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[609.98 --> 617.34] that you can't love well when you're in a rush you can try but it's not going to happen in the same way
[617.34 --> 621.90] you can't actually have deep relationships when you're in a hurry because relationships we all know
[621.90 --> 627.74] this take time take attention take focus take stopping the other distractions so you can be present to
[627.74 --> 633.74] somebody and if you're in a rush that's not going to happen and as a result another epidemic that's
[633.74 --> 638.54] happening in our culture and abroad that doesn't get enough press time right now is loneliness
[639.98 --> 645.34] we might be so successful in our careers so competent our workplace is cranking out so many hours
[645.34 --> 653.26] but if we're honest with ourself and others we are so lonely our hurry and our stress and our speed of
[653.26 --> 660.38] life leaves us lonely and now perhaps to the most important question how is your relationship with
[660.38 --> 671.26] god like when's the last time you stopped to listen to the living god speak to you when's the last time
[671.26 --> 677.42] you actually were able to slow your heart and mind down to hear him by his words through prayer through
[677.42 --> 688.14] friends or in worship are you able to actually stop and be attentive to god these are very important
[688.70 --> 700.78] questions i want to say this now as strongly as i can god does not delight in our hurry god is not
[700.78 --> 707.02] impressed by all that you and i can accomplish all that we can accumulate accumulate if it means we're living
[707.02 --> 713.02] at a pace he didn't create us for if it means we're making sacrifices that he's not impressed by he's
[713.02 --> 718.70] not impressed by the 70-hour work week you continue to crank out and sometimes even brag about while your
[718.70 --> 724.46] family and loved ones eat without you around the table while the kids you raise are being put to bed
[724.46 --> 731.10] without you night after night god is not impressed and more than that here's a line that i read years ago
[731.10 --> 738.14] as well when we go against the grain of god's design we get splinters does that image make sense i grew up
[738.14 --> 743.18] in a family my dad had a furniture company so wood grain is an image that's strong for me but if you
[743.18 --> 747.10] slide your hand one way it's going to be smooth but you go the wrong way you're going to get lots of
[747.10 --> 755.02] splinters in your hand and it hurts and let me just say as clear as i can there are so many splinters in our
[755.02 --> 761.42] society in our city in our families in our own lives from the speed of life that we are living at
[762.94 --> 766.94] sid bannerwood who is the one leading the service he opened up the service many of you know him
[768.22 --> 773.26] he's had a heart attack and he had a season where he to step away from work because of all the demands
[773.26 --> 780.14] and jonathan and i we said after the first service we make it our goal to not have a burnout in our 50s
[780.14 --> 784.22] as a pastor because right now you probably know this too there are so many pastors quitting and
[784.22 --> 787.82] burning out because the demands are so great and we are committed to saying we're going to live at
[787.82 --> 793.34] a pace in ministry where we can do the long haul because the way it's going in our society and in the
[793.34 --> 801.66] church is not honoring god when you go against the grain of creation you get splinters so now let me
[801.66 --> 807.50] ask you the question after all that heavy stuff are you ready to hear some good news are you ready to
[807.50 --> 813.42] hear god teach us how he designed us to live in a way where you and i can flourish in our communities
[813.42 --> 820.38] and our families and our work and not burn out because god created you and he created me to rest
[821.90 --> 829.34] receive that as a gift in fact not only that he commands you and he commands me to rest and he
[829.34 --> 835.58] invites us to receive the gift of sabbath and that's what we're going to talk about for the rest of
[835.58 --> 840.38] this morning now if you grew up in the church maybe you know what sabbath is if you didn't it comes
[840.38 --> 846.70] from this hebrew word sabbat which basically means to cease and oftentimes in the old and new testament
[846.70 --> 856.94] that just translates to rest to stop your work to cease your labor and rest and i want to read for us
[856.94 --> 862.46] genesis 2 and reflect just briefly on the powerful words we read in the opening chapter of genesis
[863.42 --> 869.82] we're told that on the seventh day god finished the work he had been doing so on the seventh day he
[869.82 --> 876.06] rested from all his work then god blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he
[876.06 --> 884.70] rested from all the work of creating he had done first of all god rests did you hear that your god the
[884.70 --> 890.30] living god rests now also let me point out god works one of the things we say in the church we do all of
[890.30 --> 895.98] life interviews on the stage we want to underscore work is a gift not an enemy not a necessary evil
[895.98 --> 902.22] work is a gift and god rests from his work not because he's exhausted by it but because he wants
[902.22 --> 911.50] to now step back and delight in the beautiful stunning creation he made and he invites humans to do it with
[911.50 --> 917.50] him i mean think about the character of god here he steps back because he wants to and he invites humans
[917.50 --> 924.70] so that they too can delight in the beautiful creation the color the beauty the views the smells
[924.70 --> 932.54] the taste all of it he wants us to enjoy now i'm going to geek out on this with you just briefly
[932.54 --> 938.38] there's some debate among scholars in genesis as to what is like the the climax the pinnacle point in
[938.38 --> 944.22] genesis 1 many will say it's the creation of adam and eve right god creates all these parts of the
[944.22 --> 950.14] world and then the final moment the crescendo is like male and female in god's image that's on the
[950.14 --> 955.82] sixth day though and many have pointed out the seventh day is the day where god steps back and
[955.82 --> 960.62] rests and invites them into it and i'm becoming increasingly convinced that actually the crescendo
[960.62 --> 967.42] of the creation account is this new couple adam and eve now being invited to delight in god's beautiful
[967.42 --> 976.06] creation and rest the first item on their to-do list is rest doesn't that blow your minds the first thing
[976.06 --> 982.62] that they get to do in god's beautiful world is just delight in it with him in his presence that's
[982.62 --> 990.70] what genesis 2 is telling us in a book on sabbath by the author aj swoboda this is what he writes sort
[990.70 --> 996.54] of reflecting on adam and eve's experience he says adam and eve's first impression of god would have been
[996.54 --> 1004.14] that god was no slave driver still today we are reminded of that truth each week when we take a
[1004.14 --> 1011.74] day to rest in god's presence sabbath is a scheduled weekly reminder that we are not what we do i'm just
[1011.74 --> 1021.34] going to say it again we are not what we do rather we are who we are loved by receive that sabbath and the
[1021.34 --> 1027.50] gospel scream the same thing we do not work to get to a place where we finally get to rest that's
[1027.50 --> 1035.50] slavery rather we rest and breathe and enjoy god that we might enter into that rest isn't that good news
[1037.58 --> 1042.54] genesis and exodus together now i'm going to get into excess a little bit they give us the rhythm of
[1042.54 --> 1049.82] creation they give us the design that god had for us and for his world it says we were created to work
[1049.82 --> 1057.02] six days and rest one six plus one not seven plus zero and as maybe some of us need to hear this too
[1057.02 --> 1064.30] not three plus four or four plus three six plus one six days you shall do your labor and all your work
[1064.30 --> 1068.46] but on the seventh you will rest it's a sabbath day it's a holy day
[1071.10 --> 1077.18] now i don't know if you need to hear this but maybe there's some of us who love being busy and we love
[1077.18 --> 1083.98] working very hard and running at a million miles an hour and maybe i'll just say it this way are you smarter than god
[1086.06 --> 1090.86] do you know better than god how you were created for both work and for rest
[1094.06 --> 1097.98] and now i want to talk for a moment about genus or exodus 20.
[1098.94 --> 1104.30] i mean exodus 20 kind of blows my mind a little bit if you thought about if you had to give 10 commandments
[1104.30 --> 1109.42] to a whole community about how they are to flourish how to organize society how to live
[1109.42 --> 1117.34] well in community i bet you would not say rest and before god says anything about like coveting and
[1117.34 --> 1123.74] murder and adultery and lying and stealing he says you have to rest he commands them to remember the
[1123.74 --> 1129.26] sabbath day by keeping it holy and by the way that word holy just means set apart it's different than the rest
[1129.26 --> 1135.74] six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh is a sabbath day to the lord on it you
[1135.74 --> 1144.46] shall not do any work how is your obedience to this command going by the way are you practicing sabbath
[1145.42 --> 1149.82] i have this hunch tell me if i'm wrong that most canadians were like yeah i don't want to covet i don't
[1149.82 --> 1153.82] want to steal i don't want to commit adultery i don't want to murder like these are these are serious
[1153.82 --> 1158.06] things i don't want to do but when it comes to sabbath you're like is it really that big a deal
[1158.06 --> 1165.18] is it that important to rest like does god care that much about it is this resonating for you and
[1165.18 --> 1170.70] in our surge group we do this nine-month discipleship group there's a number of people who just started
[1170.70 --> 1175.82] we do these uh blessed rhythms and we have to be accountable to them and one of those is sabbath and
[1175.82 --> 1184.30] i'm always amazed by our creative and very ingenuitive excuses for not doing sabbath it's like oh yeah
[1184.30 --> 1188.62] i had that exam the next day i had this thing i had to do this friend i had like all these things
[1188.62 --> 1192.94] but as a result we just don't practice sabbath i don't think we have the guts to make that kind
[1192.94 --> 1197.90] of excuse for all the other commands but when it comes to rest we're like ah not that big a deal
[1197.90 --> 1204.70] because we live in a rat race society but now that brings me to some words that have been ringing in
[1204.70 --> 1209.26] my head this week and words that have actually been read twice in a row behind the pulpit
[1209.26 --> 1217.74] and they come from jesus jesus in matthew 11 sort of gives his own addition to this thing of rest god
[1217.74 --> 1223.34] creates us for it he commands us to practice it and then jesus steps into history and this is what
[1223.34 --> 1232.62] he says in matthew 11 28 he says come to me all you who are what weary and burdened and i will give you
[1233.50 --> 1239.10] rest and he goes on to say take my take my yoke on you and learn from me for i'm gentle and humble
[1239.10 --> 1246.86] and heart and you will find rest for your souls and i'm still trying to work at what this all means
[1246.86 --> 1252.78] for me so i'll invite you into it god creates us for rest he commands that we practice rest and jesus
[1252.78 --> 1259.02] says come to me and i will give you rest in a very real sense he says rest is not just something you do
[1259.02 --> 1264.38] it's a relationship you have with me there's something about being in the presence of jesus that
[1264.38 --> 1271.42] gives us the deepest rest we can find there's something about rest that is a person and you