Elephant in the Room: Striving to Rest 
Rev. Scott Mitchell

God intends to change you by His Word. How is He at work in you to do that?  Read the following passage and consider these questions. 

READ

Exodus 20:8-11 (ESV)
[8] "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. [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."

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (ESV)
[12] "'Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. [13] Six days you shall labor and do all your work, [14] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. [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.

Hebrews 4:9-11 (ESV)
[9] So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, [10] for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. [11] Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 

QUESTIONS (40 minutes)

Main point: God created us to rest in Him in both body and soul.

1. We are calling this series, “Elephant in the Room” because many families have something that they need to talk about, something that affects many areas of family life.  What is one issue that might be an “elephant” in your family?

2. Scott shared his own story of rest.  When did you first encounter your need to rest?

3. Read Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15.  How is the fourth commandments different in the retelling of the law in Deuteronomy 5?  What is the significance of Deuteronomy 5:15?

4. Scott mentioned three reasons why we don’t rest: 1) we try to meet an elusive standard (Mark 2:24, 28); 2) we satiate our loneliness; 3) we think our work validates our existence (Mark 3:2).   To which of these do you most relate?  What has the result been in your own life?

5. Read Hebrew 4:9-11. What are some practical things we can do to plan for rest?  How does the goods news that Jesus is our True Rest motivate us to make Sabbath rhythms a more consistent part of our lives?

6. The meditation on the front of the bulletin said: "The Chinese join two characters to form a single pictograph for busyness: heart and killing. That is stunningly incisive. The heart is the place the busy life exacts its steepest toll." (Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath). In what way is your busyness killing your heart? What can you do practically to prevent this from happening?

PRAYER (10 minutes) 

Personal Response: Pray together that we would rest, both in body and in soul, in Jesus. Pray that we would encourage each other in this and that we would be lovingly bold enough to challenge one another to rest.