The Psalms: Book 4 - Rest
Opening Prayer:
Lord God,
We bless and praise Your name. You are holy, Lord. You have rescued us and brought us out of bondage, out from under the hand of sin. We remember.
You are good. The rest You offer is good. Remind us of Your rest and Your goodness as we remind the world of the rest and peace it needs, that only you can offer.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Key Scriptures:
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
Psalm 95
Sermon Summary
Psalm 95 is a joyful psalm – at least to begin with it seems. But the second half does appear somewhat subdued compared to the exuberance of the first half. Although we might be tempted to only read or take in the first half, this psalm is a good example of guarding against only reading the parts of the biblical text that we like, or that make us feel good.
The theme of this psalm – the whole psalm – is of praising God as the Lord of Israel and the Lord of all creation. And it certainly seems like it to begin with. God made everything, and everything bows down to worship Him. God is good and His creation is too. But then comes the line not to harden our hearts. Not to wander away from God. The psalm encourages Israel to remember where they have come from, remember the time they turned away from God, and to make sure they do not repeat it.
They are reminded of their time of slavery in Egypt, the oppression that they suffered, and that God came down to rescue them. He had heard their cries and came down to free them, to make them a nation, and to give them a place where they could be His people. But we know that something went wrong during that journey in the desert. The people rebelled, they grumbled, they quarreled, they turned away from the God who had so recently rescued them. They failed to trust Him. This is what the psalmist is referencing; don’t do this again, he implores. Don’t fall away from God and the rest He promises us.
What must we do to enter God’s rest? We are His sheep, and He has promised us a place of rest and peace. So do not forget all that He has done to rescue us. Give all praise and honour to the God who rescues, who guides, who shepherds and who loves. Because God’s promise of rest still stands for us today. From the first page of the Bible to the last God has said He will grant us rest. There is a full complete rest still waiting for the people of God. God himself created rest. Six days of creation and then God rested. He created rest, His holy rest, and He invites us to worship Him, to follow Him and enter into His rest.
Jesus is the revelation of this promised rest for us. His life points us in the direction of this rest. His death and resurrection makes the way clear for us to enter this rest. All who look to Him and believe in Him will have eternal life. And yet, looking at the world around us, this promised rest seems so far away, if not nearly an impossibility. Nevertheless, God is faithful and we, His faithful people, are to declare His goodness and share His promise and point people towards their final home in God. One day Jesus will return, and the promised rest will be all around us and creation will be restored to its full abundance where we will enter into God’s holy rest. All will be redeemed and restored, and God’s abundant love and goodness will be given to all. And God, in His perfect love and mercy and justice, will reign, and his people will enjoy His promised rest.
Until that day we, His church, His people, must continue our God-commissioned work by creating justice, peace, beauty and rest. We are to celebrate God and point to His goodness, remind the world that it is His, that He loves it, and that He has promised rest.
Questions to Consider:
What is God’s rest? What is meant by entering into God’s rest?
What is the real point of rest? Why does God deem it so important that He set aside a day for it?
Why is rest more than just ‘stopping work’? How do we offer our rest as an act of worship to God?
What sabbath rhythms do you have? How do they help you see and experience God’s goodness in rest?
How do we live in the ultimate reality of God’s rest in a world that is so clearly not at rest or peace?
How do you model such a life to others? How does your life show the ultimate peace, life, and rest that God brings?
How importance is remembrance of God’s past acts in your life? How is your discipleship journey a constant interaction of past, present, and future?
A Practice to Consider:
Plan a Sabbath (a deliberate time to Stop, Rest, Delight and Worship) - if a full day is initially too much for you try setting aside a couple of hours. Afterwards, reflect on this time with your community.
Additional Resources:
Find the full sermon recording here
For a printable version of this guide click here
If you are interested in going deeper check out this podcast on the Sabbath called Rule of Life by Practicing the Way
Also, the bible project has a helpful guide to the Psalms, you can find it here