Rest for the Weary

Mark 6:31 ~ "And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.' For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat."

In obedience to the Lord, the Apostles went out and preached the message of repentance and did the work according to the instructions of Jesus (see Mark 6:7-13). It was long, laborious work bringing the gospel to the villages in the surrounding countryside. Some villages would receive them--others would reject them. They had no resources to sustain them and had to rely on the provision God would supply as they went. 

Weary from their travels and their labors, the Apostles returned and reported to Jesus all that they had done and taught (see Mark 6:30). But the work still surrounded them. People continued to press their way to Jesus and the Apostles without end. Despite this, Jesus pulled away His men and isolated them away from the work.

And this is the first thing I want you to see today--the work will never end. 

It can be an exhausting experience to continually press into the work. There are labors and strivings that all of God's people are commissioned to step into, and faithfulness requires that we are willing to spend ourselves for Christ. It is always a labor of love. The Apostles loved the Lord Jesus and in obedience to His command, they went into the surrounding land and preach the gospel. They were willing to lay their lives down for Him, as testified by Thomas in John 11:16, "So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, 'Let us also go, that we may die with him.'"

My friends, you will be provided opportunities to labor for the Lord. Ephesians 2:10 clearly teaches this, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." We are to walk in the good works that the Lord has placed before us. And, hard work is a testimony of the heart--for the Scriptures condemn the lazy, "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied" (Proverbs 13:4). And we know that there is an eternal rest for those who labor unto Christ. Revelation 14:13 illuminates this for us, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Blessed indeed,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!'"

But in the endless stream of effort, the Lord Jesus pulled away His disciples to find a time to rest. And this is the second thing I want you to see today--there is a need to rest from the exertion, to find a time of peace to recover from the exhaustion of work.

The work hadn't ended. The people were still gathering around as the Apostles returned to the Lord to report all that happened. But Jesus left the crowd behind and isolated His disciples away from them so that they could find a time of recovery. And in that desolate place, the Apostles could find time to relax and shed the stress and pressures of their experiences.

Are you overburdened with the exhaustion of effort in serving the Lord? You see the work around you and think that unless you continue to strive it will remain undone. So, with a tenacity of determination, you tap every ounce of strength until you suffer total, mental, physical and spiritual collapse. Jesus saw that His disciples had no leisure to even eat a meal and led them away from the crowd. Your desire to press beyond your strength in your service of the Lord may seem noble, but Jesus would lead you away for a moment to find time to rest.

Fear not, the Lord will bring you back into the work. The Apostles' task had not ended. They would go and preach even more, work even harder and strive in the Lord's service until their dying day. And when you have taken the necessary rest from your weariness, then step back into the work and strive again.

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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