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Sep 22, 2024

God Our Rest

God Our Rest

Passage: Psalms 62:1-12

Speaker: Andrew Shank

Series: 2024 Practicing the Way of Jesus

Keywords: trust, hope, rest, silence, fortress, rock and salvation, pour your heart out to him

CENTRAL TEXT: Psalm 62

1 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

3 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.

6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

7 On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

9 Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.

10 Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

11 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,

12 and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

 

PRE SERVICE TEXT:  Psalm 62:1

1 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.

 

PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP: Matthew 11:28-30

LEADER: Hear now Jesus’ invitation to us all: Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

ALL: Hallelujah! Jesus, we rest in you.

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: Heidelberg Catechism, Q & A 1

LEADER: What is your only comfort in life and in death?

ALL: That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;
In fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

 

BENEDICTION: Romans 15:13

LEADER: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

POST SERVICE: Psalm 62:5-6

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation,  my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

  1. What do you find most restful and restorative? 
  2. Where do you feel most weary? Physically, relationally, emotionally, spiritually?
  3. Assuming you’re tired (most of us are…), spend some time examining the sources of that fatigue. Is it good tired? Sin tired? A combination of both?
    1. How are the lies of “I can do it all” and “I must do it all” contributing to your tiredness?
    2. How can you combat those lies in the midst of fatigue?
  4. What does it look like to rest in God? What would be different about your Monday morning or your Thursday afternoon, your interior thought life or your relationships, if you were resting in God?
  5. How do we get there?

 

QUOTES  

  • “In the late modern world, it’s common to see humanity as something to be crafted, a project awaiting creation. Our creatureliness gets sidelined, replaced by a “you can be anything you want” approach to life, set against the narrative backdrop of resisting outward conformity to some other standard of life. You must define yourself, goes the idea, even when it’s in opposition to whatever the past, your family, your society, or (increasingly) your biology says you are.…Today’s crisis is every bit as volatile and destructive as the Gnosticism faced by the ancient church. The Gnostics claimed that what matters most about us is a divine spark, a spirit inside that one day will be released from the human body. They insisted the “real you” was imprisoned in this world of matter and the “spirit” mattered more than the body. Writers like Valentinus described the encounter with God in the heart, the reception of “secret knowledge of the divine,” as the source of truth and wisdom.  Against them stood church fathers such as Irenaeus who defended the goodness of the body. He refused to narrow the truth, to choose “spirit” over “matter,” or “soul” over “body.” Christianity holds together what Gnosticism would separate.”
    - Trevin Wax, “Today's Defining Question:  What is a Human?”  (The Gospel Coalition post October 2023)

  • “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
    - St. Augustine

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