Hot Topics // Are you Too Busy?

We're going to be in Luke 4 and Luke 10 this morning.

If I were to ask you the question how are you doing, chances are you might answer with the word busy.

In fact, let's just take a little survey here, okay.

How many of you would say I'm busy?

Raise your hand.

Yep, a lot of us are busy.

We got things to do, we got people to see, we got work, we got kids' activities to go war.

We have our fantasy football teams to keep up with House projects.

We have a lot going on.

We're busy.

We're actually in a series called Hot Topics right now and we're going to talk about busyness today.

Are you like, how's busyness a hot topic?

That's not a hot topic, pastor Nate.

That's just my life.

You may have heard a word that's becoming more and more prevalent in our society and that's the word burnout.

Now, sometimes what we think is we think that rest is curative for burnout.

So if I just rest, then my burnout will.

I won't be burned out as much.

But rest is actually curative for physical exhaustion, but burnout is more mental and emotional exhaustion.

Maybe you've experienced this.

Maybe you've experienced being in survival mode, where you just feel like I'm just trying to keep my head above water.

I'm just trying to keep going.

And in seasons like this, it's almost like our minds and our emotions, our place in the world, our identities, even.

It's almost like it's under this duress, it's under this pressure, it's like I just ugh.

It's a real thing and sometimes, if we're honest, we're so busy all the time because we sometimes use busyness to actually medicate.

In fact, my friend had a sticker on her hydroflask and I took a picture of it.

I thought it was great Stay busy, feel nothing.

I don't want to feel it, I don't want to think about it, I just want to go, go, go, go, go Faster, faster, faster.

I can relate to this.

That confed where I was talking to a therapist and she told me.

She said a concern I have for you is that you'll just stay so busy and you'll just go and go and go that you won't take care of the place and address what really needs to be addressed, and that's your heart.

I didn't want to hear that.

I don't want to do that.

Give me a checklist of things to do.

I can just go, go, go.

But the ways of Jesus are completely counter-cultural of just going, going, going, going, going, going, going.

In fact, jesus uses the word rest.

Dr Matthew, chapter 11,.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Jesus invites us to experience this.

He says come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, chew it's me and I will give you what's that word.

I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I'm lowly and humble in heart, and you will find let's say that entire phrase together ready.

Rest for your souls, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey, whether you're a Jesus follower or whether you're not a Jesus follower.

Yet no matter where you are, you want rest for your soul, this place where we don't have to strive and work and feel this pressure.

And ugh, ugh.

Jesus says rest for your soul.

And how do we experience this, especially in a society that we live in that's always in perpetual motion?

We live in the Bay Area.

Everything is so expensive.

When we talk about busyness, we're not talking about having a lot to do, because we all have a lot to do.

We're talking about having so much to do that we just can't keep up.

And for us to even attempt to keep up, we have to live our lives in a hurry all the time.

We're jiving ugh Now sometimes.

How much a load that we can carry is different based on your life stage, based on where you're at.

So we, a lot of this, have different, a lot of things to do, but so we have too much to do where we can't keep up.

And I think one of the reasons why some of us give into busyness is because of some temptations that we don't always realize are actually temptations.

In fact, some of the biggest temptations we'll ever face are when we don't realize that we're experiencing it.

There are actually the temptation underneath the temptation that the devil gave Jesus in the book of Luke, chapter four.

In fact, this is what it says in Luke, chapter four, verse number one.

It says Jesus left Jordan full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the spirit in the wilderness for 40 days.

We tempted by the devil.

He ate nothing during those days.

Can you imagine going 40 days without even eating a piece of bread?

Can you imagine without even having a goldfish cracker 40 days?

I don't know about you If I go four hours without food.

I'm like, help Give me a snack 40 days.

So, as you can imagine, he was hungry.

It says the devil said to him If you are the Son of God.

If this is your identity, if this is who you are, tell this stone to become bread.

If this is who you are, then you need to do something, you need to perform.

If this is what your identity is, then you need to perform, you need to do.

But Jesus answered him and said it's written men must not live by bread alone.

You've got to remember that At this point, jesus hadn't done anything to show his identity as the Son of God.

He had done no miracles, he hadn't fed anybody the blind are still blind.

He had done nothing to show his identity, to show his identity as the Son of God.

Now, just before this, jesus was baptized and God, the Father, said you are my son and whom I am well pleased, before Jesus ever did anything.

This is your identity.

But here's the temptation that the enemy gave Jesus it's this you are, what you do.

If you are the Son of God, then perform.

If you are the Son of God, then you need to do this Now.

In our world and honestly, man made religion, identity is predicated by performance.

So what you do determines who you are.

This is why some of us are so plagued with guilt and shame, because there was something that we did and now, or something that happened to us and now we think this is who we are.

But in God's economy, the kingdom of God, what we do is not who we are.

We are who God says that we are.

And if we give into the temptation that we are what we do, then we're constantly going to have to do more.

We're going to have to be a better parent.

We're going to have to do better in school.

We're going to have to do better at our hobby.

We're going to have to do better in our career.

We're going to have to do more because if your identity is dependent on what you accomplish, if you can't accomplish something, you can't do more than your identity is done.

So, because we buy into this, we think I always need to be better, I always need to do more, I always need to get more and more and be better and better and better, because my performance determines my identity.

So because of that, you can't rest, because of that you can't turn off.

Because of that you've got to keep going, because our performance determines who we are.

Temptation number two and verse number five so he, this is the devil.

He took him up and showed Jesus all the kings of the world.

In a moment of time.

The devil said to him I will give you their splendor and all this authority because it's been given over to me.

I can't give it to anyone I want.

If you then will worship me, all will be yours.

And Jesus answered him.

It's written worship the Lord, your God, and serve him.

Only Is this temptation.

You are what you have.

Now I want you to remember something.

Okay, we need to stop.

Jesus had lived for 30 years as a poor carpenter.

We forget the humanity of Jesus.

Jesus didn't have money.

Jesus didn't have stuff.

Jesus didn't have all these things.

And the enemy says I'll make you somebody because you can have it all.

Imagine.

Imagine somebody says hey, I want to give you $50 million.

$50 million, that'll make your eyes open up a little wider what you don't have.

$50 million, I mean, if you do, you can talk to me afterwards.

You don't have that.

You have nothing.

This is what the enemy tempts them with.

The enemy tempts the Jesus I'll give you everything.

This is a guy that had nothing.

Jesus, you are what you have.

No, no, no.

We live in a world that tells us that we are what we have.

You are your possessions right.

You are the type of car that you have.

You are the type of gadget that you have.

Marketers are geniuses at this, right.

Have you ever seen a car commercial?

It's like, oh my God, right.

I mean you think right now.

The iPhone 15 came out a couple months ago, or whatever.

Personally, my iPhone 11 works great, no problems.

But I'm seeing all these ads and I'm seeing all this stuff and I'm like, oh, I think I need an iPhone 15.

I'm talking to my friend the other day and my friend's, like he showed me this picture.

I was like that's a great picture.

He's like iPhone 15, bro, all these marketers convincing us of all this stuff that we need, right.

So, because there's this stuff that we need, we buy things we don't need with money.

We don't have to impress people we don't like, because we think that we are what we have, so we have to have more.

So, because we have to have more, we work and work and work and we try to get bigger, better, newer, nicer, because our identity is the term by what we have, which, if we're really honest, maybe that's why we have a hard time with debt, because our identity is determined in what we have.

It's a temptation.

It's a temptation.

We are what we do.

We are what we have.

There's one more.

Maybe we think that we are what others think of us.

This is what it says in verse nine.

So he took him to Jerusalem, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you are the Son of God, if this is your identity, throw yourself down from here, for it is written he will give his angels orders concerning you, to protect you and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Jesus answered him and said it is said do not test the Lord, your God.

Like we've repeated here many times, whenever Jesus has tempted, what does he run back to?

Scripture always does that.

And here's the temptation underneath the temptation.

Here the temptation is that you are what others think of you.

Now I want you to consider something.

The enemy, the devil, took him to the pinnacle of the temple.

Throw yourself down.

The temple was the place where all of Jewish life happened.

The pinnacle of the temple was really really high, crazy high.

If Jesus jumps down from this, the pinnacle onto the temple, everybody's going to see him.

At this point.

Jesus is an obscurity.

For 30 years he's lived in obscurity.

People don't know him.

People don't know about him.

Remember no miracles, no feedings, blind or still blind.

All that the devil says jump off this.

Now, if Jesus were to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and he were to be okay, everybody would be like whoa, who is this guy?

Did he just jump from the top of the pinnacle all the way down and he didn't even break a toe?

Who is Jesus?

Whoa, he's cool.

Let's get a selfie with him.

People will like you.

If you just jump down, you're going to have people's approval.

But here's the thing it was not time for that to come yet.

It was not the time for that to happen for Jesus to do this public.

It was about to come right around the corner to do this public ministry where he's impacting people and the enemy says listen, listen, listen.

You are what other people think of you.

A lot of us place a higher premium on what people think of us than we actually realize.

I like to think and I don't know about you, but I like to think.

I don't care what other people think about me.

How many of you would say I don't really, how many of you would say I like to think that I don't really care about what people think about me.

Did I remember when I became a pastor about four years ago here, and I was like I don't really care what people think of me?

I was the pastor and I learned really early on that I wanted all of you to like me and I was like what?

I don't care what people think of me.

I'm like no, actually I really care what people think of me.

Now, there's nothing wrong with some degree of this, of wanting people to like us to some degree.

But here's the temptation that if you believe your identity is predicated on what people think of you, it's going to drive you to be busy and busy, and busy and please people and please people and please people and wear you out because you think your identity is determined on what they think of you.

Some of us in our lives are really worn down because we spend so much time thinking about what other people think of us and trying to impress people and trying to, whether that's family, whether that's friend, friends, whether that's that person you went to high school with way back in the day, whether it's your neighbor, whether it's your co-worker and you're just going to show them Like I'm just going to.

I want you to think this way of me, right?

And some of us always live in a hurry because, well, we think that we are what people think of us, or we think that we are what we have, or we think that we are what we do.

But think about this, guys If you are what you do, then you'll always need to do more.

If you are what you have, you'll always need to get more.

If you are what other people think about you, you'll always need to please people more.

But if you are who God says you are, then there is true freedom in rest.

Think about this.

Think about this.

This has massive life implications, because some of us think that I'm busy because I have a busy schedule.

There's so much things going on, and maybe that's part of it.

But maybe some of our busyness is because we think that we are what we do.

We are what we have, so we have to work and work.

Or we get more and more and more, or we are what other people think of us.

Now here's the reality about this.

These are heart issues.

These are heart things that I have to ask myself am I giving you the sensation?

And maybe for the first time in a long time?

I have to be honest and say it might not be my schedule, it might be my heart.

This is why John Ortberg says a hurried life.

A hurried life is not the result of a disorganized schedule, a hurried is a disordered heart.

A hurried is not just a disorganized schedule.

A hurried is a disordered heart.

So what do we do about this?

How do we, as Peter Cazaro says, live emotionally healthy, spiritual lives?

How do we do this If we're super busy all the time?

It's going to lead to survival mode and eventually lead to burnout.

We know that.

I don't want to tell you that.

So how do we actually live a place where we're emotionally, spiritually healthy, where there's, as Jesus says, rest for our souls, rest that you want, I would say, rest that you need, rest that society tells us is available?

If you go and do all this other stuff and get all this other stuff and blah, blah, blah and join the next fitness club and blah, blah, blah, blah, how is this possible?

This is a story.

It's infamous.

It's in Luke 10.

It's about two sisters as soon as I say their names if you've been in church for a while, you'll know what I'm talking about.

One's name is Mary, the other's name is Martha, and Mary and Martha, they're both incredible human beings, incredible women, and sometimes we read this story if you've been around for a while, and I think sometimes we can get a little confused with what Jesus is actually asking Martha to do.

Because Jesus is actually asking Martha to have rest for her soul.

In fact, I want us to look at it.

It says this in Luke 10.

While they were traveling, he that's Jesus he went into a village.

A woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

This is really big in the first century, hospitality is huge.

For Martha to welcome him into her home, this is fellowship.

This is a beautiful picture of love here.

Now, martha had a sister verse 39.

Her name was Mary.

Mary also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to what he said.

So Jesus comes in the house, mary sitting at his feet listening Verse 40.

But Martha was what's the next word?

She was attracted by her many tasks.

I mean, jesus came in the house.

Oh, my goodness, I forgot to vacuum the rug first.

There's the pile of clutter.

Let me go throw that in the closet really quick.

There's dishes in the sink and the word distracted here.

This is what literally means Pulled apart.

That literally what this means.

Martha, you ever felt in your life like you're pulled a million different places?

She's distracted by her many tasks.

And she came up and asked Lord, don't you care that my sister's left me alone to serve alone?

So tell her, give me a hand.

Just want to point out things kind of comical that she didn't go to her sister and tell her sister what to do, because you know her sister's not a listener.

She's like I'm going to tell Jesus because maybe she'll listen to Jesus.

Well, listen to me, don't you care?

Now it's fascinating here the word serve, here that she says that Mary's left me to serve alone.

That word serve comes from a really powerful and a Greek word that is always used positively in Scripture.

It says this Jesus came not to be served but to serve.

It's used that word there.

It's diakonio.

In 1st Timothy chapter three qualifications for deacons talks about serving.

It uses diakonio.

These are all very positive things.

Martha is modeling something positive.

She's serving.

This is wonderful, verse 41,.

The Lord answered her and said Martha, martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary Mary has made the right choice and it will not be taken away from her Now.

You see verse 41.

It says Martha, martha.

You might be thinking Jesus, he's really kind of dropping a hammer on her.

Martha, martha, you're like when I call my kid, when I say their first name two times, it's serious, right, jesus is dropping a hammer.

It's not doing that here In Hebrew.

When you repeat a name more than one time, this is not typically a rebuke, this is compassion and intimacy.

Jesus is not scolding Martha.

Why are you serving?

That?

That's the pro.

No, he's inviting her into a better way, a way of fellowship with him, a way of intimacy with him, a way of walking with him, a way of talking with him.

And he says Martha, martha, martha, martha, stop, rest, sit at my feet.

And how do we live emotionally, spiritual lives?

We need a rest, we need to slow down.

And here's why Because hurry and love are incompatible.

It is impossible for us to love people well if we're always in a hurry.

Love takes time.

Love takes time, love takes presence.

Love takes not just my body being here, present with you, but also my mind being an attention, being with you.

If I'm in a hurry and I'm talking to you, then I might be, not just I might be here physically, but I might be thinking about what's going on next week, next month, next hour, whatever, because I'm always in a hurry.

First Corinthians, chapter 13,.

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

Paul gives you the love chapter and the first word he uses to describe love.

He says love is patience, slow.

When you read the life of Jesus, almost every miracle he did was an interruption to him.

Read it.

Can you imagine if Jesus was in a hurry, we wouldn't have.

What miracles would we read about?

Oh, no, I can't, I can't, I'm busy.

I got to go.

Oh, you need to.

No, no, no, no, see you later.

Hey, peter, get her out of the way.

Jesus was present.

Jesus also said that the chief virtue in the kingdom of God is love.

That's chief.

And if love and hurry are incompatible and I'm always in a hurry then how can I love God and how can I love others?

Well, I don't know if we can.

One of our values we have as a church here is we care more about how people are doing than what people are doing, and what we mean by that is we don't want to have a church community where there's things happening every night that we expect every single person to be at.

We don't want to have that church community here.

We care more about how you're doing than what you're doing.

We want you to have a strong love for God.

We want you to be able to sit at the feet of Jesus.

We want you to be able to love others in community.

Now, today, we have our fall festival.

Tonight.

Tonight is a busier day for us, but today's the exception, but we want to love well.

So I end with a question that I want you to ask yourself, and it's this how can you make more margin, more space in your life to love God, to love others and to take care of yourself?

How can you in your life, how can you make more margin, more space, to love God, to love others and to take care of yourself?

What do you think about this question?

I don't know the answer to it, but maybe for some of us, there are maybe some priorities that need to be adjusted.

Maybe for some of us, there needs to be some really reconsideration about, maybe, activities that we're involved in and is like is this the best thing for us to be involved in right now.

Is it the best thing for us to be out five nights a week?

Why do I feel like I need to do this?

Why do I feel like we need to be involved in 13 different things?

Is this helping me love God more?

Love others well, take care of myself?

Maybe for some of us, what we need to do is we need to make margin in our calendar for Sunday morning church gatherings, like this is in our calendar.

Somebody's like hey, you want to go to Six Flags, I'll go after the 9 AM service Because I want to make space to love God.

Dallas Willard says this hurry is the great enemy to spiritual life in our day.

We must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our life Bye, so we can love God well, so we can love others and so we can take care of ourselves.

How can you make more margin?

How can you make more space in your life to make this happen?

We do this.

We're on the path to not only avoiding burnout, but to live emotionally healthy spiritual lives.

Let me pray for you.