
Chase Radford
Jan 16, 2025
*All Scripture is from ESV unless noted otherwise.
Genesis 1:31–2:3 (NRSV; condensed)
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. ... And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested... So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
That's where sabbath began via God's eternal decree of a day of stopping and celebrating Him and the life He created for us.
Word Study: Sabbath


The Hebrew word(s) translated to sabbath literally means to stop, to cease (labor), to rest, to celebrate — which the Greek word is a transliteration of and carries the same definition.
Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Word Study: Flesh

Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
This is what John Piper calls "the sweetest invitiation."
It's also a call to examine the burdens and yokes we have allowed to be placed on us, or placed on ourselves.
“Jesus is not glorified or seen as beautiful or desirable if his followers are exhausted and stressed and worn out in the exact same way of the world — he's just not. […] A restful spirit is spiritual warfare in a culture of exhaustion. And so we have to learn how to live in the rhythm of rest. We do this by examining the yoke on our life.” — Jon Tyson
I want to focus on these three gods of our age, what I believe are the three most prominent sources of yokes in our day:
Accomplishment
Accumulation
Amusement.
Accomplishment
Accomplishment, like anything, can be distorted into a burdensome yoke that leads people away from the presence of God, and becomes a form of worship to the god of self.
GotQuestions.org writes:
"The god of self arises in us when we think we know better than God. We disagree with His Word and elevate our own opinion above His... The god of self is very much active within the church today. Self-help, self-esteem, self-love, and self-fulfillment are topics once left to secular psychologists. Now they are regular themes in mainline Christianity. The awesome, holy God described in Scripture as a “consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29) and who will “smite the nations with the sword of His mouth” (Revelation 19:15) is considered important only inasmuch as He validates our worth or makes us feel good about ourselves. The god of self will gladly worship a God of love but resists learning about His other qualities because those will dethrone self."
Accumulation
We aren't as a society only obsessed with ourselves. We are obsessed with our networks, our money and our stuff.
Matt. 6:19-21
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matt. 6:2-4
"...when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." [rewards; treasures in heaven]
2 Cor. 8:1-5
"We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us."
Amusement
In 1985, Neil Postman wrote a groundbreaking polemic titled, Amusing Ourselves to Death. It's about the corrosive effects of television and couldn't ring more true 40 years later.
A Call to Consecration + Rest in Christ
Accomplishment, accumulation, and amusement satisfy the flesh but leave the soul empty, leading to what John Piper calls a "malaise of the soul." These false gods, often elevated as sacred even by believers, become strongholds that hinder a consecrated life set apart for God's glory. True worship belongs to God, not to the idols of work, entertainment, or possessions — a truth Jesus addressed when teaching us the Lord's prayer, to hallow God’s name above all.