Practicing the Way - Sabbath

Come all you

come all you thirsty come to the well

that dry

and thirst no more

All you sisfy

taste of his goodness. Find what you're

looking for

and only son to save us. Whoever

in him will live forever.

Bring all your failures

down at the foot of the cross. Jesus is

waiting there with open arms.

>> See his open

for God so love the world that he gave

us his one and only son to save us.

Whoever believes in him will live

forever.

The power of hell forever defeated now

is I'm walking in freedom for God so

love God so loved the worldless

praise

Praise him

for the wonders of his love.

Praise God.

Praise God

from whom all blessings flow.

Praise him.

Praise him

for the wonders of his love.

For God so love the world that he gave

us one and only son to save. For God so

love the world that he gave us one and

will live forever.

The power of

defeated

I'm walking in freedom for God so love

God so loved the world

lay them down at the foot of the cross.

Jesus is waiting.

Pretty sure we got more band members

than Arcade Fire, man. It's

unbelievable. Wow.

How about we thank God for the worship

we got to experience this morning. Yeah.

All right. So, we're in a series called

Practicing the Way. And uh last week we

talked about formation. Uh we talked

about it really over the last two weeks,

and I really wanted to set a good

foundation for uh the practices of

Jesus. Instead of just jumping into

these practices, I wanted to kind of lay

a runway uh for us to look at before we

got there because it's important to

realize that uh we are report repeatedly

being formed into something. It's the

habits in our lives are forming us,

relationships are forming us, stories

are forming us, our phones are forming

us. We are people who are constantly

being formed. And the question is not

whether we're being formed. The question

is what are we being formed into? The

real question is uh are we being

conformed into the image of the culture

and the world around us or are we being

transformed into the image of Jesus? And

that's where these practices come into

play. These are the things that we can

do as apprentices of Jesus to uh create

space in our ordinary lives for Jesus to

come and form us into his image. And so

the first practice that we're going to

talk about is the practice of Sabbath.

And I can hear some of you uh getting

suspicious already. Um you're like,

"Here it comes. Like he's going to tell

us to come to church every Sunday." Um

well, yeah, I am. But uh there's more to

it than that. We'll discuss. Or there's

the people out there that are like,

"Pastor, I understand the importance of

rest and so I'll put rest on my schedule

just as soon as I get everything else

done." wh- which means rest will be

sometime in 2047, you know. Um, so I get

it. I get it. The the minute you finish

one thing, there's three other things

that you realize that you need to do.

Uh, you sit down to relax and suddenly

you notice that light bulb that's been

out for two weeks that you need to

change or that your kids run and say,

"Mom, I can't find my shoes." You know,

that kind of stuff. Like, it just seems

like we'll never be able to find rest.

And the reality is if we wait until

everything is done to rest, then we'll

never rest. And so here's my question.

When did being tired become a normal way

of life?

It seems like it's changed. I don't

know. It just feels like when you ask

somebody how they are and if they're

being very truthful in that moment,

they'll say, "Well, I'm busy." And then

they a lot of times they'll start to

list off how busy they are. Almost like

it's their resume. that they'll be like,

"Well, I've hosted three Zoom meetings

this morning and I ate lunch over the

sink in the office and you know, and I'm

also good at Microsoft Office and Adobe

and it's that's it's not just a report,

by the way, that's a confession, okay?

You you feel like you're just reporting,

but no, that that's your confession that

you don't understand Sabbath." And the

strange thing is when you finally get an

opening in your schedule, you sometimes

don't even know what to do with it. Like

I had one this week, my wife and my

daughter were out at like doing

something and so I had a Tuesday night

to myself and so I sat down with Netflix

and I was like I'll just watch a show.

And so I scrolled through like shows for

30 minutes and I read the synopsis and I

watched some trailers and then I wound

up in my garage sorting all my eBay

items for my eBay store. It it's just

what we naturally do. We are remarkably

good at putting pressure on ourselves.

So, so friends, you can't always blame

somebody else for all the pressure in

your life. Your your busy schedule is

not always someone else's doing. A lot

of times your busy schedule is because

you have decided that you need to do

those things that you need to carry

those responsibilities. Now, I do want

to be care careful here because I know

some of you are exhausted for all the

right reasons. You're a parent. You're

raising little ones. You're you're

working two jobs. You're wondering how

your bills are going to get paid. And so

I understand that. So I'm not here today

to tell you go buy a hammock and get

some rest. Okay? I'm here to tell you

that Jesus sees the weary people. Jesus

sees the weary people. And get this, he

does not hit you with a lecture on time

management. Jesus comes into your life

and gives you an invitation. He gives

you an invitation. He invites the weary

to come to him. So in Matthew 11 28,

Jesus says these powerful words. Matthew

Matthew 11:28

11 verse 28. He says, "Come to me all

you who are weary and burdened and I

will give you what?

I will give you rest." This is not some

vague inspirational quote that you put

on a Hobby Lobby mug, okay? This is

Jesus speaking to people who know what

it's like to carry the weight of the

world on their shoulders. And he says,

"Come to me,

not try harder, not come back when you

have cleared your notifications."

He says, "Come to me." me. And then in

verse 29,

he says, "Take up my yoke and learn from

me because I am lowly and humble in

heart and you will find rest for your

souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden

is light." So in other words,

th this rest is not a weekend escape

from real life. It's it's a different

way of living your real life while also

being attached to Jesus so that he can

carry the load with you. This is what we

mean by practicing the way. We are not

collecting a bunch of religious theories

and theologies. We are learning to live

as apprentices of Jesus. And Jesus says,

"Come to me when you're weary and you

will find rest." Why? Because rest is

important. Last week we said that our

lives are being formed whether we like

it or not. So if you're always rushing

around, if you're always available, if

you're always consuming, if you never

stop, then that rhythm of life is

forming you too. And so what you're

going to wind up with is you may believe

in love, but you may find yourself too

hurried to notice the person that needs

your love. You might believe in

patience, but you're going to be um

you're going to treat every interruption

like it's a personal attack. You might

believe God is in control, but you might

act also like the the universe depends

on you answering one more email this

weekend. A and what is really sad is our

families often

like face the brunt of this. They they

get the version of us that is left over.

Like we give our clearest attention to

the people and the problems that we have

at work and then when we get home, the

people that we love the most get the

shortest answers from us. They get those

distracted nods and you're just like,

"Okay, we'll get back to this later."

It's not because we don't love them.

It's probably because the pace of our

life is discipling us more than Jesus

is. And so, you can know the scripture

verse. It says, "Be still and know that

I am God." But you can also be unable to

sit still for more than 30 minutes

without checking your cell phone. Look,

I know this because I am that. Like if

my phone vibrates during quiet time, I'm

I'm like, "Oh, I wonder is that the

Lord?

Does he want to talk to me about my

car's extended warranty? I don't know.

Maybe maybe I should check." Look, Jesus

offers you an invitation to find rest

for your souls. And it begins with this

word called stop. This word called stop.

The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew

word Shabbat, which means to stop.

So literally stop what you're doing. And

that might sound embarrassingly simple,

but I promise you there are people in

this room where the theology of stopping

is the most difficult practice in the

world for them.

See, this this world sells us this world

sells us a a picture of rest. It's it's

like have the perfect porch and have the

perfect vacation and have the perfect

comfy chair at your house. But you

cannot purchase Sabbath. The only way to

get Sabbath is to stop what you're

doing. And so in his book, Practicing

the Way, John Mark Comr lists out four

things, four Sabbath rhythms that we

need to be aware of. They don't really

go in order. They can be mixed and

matched any way you like. But the four

things are stop, rest, delight, and

worship. Stop, rest, delight, and

worship. Look at Genesis chapter 2 verse

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

one.

says, "So the heavens and the earth and

everything in them were completed."

On the seventh day, God had completed

his work, all that he had done, and he

rested, same word, Shabbach. On the

seventh day, from all of his work that

he has done, God blessed the seventh day

and declared it holy, which means

separate.

For on it he rested from all his work in

creation.

Friends, God was not worn out from his

work creating this earth and the

universe around us. He He didn't look at

the stars and say, "That was a lot of

work. Now I need a vacation." He stopped

his work of creation so that he could

look back on his work of creation and

declare that his work of creation was

good. He he placed the rhythm of work

and stop right into the beginning, right

into the story of creation. Look,

there's something delightful about

making something, about serving someone,

about solving a problem, about earning a

living or raising a family. But good

work can become a cruel master when it's

never allowed to stop.

Think about the last time that you

finished something and you actually took

time to delight in the work that you

finished. Many of us move on from one

obligation to the other so the other so

fast that we never take time to delight

in the good work that God allowed us to

accomplish. Sabbath breaks that cycle.

It's why it's so important. Sabbath is

not just an interruption of work. It

helps us see that work is a gift with

guard rails with with some boundaries.

Six days of work, one day of rest, one

day of stopping, stop, rest, delight,

and worship.

And as Exodus 28 says, remember,

remember command from God. Exodus 28

says, "Remember the Sabbath day and keep

it holy." Like, I can literally remember

the password for a subscription service

that I canled like five years ago, but I

can forget that I'm a man, not a

machine, and I actually need to take

some time to rest. And so, God knew that

about us. And so, he placed a

commandment in scripture that says,

"Take time to rest. Take time to

Sabbath. And remembering is so much more

than just thinking like, oh yeah,

Sabbath is a thing. No, it's it means

set that day apart. That's why he says

keep it holy. The word holy means

separate. What God is saying here is

that this day is different. This is a

day where I literally stop what I do on

all the other days so that I can rest

and delight and worship.

I think it's interesting that the first

people to receive this command from God

were the people of Israel right as they

came out of Egyptian slavery. So for

generations, their value had been based

on their ability to produce bricks and

quotas.

And now God speaks to them as free

people and he tells them to stop working

one day a week. Imagine how strange that

would sound for people whose value had

been determined by their ability to to

output a certain amount of product. But

what God is saying here is look, you

used to belong to Pharaoh, but now you

belong to me. Now you're my children.

And your value is no longer based on

your ability to get the job done. Your

value is based on the fact that you are

my children. And so now you can feel

free one day a week to just stop and

rest and delight in the work that you

have done and worship me. And he doesn't

just give this gift to Israel. Later on

in scripture, he he tells us this gift

is for everyone. When Jesus came on the

scene and spoke for God, he said look

this gift is for everyone. This is for

the owner of the house. This is for the

servants in the house. This is for the

people that live in the house. He even

says, "This gift of Sabbath is for the

animals of the house." See, Sabbath

isn't just me demanding a day where I

don't have to do my laundry or or where

everybody else has to do the cooking and

the cleaning and the child care and the

errands. No, the gift of Sabbath is for

everyone.

But in Jesus day, there were some

people, some religious leaders that had

turned this gift into a heavy rule book.

And then in our day, we managed to do

kind of the opposite. We act as though

stopping is optional until our bodies

physically make us stop or our schedules

force the issue. Jesus refuses both of

those ideologies.

Jesus says Sabbath is not a contest to

see who can follow the most rules and it

is a gift for human beings who also need

limits otherwise they will work

themselves to death.

But why is it so hard for us in this

culture to receive Sabbath as a gift?

Well, I wrote down a few reasons. I

think number one that Sabbath reveals

the truth. Sabbath exposes what we trust

the most. See, as long as I'm doing

something, I can feel as though I'm the

one that's holding everything together.

But when I stop, I have to remember that

I'm not the one that's carrying the

weight of the world. And for some of us,

this is a very humbling thought because

there's some people that would love to

think that the world is dependent upon

their ability to answer these emails.

the the world is is only spinning

because the fact that they are here and

they are working. And so Sabbath forces

them to see that God has been running

this world just fine since before they

learned to use the calendar app on their

phone. Like if if I cannot stop because

the world depends on me, then I have

mistakenly

taken a job description that belongs to

God.

And so also for some of us, work is more

than just a job.

Work is the place that we go. It's the

thing that we do where we go to hear

that we matter.

It so stop reaching for the next task.

See this is a problem for people that

work at churches too because work can be

good work. It can be holy work but

church can also be a hiding place too

for people that love to work. And so

people like me, we have to make sure

that that we we begin quietly um to to

to fight that that voice that's in our

head that tells us that God likes us

best when we're useful.

I also think that stopping can feel

frightening for some people because when

that noise quiets down, other things

become really audible.

that that sadness that we've been out

running, the the loneliness that that

we've been avoiding, the worry that says

if I'm not producing, then God's not

going to going to love me. This is why

Sabbath is not just a freedom from a

busy schedule. This is about receiving a

truer identity. Because friends, hear me

in this. Before you achieved anything

this week, you were perfectly loved by

God.

And when you stopped achieving for a

little while, when you took that day and

you rested, guess what? You are still

loved perfectly by God.

God doesn't look at his children and

say, "I would love to be with you, but

first let me see your productivity

report."

It's not how God asks.

God says, "Come to me all of you who are

weary and heavy laden, and I will give

you rest." I feel like there's somebody

here that needed to hear that today. You

needed to hear the fact that you are not

lazy just because you feel tired. You

You need to hear the fact that you are

not a failure just because you have

limits. What you need to hear is that

God knows you because he created you and

he knows that you need rest.

And honestly, the the main reason I feel

like a lot of us just don't rest is

because we're pros at not resting. Like

we have perfected the art of not being

able to rest. We have these little

moments of empty space. You're at the

traffic light and it's red. You're at

the line in the store. You got a

commercial break on the show that you're

watching. What do you do? like six

seconds go by and you're already opening

up some type of an app on your phone,

aren't you? And I'm not saying that all

phones are evil. I would never say that.

But I am saying that our attention has

become so trained to avoid the quiet

that we actually seek out the noise.

And when we get in a place that's quiet

and we don't seek out the noise, for a

lot of us, it can literally feel like

withdrawal.

Go through the same symptoms. So here's

our application for today for this

practice. Stop, rest, delight, worship.

So let's make this practical without

turning it into another thing that you

have to put on your schedule. Okay?

We're going to try to avoid that. And

we're going to listen to the words of

John Mark Comr who says that we need to

start where we are, not where we think

we should be. Okay? So we're going to

start right where you're at. You don't

have to change a thing. Just start with

who you are today. And the first thing I

want us to try to fight for is to keep a

Sabbath day holy, to fight for worship.

In Hebrews 10:2, it tells us that we

Hebrews 10:2

should not forsake the gathering

together. It's been that way since Jesus

created the church. They started with

120 people. Then they grew to 3,000

people. Then they grew to 10,000 people.

And all 10,000 people would meet in

Solomon's colonade in the temple in the

book of Acts. and they would worship

together. And then some started drifting

and doing other things on that day of

worship. And so God put in scripture

through the writer of Hebrews to a

reminder to keep this day holy, to keep

that commandment, to set it apart, to

fight for worship. And he also tells us

to stop. So we have this this time where

we get together as a faith family, we

worship, but there also has to be a day

in your schedule when you stop. For some

of you, that's going to be Sunday

afternoon. for people that work at a

church, that's probably not going to be

possible. So, there has to be another

day where we uh where we stop. For

people that have obligations and jobs

and you're taking care of people on

Sunday, that's just not an option for

you. Then you have to find a time in

your schedule every week where you can

stop.

And when you stop, you should put away

the notifications. You should put away

all the distractions. And you should

rest. It's not enough to just stop. We

also need to find something to do that

is restful. For some of us, it's sharing

a meal. It's taking a hike. It's

enjoying time with the people we love.

But also in those moments, do not forget

the word delight.

Delight. Delight in the work that God

has allowed you to accomplish the week

before. Look back that week and thank

God for it. I mean, God himself took a

break. It looked back on his work and

said it was good. And so there is no

problem whatsoever with you looking back

to the work that you've accomplished

during the week and saying, "Wow, that

was actually good. We should celebrate

what we've done before we move on to the

next task."

And and I get it. This is going to feel

awkward at first, but remember this is

not a final exam. This is an

apprenticeship. We are learning as we

go. No, nobody looks at a kid learning

to ride a bike for the first time and

when they fall over, nobody's like, "Oh

man, that family's not committed to

cycling, you know." No, we laugh and we

we help the child up and we get back on

the bike and we straighten the

handlebars and we go on our way until we

learn how to do it. We laugh and we try

again and we laugh and we try again. And

that's how the practices of Jesus will

work in your life. I promise they will

work if you just give them time. So

friends, if your first Sabbath includes

three moments of peacefulness and 12

moments of wanting to pick up your phone

and check your notifications, that is

perfectly fine. Don't give up because

your desire to grab the phone is not

proof that you can't do this. What it is

proof of is that you need to do this.

So what are we going to stop?

What are we going to stop doing? How are

we going to find rest? What is that that

one thing, this one moment in your

schedule this coming week where you can

actually stop and rest and delight and

worship? Maybe it's just for a few

hours. Maybe it's a vow to stop checking

email over the weekend while I don't

have a computer at my house. Maybe it's

the fact that we need to remember that

we're not earning God's favor by trying

to keep a better schedule. Maybe he's

just taking a moment to reflect on that

that you are loved beyond what you were

able to do this week. But what we have

to do is make room to receive this

beautiful gift from God who loves us.

Because I promise you this, the work

will still be there tomorrow. But in the

meantime, the world is going to keep on

turning. And God has not asked you to be

him. He has invited you to be with him.

Come to me all who are weary and heavy

laden and I will give you rest. Let's

pray.

Father, I can just look around this room

and and see how tired some of my

brothers and sisters are.

And Father, I know that you know the

work that we can't finish. You know the

people that we love. you know, the

burdens that that we carry. You know,

every situation that everybody finds

themselves in.

And so, Lord, help us to not fall into

that trap of the enemy where we feel as

though everything in the world depends

on us. Lord, teach us to stop without

fear. Teach us to receive your rest

without any guilt. Lord, help us to

delight in the work that you've allowed

us to accomplish and to trust you with

all the things that remain unfinished.

Father, form us into people who are are

authentic in our worship

and protect our Sabbath.

Father, as we apprentice under Jesus and

we learn his practices,

we know there are going to be moments

where

it feels awkward, it feels difficult,

feels like we just can't or shouldn't do

these things. And so in those moments,

meet us and remind us that all that is

is proof that the enemy wants us to fail

in those areas. Help us to use that as

motivation to push through the

awkwardness and the weirdness of

rearranging our schedule. help us to

push through the the awkward

conversations where we have to tell

people, "Well, no, I can't do that uh on

Sunday because that's the day I'm

gathering with my faith family to

worship God for a couple of hours."

Lord, I I know these are difficult

things, but we also know, Lord, that the

the blessing we receive

from following in the footsteps of Jesus

outweighs anything we could ever receive

from this world.

As Paul said, the the joys of what lays

before overwhelm the burdens of the day.

Lord, help us to believe that, know

that, and be true to that. Lord, help us

to to be apprentices of Jesus that go

out into this world and and attract

others to Jesus. Lord, with the way that

we live, the difference they see in our

lives. Lord, I pray that you would just

pour out your blessings on this

community and use us, Lord, to be your

ambassadors out in the streets to tell

people about the good news of Jesus, to

invite them into a loving relationship

with him. Lord, help us to be bold in

our witness and bold in our faith. And

we know the only way we're going to be

able to be super effective in that is to

be like you. Help us to be able to speak

truth and do so with love. And again,

Lord, for those who are facing difficult

situations coming up in the near future,

Lord, I just pray that you would put

your hand of blessing upon them. And I'm

just reminded of the the words in

scripture where the man comes to you

with a broken heart and he says

he says, "Jesus, I believe. Help my

unbelief."

Lord, I pray that for those going into

these difficult seasons that they will

understand that it's okay to feel a

little anxious. It's okay to feel

worried, but it's Lord, the end of the

day, we have to mirror the the words of

Jesus who was also

anxious over what laid before him at the

cross when he said, "Not my will, but

yours be done." So Lord, I pray that you

would help them to balance their

theology with their their human heart

and be able to know that you are in

control even when they don't feel like

you are.

Lord, in that that moment, that

tugofwar, I pray that you would just get

a hold of their hearts and help them to

be able to rest assured in you. And I

pray for their friends and family as

well that they would have that same

assurance. So Lord, as we end this,

excuse me, as we end the service today,

I just pray that you would help us,

Lord, to respond in any way the Holy

Spirit has spoken to us. Lord, help us

to be brave. if we need to come forward

and pray, if we need to kneel at the

altar, if we need to walk across the

room and hug someone and pray with them,

Lord, I pray that we would have the the

courage to do what you want us to do as

your family in these moments. Jesus name

I pray. Amen.

As we sing our final song, if you would

like to respond in any way, I'll be up

front. Uh if you'd like to join the

church, if you'd like to give your life

to Jesus, if you'd like to come pray for

a loved one, the altar is always open.

And also, if you just need to walk

across the room and and hug somebody and

and and pray for them, this is an

awesome time to do that as well. So,

let's stand together as we sing.

suffering

and shame

where

sinners

So I'll cherish

till my

as I

will

to the old

pro.

I will ever

be true

and reproach

my

glory

forever.

I'll share

all

my

last

layers.

Every

cross

by the world

for

of God

through

dark

All

crossing

changes

someday.

All the

cross

I see

Jesus. to suffer

and die

to

him and

by me

at Last

to the old

cross

Till my

last

lay

to the old.

>> Amen. If you could be seated for just a

moment. Except for you two. You don't

get to seat. You got to come up here.

This is uh Mike and G. And I know you've

seen them around the church for a while

now and they've been a real blessing to

me and I know several of you have gotten

to know them pretty well and they've

been a blessing to you as well. And uh

they told me last week that they would

like to uh join the church. So I went to

their house and uh we sat down and I

heard their testimonies which are

incredible by the way. Um, and they told

me all about their relationship with

Jesus and how they have been, uh,

baptized by full immersion and how they

want to join our church and get involved

here, uh, using their gifts and talents

to help other people and also receiving

the the warmth and the love from, uh,

Sawers Creek. And so, based on their

their baptisms and their testimony of

faith, I'd like to uh, invite them to be

a part of the church through a church

vote. And so, if you are um, if you are

okay with that, we'll say amen.

They must have been a blessing to you,

too, huh? Did she give you pretzels?

>> Oh, she gave me pretzels. So, I even if

they voted no against you, I would

probably still Anyway, we'd find an

executive order or something for you.

But anyway, if you are opposed to that,

um, same sign. All right, it's

unanimous. So, I'm just going to ask you

guys if you would to stand with me in

the vestule after service so people can

welcome you to the family.