Reclaiming Rest in the Christian Life
“Worship Through Rest” / Pastor Chris Zauner / 11.16.2025
Many of us know how to stop working, but very few of us know how to stop striving. We take days off and somehow never feel off. We pause our schedules but not our souls. Even when our bodies are still, something inside us keeps running. Scripture tells a different story—a story where rest doesn’t begin with exhaustion but with completion. In creation, God rests not because He is depleted but because His work is finished (Genesis 2:2–3). Rest appears in the very first chapter of human history as worship, delight, and freedom. Real rest doesn’t start with us. It starts with God.
Rest Rooted in Creation
Long before commandments or cultural expectations, rest entered the world as part of God’s design. Genesis describes God stepping back from His work the way an artist steps back from a completed masterpiece. He blesses the seventh day, calls it holy, and invites humanity into a rhythm grounded in His sufficiency. Rest was never meant to be an escape from reality; it was meant to be an enjoyment of what God has already done. Every time we rest, we acknowledge something profound: we are not God. We are not the ones holding the world together or sustaining our own lives. We can stop because God never does. This posture—trust—is at the heart of true rest.
Rest in the Covenant Story
When God forms Israel, He gives shape to a rhythm that had existed since creation. Sabbath becomes more than a pattern—it becomes identity. The command is anchored in two truths: God created His people (Exodus 20:8–11), and God redeemed them (Deuteronomy 5:15). Sabbath invited Israel to remember the One who formed them from the dust and rescued them from slavery. It wasn’t merely about ceasing work; it was about celebrating freedom. Rest was never about what you stop doing. It was about who set you free.
After four centuries of forced labor, God was teaching His people to stop living like slaves and to practice trust instead of fear. Rest became an act of resistance against hurry, self-reliance, and the belief that everything depends on us.
Rest Reframed by Jesus
By the time Jesus enters the story, Sabbath has become tangled in rules and weighed down by fear. What God intended as a gift had become a burden. Jesus cuts through all of it with clarity and compassion. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), restoring the heart of what God intended. He doesn’t reject the Sabbath; He reorients it.
Jesus declares Himself Lord of the Sabbath, meaning that rest is no longer tied to a calendar but to a person. Rest is no longer tied to a rule. Rest is tied to a relationship. Through Jesus, rest becomes something we receive, not something we earn.
Rest Redefined for Disciples
As the early church grew, some believers drifted back toward rule-keeping, treating Sabbath as a requirement for righteousness. Paul responded firmly, not dismissing rest but dismantling the belief that observance could make anyone right with God. He warns the Galatians not to return to “the weak and worthless elementary principles” (Galatians 4:9–10) and reminds the Colossians that Sabbath was always a shadow pointing forward to Christ (Colossians 2:16–17). Sabbath was a shadow, but Christ is the substance.
We no longer practice rest to win God’s approval; we rest because we already have it. In Jesus, rest becomes worship: an expression of trust in the One who carries what we cannot.
The Rest That Sets Us Free
Rest isn’t a rule we keep. It’s a relationship we live in. It reorients us, recenters us, and reminds us whose strength sustains our lives. True rest is not about escaping your world; it is about remembering who is Lord over it. When we surrender our striving—even briefly—we discover the kind of rest Jesus promised: “You will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28–30).
This is the truth about real rest: it was always leading us to Him.