The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Stop!

Episode Date: December 13, 2020

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:28-30

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Good? You look good. If you got your Bibles, I hope you do. We're going to be in Genesis chapter one, even if you're brand new to Bible study, you can find this one. It's all the way, like it's the very start of the thing, okay? Hey, we are in week two of this four-week series called How to Christmas, because I don't know they were doing it well.

And last week we talked about money, and I need to let you know that so far one weekend, Church of 1122, you are crushing it. I mean, absolutely crushing it. I told you last week. Not that this is a competition, but before last week we were 600 child sponsorships with Compassion International behind first place. And first place was held by some church in Sacramento, California. I mean, give me a rate. California, really? Okay.

So, but you, we together sponsored last week 1,586 children were released from poverty in Jesus' name. So that puts us in first by about a thousand kids. So take that Sacramento. Now, if you weren't here last week and you want to sponsor a kid, you still can. It costs $38 a month. You text the word sponsor to $8339. Those of you watching online, if you didn't get a chance to do it, you can still do that. Sponsor a kid by texting sponsor to $8339.

And so, way to go. Also, I just want to point this out. This is more for people listening online, okay? We have a lot of pastors that check out what's happened in 11,000. 22 to kind of see what the secret sauce is or whatever. And not only did we sponsor 500 plus kids, which puts us in over 13,000 sponsored kids right now, but it was also one of our biggest giving weekends ever that last weekend that when we brought our first and our best, our ties and our offerings, it was 70% higher than the same weekend last year. And I don't know

if you know this, there was not a global pandemic going on last year. And here's why I bring this up, because there's a bunch of pastors watching. right now and you're too afraid to do compassion because you're afraid of what's going to happen in the money at your church. Well, guess what, bro? It ain't your money, okay? And how many of you know you can't outgive God? And I really believe that generosity but gets generosity. And I think a big part of the reason that we've exceeded our one initiative and it's going so well is because of some decisions we made a long time ago to not make it about us, make it all about Jesus. And not only are we a movement for all people to discover and deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ, but we partnered with

Compassion International to rescue children from poverty in Jesus' name. And I think God's blessing is upon it. Amen? Next year, I'm calling out my friends by name. I've decided. Okay, anyway. All right, so last week, you're crushing it. You're absolutely crushing it. Way to go. This week, you're an utter failure, and you should be ashamed of yourself. And the reason I know this to be true, because I am too, man. This week we're going to talk about time. Time. Because again, if we're going to look at how to Christmas, things that I think we get really wrong is the way we spend our time. How many of you feel busy? Anybody feel busy? Come on. Raise your hand. Testify people. All right. In fact, think about it. We are so accustomed to being busy that in our country, that is like a normal greeting in your

life. Like, hey, bro, how you doing? And you will say, stay in busy. In fact, sometimes I even skip to how you doing and just say, you stay in busy. And if you were to say to me, no. No, I live in rhythm and my life is really slowed down. I would go, are you okay? Do I need to pray for you? Did you get the COVID? What is happening to you? I mean, in our culture, fast is good.

Slow is bad. And then in this season, think about this. You know, the whole Christmas season, we're supposed to celebrate the Prince of Peace. And often the way we celebrate the Prince of Peace is by turning up the busy. With the parties and the presents and the traditions, and all of these things, when I ask you, are you busy, if you say, yes, I'm very, very busy, and I would say, well, why do you feel busy?

And you would say, well, I have a lot to do. I would say to you, who told you that? Who told you you had to do all these things? You see, what if this Christmas was different? Because maybe we're not doing Christmas right. Now, there is a difference between busy and hurry. Busy is kind of an external thing. Busy's a calendar thing.

You can have a busy day. that's not a problem. But hurry is like a soul thing. And it is virtually impossible to walk in rhythm with Jesus Christ and have a hurried soul. So when we are as jacked up as we are in our country in regards to busyness and hurriedness, I think we've got to go all the way back to the beginning to the beginning to see what God's initial design for us was. Now, all of you type A driven people, I've got a couple of things to tell you. First of all, as I preach this message, I'm going to a total hypocrite. I don't do a very good job at this. But I think the moment you admit your hypocrisy, you're no longer a hypocrite. So pray for me, all right? So my job is to teach today a very compelling

God-inspired from the Bible message of what you should do, and then I'm going to re-listen to me on Tuesday and begin to apply it to my own life, all right? So we're just going to admit that we've all got some issues. And this is not the slow-down message. I'm not going to encourage you, just slow down and get some Birkenstocks and some poetry and don't do much. That's not, I don't think that's in the Bible. The word Sabbath does not mean slow down. The word Sabbath means stop. I think we're supposed to work really hard, accomplish a whole lot. I mean, we've got the great commission to accomplish, but we are to live in the rhythm with God. So we're supposed to work, work, work, work, work, work, stop. Sabbath, refuel, reconnect, and then get back to work. That's what we're going to talk about.

Genesis chapter 1. Because what I want to do is, It's not just look at your calendar, because I don't think it's just a calendar problem. Because I know what some of you are saying, of course, Pastor, you can tell us all to Sabbath, but I have a real job. I work in the real world. I don't work at church. Well, all you do is, like, work a half a day a week, and then what do y'all do the rest of the week? Just pray?

And the answer is yes. We pray for you, you a bunch of sinners. And if you quit sinning so much, we could get some stuff done. Do you understand what I'm saying? So, now, trust me, I have lots to do, too, I promise. But when you really get underneath the why you feel hurried at the soul level, what's really going on there? Is it greed? Is it insecurity?

Is it people pleasing? Is it ego? You see, because for me, what it is deep down in there, what it is for me, it's ultimately it's idolatry. Because I can begin to believe that somehow the almighty sovereign king of the universe is depending on me to do what he wants to do in Jacksonville. That's sick, isn't it? I was talking to a friend of mine. I've shared this with you 100 times, but I was talking to a friend of mine, you know, and Matt Chandler, he's a pastor in Texas, and he's been a lead pastor for about 10 years longer

than I have, and we were just talking about kind of the pressures of our vocation, yada, yada, yada. And I was sharing with him just kind of about my schedule, and he said, bro, what are you afraid of? What is driving this? And I said, look, Matt, God's doing incredible things in our church, and I don't want to be the limiting factor. And then I said these words, I just don't want to let God down. to which Matt responded, bro, you're not holding him up. So I hung up on him and didn't talk to him for a year, okay?

Because nobody wants to hear that kind of truth. So that's what I want you to do. Not just look at your calendar, though you will need to do that, but look deep down in here and say, what is wrong with me that I am living out of rhythm for the way God created me to live? Genesis chapter 1, I want you to see God's original intention for us. In the beginning, okay, so this is the original plan.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning the first day. And God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters. And let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse.

And it was so. And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and it was morning the second day. And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place. And let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth. And the waters that were gathered together, he called seas.

and God saw that it was good. Verse 11, and God said, let the earth sprout vegetation, plants, yielding seed, and fruit trees, bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth, and it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its own kind. And God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning the third day. Do you see the rhythm of creation here? Over and over and over, you see the same rhythm.

God says, there is, it's good evening, morning, the next day. And then he does it again, and he does it again, and he does it again. For six days, he is going to do this. Now, one question I have is this. Why does God take six days to create it all? Do you ever think about this? Why, and if you're new to Bible study, you don't get hung up on the six-day part. That's not the point of what we're talking about today.

in the world, if God is the almighty, all-powerful, not bound by time, creator of everything, why does he just speak it in one word? Why does he take a week? Because I don't know about you. Everything I try to do, everything I try to get done, I try to get it done now, immediately. And yet God takes six days, and we found out from Pastor Cam in 2nd Peter a few weeks ago, that with God, a day could be like a thousand years and a thousand years could be like a day. and yet God decides to take his time to create everything there is. You ever notice that God has never, ever, ever been in a hurry, and yet, why am I always in a hurry? And what he's going to do, I want you to see the rhythm here.

In the first three days, God creates an environment, three different environments. On day one, he creates light and dark. On day two, he creates sky and water. and on day three he creates land and vegetation, these three environments. And then in the subsequent days, what God is going to do is now he is going to fill those environments on days four, five, and six that he created on days one, two, and three. There is this rhythm to his creation. He says it, it happens, he says it's good, there's evening, there's morning, the next day.

He creates three environments, day one, two, three, and then day four, five, and six, he fills up those environments. maybe this is why rhythm matters to us so much. I mean, think about it. Even people that aren't like God people, if they go out and sit on the beach and just shut up long enough and watch the rhythm of the waves come in, something begins to happen like at the heart and soul level, does it not?

Maybe this is why we love the change of seasons. Well, I mean, not so much here in Jacksonville. We have two seasons. We have summer and January. But except sometimes some days, some days, like this week, you get all four in one day. right you wake up it's winter it's spring in the morning it's summertime by two and then it's the fall by the time you go to bed so that's that's cool maybe this is why a mother's heartbeat

matters so much to a baby because we were created to live in this rhythm with god you ever notice how music can do something to your soul maybe because there is this there's this series of play and don't play like on a drum you hit and then you rest and god has created us to live in that of way. In fact, maybe one of the reasons music is such a big deal in worship to God is because there's something about the rhythm of music and the rhythm of our heart that lines up with the rhythm that God created us to live in. And there are some songs that can get to places in your soul that mere words can't get to. And it seems that most of us are living out of rhythm from the way God has created us to live. You see, it's noticeable. It's noticeable. Now look what he's going to do in the next

three days. He's going to fill up the environments that he created in the first three. And God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights. The greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth to rule the light.

over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning the fourth day. And God said, let the waters swarm and swarms of living creatures

and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. And so God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarm according to their kind. This means God created the redfish and the trout and the red snapper and the grouper. Can I get a witness?

Okay? According to their kinds. And every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And he created the dove and the pheasant and the turkey and all these birds that we love. And God bless them saying, be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let the birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning the fifth day. Verse 24, and God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds. Livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And God made the beast of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind.

And God gave us the white-tailed deer and the bugling elk. And God gave us horses and cows and dogs. I'm pretty sure cats were post-fall. I'm pretty sure I'm not 100% But if you had to pin me down, that's what I'd say Result of the devil but anyway And God saw that it was good So God creates these environments and then he fills these environments in rhythm

Not instantaneously but in rhythm And then you get to the crown of his creation Verse 26 Then God said let us make man That's like mankind in our image After our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. Then we find out in chapter 2, verses 7. By the way, if you look at the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2, they are not two different creation accounts. It is one creation account from two different perspectives. The chapter 1, it just represents the heart of God. who is sovereign king and creator of the universe.

It's like the 30,000 foot view. And then chapter two is super close because, yes, he's the sovereign king of the universe, but he's also your father and he's as close as your next breath. It's like the up close and personal view. And in chapter 2, verse 7, it says this, then the Lord God formed the man of dust of the ground. So he created this environment, and then in that same moment, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,

the ruah of life, and the man became a living creature. That the man is the only thing that he created that was like him. It's the only environment that he filled instantaneously, and the man did not have to wait. And when he opens his eyes, he is face to face with his heavenly father, and that's what every single one of us were created for. And God blessed them. And God said to them, now God is going to give commandments. And this list of commandments that he gives is called the cultural mandate.

You think your Christmas to-do list is busy. Check out Adam and Eve's to-do list. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth. And every tree with seed and its fruit, you shall have them for food. and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth,

everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food, and it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good, and there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day. So so far, God creates everything that is. He evaluates it, and he says, this is good, but when he creates his image bearers filled with the breath of life, for the Spirit of God. He says, this is very good. And then he gives them a list of things to do.

Now, listen, if you're new to Bible study and you think God is into a bunch of rules, that is not the case. That was not his original intention. In fact, there was only one don't in the Garden of Eden. It'll come in the next chapter. He says, whatever you do, don't eat from that tree because it'll kill you. There's a whole bunch of dues. There's a whole bunch of thou shouts.

In fact, look at the very first commandment, be fruitful and multiply. I can tell you don't know what that means. because in Hebrew, that means bow, chica, wow, wow. That's what that means. Now, if you don't, if you didn't read the rest of it, okay? I mean, you think you're busy? You think you've got stuff to do? Because you've got presents to buy and cakes to bake and blah, blah, blah, parties to go to.

All right, how about Adam and Eve? They are just created, you know, they open their eyes and here they are. And there is the untamed creation. And God says, here's your job. Fill it up with kids and subdue it and cultivate it. and I want you to rearrange the raw goods that I haven't given you for human flourishing. I mean, I've got to build houses and, you know, get gas stations going, all of these things. They've got plenty to do.

And if you didn't know what was happening next, you would think they would say, well, we better get to work right now. Because we have so much to do. And yet, look what they did first. Verse 28, and God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. Do you see this? This is the cultural mandate. They've got lots and lots and lots.

to do. You get to chapter 2, verse 1. Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all of his work that he had done. And so God blessed the seventh day and he made it holy, because on it, God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. So do you know what our very first parents did on the very first day of their life. They rested in the Lord. You know what this means? That you don't rest from work. You rest for work. It's very different. That God created them in such a rhythm that every seven days they just needed to stop, be blessed, connect with him, and that that day was holy. That way that day was different. Now you may look at this and say, well, why is God resting?

I mean, the Bible says in other places that God doesn't even get tired, so why is God resting? Well, I can tell you why God would rest. You see, the only way that you can ultimately rest is when you do a job and then you are fully and finally satisfied. You are ultimately satisfied in that job. Then you can step away from it and rest. God looks at his creation with mankind, his ultimate creation, bearing his very image, and he is ultimately satisfied with the work that he has done. And so he rests.

Now, as I talk about this, I know some of you are going to say, hey, listen, yeah, pastor, I hear you and all that. But I don't think you understand. I'm a single mom, and I can't take a day off. Single mom, I would say, God bless you. I'm praying for you like crazy. Maybe the hardest job on the planet, but God rested. And you may be saying, I have, but you don't understand.

You work at church. I don't really do anything. But I have this job, and these people depend on me. And so I have to work seven days a week. And I would say, okay, boss, okay CEO, okay president, God rested. And some of you are like, but I'm not even tired. I don't need a rest. And I would say to you, neither was God.

But look at me, God rested. And the reason that he could rest is because he looked at his work and he was ultimately satisfied in it. If you can't rest, it's because you look at the finished work of Christ on the cross and you were not ultimately satisfied in that finished work. That when he said it is finished, you don't think it counted for you. that's the heartbeat behind our problem here. And so God says, hey listen, one day a week, this is the way I have created you to live.

Now listen to me, if you live outside of the way you were created to live, you can sustain it for a little while. You can use your vacuum cleaner as a sledgehammer twice. And eventually, it doesn't sledgehammer very well, and you don't have a vacuum cleaner anymore. When we live outside of God's intended rhythm for us, I'm just telling you, we're not doing it right. And so Adam and Eve rested in rhythm with God. And it goes super good for like a page in my Bible. And then sin enters the world. Genesis 3 happens. Sin fractures everything. Eventually God wipes everybody out. Starts over with Noah. Then he chooses Abraham, makes a covenant with Abraham. He says, I'm going to make you the Father of many nations. I'm going to bless you. And from you,

from your seed is going to be going to come the one that blesses the entire world. It's a precursor to Christmas. He's talking about Jesus. And then Abraham's like great, great, great grandson, Joseph ends up as like senior VP of Egypt. There's a management change, and then the nation of Israel becomes a slave people to Egypt. And for 400 years, none of God's people ever had a day off. For 400 years, nobody takes a Sabbath. Do you know why? Because slaves don't get to take a Sabbath.

Now, I do not want to minimize slavery in any way at all. but if you are not able to Sabbath, then you are not free. If you are not able to Sabbath, you are an indentured servant to something, either to your greed, either to your pride, either to your insecurity and people pleasing. But if you cannot take a day off and rest in the Lord, then one, we don't trust him when we don't do it, and we are a slave to some other thing. And so God threw Moses. He sends Moses to Pharaoh, let my people go.

They experience the Passover where they shed the blood of the lamb, put it on the doorpost of their house. The angel of death passes over anybody that's got the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house. And then Moses takes the people across the Red Sea on dry land. Then God caused Moses up onto Mount Sinai to give him the Ten Commandments. And the Ten Commandments are ultimately the way to show us how we ought to live as God's children. Now we know that none of us can pull it off, so it's both a map and a mirror. It's a map to show us how we ought to live, and it's a mirror to let us know, uh-oh, we need some help here.

The first three commandments are vertical commandments. They're about our relationship with God. Commandments 5 through 10 are our horizontal commandments, the way we ought to live with and treat one another. Hopefully this is a bit of review for you because you remember one of the lawyers came up to Jesus in the Gospels and said, Jesus, what's the most important commandment? And ultimately, he's going to sum up the 10 commandments. and he quotes the Shemah that we've been studying for two years. He says, the most important commandment is this,

that we should love the Lord of God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second one is like it. He grabs a verse out of Leviticus 19 and says, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That's what the Ten Commandments are. You should love God with all. Those are the first three. And we should love each other like you love yourself.

That's five through ten. And the rabbis say that the hinge commandment is the fourth commandment. That you can't love God and love people if you do. don't get this Fourth Commandment thing right. And it is about Sabbath. Exodus 20, verse 4, I mean, verse 8 says this. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. There's this one day and it's different.

It's just different. Now, before you think this is a message about sitting around drinking herbal tea and not doing any work, that's not what the Sabbath is, okay? He says, look at verse 9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. So listen, we work, and we should work hard, and we should get all of our work done in six days. And let me tell us, mostly this crowd over here. Listen, so, I know you're a rainbow and you're a snowflake and you're trying to figure out what your passion is and all of that.

That's great. You should do all those things. In the meantime, you should get a job and pay bills and be responsible and move out of your mom's guest bedroom. You understand what I'm saying? And act like a grown-up, okay? Why? Because that's what we are supposed to do. In fact, when I felt called to ministry and told my dad, I'm not going to med school, I'm going to go to seminary to be a youth pastor. He said this. This should be in the Proverbs. He said, boy, you don't get up and go to fun. You get up and go to work. And that's a fact. Now, eventually, hopefully you figure out like you're part of the body of Christ and all of that. But in the meantime, we work.

In fact, I believe Christians should be the greatest workforce on the planet. I think regardless of what people believe in Jacksonville, every HR director, every hiring manager, when they have an open position, if we were doing this thing right, they would think, I know we should hire a Christian. Not that I believe anything that they believe, but these people work as unto the Lord. And somehow, with God's help, they are able to do more in the world. six days than the rest of the world can do in seventh. So we work. He says, remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath

to the Lord your God on it. You shall not do any work. You or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your livestock or your sojourner who is within your gaze. for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and he made it holy one day a week a 24 hour period of time it should be different that's what holy means and when you trust God with your first and best not just your treasure but your time there's a blessing there so here's the commandment do work work hard get it done and then secondly Sabbath is a gift slaves don't get to rest. But in Christ, you're not a slave. You are no longer a slave to what this world

tells you you are, but you are a child of the most high king. And Sabbath requires faith. Sabbath requires faith. Think about this. When this was given to an agricultural society, they're thinking, do you know how much we have to do? And God says, on that seventh day, I want you to trust me to do for you what you can never do for yourself. You see, ultimately, what Sabbath is, It means that I believe he's a good, good dad. And that with God's help, he and I can accomplish way more in six days than me alone in seven. It's very similar to the blessing that all of us have experienced that tithes, that trust God with our first and best, that God plus my 90% is infinitely more than me with 100%.

That's what it is. And in the New Covenant, in the New Testament, it's a day. Now in the old covenant, it was sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. And the problem is, like so many things, God gives a good gift, and then religious people grab onto it, and they add a whole bunch of rules. And when you begin to impose Sabbath rules, you're almost guaranteed to never experience Sabbath rest. So in Romans 14, 5, Paul says one day is no more important than any other day. So you pick the day. For me, Sunday doesn't work too good.

You know why? I'm literally at work right now, okay? Colossians 216 says, don't let anybody judge you based on the Sabbath. So it's very personal to you. So we're not talking about legalism. But, and listen, I grew up in South Carolina in the 70s and 80s. And we had blue laws, Google blue laws,

where the state determined what you could and could not do. And once again, anytime you require Sabbath rules of somebody else, you almost guarantee that they will not experience Sabbath rest. This is why Jesus would get in trouble all the time in the New Testament on the Sabbath. He got in trouble all the time. In fact, in Mark chapter 2, he and his disciples are walking through a grain field, and his disciples are hungry. And so one of them reaches out, grabs some grain, like grinds it in their hand and eats it,

and up pops a Pharisee. Pharisees like carried clipboards, they were hall monitors. Pharisees were the precursor of the HOA. That's what a Pharisee was, okay? And so he walks up and says, you have four violations. Here are the four things that you have done. And ultimately, Jesus is like, dude, you're missing the whole point. You are taking this gift of God and making a weight of oppression.

But the gift of God was supposed to be a lift for rest and release. And so he says this in Mark 2, 27. And Jesus said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. There's a whole sermon right there. What he's saying is Jesus is saying, I am the giver of the Sabbath, which means he's saying, I am God, and I am the substance of the Sabbath. He says, in me you find rest.

Now, how should you Sabbath? It's not just a day off, it's not just a vacation, I'm pro day off, I'm pro vacation. But what if you and I sabbathed in light of what we have been studying in the one initiative? Remember the Shama? Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and we shall love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. So this is not, I'm not going to tell you exactly what you should do. I just want you to get the heart of it, that one day a week, every seven days, God has wired you in such a way that you would find your rest in him, heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is not rules.

I'm not going to check up on you on this. It reminds me of years ago I was at Walmart and I'm in the 10 item or less aisle. That's kind of my M.O. Whenever I go to a place like that. And I'm behind this lady with a kid and you know what I'm doing. I'm counting her items. Just to make sure she can read and count.

You know, I'm just here to help. And so, well, this poor lady, she's got this kid and he's demon-possessed. He's going crazy. But part of it's not his fault. It's the marketing campaign of everybody that's ever stopped shelves at a store. They put all of the candy and all of the things that would make toddlers go crazy right at eye level with the toddler. And so she's trying to get her stuff up. She's got way more than 10 items. And he's like, can I get this? Can I get this? Can I get this? And she's like,

would you stop? Can I get this? How about this? He's starting to open like the ring pops and all this. And then at the top of her lungs, she screams, relax. First of all, nobody in Walmart budges because they're like, yep, normal. All right? And I remember thinking, this kid is never going to understand the meaning of the word relax. If I already yell at it. you a bunch of Sabbath rules, it almost guarantees you to never experience Sabbath rest. It'd be like the parent yelling, relax. So here's some ideas. Here's some ideas. What if we looked at it, one day a week, just the way God created us to live in his kind of rhythm, what if we've rested, rejuvenated, reconnected, refueled at the heart level, the soul level,

the mind level, and the physical level. So what does it look like to rest with your heart? This is primarily about relationships. That all throughout the scriptures, a big part of the Sabbath was connecting with friends and family, the kind of people that helped fill you up. And a lot of it was done around the table. Do you have these kind of rhythms in your life? You see, in my life on Sunday afternoons, some of my best friends live on the street that we live on.

And we have, we just, we call it Sunday, Fun Day. It's what we do. And we typically, I'm usually the last one to show up because I'm here. They all came to the 9 o'clock service. There's four generations represented. We've got my kids. The youngest is 11. It goes all the way up to some grandparents.

And we've got every generation in between. It's pretty cool. And there is food and there is drink. Usually we gather together. Today we're going to watch the Jaguars win. Not the game. The quarterback for next year. That's what we're going for, right?

Let's go, Trevor or Justin. I don't care. Either one. So we'll do that. And there's food and there's drink. See, a part of what you do in Sabbath today is to prepare you for that Sabbath rest that we experience in forever. And so in fact, Isaiah, here's how Isaiah describes heaven. In Isaiah, chapter 25, verse 6, he's using this metaphor of the mountain of the Lord to describe what heaven is going to be like.

And listen to this. Tell me if this isn't rest for your heart. He says, and on this mountain, the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples. and a banquet of aged wine. Do you hear that, Baptist? Wine. Then he says, the best of meats and the finest wines. Somebody Thursday night said, well, I'm a vegetarian.

I said, well, not for long unless you go into hell, because Christians are going to be eating the finest meats in heaven. Fine meat and wine, glory to God. See, Sabbath is a gift with people that you love. So figure out what that looks like for you. Then we're also supposed to like rest with our soul. reconnect to the Lord with our soul. Like the very first man was created as a vessel.

And God filled him up with his spirit. That's a part of what we were supposed to do. Like reconnect with Jesus. Look, congratulations. You're doing it right now. This should be a part of it. There's something very significant when the saints gather together and we sing songs and we pray prayers together

and we receive God's word. But in addition to this, we should do things like have extended times of prayer and extended times of Bible reading. And if you're like, well, I don't understand the Bible. Bible, keep reading. Jesus promised that the Spirit of God would teach you His Word. So rest with your heart, rest with your soul.

This is probably the biggest one I think right now for us. And you've got to rest with your mind. You need one day a week where you turn this thing off. And primarily what that means these days is turning your smartphone off. I know some of you just panicked a little bit. You're like, I hate this church. Okay, hang in there with me for just a second, Scooter. Did you know that smartphones and particularly social media on smartphones are changing the neuro pathways in our brain?

89% of people admit to feeling a phantom buzz from their phone in their pocket when their phone is not in their pocket. Anybody ever do that? You're psycho. Straight up, psycho. It's not there, but you feel like it is. You ever not have from your phone for a second? You're like, huh, I'm untethered. I don't know what to do, okay?

Not good. that it is changing the prefrontal cortex. That's the part of our brain that does complex thinking. Our intent and spans are being shortened. Listen, if you can't go into the bathroom without taking your phone, there's a problem. After 722, this girl came up and she's like, but what am I supposed to do in there?

It'll work itself out, darling. Just hang out for a minute. Okay? There's a problem. Anxiety is increasing. Depression is increasing. The same chemicals in your brain, dopamine and cortisol, are being released when we look at social media and when we are always connected to our smartphones. And it is the same chemicals that create addictions like addiction to gambling.

The same thing. More money is spent every year on slot machines than on all professional sports combined. And it only takes a quarter to play. But you think it's not that big a deal. But when you pull that thing, your brain is hoping for that dopamine here. hit that you win. But if you lose, you get hit with cortisol. And it creates anxiety, depression, addiction, those kind of things. Maybe one of the biggest problems is this, is that because of these things, and again, there are some positives. Many of you are listening to this sermon online. When it gets

over, you should turn it on. But the problem is this, is that oftentimes when we are alone, we can't actually be alone because the whole world has access to us. And oftentimes the Bible says Jesus often went up into the mountains by himself to pray. But when you bring the entire world with you, you can't have in a long time with God. And just as sad, when you are with the people that you want to be connected to, you can't truly be connected because you're isolated in your phone. You ever walk in your house and your whole family doesn't even lift their heads when you walk in the room? There's a problem there. And I know you're saying, well, I don't have a problem. I've got it under control. Okay, turn it off for 24 hours. Some of you started twitching already just to think about it.

It's a problem. Heart, soul, mind, and then we need to rest with our strengths. We need to rest with our strength. This means like physically go to sleep. Not just, first of all, that God has given us this gift of sleep on a daily basis. You ever think about this? Why did God create us in such a way where every day, we get tired and yawning. There's a guy that's yawning right now. Sorry, we'll keep you up. Here's why. Because we have this tendency to think that we're the center of the universe, that we, I'm my old man, I do what I want to, I'm going to take over the world. And God's like, oh, that's so cute. Here, let me just lay you down. Put the sun down and the moon up. All right, buddy, I'll be here in the morning when you wake up every single day, this constant reminder.

And then once a week, we're just supposed to rest physically. Some of the most serious potential problems associated with chronic sleep deprivation or high blood pressure diabetes heart attack heart failure stroke other problems include obesity depression impairment in immunity and a low sex drive that we need to stop again i'm not saying slow down work hard for six days and then for one day just stop sabbath and rest moses gives this commandment to the people by the time you get to deuteronomy chapter five, the book of Deuteronomy, the whole book of Deuteronomy, it means second law. Not that there are two laws, but what Moses is going to do in Deuteronomy is he knows his time of leadership is about to be over. He knows very soon he's going to go up on a mountainside to do

his quiet time and never come back and then. Then Joshua is going to be the CEO of Israel from then all. And what he's saying is this, all of Deuteronomy is this. Hey, listen, let me remind you of God's law and remind you of God's provision because when you get into the promised land and you're living in neighborhoods that you didn't build and you're eating out of refrigerators that you didn't stock, it's easy for you to forget. Because Israel never really did good with blessing. Because when we're in times of pain, we're desperate for God. But when we're in times of plenty, we often think, God forget you.

I don't need it. And so he says, I don't want you to forget. And so in Deuteronomy 5, he goes over the law again. The Ten Commandments. He restates him. And then when you get to, when you get to verse 12, he says this way. This is the fourth commandment. And he says, observe the Sabbath.

This time he doesn't say remember. You know why? Because remembering's not enough. How many of you know intentions are useless? You got to have action. Anybody have an unused piece of gym equipment at your house? Anybody? Yep, you don't even need to raise your hand.

We can tell, okay? So, all it's doing for you right now is drying your laundry. So, like a gym membership doesn't do anything for you. You actually have to go. So God, through Moses, is saying, observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy as the Lord your God, commanded you. Commanded you.

He told us this is how we were supposed to live. Now, let me ask you this, Christian. Why is it that if you were breaking any of the other commandments, we would look at you and be like, that's a problem? But to break the Fourth Commandment about the Sabbath, we're like, eh, don't worry about it. I mean, after 722, I ask a girl on staff who works all the time, a dearly lover, and I said to her, hey, how are you doing with the Sabbath? And she goes, oh, I'm working on it. What if I were to say, hey, how's that adultery thing going?

Like, yeah, we're working on it. I mean, you know, day by day, hit or miss. We would have a meeting, and there'd be like a call to action, right? And yet what we know is that if we break the commandments, you don't actually break the commandments. you don't actually break the commandments, you break yourself against the commandments. They're a gift to us. Like if you live a life where all you do is covet, you know you're going to be miserable your whole life. We know that if we spend a life lying, that all of our relationships are going to be broken.

We know that if you steal long enough, you're going to get caught and you're going to have to pay it all back. We know that if you commit adultery, then guess what? Your relationships are done. Not even just the one that you commit adultery against, but also the collateral damage of the people that love you a ton are going to be very next. negatively affected. We know that if you murder, there's a problem. And even if you, even if you talk about the way Jesus talked about murder, like if you, if you hate people in your heart, we know that you are going to be a miserable and bitter person. We know that you, if you reject the authority that God put in your life, then it is not going to go well with you. But when we get to this Sabbath commandment, we go, eh, don't worry about it. Because ultimately, when we don't do what God says in regards to Sabbath and live outside of the rhythm he created, Ultimately, what we're saying is, forget you, God, I don't need you. I got this. And ultimately, the gospel is, bro, you ain't got this.

You need God to do for you what you can't do for you. And what Moses is going to do in Deuteronomy chapter 5 is he says, hey, listen, observe the Sabbath. Do the Sabbath. Keep it holy as the Lord of your God commanded you. And then he's going to say much of the same stuff he said back in Exodus, Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord of your God. On it, you shall not do any work. You or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock,

or the sojourner who is within your gates that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And then God is going to give us the why. God doesn't have to give us the why. He could just say, do this. We say, yes, sir, because he's the Lord. That's how it works. he's going to give us the reason behind why believers should Sabbath. And here's why.

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. In other words, part of what God wants to weave into our very weekly existence is this time where we stop and we remember that you and I were slaves to our own sin. Ultimately, what the Sabbath does, the Sabbath is a sign, and that points to the cross, that we need to stop and trust God that he can do for us what we can never do for ourselves. And the nation of Israel were slaves in Egypt and by God's mighty right hand,

not because they did anything, but because he loved them and poured out his grace on them, he reached down his mighty right hand, and he picked them up, not through their own effort, by his finished work on the cross, and he brought them into the promised land. And for everyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ, ultimately what we're saying is this. On a day when we stop and rest, you can only rest when you are utterly satisfied in work. And what we're saying is, I am utterly satisfied in the finished work of Jesus Christ. That's what a Sabbath is. And every single one of us needed.

So here's the point. Are you too busy? I've already got your own film raising your hand. you've confessed. The Bible doesn't say slow down. It says stop. It says stop. Again, work really hard for six days. And then one day in a week, you figure out what day works best for you. You figure out what rhythms work best for you. You figure out what activities. In fact, if you go on our app, there's a, under this series, there are some tools that can help you figure out what fills you and what drains you. And you can have a conversation with your roommates or with your spouse or

whoever, and you can make sure that one day a week, you are resting in him. Jesus says it this way in Matthew chapter 11. Jesus says, he gives this invitation. He goes, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden. Come to me all who are working and working and working, and you feel like as you check one thing off your list, you add three more things to your list. Come to me all who feel like you're carrying a burden that you just can't carry anymore. the pressure of the presents, the pressure of the holidays, the pressure of the family you're going to be with.

He goes, if that's you, if you're weary and tired and worn out, come to me. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you Sabbath. You see, you will never know Sabbath rest if you don't know the Lord of the Sabbath. It's not just a scheduled thing. It's a relationship thing. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. And here's the words, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is like, you are not promised an easy life.

But Jesus promises you an easy burden. So what if this year we just did Christmas differently? What if this year you experienced Sabbath rest and it began a new rhythm for you forever because you knew the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, as I was studying the Sabbath in light of the Shemah, heart, soul, mind, and strength, I just began to think, listen, you can find rest for your mind. You can. It's really not that hard.

Turn off your cell phone. Get a good book. Get Charles Martin's waterkeeper. Get a beach chair. Go sit on the beach and read the book. You will be lost in the world that he had created, and it really will. It will help your mind. You can find rest for your heart, like relationally.

if you just get the right therapist and counselor and get your communication skills going with your wife and all that relationally you can find rest you can find rest for your body if you just chase some things in your calendar get a new mattress medicated enough you can sleep for a month but there's only one that can give you rest for your soul that's the gift of sabbath that jesus is inviting us into and so what if this year was different what if this year we really understood that the lord of the sabbath is also the substance of the sabbath and so what if this year we really understood that the lord of the sabbath is also the substance of the sabbath that not only does he give the Sabbath as a gift to us so that we could rest and refuel so that he could use us in incredible ways, but he is also the very source of that rest. I dare you to change, to start doing things differently. So practically, here's what you've got to do.

Number one, you've got to repent. You got to repent. Like I repent. There are many, many times. I work too many days in a row and I don't take a day off. And you need some accountability in your life because I'm telling you, if I were born, breaking any other commandment like I break the Sabbath commandment, the elders would talk to me. They would say, hey, come here. We heard you murdered a guy again. That's going to be on your review.

You understand? Like, it would be like an immediate meeting. You need somebody to help you here. You got to repent. You got to receive the gift that is the Sabbath. It's for you. Then you got to change. You got to change. I dare you. We ask this question. Is he the one thing that drives everything? What if everything also included your calendar? And one day a week, you set a a day to rest in him. And again, you better schedule your priorities. If you just try to prioritize your existing schedule, you'll just end up in the same place over and over and over and over. But I dare you to change. And then trust me on this one, you've got to stay with it. You got to stay with it. Because some of us have been living out of rhythm for so long when we start to live

back in rhythm, you're going to like detox. Like some of you right now are motivated. You're like, you know what? Every Monday, I'm on a. I'm on Sabbath. And then by 9 a.m., you're going to be like, What do I do now? Okay, it's because you're sick. You're sick. And it might take a while for you to line back up with the way God created us to live. But what if this year, like God in creation and like God has commanded us, one day a week, 24 hours. We unplugged from this world.

We rested with our heart, with people that we love. We rested with our soul. We reconnected with Jesus through worship, through the Word. we rested with our mind. We turned off all of these distractions. And we rested in our strength. We took a break. And ultimately the reason that we could rest is because we were utterly satisfied in the finished work of Jesus. That we ultimately believe that when Jesus says it is finished, that meant that the pretending and the performing were over and that it counted for us. So the way we're going to close. We're going to close with my favorite Christmas song. Oh, Holy Night. And I want you to see it

in light of this gift of Sabbath that God has given us. And I want you to receive this song, however it works best for you. Some of you may want to stand and sing. Some of you, many of you may want to come down and pray. Some of you may just want to sit with your hands open and just receive it. And you're super familiar with the first words, but I want you really hear the little second group of words. It starts out this way. You know the song. Oh, Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.

You see, when Jesus has come to me and I will give you rest for your soul, a part of what he wants you to understand is what your soul is worth. And the way you determine what something is worth is what somebody is willing to pay for it. The Bible says, you are not your own, you were bought at a price.

In other words, you know what your soul is worth to the Almighty God? He paid with the perfect blood of his perfect son, Jesus Christ. A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices. We live in a weary world, but you don't have to. You could come to Jesus. You could bring all of the worry and all of the anxiety and all of the hurriedness and what he offers to you is rest for your soul. Let me pray for us.

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you because you first loved us. And God, I thank you that Jesus, when you said it is finished at the cross, ultimately the final payment, the full payment, to satisfy your justice and your wrath was paid at the cross. But God, it also means that our ego and insecurity can be put to the grave. It also means that the performance and the pretending are over. Because the real you died on a real cross for the thing. the real us, and that counts for any of us who would believe. So, Lord, I pray that this Christmas season, you would change us, that we would not be told

by this culture what we have to do, but we would trust that you have provided us with everything we need, including the time to do everything you have called us to accomplish. God, I pray for a great Christmas, but Lord, I pray that it would not be driven by presents and people and parties, but it would be driven by the very presence of the Prince of Peace, who offers us rest for our soul. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So the band's going to come.

They're going to sing. You're welcome to stand and sing if you want to receive it that way. You're welcome to sit and just receive it. You're welcome to come and pray. But let us respond.