Seeking Wholeness Summary 10 - How to Obtain Rest

 

How can we "rest"?

~~Watch the Video~~

How to Obtain Rest

Outline:

• Introduction
• Defining Wholeness
• What is the Sabbath?
• Do We Still Need to Follow the Sabbath?
• A Lifestyle of Rest
• Physical Rest
• Mental Rest
• Emotional Rest
• Social Rest
• Creative Rest
• Sensory Rest
• Spiritual Rest
• Physical Rest vs Spiritual Rest
• Entering Into Rest

Scriptures:

• Matthew 11:28-29
• Exodus 35:2
• Exodus 20:8-11 (Ten Commandments)
• Colossians 2:16-17
• Mark 2:27-28
• Psalms 127:2
• Romans 14:16 - 19
• Psalms 46:10

Introduction

Matthew 11:28-29

28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

• Jesus isn’t just talking about a physical rest
• Not just rest for our bodies
• He says He’ll provide “rest for your souls”

We will talk about the rest for both our bodies and our souls

Daylight Saving

Spring forward

Research has linked Monday after the switch to daylight saving time

• 6% Increase in car crashes
• 24% increase in heart attacks
• 5.7% jump in workplace injuries

Due to the loss of one hour of sleep

17.6 % of fatal crashes in the years 2017 to 2021 involved a drowsy driver. During that period, more than 29,800 drivers were killed because of drowsy driving.

Sleep pattern matters

“You can’t treat someone for depression if they have an irregular sleep cycle”

  --Jordan Peterson (clinical psychologist)

Defining Wholeness

Wholeness is about being _______ healthy

• spiritually
• emotionally
• mentally

Free from oppression of

• Our past
• Bad thinking
• Strongholds
• The enemy

We’re talking about

• dealing with life’s current stresses
• being healed from experiences/wounds of the past

We’re promised eternal life

• We’re also supposed to have: joy, peace, patience, and self control here on earth

Through this 4 year series we have identified traits that we defined as the goal for wholeness

Traits of Wholeness

1. Authenticity
2. Honesty
3. Kindness
4. Behavior not influenced by external approval / validation
5. Living by values and principles
6. Setting Boundaries
7. Taking ownership of your responsibilities
8. Living with purpose and passion
9. Optimism
10. Confidence
11. Not losing control of your emotions
12. Free from addictions
13. Addressing Conflict with truth and love
14. Vulnerability
15. Not critical or Judgemental
16. Not jealous of others
17. Forgive those who have wronged you in the past
18. Know that you’re worthy of receiving love
19. Not afraid to fail
20. Able to manage irrational fear, worry, and anxiety
21. Selfless encounters with others
22. Not manipulating others trying to control their actions
23. You care about how others feel
24. Patient
25. Don’t give into peer/social pressure
26. Can communicate without antagonizing others
27. Recognize, manage, and take responsibility for your own thoughts and feelings
28. Slow to anger
29. Ability to maturely express your wants, needs and desires
30. Can listen without reacting
31. Can respect others without having to change them
32. Can function well… Alone or with others
33. Able to take responsibility for our own destiny in life
34. Able to maintain a non-anxious presence in the midst of anxiety and stress
35. Able to ask for what they need want or prefer clearly, directly and honestly
36. Has the capacity to resolve conflict maturely
37. Being led by the Spirit

What is the Sabbath?

What is the Sabbath?

Sabbath builds a relationship to God and it is the secret to good health.  

—Scott

Exodus 20:8-11 (Ten Commandments)

8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

A Holy Day

qadash

• to be set apart or consecrated
• to be clean (ceremonially or morally) -- consecrate, dedicate, hallow

God is saying that … the day belongs to Him

No Work

Story: Shabbat elevator

A day for you to rest without worry

•  About provision

Show of Faith

Example: Chik Fil-a closed on Sunday

Penalty of Death

Exodus 35:2

“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.

When Is the Sabbath?

The 7th day

• Friday sunset to Saturday sunset

Colossians 2:16-17

16 Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day-- 17 things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

• “The substance belongs to Christ”
• - it was fulfilled by Christ

Do We Still Need to Follow the Sabbath?

Following the sabbath is not a factor for your salvation

Love God and Love Your Neighbor

New Commandments

1. Love God
2. Love your neighbor

Did worship go away because we are in the New Testament?

• Why not?

The Sabbath is the day that God asked to be worshiped

Seventh Day Adventist

Seventh-day Adventists have a strong and positive belief in the 7th day of the week (Saturday) being the major day of worship. They strongly believe in freedom for people to worship as they believe God wants them to worship. In addition to Saturday as the major day, they do not believe that it is wrong to worship on any other day of the week.

People going to hell, because they go to church on Sunday is not the SDAs belief.

Seventh Day Adventists live 10 years longer than the average person

Ellen G. White, a key pioneer in Adventism,

• Science taught  that outside air was harmful
•  White purported, however, that “fresh air purifies the blood, refreshes the body, and helps make it strong and healthy” and living in “ill-ventilated rooms weakens the system.”

The Sabbath Was a Shadow of the Future

Before the fall… We didn’t have to work to get our food

The Jews Didn’t Achieve It

The promised land was the land where God promised the Israelites that they would have rest

Because the Jews didn’t have faith, God told them that they will never enter into his rest

Experiencing a Future Reality

The Sabbath is an earthly representation of a spiritual reality.

• Just like the Tabernacle

Rest is the future state of the new heaven and the new earth.

Rest is also the state of when we enter the kingdom of God here on earth.

• Don’t worry about tomorrow…

Jesus talks about a lifestyle of being in dwell by and led by the Holy Spirit

The Sabbath Was Made for Man

Mark 2:27-28

27Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus tells us that the primary purpose of Sabbath wasn’t as a day to honor God it was to benefit humans

It was to give us physical rest

Jesus say did you guys are making The Sabbath and oppressive thing when it was supposed to be a restful thing

We are designed to need rest

A Lifestyle of Rest

Rest in the NBA

Who was the greatest basketball player of all time?

A basketball game is 48 minutes

Michael Jordan 

• 38 minutes per game on the court playing
• 10 minutes per game resting on the bench

Lebron

• 38.6 minutes

Stephen Curry 

• 34 minutes playing
• 14 minutes resting

Athletes realize they need an off-season. They cultivate a rhythm of resting, training, and competing.

Sometimes the star player doesn’t want to sit out, but the coach will make him

Why don’t they let players play the whole game?

If he didn’t rest

• He might score more that game
• Risk injury
• He will score less the next game
• Shorten his career

The coach is looking out for his well being

Even if the player wants to keep playing…he needs to yield to the coaches decision

• The coach has his best interest at heart
• The coach has the team’s best interest at heart

Similarly God, our creator, is telling us to rest for our own good

Why People Don’t Rest

What are some reasons that people don’t rest?

Survey asked people why they don’t rest:

• I feel guilty
• They don’t know how to
• They can’t switch off their mind
• They can’t detach from technology
• They are overcommitted

Military

Military train you how to sleep

• A vital tool of warfare

Rest isn’t something you earn when your to do list is complete

Chris example: Air Force training - 30 minute increments

Rest is a tool to fight spiritual warfare

7 Types of Rest

Vacations Don’t Work

Vacations don’t work

You come back more tired

We will look at how to incorporate rest into the pattern of your life

Types of rest:

1. Physical
2. Spiritual
3. Mental
4. Sensory
5. Creative
6. Emotional
7. Social

True Rest

• Physically well rested
• Feeling mentally ready
• Feeling emotionally fulfilled
• Feeling creatively recharged
• Free from stress and anxiety

Resting Looks Different For Everyone

physical rest example

If a runner needs to rest they may walk

If a hiker needs to rest they may stand still

If you were at a concert standing for two hours when you want to rest you may sit down

If you’ve been sitting for four hours at your job and you want to rest you may lay down

• Or walk around

physical rest looks different for everyone

Rest looks different for everyone - Josh Terry

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CWdhlQOJBtY

Physical Rest

You ever wake up on the couch?

You need physical rest when your body is tired or hurt.

Sleep

Psalms 127:2

It is futile for you to rise up early, To stay up late, To eat the bread of painful labor; This is how He gives to His beloved sleep.

• It is a blessing to be able to sleep

Purpose of Sleep

Why do we need to sleep?

Sleep is needed for

• Information processing
• Memory consolidation
• Toxin clearance
• Tissue repair
• Rebuilding metabolic
• Energy replenishment

Sleep is Self Care

How do you practice self care?

What is “self care”?

https://youtube.com/shorts/LMg5wgOmdd0

Not Enough Sleep

Most people need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep

What happens if you don’t get enough sleep?

The effects of not sleeping:

• Inability to remember tasks
• Inability to regulate emotions
• Inability to fight off illnesses
• Irritability
• Moodiness
• Lose your inhibitions
• Problems making decisions
• Problems retrieving information
• Problems processing information
• Overeating
• Weight gain
• Lower mental ability
• Higher rates of heart disease

Disruption of sleep causes

• Increased levels of stress
• Increased level of stress suppresses the immune system
• Increased risk of diabetes

What Prevents Sleep

What type of things prevent can prevent you from sleeping?

Contributors to sleep problems include

• Stress
• Alcohol, caffeine, nicotine
• Circadian rhythm disturbances
• Environmental factors
• Room temperature, noise, light
• Children
• Partner sleeping habits
• Screen time

Solution: Turn off Devices

at least an hour before going to sleep stop looking at

• Phone
•  television
• computer  

The light from these devices tells your brain that it is daytime thus impacting your Circadian rhythm.

Physical Exhaustion Solutions

• Sleep 7 - 9 hours per night
• Stretching
• Massage

Address the pain when you feel it

• Eyestrain - focus out the window
• Neck pain - Get up and get a glass of water

Body Fluidity

Don’t let your body be still or static in the same position for an extended amount of time

• Take a break every 90 to 120 minutes
• Doing different body positions throughout the day so you don’t hurt at the end of the day

Standing decks promote body fluidity

Mental Rest

• Decision fatigue

Anyone ever walked into a room and can’t remember why?

Mental rest is downtime where you can quiet your mind

Story: interviewing student looking for cell phone

• Studying for finals
• Put appointment in his calendar

Signs of mental depletion

• Low productivity
• 40s but can’t remember
• Go into a room and can’t remember why you’re there
• Ruminating thoughts
• Never have a quiet headspace
• Can’t turn off conversations in your head when you go to bed
• You get easily distracted
• React impulsively
• Can’t see downstream implications
• Make unwise decisions

Solutions

• Study break
• Scheduling a Break every two hours at work
• Keeping a notebook to jot down the thoughts you have when you sleep
• Put in place systems / structure
• Example: pick clothes night before
• Example: Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Albert Einstein

Emotional Rest

Emotional exhaustion is a state of feeling emotionally worn-out and drained as a result of accumulated stress

Symptoms

• feeling like you have no power or control over what happens in life
• feeling “stuck” or “trapped” in a situation
• Lack of energy
• lack of motivation
• irritability
• physical fatigue
• feelings of hopelessness
• apathy
• headaches
• change in appetite
• nervousness
• difficulty concentrating
• irrational anger
• increased cynicism or pessimism
• depression

2 Types of Emotional Exhaustion

1. Experiencing emotions - Emotional rollercoasters, drama
2. Suppressing emotions - Having to pretend and wear a mask in front of people

Experiencing

• Relationship
• Nurse, firefighter, ambulance worker, soldier
• Overwork
• Grief
• Raising kids
• Living with Chronic illness

Suppressing

• Not being authentic

You may not be able to display or recognize your own emotions because it would not be beneficial for the other person or appropriate.

Jobs

• Leader
• Parent
• Counselor

Mask

• Work
• Church
• People pleaser

Solutions

• Silence / solitude
• Setting boundaries
• Get around people you can be authentic around
• Stop people pleasing
• Journal
• Meditation
• Quiet Time / Talk to God

Social Rest

Social rest looks like you’re tired of interacting with people

Causes

Spending time with People who

• Drain you
• Are negative
• Like to argue
• Always want something from you

introvert

Solutions

• Spend time with people you enjoy
• Kind
• Encouraging
• Easy to be around
• Set boundaries
• Experience Inclusion
• Being part of a tribe

Develop a culture of encouragement in your life

Creative Rest

Creative rest reawakens the childlike wonder inside of us

• Feeling inspired
• Curiosity

When you have a creative rest deficit you have a problem coming up with new ideas or being creative

Symptoms

• Hard time thinking creativity
• Lack of love for life
• Writer’s block
• Lack of innovation
• Lack of imagination

Creative rest restores ability to see what’s possible

Solutions

• Appreciate beauty
• Put up inspiring pictures in your work environment
• Music
• Appreciate the arts
• Nature
• Excellence in the area you’re trying to create in

Inspiring the hope or possibility

Sensory Rest

Sensory rest deficit happens when you have ongoing sensory input from your environment

Symptoms

• You go to a place in peace and you leave wound up
• Irritable
• Anxious
• Angry

Causes

• Screen time
• Lights
• Phones
• Computer
• Work cubicles
• Surrounding conversations

Solutions

• Darkness
• Silence
• Closing your eyes
• Turning off the radio while driving to work
• Unplugging your electronics at the end of the day
• Do Not Disturb

Spiritual Rest

Spiritual Rest gives you the ability to connect beyond a mental and physical

Connection with God

It gives you a deep sense of

• love and being loved

Symptoms

• No sense of purpose
• No sense of belonging
• You wonder what is the point of life
• No connection to God
• You doubt God’s plan
• You doubt God’s existence

Spiritual burnout

• Pastor
• Volunteer

Solutions:

• Engage in something greater than yourself
• Volunteering
• Spending time in nature
• Go to church
• Hear a moving inspirational sermon
• Experience spirit filled worship
• A life giving Christian Community
• Develop a relationship with God ( Quiet Time, prayer, worship)
• Not asking for something

Spiritual Rest is not just slowing down, it’s getting closer to God?

Physical Rest vs Spiritual Rest

Romans 14:16 - 19

 16 Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For the one who serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and approved by other people. 19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

The Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit

• That’s here on earth

The Old Testament Sabbath was to show that God would provide food even if we didn’t work

It was a rest from physical work

• God would provide your physical needs

The New Testament is about resting from spiritual work

A Rest From Works Salvation

The Old Testament Sabbath was a rest from physical work

The New Testament Sabbath is a rest for spiritual work

In spiritual terms rest means primarily to cease from one's works with the idea of release from anxiety, worry and insecurity. This rest is offered to all and is freely available by grace through personal faith in Jesus Christ (Mt 11:28, 29, 30). Only in Christ is our soul fully and truly at rest. In this context rest means to be done with self-effort as far as salvation is concerned. It means the end of trying to please God by our feeble, fleshly works. In short, God’s unmerited perfect rest is a rest in free grace which can only be entered into or appropriated by faith.

Jesus gives us the ability to rest from depending on our own effort

We don’t have to do works to achieve salvation

We don’t have to do works to be loved by God

How do you know if you have entered into the Sabbath rest

• Are you laboring?
• Are you trying to live holy and do the right thing in exchange for an answered prayer?
• Saving your love one
• healing your body
• material gain
• Do you think that if you do good things, God in return will answer your prayers?
• Are you trusting in your works?

Or are you trusting in a finished, complete work from God?

Do you believe you have to do this and this and this to get God to do something?

Just like the Israelites didn’t have to work the escape Egypt, you don’t have to work to achieve eternal life

Rest Is Based on Faith

Rest is based on obedience to the Holy Spirit

The sabbath was a display of faith

They didn’t gather manna on the 7th day trusting that God would provide

They didn’t grow their crops for a year trusting that God would provide

That was a display of faith

The New Testament Sabbath is also based on faith

Faith that Jesus died for your sins

The faith is that if I trust God, he will put in more effort than I could ever have put in

Entering Into Rest

Psalms 46:10

“Stop striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth.”

Jesus said you will find rest for your souls

It’s great that you

• Sing
• Preach
• Teach
• Prophecy
• Know the word
• Go to Bible study
• Speak in tongues

…but can you rest?

Can you live in the spiritual disposition that you are so convinced in all the God promised you that you were not moved

When you are at rest you're not tossed to and fro with any type of news

Rest isn’t the absence of war… It is the presence of peace

The problem isn’t when the ship is in the water… The problem is when the water gets inside of the ship.  

https://youtube.com/shorts/MInzUAqfwQ8?si=I0yxIlzXnklYQnrL

It is not what surrounds you that is most important… It is what is within you.  

You can have peace…

• Not just in your quiet time, but how you live

Rest is the  secret to Jesus’ promised peace

What are you wrestling with that you should be resting about?

Resting says I’m not dependent on myself for my …

• provision
• promotion
• salvation

The more we realize that what we do is not dependent on our works, the more we are able to enter into his rest.

Resources

Restquiz.com

Www.ichoosemybestlife.com

References

Sabbath Rest

https://unchaineddisciples.blogspot.com/2021/11/sabbath-rest.html

Why You Need Sleep

https://unchaineddisciples.blogspot.com/2021/11/why-you-need-to-sleep.html

7 Types of Rest

https://unchaineddisciples.blogspot.com/2021/12/7-types-of-rest.html

Spiritual Rest

https://unchaineddisciples.blogspot.com/2022/01/spiritual-rest.html

Daylight saving car crashes

https://www.visionmonday.com/business/research-and-stats/article/daylight-saving-time-may-spark-increase-in-car-crashes/#:~:text=A%20new%20report%20from%20the,U.S.%20following%20Daylight%20Saving%20Time.