Jet Fuel - Concord Conversations

Fasting, Sabbath, And The Heart Of Faith

• Concord Baptist Church • Episode 15

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We trace the rising conflict in Mark 2–3 as Jesus challenges performative religion with a call to purpose, presence, and mercy. From fasting to Sabbath, we contrast rules that burden with rhythms that bring people to God and ask what needs to change in us.

• fasting as purpose not optics
• new wine requiring flexible hearts
• resisting change due to comfort, culture, control
• add-on Jesus versus surrendered discipleship
• Sabbath as gift that serves people
• guarding against legalism in spiritual rhythms
• healing on the Sabbath and hardened hearts
• rules being easier than relationships
• reflection questions for authentic faith


Welcome And Reality TV Icebreaker

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the Jeff Fuel Podcast, a series of Concord conversations. In each episode, our lead pastor and a guest will sit down and dive a little deeper into what we learned as a church that week. These are honest, practical conversations to fuel your faith and help you live it out with purpose and consistency. Or, in other words, this is Jet Fuel for Your Soul.

SPEAKER_03

All right. Welcome back to the Jet Fuel Podcast, where each week we are trying to help you fuel your faith for everyday life. And I got my man Miles with me today. Yes, sir. Our student director. And man, I got to tell you, as someone who has kids in your ministry at junior high and high school, man, thank you for what you do for our students. I know uh there's tons of stuff going on down there, seeing kids come to Christ, and we're kind of challenging the status quo on how we do student ministry and just really, really proud of you. But before we get started, Miles, this morning, we've uh kind of adopted this new segment kind of out of the blue of uh getting a question from off-screen from Bree over there, one of our content creators, and uh uh allows people to get to know a little bit of something they may not find out during Sunday ministry hours. So, Bree, what do we got today for Miles and I?

SPEAKER_05

All right. If you had to be on a reality TV show, which one would it be? And follow-up, do you think you would win?

SPEAKER_03

Oh man, what reality TV show? So so what are examples of reality TV for maybe someone who doesn't watch as much TV as that was my follow-up question. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

You could do like Alone, Survivor, Master Chef, Dancing with the Stars.

SPEAKER_03

Oof, okay. I don't dance about that.

SPEAKER_05

You know, all those different great British baking show.

SPEAKER_03

Great British baking show. People are watching that. Yeah. I'm not a fan of baking, but I would love to try Master Chef.

SPEAKER_02

Master Chef. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

So what would be I don't I don't know the premise of the show. Do you like is that where you like battle somebody?

SPEAKER_01

I think you're like battling others like for the best chef and like Gordon Ramsay and a couple other people. So number one, just to like have my food just critiqued and just demolished by Gordon would be fun.

SPEAKER_03

It's not to be as if I demolished your food and it's a good idea. That's a global person. Okay. So what would you cook? Like how does it work? Do they like give you something to cook, or are you just like you just make whatever? I mean, I think it's gonna be what would your meal be that would take you to the top to win British cooking mastership.

SPEAKER_01

Mastership uh would probably be some type of like um cowboy steak meal. So like some rosemary red potatoes, a nice like steak. See, he's already saving stuff that I don't even know. So I think he's got a good chance of winning. I don't hope. I I can cook a good steak. I can cook a really good steak. Okay. Ribeye is my favorite. That's the right amount of meat and fat, but yeah, doing something along that line.

SPEAKER_03

Ribbeye steak, and you said something about potatoes, and that sounds good. I would eat it. I mean, steak and potatoes, that's pretty good. For me, hmm. Let's see here. Uh reality show. Now, I I will say I'm not much of an outdoors guy. Uh you know, I I don't, you know, do the wilderness hunting thing. I'm not against it. I just don't do it, right? But I think I'd like to try alone. I think I think I could do that. I think I could knock down a tree or two and build a little fort and boil some water. Um, what else you got to do? How long do you have to stay out there? I don't know.

SPEAKER_05

Is it like Is it like last man standing kind of place?

SPEAKER_03

Last man standing? I think the record right now is I think like nine months. Wow.

MasterChef Dreams And Alone Fears

SPEAKER_03

No, I'm not doing that. I'm definitely not winning. I'd like to give it a try for a week or two and see how that goes.

SPEAKER_05

But uh What's the one thing you're for sure taking with you?

SPEAKER_03

Uh like uh a pole saw or an axe or whatever where you see them. I mean, you can do everything with that. So I think that's what I'm taking. The only thing is, Miles, I don't do cold. And so this would have to be like the summer beach edition or I mean is that a thing? I mean, do they do alone?

SPEAKER_01

Resort style.

SPEAKER_03

Resort style. It depends on the Wi-Fi, I think. You know, but uh yeah, I think I do alone. So uh I think I'm gonna have to uh test out your steak cooking uh skills, get you a steak and let you cook it up. So that'll be good. Well,

Series Setup: Mark’s Growing Conflict

SPEAKER_03

here we are. We are going to jump into Mark. This has been a great series. I mean, hasn't it? I mean, I've talked to person after person who has really uh stepped forward and a lot of them doing the transcribing where they're writing word for word. And uh it was funny I had somebody uh tell me the other day because you know we teach out of the ESV primarily. Now we definitely use different versions and stuff, but had a guy come and tell me, he says, I'm doing the transcribing climb, but I want you to let you know I'm doing KJV, and that's just because we're a little holier than you. And so I thought that was uh I thought that was an awesome comment, just really said tongue in cheek. And I just love that our people are slowing down. Had lunch with a guy yesterday who very much the same. He's writing it and he said, Man, you know, it's so difficult, but it is one of those things where I'm slowing down and I'm spending time uh with the Lord. So I've really enjoyed uh Mark and uh I hope you have have too. So, what are some of the things we're gonna be looking at today?

Fasting: Purpose Over Perception

SPEAKER_01

So we're gonna be looking at uh the very end of Mark 2. We're gonna look how Jesus is really kind of challenging the status quo. He's challenging what is happening uh in this biblical time. And so, what used to be this is how Judaism happened. This is the way of life, and we start to see there's there's some conflict happening. He is conflicting the religious leaders, and there's this battle of what is right and what is true. And so we see uh give some examples and him really see is the heart in the right place? And so I'm excited to jump into this.

SPEAKER_03

And it is amazing. And and I think for you guys that are listening uh right now, wherever you are, I mean, and once again, we appreciate you listening, but I do think this is so interesting that we're gonna get to talk about this, Miles, because we're gonna start to see the intensity of the conflict between Jesus and the establishment. Um and I think conflict is something that we all go through and and we have different ways of handling it. Sometimes uh I know people that that I just really care about, but they want to avoid conflict at whatever cost. They will die on the sword, they will do whatever they need to just to get away from it, and then others, you know, kind of run towards it, maybe provoke it a little bit. You know, they love a good argument, a debate. And um, but really what we're gonna see is we're gonna see how ferocious that they get, where they move from just questioning Jesus to really plotting against him, trying to remove him, and ultimately we know the story of Christ. He he ends up on the cross. Right. But it is something that's that's challenging because you're really gonna see heart postures uh from people. Do do people have a humility where they're questioning and they wanna know and they wanna understand, or are they going, man, I'm gonna try to trap him, I'm gonna try to accuse him, I'm gonna try to discredit him. And and unfortunately, probably a lot of people listening this morning, Miles, have have been in a situation where they've been on one side or the other of that. So this morning, we we want to uh really give a chance to to walk through some of this stuff as he's um you know uh really moving into some conflict and and moving from uh not only just challenging sin, but also challenging the system that's been you know kind of erected around the people that is keeping them from that relationship with him. So let's jump in uh to Mark chapter two. And this first issue that we're gonna look at is the idea of fasting. You know, people notice that Jesus' disciples aren't fasting like the religious elite, the Pharisees, or even John the Baptist, his followers, that they've got this discipline of fasting, and and it really kind of comes up of why are these that are following Jesus not fasting as well?

SPEAKER_01

And I think it's important to note too, because right here you see that there is something that is marking them different. There is attention that is being drawn to the disciples, which after the Pharisees looks bad, but Jesus is like, hey, they're standing out for something different, which is something that us readers as 21st century Christians, we look at and we see that there is something going on that is special to Jesus' ministry, the disciples that are around him. And so I think why we look and see that this is different is because um that there's something at play with Jesus being present now, of you know what John was baptizing his disciples of devotion. There's something different about Jesus right here.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and I think we can jump right into this because it is the idea, Miles, that that Jesus is with those that are following him, that are disciples of Christ, there's purpose rather than perception. And I think that's something that the local church can fall into. And I'm sure in student culture as well, you always want to look a certain way. You want to have a certain aura or you want to have a sort of uh did I use that correctly? Yes, you might use that directly. They're listening to this. That was good. Did I do it correctly? All right. That's what that's my number one question with my kids. I'm like, did I use that right? And usually both both of them just put their heads in their hands uh at that point. But you know, really um it's kind of funny because, you know, a lot of times, even for um mature Christians, we're more concerned with the perception of our holiness than sometimes we are about our actual pursuit of holiness. And what we see with Jesus and his disciples is there was a clear purpose rather than um a perception. Now, just real quick before we get into the meat of this, uh, if you were to rank fasting on your top 10 list of favorite spiritual disciplines, you know, I mean, where would that where would that be for you? I mean, we got prayer, we got Bible study, you know, uh things like that. I mean, is fasting like in top three, or you're like, ooh, that's a tough one.

SPEAKER_01

That is a tough one. That is, that is one of, you know, we're gonna do this as it becomes easier, like when the stars align and the moon is just right. That is that is a little bit challenging. I'm working on it more throughout the rest of the year.

SPEAKER_03

Or you see 21 days of prayer coming on the calendar and you're like, oh no, here we go. We're about to do y'all. But for me, I understand the purpose of fasting. I understand the discipline of it, but it is one of the hard ones that I struggle with to long for. Like I long to spend time in the Word of God. I long to pray. Uh, I love to share the gospel. I love to disciple and replicate my faith in other people. I I love accountability. Those are those are great things that sometimes come a little easier. You start talking about fasting and you're like, how long? What are we doing? And and you really have to get right. And and this is one of the things that that Jesus is going to take head on because the accusation is, how come your guys don't do it like we do it?

SPEAKER_01

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Because I think what you're what you're kind of aiming at and what we're setting up to talk about is it when we talk about fasting today in the in the 21st century, of it is a what can be f appear to be performative. You know, it can be of, hey, for someone who always raises their hands in worship, for someone that is constantly at the church serving, it's another area of, well, they're always doing that. They're just that hyper-elite Christian. And so when the Pharisees look at this, they're like, okay, you have these special people around you, but they're not doing the right things. You know, they're not they're not looking the part of a faithful follower of God. And so he's really challenging that. Um, but it's almost kind of like a mark of, hey, are your disciples actually devoted to that?

SPEAKER_03

Right. Well, because we have standards for people. We we look at people's lives and and we go, of course, we don't judge the heart. The Lord knows the heart, but you know, as Christians, we hear it said sometimes, but I can be a fruit inspector, I want to see. And a lot of times we apply standards to people that we don't apply to ourselves, but they're saying, Why, why do you do this? And Jesus uses a wedding metaphor to reply to them and says, Well, can

Audience Of One And Authenticity

SPEAKER_03

the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? And he's really trying to draw their perspective of going, hey, they're here with the Messiah. Like the Messiah is is right here with them. And um, he's really kind of defining the season that they're in more than anything. So I got a couple of questions for you. I've got a why question, Miles, and a how question. Okay. All right, because I I want your perspective, not just in um who you are as uh our student director, but just on behalf of the generation that you're leading. Um, you know, and I did student ministry a long time ago, and I absolutely loved it because there's so much power and influence in a generation that gets their hearts wrapped around Christ. So I want you to think about both of these questions, not only for you and your life season that you're in, but also for the students that you represent and teach. But the first one is why do you think that people often measure spirituality by visual practices? Like when you why do we why do we measure somebody's spiritual walk by the visible practices that they have?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think what we have to look at is we're in this 21st century world of where it's it's keeping up with the Joneses. If you look at pop culture on social media, and it is um how what what are the yachts, what are the the mansions, what are the cars they're driving, what is this influx of wealth? Like you put that picture on social media for everyone to see this is the elite status that I'm in. And we look at, I would say in our culture, in North Georgia and kind of the Claremont area, you have I hate who has the new newest car, who's got the nicer townhome, the wrap around porch for their house. And you know, maybe my family has put more together than that family. It's it's the same thing, it's just in a different context. And I think when we're in that culture and we're plugged into the church, all of a sudden they start to mesh together of where we bring our everyday life where the where the you know rubber hits the road. Is this something that uh we're conflicted with? And so I think there's a tie-in together of the spiritual life and our everyday world. Um but that's how I think where we begin to see if it it is this attainable spirituality of like, hey, can I appear to be more spiritual than the rest?

SPEAKER_03

And so we're we're really looking. What what I think I hear you saying is it's it's that we have set a standard of what spiritual looks like, that we're measuring it based on what we can see, which allows us to be fake. If we're going, this is what people are gonna see, then let me do this, even if the heart's not right, which comes to my how question. The how question is this how do we keep spiritual disciplines meaningful instead of performative? Like how do we uh keep our walk real? How do we keep it authentic and genuine? How do we add depth day by day and truly walk with Jesus instead of just uh performing for other people to see?

SPEAKER_01

No, I I love that you said the depth of that because I think it comes down to the intentionality, you know, the the sacrifice that comes with that. Because you and I as we're in different areas of you being lead pastor and me leading student ministry, there are a lot of similarities of both of us teaching and preaching. And I think there are times when uh and I'm trying to put not to put words in your mouth, but are correct.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, all right, here we go.

SPEAKER_01

But we kind of get to this point to where when we teach and preach Sundays, Wednesdays, whatever that is, we can kind of get into this rhythm of leaning into what is our gift. Say, hey, this is what I've been gifted in. I'm gonna rely on this. Oh, come on. But we have to make sure that there is an intentionality behind that. Because there have been a couple of times where,

New Wine And Old Wineskins

SPEAKER_01

if I'm being real and honest, I've gotten up on the stage and used kind of my experience and my reliability of my talents to pre teach and preach. But what I've got to get make sure is before I even step foot on that stage, is my heart in the right place? Am I just teaching the word because that is my job contract, or am I teaching the word because I want to point students to the cross? There's that intentionality to make sure we have that before we ever step foot.

SPEAKER_03

Well, there was this saying when I grew up, I th I think it was like on t-shirts and stuff back when Christian Ts were like all the rage, and you know, they took all the brands and you know, switched a letter or something like that. Um, you know, Gold's gym went to God's gym, and it was the, you know, Jesus doing the push-up with the cross. You know, that was kind of the generation. But there was this saying that was um, you know, audience of one, which makes me think of going, who is our audience? When we talk about our relationship with Christ, you know, these these guys in Mark, they're they're addressing, going, why are they not doing this thing? Uh, and they're measuring their spirituality, not asking them about their walk with the Lord, their relationship with the Lord. They're like, why are they not doing X, Y, and Z? And I think for you and me, and I think for those that are listening or watching right now, we do have to think of going, who is our audience when we're doing this? When we're studying our Bible, um, you know, who is the audience? Is that for people? Is it to get all your papers laid out real nice and your Bible and your cup of coffee so you can take a picture and being like, oh man, let me post this on social man, just you know, getting in that grind before I get to school, before I get to work, you know, and where we kind of put it out there. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I'm just saying, but who's my audience? Is my my audience the Lord, or is it other believers or non-believers of what I am? And I think Jesus gets right after the heart of this. And so um, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, I think so too. And I think we might need to move forward because I would love to discuss theology. We could stick on this for the next 35, 35, 40 minutes. But hey, in this same paragraph, this same section in our Bibles about this fasting, he uses two other parables as well. He talks about um putting in uh a new cloth on an old garment and putting new wine into old wineskins. And what we're really gonna wrestle with is are these compatible? Right. Do they fit together in this topic of fasting? And so um, what are your kind of thoughts on that of as he's trying to tackle something here?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I I love this because uh a lot of times um I think in today's church, in a local church, we're we're trying to tweak a system instead of evaluating the whole thing and going, is what we've built according to scripture? Is what we've built pleasing to the Lord? Are we trying to take and keep the old and just add a little bit of new instead of going, hey, let's be transformational? Yeah. Let's not be transactional, let's not make a deal and I'll give you a little bit of this if we can sing this song or if we can do this or this meets this need, but going, hey, how do we say we want to be flexible in the hand of God? We want to be surrendered to Christ. And I mean, honestly, when I think about this passage, it just brings up this heart of going, are we as the people of God, why do we struggle with change so much? Um, because I think really that's what Jesus was doing is he was bringing a new way of thinking to say, hey, listen, we've gotten off course with this. Let me show you what's really important. And I think even in today's church, we can get traditions are not bad. Um, you know, the the way we've done things have worked is not bad, but we always have to make sure that today and now we are aligned with the word of God and the will of God and the way of God. And so um, you know, I I think we have to be transformational and be submitted to what the Lord wants to do.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think that's where it gets really uncomfortable because you're using a lot of verbiage of are we able to be flexible? Are we able to bend? And I think really what it comes down to is what you said at the beginning. Is there a willing heart in that? Are we willing to be uncomfortable for God's glory, for God's will? Are we willing to bend what we've been used to to make sure that we are following through in obedience to what God is asking us to? Right. Change, you know, we've had this conversation as we talk through student ministry. Change isn't always bad. It's hard. Don't get me wrong. It takes some adjustment. But sometimes when you work through and you see the change, when you get rid of not necessarily old systems, but you start seeing a new system in place, you begin to see the Lord working in that. Change is hard though. You know, we've worked through some things as a church through student ministry. Change is hard, but we start to see that the Lord begins to work in a heart that is willing to be led in the direction God is pointing us towards.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and I think it can be said that sometimes we're okay with adjustments, we're not okay with overhaul. Right. Um, and I think a lot of what we see Jesus do is he was overhauling the way they thought about

Why We Resist Necessary Change

SPEAKER_03

the kingdom and and what it looked like to be a part of the kingdom of God, not acceptable to the church and the community. Um, and I think we need to think about that of going, if we as a church planted where we are in North Georgia, are to be the church that we're called to be, we ought to be a light to the community, we ought to be a benefit to the community, we ought to live according to scripture, we ought to uh do the things that are difficult and countercultural as we live according to the word of God, the spirit of God, and the way of God, that that we would be open to what He wants to do for His greater glory. I have always thought of uh, you know, you hear the statistics, man, like you hear it about how many churches are planted, how many churches close their doors. Um you know, it should be such a thing that as a local body of believers here in North Georgia, that if we were to ever close our doors, that the community we're planted in would grieve. That they would grieve that those who loved them well. Well, served them well, displayed the fruit of the Spirit, went with the urgency of the gospel, that met every need possible, that there would be a grieving, that the light of the world, Jesus, would would no longer be, you know, in that location.

SPEAKER_01

That's how important it is. So on the topic of kind of change and adjustments and transformation, a couple questions for you is where have you seen either Concord or the Capital C church or Christians as a whole, where do we tend to resist change when it's when it's necessary, when it is truly needed? Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Now I love that you said that, Miles, because here's the thing. I'm a guy who loves change. All right. I love to mix it up. And and and I will say there have been times before where, you know, we've done change just for change's sake. Hey, let's let's mix it up. And and those are okay, but they also come with consequences that come with it. But your question is, you know, why do we resist change when it's spiritually necessary? Like it's not optional. It's like we need to do this. And I wrote down three things as I was preparing for this, and I think it's the three C's. And so if y'all are listening or you can take a note or something, uh, it's this uh we resist change because it confronts number one, our comfort. Like that's when we resist change, when things get uncomfortable. We have to do something that pulls our lives into alignment with God's will. Like we love the Lord, but it challenges our comfort because we are creatures of comfort. You know, I made the joke a little earlier about being on alone. Like I think that would be so cool. But as soon as it got dark and cold outside and you start hearing things that could be a bear, even if it's a squirrel, like I mean, you know, it it's uncomfortable for me. I mean, some people thrive in that, but uh, I think we resist change when it confronts our comfort. The second thing is that when it confronts our culture, that we go, well, this is how we do this. And I would rather be a people that says, this is how the Lord does it, not this is how we do it. Um, and then third, um, and this one will and I know you guys are used to me doing this, but just stepping on toes. I mean, we don't like change, especially when it's spiritually necessary when it confronts our comfort, our culture, or our control. That's that's a hard one. Like, if we don't get to be in control, we don't, we don't want it. But I will just say this there is something so powerful and comforting and good about surrendering control to the Lord. Absolutely. Like, I mean, when you trust that he is who he says he is and he's gonna do what he says he's gonna do, Miles, I think one of the most beautiful things is this idea of submission to the Lord, surrender to the Lord, of you say you're in charge and I'm not. Um, we got to trust that God is good. So I think we resist change

Add-On Jesus Versus Total Surrender

SPEAKER_03

when it's necessary, when it confronts our comfort, our culture, or our control.

SPEAKER_01

I love that control one because that is truly an action of are we willing to surrender everything?

SPEAKER_02

Wait, do we like to be in control?

SPEAKER_01

I like to, but I realize that if the Lord is gonna be prevailing, then it is time to give him the control of that. Now, where have you seen uh you you've been in ministry for about two decades, approaching that two decade mark? You've been in a lot of different areas, students, kids, lead pastors, community groups, yeah, everything like that. Where have you seen um people try to fit Jesus into an existing lifestyle? Like something that has already had, you know, we talk about this transformative. A lot of people want to make it me plus Jesus, not just Jesus alone. Where have you seen them try to fit that into their existing lifestyle?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I think, Miles, that's number one, that's a great question. It's super insightful, but I think we could all probably agree with this that our culture tolerates us living our lives and adding Jesus to it. Now, I I think about that because my daughter is getting ready to start filling out college applications and getting ready to go. And you have this whole thing that you do. If you if you've done this before, it's it's a nightmare. All right. Scholarships, applications, essays, you're trying to put together all this stuff. But what they want you to do is they want you to put together all the extracurriculars you've done. They want you to put your grades, they want to see leadership skills, they want to see a variety of influence, and they really want you to stand out by this well-rounded thing. And that's kind of how our culture is, too. If you've ever applied for a job, I mean the resume is the toughest thing in the world because you're trying to say, well, this is who I am and this is what I'm capable of, and you need to look at me, and then you give them references, and all these references are your buddies or your family members that are like, they're the greatest person on earth. And you're like, yeah, that dude hadn't been on time for work in a decade, all right? They're never gonna say that, right? And so you're putting all of this stuff out there. And I think for some of us, we've let that creep into our spiritual lives. That we try to go, well, hey, man, I lead at work, or I am a hard worker at school, or man, I've got great relationship skills. And oh, by the way, I go to church, I follow Jesus, and he becomes a bullet point on our resume. He becomes a an accessory. I love that. I've never thought of it in that term. That's a good word, like of our college application. We want people to accept us, we want people to be brought in, and we go, oh, by the way, I'm a good dude because I'm one of these Christian guys, which means I'm moral, that means I'm upstanding, I've got integrity, whether you do or not, that we've tried to make Jesus uh an add-on, um, you know, an accessory to what we do. And it's the exact opposite. You lay everything down, Jesus has full control, and he will let you pick up or utilize whatever you've brought to the table to say, hey, it's all yours. Yeah. But I think that's a dangerous trap that most people don't even know they're in.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. I agree. Because I mean, you, you and I have talked about this passage. It's one of the ones that, as a teacher of God's word, that wakes us up at night. Matthew 7, 21 through 23. Yes. Oh my goodness. Of the all the things that you can do for the Lord when it comes down to judgment day, when you present this D or not D, a uh uh a list of things that you've tried to build a resume for, it gets ripped up.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and I don't know. Uh maybe if you don't know the passage he's talking about, but Matthew 7, it's when um you stand before the Lord and he says, Department from me, I never knew you. And then they start listing out all of these things. And the list is incredible. They did all of these things. And he still says, but the thing is we didn't know each other. Yeah. You know, you did all of the right things, going back to the fasting, going back to, you know, the new versus the old. And it's like you did all of the right things, but we didn't have a relationship. You didn't allow me to transform your life. Yeah. Like I think that's so big. And so I beg you, if you're listening to this today, to really examine your heart and go, hey, am I performing? Am I doing all the right things? Do I look the right way? Do I attend church? Do I give my tithe? Do I serve occasionally? Do I bring people to Easter, which is in a couple of weeks? Like, do I do all the things or do I walk with Jesus and surrender my life? Absolutely. Now, we've got a ministry break coming up, but I want to cover one little piece of uh scripture before we get to that.

Sabbath Made For Man

SPEAKER_03

And it's on the Sabbath. And if Eli was here, he would just roll his eyes at me because this is one of my least favorite things to talk about. Because my one of my love languages is work. Like I, like if you want to bless me, like work hard. Like you ask me what I do in my free time, I work. Like I love this. And so resting and Sabbathing is hard. Yeah. But we're gonna see Jesus really kind of help them understand this because his disciples get uh caught picking grain on the Sabbath.

SPEAKER_01

Right. We look at that, we're like, okay, 21st century, that's pretty, that's inconsistent, like that's insignificant. Like he's they're just picking grain. But it it wasn't sinful, but the Pharisees considered it work, which comes down to the Talmud and the Mishnah, the interpretations of God's law that the Pharisees began to hell hold to a higher standard than God's actual law.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and Jesus, who has, you know, a much better, let's let's say this tongue-in-cheek, a much better understanding of scripture than the Pharisees do. And he takes them back to David eating bread, uh, the bread of the presence. And we see that in 1 Samuel uh 21, I believe. We see him reference it in the two other synoptic gospels, Matthew chapter 12, Luke chapter 6, but he he points them back to Old Testament scripture that they would have known, that they would have memorized, that they would have had an understanding. Sometimes we can isegete or isolate a passage and we can use it as a uh a stick, like hitting a pinata or something, you know. And he's gonna point them back to David, who they very much respected and memorized this. And he brings them back and he makes this massive statement that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the man uh son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath, back to perspective on purpose.

SPEAKER_01

Trevor Burrus, Jr. And I want to circle back again because I think this is the recurring theme that we're hitting on here is the heart of the Pharisees, the heart that Jesus is trying to target. Is it in the right place of what scripture was supposed to be? You know, the the laws, the Old Testament Mosaic law was supposed to point people that they couldn't do it alone, that they had to rely on the Lord, that it was supposed to point them to a stronger relationship. But here we see the Pharisees that, like you said, they uh isegesis, they're taking that stick, they're weaponizing it, they're taking something that was used to strengthen the others.

SPEAKER_03

Jesus wasn't abolishing rest or doing away with the Sabbath. This is one of the Ten Commandments, right? But he was reclaiming its purpose on it. And um, you know, not he he's really trying to help them have a better understanding. So let me ask you a couple of questions. The first one is why do religious rules sometimes drift from helpful to heavy?

SPEAKER_01

And this this was a tough one. I wrestled kind of answering through because we're trying to think through the lens of, you know, we are not under the Mosaic law, but it is, it is being completed under Christ, but there are still spiritual things that we do, the disciplines that help us strengthen it. And so I thought through an example, and we've talked about this before about a year ago when I was really struggling of like my quiet time. Like I was studying Hebrews, which Hebrews is dense. You have this Jewish scholar that is referencing scripture all over, and I'm trying to spend an adequate amount of time, and I'm using the Bible app, which has a great schedule, which is a great tool. At times that can be a burden because I'm trying to go through and I'm seeing, hey, where is he referencing this in Old Testament? What idea is he drawing upon? And I started falling behind and I started getting really frustrated, and I was like, this is becoming more of a burden.

SPEAKER_03

And so Well, let me let me pause you right there because I love Bible reading plans. I encourage anybody who studies the Bible, do not verse a day, keeps the devil away kind of deal, not you know, scripture roulette. That's not what we're trying to do, but literally get a plan. And I love the Bible app because it has so many plans. You can customize it short, long, old Test, New Testament, you can do so uh many things. But have you ever heard the term recovering legalist? All right. So I would classify myself as a recovering legalist. And when people uh are in the situation that you just described, you've got a reading plan and you get behind. Any of you listening ever gotten behind on a reading plan and you get discouraged and you want to

Guarding Against Legalism In Rhythms

SPEAKER_03

quit and then you start feeling shame and guilt. And instead of the pursuit of Christ in the Word, uh, we get caught up into, well, now I have to read 137 chapters today. Um and and we get in this mindset of I'm not saying don't have discipline, don't do hard things. I hope everybody's transcribing, Mark. I hope you spend uh you know time in the Word every day, prayer, you know, you're sharing your faith, you're giving, you're serving. I I you know where I stand on that. But sometimes we can get in this legalism thing where the rule outweighs the relationship. Trevor Burrus, Jr. It's the pursuit of structure rather than the pursuit of Christ.

SPEAKER_01

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_03

So how do you encourage students? How do you encourage students to guard against turning good rhythms into burdens? Like how do you keep them from a heart of legalism? Because I know my kids, like they, you know, they want to meet the expectations put out for them. They want to, you know, achieve, they both of them are achievers. And so, you know, sometimes even their faith can, you know, easily, if we're not careful, let it be about completing the task. And so how do you teach this coming generation to have the rhythm of relationship rather than the burden of legalism?

SPEAKER_01

I love this because I had just last night at our midweek had a conversation with a student. They came out to me and they're like, hey, I'm in my Bible every single day. I'm covering a chapter, two chapters, three chapters, like I'm spending this incredible amount of time, but I'm not actually learning anything. Like I read and in James and then I look away and then I forget what I just read. And I she was like, How do I work through this? How do I get back to where I'm intentionally spending and I'm in love spending time with the Father? And I said, Sometimes you have to disrupt that rhythm. You know, as we're having this conversation at midweek, I said, part of the things that helped me in my study of Hebrews, rather than trying to conform to the system and you know, try to pursue the system of the schedule, I said, sometimes you have to just switch it up. So, like when I studied Hebrews, I started listening to just sermons and I went out. You saw me walking one day and you were like, What were you doing during your lunch break?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I'm like, don't get hit by a car, bro.

SPEAKER_01

Like people drive really fast in front of our church. Yeah. Shout out to our parking team, by the way. Amen. Amen. Um, but no, I was listening to sermons. I had to change something up to where I was having this affection to get um a new revelation from God.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I love that, Miles, because I'll tell you, even on the like apps with the Bible reading plans, like if you go, like it is in your face, it's like one miss today.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Uh or hey, you did this and you missed what, and like you're just I don't know. It's kind of like when I look at my iPhone, it's got all the little red like updates on there, like drives me crazy. And you're like, I got to get to that and get that handled and going, uh, we can turn it into a little bit of performative, yeah, achieving other people seeing our streak of how many days that we've done this, or how we pray in front of people, or if we wear the right thing, or that. And and we have to go back to Jesus so much was talking about um his disciples and their relationship with him. And uh so let's do this. Let's pause. Uh, let's push pause right here, and let's uh jump into this quick ministry highlight.

Ministry Highlight: Concord Christian Preschool

SPEAKER_05

All right. Well, we're back with another staff highlight, and I'm here with our preschool ladies, Concord Christian Preschool. So if you can just introduce yourself so that people, if they don't know who you are, um, know who you are and just um tell us who you are and what you do.

SPEAKER_07

All right. Well, um I'm Beth Lieber, and I'm the director of Concord's weekday program. So we run Monday through Thursday, September through May. Um, I've been here at Concord. It'll be 10 years this summer, been on staff for eight. Um, but yeah, preschool's where it's at. We love it there.

SPEAKER_06

And my name is Crystal Daves. Um, I'm the assistant director, so I get to to walk alongside Beth every day. Um, I've been at the preschool for 11 years, but I'm not sure how long I've been at Concord. Okay, yeah. It's been long enough. It's been long enough that you can't remember. I don't remember that. Yeah. Yeah. And this is, I love it. I love being here. This is my favorite place to be, y'all.

SPEAKER_05

Yes. So how did y'all first get involved like with CCP?

SPEAKER_07

So my daughter was actually a student there. So I started out as a CCP parent. Okay. Um, and so she was in pre-K. She was with Miss Kim Ellis, that was our teacher. And and then um just fell in love with the program. You know, I wanted to be part of it. So I started as a pre-K teacher and then later into the role of Mendel.

SPEAKER_06

That's awesome. What about you, Kristen? Yes, I started going to church here, and it's been long enough to where y'all had it up on the slides. Oh, yeah. Preschool was looking for a long-term sub. So I thought, you know what, maybe I could do that. My youngest had just started kindergarten. So I came and subbed from long-term from like February to uh I think it was like eight to twelve weeks. I'm not real sure. Fell in love with it, and then they offered me a position as teaching, so taught for eight years and then been um assistant assistant director for four. Is that right? That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05

And now y'all have been voted best in Hall County for how many years now? This is our fifth year. Yeah, yes, that's a big deal. Best preschool in Hall County, Concord's got it. So that's awesome. How many kids do y'all have enrolled? Um, right now we're hanging out around 114. Yeah. Yeah. And how many classes is that? Because it's one to four or five. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

So we have toddlers, twos, threes, and pre-K. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_05

Um, and I know because I just enrolled Arthur for next year, which is crazy. Oh exciting. But I'm excited for him to join you guys there. Um, and so what do you love most about working with preschoolers?

SPEAKER_06

They're just so funny. Like you never know what you're gonna hear. And even like I go home every day, and my kids and my husband are like, what happened today? Tell me something cool happened today. So, and you know, I think I just I know this is where the Lord called me to be. And then my oldest daughter is um, she's a senior, she's been graduating from UNG this year. And so to see her kind of follow along too, um, and just like she started by serving here in the preschool on Sunday morning. So just to see that and to see her grow in it, it's been it's been really good.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, that's cool. What's the funniest thing that you think a kid has said or done, even just in the last week? Oh, didn't think of that.

SPEAKER_07

We had one just a couple weeks ago who smuggled in some personal kisses in a hoodie. Oh, that's a literary and during bathroom. Yeah, he's passing them out to his friends. So we had a little funny.

SPEAKER_05

That's funny. He's like, Everybody needs a treat. Yes, probably because of potty training and stuff. He's like, Everybody gets a treat if they're going to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_06

So now we have a little squirrel. He likes smuggling. Yeah, so it's funny. Check it out. We told mom and she's like, Oh my god, that's like it's tell him to give me one first. Yeah, that's funny.

SPEAKER_05

Um, how would you so like what does a typical day look like for our preschool when they get here Monday through Thursday? Because it's very different than Sunday. Yes. So what does that look like? Yes.

SPEAKER_07

So they arrive at 8:30, we have carpool, fathers are walked in, um, they gonna get adjusted in their classrooms, turn in their little folders, take their cubbies, but then we start our day with praise and verse. And that is my favorite. I think Miss Crystal's favorite part of the day. We gather is a whole school and we worship, and Miss Crystal uh reads devotional, they do their memory versus um saying happy birthday, yeah. But it's just a really sweet time and just instilling that early habit of starting the day with the Lord. Absolutely, it's fun.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, that's awesome. So then they go back to their classes and then they get picked up about 1215. Yeah, we just miss it 1215. Yeah, that's awesome. That's cool. Okay, so can you share a moment just that's really encouraged you? Like as you're trying to instill in these young minds and hearts, you know, things like that, like spending time with the Lord in the morning and learning memory verses, and just getting to afford to them at such a young age. What's something that's really encouraged you guys?

SPEAKER_07

I think for me, it's seeing the overflow to their home and seeing families show up to church for the first time and hearing it's because they came home saying their verses and asking questions and then it just kind of leading that fruit into the whole family and uh you know getting plugged in. Yeah, that's really great.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, because we we've had some CCP families come to Concord, like you said, because of coming to CCP. And then I know you guys too, like at Easter and different things, we'll do some stuff for the parents to come to like a praise and first type thing.

SPEAKER_07

And so yeah, we try to get them plugged in.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, anyway, we've started um this past registration. We had what 107 kiddos, and out of those 107, already eight have said no church home, no church family are looking for Concord info. Wow. So everyone's already able to reach out to them and get them invited. So they've been invited by us, they've been invited by a pastor. So hopefully we'll see them in person.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, that's really cool. Um, what's one thing that just excites you guys about your current group of kids and maybe even just as you look forward to years to come?

SPEAKER_07

What's something that's just I think, and you hear this all the time, is these little people are little sponges, and they just take in everything, and it's not too early to start feeding them truth and getting them to learn scripture, and because it's just setting such a strong campaign. So I think just the one thing is just start early. And yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_06

And I say, I mean, thank you. We get to use this facility every day to provide for us and provide for these families. So just thankful that I get to come and do this every day. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_05

Well, ladies, thank you so much for taking some time just for us to get to know you. And this has been another staff highlight. So back to the podcast.

unknown

Hi.

SPEAKER_01

All

Healing On The Sabbath And Hard Hearts

SPEAKER_01

right. Well, let's jump back into Mark. We've got one more section to cover, uh, which is pretty important as we're continuing the Sabbath moment that Jesus is tackling.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and he's going to meet a man with a withered hand. And what's crazy is they are the Pharisees, once again, we're seeing their heart exposed and what they're trying to do. They're trying to hold the letter of the law than to care about a specific person. So with everyone watching, you know, uh Jesus calls this man for and asks the question is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill it uh or to kill? And the room goes silent.

SPEAKER_01

Jesus is really disrupting something here. I mean, thinking through if if Jesus were to come into our church and disrupt our service flow, would that upset some people? Okay. So that upsets the structure of how our Sunday goes. Like we've got to start putting ourselves, like not putting ourselves into the story of scripture, but allowing it to inform the way we live. Absolutely. Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and what we see is, you know, Jesus heals the man, um, and the Pharisees immediately start plotting against him. What's crazy is the verse actually reads something like this in verse six they held counsel against him how to destroy him. Right. Like it wasn't about the man, it was really about the rules over the people. And Jesus was just grieved in their heart.

SPEAKER_01

It says grieved. He was he was angry. Like it brought his heart to anguish that people were weaponizing God's word. Oh, it's wild.

SPEAKER_03

Um, and so uh let's let's finish with a couple of questions and um we'll go from there. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

So um why do you think that in in the conflict of trying to look more like and act like him, the sanctification process, why do you think that when we act like Christ and we show grace, that provokes stronger reactions than acts of sin?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I think I think for a lot of people, but it it exposes. It exposes the the self-centered nature that we have, the the element of control we talked about earlier. And um, you know, we like to have things fit in a box. We like them to go a certain way. We like to be able to dictate that. And when Jesus comes in and it's outside of our box, maybe outside of our understanding, or it's reframing the way we have to interact with a situation, I think sometimes that exposes something dark that we're wrestling with or holding on to.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. Yeah, no, I agree. It it definitely reveals areas that we have not allowed Christ's transformative grace work into our heart. Now, what, and I kind of referenced this a little bit of, you know, if Christ were to come into our church and disrupt the flow of how we do things, what does this moment reveal to us about how easily religion, not Christianity, not how Christ works in us, but a, you know, religion can miss the heart of God, something that is man-made?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I'll just say it like this, just in a simple statement. Rules are easier than relationships. Uh, it is easier to have a checklist. You know, one of the things that we even see, just if we talk church for a second, and I know some of you have experienced this, if you've grown up in church, um, but the the testimony I get a lot is hey, I was raised in church, I went to VBS, I went to a camp, I went something like that, I walked an aisle, I checked the box, I got dunked, and then nothing changed inside of me. I wasn't discipled, I wasn't led. And and for many of them, not even truly converted. They they had done the rules, they had walked the rite of passage, they had checked the right box, wore the right t-shirt, been in the right place, and yet they had missed the relationship with Jesus.

Rules Are Easier Than Relationships

SPEAKER_03

And then at some point in middle school or high school, like in your ministry or in our college ministry, which I'm so grateful for all that God's doing in our college ministry right now, you guys are uh such an encouragement to me. Or young adults, or maybe even uh some later in life at different seasons of life, and they go back and they had all the rules right, they had all the right things done, but they had missed the relationship. And so I think a lot of times, you know, when when God moves, we instantly try to pull away from that and try to fit that movement, that moment into a box and put all the checklists and rules around it instead of, you know, going, all right, Lord, where are you leading this moment? And that's really what I want for Concord. I want us to be responsive to the Spirit of God. I want us to come to the foot of the cross. I want us to focus on the Lord and wherever he directs that he would go. I mean, I love, you know, the bread and butter of our services. You know, we got our songs, we've got our ways to engage in our hosting, our giving, you know, uh the songs we sing, the teaching. I I love that, but I want that to be completely decimated by the Lord if he wants to. Absolutely. Um and so I think that's a big deal. So um, you know, let's land this thing. And I love the little pun there, jet fuel. Let's land this thing. If y'all don't know, like I am obsessed with fighter jets. I had a conversation with Thad uh this morning on the way to school, and he said, Dad, um, well if you weren't a pastor, what did you want to be like when I was growing up? And I was like, there's two things. I said, I wanted to be a surgeon or I wanted to be a fighter pilot. And uh jets are just cool. They are. They're just they're just awesome. And so let's land this thing. So uh what are some takeaway questions for everybody to consider in Mark chapter two, 18 through the first part of chapter three?

SPEAKER_01

I think we've got two or three that we've got to really wrestle with that we've gotta take some time reflecting over. And I think the first one is am I truly following Jesus? Am I allowing him to transform my life, not just be an addition, not just be an accessory, or am I maintaining like those spiritual habits? Am I adding him on to what my everyday life looks like?

SPEAKER_03

Am I following Jesus or am I following religion? Yes. And that's a hard thing to discern sometimes if you've been churched for a while.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. And I think the second one is do our do our rhythms, do our spiritual disciplines, do the things we do help people experience God, or do they try to measure spirituality for others? Like are we trying to make sure that they are helping others, or are they kind of creating this, you know, hierarchy or this structure of holier than thou?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah, the elite holy huddles, or are we in messy ministry with people and our time in the word is flowing out and being poured into other people and stuff like that? I love that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

I think the last one that we've really got to work through is are we open to Jesus completely? And I'm gonna use the word word decimating of how everywhere is. Are we gonna allow him to decimate, to just bring a wrecking ball in

Takeaways And Reflection Questions

SPEAKER_01

for him to move? Are we gonna allow that to happen in our life?

SPEAKER_03

I think that'd be a game changer for you folks if if we would just say, Hey, am I open to Jesus reshaping everything in my life? Uh, or am I committed to my way, my style, my comfort, my culture? Or we say, Hey, I'm committed to my Christ. Yeah. Um, and so, man, that's awesome. Thank you for joining us today, Miles. I know you got tons to do. You're pouring into not only our students, but the leaders that you've got down there, the parents and family. So appreciate all that. Hope this has been jet fuel for you guys this week, and we will see you guys again soon.