The Integrated Life: Balancing God-Work-Life-Rest [Sermon]

https://youtu.be/6BkAjTkateU

1.0 The Call to Work

1.1 God Worked First 

1.2 Created to Work

Gen. 2:15: The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

1.3 Distorted by the Fall

Gen. 3:17–19: cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.

Eccl. 2:24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.

2.0 The Command to Rest

2.1 God Rested First

Gen. 2:2–3: And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation"

2.2 Commanded to Rest 

2.3 Redeemed to Rest

Exod. 20:11: "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy"

Deut. 5:15: "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day"

Ps. 127:2: It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved.

[Why Do Christians Not Have Rest?]

3.0 The Integrated Life of Jesus

Mark 6:31: Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while

Matt. 11:28: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

4.0 Principles for an Integrated Life

4.1 God First

Matt. 22:37–38: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment

Matt. 6:33: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you

4.2 Work as Worship 

Col. 3:23–24: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ

4.3 The Boundaries of the Body

1 Cor. 6:19–20: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

[The Body in Pro-Choice]

4.4 Family 

1 Tim. 5:8: If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

4.5 Culture

Matt. 6:24: No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

1 Tim. 6:10: The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

1 Tim. 6:6–7: Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

In a capitalistic society, is it possible that what we call ambition and hard work is just our desire to make more money?