Top Ten // Trust God

Welcome to the Refinery Church Sermon Podcast.

We're so glad you've joined us today.

Our prayer is that this message will help you grow in your pursuit to love and follow Jesus for life.

If you'd like to learn more about the refinery, find ways to get connected, share a prayer request, or explore resources to help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ, visit us online at refineryohio.com.

Now let's dive into today's message.

Well, good morning, y'all.

Hey, so we surprised Bailey first service.

At least I think we didn't.

Did we surprise you first service?

Casually?

We did.

I didn't think what was happening, and then I saw Christie come out with a gift, and I was like, oh boy.

It's for me.

Yeah.

So uh we are celebrating Bailey having served here on the Staff of the Refinery for 15 years this past week, and so we'd love to just show some prescription.

I told the team, I told the team backstage, I was like, I mean, I started here when I was nine.

Nothing's crazy.

A lot of people are like, man, how did you get him started?

So young.

Yeah, it's just like it's incredible.

Um so we we joke on staff, like uh, I'm big into celebrations.

I love attention and all that kind of stuff.

Bailey, he wants to be behind the scenes.

He'd rather us not celebrate anything.

Um, but I say, Bailey, we have to do this.

Like, this is very important for us.

And so, no, we we love getting to celebrate.

Bailey has been such a tremendous partner in ministry.

I'm so grateful to get to work with him.

Each member of the staff's incredible, but we're celebrating him today, okay?

So, like, let's focus there.

But we are so glad.

And so I asked him if he'd just maybe share a word.

And he said, I kind of did this in July when I preached my sermon, but you must have not listened.

But I was on sabbatical and legally was not allowed to listen to sermons.

So, like, I'm like, that's why I didn't it.

But would you like to say a word?

Yeah, as I as I said uh in my sermon, just um there's been many opportunities over the years, and the Lord has just kept us here.

And so, speaking for Sarah, speaking for our kids, like we just love this place.

Uh, and for however long, if it's another, if it's another 15, I don't know what that would be.

So you're 40.

Till I'm, yeah, 39 years old.

That'd be crazy.

Uh no, however long it may be, you know, we are we're so thankful, and we are are we've been blessed to grow deep roots here and to help be whatever God would ask us to be.

And over the last 15 years, I've helped just to build um in you know the refinery creative, like the worship teams and everything.

And I was thinking about this over there.

The next 15 years, refinery run club.

That's just all I'm gonna be.

Everything is all I'm gonna be in the club.

I'm signing up instantly.

Shocking.

Yeah, I just might be busy most of the days we run.

Um, yeah, for other reasons.

Would you give him one more round of applause to show appreciation, love?

So you might be like, wow, kind of lame you didn't give him a gift.

We gave him a gift first service, and I'll just be honest, I've always hated when they take the gift back and give it again, you know, because I'm like, so we're just gonna tell you.

We gave him a gift, and so super grateful to serve with him.

When I interviewed here years ago, um I met with uh the staff collectively and some individually, and he said, Hey, I'm like, if you decide to come here and this is what God is doing, like I want you to know I'm in your corner, I'm gonna be a support, cheerlead, and everything else.

And he has been.

He's been such a um just such an encourager over these years.

And you know, he'll push back, he'll give ideas, this, that, and the other.

And he's also like, hey, what do you want to do?

How are we gonna get there?

And so I'm grateful to get to serve with him.

And Sarah is such an incredible partner with him uh in ministry here at the church and uh raising the kiddos.

And that was him whistling at her, not me, just so you know, so that that way it is appropriate, you know, for all those online.

Uh, but yeah, we are we're grateful to have Bailey here.

We love him.

So I'm excited to continue in our top 10 series this week.

And um, we're looking at those, they're found in Exodus chapter 20.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

If you're not familiar with the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, these are the first five books of the Bible.

Uh, if you don't have a Bible, we'll happily give you one.

It's the exact same one I use.

Just stop by the connection hub.

Um, if you got it on your device, that's fantastic too.

Still the Bible.

And so what happens is we set the context, remind ourselves of the context.

God rescues the Israelite people out of captivity.

For hundreds of years they've been enslaved.

And he sets them free, and it's in their freedom, in their freedom, that God says, I want to be your God.

I have chosen you.

Do you want to be my people?

God makes the invitation in the context of freedom.

And so the commandments are predicated on this idea of relationship.

They're not compulsory, they're not forced, they're not coerced.

It's not just a list of things to do, it's about relationship.

And again and again, we see the Bible reinforce this idea of relationship from the beginning in the garden when God seeks out Adam and Eve to be in relationship through to the clear, through the Israelites wandering, and it's true even for us today.

And so God begins to point people through the commandments, what it looks like then to live in this relationship.

And first, just as a reminder from last week, first, it's exclusive.

No other gods, right?

First, it's exclusive.

And so, again, this is the idea like we think about with marriage.

It's an exclusive commitment from a man and a woman to say, yeah, man, we choose you forsaking all others.

And in fact, marriage is the primary image that's used throughout the Bible to talk about how God relates to the church.

And so this exclusivity we get.

And then, second, God is seeking to conform us to his image.

We we can't conform him to ours.

We can't shrink him down to some small manageable image that we can slap on all of our bumper stickers and tokens that we carry around.

God is transforming us, God is doing a work in our hearts and in our lives, and that's the nature of this relationship, so it's important to recognize.

Third, how we talk about God really does matter.

If we claim to follow God, then we need to represent Him faithfully.

Then we need to speak about God in ways that are honest and that are truthful about what God prioritizes, what God cares about, what God loves, what God is opposed to.

And so it matters a great deal, which again is easy enough to get.

How we talk about people matters.

And so when we say, man, I love someone, it should show in how we speak.

This week we're going to turn to commandment number four, and I want this to be clear.

The commandments are given on the other side of the world in a context and a culture radically different than our own.

And they're given for the good of those people.

But they apply equally today.

In our context, in our culture, these commandments are for our good.

The commandments provide shape for what it looks like to be a people who follows after God and who rely on God's direction and God's power in their lives, both as individuals and as a community.

We talk about this a lot, our five commitments here at the church.

They have an individual component, okay, how do I commit to these things?

But then there's also a corporate, how do I live this out in community?

God has always called people to be a part of a people, not as individual followers.

Um, anybody ever seen there's a classic old piece of film literature uh from the 90s called Aladdin?

Have you seen it?

You seen it?

I realized this morning that there's a lot of people who probably weren't born when it was made.

But it's, I mean, it's it's up there with Citizen Kane and Casablanca, like it's often in the top fives of movies by critics.

So let me let me paint the picture in case you don't know.

Maybe you saw they did a remake of it with Will Smith.

If you need to go there, that's okay.

This is a safe place.

But but I want to go back to the 90s if we can.

And so what happens is uh Aladdin is kind of this impoverished street rat, some may say.

And he's uh growing up in Agrabah and he's trying to hustle, just make it by day to day.

He's a good guy, just kind of dealing with a bad hand that was dealt him.

So one day, Jasmine, she's the princess of the place, and she sneaks out and pretends to be a commoner and accidentally shoplifts.

It's a long story, you need to see the film, huge dramatic thing.

And she's about to face punishment for it.

He rescues her, and long and short, they end up running from the authorities, and there's this like crucible of a scene in which Aladdin is standing there and Jasmine's sitting there, and the the authorities are pursuing, and Aladdin leans down and says, Do you trust me?

And she says, Yes.

Then jump, and they jump off this ledge thing and they're safe and they get away from the people.

So if she had said, Yes, I trust you, and he goes, jump, and she goes, No.

It's not trust.

Trust requires action.

Who is it that you trust?

When you think about individuals or organizations, it matters how we answer that question of who we trust.

Who we trust will shape what we do.

It's one thing to say we trust someone or something, but real trust ultimately requires action.

This past week we had a small car thing.

I take it to the same place every time.

They tell me what I need.

I say, great, I trust you.

I recommend everybody to that same place.

I trust them.

I just, yeah, trust them.

Because truthfully, I don't know what happens under the hood of my car.

Like I know where the gas goes, and that's about it.

So I just trust them.

I've got a friend who does some health stuff, and one time they're sitting down trying to explain everything.

I said, Listen, I just trust you.

Like I'm just gonna trust you.

I don't quite know what you're talking about, but I trust you.

If you're not a lake or an ocean person, it can be one thing you say you trust the boat.

Anybody like get nervous around water?

Your friend says, Hey, come come get on the boat ride.

You're like, I don't know.

He's like, you can trust.

Oh, I trust you.

All right, then get on the boat.

I'm gonna trust you from the land.

No real trust.

Trust shows up when you step into it.

Any uh anybody recently go through the teenage driver thing?

You remember that moment when you learn to trust your child and you said, here's the keys to the car.

And then there's that moment where they're trying to take them, but you still hold them with a death-like vice grip.

And then you let it go, right?

Because you trust them, and then the trust is really tested when you get in the passenger side seat.

And you're like, you go ahead and drive, and then you learn to pray like you've never prayed before.

There's trust.

Imagine you invite uh somebody over, you say, Hey, could you uh come over and watch my kids or watch my pet or watch the house while I'm away, and they say, Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you so much for trusting me with this responsibility.

Like, oh, of course I trust you, and you explain everything.

And then imagine going outside and staring through the window for the next three hours like this.

There's no trust.

Trust matters.

The work of the church leans into this reality of trust quite a bit.

You trust that when you show up each week, like we've prepped and prepared, that the band is gonna be equipped and ready to lead us to the throne of grace, that whoever's speaking, myself or somebody else, that like we've sat with God and we've spent some time, we've sat before God so that we might stand before his people to speak a word that would help us to live out the faith, to walk in the way of Jesus.

If you have kids and you've handed them over, like you trust them, like, hey, they're gonna be here when I get back, right?

You can trust that they're gonna be cared for, looked out for, they're gonna be discipled, they're gonna be taught, encouraged, supported.

If you give to the church financially, you trust that the church is going to steward those dollars well.

You could spend them anywhere, you could do anything with them.

But you say, no, I want to invest in the kingdom of God.

God has called me to this, and so I trust the church.

If you share prayer requests or praises with us, you trust that the team is going to pray for you, that we're gonna reach out, that we're gonna connect, that we can be a support.

If you've ever met with us for counseling or anything like that, we're trying to process something in our marriage or our life, or you trust the confidentiality and everything else that's supported there.

It's trust.

Trust is important.

Last week we focused on the emphasis of the first three commandments about love.

We love God by making him our first priority.

We love God by submitting to his transforming work of us rather than trying to conform him.

We love God and we show it when we speak in line with who he reveals himself to be.

This week I want us to consider trust.

If you'll look with me to the book of Exodus, chapter 20, verses 8 through 11.

Exodus 20:8–11

It reads this way: It says, Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

Holy, set apart other.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

Six days, so this isn't a call to laziness, it isn't a call to sloth, anything like that.

It's a call to an appropriate rhythm of life.

Six days to work, six days to labor, six days to produce, six days to be co-creators with God, to form and raise up and bring about something new.

But the seventh day is something different.

It's a day of rest.

On it you shall not do any work.

Neither you nor your son or your daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day, not from a need for rest, but rather the need to model for people how or to live.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and he made it holy, set apart.

God commands his people to rest.

Now remember the context in which this would have originally been heard.

A people literally enslaved for hundreds of years.

All they knew was production, all they knew was work, all they knew was you can't stop.

And in the midst of this, as God is setting up this invitation to a relationship, God says, first, I want you to know like I love you guys like crazy.

I want this to be exclusive.

I want to be your God, I want you to be my people.

It's like, man, it seems like a good deal.

Hey, second thing, make sure you don't try and shape me into an image because like that's not gonna work.

Like I'm gonna lead this dance.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, that's a good deal too.

Hey, question commandment number three, make sure that you speak about me in a way that aligns with how I've revealed myself to be.

I mean, like that's just that's how we, yeah, that's no problem.

Commandment number four, hey, listen, I want you to take a day off every single week.

I want you to just rest.

Like, this is like seems like too good to be true.

What kind of God makes this offer?

Rest.

Why would God do this?

Because the spinning of the world is not dependent on them.

The spinning of the world is not dependent on you or me either.

Now, at times we'll cognitively assent to this, but we don't always practically live it out.

Oh, yeah, of course I believe that.

Of course I know that's true.

Then why don't you stop?

I will.

Eventually.

From the very beginning of creation, humanity's primary task hasn't been to keep everything running.

God is perfectly sufficient to do that.

God is the one who sustains.

God built this rhythm of rest into creation before there ever was a Pharaoh and before there ever was a deadline.

This is the rhythm God calls us to.

It's a very countercultural idea.

It was countercultural to them as a nomadic people traveling about in a desert land.

It's countercultural to us in a Western world, hyper-focused on earning, on acquiring, and on doing.

This people, they're coming out of a time of hundreds of years of slavery, and they're told to produce.

Their worth is directly tied to what they produce.

Their survival is predicated on what they produce.

And in some ways, like it's still true of us in our world today.

There's one artist poet that I appreciate.

He talks about the fact that we're still a people in chains, our chains are just prettier.

And we choose to put them on instead.

You see, they couldn't stop back then because if they stopped, who would provide what was needed?

And I think sometimes that's the challenge and the rub for us today, too.

I can't stop because if I stop, who's going to provide?

God's teaching his people a new paradigm.

God is the one who provides, and he can be trusted.

Straight at the outset of the creation story.

God creates his people and he invites them to a day of rest so that they might work from rest.

Not collapsing into the last day to work from a place of rest.

It's present in the Garden of Eden before sin ever enters into the world.

It's present when Adam and Eve fall, and when they sin, God is still the one who provides.

God makes provision for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

He makes provision throughout the Psalms and the Proverbs and the prophets.

The God of the Bible loves people and actively moves on their behalf, and God can be trusted.

In fact, God had recently taught them this concept in Exodus chapter 16.

Exodus 16 · chapter mention

They're a nomadic people, they're traveling throughout the land, they don't have crops to raise, they don't have a system, they've literally been completely displaced from what they'd known.

And their food sources that they had known in Egypt are gone, so food itself is scarce.

Literally what you need to live.

They're kind of thinking, where's our next meal coming from?

Like we just miss having a regularity of even a space to eat.

These are lean times.

You can find the full story again in Exodus 16.

I'll read a couple verses here in a minute, but let me paraphrase to set us up.

God basically rains down food on the people, on the whole nation.

God says, You're hungry, let me take care of it.

And so God rains down like a bread-like substance, it's manna.

That's what it's called.

And then he rains down quail, which is meat, and each day, here's what's to happen.

The people are to go out, they're to get what they need to feed their family, to take care of their provisions, their concerns, and that's all.

Don't take anything more.

It's almost like this idea of give us this day our daily bread, like something like that, maybe you'd say.

Take just what you need.

And so some people are like, man, this is a good deal.

I go out, I get what I need, like almost like each day has enough trouble of its own, so I can just deal with them one day at a time.

I mean, it's a brilliant philosophy.

And so that's what they do.

And the next day they go out and they find more food.

They're like, best day ever.

But there's some people that really struggled with trust.

They gathered more than was needed.

Here's what we read in Exodus 16, 19 through 20.

It says, Then Moses said to them, No one is to keep any of it until morning.

However, some of them paid no attention to Moses.

Why?

Because they don't trust that it's true.

I've got to keep a little stash, I've got to keep a little reserve, I've got to keep something back.

They kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.

So Moses was angry with them.

It's a trust exercise from God to his people.

Here's what you need to do, here's what's going to happen.

Do you trust me?

Now, to be fair to the people, trust wasn't something that they exactly had a luxury of.

Again, they're coming out of captivity, they're coming out of brokenness.

They'd never been told they could stop.

And so this idea of all of a sudden, like, it's okay to live in a healthy rhythm, a healthy pace, like I don't even know what that looks like.

So they needed to learn, and so God was willing to teach them.

Further, so God explores it even further.

He says, Hey, listen, in preparation for the Sabbath day, the day before, like, I want you to go out and get enough for two days.

So that way on the Sabbath you can just rest, you can take a day.

Like, seriously, the world's gonna keep spinning, it's gonna be okay.

So go out, get enough for two days, and then you'll be fine.

So again, some people are like, Yeah, this is a good deal.

So they go out, they get enough for two days.

They wake up the next day and the food is still there and they're fine, nothing to worry about.

But again, some people they struggle with trust.

Says this in Exodus 16, 27.

Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.

Like God had already told them.

It's a trust issue.

The people go out to acquire more.

There's no reason to do that.

They literally have what they need.

But when your worth and when your value is defined by what you acquire and what you get, what you make, what you store up for yourself, it's not about what you need.

It's just about more and more and more, and you never even stop to ask the question, why do I care?

Sometimes it takes time to unlearn old rhythms and learn new ones instead.

Mistrust was deep in the people.

They're formerly slaves.

All they'd known all of their lives is that they can't stop.

Their worth, their survival, it's tied to production.

God steps in and he declares, listen, you have been chosen, you are loved.

There are new rhythms, there are new paradigms to be embraced.

Your worth, your survival, it's no longer tied to what you can do.

You can rest in me.

It was true then and it's true now.

Our world tells us our worth and survival, it's contingent upon what we can do.

Our worth, our survival is really about whatever gifts that we possess.

It's about what we produce, it's the talent we have, it's if we do all the things right.

It's if we know the answers, it's if we can acquire enough.

It's as if in our culture we're invited to this relentless pursuit of more, but nobody ever stops to ask, why am I trying to get all this stuff?

Years ago, I was uh walking through my neighborhood and somebody was having a yard sale.

We were down in Cincinnati at the time.

There's an older gentleman, his wife had already passed away, and he was just selling just stuff.

And you know, I was just looking at it, and he goes, just make an offer.

On any of it.

He said, I'm downsizing to like a thousand square foot condo or something like that.

And he goes, you know, you acquire all this stuff through life and then nobody even cares about it anymore.

We can pause for a moment here and there in our culture.

But only if we get enough extra to do so.

Hey, just let me get ahead.

If I can just get these couple things done, then I'm gonna have some space, then I'm gonna have some margin.

If I can just set enough in reserves, then I can really do those things I love, then I can prioritize in a different way.

Like, listen, if this is just a season, this is just a busy, if I can just, and God says, no, no, no, that's not the way this thing works.

I want you to work, I want you to produce, I want you to be a co-creator with me six days, but then I want you to just rest.

If you read some of the better leadership authors, in my opinion, these days, you're gonna find, even from a secular vantage point, they actually make the same claims.

Biblical Sabbath, the rest God invites us to, it's something different.

It's a rhythm of resting in him because we can trust that we are secure in him.

Not because we have enough, not because we've knocked out enough on the list, but because we are enough, because he's chosen to love us.

He sought us out, he will sustain us, we can trust those truths.

We're invited to demonstrate that same trust in God today, recognizing God's love for us as we considered together last week is profound.

Yet if we don't trust him, then what's really ever to become of that relationship?

God, yeah, I trust you.

It's like, all right, here's what I want you to do.

Listen, I know you love me and I would do those things, but listen, I got some stuff I've got to sort out, I've got to work out.

I know that works probably for a lot of other people, but that doesn't work for me.

God says, yeah, you could trust me on this.

Oh, I know, I trust you, God.

I'm not gonna do what you say because I've still got to manage all this stuff.

It's almost as if God's looking to us and simply asking with his hand extended, do you trust me?

Like, do you trust me?

Well, yeah, I trust you, then take my hand.

Then I'd have to let go of all this stuff, and God says, Wouldn't it life a little bit easier then?

Wouldn't the burden be a little bit lighter?

Imagine what it would look like to fully embrace God that way.

It's not something you need to add to your checklist or another thing to work harder at.

That's not the idea here.

It's more like God's looking at you and saying, I've got this.

Trust me.

You know what?

Take a day off.

Rest.

But what does that practically look like?

So some highly religious people in Jesus' day are like, all right, we need rules around this thing.

We don't want this rest to get all willy-nilly.

Because everything is more fun when there's a lot of rules around it, right?

Like any vacationers in here that map it out to the T, bless your hearts.

And so they build all these rules, but Jesus doesn't follow them because he thinks they're silly.

And he has his disciples do the same thing.

And so one day they get upset, and here's what happens.

He says, Listen, Mark 2.27.

He said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

In other words, listen, it's not like God created people so they could keep Sabbath rules.

God creates Sabbath as a gift for people.

Take a day, once each week, to just rest in the fact that I'm God and you're not.

Take time to enjoy the good things you actually presently have in life rather than grasping after something else.

And what about when life's difficult?

Yeah, it seems nice, like, hey, Pastor, I get it, things must be well for you.

But what about when life's difficult?

Well, Sabbath is a gift then as well.

It's permission to remember that those problems don't have to be carried by you alone.

God, I've been trying to figure all this stuff out and I don't know what to do with it.

So God says, Why don't you just come and sit with me?

Maybe I have some ideas on it.

You can rest even from the burdens.

I said it earlier, it bears repeating.

It takes time to unlearn old rhythms and learn new ones instead.

It was true for the Israelites in the wilderness, and it's true for us today.

Maybe you genuinely, though, don't know how to stop.

You've always been taught, you've always learned that responsible people, they keep going.

The good parents, they keep, they just keep doing.

Successful people, they always stay available.

Faithful people, they meet every need.

Israel had to learn freedom after Pharaoh.

We may have to learn freedom from our own Pharaohs.

Accomplishment, ambition, anxiety, financial pressure, people's expectations.

God says, listen, here's the way the relationship works.

It's me and you.

It's us.

Don't try and conform me to your image.

It's not going to work, but I'd love to shape you more and more to mine.

Speak faithfully about me.

Represent me well.

And rest.

Every single wake, create this rhythm of rest.

Yeah, but God, if I do that, what'll happen?

Trust me.

What would change if one day each week you stopped doing the things you normally do to produce, to acquire, to accomplish, to get ahead?

What would you do instead that reminds you simply of God's goodness?

Maybe spend some extra time in worship.

Take a walk, enjoy a favorite song.

You spend time lingering in prayer.

You spend time enjoying the things that you already have rather than trying to get something else.

You'd highlight some time with some loved ones.

You take a nap.

God invites us to this rhythm.

I've got this.

Yeah, once I get enough reserves, God, no, no, no, no, I got this.

Well, once I sort out all this other stuff, there's just gonna be other stuff to list.

I've got this.

Rest.

And through it all, remember this.

God actively moves on my behalf.

And I can rest because I trust him.

After all, he chose us.

He sought us out.

He loves us.

So God's there, hand extended.

Do you trust me?

With all the things, with all the concerns, with all the anxieties, with all the ambition.

Do you trust me?

Do you trust me?

The only way this relationship works is trust.

Would you stand?

Man's gonna lead us in a song.

To kind of let this be a testimony, to be a let it let it maybe be a prayer.

Sabbath is a gift.

A gift that we can rest in him.

We get to be active co-creators.

The work we do, the relationships we form, the things we accomplish are meaningful and impactful.

But they don't define us.

We're defined in relationship with him.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this day.

Your love, your grace, your kindness, your mercy.

Help us to be a people who trust you.

Help us individually make the choice to trust you.

To live a life not worn out, not stressed, not anxious, not constantly in pursuit of and chasing after every little G God that the world offers, but instead to say, we can rest in you.

And when it seems too heavy, it's almost like, oh man, we've made it to Sabbath again.

To be reminded and recentered in our relationship with you.

Help us live from that place.

Be intentional about that choice.

I will trust in you.

I will trust in you in the really good times, God.

I don't want to make too much of those things.

I want to trust in you because good comes and goes.

In the really bad times and the hard times, and I'm not sure what to do.

God, I'm going to choose to trust in you.

My circumstances do not define me.

I trust in you.

It's the name of Jesus, the one we can trust.

We pray all these things.

Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to today's podcast.

If you're ready to take a next step in your faith, please reach out to us through our website, refineryohio.com, or you can email us at office at refineryohio.com.

We hope you have a blessed day.