The church has 10 articles of faith and we keep them so that we can be saved. On the other hand, these same teachings keep us in the faith. They are more than things or rituals to be kept. They are, to us, a way of life. This sermon will discuss rest.

We have to keep the Sabbath Day. And that’s what we do, we come to church on Friday nights all the way to Saturday evening. And God is pleased that we keep His Sabbath. In keeping the Sabbath, we also understand the human need for rest. There are various aspects to why we need rest.

First, let us talk about God stopping His work.
Gen 1:4-5 (read)
At the end of the first day, God saw that what He had done was good. In all the things that God did, He stopped and paused and had a look.

Gen 1:31-2:1-3 (read)
God rested. God stopped and reflected on what He had done. One of the reasons why we should rest is we should stop working and take stock of what we have done. Are they good? If we work and work and work, never taking time to rest, and we have to sleep and we fall asleep without thinking because we’re too exhausted. But if we particularly stop our work to rest, we can ask this question and reflect on what we have done as God did; reflect and see whether what we have done is good. How sad it is if we have been working our whole life and when we look back at the end, we realise it’s not good. A regular rest gives us chance to reflect.

The speaker will continue with some thoughts on rest in relation to life in Singapore.

Deut 5:15
The reason why God wanted the Israelites to keep the Sabbath Day was for 2 reasons. (1) To remember God rested after creation, and (2) The Israelites were slaves. The Sabbath was to remind them God had saved them from a life of slavery. It’s important in Singapore today that we are not slaves to our work. One of the speaker’s children said that one of their friends said that she works from 9-5. 9am to 5am. Some people in the audit business have to work through the night. Many people in Singapore are slaves to their work.

There’s an article that says more than half of Singaporeans aren’t getting enough sleep. Do YOU get enough sleep? It’s very important to get sleep. The speaker has checked and it a number of research papers talk about the benefits of sleep. Sleep restores the immune system, balances hormone levels, lowers blood pressure, cleanses toxins from the brain. Normally, some of us would believe these claims IF it’s related to some vitamin or medicine. “If you eat X, it’ll restore the immune system!” And we don’t mind paying money for X to restore our immune system. “If you drink Y, it’ll lower your blood pressure.” Then we’ll pay money and buy Y. But it’s a research result that all these can happen if you just sleep! All these happen to you without having to pay money, or eat something dubious.

Psa 127:2
“It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit in late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep.”
God gives His beloved sleep. The reason why some of us don’t get enough sleep is because we think there’re too many things to do in our life. So we sleep very late. The speaker doesn’t know many people who wake up early but knows many people who sleep late. So this verse half applies to Singaporeans; Singaporeans tend to sleep very late, because there’s so many things to do. We need a little faith, that God will provide for us and that we are loved by God; that He has given us enough time during the day to do what is necessary. And that the same God who has given us enough time to do our work will also give us good sleep. We need a little faith.

Prov 3:23-24 (read)
We need a little wisdom. When we have wisdom from God, these verses says that our sleep will be sweet. When we study for an exam, the last minute study is not the study of the wise. The speaker has known at least two persons who has studied the whole night before their exams, and then when they went to the exam hall, they fainted. Of course they failed the paper. That’s not wise. Also we know that if you study the whole night, you wouldn’t have the energy or alertness to do the paper the next day. So we ask God for a little wisdom to know how to plan our time to study over a period; to do things in a regular way. The speaker’s advice to students just before a major exam, when all the lessons are over and it’s full time study, to do 3-3-3. 3h in the morning. 3h in the afternoon. 3h at night. That’s 9h of studying. It’s a lot! But it’s manageable. Wake up at 7. Relax. Start studying at 8 till 10.30. Take half an hour rest. 11-12.30. Have a nice 1.5h lunch. Start at 2. Another 3h with a half an hour break. At night, another 3h with a half an hour break. Sleep at 11. Wake up at 7. 8h sleep. It should work!

We need a little wisdom. Then our sleep will be sweet.

The speaker has studied many years. But he makes sure he never studies past 12am (at most once or twice). Because after 12 if he’s still studying, his mind will keep running and he can’t sleep. It’ll take him 1-2h to run down and only be able to sleep at 2am. So always start before 12 like around 11 something.

We need a little wisdom.

Prov 6:20-22 (read)
“My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake the law of your mother.”
“When you sleep, they will keep you. When you awake, they will speak with you.”
Listen to our parents. Parents know. They can see when you’re tired. If your parents say, “Go to sleep lah.” You should go to sleep. Because sometimes we don’t understand ourselves. Who cares the most for you? Isn’t it the same mother who says, “Go and study ah!” who also tells you to go to sleep. Wouldn’t she want you to sleep? Ironically, when mother says to go study, you say you know when to study. When mother says to go sleep, you then say you’re going to study.

Our parents love us a lot, and the Bible tells us so. So although these verses have a spiritual meaning in terms of God and the church, it also has a literal meaning. The very simple way to live is to listen to your father and mother, because they really care for you, and know and can see your tiredness.

Eccl 5:12
In Singapore we seldom have people doing hard labour (using their strength). We say we are a smart knowledge and a knowledge economy; we use our brain. This is directly related to why we find it so hard to sleep. If we are physical labourers, firstly, we would be physiologically tired; our muscles will be tired. Secondly, our brain is not complicated, so once we drop on the bed, we sleep. It is good for young people, at least the boys, to go to the army. Has any NS man found it hard to sleep? The speaker has heard some can sleep standing because they’re so tired! Physical action is important.

Sometimes our kids nowadays go for internship and take up a part time job. The speaker did some part time work before going to the university. He worked as a waiter. He also worked as a construction worker, because one church member was a contractor. He worked on the construction site making buildings and steel stuff under the hot sun. Those were the times his appetite and sleep was the best. The speaker recommends trying some hard labour; we can clean the church. Other than that, do some sports. If you find it hard to sleep, incorporate physical work into your daytime routine. You can help your parents clean the house. If you do that, it really is quite tiring, and you have the added pleasure of a nice clean place. If you do sports, you enjoy yourself and you learn to socialise.

Then we take a nice bath early in the night. Don’t take a bath too late in the night just before you sleep. Otherwise you become fresh every though you were tired.

Read a hard copy book, not an ebook. The speaker suggests either the Bible or Les Miserables LOL.

Stretch before you sleep, because sometimes when you lie down you find here and there is painful.

In general, the speaker has quite good sleep. Except that it gets harder as he gets older. Because he has to wake up to go to the toilet. Or neck ache. But over the years after listening to his mother and listening to the Bible, sleep has not been a big problem.

We all need sleep. A lot of problems about sadness and sorrow and difficulties go away if you can sleep well.

Eze 34:23-25
In the Kingdom of God and His Messiah, there will be peace and one can sleep well. The church is the Kingdom of God and His Messiah. When we come to church, we should feel at peace. We should feel relaxed. When we live in the Lord, we should be blessed with sleep. If not, it means we have not really given our lives to God. We should not be too troubled if we are in the Kingdom of God.

There’re many descriptions of the Kingdom of Heaven. One of the oft repeated ideas is that of equality. The rich and the poor, all are the same; that’s in James. And another part of Ezekiel talks about the wolf and the sheep are all equal. The idea is: everybody should have rather the same experience, no matter what your situation is like outside the church. So the person who is using his mind all the time should have as good a sleep as the person working physically.

Does that mean we should always be resting all the time or sleeping in church or in heaven?
1 Thess 4:11
Good ideas and good things complement each other. The rest does not mean laziness. Rest follows from work, for we well know that the sleep of a labouring man is sweet. We cannot interpret it to mean we should sleep all the while. Because we well know if we sleep too much, it’s a terrible feeling. And so we should work. It’s not an irony. It’s just complementary that if we want good sleep, we should work. This work must be meaningful. This is different from toil; meaningless work people do in life. So, we have to work. Then we rest.

That brings us to the Sabbath Day. On the Sabbath Day we’re supposed to rest. But we know we still have to do the work of God. So how do we understand this?

The speaker did some research on how Jews keep the Sabbath Day. They start like us on Friday night. They may have a service on Friday night, or Saturday morning. Seldom both. The speaker quoted a passage: “After lunch, many people are ready for a nap. One of the great luxurious of the observant lifestyle is getting accustomed to a nice long nap on Sabbath afternoons. The rejuvenating powers of this nap cannot be overstated. Others prefer to go for long Sabbath walks by themselves or with friends. Walking around the neighbourhood or the park can be a totally different experienced when there’s no distractions from the phone.” Then they have another service towards the end of the service, on Saturday evening.

The speaker is not saying we should follow what they do because WE are the spiritual Jews. We’ve had Sabbath afternoon service for the longest time, and falling asleep during Sabbath afternoon service is not the same idea. But falling asleep during Sabbath afternoon service is an indication our body is not feeling well. What’s the solution?

“Now, if on Saturday afternoon I’m feeling sleepy and if the speaker is one who speaks well, then probably it is my body that isn’t good. I didn’t get enough rest.”
Otherwise, it could be that the speaker has not prepared enough, or nor relied on God to give a stirring message. For that reason, the Saturday afternoon speaker is a very important speaker. He really must ask God to guide him to speak. So prior to the afternoon service, we must be rested to received the word of God.

Some of us can’t help it because we have duties to do in church, and God appreciates our sacrifice. But as a matter of organisation, we should then take turns to do this sacrifice. Other than that, between lunch and the Sabbath afternoon service, we should relax to get ready for the latter.

There’re these complementary things to think about. Sometimes there’re tensions.

On the Sabbath Day, we should be rested. If any activity we do causes us stress, even though it may be church work, we should reevaluate whether we should be doing that or not. It’s quite tough because sometimes the work needs to be done. But it’s causing you stress. And on the Sabbath, you’re not supposed to be stressed. On that basis, we have to consider: “How am I going to do this work? Can I reevaluate? Can it be done some time else?”

If you do church work with hope, that’s good. But if doing church work causes us depression, it’s the same sort of tension. Doing church work is good but it results in an opposing outcome. That we should reevaluate.

We know when Peter was out in prison by Herod, he was sleeping when the angel came. A person working for God is at peace. On the other hand, if we turn to 2 Cor 11, we know that Paul was often sleepless. So we reevaluate. Why was Paul sleepless? Was it because his conscience was bad? No it was probably because he was deprived of sleep, he was being chased by people, tortured or working for God. So if your sleeplessness is cps you have to do something, it’s different from you cannot sleep. You have to do it. Then we ask God for strength.

There’re many things to do in church on the Sabbath Day. All of us would probably prefer to sit down and do nothing. But if we have been given strength by God to do what needs to be done, we have to do it. For the rest of us and all those working for us, it’s meant to be a time of rest. For young people especially, if you want to work for God, take a good rest on the Sabbath (unless you have to teach RE). Come to church on Sunday to work for God. May God guide us. Rest, for this is one of the 10 commandments.

171: The Church Has One Foundation
The final rest will be in the Kingdom of God when Christ comes again. Before that, the church has great work to do. And yet the tension is that much of this work is done on the Sabbath Day. Because we’re trying to save lives. How do we resolve and revaluation this tension? In general, most of us who come to church on the Sabbath should feel relaxed. We should be happy to come. We should find peace and encouragement. We should all take turns to do the work to make this all happen. If anyone of us feels stressed working for God, we should reevaluate our work. We must find peace in God. If necessary, we should stop for a while, because God wants us to be at peace while working for Him. We pray God will give us a good Sabbath, and that we can encourage one another.