WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.679 Good morning. 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:03.680 My name is Pete. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:11.679 The Old Testament reading this morning is found in Exodus chapter 20, verses 8 to 11. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:18.000 It reads, Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.480 Six days you may work and do all your tasks. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:26.480 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:29.519 Do not do any work on it. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:39.920 Not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:49.359 Because the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:55.280 That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:57.200 The word of the Lord. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:23.519 So you see that a Sabbath rest is left open for God's people. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:32.879 The one who enter who enter God's rest also rested from his works, just as God rested from his own. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:40.239 Therefore, let's make every effort to enter that rest, the word of the Lord. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:59.120 If you're able, please stand for the gospel reading found in Mark chapter 2, verses 23 through 28. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:03.040 Jesus went through the wheat fields on the Sabbath. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:13.520 The Pharisees said to Jesus, Look, why are they breaking the Sabbath law? 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:19.759 He said to them, Haven't you ever read what David did when he was in need? 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:23.439 When he and those who were with him were hungry? 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:35.919 During the time when Abiathar was high priest, David went into God's house and ate the bread of the presence, which only the priests were allowed to eat. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:39.120 He also gave bread to those who were with him. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:46.719 And then he said, The Sabbath was created for humans, but the humans were not created for the Sabbath. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:54.479 This is why the human one is Lord even over the Sabbath, the gospel of the Lord. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:00.960 Please remain standing with me as we pray the Lord's Prayer together. 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:04.319 The words will be up on the screen, and let's pray together. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:15.039 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:29.280 And give us today our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:35.840 For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:36.639 Amen. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:37.840 You may be seated. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:39.199 Good morning, saints. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:41.599 I think I forgot to introduce myself earlier. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:42.719 My name is Jason. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:44.000 I'm one of the pastors here. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:51.520 Welcome again to anyone who's visiting and to anybody who's watching online or watching uh the recording later. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:56.000 Uh, before we dive in, uh there's a couple of guests I didn't know were going to be here today. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:57.280 We just want to honor real quick. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:01.360 So, Pastor Blake Cataldo and his wife Liv are here. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:03.039 Good to see you guys. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:11.680 Pastor Blake was uh one of our pastors for several years before uh transitioning up and taking a job uh with New Life North. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:21.279 And then with him is Pastor Beth Vicardo, who oversees uh HR up at New Life North and was so helpful for us in launching out his communion of saints. 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:23.439 So good morning to all of you guys. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:47.759 Uh, we're in the fourth week in a series uh through a core aspect of who we are as a church, our sort of guiding statement, the sense of how do we articulate who we are as a church is this is that we are a community of disciples who are formed in a common faith through a common life for the common good. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:53.920 And each of the last couple of years, we've taken a few weeks to talk about one of those components. 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:56.639 In 2024, we talked about a common life. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.839 In 2025, last year we talked about common faith. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:07.680 And then this year we're taking a few weeks to explore the idea of what does it mean to be formed for the common good? 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.839 How is it that Christians, that you and me join Jesus in the restoration of all things? 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.920 How do we join Jesus in the work that he is doing? 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:25.199 And one of the things we deeply believe is that that's actually possible in every area of our life. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:36.160 That to be a disciple of Jesus is for our whole lives to be formed for our whole lives so that everything can actually contribute to God's repairing of the world. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:43.519 But this year we're focusing particularly on two areas, our vocational stewardship and our financial stewardship. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:46.879 So we're looking at work and our resources. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.560 The last two weeks we've talked about how and why we work. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:58.639 And then today will be the third discussion on that before we shift to talking about how our generosity uh contributes to the common good. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:22.560 So we're gonna talk about work again, but we're gonna flip the conversation completely on its head and look at work through the opposite sort of lens or through a very different angle and talk today, particularly, as you probably guessed from the readings, to talk about rest and how rest can actually contribute to the common good. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:30.959 How our stopping or our ceasing from work is one of the ways that we join Jesus. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:41.759 And we're talking about rest, we're talking particularly about the practice of Sabbath, the distinctively Judeo-Christian way of resting. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:55.360 Whenever we're talking about Christian practices, what we are saying to some degree is that these are just ordinary activities, things that we do, but that are shaped in very peculiar ways. 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:11.680 They're ordinary activities that are shaped distinctively to usher us into God's story, to help us become in tune with ultimate reality and to orient our lives to what is good and beautiful and true. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:15.360 Because the truth is that all humans rest. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:18.160 We all need to rest. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:26.160 We cannot and should not be working without ceasing, pray without ceasing, yes, but not work without ceasing. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:36.639 But the how and the why we rest, the ways we rest, and the reasons we rest can be quite different. 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:38.959 They can be shaped in different ways. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:08:04.399 When we're talking about Sabbath, for those of you maybe that's a new term for, Sabbath refers to a 24-hour period during which the people of God cease from their regular work in order to worship together, to rest, to delight, to put uh to play, to pray, to celebrate, to do all of those kinds of things. 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:08.079 And Sabbath is observed every single week. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:14.959 So this is different than talking about vacation or a holiday or sick time or a personal day. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:33.519 For Jews and for the first Christians, the first, the idea of Sabbath actually begins at sundown on Friday and then ended at sundown on Saturday, was kind of where it was originally practiced, uh, still practiced that way in Jewish communities. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:43.360 But in the early church, what we found is that the early church also gathered on Sundays to celebrate resurrection and to enjoy the Lord's Supper together. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:53.279 So as the gospel spread into Gentile communities, those who are non-Jewish, then Sundays became more and more significant. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:56.960 And the church began to have this sort of internal debate. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:00.960 Do we rest on Saturday or do we rest on Sunday? 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:02.399 Do we rest on both? 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:04.480 Like, how do we work this all out? 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:07.840 And it's still a matter of discussion a couple thousand years later. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:17.200 But most Christians observe Sabbath on Sunday, though some still do on Saturday, for those of you who have friends who are Seventh-day Adventists. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:22.879 And there are others who think like that uh don't believe that Christians should keep Sabbath. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:26.000 They're like, oh, that's kind of like Old Testament sort of ideas. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:27.200 We don't need to worry about that. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:30.799 There are others who are like, well, maybe, but I just personally don't. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:33.759 Uh and then there are others who don't want to. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:48.240 Um, I've talked to a few people who grew up in households where Sabbath was really strict, where they sort of had to, as kids, sit in the corner and sit on their hands and not say anything for hours, uh, and their idea of Sabbath was anything but enjoyable. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:52.000 Um, so there's all kinds of sort of places for this. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:10:02.080 For me personally, I've been practicing Sabbath, though albeit mainly poorly, um, in some way for 20 to 25 years. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:08.799 And it has been one of the most formative practices in my life with God. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:16.399 And it has certainly been perhaps the most sustaining practice for our family and for my work. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:21.039 Um, but it is not a natural practice for me. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:30.559 Uh, I grew up in a home that highly valued hard work and sort of said, like, you can play when the work is all done. 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:34.159 I also grew up in a home that was highly dysfunctional. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:46.559 And so the place that I felt the most safe, oftentimes in childhood and even into early adulthood, was the places where I was at work, whether at school or at my job. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:54.000 I sort of knew in those places who I was and what was expected of me, and then what the outcomes would be for that. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:57.679 Work in many ways felt much safer than relationships. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.440 It felt like, oh, I know who I am there. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:06.960 Combine that with a personality that's a perfectionist, and you've got a wonderful cocktail. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:13.840 Um and so this is a learned practice for me in so many ways. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:23.840 But the idea of Sabbath first appears in Genesis chapter two, where at the end of the first creation story we read that on the sixth day, God completed all the work that he had done. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:28.320 And then on the seventh day, God rested from all of the work that he had done. 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:36.879 And he blessed the seventh day and he made it holy, because on it God rested from all of the work of creation. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:51.600 Now it's mentioned there in Genesis, but the story isn't really resumed until Exodus, where we find a Sabbath is commanded in Exodus chapter 16, but then it takes on this really great prominence when we enter into the covenants. 00:11:51.840 --> 00:12:00.080 The here after Yahweh delivered his people from Egypt and gathered them together at Sinai and entered into a covenant with them. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:05.360 The centerpiece of that covenant was known as the Ten Commandments or the Ten Words. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:16.080 And what these words are doing is they're sort of outlined if I am going to be your God and you are going to be my people, then this is what our life is going to look like. 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:18.879 In other words, it's a divine DTR. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:24.159 It's like God saying, we're going to define the terms of the relationship now from here. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:34.240 And the fourth commandment in that DTR is this: remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:43.120 Six days you may work and do all of your tasks, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:13:00.480 Do not do any work on it, not you, or your sons, or your daughters, or your male or female servants, or your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you, because the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything that is in them, and he did it in six days. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:07.600 But he rested on the seventh day, and that is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:19.440 That idea, remember, has a sense really in the original language to keep or to guard or to protect the Sabbath day by making it holy. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:34.399 In other words, by not treating it as common, by not treating it just like any other day, but to set it aside for a particular purpose and to recognize this day is a part of God's realm. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:42.240 And so do all of your work in six days, which is in and of itself a huge affirmation of work. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:47.279 It's saying, no, no, no, work is valuable, work is important, you should do it. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:14:04.879 And then it says, but do it all in six days, which requires productivity, requires focus, requires excellence, requires planning, especially in a largely agrarian economy, to have to think through, oh, how do we get all of this done in six days so that we can do that? 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:08.879 That shapes our work in the ways that Pastor Stephanie was talking about last week. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:15.840 We bring all of our excellence to it so that we can then rest on the seventh day and not do any work. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:19.600 And of course, the question that's immediately asked was, well, then why? 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.720 Why would we not do any work on that day? 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:31.440 And the Ten Commandments ground that reason in the create in the creation narrative and in the imitation of God. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:35.519 According to Exodus, we rest because God rested. 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:41.759 That's the reason that's given to us, which is a really fascinating idea. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.480 What does it mean for God to rest? 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:50.000 If you think about it for a second, like imagine God resting. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:53.519 What are the pictures that come to your mind? 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:55.600 What are the images? 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:58.159 Does God take a day off? 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:00.159 Like, is he not God that day? 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:01.679 Like, does he stop godding? 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:06.320 Whatever that looks like, like, does he need a personal day? 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:07.919 Is he tired? 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:09.679 Does he need a nap? 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:11.600 Does he hammock? 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:16.000 Does he binge watch lanterns or silo or bluey? 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:19.519 Like, what's more his speed in that? 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:27.440 What often happens is that when we try to picture God resting, we imagine God doing what we do when we have a day off. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:31.279 But those pictures are all native to our world. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:35.039 Those pictures are not native to the world of the Bible. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:44.720 In the world of the Bible, in the ancient Near East, the idea of rest is really primarily associated with something that kings and gods do. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:52.799 That rest is what kings do after they've defeated all of their enemies and secured their domain. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.080 They sit down and they rest on their throne. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:02.080 And rest is also associated with what gods do when they inhabit their temples. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:09.279 When now the whole temple is created and now the God comes to rest within that space. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:39.679 When we hold those two ideas together, what's being communicated to us is that when God rests, it's a sign that everything is under his rule, that everything is as it should be, that everything is as God wants it to be, or the other image of the tabernacle that God has now finished building his tabernacle, his sanctuary, which is the whole earth, and is now inhabiting it and filling it with his presence. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:46.240 So Sabbath, in some way, is a reminder of God's creative sovereignty and his caring presence. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:54.240 And so we rest because God reigns, and we rest because God is near. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:57.840 We rest because God is close to us. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:05.039 In other words, there's something about Sabbath that is meant to remind us that there is a God and we're not Him. 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:08.799 That Sabbath reminds us that we are not God. 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:23.200 That yes, we have work to do, and our work matters, and our work is a way of bearing God's image and reflecting his rule in the world, but there seems to be an inherent danger in our vocation as humans. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:32.640 And that danger is that we can begin to think that our work is paramount, that everything in this life and in our world depends upon us. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:42.000 And what we do then is begin to start to place our trust in us and in our own abilities, and saying this is all on me. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:46.799 And we start to assume responsibility for things that are not ours to bear. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:53.440 And Sabbath keeping reminds us that there is a God who creates and sustains the worlds. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:09.440 And we need to rest in order to remember. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:18.480 What's interesting is the Ten Commandments are repeated again later in Deuteronomy chapter 5, and they're almost verbatim between Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:31.200 But what's really fascinating is the Sabbath passage changes pretty drastically because in that version of the Ten Commandments, the practice of Sabbath is given a different reason, a different motivation. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:33.279 It says this in Deuteronomy chapter 5. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:40.480 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:44.960 And that's why the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:49.680 Here in Deuteronomy, it's not grounded in creation, but grounded in the Exodus. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:55.519 In other words, what uh Deuteronomy is trying to tell us is that we rest because God rescued us. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:03.119 There's something about rest that reminds us that we are not slaves. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:09.440 This is not something that we could do for ourselves or did do for ourselves. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:17.119 This is something that God did for us because He loves us, and we are not slaves, and we are not machines. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:25.680 We are not something less than or other than human image bearers. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:34.079 And our identity, our value, our worth, our significance, those things are not determined by what we do. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:37.839 Work is a part of who we are. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:44.000 Certainly, but it is not the entirety of who we are. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:50.079 We were created to work, but we have value beyond our vocation. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:56.319 And we are more than what we do, and we were created for more than just work. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:17.119 And so what Sabbath does is Sabbath reminds us that our identity and our value are determined by God, the one who made us in his image, the one who rescued us from slavery, the one who adopted us as his kids, the one who gave us the invitation to partner with him in his kingdom to begin with, but we're not his slave workforce. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:36.079 Instead, we are his sons and his daughters, who he loves and who he delights in, and he entrusts the work to, but the work is an outflow of our relationship with him, not something we do to try to earn that or to make that possible. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:52.079 This is really at the center of the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees that we read a little bit about in the New Testament reading, and where Jesus comes at the very end and says, hey, listen, the Sabbath was created for humans, not the other way around. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:55.839 We weren't created for this, it was created for us. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:04.960 See, Jesus sees Sabbath as a gift, something that's meant to serve and support and care for us, not to subjugate us. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:08.400 It's intended to be a benefit and not to be a burden. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:24.240 But what's happening with the Pharisees is rather than receiving God's gift and resting in his sovereignty and rejoicing in his deliverance and basking in his presence and delighting in his goodness, they're trying to regulate and restrict the Sabbath. 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:26.960 And they're doing so for understandable reasons. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:29.920 They wanted to obey, they wanted to do it right. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:37.920 They had this heart like we want to obey God properly, because if we get everything right, then maybe God will act on our behalf. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:51.599 And so they're trying to define and determine what was and what was not permissible to do on the Sabbath, but their sort of impulse caused them to distort the purpose of what they were trying to preserve. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:56.160 And Jesus comes on and says, No, no, no, Sabbath is a gift we receive. 00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:57.839 That's what it is. 00:21:58.640 --> 00:21:59.680 Sabbath is a gift. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.279 We receive. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:04.240 And it's a gift that shapes our work. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:07.359 And it shapes us for our work. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:37.359 If good work is work that contributes to the common good, and if Christian work is good work well done, then Sabbath enables us to go into our good work with the knowledge that we are loved by God, with the knowledge that not all of this depends upon us, with the knowledge that we have value beyond what it is that we're going to do. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:43.359 And it enables us to engage in our work from a place of rest. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:59.519 It allows us to bring our best selves and our best efforts toward our work rather than sort of collapsing into it and trying to do it in the margins. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:04.799 Jesus sees Sabbath as a gift for us to receive. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:26.799 But there's one other dimension that I think is often sort of missed in Jesus' teachings and missed even in a lot of the sort of return to Sabbath conversations that are oftentimes happening within churches, is that it's this is that Jesus also shows us the Sabbath is a gift that we give. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:34.480 Sabbath is not only a gift that we receive, Sabbath is also a gift that we give. 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:41.599 The Sabbath is meant to cascade out from us to others and to all creation. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:46.400 This is actually all the way back in Exodus where it says, do not do any work on it. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:56.559 And this is not just you, but also your sons and your daughters and your male and female servants and your animals or the immigrant who is living among you. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:02.720 Like not only do you not do work, but actually give this gift to others. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:06.079 And this is ultimately what Jesus is doing on the Sabbath. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:09.359 He's getting in trouble because he's doing things like this. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:27.279 He's healing the sick, he's casting out demons, he's feeding the hungry, he's rescuing people from darkness and disease, he's restoring people to community, which means they get restored to worship, which also means then they get restored to work the very next day. 00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:30.559 And people are getting upset at Jesus for doing this. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:31.759 He's like, no, no, no, no. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:42.079 This is the very purpose of the Sabbath, is that we're not only invited to receive it, but to give it, to share Sabbath with others for their good. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:46.319 Not just for ours, but for the good of others. 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:55.759 In Exodus, the passage says that we should extend Sabbath to our family, to our servants, to the vulnerable, and even to animals. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:02.000 Now, I'm assuming here that very few of us have working animals that we might need to give Sabbath to. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:05.119 Um, if you have those, we can have that conversation later. 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:07.519 My guess is most of us have pets. 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:12.559 Um, we have a dog named Pepper, and every day is Sabbath for her. 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:19.759 Um, all she does is nap and eat treats and worship Sarah. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.680 Um this is this is her life. 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:27.279 Um, so we'll skip that and we'll focus on the human element. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:34.559 When you think about this just for a moment, what does it mean for you to receive Sabbath? 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:38.319 But also what would it look like to share it? 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:49.279 Maybe you're here with a spouse or a roommate, somebody that you live with and um do just all kinds of life with? 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:55.920 What would it look like for you to help them rest from their regular work? 00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:03.039 What would it look like to help them to cultivate joy in the midst of their life? 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.680 How can you share Sabbath with your spouse? 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:11.119 How can you share that with your roommates? 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:23.200 Or maybe your friends, maybe you're not living in the same space, but what does it look like to remind your friends every week that there is a God who holds all things? 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:39.920 And he holds them in the middle of their anxiety and their fear and their struggle to make ends meet, or whatever that happens to look like, their relational turmoil or other things that they just feel like they're just trying to make happen? 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:43.599 What does it look like to offer them the gift of Sabbath? 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:55.519 Maybe there's kids in your life, maybe it's your own kids, maybe it's nieces, nephews, neighbor kids, maybe you're a school teacher and there's kids in your classrooms? 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.039 Maybe you've got kids in all kinds of places from there. 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:04.319 What does it look like to be present to the kids in our lives? 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:11.200 To be near to them in a way that helps them to imagine that there's a God who is always present with us. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:17.519 If part of Sabbath is about God drawing near and filling his whole place, what does it look like to draw near? 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:21.440 Or maybe what does it look like to even receive the gift of play from them? 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:24.960 To remind ourselves, oh yeah, we forgot how to do this. 00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:31.440 We got old and forgot how to play and to receive that joy from them. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:39.119 What would it look like to limit the amount of homework that kids take home on a weekend that they might enjoy Sabbath on a Sunday? 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:41.039 Now I'm stepping too far. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:44.960 Maybe you have coworkers. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:51.440 What does it look like to remind them that they have value beyond what they do for your team? 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:54.799 Value beyond their production. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:58.480 Or maybe you have employees, maybe you're a small business owner. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:02.799 What does it look like to say, hey, we're gonna close on Sundays? 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:13.920 Maybe it's gonna impact the bottom line, but it's worth it because we care in this way about offering this to others. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:17.279 Or maybe there's people in your life that are vulnerable. 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:30.880 The Old Testament is continually referring to the poor, to the orphan, to the widow, and to the immigrants, to the person who's living in a place that wasn't the place that they were born and find themselves in a very vulnerable sort of space. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:37.039 What does it look like to offer rescue to the poor, to the orphan, to the widow, and to the immigrant? 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:40.559 To offer rescue and rest and relationship. 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:43.119 What does it look like? 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:48.960 Or on a very practical level, what does it look like to offer Sabbath to one another? 00:28:50.240 --> 00:29:07.279 As we gather together on Sabbath, as we come together on Sundays, and yes, there's so much about our gathering, and it's like, oh, this is the place that I come to receive all that God has for me to shape and form me to go out into the world to do the work that He has for me to do. 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:12.160 But is there also a way to share Sabbath with one another? 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:16.559 And maybe you're here and there's somebody around you like, I've never met them before. 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:24.880 And the gift of hospitality can be extended to them, just in the sense of, hey, part of Sabbath is dignifying you as a human. 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:27.359 And I want to ask you what your name is. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:34.880 Or part of Sabbath has always been a communal practice, never one of just isolation, but one of community. 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:35.920 What would it look like to be? 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:37.920 Hey, I we've met a couple of times. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:42.240 Would you like to come to lunch to extend that out to someone? 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:44.160 Would you like to come over for dinner? 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:49.119 Would you like to just have a coffee after service and to extend that? 00:29:49.680 --> 00:30:00.559 When I was uh a single person in my early 20s, like late teens, early 20s, living in Tulsa, uh, away from my home, my home, my family. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:09.759 There was a family in our church, not on staff, just a family in our church that extended Sabbath to me in the most profound and transformative ways of my life. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:19.680 That I would go over to their house every Sunday after church, usually sometime in the evening, and we would share a meal together and watch alias or survivor or lost. 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:26.000 And I would read stories to their kids and help them clean up after dinner and eat way too much of their food. 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:35.839 Um, and yet in their gift of sharing Sabbath with me, I saw Christian marriage for the first time and I saw Christian parenting for the first time. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:37.839 And it has profoundly shaped my life. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:45.920 What would it look like to extend Sabbath to singles or for singles for you to extend Sabbath to families? 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:56.559 I was talking to our kids and youth ministry volunteers this morning, and I said, I think one of the things that they're doing this morning is extending Sabbath by welcoming kids into kids' ministry. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:00.720 Um, so that maybe some of you parents who just had a hard week. 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:09.680 It was tiring, it was exhausting, and to be able to come in and to sit and receive uh the filling of the spirit to head back into parenting. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:13.440 What a gift that our volunteers are giving in that sense. 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:16.559 There's so many ways that we can do that. 00:31:16.799 --> 00:31:33.759 And I want to take just a moment to think about it as the worship team comes forward this morning of just maybe take us a second this morning and maybe just ask Jesus, is there any part of you, maybe Sabbath is not a practice that you partake in in any way? 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:37.359 Um, what would it look like to receive that gift? 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:39.359 Is there a resistance there? 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:41.200 And say, Jesus, would you help me? 00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:44.799 Maybe it's just starting small and in some way. 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:52.880 Maybe Sabbath is already a regular part of your rhythm, but asking, hey Jesus, how could I share this with other people? 00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:57.119 Is there a way to extend this in some way? 00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:04.960 And one to share. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:09.039 The Sabbath is good for us and therefore it is good for all. 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:12.240 The common good is furthered. 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:28.480 So, Jesus, as we come to the table today, as we think about this, would you even in this moment help us to experience an increased trust in your ring? 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:33.839 That you're the one who holds all things together. 00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:43.440 Would you help us to experience a greater awareness of your presence, that you're the God who draw nearest to us to be with us? 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:56.160 And would you remind us today of your great rescue as we come to the table and remember all that Jesus did for us. 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:02.000 Not so that we could work for him. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:10.559 Because he loves us and delights in being with us and working with us. 00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:13.599 Praise in Jesus' name. 00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:16.559 Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:19.519 As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. 00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:21.039 World without end. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:21.759 Amen.