Happy Labor Day! As you celebrate our country’s acknowledgement of the goodness of work, and a well deserved rest, we hope the following resources are encouraging to your faith!
The Purpose Of Labor And Rest
What’s the point of labor and rest? Asking this question is like asking, “What’s the point of breathing?” Like breathing, the cycle of labor and rest is essential to life, embedded in the created order, ceases at death, and begins again for all believers after our resurrection to eternal life. The whole of life is taken up with the rhythm of labor and rest. We labor and rest each day, each week, each year, and each season of life. This is no accident…
Have you found the purpose in your labor and the meaning in your rest? If not, hear again the pleading words of Jesus, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
Continue reading “Purpose of Labor and Rest” at Ligonier Ministries→
3 Reasons We Labor And Rest
It’s wise to periodically pause and refresh ourselves on why we do what we do.
For those of us taking a break from our labors on this Labor Day (ironic, as it may be), here’s a triad of encouragements from the apostle Paul to remind Christians why we labor.
1. We labor to not be a burden to others.
2. We labor to provide for others…
Find the third reason of “3 Reasons” at Desiring God→
Restful Words for Labor Day
I recited Psalm 23 to myself in German hundreds of times riding on my three-speed bicycle between our flat at Preysingstrasse 22 and the Ludwig-Maximillians University in Munich where I studied from 1971–74. I can remember, in those last months as the tension built before my final oral exams, riding home in the evening through the grassy English Gardens along the quiet banks of the Isar and saying, “He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me by still waters.”
The reason I recited the psalm to myself again and again day after day was not merely to improve my German but mainly because it seemed that with this passage of Scripture, more than any other, to recite it was also to experience its reality… These are the words that gives rest.
Understand Psalm 23 for rest from John Piper→
Don’t forget previous articles we’ve put up before, like last year’s “Labor Day in Honor of Christ,” which provide so many resources! Make this holiday – and every day! – count for the glory of Jesus!
This Sunday we have a wonderful opportunity to benefit from the unity we have with brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world and in another country – India! Because of our “one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism” unity (Ephesians 4:4 – 5), we rejoice, weep, and worship with Christian brethren no matter where they are from if we are united in the truth of Jesus!
We will be using the following songs and passages from the Word of God in our corporate gathering this Lord’s Day. Please prayerfully use these resources to prepare your hearts to “come into His gates with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).
We highlighted 
On June 11th, a man armed for death went into Pulse, a gay dance club, and killed fifty people, injuring scores more. In the aftermath, Americans reeled from the loss, inciting debates regarding terror, the LGBTQ community, gun control, and community violence. How should Christians respond to this violence? How should we treat the survivors and families of the victims? Many of these questions swirl around us in a bewildering fog.
Zion Evangelical & Reformed Church 