Sermon Quotes: "Leisure"
August 30, 2016 by C.J. Mahaney
Category: Resources | C.J. Mahaney, Ordinary, Genesis, Leisure
“We were not made, nor are we redeemed, to live without leisure.” J.I. Packer
“The Biblical idea of a rhythm in life supports the view of leisure as non-work time or activity that refreshes and restores.” Paul Heintzman
“A divine generosity that requires leisure for its appreciation (1 Timothy 6:17).” J.I. Packer
“The same pleasant experience-eating, drinking, making love, listening to music, painting, playing games, or whatever-will be good or bad, holy or unholy, depending on how it is handled. In the order of creation, pleasures as such are meant to serve as pointers to God. Pleasure is divinely designed to raise our sense of God’s goodness, deepen our gratitude to him, and strengthen our hope as Christians looking forward to the richer pleasures in the world to come…God forbid that paying attention to questions about leisure should have the effect of promoting in the church a worldliness like that of the modern West.” J.I. Packer
“Our leisure, even our play, is a matter of serious concern. There is no neutral ground in the universe, every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan…It is a serious matter to choose wholesome recreation.” C.S. Lewis
“What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. Anything can be an idol, and everything has been an idol. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life. If anything becomes more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning in life, and identity than it is an idol.” Tim Keller
“Gratitude exclaims, very properly, ‘How good of God to give me this.’ Adorations says, ‘What must be the quality of that Being who far-off and momentary coruscations are like this!’” C.S. Lewis
“The enjoyment is incomplete and somehow seems stolen until it expresses itself in gratitude to God.” Leland Ryken
“Rest, then, becomes our regular dramatization of the heart of the gospel. ‘To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith will be counted as righteousness (Romans 4:5).’ We can put down our tools. We can close our computers. We can forbid those thoughts about that next meeting or those e-mails waiting for a reply or how the numbers aren’t as high as we’d like. We can stop and trust him who justifies the ungodly. We can trust that when Jesus died in our place on the cross, he died to destroy all the anxieties of our lack, to still our ceaseless striving, to hush the winds of our self-justifying labor, to irrevocably connect us to the abundance of his grace we possess by his work, not ours.” Jonathan Parnell
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