Antioch/Perth Church in the Restful Rhythm of God (A series connecting the call of the Church in Perth with that of the Church in Antioch: https://cross-connect.net.au/antioch-church-perth-church/; https://cross-connect.net.au/diversity-for-glory/ )
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Gen 2:2-3)
Introduction
The most difficult of the Ten Commandments to keep can be the fourth, keeping the Sabbath day holy. Many attempt to simplistically sideline this command by quoting Jesus, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), but the Sabbath remains within the order of creation for the good of humanity and the glory of God in Christ. Ultimately, hell is restlessness (Rev 14:11) whilst heaven is an eternal rest from labour (Rev 14:13). Since God does not need to rest because he never gets tired, the eternal rest of God described at the start of Scripture must be read symbolically. The divine rest on the seventh day does not exclude the preserving of the universe (Acts 17:28; Heb 1:3), but it did mean that under the old covenant God stopped creating new things as he had done for the past 6 days (Gen 1:1-31). Two reasons are found for the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments, a memorial to the Creator, establishing a pattern of six days of work followed by one day of rest” (Ex 20:8-11), and a reminder of God’s saving act in the Exodus out of Egypt as a covenant sign between God and the Israelites (Deut 5:12-15). Yet for today’s new covenant, the key to understanding “sabbath-rest” is to be found in the life of Jesus.
The Life of Jesus
The miraculous works of Christ are signs of the inbreaking of the kingdom of God recreating the world. This is not discontinuous with the rest of God in heaven, but part of its administration on earth. As a real human, there were occasions when Jesus was “tired” (John 4:6; Mark 6:31; Luke 8:46). So, we see in Jesus a rhythm of periods of intense kingdom activity, accompanied by phases of intentional rest (Matt 8:24; Mark 6:31-32; John 4:6). Given the Son only ever did “what he saw the Father doing” (John 5:19-20), Jesus created times to pray and replenish communion with his God (Matt 14:23; Luke 5:16; John 20:17). These “rest periods” incorporated long dialogues with the disciples e.g. John 13-17. Since the humanity of Jesus is the pattern for our lives (Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 11:1; Phil 2:5-13) we must accept this to be a model applicable to all Christians! When the Lord said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), he did not merely refer to humankind in general.. When Jesus goes on to exclaim, “So/Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28), he makes it clear that within the plan of God from the beginning involving cycles of labour and rest were made particularly for himself as a human being. The victory of Christ was outworked via the form of his life as en-cycled activity-and-rest. Jesus has established a Kingdom pattern for the Church which we are called to follow.
Resting in Christ
Jesus lived by faith in the promised rest of God, “he has gone through the heavens” (Heb 4:14) by being “taken up into heaven” (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:2,9). This points beyond all doubt that the crescendo of the Human victory of the Son of God, his ascension, and sitting at the right hand of God in heaven, were gifts to the Incarnated Son and not achievements earned by his perfect piety. He sits as a sign that his ministry as High Priest, for old covenant priests always stood to minister. Their ministry was never finished for their own consciences were never perfectly at rest (Heb 7:19). Keeping our eyes exclusively on the presently exalted Christ (Heb 12:1-2) opens us up to the New Testament pattern of grace whereby rest follows intense godly ministry.
The Pattern of Grace
Jesus’ most memorably said: ““Come to me, all you 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”” (Matt 11:28-30) Whilst the promise may seem unconditional, it is in fact dependent on sharing in the Lord’s humility. The striking Message Translation emphasises how this takes place: “Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” We struggle to “make every effort to enter that rest” (Heb 4:11). This does not involve a walk and work of human effort but through grace and faith alone (cf. Rom 9:16. Across the Western Church there is significant movement out of high-powered Pentecostal-Evangelical congregations to more traditional slower-paced ancient denominations because the rushed marketplace rat race of Mon-Frid is unabated on Sundays. High performance ministries/ministers are not working from rest. The advance of AI will only intensify the curse of pronounced “toil” (Gen 3:17-19).
A Dynamic Church at Rest
Antioch was not only the sending Church for the Gentile mission (Acts 13:1-3) but the hub to which the missionaries returned for edification and encouragement (14:26-28; 15:40-41). The Church in Perth is called to participate in the model of the Antioch assembly in Christ by living in his dynamic of intense work and blessed intentional rest (cf. Eph 5:31-32). Resting with Jesus at the right hand of the Father (Eph 2:6) permeated by prayer and unparalleled “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet 1:8). There is nothing more delightful and attractive to stressed sinners than this Christlike and Christ formed rhythm. If you doubt this, ask the prayer pillars of your local congregation! If you cannot find such people locally, follow the 3 hours of prayer kept by the earliest Church following the pattern of Jesus (Acts 3:1; 10:9, 30).
Conclusion
There has been a rhythm in the life of God as Creator and Redeemer from eternity (Rev 13:8) that was imaged in the early Church. A pulse of intense kingdom work and intentional rest, never passivity, and so it must be with the Church in Perth for fulfilling our missional call in Christ. Let us together ask the Lord to establish (Ps 127) a denominationally united 24-7 World Mission Prayer Centre (or whatever it might be called) committed to ceaseless intercession for those being sent out of our city to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). We are bring called to unite our feeble earthly prayers with the “prayers of the saints” (Rev 5:8; 8:3-5) before the throne of rest (Heb 4:16) in heaven. We are called to sit with Jesus “in the heavenly places” (Eph 2:6) sharing his victory over all evil powers, including the urge to labour and toil for the kingdom of God! “Glory to God for all things!” (Δόξα τῷ Θεῷ πάντων ἕνεκεν!). These were the last words of the famous preacher and prophet St John Chrysostom.