Invitation to Rest
Speaker: Pastor Pierre
Read: Matthew 6:24, 11:28-30; Philippians 2:12b-13
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What resonated with you as you listened to this sermon and reviewed it?
2. Share a time when someone extended an invitation to you. What did it feel like to be invited? Did you accept? Decline? Or accept but did not fully participate? Why?
3. It was said that we are either running towards what we want most in life or running from what we want to avoid. What, if anything, are you running towards? What, if anything, are you running from?
4. Read Philippians 2:12-13. What does it mean to you to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling?” What role do you think God plays in this process?
5. Why do you think we are always desiring “more?” How do you think “desire” is a danger to our practice of rest?
6. Virtue was defined as behavior and motive showing high moral Standards and goodness. Vice was defined as a shadow side often blinded, and enmeshed in personal gain and agenda. It was said that desire clothes itself in virtue, but always has a shadow of vice. What does this mean to you?
7. Read Matthew 11: 28-30. How would you explain the kind of rest that Jesus is inviting us to in this Scripture?
SERMON RECAP
When we receive an invitation, it is a formal request offered by someone who seeks our presence at an event they have planned and envisioned to make us feel welcome. By our own free will, we can choose to accept or decline the invitation. In some instances, we might also accept the invitation, but not fully participate in what has been planned. Throughout Scripture God extends many invitations to us. Every one of them is designed to spiritually transform us for our good. Though we may be motivated by the information in Scripture, to receive the full benefit of God’s invitations we must choose not only to accept them, but to participate by working them out. One of God’s invitations includes the offer of the practice of rest. He knows that our lives can be tiring, causing us to be weary, worn out and burdened. In rest, He invites us to a life that is free from a perpetual state of restlessness, depletion and dissatisfaction. Instead, He offers a life of peace and contentment. But often desire stands in the way and becomes the motivation that shapes our choices, decisions and priorities in life. Such desires could be material emotional, intellectual or for achievement. The danger is that unchecked desire that runs our lives will keep us in a constant tension between having enough and striving for more. This will impact our ability to rest and will eventually cost us everything. We are challenged to understand the practice of rest and learn how to accept and participate in God’s invitation of it.
