We Were Made for Limits

My name's Russ, and I'm one of the pastors here at Church of the Grove.

It is so awesome to see everyone this morning.

I want to tell you something that I'm thankful for.

And it's all of these men and women who pour their heart into worship.

They bless me, but you know what blesses me?

And I think I don't want to speak for Brandon, but I don't want to give him my mic because I may not get it back.

But it blesses me, and I know it blesses them when they are leading to hear the choir from the congregation singing about Jesus.

What a blessing.

What a blessing.

And we are blessed.

I mean, I'm telling you, we are so blessed with how God has brought people to our team, and through Brandon his leadership, Hannah, as she was part of our staff for a season, they they've built this team up, and it's such a blessing.

But it the the desire of our hearts is for us to be a choir, singing to the audience of one, and that's Jesus.

Amen.

Well, listen, I I um I as a kid, I was infatuated with dinosaurs, and and I think that's probably fairly normal.

I remember getting my first dinosaur book as a toddler child, and by the time I got over those children's books, I had a stack of books on dinosaurs.

And I, you know, I love it when I see children, you know, uh, particularly boys, they're carrying dinosaurs, you know, and they're they're reading about them, learning about them.

And so as an adult, there was a movie that came out years ago, turned into a whole series called Jurassic Park.

Now, not that that piddly stuff that came out recently.

Go back to the original.

And and and in the original movie, there's a scene where the scientists are explaining how the concept of Jurassic Park occurred.

They tell the story about how they came across dinosaur DNA and and how they were able to create all these animals at a genetic level.

And there was a character named Dr.

Ian Ian Malcolm, and he was played by the actor Jeff Golblem.

And so they're talking about their worldview, what led them philosophically to take that DNA and to recreate dinosaurs.

But here's what Ian Malcolm says in the movie, and this is the line that's leading us into today's message.

He says, your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, talking about taking DNA and recreating dinosaurs, they were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

And so today is is a little bit about that, about understanding the meaning behind that, the overarching message of Jurassic Park.

The park officials and scientists believed they were creating an unforgettable experience, which I'm sure it was and it would be.

But in the end, the new technology began to devour them.

It began to eat at them.

The new technology was state-of-the-art and impressive, but the end result didn't turn out the way that they thought or wanted it to turn out.

They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

And sometimes we ask the wrong questions.

We asked the wrong questions.

And I, as a recovering youth pastor, and and and I still look back to when you I so badly wanted to teach young people, and I watched Jonah do an amazing job and Anderson down in social circle to raise up young people and to teach them, and young people want to push the envelope.

They always want to they want a line, they want to know what's right or wrong, and typically we want to know that so we can get our toes right up to the line.

And if we're strategic, we'll just hang the toes over because it's not really fully wrong.

And so one of the things I learned that I taught my students is sometimes the best question is not what is right or wrong.

In light of my past, in light of the present, in light of where I want to be, what is the wisest thing?

The wisest way, the wisest understanding of how I should uh approach or proceed in my life.

And I think that's true for all of us.

When we think about technology, we're in this series called the Digital Fast, and what we're what we're what we're doing is trying to help you connect the word of God all the way across to what we call a hermeneutical arc to 2026 and apply that scripture to how we handle technology.

How do we handle it in a way because it is, it has some dangers, it has some, it has some issues.

It has some issues.

And so the most significant technological shift that if hundreds, if not all, human history in hundreds of years, is literally able to be placed in our pockets.

Now, last week was was interesting because I I wanted, I was interested to see what the response would be when I tell people you should fast from your digital life.

I knew I'd get some feedback, but mostly it's been positive.

A family sent us a picture of how they they had two little kids and uh that are early elementary, and and they they intentionally planned a night where the kids could do something exciting, and they took they sent us this picture of how the kids built this huge fort in the middle of their living area in their home.

And that was their that was their retreating from digital life and to be present with their kids.

And then I had another friend that literally texted me on the way out Sunday.

He said, Hey Russ, great service, great message, other than the fact that me and my wife feel like we need to throw our phones out the window on the way home.

I was like, don't do that, because that's an expensive, even though you might need to do that, but it's an expensive um remedy to that.

So here's the question.

Here's a good question that we can ask.

Are we just consuming content or is the content consuming us?

Are we consuming content or is the content consuming us?

See, attention is the beginning of devotion.

When we think about being devoted to Jesus, I have decided, we say, to follow Jesus.

There's repentance.

We turn away from doing life in our own strength, we turn to the cross, embracing what God has done for us.

And so we want to be devoted, but being devoted means we've got to have our attention focused in the direction of our devotion.

Think about it, you can't pay attention to something else and pray at the same time.

It's hard.

I mean, we all know that.

That is a practice that is a bit difficult.

And so what you give your attention to is the thing that will ultimately consume you.

What you give your attention to, this is an attention economy.

And the people, the big dogs in this technology economy, they are very open and upfront about their desire to capture the minds and the hearts of the young people in our society.

And see, our responsibility as parents, the biggest responsibility as parents, is not to hand them a phone, it is to pass on my faith to the next generation where they own it.

Their attention is focused, and as a result, they can follow Jesus with full devotion.

Back in um way back, uh I know that there was a book called 1984 written by George Orwells, and it was a version of a dystopian society where the state would employ fear and surveillance to maintain power.

I'm glad we're not there.

But Aldous Huxley's book, Brave New Worlds, similar, was a dystopian society, but it was controlled by pleasure and distraction.

It wasn't about burning books and limiting knowledge, but rather it was about flooding the culture with more information than it could possibly consume or take in.

And I think in a number of ways, that's what the technology technological revolution has done.

We've been flooded with information more than anyone was ever designed to take in in a lifetime.

But these things have consumed us.

These things get our attention as a result.

We're being discipled, but we're not being discipled by Jesus and his word.

We're being discipled by what the culture wants to impose upon us.

Now I want to hear more feedback.

I want to hear it, and I want to hear it raw and open.

You don't have to come tell me, hey, I stayed off my whole device for the whole week.

I've cut my hours, you know, because we all get that message on Sunday.

That's when I get it, that tells me how many hours I've been on a device, and it's always disappointing.

Usually I get it right before I come up preaching the second service.

And so I don't expect perfection.

I'm not looking for perfection.

I want to hear some of your struggles.

And if you're not struggling, you're probably not growing.

So don't dismiss this.

Fight for it.

This week has been an eye-opening week for me.

Started out great.

But as the week moved on, I felt myself being pulled back into some old habits.

And so, so don't give up.

We're probably more discipled by the news app, the movies we watch, and the music we listen to than Jesus.

We're more discipled by a never-ending stream of content than Jesus.

And again, whatever we give our attention to, it will consume us.

John Eldridge, one of my favorite authors, he says this.

He says, Weary disciples of the internet, your soul has been conditioned to take in massive amounts of content every day.

Far beyond the soul's ability to absorb.

You think it's normal, but it's not.

Precious truths are washed away every hour by waves of incoming content.

It's like pouring water into a glass already filled with fine wine.

It dilutes and dilutes while it spills over the sides and onto the floor.

That picture is meant to be an image of us as we pour stuff in our life, it dilutes the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so what bubbles out is a very unclear, shallow, weak faith and journey with Jesus.

And so this there's an onslaught of information where there's an answer to any question at our fingertips, and it shapes us.

We thought that was a good idea, but I don't know if it is.

We could be watching a movie and you can pause the movie.

I don't know if you've ever done this, I've done this, and I'm like, I don't know who that actor is.

And you know, you pull your phone out.

And so a movie that should have taken two hours, three hours later, and it's you're distracted by wanting to know some of the details.

If I don't know how to fix something in my house or my car, man, I can learn instantaneously.

I can pull up my son, my oldest son Josiah, he is a, he's such a I'm so proud of him.

He's he's grown in this problem solver.

And he can work on cars, he can work on sound system, he's an audio engineer.

And I'm like, Josiah, how did you learn how to do that?

He said, Dad, YouTube.

YouTube.

And he's he's taught himself how to learn, and that's a positive thing, but we all know the positives benefits of access to that technology can become quickly negative because it consumes us.

It consumes us.

Uh, you want to copy a recipe of the meal you ate at the restaurant last night, couple clicks, and you got the whole menu and the all the way to prepare it right at your fingertips.

Watching sports, wanting to know certain statistics, all these things available to us.

But they and they're not bad, but when you add them all together and how they steal, last week the message was on John 10 10 and the first part of that verse.

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

And he uses whatever he can at his fingertips to do it.

And so here's the big idea for today is our struggle with technology is really a struggle with limits.

Our struggle with technology is really a struggle with limits.

And so my prayer is that by the time we finish today and you walk out, my prayer has been, Father, would you take what we're studying and with the power of your Holy Spirit, move in hearts where those of us dealing with with technology, addictions, and distractions, God, would you move?

So would you pray with me?

Let's pray for that.

Lord, use this time to bring your Holy Spirit into this time of teaching, God, where it's not just information, but it leads to transformation.

So, God, speak to us.

We believe by faith that when we open up this book, you open up your mouth and you speak.

And because of that, we can be transformed.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

So our struggle with technology is a struggle with limits.

If you have your Bibles, turn to Genesis chapter 2, Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention Genesis 2 · chapter mention

So sometimes it's best to go back to the beginning and to understand how we have come to the place that we currently are.

And so we go back to the beginning and see this this message is about how we apply Scripture to technology.

But the most important thing is to understand what Scripture is teaching us.

Genesis 2, 15 through 17.

The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden.

So this is following the creation account, put the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

And the Lord God commanded the man.

Now read those first three words with me.

You are, let's just say it again.

You are.

See, a lot of people think I'll become a Christian when I'm ready to give up all these things that I really enjoy.

And I respect people for thinking that way, but but the reality is God will set us free.

You are free.

You are free.

He gives us a measure of volitional will to understand truth and to walk in it.

He says, you are free.

There's nothing about Christianity in our belief and our faith in Jesus that restricts us.

He says, you're free.

You're free to eat from any tree of the garden.

He said, I've created all this.

And I can't, I don't know what it's like, but I can imagine.

This perfect place, no sickness, no disease, no separation, no division between us and our Heavenly Father.

He came and walked with them in the cool of the day.

This incredibly beautiful place, perfect environment, free of sin, free of distractions.

But God has given us this measure of freedom.

He created us in his image.

We are different than the animal kingdom in that we can think critically.

We can understand that there is something beyond us.

We're not led just by instincts and our desires and our appetites and our flesh.

We have the ability to understand what is right and what is wrong.

17, God gives us a limit.

But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.

Now, that's God.

I don't know about you, but God is transcendent, he is the creator, and I can critique all I want to about how he has created this world, how he operates, but it doesn't change the fact that he is God and I am not.

And so he created this world to bless us, and he gives it to us by his grace, but then he says, listen, there's limits.

All of this is for you.

All of it's for you.

But right here, you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for the day you eat from it, you will die.

And we know, we know from looking back, they they died spiritually.

They were separated from God, they had to leave the garden.

And they became mortal.

They they they they they transitioned, they they transferred immortality for mortality.

So they couldn't live forever, they couldn't be in God's presence like they were created to be.

Now, let's go to chapter 3, verses 1 through 6.

Genesis 3, 1 through 6.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, read that line.

Read the did God, let's say it together.

Did God really say you can't eat from the tree in the garden?

And let's just, did God really say that right there is the strategy of the enemy?

We question, that's the question that we that is at the center, really, I think, of understanding where the source of life comes from.

Did God really say you can't eat from any tree in the garden?

Did God really say, I mean, you think about anything Scripture says, what God reveals, and the enemy wants us to question whether or not God really said it.

And he goes on in verse 2 the woman said of the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.

I put a star and I underline and I circle that word middle, because I think it's key.

I think it's intentional.

There's a something that centers us.

There's something at the center and the core of who we are.

And at the middle of that understanding, right at the center of our being, we have to make a decision.

Is God who he really says he is?

And if he is God, he has the prerogative to set limits and to say that this is the way I want you to live.

And if you live any way in contradiction to this, you are in sin, you are in disobedience, and you're missing out on the will of God.

And God said, You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.

And most of humanity has spent our existence in trying to figure out what is acceptable, what can I get away with?

Where's the line drawn so I can put my toes up against it, maybe hang them over and hope for the best.

Now God places limits.

There's limits in our life.

He says, No, verse 4, no, you will certainly not die, the serpent said to the woman.

You hear the enemy's strategy?

God said, You eat of this, you will certainly die.

The enemy says, No.

He whispers, no, you will not certainly die.

In fact, God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.

And that's what, I think that's the core of our of this challenge, the core of the struggle with technology and not limited to technology, but all in every area of our life.

The enemy wants us to buy into this idea that we can be like God, we can be self-determining, we can we have control.

And he said, You will be like God, knowing good and evil.

The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for attaining wisdom.

So she took some of its fruit and ate it.

She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Now, this is this is an age-old story of sin and how it enters through the first man and woman, and as a result, it compromises the entire existence of humanity.

There's absolutely so much that can be learned from this passage of scripture, especially about the strategy of the serpent, the enemy.

And it's this that we are born.

Into sin.

We are born with this idea as a result of Adam and Eve disobeying, going to the center, the middle of the garden, which represented, I believe, the just the how we center our hearts, and they saw that it was good for food, that it was pleasing to the eye, that it was, it was, it was, um, it was good, and then it was gonna make them understand what, help them understand what the difference between right and wrong is.

We're sinners.

We're all born into sin.

And I know a lot of people don't want to hear about sin.

They don't want to hear about hell, they don't want to hear about the separation from God, but that's the reality.

We're born into sin.

David, in his prayer of confession after sin in his life, he talks about how as a child he was born into sin.

Paul said in Romans 3.23, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So there's so much going on here, but I want to focus on verse 5.

He says, Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.

This is a lie that is beneath the lie.

The temptation wasn't just about eating fruit, it was it was a very superficial way of, that's a very superficial way of reading this passage.

It wasn't about breaking a rule, it was about rejection of limits.

God has already given Adam and Eve everything they need to flourish.

They had freedom to move around the garden as they pleased, enjoy every blessing He's provided.

They had perfect, unashamed intimacy with God and with one another.

They had unfiltered access to the Creator.

The limit that God gave them was not intended to be restrictive, but protective.

The heart of God is not to keep you from something, the heart of God is to protect you.

And so he can bless you.

Now, at the core of all this is this ancient desire, this human, part of our human existence is we want to know, we want to be powerful, and we want to be like God.

Now, you've heard of the attributes of God, the characteristics of God, as I read more and more, as I read the Bible at 60 years old, I'm I'm amazed at just the attributes of God.

And as I read through Scripture, I'm I'm looking for new attributes, new characteristics, new aspects, new perspectives.

We come back to these three that God is omniscient, he is all-knowing, God is omnipresent, which means he's everywhere at once.

God is omnipotent, which means he is all-powerful.

See, God has no limits.

But as his created beings, a little lower than angels, but certainly a step up from the rest of the animal kingdom, created in his image.

We have limits.

God does not.

Much of our struggle with technology is a struggle to be limitless and to be like God.

And I don't think that you're gonna leave here and walk out and say, Well, I want to be like God.

I'm not listening to that pastor.

I mean, nobody none of us think that way.

None of us think consciously.

We want to be like God, but it is there.

It is in us because sin pulls at us.

And when you are born again, as we sang the song, I am born again, I am saved, my identity changes.

I am no longer a slave to sin.

I've been given the gift of righteousness.

That it doesn't mean I'm not going to struggle with my flesh.

It just means no longer do I have to be a slave to it.

Now let's look at these three attributes of God: omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresent.

And why would I look at these?

These are the attributes of God, and they are not the attributes of us.

And that's our struggle.

So, first of all, all-knowing.

God is all-knowing.

He is omniscient, he is all-knowing.

See, we have a search engine now that can look up anything.

We have a search engine.

We've had a search engine for a while, Google and the other search engines, but now we have AI in our pockets.

It's even more intense.

Just Google it.

We no longer have to rack our brains to figure out who sang a song or what this represents.

Hey, Shazam, man, pull up our phone and we can look it up on social media.

We can look it up through one of the search engines.

And through social media, we now carry in our heads, in our hands, what everyone else is doing at the same time.

We feel I this is the they call it FOMO, fear of missing out, right?

That's a real thing.

It is, because I I feel that way.

I feel that way all the time.

We carry thousands of fragments of information about our friends and vacations and children's birthday parties and all these things, concerts they attend, restaurants they tried, where they worked out this morning, which I'm I'm thinking, why do I care about those things?

We also know about all the developments that are occurring around the world.

We know that when earthquakes happened, we know I think it was this past Saturday morning, last week.

Um where the U.S.

came in to Venezuela.

And so that morning, I had not checked anything.

I was trying to be a good pastor and follow what I taught.

And just said, have you seen the news?

Have you seen the news?

I said, No.

We're not supposed to see the news first thing.

All this information, all this knowledge, it clutters our minds, and the more we get, the more we're afraid that we're going to miss out.

And all of this doesn't help.

It hurts.

We doom scroll, we watch others live their lives, we feel insecure, we feel left out, we feel inadequate, we feel lonely, we feel like we don't have anything.

Everybody else has everything, and we need more.

And it and it it crushes our ability to focus and it diminishes our life that Jesus wants for us, which is a life of abundance.

We can't know everything.

You can't know everything.

There are limits.

We have limits.

But God is also omnipresent.

He is all-knowing.

I am not.

He is also omnipresent.

He is, he means He is can be present everywhere at the same time.

God is omnipresent.

I am not.

But I think I'm supposed to be, I think I can be.

In the world today, physical location has never been less relevant.

We can FaceTime.

I can know what you're doing on the other side of the world because you're taking pictures and putting them on your social media, and we can FaceTime.

And listen, even if there's a pandemic, we're not going to let a pandemic keep us from doing things, like meet with other people.

And so you remember the pandemic?

It was all about Zoom, and we don't have to miss out on anything.

But here's what I found out during that time when I had access, and I could, I felt like you could, you feel like you could be omnipresent, but you can't.

There's something about the limitation of physical presence that helps us be fully human.

And part of that is realizing that, hey, even though I have access and I feel like I can be a bit omnipresent, man, during the pandemic, we all figured out, we all realize, man, how much we miss the physical presence of being with other people.

We have limits.

God does not, we do.

And so you can have how many followers on Facebook?

How many followers on Instagram?

You can have all these friends, but how many friends do you really have?

We have limits.

We have limits.

And so every one of us at some point has felt the feeling of rejection.

No one's saving a seat in the cafeteria as you think about children.

And we used to, those, those experiences used to be limited at school.

And the kids could go, and kids can be rough on each other.

But when they would come home, home could be a place of refuge.

But you know what?

Because of humans' attempts to be omnipresent, a kid doesn't have refuge at home anymore.

But because of technology, they can be bullied 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And they can't retreat anywhere.

We've got limits.

Got limits.

So God is omniscient, He's all-knowing, He is omnipresent, He is everywhere, but He's also omnipotent, all-powerful.

See, technology amplifies our power in arguments.

We can broadcast our opinion, and it can go viral to millions in a second.

We can order products that literally can be delivered the same day or the next day.

We have this access to all of these things.

We can view the entire world through Google Earth.

Andy Kraut says it this way: He writes, we are on a quest for easy everywhere.

We're on a quest for easy everywhere.

We've got to learn how to how to do some things with ourselves in some solitude.

Why learn to play the violin when you can simply listen to it on Spotify?

Why learn to prepare and cook food at home when you can simply go through a drive-thru?

And so our life and not realizing we have limits has become that I can do everything convenient without learning to do some of the things that have significance in our life.

And I believe our obsession with these devices is as old as the Garden of Eden.

It's as old as the Garden of Eden.

As a matter of fact, on the back of my phone, underneath that case, there's a symbol.

That symbol is a piece of fruit with a bite taken out of it.

And so I thought, man, what a great reminder.

Every time I look at the back of my phone, I'm reminded of the limits that God has put in place and how the enemy wants to distract me from having the life of abundance that Jesus wants for me.

So our struggle with technology is a struggle with limits.

God gives us limits.

For our protection.

Just like the roadway has a margin where if you roll off, hopefully you don't just lose control.

There's margin.

And for those of you that try to look at your phone while you're driving, they put these little rough spots on the edge of the highway that reminds you, oh, I'm veering off.

My attention has been distracted.

We all have limits, financial limits, emotional limits.

We have limits.

God does not, but we do.

And when we understand properly where we are in light of who God is, we have taken the first step to understand how to live a flourishing life.

See, God didn't give up on us because of our sin.

He doesn't give up on us because of our sin.

He took the initiative to come to this earth as a human being because he loves us.

He doesn't want us to be separated from him eternally.

He wanted to redeem us, and so that's why he sent Jesus.

Jesus to come and die, to live and to die and to be bodily resurrected, to reconcile us with our Heavenly Father so we could understand who He is and who we are in light of who he is.

And we all have limits.

And when we put our faith in Jesus, we repent.

We repent from trying to live life limitless.

And we acknowledge God is all-powerful, He is all-present, He's all-knowing, and He wants what's best for me.

He loves me, He cares about me.

Amen.

And so would you just bow your heads for a second?

Our team's going to lead us into a closing time, but as they come and prepare for that, can I encourage you to open up your heart and to be real with yourself and to be real with God and to ask God, God, what do I need to repent of?

Where do I need to experience your transformation?

And God, make it clear, make it evident.

The areas that I need to cut away, understand that I have limits.

Part of that is taking technology for what it is.

It's the tool.

Not evil in and of itself, but the strategy of the wicked one, the strategy of the enemy is to distract us away from this life of abundance.

And so, Father, we come to say we are sorry.

And we repent.

And God, we want to be connected to our kids.

We want to be connected to our family.

We want to be connected to the church family.

And God, we want to understand that we have limits and we need to repent.

When we transgress those limits, we need to repent and surrender to your will and your way.

And that is the journey of following Jesus.

So if you need Jesus this morning, I want to encourage you to step out and put your faith in Christ.

Let somebody know.

Let somebody that you came with, let one of our pastors know that you're in the process of moving toward Jesus, and we'll help you any way we can.

But I can tell you right now, all you have to do is say yes to Jesus.

Yes, I understand He loves me.

I know that I'm separated by sin.

But through His life and His death and His resurrection, He's provided me a way back into relationship with Him.

And as a result of that, I want to give Him my life.

If that's you this morning, for some of you it might be you might be confident of your salvation, but you need to do business with God and to establish some boundaries in your digital world and digital life.

And maybe you need to come to the cross and lay your burden at the cross, lay it at the feet of Jesus, lay it before somebody, lay it, share with somebody, tell somebody in your family, tell somebody this morning, I'll be down front if you want somebody to pray with you.

But do business with the Lord.

Go to Him.

You don't have to go to a preacher, I have to go to a pastor, go straight to the Lord.

So, Father, would you lead us?

Would you guide us?

Would you speak?

Continue to work as we share a song of devotion to you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

And everybody said together.

Amen.

Amen.