A Better Way: To Work | Rest Isn't What You Think

Good deal.

Welcome.

Welcome to Freedom Church.

Welcome to week four of our series on we're calling it a better way to work.

I love seeing all of you, like Bethany said, and a lot of familiar faces, a lot of first-time guests from the room, too.

We're so glad that you're here.

I've got some stuff for you at the end of the service.

But um, yeah, this is uh this is a series, it's kind of a unique series.

We're talking about work.

It's usually not a topic that you expect to hear about when you when you come to church, but truth is that when we when we kind of take inventory of the way we're living our life and expending our energy, the truth is that what we do for a living is usually gets more than 50% of our waking hours in a given week.

Very easily for most of us in the room.

And and what ends up happening is that we too easily end up just kind of putting kind of our spiritual life over here and and then like the rest of our life over here.

I don't even think most of us do it consciously.

I think it's just sort of subconsciously.

It's like it's like I'll think about church when I can, I'll think about Jesus when I have the time, and it's like, but I gotta go, I gotta go to work, right?

It's like I got some, I got things to do, and and Lord knows the season is busy right right now.

Like this is like it's gonna be dark soon and cold.

Yeah, because we live in Willowiston.

So this is like really a very demanding season of life.

But we've just been talking over the last three last weeks, just saying, actually, you you it might be surprising to know how much God actually has to say, how much scripture actually has to say about our work and the way that we're wired and the giftsing that we have, and not just not just what we do and how we work, but also the motivations behind our work.

Well, what's actually compelling us to work as hard as most of us here do?

And and so, but but here's the other thing.

See, we're we're week four into this, and and you you you actually can't talk about work without also talking about rest.

You you you gotta we gotta talk about rest.

And I know for at least half the room, all the hair on the back of your neck just stood up.

You're like, rest.

Oh goodness, you know.

You're like, I don't even must be nice.

That's what some of you are thinking.

You know, you just got super cynical.

You're like, must be nice.

Being a pastor, you know, you get to you get to rest, I guess.

You know, it's like, no, there's rest here.

And so what I'm hoping happens today is that we kind of flip the idea of rest, Sabbath.

That's a that's a recurring word in scripture, that we kind of turn this on its head a little bit, and maybe you see it from a from a different light.

Maybe you begin to see it and and and and understand it in a way that maybe you haven't thought about before.

I remember when we first started the church five and a half years ago, and we were really small.

Like today, we were just trying to fit people in the room here today, but like back then, we were just hoping like a hundred people showed up.

And so, you know, and I remember during those early days, it was like it was like I it there wasn't a sign on my head that said this, but it was like, please share your opinions.

I have no feelings.

That's like I felt like I had a sign on me, like that's what it said.

It's like, oh, thank you.

That's what you believe.

It's not like I have any feelings or anything.

Thank you.

I'm not a human being, thank you for that.

And so, but people would say all kinds of crazy stuff to me in that first year.

And and one of them, I would have like this like I remember, I don't know what it was.

It was like a memo went out.

I had like a string of people, like back to back to back.

Now, Pastor, Sunday is not the Sabbath.

I'm like, I'm like, oh goodness, here we go again, you know.

Okay, let's see.

Would you like to pull out your Bible?

Nope, I don't need you.

That's interesting.

You don't need your Bible.

Okay, well, I use my Bible, but anyway, I get the historical part, Sabbath uh traditionally on a Saturday.

If you didn't know this, this is what Christians believe.

Christians believe that Jesus died and then he came back to life on the third day.

That's traditionally observed as a Sunday, and so the Sabbath practice moved to a Sunday.

So there you go.

If you didn't know that, now you now you know that you don't know whether to laugh if I'm joking right now, or am I serious?

Um it's a little bit of both.

Okay, there you go.

That's right, and so that's why we we do that.

It's like that's where the tradition kind of went to Sabbath rest on on a Sunday.

But here's it, here's a verse for you because we're gonna talk about Sabbath, but but it's hard for us to hear things like Sabbath and rest without it feeling a little bit like some Old Testament stuff.

This sounds like rules and regulations.

What do we?

I thought we were past this.

What is this?

Okay, this is Colossians 2.

It says, Therefore, don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, or a new moon set uh celebration, or a Sabbath day.

There it is, right there.

It's like it's on Sunday, so give it a rest.

Move on.

That's welcome to Freedom Church.

Yeah, you're like, Well, I believe it's Saturday.

Well, you ain't gonna fit in here.

I'm just gonna say like it should be on a Saturday.

Well, you might find a new church.

Okay, these are a shadow until we have Saturday services.

That's a thing, y'all.

That's a thing.

Then you can move to Saturday.

Anyway, I digress, I'm distracting.

Okay.

These are a shadow, look at this, of things that were to come.

The reality, however, is found in Christ.

Now, here's the thing for my seasoned Christians in the room, oftentimes we read a verse like that, and we go, see, it's it's it's fulfilled in Jesus.

And and usually when we hear that, we think, see, the rules.

Jesus kept the rules because I couldn't keep the rules, and now all the rules are fulfilled, and so this Old Testament business ain't for me.

Right.

That's usually how we think it.

That's usually the extent of it.

Jesus fulfilled it, therefore, it's it's not it's not a thing I have to do anymore.

And there's a half truth to that.

The the other half, though, is that we're missing the spirit behind it.

There's something about like it isn't just like, oh, it's found in Christ.

Jesus kept the rules, so I can do whatever I want now.

And none of us actually believe that.

None of us actually believe Jesus did it all, so I don't have to do anything.

But what's this talking about?

This is different.

Like what it's found in Christ.

I we're gonna talk about that.

What is ex what exactly is found in Christ?

You know, when Jesus was walking the earth, he's going from town to town, and you know, he's kind of a nomadic, he has no home, he's going from place to place, he's got a hometown, but he doesn't have his own place, and so he's he's kind of going from from town to town, and he's preaching this message, and people he would go through this routine, and people were super compelled by the message that he was giving.

It was like it was familiar, because it's like they they had their old testament, they're like it's familiar, but then it's it's radically different than anything they thought before.

And I mean, I can only I mean I know how I felt when I when I like start to hear Jesus' words again and again.

It's like I'm I'm compelled.

I can't imagine hearing Jesus say some of these things in person, like that what I would, what I might feel in in that moment.

And because he would say some things that were like really hard, but then at the same time, you're like, but I want that.

Yeah, like and I think a lot of you, if you're a Jesus follower, you've probably felt that exact feeling.

Like, this is hard, but but there's something about like I want this though at the same time.

See, he would say stuff like this.

This is Matthew 11.

He would say stuff like, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.

So we live in Williston, so he's talking to us.

This is the weary and burdened community right here.

Yeah, you all know exactly what I'm talking about.

So come to me, all you who live in Williston, and I will give you rest.

Like that sounds, that sounds, come on, that sounds pretty good.

And then take my yoke upon you.

See, some of you, you're allergic to rest.

Like, you don't want to say that out loud, but you're allergic to it.

You don't even know how to rest.

You get like, you got like withdrawal symptoms, and whenever you like sit still for two hours, you're like, I'm shaking.

I feel like I gotta go do something.

Somebody says, Rest.

You think we gotta wear sweatpants and binge watch Netflix?

And it's like, hold on a second, but slow down.

You're like allergic to it.

But notice what he says.

He says, I'll give you rest.

Look at the next line.

Take my yoke upon you.

That's a work, that's work language.

Do you know what a yoke is?

It's like a wooden thing or even a metal like it goes over your shoulders.

It's like you like, it's like you like pull the plow, you put it on animals oftentimes.

It's like a yoke.

So rest.

But what he's saying, he's saying, Come and work with me.

This is what we've been talking about the last three weeks.

Like work with him.

So, so so you want rest that I offer?

Great, work with me.

That's the first thing he says.

You want rest?

Do work my way, work with me, because my pay take my yoke upon you.

Learn my rhythms, learn from me, learn my habits.

He goes, I'm gentle and humble in spirit, and you'll find rest for your souls.

Rest for your souls.

Everybody's done this.

You gone on vacation, and then what do you need when you come back from vacation?

You need vacation from your vacation.

That's what we all need, right?

That's how it that and you didn't work the whole time.

You didn't, you didn't, you didn't work.

You actually were like, you were but you were busy, and you were secretly working at night when you were laying down in bed, and you're making lists.

I'm on vacation.

Come on, we've all been there, right?

You're making lists, you're thinking about tomorrow when you get back.

And then and my favorite is when I when I take my kids, I got five kids, and my when I take my kids, and we maybe we go see somebody for a few days, or we and I got all the kids, and then I'll come back here, and a few of you will know that we were gone for a few days, and you'll be like, How is your vacation?

And I'm like, Do you have children?

I'm I know you have children, I know you.

Those are not called vacation, that's a family trip.

These are wildly different experiences, right?

That's that's not vacation, right?

So, so what is this?

Because some of you, you take time, your body gets a rest, but this is different.

Rest for your souls.

That's that's the disconnect, isn't it?

Rest for your soul, my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

See, when I hear Jesus say that, I go, I want that.

Come on, I want that.

I want rest for my soul.

I want to be able, some of you haven't had a full night's sleep.

You don't even remember the last time you had a solid eight hours of sleep in a given night.

You literally don't even have a memory of that.

Some of you have normalized your four and five hours.

You're like, oh, that's just the way it is.

You it's just the idea that you could lay your head down and have such deep rest at a soul level.

I I know you want that.

I I want that.

But here here we gotta we gotta kind of crush some misconceptions here because because some of us, like I said, we're allergic, so we have some bad ideas associated with what rest is.

Here's the first thing rest is not about inactivity.

I'm gonna show you that here in a few minutes.

But rest isn't about just doing nothing.

Like that that's not what it that's not what it is.

Some of you are like, oh, this is wonderful.

I'm on a season of Sabbath and it's been great.

And it's like, actually, I think they call that unemployment, but they don't, but you're like inactivity.

It's like that's not about inactivity.

That's not what qualifies rest necessarily.

It's like, it's not about fatigue.

That's not that's for a lot of us.

Well, and I've been there with you too, we've all been there.

And sometimes you're like, hey, when was the last time you you had a day?

And it was just like, ah, I'm good.

I'm good because I'm not tired, right?

I still got gas in the tank.

I'm ready to, I'm ready to go.

It's not about fatigue though.

It's not about laziness.

Well, it's the way some of y'all grew up.

It's like you didn't do what to do, like you, you did, you took a whole day, and all you did was what?

And it's like nobody wants to say it because that's pretty insulting, but it's like laziness is kind of floating through our brain a little bit.

Am I lazy?

Are you lazy?

What's going on?

It ain't about laziness.

Rest isn't about laziness.

Here's the other thing, it's not, because this is what we do, because we're people, right?

So we're we swing from from making excuses from that ditch, and then we swing over to this other one.

We go, is this what I got to do to please God?

It's not about pleasing God either.

Well, God doesn't need you to need you to rest in order to be pleased with you.

In fact, I'm gonna show you here in a few minutes.

It's actually quite the other way around.

You can rest because he's actually pleased with you.

That you may not know that, but hopefully by the end of this, you'll you'll see that.

So here's what we're gonna do.

I'm gonna read Hebrew, I'm gonna start at the end of Hebrews 3, and I'm gonna read a pretty big portion of Hebrews 4.

I kind of skip a few for time's sake, but I'm gonna I'm gonna go through this with you.

And one of the things about the book of Hebrews, give you a little bit of context here.

This is a really hard book to understand.

In fact, I I'm I've met very few people who are actually like, yeah, for those of you that do read your Bible on a regular basis, don't you you have you probably have like portions of your Bible you tend to go to more often than other times, right?

I remember when I was really, really young in faith, it was like I was just always reading Ephesians for some reason, just always.

It's because it like made sense to me.

So I always went to the stuff that made sense to me.

Do you know where I never ended up?

Leviticus.

Never ended up there.

I was like, skin diseases and weird things like that.

I'm lost in the sauce.

I don't know.

Hebrews was another one.

I was like, I never ended up in Hebrews.

I was like, I don't know what these people are talking about.

This is confused.

Philippians, got that.

Colossians, I get that, you know, right?

It's a hard book.

Okay, so here's what it is.

Let me give you some context, what we're about to read.

He's the the author is recalling back to the story of the Israelites in Egypt in slavery.

You know the story.

You at least watch the movie, right?

You know what I'm talking about.

Okay, so the story, they're in slavery.

Guy Moses comes along, let my people go, kind of thing.

And so then he he goes out, ten plagues, they go to the wilderness.

But that's remember, he's gonna take them to the promised land.

So there's a promised land.

They've got to go through the wilderness to get to the promised land.

And the promised land is the place flowing with milk and honey.

It was the place that you could experience rest.

That's the way it was described.

It was a place of rest.

And then they get there.

It takes them a few days or whatever, a few weeks.

They get they get to the promised land, and they're like, okay, let's send some spies into the land, scout it out.

What's it gonna take to move into the promised land?

They get there, 12 spies come back.

Ten of them come back and be like, There's some really big people there.

We would be a bunch of idiots if we tried to go in there.

Like they're gonna crush us, they're gonna destroy us.

This is dumb.

Only two of them came back and said, Hey, let's, God's with us.

I mean, he ten plagues in Egypt, he can get us this land, you know.

And but they all what do they do?

They go, I don't think I believe those two guys.

I think I'm gonna believe the ten guys.

So they decided, I know God said to go there, but I just don't see any way that that's gonna produce anything good for us.

And the wilderness isn't that bad, right?

So let's not go in there, right?

So that's what that's the story, right?

They end up in there for 40 years in the wilderness, and eventually the next generation is the ones that go into the promised land.

There you go.

Okay, you're caught up.

There you go.

That's the context, all right?

Now, Hebrews chapter 3, you can follow along.

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

We're just gonna read this whole thing here.

Hebrews chapter 3, we're gonna start in verse 18.

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

To whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed.

So we see that they were not able to enter because of their unbelief.

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.

For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did.

But the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.

Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, so I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest.

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.

For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words.

On the seventh day, God rested from all his works.

Skip down to verse eight.

If Joshua had given them rest, that's that's when they finally entered the promised land with Joshua.

If Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

For the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.

You seasoned Christians had no idea that this verse was right in the middle of a chapter talking all about Sabbath and rest, but here it is.

It's sharper than a double-edged sword.

It penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him who we must give an account.

Here's what I'm gonna show you through all that.

That was a lot, and then hopefully you were following along on that.

But here's what I'm gonna show you as we go through there.

Maybe some of you saw it, maybe, maybe, maybe you didn't.

I'm gonna show you three types of rest that the author is is is is uh teaching us here in this moment.

He's giving us three types of rest that's available to you and to me.

Here, here's the first, here's the first type of rest that he he talks about.

It's it's the type of rest that only comes from believing God.

There's a rest that's available to you, meaning, that comes through believing God.

Now listen to what I'm saying.

I didn't say believing in God, I said believing God.

Everybody, listen, all those people that were that were wanting to go into the promised land, but they couldn't, every one of them believed in God.

Every one of them knew they they all believed in God.

In fact, all of their enemies believed in God.

They they just believed that their God was more powerful than the God of the Bible, right?

They it isn't about believing in God.

The problem is what he's talking about.

He's talking about a rest that comes from believing that what Jesus says is right and true and best is actually right and true and best.

It's it's a it's a rest that is only available when when God says, do this, and you'll flourish, and and it's only available when you say, Okay, and then you experience it.

But see, that's but that's not the story of those people in the wilderness.

That's all of our story, right?

What what happens?

He says, This is the way to experience rest, and we go, Yeah, I don't, I don't, it doesn't make sense to me.

It just doesn't, I'm looking at it, you're telling me this is the Jesus way, but it just doesn't seem like that's gonna serve me the best or my family the best, and I need some more reassurances, and so we end up choosing our own way.

And I'm just telling you, see that do you see that?

That's the believing God.

See, this is also this is also not a rest that's best that's built on inactivity.

Think of think about what he told them to do.

He's he told these Israelites, he said, Here's the promised land, here's my rest, enter it.

How do we enter that rest?

Go kill some giants.

You're like, wait, I didn't know that was rest.

No, that's the pathway.

It isn't an inactivity, it's like do it my way, and I'm gonna empower you to do it, to do the work I'm giving you to do.

And like, that's not an inactivity rest.

That's like uh, that's active.

Are you following that?

I think about relationships.

I think about what how we do our marriages and how we how we do friendships and how we how we treat people in our lives.

It's like there's a Jesus way, and then there's a way that makes sense to us, right?

And he's saying, if you want to live in peace in your marriage, then then do marriage my way.

Do it this way.

It's like, well, I don't know.

It's just like that feels a little bit antiquated.

And so we start doing it our own way, and we wonder why there's a bit of like turmoil, right?

I want to follow Jesus, but I'm split because I'm not actually following the way that leads to flourishing.

Do you see this?

There's a peace and alignment that comes only when we trust God enough to take him at his word and do things his way.

Are you seeing that?

So there's comes by way of believing God.

Here's the second form of rest that we talked about.

It was right in there, and it was this rest.

I'll call it God's rest.

Call it God's rest.

By the way, the fact that God rested ought to crush most of our reasons for not resting.

It really should.

It should just sort of like just sort of squash it because because we've all been there.

We won't right.

We we said those excuses at the beginning.

We said, I don't need to rest because I'm not tired, right?

I'm not fatigued.

I I've I've got fuel in the tank, I'm ready to go.

It's like, do you think you think God ran out of fuel?

I mean, I think I think he didn't run it, he wasn't tired.

He's like, he's God, you know.

It's like laziness.

I don't I don't think God's lazy.

I mean, God got a lot going on, he's got a lot to think about.

Remember the old old kid's song?

Uh, he's got the whole world.

Remember that song?

In his I can't even believe I'm singing to you right now.

That's you know, I speak to you, happy to do that.

My wife sings, and I'm like, I will never sing in front of you.

I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but here I am for the sake of an illustration.

Here it is.

He's got the I'm done.

That's all you get right there.

Yeah, and I've got like what a job and some relationships in my hand, and I'm like, I need a break.

I'm like tired, right?

Overwhelmed.

God's got the whole world in his hand.

He's not, he's not overwhelmed, right?

He's and he's not, he's got he's got a lot of responsibility to go, I got some things to do, right?

I can't afford to rest.

If anybody's got that excuse, God did, but he doesn't have that excuse, right?

He doesn't do that, he models it.

God's rest is a rest that he models.

You know what kind of rest it was?

If you go back to Genesis 1 and 2, it was the rest where he goes, This is good.

That's what he says.

Every time he gets done with the day, he goes, That's good.

And then he Makes you and me.

And he comes to the end of it and he comes that seventh day and he looks at it and he goes, Oh, this is very good.

See, God's rest is like a purpose accomplished.

That's what he's saying.

Like mission accomplished.

We did it.

It's functional.

It's works.

It works the way it's supposed to.

There's almost a celebration in it.

Like God's almost like sell, it's a celebration.

Like, ah, enjoyment.

When was the last time you enjoyed the fruit of your labor?

But yet that's the that's the rest that God models for us.

So there's there's rest that comes by way of believing God.

There's there's God's rest.

And then the third rest that we're going to spend the rest of our time on here is our rest.

Our our rest.

What is this?

Okay, believing God, God's rest, our rest.

This is see that we we read it at the beginning.

It's like it finds these things like Sabbath, if they find their fulfillment in Christ.

What is that?

This is our rest.

This is I let me I describe our rest this way.

When you actually get a hold of it, it's like it's that like settledness in you that says, I got nothing to prove.

I got I got nothing, I got nothing to prove.

I got I got nothing, I got it.

Honestly, when you get a hold of this rest, you actually become invincible when you get a hold of this rest.

Because it doesn't even matter what anybody says to you.

See, most of us, our way, our idea of how to get to that rest is we think, if I won the Powerball, then I'd have that rest.

Come on.

They even have a name for it.

I can't even say the name of that kind of money from the platform because that would be inappropriate, but they got a name for that type of money, right?

You got so much money that it doesn't matter what anybody says to you, right?

You just be like, I do my own thing.

I don't care what you say to me, I don't care what you claim about me, I don't care what you want, didn't demand from me, I don't care how you insult me, it doesn't even matter.

I got so much money, it don't even matter.

That's usually what we think of.

It usually requires money for us to get a hold of the idea that there's actually that kind of rest available.

And I'm telling you, you can be that invincible with no money.

I'm saying you don't need you don't need that much money to be to to have that kind of rest.

See, that's that's the rest that's actually in Jesus.

How do we do that though?

Because that's easy to say, right?

Rest for your souls, we said at the beginning.

Yes, Jesus, rest for my soul.

But but how do I bridge the gap between how I'm living right now and actually stepping into this rest that Jesus says he has for me?

I'm gonna I'm gonna show you two ways because and then we read them.

You probably missed it, but but we read them.

Here's one of the ways.

You gotta stop hiding.

You have to stop, you have to stop hiding.

We just read it.

He he says, everything.

Remember, the word of God, the word of God split cuts through everything.

The word of God, the word of God has this way of of dis deciphering things and splitting things, and and right, we're we're experts at justifying ourselves and and and spiritualizing things.

And and what he says, and we just read it, he says, the word of God has a way of cutting through all that stuff.

It cuts through all that, and it says, everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we all must be given account.

That sounds like Genesis.

Remember the Genesis story?

There's Adam and Eve, they do things their own way, they're they're they're just sort of like choosing their own way, and then they realize they're naked and in their shame, and they're naked, in the shame of realizing not just that they're physically naked, but they're spiritually naked.

When they realize that they're wholly inadequate, that they've completely fallen short in every way.

They're they're naked.

This is the same thing.

Everything's uncovered and laid bare.

Same same language.

So, what did they do?

They they they put the fig leaves together, right?

And they decided to clothe themselves.

And we do the same thing.

But it's a spiritual nakedness.

So, what do we do?

We get real busy.

We get we get real busy, we work really hard.

And for a lot of us, we have to, we I think we have to kind of take some inventory, and it's like, I don't see anybody wearing fig leaves today.

Thank God, right?

We would have another another next step for you before you walked in today if you did.

But but it but that's so that's not the thing.

But we have other ways that we build fig leaves to kind of cover up the things in our life.

Because if I get really busy and I work really hard, well then that gives me permission to not have some hard conversations that I've been putting off maybe for a few years.

Do you see this?

Like there's something about the pace and the in the way we fill our lives and honestly with our work.

Because for a lot of us, what's the first question we ask each other?

What do you do?

It becomes the thing that we are able to like, and and by the way, it's noble because because who doesn't?

We we think highly of each other.

You're you're you're a hard worker, you, you're you're you're not lazy, you're diligent, you persevere, you're smart, you got great talents, you have incredible gifts, and you're supposed to use them.

And we and we but we said it for three weeks.

God wants to empower you to use your gifts to make a difference in the world.

But see, just like just like everything we have this way where we go, we we we take it on and we go, it's no longer something I'm empowered to do.

It's now something I get to hide behind and consume myself, and I get to like translate the source of my rest and my sense of identity, and I can put it in that instead.

It becomes a fig leaf.

And we have to stop hiding.

We gotta stop hiding.

We gotta be willing to like lay some of that down.

Here's the close cousin of that.

Stop hiding.

Here's the second part of that.

Stop striving.

We have to stop striving.

That's in here too.

We have to, we have to stop striving.

I mean, you read it, it was like even even God, everyone who rests, also, like God, rests from their works.

Like there's a there's a striving.

I remember when I was a I was a senior in high school, I was playing baseball, and I was, you know, when I was a kid, I'm already kind of naturally loud.

I got a little bit of volume.

The mic goes out, I'm good.

We'll be good.

You hear me in the back, you know.

I'm you know, and I'm I'm I'm I'm a little bit more anchored.

Back then, when I was a teenager or young adult, I was what you call unanchored at times.

Okay, like shot first, aim second kind of thing, you know, say whatever.

And so, you know, I was and that could be fun until it's not fun, right?

Until you're in trouble.

And so that's that was kind of how I was.

And I remember a senior in high school, and I was I was uh one of the leaders on the team.

And so um, I remember we I think we were at like an away game, a double header, it was a long day.

We were coming back, long bus ride back, and we get done, and we're I'm the last one off the bus.

I'm kind of helping clean up after everybody, and I'm walking off the bus, and my my assistant coach, who is a believer, and he stops me right at the as we're getting off the bus.

He knew I was a believer, I'm a believer, he's a believer, and he stops me, it's just him and I on the bus, and he goes, he goes, Um, Jason, um the way you were talking on the way home today, and then all the things you were saying, and everybody was having fun, and and you're just you know, Mr.

Cool Guy, you're doing all your things.

You think you think that uh you think you were representing Jesus well today?

You think that was the way to represent Jesus to the younger guys here?

Now I had enough respect for my coach at the time at the moment, I was just like, you know, I was yes, sir, no, sir, yeah, you got it.

I'm gonna I'm gonna think about that.

But but on the inside, I was like, who the heck do you think you are?

Are you kidding me?

I got I got I got one kid like this, okay?

All right, and and and it goes something like this.

It's like, you are do not do that.

Sit down, and then they sit down, but on the inside, you know they are standing up right now.

You know what I'm saying?

That was me.

Come on, that's you too.

But this is me and my story, okay?

So I'm standing, I'm yes, sir, yes, sir.

But inside I'm like, you don't, are you kidding me?

Do you know what all the all my teammates are doing?

Do you know I'm making good decisions here?

I'm trying, I'm a leader in my church right now as a teenager.

I'm I'm doing some good.

You know what?

I could be doing some other thing.

I could have been partying, I could have, but I wasn't because I'm following the Jesus way, and then I have a moment, and you decide to call me out in the moment, and it's like, nobody's perfect.

These are all the things I'm saying.

What is it?

What in the world?

What is this?

Nobody's perfect.

You don't even acknowledge all the good things that I'm doing.

You don't even acknowledge any of that.

You just want to drill into this one thing.

How dare you?

And I was deeply offended by this.

By the way, later on, he becomes a pastor at the church.

He actually calls me and he he hired me to be a pastor.

That's how I got a full-time ministry.

So, anyway, that came full circle.

That's kind of funny.

I told him that story.

He was like, I don't remember that.

I was like, Oh, well, okay.

It only was super monumental for me, but no big deal.

Okay.

You know, for most of us, this is usually how we think.

We for some of you, because I've had this conversation with many of you.

One of the things that keeps you from even like, or what kept you, because you're here, but it kept you from coming to church, maybe even for a long time, is you felt like, man, if they only knew what I was up to, if they only knew what I had done, if they only knew.

And that that oftentimes holds you back.

And see, and for a lot of us, for most of us, we we think that it's all the worst things that we've ever done.

We think about all the it's like that's the it's the it's the bad things I used to do that that keep me from being right with God.

And I don't do that anymore.

You know, I I made a vow, I'm never gonna be like that anymore.

And so we start thinking about all the old things that we did, all the bad things, all the things we're ashamed of.

All the we think about all those, and we think those are the things that keep us from being right with God.

It's not, it's actually all the best things you've ever done that keep you from being right.

You you don't, you don't, you don't think you you thought it was all the bad things.

It's not, it's it's actually all the bad, it's all the good things.

Those are called damnable good deeds.

Because you because it's inevitable.

I think about there's there's 18-year-old Jason, all offended that you would point out these things where it's just like there's a major flaw in my character, and I go, how dare you point that out?

Because look at all the good things I'm doing.

Hang in my hat on the good things I'm doing, hang in my hat on the idea that oh see, but I'm doing the best I can.

Yeah, somebody, hey, are you are you you you following Jesus?

Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm I I'm doing my best.

So, like you, you like if you died when you're gonna be with Jesus.

I hope so.

You don't get it, you don't get it.

That 19 18-year-old Jason, offended that you would point out some characters, don't didn't get it.

And so you wouldn't know that, you wouldn't go, oh, I'm earning my salvation.

You wouldn't say that, you don't think that none of us thinks like that, but that's a striving.

That's a that's a striving.

And so you know, you know there's a striving there because there's a defensiveness around some of this.

It's just like ah, you it's that part of you that goes, somebody accuses you of something or says something, and you're just kind of like, oh, you're just kind of like, how dare you! There's a defensiveness to that because there's a striving there.

And I'm telling you, when you when you actually get a hold of stop hiding and stop striving, listen to me, it makes you invincible.

It does.

It makes you it makes you invincible.

Because you go, I know I'm guilty.

I of course I'm guilty.

That's what I need Jesus for.

Thank thank you for pointing that out.

Thank you, thank you for for pointing that out.

You know what the Bible says?

Proverbs says, as a wise man, you correct a wise man and they love you for it.

Do you know why?

Because wise people understand that they don't justify themselves.

Wise people understand that it isn't about the good deeds that outweigh the bad deeds, it's just that I'm trying to align my life my life with Jesus.

And so whenever I whenever I'm confronted with something that misaligns that, it's like I want the peace that's only found in Jesus.

And so I'm not hanging my hat on well, the good, whether I did good, do good, served here, gave that, I'm not hanging my hat on that.

I'm hanging my hat on Jesus.

See, that's how that's a rest that's only found in Jesus.

But you gotta stop hiding and you got to stop striving.

Let me give you a practical way to live this out.

There's a practical way.

You may not think it's connected, but there's a reason that all of this is tied together because it's this it's make Sabbath a habit.

And you you almost think how hiding and striving, like why how do we get to this?

But I didn't make this up.

This is this is all right here in in the text.

Why, why is that?

There's there's something about you, you you you find a way to make this like 24-hour period of time and just go, I'm gonna I'm gonna stop producing, by the way.

I'm gonna I'm gonna rest, I'm gonna worship, I'm gonna enjoy, I'm gonna talk about that here in just a second.

There's something about when you saw see, some of us, it's if it's two hours of rest and we're shaking, right?

Why?

But there's something about rest.

There's something about some silence, there's something about stopping that makes us feel exposed.

We all know this.

We all know this.

That this is why when you begin to make a habit of having this kind of margin, you want you want a you want a pathway that goes, am I hiding?

I don't think I'm hiding.

You you make Sabbath a habit, you'll find out if you're hiding or not.

Why do I feel like I gotta go run?

Why do I feel like I gotta stay busy?

Why do I feel like I can't stay here and keep doing this?

Maybe we're high.

What are we hiding from?

I'm not I'm I'm not striving.

Why, why, why is it why is it that we feel lazy every time that we are we stop and do something for a day?

Why do we feel lazy?

You're not lazy.

That doesn't make you lazy.

God's not lazy.

That doesn't make you lazy.

See, do you see this?

There's something there, there's something, a practical habit that has this way of shining a light on the places where we're hiding and striving.

Now, I want you, I want to say this because you need to understand this, because this isn't about like, all right, let's pick up, let's pick up this commandment.

And now we're all gonna, you shall practice the Sabbath.

We're talking about, we're not just talking about the practical aspect of practicing and doing the Sabbath being in the habit.

We're also talking about the spirit behind it.

The spirit behind uh behind Sabbath.

Some of you, a lot of you, you work with your hands.

You work like really physical jobs, you get to the end of the week, you are physically exhausted.

Guess what?

You know what's probably not a good thing to do on a on a day where you go, I'm a Sabbath.

You know what's probably not a good day?

Fixing the house up.

That's probably a bad idea on that day, okay?

Hey, because you're not, you've been doing that all week.

Stop producing, give it some rest.

For for me, I do a lot of, I work with a lot of teams, a lot of people, and it's a lot of writing, it's a lot of communicating.

So guess what sounds good on a Sabbath day for me?

Working on my rock garden in the back of the house.

That doesn't sound that bad, right?

I'm like dirty, okay?

I look like I'm like I'm like I'm working, right?

That's what I look.

So there you go.

But that's good.

That's good for me.

Do you see that?

It's different.

So we're not talking about, we're not talking about some regimented law of Sabbath.

We're talking about, we're talking about the spirit of Sabbath.

The ability to rest is not something that's bound up in the fact that you've been productive enough.

It's bound up in the fact that God rests, God rested.

He gives you the opportunity to rest, and he says, You're not a slave, you don't got to work like that.

You are allowed to rest.

You know, um, I remember Bethany and I have been trying to make uh Sabbath a habit for years.

And by the way, when you got kids, I feel like that's the right way to say it.

In fact, I was talking to a friend of mine down there, he's teaching a class today down at Freedom Kids, and he said, He said, We're we've been trying to make, we've been trying to, we've been trying to Sabbath for a while.

And I feel like when you're in this season of life, which is most everybody in the room, that's the right way to say it.

It's like a making happen, trying to make it's a work.

That's why the Bible, we just read it.

Make every effort because it's hard.

That's hard to do.

Especially if you got kids involved, but even if you don't have kids, it's just like the demands of work and and just like a lot of you are in this like the busiest seasons of your life right now.

And I remember from Bethany and I, when we started years ago, you probably think, Oh, must be nice, Pastor.

Must be nice.

Sabbath, this is a churchy thing now, you know.

You get that's good for you.

Probably an expert on it, yeah.

Hardly, okay.

No, this is uh we're making every effort.

And I remember years ago when we first started this, we'd be like, okay, we're gonna put Sabbath on Mondays, because I'm working most of the day on a Sunday, so we go, we're going to Sabbath on a Monday.

And so we would do that.

Let me tell you what that meant.

It meant we write in the calendar, Sabbath on Monday.

What it really meant was fight with your spouse every Monday.

That's what that meant.

It was right in there, it was just right in the calendar.

We called it, we made it real churchy and spiritual, we called it Sabbath.

What it really meant was this is the day we will fight.

It was peaceful all week, but now it's Sabbath.

Now we're gonna fight.

We're gonna talk about the budget today, huh?

Okay, great, great.

I don't want to talk about the budget.

Like, this is how it went, okay?

Why?

Because it's that clunky a lot of times.

Like it, like it takes, well, it's like, uh, this is gonna be my day, and I'm gonna Sabbath.

That's the day that everything goes wrong at work.

Make no mistake about it.

That's the day, that's the day that your kids are being your kids.

You know what I'm saying?

Like that's the day.

And I'm just saying, like, this isn't about some regimented, rule-based living where you go, you must Sabbath, have you done your Sabbath?

This is about the fact that the Sabbath was made for you, not you for the Sabbath.

It means that God's trying to gift you with the idea that you can experience rest.

I think it's worth asking all of us.

It's like, who gets to set the rhythms for our life?

Really?

Maybe you haven't even, I I would bet, I would imagine most of us haven't even thought about that.

Who who gets to set the rhythms for our lives?

And for most of us, it's other people.

It's it's uh it's it's other things.

And and I see this a lot.

I see this a lot in parents and married couples where it's like I all these aspirations that one day I'm gonna have this experience with my kids and I'm gonna teach them these things, and we're gonna do these things, and we're gonna have this kind of relationship, and then they turn 16 and 17, and they get in their cars and they drive away, and parents are going like this.

Oh, where did the time go?

Or we're married and we're like, you know what?

I just have a better, a better vision for what my marriage is gonna be like, and so life starts getting a hold of us because life's life, and so we start trying to.

I'm gonna do it maybe next year, maybe next season, maybe when we enter into the season that's not busy.

And when you find that season, you tell me what that's like, because I still haven't found it.

The then the the season that that will eventually come but never does come.

Not busy.

I don't know if I don't even know what that means.

But this is what it's like.

And we go, where did the where did the time go?

Where did who gets to set the rhythms for your life?

And I'm just saying, like, there's some of this, it's it's not it's not easy.

This is margin, by the way.

That's our time.

We're talking about margin, having some margin in your life.

And by the way, margin is seasonal.

You know, people talk about balance.

Well, it's all about balance.

Do you know what I think about balance?

I think it's a myth.

I don't even think it's real.

I'm being serious right now.

I don't even, I don't think well, the key is having a balanced life.

I'm like, what planet do you live on?

There's no such that's a myth.

Everybody talks about balance.

I'm like, there's no such thing as balance.

My goodness.

Then you know what's gonna happen after service.

Somebody's gonna come to me like, well, Pastor, I have found balance.

I was like, yeah, because you're semi-retired and all your kids left the house.

Like, welcome.

You found balance in your life.

Great, but for those of us that are in the throes of real life, balance is not a thing.

Seasons is a thing.

So guess what?

For some of you, this is like the busiest season right now.

Work is the most demanding right now because it's actually daylight, and here in a few minutes, there's gonna be an ice storm that comes through town.

Like that's what's gonna happen.

And so you're like really busy, and that's the season.

You're like, I don't even have time.

I'm working until 10, I'm up at four.

Like, this is this is your life because that's the season.

But eventually the ice storm is gonna come into town and it's gonna be really dark, and that's not gonna be your routine.

And I'm saying that you need to work with the rhythms of your life and embrace the season that you're in and start making things like Sabbath rest a priority.

And for you, it might not be 24 hours right now because that sounds crazy, and maybe it is.

Just call your work.

Hey, uh pastor said 24 hours, so I just can't be in there today.

It's like that's not realistic, right?

But maybe you set aside that four hours, that eight hours, that 12 hours, whatever it might be.

Begin to put begin, begin to put the margin in your life.

Look, look how this whole verse ends, right?

This whole chapter.

Look how it ends.

Talking about rest, looking about Sabbath, talking about not hiding, not striving.

Look what's at the end of it.

You ready?

Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence.

This is at the end of it.

When you stop hiding, you stop striving.

You can approach God with confidence, not guilt, oh God, I know I've messed up, but I feel guilty and I feel like I need some time to re-establish the relationship because you know what I was doing the other day.

No, no, no, no.

With confidence, so that we can receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

You can begin to approach God with confidence when you stop, not when you get your life perfect, when you stop hiding, you stop striving.

Do you see that?

That's the key.

That's the key.

You can approach him with confidence.

See, for some of us, you need wisdom right now.

You need you need deep wisdom because there's stuff going on with your kids.

You have some relationship dysfunction.

Some of you in your marriages right now, things are not good.

And you're going, I need some help.

I need some breakthrough.

And you know what I believe?

And I don't just believe, I'm not just saying this for the sake of saying it.

I believe this.

God has a pathway for you to experience incredible breakthrough in your relationships.

He really does.

He's got answers for you, he's got a pathway for you.

Some of you, you need a financial breakthrough right now.

Like money's been tight for years, and you're going, Does this season ever end?

Does this ever am I ever going?

And I'm just telling you, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

And I am telling you, God actually has a way that He wants to take you, a path He wants to take you on, things He wants to say to you, experiences He wants you to have, and He wants to have incredible breakthrough in your life.

He wants to see that.

So reconciliation, peace, how about some contentment, breakthrough in your career?

These are all real things.

And I'm telling you, God has that for you.

But the things that God wants to give you, and the things He wants you to experience, for a lot of those things, we're unlikely to hear it, and we're unlikely to experience it until we stop hiding in the margins of our life.

Like calendars to the limits, budgets to the limits, energies to the limits, and he's going, I've got it for you, and I'm speaking to you, and I'm trying to lead you.

But your lack of margin in your life is getting in your way of being able to experience these things I have for you.

Rest.

We need rest.

That's the invitation.

Rest for your souls.

Let's pray.