Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 25, 1996
Jeremiah 31:23-34
RECREATION OR RE-CREATION?
I. The joy (and hassle) of vacations.
A. Our whirlwind vacation.
1) Visiting relatives in Pepperell, Mass.
2) Hiking 14 miles up White Mountains with Josiah.
3) Swimming in lake at Maine cabin.
4) More swimming in Pepperell, Mass.
B. Many away this week.
1) Mino's on their way to Alaska.
2) Most are stuffing their faces with fudge on the Jersey shore.
3) Ironic - or deliberate - that Labor Day is next week?
II. Work versus leisure?
A. Christians are told to deny themselves, and leisure seems like
self-indulgence.
1) I have known Christians who have never taken a vacation,
and are proud of it.
2) Too harsh a work ethic?
a) A rich leisure life depends on having a healthy
work life.
b) The work ethic is not our foe.
B. In Bible, work and leisure go together.
1) God models the balance between work and leisure. Gen 2:2-3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had
been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all
his work.
And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it he rested from all the work of creating
that he had done. (also Exodus 31:17)
2) Fourth Commandment tells people to work, then rest.
a) Both work and rest are commands.
1> Goes beyond the Sabbath rules.
b) Rest was part of a daily, weekly, yearly, and lifetime
rhythm.
3) Jesus confirms this, and found times of retreat. Mark 6:30-32
"The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him
all they had done and taught.
Then, because so many people were coming and going that
they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them,
'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some
rest.'
So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary
place."
a) Others who met God and were refreshed in a solitary
place: Moses, Jacob, Elijah.
b) "Getting away from it all" can be a good way to meet
God.
III. Self-denial versus enjoyment.
A. Leisure seems to promote self-indulgence.
1) But and self-denial is only one side of coin.
2) In God's plan, work is complemented by leisure & pleasure.
B. Godly hedonism in Ecclesiastes.
1) Pleasure in and of itself is bad, but in God
it is a good thing.
2) Take pleasure in your toil. Eccl 3:13
3) Enjoy wealth. Eccl 5:19
C. Jesus knew how to have a good time.
1) He partied and was accused of being a drunk. Luke 7:34
2) Christians are given riches to enjoy. 1 Tim 6:17
IV. The stewardship of leisure.
A. As stewards we should strive to be all that God wants us to be
in our leisure as well as in our work and worship.
1) Our goal is to have a thoroughly Christian lifestyle.
B. Make leisure activities a matter of conscious choice
instead of drifting aimlessly.
1) On this vacation, my goal was to conquer a mountain.
At last minute, Celeste didn't want to do it.
Our gear was ready, we were there, and she got
cold feet.
She said I would have a heart attack, and she'd have
to drag my remains down the mountain.
I insisted, and we had a great time.
And I have survived to tell you about it.
2) Don't fritter your time, invest it.
Several studies have compared the way Americans spend
their time now to the way they spent it 30 years ago.
They have found that, on average, people today have
one more free hour a day.
Geoffrey Godbey, a Pennsylvania State Univ. expert on
leisure time, says:
"The irony is that people say they have no time and
then watch three to four hours of TV a day."
C. Our individual identity stems partly from what we do in our
leisure time.
1) In planning funerals, leisure activities often define
what a person was really like.
2) What do your leisure activities reveal about you?
V. We need more than a change of scenery.
A. Caribbean cruises won't save you.
1) Find contentment in your life here and now.
2) We shouldn't need to run away to be fulfilled.
B. We need re-creation more than recreation. 2 Cor 5:17
1) The Bible says we have to be re-made by God.
a) Jesus is speaking of this when he says we must be
born again.
2) It is not a fine-tuning but a new work of God.
a) If this miracle has not happened in us, we are not a
real Christian.
C. We also need ongoing spiritual renewal.
1) It is more refreshing, and important, than a vacation.
2) Hudson Taylor was an innovative missionary to China in the
1800's.
His greatest spiritual lesson was that holiness does not
come by striving, but by resting in God.
Taylor's greatest desire was to be holy.
As he put it, "I long for more holiness, life, power in our
souls," both for himself and for the mission.
The more he pursued God, the greater peace he felt in his
life.
#1260
D. God's future vacation for us. Jer 31:23-32
1) Jeremiah wrote during the darkest days of Israel.
a) They were about to take a 70 year vacation - the Exile.
b) Many had given up their faith in God.
2) In the midst of this doom, Jeremiah had a dream about
the rest that God would give them.
a) In the end, they would be refreshed, secure and
prosperous.
b) When we are feeling overwhelmed, God can do the same
for us.
