Learning to Rest a sermon on Genesis 2.1-3 & Mark 6.7-13, 30-32 by David C.
Mauldin Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama
One thing the military tends to do well is learn from its mistakes. It makes mistakes, of course, but
usually lessons are learned so that mistakes are not repeated. Other
institutions, including the church, tend to make the same mistakes over and
over, though thankfully we in the church sometimes learn from our mistakes as
well. One of the things the military has learned is the importance of rest. You
can push people only so far, and then they breakdown. In fact, from the American
Civil War right up to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, a combatant was
three times more likely to suffer a psychiatric breakdown than be killed. They
found, in World War I, that troops could only stay at the front for so long.
Then they needed rest and relative safety, or they became no longer functional.
In World War II, the U.S. Army tried to screen out soldiers considered more
likely to suffer breakdown. Despite their best efforts, however, the rate of
psychiatric breakdown remained exactly the same. Everyone breaks down in combat
situations, eventually, except true psychopaths. Submarine crews rotated six
months at sea and six months rest. It was determined that if they were left out
longer or rested less they became ineffective. Bomber crews were limited in the
number of missions they flew. I think it took two years to train a crew, then
they flew I think 25 missions—I may be a bit off on those numbers, but they are
reasonably close. If crews were pushed farther, they became ineffective. Human
beings can only do so much, and then they need a rest. The military knows this.
I wonder sometimes whether the church does. I am not suggesting that what we do
is as stressful as combat. It isn’t. But in every area of human life, rest is
essential. Neglect it and you will suffer consequences. If we don’t learn this
from the military or our own experience, we can perhaps learn it from God.
According to scripture, when God created the world, he rested. Why? God wouldn’t
get tired, would he—especially since he simply spoke and the universe came to
be? His reason has something to do with the Sabbath. He was setting a precedent.
He rested and thereby consecrated the seventh day as holy, a day for rest. There
was no such thing as a weekend in the ancient world. Nobody got regular days
off—which is one reason festivals and holidays were so important. Jews were
sometimes considered lazy because they observed a Sabbath rest. They were not
lazy, just committed to God. God commands rest.
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With Christ came greater freedom for God’s people. For example, before Christ,
certain foods were prohibited. Jews still observe kosher food laws. After
Christ, Christians were no longer bound by those rules. Sometimes people wonder
how we can tell which laws still apply. Murder is still prohibited, although
eating pork is not. The answer is, the New Testament tells us. So what about the
Sabbath? That is an interesting case. On one hand, our freedom in Christ allowed
Christians to make Sunday—not Saturday—the holy day of the week, because Christ
rose on Sunday and it became the Lord’s Day. On the other hand, God still
expects us to set aside a day for worship and rest. We need not be overly
legalistic, yet God designed us with certain requirements, among them rest. We
neglect that at our own peril. God has commanded us to rest, and he has done so
because he knows us and loves us. In the passage in Mark, Jesus teaches his
disciples to do what he does. He sends them out and gives them authority. They
are to preach and heal and free people from the dominion of evil. He gives them
instructions about what to take and how to respond when people do not welcome
them. The job is not an easy one, but it is an exciting one. They come back
bursting with enthusiasm and stories about all they had done. People had
listened! They had made a difference! Jesus’ fame was spreading. The part of
Mark 6 we skipped over in our reading is an interlude about Herod and John the
Baptist. It comes up because as Jesus became known, some thought he was John
back from the dead, or one of the other prophets. He was making quite a stir,
and his disciples were helping! Everyone from local village peasants to King
Herod was taking notice. Crowds were swarming to them. It was exciting and
thrilling and exhausting to see God do such amazing things and to be part of it.
Having taught them to spread his message and to help people the way he did,
Jesus taught them something else important: how to rest. What does he say when
they return giddy with success? “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves
and rest for a while.” This invitation to rest is characteristic of Jesus. When
the pressure got to be too much, he went off by himself. Sometimes he spent the
night in prayer. Sometimes he relented and continued his teaching and healing
even though he needed a break, because he had compassion on the people. That is
going to happen in Mark 6. The crowds see Jesus heading off in the boat, and
they follow on land. He and his disciples will not rest for long. Nevertheless,
Jesus practiced the spiritual discipline of rest. He spent time alone in prayer.
Important as his work was—far more important than ours!—he rested. We would be
wise to follow his example. Now, you may be wondering why I am preaching a
sermon about rest on the Sunday we ordain and install a new class of elders and
deacons. Shouldn’t this be one of those
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rah-rah sermons about how God calls and equips us, so go out there and work,
work, work? I think not. And I’ll tell you why. I think we already know God has
called us. If you have spent any time in this church listening to me preach, and
you have missed that, hearing it again this morning probably won’t help much. I
also think we know God has given us gifts for ministry. We know there are needs.
We know we love Jesus by loving others in his name. We know all this, and … most
of us are already doing quite a bit. Take our new elders and deacons for
example. They are already busy doing ministry. They were elected to their office
because their calling and leadership were recognized. We don’t need to tell them
to work. They already are. Or consider our outgoing class of elders and deacons.
What a hard-working bunch! I have felt the need, on occasion, to caution a few
of them about working too hard. They have given of themselves in a Christ-like
way. They are still called and gifted. They still have ministry to do. But most
of them need a rest. There is wisdom in making people wait a year before they
can serve another term. We need to be fair to them and encourage them to be like
Christ and to obey God’s commands: We need to let them know it is not only
acceptable but also good and right that they scale back and take a rest. Our new
elders and deacons need to know we are not going to work them until the burnout
or dropout. My prayer and one of my leadership goals is that when a person
serves a three-year term as an elder or a deacon, at the end of that term they
are closer to God and more mature in their faith. That’s not entirely within my
control, but I always hope for it. Leadership in the church can be hard,
stressful, disillusioning, and yes it is a sacrifice. Still, God calls some
people to it, and those who are called can grow in ways they could not
otherwise. I hope all those we ordain and install today will look back three
years from now and feel like the disciples did in Mark 6—amazed by what God has
done and excited about their role in it. Good things have happened here in the
last three years. I believe God is at work in us and through us. If we are
faithful, he will continue to bless us in the years ahead. To be faithful,
however, and to sustain quality ministry long-term, we must heed God’s call to
rest. Our new officers should have little moments of refreshment along the way
and more rest at the end of their tour of duty. As your pastor, I am grateful
that our church does understand the importance of rest. Our denomination
mandates that all full-time pastors have the same time off as military service
personnel. The military gets—or is supposed to get—30 days per year.
Presbyterian ministers get four weeks. It works out about the same. The
denomination determines vacation, but it is up to each church to decide on
sabbaticals. This is something Westminster started when Ed Thomas was pastor,
and you have included it in my terms of call. It really is a good thing. It
gives pastors a chance to do the kind of spiritual work that Jesus did when he
went into the wilderness for forty days after his baptism. Burnout is a danger
for pastors—in part because we tend to be the kind of
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people who get excited about things and take on too much. Sabbaticals,
vacations, and a little bit of Sabbath each week are necessary to sustain good
ministry long-term. I am preaching about the importance of rest. A few of words
of caution might be in order. First, make sure your rest is rest and not just a
different kind of work. Second, do not forget God in your rest. I think there
are two kinds of rest, and we need both. One is doing something you enjoy that
recharges your physical, emotional, and spiritual batteries. This can be
different for different people. Take yard work, for example. Some people love to
work in the yard. It gets their minds off their troubles. It connects them to
nature. Give them a few hours of leisure, and you’ll find them out back with a
spade and watering can. For other people, yard work is a grueling chore that has
to be done, but they need a rest when it’s over. You have to rest in a way that
works for you. We all need that kind of rest. The other kind of rest
intentionally connects us with God. It involves quietness, prayer, and scripture
reading. You can’t say, “Well, that’s not one of the ways I rest.” I really
believe God intends us all to rest this way. Some people might find a five-mile
run refreshing while others would rather sit quietly and read, but all of us
need to connect with God. Perhaps you find it helpful to be outdoors. You may do
it early in the morning or late at night or on a special day of the week. How
you do it is not as important as that you do it—rest with God in a way that
focuses you attention on him. This is not something mystical necessarily. Just
prayer, reading scripture, worship. Our worship service should be a model of the
balance between work and rest. We do the work or prayer, praise, and searching
our hearts. These are work. We give our work as gifts to God. Yet we are also
resting, listening, waiting for God. It is a break from our busy lives and a
chance to be still and know that God is God. My third and final warning about
rest is: Don’t forget to work. If you are always resting and never doing
ministry, something is wrong. God created, then he rested. Jesus did ministry,
then he rested. The disciples did what Jesus told them, then they rested. Busy
elder, busy deacons, other people busy in ministry need a break sometimes. Take
it, but know that it is temporary. God has more work for you to do, in time. Let
me conclude by inviting you to dig deeper into scripture on the subject of rest.
In the Old Testament we find rest in the form of the weekly Sabbath, of annual
festivals, of the Jubilee year, and more. God commands work, and God commands
rest. He made us. He knows us. He cares for us. My hope for you is that you will
do the work and get the rest that God has appointed for you. Amen. rev_mauldin@yahoo.com
January 13, 2008