The Gift of Sleep | John Challinor

Well, good morning, officially. Anyone else thankful

for moms? Yeah. Literally, we would not be here

without you. So we are extremely grateful. I

know my mom is listening. So mom, I love you.

I am grateful for you and the life that you've

given. Those of you in Paulding and Baghdad,

hopefully you're celebrating moms today. And

as you gather, we hope that the Holy Spirit moves

among you. you and that today is special because

you gathered and the Holy Spirit showed up. Just

the same we're asking here or whatever screen

you happen to be on, people kind of all over

from the chat, but just welcome, glad that we

get to do this together. Okay, I got to be honest

right out the gate. I never thought I would preach

this message, speak this message, teach this

message. It was not in my catalog of, oh, I am

going to do this someday. It's not even something

I was excited about in the sense of like it's

just not natural to me at all when it comes to

this. In fact, I would say this, that my guest

from the weekend will be there's mixed reviews

on this topic. Some people love it and some people

are like, ah, I don't want to talk about it.

And if you're like me, I've had this like. love

-hate relationship that I'm growing to love more

and more and more with this topic. But for me,

in my teens, I inherited something that was given

to me by just the circumstances I was in, and

it was this, that I could play video games as

late as I wanted to. And so I did as a teenage

boy. I fulfilled that mission set in front of

me. And I would play to whatever time to where

I was so exhausted that I was like, okay, I'm

going to go to sleep for a couple hours, get

up, go to school, and do the things, right? Well,

here's the problem. Teenage boy grew up, went

to college. You can exchange video games for

sports as well, hanging out with people, doing

other stuff. And then I met my wife, and we got

married. She is a eight hours a day person. Like

she is like, I need my eight hours. And so she's

like a metronome, right? Like you can set your

clock to, she is going to get her eight hours

or else she doesn't function well. So here's

how it went, our first little bit of marriage.

Like I would tuck her into bed and then I'm like,

okay, I'm gonna go play video games, right? And

that was how we started our marriage. She would

like me to tell you that is not how it is currently

going. She was there last night, and she's like,

please tell them you don't do that anymore. So

there you go. I am honoring my wife and the mother

of my children. But it's been this tension, right?

Like I assumed that with this topic of sleep

that it was optional. You get to choose what

you do now. I also had other habits in my life.

Like if I stayed up late, there was often a whole

lot of coffee that went with the next morning.

There were things in my life. And if we're going

to have conversations throughout this collection,

there are weeks that are going to be more theoretical,

if you like. They're geared around just creating

a theology that we need to carry, maybe an understanding

we need to gather together. And then some weeks

are more practical. This is a practical week.

So practical that by the end of it, you will

create a list and you will carry that list to

your life groups and the community you are doing

life with. Because sometimes we just need something

practical, especially when, if you were here

last week, the collection we're in is, where

is your limit? And we talked about this culture

of exhaustion, right? That exhaustion, when we

say I am exhausted, what we're actually saying

is I'm beyond my limits. I have nothing left.

I have no margin to kind of live from. And so

what we talked about last week is that the culture

around us is geared towards exhaustion. Like

the culture around us is the kind of push of

the culture around us is that you would push

yourself to your limits and beyond. And we're

stepping back and going, I don't know if this

is what God designed us for. We'll carry on in

this and talk about things like, what is your

limit? How do you figure it out? How do you live

with margin? But today, we're going to talk about

sleep. And there's a quote that I came across.

It's by Matthew Walker, who has his PhD, in case

you were wondering. The best bridge, the best

bridge between despair and hope is a good night's

sleep, right? Like if we talked about last week

with exhaustion, that exhaustion breeds despair,

then coming out of that then, the bridge between

despair and hope might just be as simple as go

to sleep. And get a good night's sleep. My hope

and my prayer for you this weekend, by the way,

is that you have the best night's sleep ever

after today. Right? That that's the kind of hope

that exists with a good night's sleep. Now, you

may be going, John, that's all fine, but where

does this come from in the Bible? Good question.

I would love to answer. Genesis chapter 2. The

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

creation narrative, right? So in the beginning,

God is creating, and it says this in verse 20.

So the man gave names to all the livestock, the

birds in the sky, and all the wild animals. So

he's doing the work that God's given him. But

for Adam, no suitable helper was found. So the

Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep.

God caused him to fall into a deep sleep. And

while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's

ribs, then closed up the place with flesh. Then

the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had

taken out of the man, and he brought her to the

man. If you are taking notes, here you go. Good

things happen while you sleep. I'm not joking.

That's your first note. Good things happen while

you sleep. I mean, I don't know anybody. If you

read this and you go, that's not a good thing.

then we should have a different conversation.

But God creates what? Companionship, relationship,

community, a helpmate as some scriptures call

it, someone to come alongside and do life together,

all while he was what? Asleep. Do you know that

good things happen when you sleep? Like the things

that could not happen when you're awake. Science

is behind this. It hasn't even caught up yet.

Science will catch up at some point. But all

they say right now is we don't understand it.

Because while you sleep, it resets your immune

system. I mean, think about it. Any of you moms

out there, you got kids and your kid is sick.

What do you want them to do? Go to sleep. Why?

Because you know as they sleep, they will heal.

The idea that within your memories, that while

you sleep, your memories are actually consolidating.

They're actually making sense. They're being

stored. Your hormonal system, that it's being

balanced out while you sleep. There's all these

benefits to sleep that they're going. They're

all there, and we don't know why or how this

works. One of them is this. that you are emotionally

healing while you sleep. So some people, you

know, you ever talk to them and they go, I just

keep having the same dream. And maybe it came

from trauma in their past. What they've come

to believe is when you dream about something

that has happened, what's happening inside of

your sleep is your stress chemicals are down,

your defenses are down, which allows you to process

the trauma. And as it continues to process through,

it's actually emotionally healing you from things

in your past, all while you sleep. The idea that

your day, you go through your day and you collect

all kinds of information, right? And as you collect

all kinds of information, as you sleep, because

your logic's turned off, your stress chemicals

are down, your brain is working through all of

those things that felt like this big ball of

yarn. Sometimes for me with messages, I'll do

all this study and my head is just so full that

I can't even like, where do I go? How do I say

this? And I'll be sleeping and wake up and it's

often in the early morning hours. And I go, oh,

that's how I need to say that. Exactly like that.

Why? Because while I was sleeping, my brain sorted

out the information and put it in a way that

makes sense so that I can transform it. They

say this about information, that as you sleep,

the information turns to knowledge and knowledge

turns to. wisdom. You actually become wise while

you're asleep. That's the best news ever. You

want to be wise? Go to sleep. Good things happen

while you sleep. In Psalms 127, verse 1, it says

Psalms 127:1

this, unless the Lord builds the house, the builders

labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the

city, the guards The guards stand watch in vain.

In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling

for food to eat. For he grants sleep to those

he loves. He grants. That word grant is he gives.

Sleep, if you're taking notes, sleep is a gift

from God. Sleep is a gift. It's a gift that God

has given to you. Now, again, we live in a culture

of exhaustion, right? In a culture of exhaustion,

it sounds something like this. Sleep is an obstacle

to overcome. You need to learn a hack of how

to get around to not sleep so much because sleep

is a barrier to what you really want to produce.

As some of you in the room believe that if your

competitor is sleeping eight hours, you sleep

five, you're three hours ahead of him. The idea

is that you can beat the system, that you can

get ahead. You guys might have heard of him,

maybe, Elon Musk. Elon Musk was the poster child

for you don't need sleep. Look at all the cool

stuff and all the things I'm doing and I don't

sleep. You know what Elon Musk says today? He's

actually more productive when he sleeps more.

Why? Why would that be? Because sleep, sleep

is a gift. given by God. The idea here in this

context is the toiling to build, the toiling,

that it all depends on me, that I have to be

the one to do this, that I have to be the one

to succeed. And it goes, wait a minute, it's

not dependent on you, it's dependent on God.

And God gives this gift called sleep to humans.

John Piper has a quote. He puts it this way about

this idea of this rhythm that happens on a daily.

Once a day, God sends us to bed like patients

with a sickness. The sickness is a chronic tendency

to think we are in control and that our work

is indispensable. It is like a broken record

that comes around with the same message every

day. Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign.

Man is not sovereign. What is John Piper getting

at? The idea that we don't sleep because we think

we're in control. We don't sleep because we think

it's all dependent on us. We don't sleep because

we don't trust. But what's actually being given

is this gift of God. What do you do with a gift

that God gives? You steward it. You manage it.

So if sleep is a gift, think about it in the

concept of finances. We talk about giving up

here a whole bunch, right? Every weekend we have

this rhythm of giving. What is giving? Giving

is God puts in your hands resources that he wants

to know if he can get those through your hands.

He puts them in your hands because he has a purpose

and a plan. And what he wants to know is, will

you steward them? Will you manage them for the

kingdom and for what he's doing? Or will you

hold them all to yourself? The idea of relationships,

same concept, that you have relationships in

your life that God has given you. And he wants

to know, will you steward them towards knowing

him better? Will you steward them for the kingdom

mission that they would look more like Jesus

because they know you? Will you steward what

God has put in your hand? When it comes to sleep,

will you steward the gift that God has put in

your hand? It's pretty amazing, this idea of

sleep being a gift. If you turn over to Psalm

chapter four, it says this. Answer me when I

call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief

from my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my

prayer. How long will you people turn my glory

into shame? How long will you love delusions

and seek false gods? Know that the Lord has set

apart his faithful servant for himself. The Lord

hears when I called him. So David is writing.

David's a king. That means he has a little bit

of stress in his life, right? And so David, is

anxious when this is taking place. He's got people

that are opposed to him, and the people that

are opposed to him is creating all kinds of anxiety,

stress, creating all kinds of confusion, creating

all kinds of moments where he's like, man, God,

I know that you hear me, but would you hear me

right now? So he's got this thing with God, right?

And as this works through, like any good lament,

this Psalm works through to where he trusts God.

And he wants to trust God to the point that he

can celebrate when those very people that are

against him, he can have joy when they succeed.

That's where he's trying to get to. And then

it says this, after he talks about having joy

for those that succeed, verse eight, in peace,

I will lie down and sleep for you alone, Lord,

make me dwell in safety. In peace, in peace,

I will lie down. Wait a minute, he was anxious.

What is anxiety? Anxiety is to be shattered apart.

This word peace is shalom. It means wholeness,

completeness. And he goes, in completeness and

wholeness, I will lie down. In peace, I'll lie

down and go to sleep, even though everything

is still happening. Why? For you alone, Lord.

For you alone make me dwell in safety. God, I

can lie down and go to sleep taking notes because

God's got it. Because God's got it. Whatever

it is that's got you so spun up that you're like,

I can't sleep, whether that's producing, whether

that's stress, whether that's family, whether

that's trauma from the past, what you need to

know is it's a step of faith because stewarding

is always a step of faith. To steward the gift

that God gives, it's a step of faith to trust

him that you actually got this. I think it's

so cute, you guys, that we have locks on our

front door. You know what I mean? Before you

go to bed, you're like. And you're like, oh,

I'm safe, I can go to sleep now. Or maybe you're

that person, you have three locks on your door,

you think you're safer than everybody else. And

then you got a dead bolt, you know? But isn't

it interesting, you have windows that can still

be broken? With a rock, the most basic form of,

and some of you are like, okay, you're not helping

my stress, you're adding to my stress right now.

But isn't it interesting that God created humans

to sleep a third of their life? If you live to

75 and you sleep eight hours a day, that's 25

years of your life you will spend asleep, which

is where the overproducers and others go, I don't

need 25, I can do it on 22, right? But God created

you and it's a gift to sleep. And what he wants

you to know is when you close your eyes, he's

got it. Whatever it is, it's got you all worked

up. He's got it. You're not part of the animal

kingdom. Jellyfish don't sleep, just in case

you were wondering. Elephants only sleep three

hours a day because their brain's so tiny. They

don't need as much as you. Dolphins sleep with

one eye open, just in case we're curious. Why?

Because God created you. to need sleep, and he

gifts you sleep. Why? Because he's got it. You

can lay down because he's got it. So much so

that in Luke, we get a picture from the life

of Jesus, Luke 8. Verse 22, one day Jesus said

to his disciples, let's go over to the other

side of the lake. So they got into a boat and

set out. As they sailed, as they sailed, it's

important we stay on the same page together.

You ready? As they sailed, he, Jesus, fell asleep.

As they sailed, it was calm when Jesus goes to

sleep. A squall came down on the lake so that

the boat was being swamped. Now, I'm not a big

boat guy, like I wouldn't profess that I'm an

expert by any means. But when it says that a

boat is being swamped, that tells me that water

is not where it should be. Water should be outside

of the boat, and water is now inside of the boat.

But let me ask you, it's calm, storm comes, there's

water in the boat. Where's Jesus? He's asleep.

His posture has not changed, even though everything

around him has changed. And they were in great

danger. Verse 24, the disciples went and woke

him saying, master, master, we are going to drown.

He got up, he got up and rebuked the wind and

the raging waters. The storm subsided and all

was calm. Where is your faith? He asked his disciples.

I don't think he was condemning them, by the

way. I think he's giving them a picture. Where

is your faith? In fear and amazement, they asked

one another, who is this? He commands even the

winds and the water and they obey him. I think

there's a picture here of whatever storm is in

your life, whether it be emotional, mental, spiritual,

physical, relational, financial, you pick your

storm. I think what God wants you to know is

he's got it. And one word from him and it has

to calm. But I love the question. Where's your

faith? Where's your trust? And I love that we

were chatting in teaching prep this week and

somebody was bringing up this story and talking

specifically about a conversation they'd had.

And the conclusion of that conversation was this.

That whereas your faith is actually going, what

would it have looked like in this moment for

the disciples to actually have faith? How would

they have put their faith into action, if you

like? What would have been the picture that was

created? And what you get is that Jesus is asleep,

and Jesus is asleep, and the water is rising

around him, and he is still asleep. Because he

has a holy trust that God's got this. And so

for the disciples who, where is your faith? What

is the appropriate action of their faith? It's

just a cozy on up to Jesus and go to sleep. We're

dismissed. It's just a cozy on up. What did faith

look like? It wasn't this monumental thing. Faith

looked like, I'm gonna go to sleep because God's

got this. In Proverbs chapter three, verse 21

says this, my son, do not let wisdom and understanding

out of your sight. Preserve sound judgment and

discretion. They will be life for you and ornament

around your neck. Then you will go on your way

in safety and your foot will not stumble when

you lie down. If you are a circler in your Bible,

a highlighter in your Bible, Circle the word

when. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Or sorry, when you lie down, you will not be

afraid. When, circle when again, you lie down,

your sleep will be sweet. It is not a question

of if you will sleep. It is a question of when

you will sleep. When you lie down. And what does

he say before that? This idea of understanding

and wisdom. Don't let them out of your sight.

Hold on to them. Why? Because they will be life

for you. You know what some good news is? That

we get good gifts when we sleep. Guess what?

When you sleep, information becomes knowledge.

Knowledge becomes wisdom. You get wiser when

you sleep. Like that's literally what's happening

as you sleep. What he says here, it will be life

for you as you sleep. You are holding on to those

things. But sleep, sleep like anything is a choice.

Will we honor God with our sleep? Will we steward

the gift that he has given? Or will we continue

to fight because we think it's optional? By design,

you were created to sleep. So here's what I wanna

do. I told you we're gonna be practical. I would

love to show you a list. And the list is just

practical things to help you sleep, to help you.

embrace the gift of God and to help you have

good things in your life. Give yourself an eight

-hour sleep window, right? An eight -hour opportunity

each night. Now, you may go, John, I'm a night

owl. That's fine. Pick eight hours. I don't care

when you pick them. You may go, I'm a morning

person. Pick your eight hours. But it's proven

that grown adults, humans, needs seven to eight

hours. So pick your eight hour window. There's

a man, Justin Early, he was a lawyer. He wrote

a book and part of that book is where some of

this comes from. And in that book, he talks about

being a lawyer. He talks about being a high flyer.

He was so intense and so driven that he actually

couldn't sleep. He got to the point where he

just couldn't sleep at night. And so he's taking

all kinds of sleep aids. By the way, you know

how much money we spend on sleep aids? 80 billion

a year. Trying to sleep. I'm going to save you

a lot of money. Right? Aim to go to bed and get

up at the same time every day. So what Justin

did is he decided that he was going to, what

he could control is that he could go to bed.

He could honor and steward God's gift. So he

went to bed and he goes, what I can't control

is if I will sleep, but I can put myself there.

And he said, over time, he was able to sleep.

And over time, it changed his life. Why? Because

he chose a sleep window. Sleep in as dark a room

as possible. Sleep in as cold a room as possible.

You can control those variables. Avoid looking

at your phone at least 30 minutes before bed.

I'll go first. Guilty as charged. I am not good

at this. I'm trying to get better. Do not sleep

with your phone in the room. Not good at this

either. Just this week, God often makes us live

our message before we give it. So this week,

I've got my phone next to me in bed. My dog went

out. At night, 20 times that night. How do I

know? I have a ring camera that's set up to my

phone and it buzzed every time he went out. I'm

learning, I'm growing. This is something I'm

growing into. Do not eat food or drink alcohol

beginning two hours before bed. Be kind to your

body. Be kind to the gifts. Set yourself up well.

You know, the Jewish people believe that the

way that you start the day is actually the night

before. So that phrase, you know, win your morning,

win your day, that actually starts the night

before. It starts with how you go to sleep. If

you go to sleep in a way that sets you up to

win the day, then guess what? You'll win your

morning. You think about it. You set an alarm

clock when? At night. Because you're already

planning your next day. The Jewish people just

go, your day's already started. It starts with

how you sleep. It affects everything. You don't

believe me? Have a bad sleep and what happens?

You drag yourself into whatever you gotta do

and you're like, oh, this is the worst. So here's

what I'd love to do. We already read this verse.

I just wanna read it over you and then you're

gonna make some declarations for yourself. Psalms

4 .8, in peace, I will lie down. You have that

choice. In peace, I will lie down and sleep.

For you alone, Lord, for you alone, make me dwell

in safety. You know who sleeps. You know who

is with you in your sleep. You know who is guiding

your sleep. It's God Almighty. It's the same

Holy Spirit. We wanna experience more of his

presence here. Guess what? You get to experience

the presence of God as you sleep. And so here's

some questions to help you navigate. They're

simple, they're not. They're just based on a

healthy, healthy sleep. What are my sleep window

goals? So you'll get to choose. What am I, before

I leave here, what am I setting up as my sleep

window goals? What are the things I want to resist

before bed? What are the things that I need to

say no before I go to bed? So for me, my phone,

right? I need to say no to my phone. Like it's

pretty common now, don't open your email right

before you go to bed, that kind of thing. Doom

scrolling doesn't help. Things I want to embrace

before bed. So what are the things that you want

to actually put into your rhythm before you go

to sleep? What is your rhythm of setting yourself

up for sleep? We were in teaching prep and someone

who was there, she said, One of the things, I

hadn't slept well for years, and one of the things

I embraced was just simply, before I went to

bed, praying and telling God, I give you my body,

I give you my soul, I give you my mind. It's

all yours. And what she's discovered is that

as she sleeps, God downloads to her. In my version

of that, I was having bad dreams, and I just

asked God. I'm like, okay, God, you control my

mind when I'm awake. You can control it when

I'm asleep. Would you give me good dreams? And

wouldn't you know it, I had good dreams. So then

I was like, can you give me prophetic dreams?

That'd be cool. But what do you want to embrace

before you go to bed? And this last one is so,

so important. Names of those I may need to forego

sleep to serve. Moms in the room, you get this.

You have a baby and sleep goes where? You don't

have a sleep window except for when the baby

does. Parents in the room, you've experienced

that. This one's so important. Write the names

of people because you may be in a season where

you have to forego sleep because you are choosing

to love somebody else. You are choosing to honor

what God has put in your hand and steward it

well. And so put the names of those people. But

here's the thing. It's a season. This is not

life. And so in this season, I choose and put

the names of those people to forego sleep because

I need to love them well right now. That may

be that you're just in hard times and you got

to work a couple of jobs right now. That's not

forever. Don't make that forever. Right? But

you choose. I'm working a couple of jobs because

I'm loving these people really well right now.

So I will forego my eight -hour sleep window

for a six -hour sleep window, a five -hour sleep

window. in this season because I need to love

them well. But these questions are designed to

help us embrace and honor the gift that God has

given us that is sleep. That we could steward

it well. That we could be the front runners that

stand against the culture of exhaustion. And

so the next moments are yours. Here's what I'd

love for you to do. You can take out your phone,

you can take out a notepad, but I would encourage

you to write and answer each one of these questions.

And then you're gonna carry those to your life

group. And you're gonna talk about it in your

life groups. What'd you decide to do? What does

it look like for you? And you're gonna hold one

another accountable. I've seen two people have

major mental breakdowns. And both of those happened

when they had days and days and days without

sleep. You wanna talk about the importance of

sleep to your mental health, to your physical

health? You're in control of that. You get to

choose. So the next moments are yours. And then

we are going to declare in song that we wanna

see the goodness of God. So next moments are

yours to answer these and then we'll come back.

Would you do me a favor? Would you stand where

you are? One of the things about whenever we

step out to follow God is obedience requires

that we submit. But we're often submitting because

we want to experience something. And so the hope

is this, that as we've made declarations like,

God, we want to experience your goodness. We

want to experience the gift that you have. We

want to experience you more personally in our

lives. God, we want to experience you. So we

are committing to these things. We are choosing

these things. We are choosing to go against culture.

We're choosing to go, you are God and you got

this. And so in song, we get to declare back

to him that we just want to become more aware

of his presence. And may you, may you, church,

become more aware of his presence as you sleep.

And may tonight be the best sleep you have ever

had. Let's worship.