1) Work is necessary evil. Do just enough so I never have to work again.
2) Work is the ultimate good to pursue.
We’ll look in depth at these two kinds of extreme approaches to work next week, and how they can damage us, then the next week, we’ll see what good work looks like, and how it ties in with God’s purpose and rhythm for both work and rest.
We saw with the recent devastation in Quebec how disastrous it is when trains go off the rails. They are made to run on rails. The rails are not about restricting their freedom, however. The rails give them freedom – when they hop the rails, they lose all freedom.
God has given some tracks for us. A rhythm of work & rest in a week…a year…and a lifetime.
Work is not a temporary, troublesome virus in our lives, but part of who we are. And the rhythm will help us see that while work is important, it’s not all important.
Balance and rhythm are the way to keep away from those extremes.
Challenge: Draw a continuum between these extremes – work is nothing, everything. Where are you? Where are those you know and work with? Where would you like to be?
Acknowledgements: Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavour and Work & Rest
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Yesterday we explored a story about Jesus and his followers eating grain in the fields on a Saturday, a day of rest, and getting in trouble from the religious authorities. In his response, Jesus referred to one of the great heroes of the Jewish faith, David, who ate holy bread in the temple when he was starving. He mentions the story, and lets the religious authorities do what they do best – argue about God while God is standing right there. He asks them why David got away with eating holy bread, since David was never condemned for eating it.
This story illustrates Jesus’ approach to two kinds of law. There is God’s law given at creation about the Sabbath: rest on the seventh day…period. That stands, and that’s actually what Jesus is about - giving us eternal rest, even today. But there is also the ritual/Sabbath/ceremonial law that is built on top of the basic commandment at creation. Think of it like scaffolding around a structure to help build it – it can be very helpful in following God’s law. But we don’t want to let it obscure God’s original purpose and law. This scaffolding is a reality of our sin or rebellion from God. Our hearts don’t naturally follow God’s law anymore, and so we need these additional structures. But, don’t forget they are provisional…until something comes along and makes them obsolete
Then Jesus comes along and says, “I am Lord of the Sabbath.”
He claims to be God, and gives an invitation to find rest in him, and to stop wrestling with sin and other sinful realities around us, to stop wrestling with ourselves, and just rest in him as he fights those battles.
Claims like this got him in trouble with the Pharisees and Scribes, and eventually their urging that he be killed. But in doing, they made him Lord of the Sabbath…exactly what he’d said.
On the cross, he is restless for us – huge work. He takes on the restlessness of our sin and because of that, we can rest, not on our work overcoming sin and brokenness in our lives, but on his work.
We see him showing that the day of rest, the Sabbath, isn’t the point, just as the temple bread wasn’t the point. God is the point. Resting in God is the point. We’ll see how tomorrow.
Question: Why do you think Jesus’ claims were so offensive to the religious legalists?
Just in time for summer's blend of work and rest, Redeem the Commute is starting a new series of daily challenges to help busy people restore life to the commuting lifestyle. This seven week series will look at the meaning and purpose of work, rest, and ancient practices that have helped followers of Jesus to keep the two in perspective and balance for centuries.
