather for worship to celebrate his death for our sins his resurrection from the dead to study his word together and to focus as a community of believers on our covenant relationship with him that's why we celebrate a covenant meal the lord's supper as part of our worship every week we gather to celebrate the reality that jesus has died for our sins he's risen from the grave and he has given us rest and life in a relationship with god that affects everything in our lives now and will last forever we put aside work for this purpose and for that reason i exhort you to prioritize this celebration at the start of every week every sunday to remind yourself to teach your kids to show the world that worship is worth setting aside other things in our lives school sports recreation work whatever for this purpose what are we saying to god to our family to the world around us and to our own hearts when we neglect the celebration of christ and the rest we have in relationship with god at the start of every week if we just say every once in a while that's important to me and then we prioritize god glorifying rest over the course of every week meaning even if so even if we are not commanded to observe a sabbath in the same way we see in the old testament surely the fact that god and creation rested on the seventh day surely the fact that meaning and worth and identity are not found in work means that we should prioritize setting aside work for rest just practically for what it's worth the way i try to prioritize this personally is by setting aside blocks of time during my week when i put work completely aside so say it's monday night i've been in the office all day my aim that night is not to do anything work wise to rest with heather and my kids to focus on them to not always be checking my phone or email not to do anything work related so i have a goal for doing that a certain number of blocks throughout the week and at some point during each week i try to have a 24-hour block where i don't do anything related to work to fulfill this sabbath principle that we see in scripture i don't know exactly what this needs to look like in your life but i would encourage you even this week to spend time before god and then the people who are closest to you your family and the church and think together through how you can best prioritize rest over the course of your week and keep god's word in psalm 127 in mind it is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest eating the bread of anxious toil for he gives to his beloved sleep god gives us sleep and rest as gifts from physical labor with trust in his love there is always more work we can do but god has created us to rest to turn it off and to trust in him as we do one of the things is i prayed for you this week in particular of all i've prayed that god would help you to rest from anxiety and worry it comes with always thinking about this or that at work or just in your life or your family circumstances you're walking through god has not created you to worry god has created you to trust god has not created you for anxiety he's created you for peace and peace and trust come in rest and putting work aside and trusting him rest is a reminder that you and i that you and i need that we are not in control he is in control and it glorifies god to rest in his good and sovereign control over all things finally in the end i want to encourage you look forward to the day when everyone and everything will work perfectly and we will rest fully and forever in god's great love so we saw from the beginning of the bible work was a part of perfect creation and you look at the end of the bible you'll see that work is a part of the new heaven and the new earth we will serve and enjoy god and the bible does not teach that in heaven we're going to sit around on clouds and boring endless daydreaming the bible teaches that we will work but imagine it we will work with complete delight and joy and mean no frustration no futility nothing to complain or grumble about or dread we will work in perfect harmony with god and with each other i don't know what this will look like but i do know this it will be good so don't long for heaven just as a place of rest yes as a place of rest from sin and suffering for those will be no more and yes of rest and relaxation for leisure will certainly be there also but it will not be a place of rest from work when god has designed our very makeup as men and women to work in a way that reflects his work by his grace for our good and for his glory you were created to work and to rest for the glory of god so let's pray let's pray oh god we praise you for your word it's so good i praise you for instruction you give us for our lives that we need to hear god we are so confused in our culture about work and rest and it plays out in so many different ways in our lives so help us we pray i just pray all these things we've seen in your word over our church over every single person with the sound of my voice right now god i pray for those who have not trusted in jesus as savior and lord god i pray that they would find rest for their souls today in jesus name and for all who have god we pray that help us to live in that rest as the overflow of rest in you our identity our meaning our joy our satisfaction found in you jesus so help us help us to work for your glory help us to serve you honor you with where we work how we work and god we pray that you would help us to rest in the middle of that in a way that trusts in you and your love for us in ways it's good for us good for our families good for those around us and ultimately glorifying to you help us help us we pray to work and rest for your glory in jesus name amen

Channel: God's Will- Freedom in the Gospel

Views: 3,089

Rating: 4.8333335 out of 5

Keywords: David Platt, David Platt New Sermon, David Platt Radical, Radical, God's beautiful desing fot our lives, Created to Work and Rest for the Glory of God, God, Jesus, Gospel

Id: 2S4kzyQGn3c

Length: 52min 12sec (3132 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 12 2020