REST AND RESTAURATION

Here's Pastor Doug Batchelor from www.amazingfacts.org with the Sacramento church



To study the lesson with Dr Derek Norris of the Lake Forest church,
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Rest and Restoration
“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’ ” (Mark 6:31, NIV).



The Need for Total Restoration
Courtney-Claire Haynes, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies
Introduction Sabbath
Matt. 11:28–30

I have observed my family during a typical workweek and noticed how demanding school and work can be. The intensity of our day-to-day activities requires us to get some well-deserved rest. However, we never seem to have time for it.

What a great way to forget all our cares!

Think about your own schedule. How busy are you with classes, homework, your job, your family? Then there’s the time needed to eat or to clean your dorm room or house. If you are in charge of a growing family, the demands on your time are even more intense. What’s a person to do?

It is said that rest is required in order for someone to function at his or her physical, mental, and spiritual best. Getting this rest was part of God’s plan when He set aside both the darkness of each day and the seventh day as the Sabbath. He knew we would need daily rest, and that at the end of the week we would need time to forget all the troubles of the other six days. What a great way to forget all our cares—praising the Creator during one 24-hour period for sparing our lives each week! Read Matthew 11:28–30 again. “In these words Christ is speaking to every human being. Whether they know it or not, all are weary and heavy-laden. All are weighed down with burdens that only Christ can remove. The heaviest burden that we bear is the burden of sin. If we were left to bear this burden, it would crush us. But the Sinless One has taken our place. ‘The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ Isa. 53:6. He has borne the burden of our guilt. He will take the load from our weary shoulders. He will give us rest. The burden of care and sorrow also He will bear. He invites us to cast all our care upon Him; for He carries us upon His heart.”*

The need for rest will always be at the forefront of our minds because our bodies and our minds were not created for work only. The body needs rest as it is constantly attacked by physical and spiritual diseases. We also need to remember, however, that only the Divine Healer, Jesus Christ, will give us total restoration.
____________
*The Desire of Ages, pp. 328, 329.



Restored in Jesus’ Rest
Ryan O’Neil Seaton, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies
Sunday Logos
Gen. 2:15; Exod. 20:8–11; 23:12; Matt. 11:28–30;
Mark 2:27; 6:30–32

Work and Rest Before the Infection of Sin (Genesis 1; 2)
Considering the Greek proverb “The beginning is the half of all things,” I decided to review the entire Creation story. I was excited to realize that Adam and Eve’s initial experience with God was largely that of rest! “Notice the symbolism of what happened at Creation. God worked six days and then rested the seventh, after His work was complete. But for Adam and Eve, the process was reversed. They first rested on the Sabbath and then followed it with six days of work. They had nothing to do with God’s creative acts. They came on the scene at the end of Creation week. They simply received their lives from Him and all the blessings of Eden as a . . . gift.”1

The Sabbath instructs us to rest in what God has done for us.

Before sin infected the earth, God assigned to Adam and Eve the work of dressing and keeping the Garden of Eden. To Adam, God also gave the task of naming the animals (Gen. 2:20). This confirms that we were not made for contemplation only. We also were created to interact with creation through the exercise of our bodies and minds.

The Rejuvenating Sabbath Rest (Exod. 20:8–11; 23:12; Mark 2:27)
God never intended the Sabbath to be a physical or ceremonial burden. In the context of rabbinic ceremonialism, Jesus declared that the “ ‘sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath’ ” (Mark 2:27, NRSV). The Sabbath is too wonderful a gift to be diminished by ceremony and overexertion. After Adam and Eve sinned, they began to deteriorate, along with the rest of creation. They began to experience weariness, pain, and hunger. Daily replenishment through sleep became an important cycle, and part of what the Sabbath fostered was an opportunity for that essential physical rest. Read Exodus 20:8–11; 23:12. When the body is refreshed, the mind is better prepared to function in the ways God had originally intended for it to work.

“[T]he sabbath commandment is unique among the ten. It is the only one not an obvious moral duty. Why? Amid the law’s stringent demands God offers us rest in the fourth commandment. The other nine tell us what we must do for God and neighbor. But the Sabbath instructs us to rest in what God has done for us. Exodus 20 reminds us of God’s finished Creation on our behalf. Deuteronomy 5 invites us to rest on the Sabbath in memory of the redemption He accomplished for us.”2

Pause for Peace (Mark 6:30–32)
At different points between the evening of Friday, March 26, and the after-noon of Sabbath, March 27, 1999, I had the opportunity of listening to, meeting, traveling with, and having Sabbath lunch with the late Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, in what was his first visit to Jamaica.
I don’t remember exactly how I got into the mix of waking up early Sabbath morning in the dorm, and then traveling with Pastor Wellington, Dr. Bacchiocchi (or Dr. Sam as he liked to be called), and my friend Sean Brooks as a company of four making the one-hour journey from the University’s Parish of Mandeville to my native Kingston, where we church-toured. However, I do remember the Sabbath lunch we had at Brother Ashton Tai’s home and a particular request of Dr. Sam after lunch. He asked Brother Tai if he could rest for one hour before returning to the afternoon session. This need reminded me of Mark 6 when Jesus bade His disciples to “ ‘come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’ ” (Mark 6:31, NIV). As ambassadors for Christ, especially ministers and medical workers, we need to “rest awhile,” to occasionally chill out by seeking solitude.

Resting in Jesus (Matt. 11:28–30)
Finally, if our mind is not in Christ, physical rest will not fully restore our bodies. Christ invited, “ ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light’ ” (Matt. 11:28–30, NIV). I like the composition and harmony of the song by Take 6 “Come Unto Me,” which is based on this invitation of Christ. The only way to find ultimate harmonious rest while working for the ultimate good is to accept Christ, then learn from and follow Him.

REACT
1. When was the last time you have awakened without the help of an alarm clock? Are you really getting enough sleep?
2. What steps can you take to minimize stress during the week?
3. What steps do you think people took to minimize stress on the Sabbath day in the Old Testament? What steps did Jesus and other people take to reduce stress on the Sabbath in the New Testament? What can we learn from this about the steps we can take to reduce stress on the Sabbath?
4. Search YouTube to find Take 6 or another group singing the song “Come Unto Me.” Listen to it and imagine that you are alone with Jesus.
____________
1. Robert S. Folkenberg, We Still Believe (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press®, 1994), p. 63.
2. Martin Weber, Some Call It Heresy (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald®, 1985), p. 94.



“I Will Give You Rest”
Rita Ann Newman, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies
Monday Testimony
Matt. 11:28–30

As a nurse I’ve learned that there is really only one invitation I can give to very ill people. Those are Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28–30. Read them now if you haven’t already done so.
“These words of comfort were spoken to the multitude that followed Jesus. The Saviour had said that only through Himself could men receive a knowledge of God. He had spoken of His disciples as the ones to whom a knowledge of heavenly things had been given. But He left none to feel themselves shut out from His care and love. All who labor and are heavy-laden may come unto Him.

“Scribes and rabbis, with their punctilious attention to religious forms, had a sense of want that rites of penance could never satisfy. Publicans and sinners might pretend to be content with the sensual and earthly, but in their hearts were distrust and fear. Jesus looked upon the distressed and heart burdened, those whose hopes were blighted, and who with earthly joys were seeking to quiet the longing of the soul, and He invited all to find rest in Him.

“Tenderly He bade the toiling people, ‘Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’ ”1

“The yoke is placed upon the oxen to aid them in drawing the load, to lighten the burden. So with the yoke of Christ. When our will is swallowed up in the will of God, and we use His gifts to bless others, we shall find life’s burden light. He who walks in the way of God’s commandments is walking in company with Christ, and in His love the heart is at rest. When Moses prayed, ‘Show me now Thy way, that I may know Thee,’ the Lord answered him, ‘My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. . . .’

“Those who take Christ at His word, and surrender their souls to His keeping, their lives to His ordering, will find peace and quietude. Nothing of the world can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad by His presence. In perfect acquiescence there is perfect rest.”2

REACT
1. Is taking Christ’s yoke upon you similar or equivalent to taking up your cross? Explain.
2. How can taking Jesus’ yoke give you rest?
____________
1. The Desire of Ages, p. 328.
2. Ibid., p. 331.



The Essentials of Restoration
Robert Bennett, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies
Tuesday Evidence
Exod. 20:8–11; Eccles. 5:12

I asked some friends what came to mind when they heard the word rest. For some it meant afternoon naps, peace and quiet, snuggling up in a favorite chair, or being in a safe haven away from the stresses of their fast-paced world. Certainly rest plays a vital role in our well-being. Today we will focus on rest as an integral part of the church’s health message from two perspectives: spiritual rest and physical rest.

Spiritual rest is just as important as physical rest.

Spiritual rest is just as important as physical rest. Scientific studies have shown that inadequate rest and, worse yet, sleep deprivation can have detrimental effects leading to premature aging, nervous disorders, and mood swings. During sleep, the body performs vital functions that are crucial to health and longevity. That certain functions leading to restoration occur during sleep is symbolic of our rest in Jesus, which leads to spiritual restoration. It is only as we rest in Him that we can experience spiritual restoration.

Physical restoration occurs as we adhere to the natural laws, one of those laws being rest. The parallel spiritual rest is mentioned in Matthew 11:28–30, where Jesus invites us who are weary to come to Him for rest. Ecclesiastes 5:12 states that “sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let them sleep” (NRSV). A hard-working Christian who trusts in God—or, as it were, rests in Jesus—will physically sleep well, taking no thought for tomorrow. There can be no doubt that a lack of proper rest at night will affect how we participate in the Sabbath rest. It is also important to realize that the spiritual rest Jesus calls us to enjoy will remove guilt feelings that often lead to unhappiness and a lack of peace.

Just as physical rest is necessary for life, so spiritual rest is essential for life, not only now but for eternity. As God rested on the seventh day after creating this world (Gen. 2:2, 3; Exod. 20:8–11), so the same seventh-day Sabbath is today a weekly reminder for us that Jesus is our Creator and Savior.

REACT
1. Ecclesiastes 8:16 speaks of “how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night” (NRSV). Does this describe your life? If so, what changes do you need to make?
2. Search the Web to learn more about the benefits of sleep. Compare those
benefits to spiritual rest.




Understanding the
Importance of Rest
Latoya Natalie McFarlane, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies
Wednesday How-to
Mark 2:27; Heb. 4:9–11

Rest is important to the Christian’s life. Immediately after His work of Creation, God rested from all His work (Gen. 2:2, 3; Heb. 4:10). Because God knew the importance of rest in renewing the mind, body, and spirit, He instituted the Sabbath as a day of rest for humankind. For Jesus, rest was also important. Recognizing that His disciples were overworking, He instructed them to stop and rest (Mark 6:31).

Satan loves nothing more than the sleep-deprived Christian.

Rest in the Lord cannot be crammed into a few minutes of hurried devotion early in the morning. It requires that we take time to slow down and gain some perspective on life. The book of Hebrews assures us that at the end of our journey there “remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9, NIV).

In today’s society, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to rest. Our pre-occupation with work, school, and other activities robs us of quality rest. At times, it would appear as if our own bodies force us to become sick so that we can finally rest. But there are easier steps we can take in the quest for rest:

Get quality sleep at night. Like any computer or machinery that requires maintenance over time, our bodies also require repair. Sleep recharges the brain and repairs the body from wear and tear. Schedule at least six to eight hours sleep. Lack of sleep for prolonged periods of time can affect our thinking and decision-making. Satan loves nothing more than the sleep-deprived Christian whose ability to think clearly and make wise choices is inhibited.

Eat well. Plan your meals to include foods from all the food groups. Eat a good breakfast and lunch; but eat a light supper. It’s hard to sleep when your stomach is full.

Exercise regularly. Exercise can help the brain switch roles and prepare the body for rest. However, don’t exercise just before going to bed, or your body will be too pumped to rest.
Spend quality time with God. Worship brings us closer to Him, helps us focus on what’s really important, and creates a feeling of calm. Avoid taking the burden of sin to bed with you. Give that burden to your Savior. In fact, He already took that burden to the cross where He died for your sins.

Resolve conflicts. Read Ephesians 4:26. As much as possible, settle disagreements and disputes before bedtime, especially within your household. This allows for a more peaceful rest.



Not Another Scam
Jenine Knibb, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies
Thursday Opinion
Matt. 11:28–30

Have you ever received an e-mail or letter stating that you’d won a trip around the world or a cash prize redeemable after you made a “small” payment? These “generous” offers are usually scams that leave their victims worse off financially than they were before. As a result, I’m usually skeptical about these offers that seem too good to be true. However, Matthew 11:28–30 presents us with a proposal that I am unable to decline. It reads, “ ‘Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly’ ” (The Message). Who can resist an offer like that?
Jesus knows that every once in a while we need a break. His proposal of granting us rest is a guarantee that we can receive just that—once we go to Him. It’s an offer we never have to delete from our e-mail. That sly con artist, the devil, seeks to deceive us into believing that we can and need to carry our burdens by ourselves. Our Creator, on the other hand, has sent a gift of rest just for you, which you need only to claim.

It’s an offer we never have to delete from our e-mail.

Growing up as an Adventist, I have always looked forward to the Sabbath. It is the one day of the week on which the Lord commands us not to do any work. He doesn’t have to tell me twice! On the Sabbath, for 24 hours, I am set free from all my worries and cares. I don’t have to fret about deadlines or worry about finding the time to get all my tasks done. With all the physical, mental, and emotional rest that I get on the Sabbath, I am cleansed, repaired, and rejuvenated, fresh and able to face all the tasks that will present themselves to me during the new week. Rest is an inexpensive remedy for an exhausted individual. Why don’t you invest in some rest today?

REACT
1. Why do people who refuse to rest never really get ahead?
2. Why did our powerful and mighty heavenly Father rest after creating the earth?



God’s STOP Sign
Liane Edlund, Ekebyholm, Sweden
Friday Exploration
Mark 6:31

CONCLUDE
To a world on the go, God says, STOP! STOP working, and get a good night’s sleep. STOP worrying, and give your concerns to Me. STOP rushing, and take time to be with Me. The Sabbath is God’s special weekly STOP sign, calling us to lay aside our own work and to rest in the work God has done for us, both as our Creator and Redeemer. As we learn to rest, our faith in God’s love and care increases, and we are renewed from the inside out. So pay attention to God’s STOP signs in your life.

CONSIDER
•Painting or drawing a picture of a scene that embodies rest for you. Hang it up in your bedroom to remind you of what God wants for you.
•Starting a Quiet Service in the middle of the week. Set off a couple of hours when people can visit the church to meditate and pray. They should be able to come and go as they wish in quietness. Create an atmosphere of rest in the sanctuary with candles and soft music, but remember—no talking aloud.
•Babysitting for a couple with young children so they can spend the evening together. Give them a card with Jesus’ words to His disciples: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
•Compiling a Sabbath CD that helps you to unwind and enter into worship. Choose from your favorite “restful” songs.
•Making a prayer trail. Create a variety of stations at which participants can meditate over Bible verses and experience the restfulness of nature.
•Reviewing the steps for better rest listed in Wednesday’s lesson. How are you doing in your “quest for rest”? Which areas do you need to focus on in order to be rested?

CONNECT
The Desire of Ages, chapters 29, 38.
Shawn Boonstra, The Sign; Nancy Van Pelt, The Art of Making Sabbath Special (DVD); Max Lucado, Traveling Light.