WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.840 So we're glad you're here at Christ the Redeemer. 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:04.959 What we like to say every week is we're more broken than we originally thought. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:09.599 We're we're more imperfect, more sinful than we originally thought, but we're more loved by God than we could dare to dream. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:13.439 And so that's what we like to see every week, whatever text we're in for the week. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:19.760 Um that's what we're sort of uncovering and learning and trying to apply into our hearts and into our lives. 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:21.600 So we're going to the book of Joshua. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.120 If you're new, you just showed up. 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:25.920 We're going to the book of Joshua and Joshua chapter five this morning. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:32.560 In Joshua chapter five, if you happened to have read ahead, you would have read the word circumcised about every third word. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:43.280 And so we are being gracious to Larn and that she didn't have to stand up here and read like 13 verses of the word circumcised, every third word without any context being given for all of us to grab hold of first. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:48.640 So ultimately, this is about being marked by God, being defined by God. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:49.759 And we're gonna uncover that. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:01:02.799 So a couple months ago, Christy was out of town with some girlfriends, and she was out of town for a few days, and so I was on full duty, full throttle duty with our three girls all day, every day for three days while working. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:08.000 So I experienced actually what Christy does on a normal day, I experienced just for three days. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:12.480 And so I'd wake up early, about 15 minutes before the girls would wake up, and then I'd get the lunches packed. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:17.280 I'd like to be prepared before they get up, as it takes me a little bit longer to just sort of do that morning routine. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:25.599 And so I'd have everything ready and the water bottles ready, and then they'd wake up and they'd start through, and we'd do breakfast and then ponytails and all of that. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:31.359 And by the end of all that, they have their backpack, they have their uh their jacket, their water bottle, the lunch box. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:35.280 I mean, like all this stuff is what I really all this stuff's leaving my house. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.519 I've bought, I've I've bought all this stuff. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:38.959 This is my stuff. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:41.439 Um, and and some of it doesn't always come back, right? 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:45.920 Some of you, if you if you're a parent or if you've been a parent, um you remember this, right? 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:50.000 Like you're hunting for your kid's jacket at the lost and found at your school, right? 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:53.840 And so I'm that week, especially that week, like I got these stickers. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:02.959 We have these stickers um that say uh our child's name on it, you know, Masterson on it, and I I would I just started sticking these stickers on everything that was leaving every morning. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:04.319 I'd be like, You got a sticker in that jacket? 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:08.400 You got you know, I was like, I was in charge, so all my control tendencies were coming out. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:12.000 The sticker on the bottom of the water bottle, sticker inside of the jacket, right? 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:15.680 Like I was marking things because it was mine, right? 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:16.639 Like they're mine. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:18.800 I I want them to come back to me. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:20.960 I have purchased them and they're mine. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:22.240 So I was marking them. 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:23.439 We we do this, right? 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:24.879 All of us do this to some extent. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.520 I could I can remember my the my first office. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.319 And what did it have right outside the office? 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:31.520 Right beside the door. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:32.800 It had my name on it, right? 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:34.719 Like, oh, it's like, oh, it's my office. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:37.280 Nobody else can come in here and try to claim it's it's mine. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:38.960 We do this with our cars, right? 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:41.599 Put a license plate on it, it's ours, we mark it. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:44.000 My dog did it this morning, like seven times. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:45.120 Seven times. 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:48.240 He's he's just rationing it. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:52.159 We mark stuff, we write our names on it, it's ours. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:56.479 We we write our name on our soccer ball, and if people don't cooperate with us, we're gonna go home with our ball, right? 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:56.960 It's ours. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:57.439 Nobody can. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:02:59.520 It belongs to us, this is the point here. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.080 This is the idea actually going into Joshua 5. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:04.560 It's this idea, and first you read it, right? 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:07.120 We're gonna read it, and first you read it and you go, like, what? 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:09.840 Like, this is the parts of the Bible I actually read over. 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:15.039 But actually, the more we dig into this and we we uncover it, we go, oh, like this means something. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.680 Now, this was an ancient time, right? 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:21.199 This was an ancient ritual of circumcision. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.719 But really, it's about being marked by God. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:33.680 It's about being defined, it's about being justified in the core of your being in the most intimate way, as gods. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.599 That we belong to God. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:42.000 So if you've been with us through Joshua, you can remember the last, I think, four sermons, perhaps, something like that. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:47.919 They they were in Egypt, if you remember the history, the people of God, they were in Egypt and they were in slavery. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:54.319 They get rescued out of slavery through miraculous events, and then what should take a few weeks to get through this wilderness, this desert? 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:56.879 It takes 40 years? 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:02.560 Because of their disobedience and their apathy, and they just don't care, and they forget, and they settle in. 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:06.479 And then God starts to speak to Joshua and says, Hey, you're gonna lead these people. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:16.480 Like these people need to move not just from slavery to wandering, but from wandering into the land of rest and nourishment, a land of peace. 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.639 And this is an image for us to behold because this is what we have in Jesus. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:31.040 This is the image that is giving to us to move from slavery and wandering into a place where our hearts can rest in peace and rest and nourishment. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:32.879 So let's jump into the text. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:34.879 Joshua 5, verse 2. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:43.279 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:51.759 So if you remember, they've crossed over the river, this army that's going to go take over this land, which is their land, but they're not in the land, so other people are living in the land, they're coming back to get their land. 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:56.319 And so he says, Hey, make the knives, circumcise the sons. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:00.879 And now this is going on because the generation before Joshua didn't do this. 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:03.040 They were told to do this, and they were disobedient. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:15.279 So if we jump into verse 6, for the people of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness, and to all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:22.879 The Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:25.600 A land flowing with milk and honey. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:35.439 So it was their children whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:40.319 So that's all that history kind of broken down into a couple verses. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.360 So you know, welcome to a chat on circumcision, Sunday morning. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:44.720 You're excited about this. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:51.279 It seems barbaric, uh, it seems ancient, it seems uh uh very intimate, it seems bloody. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:52.399 Um, and it is. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:54.639 It's all of those things. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:07.439 Uh, but what it is meaning for us when we see it in the biblical arc of the story and in the gospel, it's about being a person defined by God, marked by God as his child. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:14.399 So, point number one is this our hearts are marked by Christ's unwavering love for us. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:15.120 And we'll get there. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:16.399 I'll get us there. 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:17.360 That's the point, though. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:24.480 Our hearts, who we are and the core of our beings, are marked by Christ's unwavering love for us. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.480 This week, uh, Christy and I watched the new Taylor Swift documentary on Netflix. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:29.120 Has anybody seen that? 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:30.000 Miss Americana? 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:31.120 Anybody watch that this week? 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:32.399 It just came out the last couple weeks. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.720 We've been Taylor fans for like 16 years, ever since Tim McGraw. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:39.279 I don't know if anybody's been with her since that long. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:41.759 Uh I mean, she just feels like we're family. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:43.120 Uh, we're not letting go. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:44.720 You can judge us on the way out. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:50.560 It sort of doesn't matter what she does or says, like we're family at this point, and we're just gonna ride it out with her. 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:58.240 Um, and so we were watching the documentary because we're fans and we're gonna see what's going on, and we get an inside look, and so we're so excited about it. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:12.160 And she says at one point, one of the really insightful things, she says, from the age of 13, pretty much, when she started standing on stages, until her late 20s, and you've got to think, I mean, this is a person, you know, the biggest of spotlights. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:17.199 Here's what she says I became the person everyone wanted me to be. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:25.279 When you're living from the approval of strangers, one bad thing can cause everything to crumble. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:26.319 Right? 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:27.920 Maybe you know that feeling. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:30.000 I mean, we all know the feeling to some extent. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.759 We want a group of friends to approve of us. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:35.120 Right? 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:40.879 I mean, we want a particular person to approve, a particular person in your family just won't give it to you. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:42.079 It would be so great. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:43.519 They just won't give it to you. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.040 We all want to belong, is what this is. 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:51.839 We all want to have a definition in the core of who we are. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:56.240 This is one of the one of our core needs in life. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:01.040 On Tuesday, my mentor Scotty Smith, he wrote this on his prayer blog. 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:06.160 Free us from the grave clothes of people's opinions. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:13.680 Criticism and rejection can devastate us, and praise and appreciation can seduce us. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:23.600 May your unwavering love for us and great delight in us define us more than anything else. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:36.240 So, back in this Joshua story, to these Israelites, them not living in their land and not having land, land back then was tied to identity. 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:40.320 I mean, it's sort of like what we do today with achievements. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:44.080 Land was who they were, and they didn't have land. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:50.080 And the brilliance, the brilliance of this story is that God marks them as his own. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:51.039 That's what's going on here. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:56.559 This story in Joshua 5, God marks them as his own before they go and recapture the land. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:02.080 So before they go and fight the fight or conquer anything or achieve anything, he marks them as his own. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:08.799 And so what this means is it tells us again and again what the scripture and the biblical gospel narratives tell you. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:13.679 Before we fight fights. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:18.000 By grace through faith in Jesus alone. 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:23.600 And now that is, oh, I mean, I don't know for you, for me, it's an incredible relief. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:29.120 If you're in touch with your powerlessness at all, this is such great relief. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:39.279 Because we're powerless to live righteous enough or good enough or achieve enough as to feel suddenly, oh, I'm, you know, I've arrived. 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:44.799 But if we're already God's beloved before, this changes everything. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:55.360 In response to all of that, I just want to throw out for us a few questions for our hearts to ponder by means of asking the Holy Spirit to work inside of us. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:58.960 Here's a few questions that this week I was beginning to ponder. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:04.159 In what ways have I given myself to being marked by people's approval? 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:10.320 Wouldn't that be wonderful to be able to just know that and confess that, begin to unpack that a little bit? 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:20.879 In what ways do I allow my heart to find justification in what I have or am trying to get or trying to earn? 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:31.919 In what ways have I yet to fully embrace how fully loved and marked I am as your beloved. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.879 Now, here's what Paul says in the New Testament about circumcision. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:41.759 So he picks up on this image and this practice, he bridges it for us to understand it. 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:43.679 Romans 2, 28 and 29. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:49.200 He's writing to a group of Jews talking about this new Christian faith that's come out of the Jewish faith. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:57.120 Here's what he says: For no one is a Jew who's merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:10:59.759 Well, sure, it probably felt like that to a lot of the Jews, right? 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:01.519 Oh, well, then what was it? 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:02.559 Here's verse 29. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:12.240 He says, But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:16.320 His praise is not from man, but from God. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:21.200 So what Paul's saying here, he's saying, it's not about outward behavior. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:27.679 This is not about a life living up to enough standards or enough rules or enough merit. 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:29.919 That's not what Christian faith is. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:31.519 That's moralism. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:34.000 That's just religiosity. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:37.519 Spirituality, Christian faith, faith walk. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.200 It's about the heart. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:42.320 It's not about the letter of the law. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:54.320 It's about the Spirit of God inside of us, loving us and redeeming us and delivering us, comforting us, convicting us, but in us working, marking us as his own. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:12:08.639 You've got to remember that generation before Joshua, they didn't circumcise the kids and the people, and so they didn't follow God's direction and all that wandering for 40 years, and so they die off as this other generation that know they're not living where they should, and so they're in disobedience. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:10.720 Can you imagine the voice of shame? 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:13.519 Well, of course you can. 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:14.559 Right? 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.759 Of course you can, because you remember you remember that night in college. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:19.600 You don't want to talk about it. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:23.039 You remember the night in high school, you don't want to talk about it. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:25.519 You remember the night last week. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:28.320 We don't want to talk about it. 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:37.519 And you shouldn't have done that, and you shouldn't have said that, and that person always set you off, and that's how it happened, and you didn't plan on it happening, and then it happened, and that voice of shame can happen. 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:38.879 That voice of shame can begin. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:40.399 Joshua 5, 9 says this. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:46.159 And the Lord said to Joshua, today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:57.679 So God was rolling away, taking away judgment and condemnation as to welcome these people into a land of peace and rest. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:01.519 His image is unfolding for us. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:08.240 Years ago, I was playing golf at the super cushy golf course up in Highlands. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:09.360 Here's the first T. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:10.399 This is Mountain Top. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:11.919 Anybody ever played at Mountaintop? 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:12.960 Have you ever played there? 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:18.080 Golfers like want to play there, and I was there through my father-in-law, not my wallet. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:22.960 You know, I was there through my father-in-law, and a friend of his was a member, and it's real clear I'm not a member. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:29.200 I got my junkie clubs and my old golf shoes, and by the time I tee off, the driving range didn't help. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:30.080 Okay, it didn't. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:31.120 I'm slicing. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:32.720 I'm consistent. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:34.480 It's consistent. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:37.679 It's just not good, you know, it's just bad. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.639 I'm all up in those woods to the left and the right. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:41.679 I'm I'm all over. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:42.480 I'm hiking. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:43.919 I'm I'm hiking. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:45.039 I'm not golfing. 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:48.559 I'm hiking, I'm crisscrossing the fairway. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:50.000 I'm exhausted. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:51.279 It's very hard work. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:56.080 If you're a bad golfer, you know it is it is very hard work being a bad golfer. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:02.399 Whenever I golf with my friend Kevin, he's just having this leisurely, restful time, having a wonderful time. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:03.519 I'm exhausted. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:06.480 I'm I mean, it's like triple the effort for me. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:08.960 About hole number five. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:10.879 I think it was a hole number five, maybe not. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:12.159 Maybe maybe you played there and you know this. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:14.879 But about hole number five, we were about halfway up the fairway. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:18.000 Over to the right, there was this little house. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:19.679 I mean, it's a beautiful little house. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:23.840 It probably, this little hut probably cost as much as my house cost to build. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:26.720 That's how beautiful and just unbelievable it was. 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:39.200 And you went over to it, and nobody's in there, but every, every wonderful, yummy, healthy snack and unhealthy snack you could ever imagine is inside this hut. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:44.159 Every drink you could possibly want, everything you want is inside of this hut. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:48.080 And you walk in, I mean, there is homemade granola bars inside of this hut, right? 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.080 I mean, we're not talking like junky candy. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:52.559 I mean, everything you want is inside this place. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:55.120 And it is so clear to me this is where I belong. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:15:00.799 And that's what, like, this is, I should just stay, I need to stay, I need to stay here. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:03.440 This was, this was my this was my place. 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:04.480 This is where I belong. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:05.759 It was a place, right? 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:07.039 Like that's our image here. 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:22.639 It was a place of rest and nourishment, at least for me, that felt like a lot of slavery and wandering, just wandering around golf course, trying to find my ball, and then this place is just such rest and nourishment, this little house, this little house. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:27.919 This is this image that we're getting in history with these people of Israel. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:31.279 It's also the image, the truth we have in Jesus. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:35.759 That we have a place for our hearts to reside. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.919 That He is our redemption, He is our deliverance. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:43.039 Point number two is this. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:50.320 We are called to live in rhythms of rest and remembrance, as to live as people of mission and calling. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:52.240 There's an order there. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:54.639 It's not a balance, it's an order. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:16:00.000 We are called to live in rhythms of rest and remembrance, as to live as people of mission and calling. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:01.360 Just when you think, right? 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:03.120 The army is over the river. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:07.039 So just when you think off they go, they're gonna conquer. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:11.919 Because if we read the text in Joshua 5, it says, all the people are they're scared. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:23.360 They've heard the stories of this people of Israel and how they've come out of Egypt, and that happened to the Egyptians, and now they've crossed through this river, and like apparently their God is actually powerful and stuff's going on. 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:28.000 All the people in Canaan, they are nervous, they're scared. 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:33.759 And just when you think this army is just gonna get it, they're gonna fight the fight, they're gonna go in. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:46.960 God says, Hey, by the way, yeah, you crossed the river, you're now in their territory, and before you go and fight, I'm gonna require you to circumcise everyone, which will force you to rest for a few days while you heal. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:50.799 What application for our hearts today? 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:56.559 The application is our obedience is empowered by our rest. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:02.000 It's not that we're just trying to be obedient all the time and every once in a while in life we're gonna rest. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:02.799 No, no, no, no. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:13.440 It's that it's that we live in positions of remembrance and rest as to walk in positions of activity for calling and mission and obedience. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:19.119 As a pastor, pastorally, I'm not worried about your busy schedules. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:21.039 You're gonna work that out. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:23.759 Or it'll break you, one way or the other. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:29.599 But I am most of all worried about your busy heart and my busy heart. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:35.279 Because we can have busy schedules while having a heart that is at peace. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:38.960 And we can have a lot of margin in life, but have a busy heart. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:52.160 And the point of rest or reflection times or prayer or stillness, these practices, scripture reading, these practices of Christian life, the point is not to earn God's love. 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:59.359 The point is to put you in places of rest for your heart to be at rest in order to go and engage in the world. 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:06.240 To allow the presence of God to remind you of his love and nourish you of the deliverance you already have. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:11.039 A few weeks ago for me, I went through the week. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:12.319 I do it all the time, just like you. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:13.039 I went through the week. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.880 I had a busy schedule that week. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:24.319 Every week's not that way, but my schedule happened to be busy that week, and then on top of it, what I did was is I just cut out just reflection and quiet time. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:26.079 That's a good way to solve some problems. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:29.599 And so I did that, so my heart just got busier and busier throughout the week. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.160 And by Thursday night, I was just so anxious. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:35.359 Actually, my chest was feeling tight. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:43.920 It's easy just to keep marching into battle and neglect our hearts. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:53.839 To walk in the Spirit, to move in the wholeness of being the beloved already marked by God, that you're God's beloved. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:59.920 It means that we get to wake up in the mornings and not just march into another battle. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.160 It means we get to rest first. 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:03.920 It means we get to remember first. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:06.720 We don't have to go straight into activity. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:16.880 For me, a little bit of reflection time just begins with a question is is my heart busy or is my heart calm? 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:22.640 I mean, I've I've even entered like quiet times and stuff like that often, just to like, oh, if I can learn enough, right? 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:24.240 And that just busied my heart even more. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:30.079 For me, just that initial question is my heart, is my heart busy or is my heart calm? 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:36.000 And if my heart's busy, usually there's something to surrender, something to confess, something to repent of. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:38.640 Just slow down a little bit. 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:42.960 And surrender to God's presence. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:49.599 And then you move into learning something, reading something, doing something, moving on into what you're doing for the day. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:53.680 Last point for us to ponder this morning. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:57.680 And I can't say this too many times, and we'll probably just say it every week. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:01.839 Point number three: God's presence and love is enough for our hearts. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:04.720 God's presence in love is enough for our hearts. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.119 So there's this phrase in our text, I read right over it. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:08.079 Maybe you caught it. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:09.279 You've heard it probably before. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:13.680 God says He's giving them a land of milk and honey. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:17.839 So, lately I kind of nerded out on this this week. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:20.559 I just I got way deep in milk and honey, actually. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:28.079 Uh a land with milk meant that there's ample pasture for their animals. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:29.440 So for the shepherd's flock. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:31.359 So there's it was more than enough. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:32.720 More than enough. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.319 And then there's this honey. 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:41.920 And this is a little more hidden because then we've got to go back and you read in Deuteronomy 8, 7 through 10, where God promised them the land. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:53.119 And where he promised them the land, he promised there was there would be seven foods that would be dominant in the land: wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olive oil, and honey. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:54.720 Now you go, okay, not important. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:55.759 I would have read right over that. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:21:01.200 Now here's what's interesting is usually us Westerners, when we read honey, we think of honey made by bees. 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:07.599 Well, everything on that list is a plant except for the honey, because if honey is made by bees, then it's not a plant, it's made by the bees. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:11.119 And we go, well, most likely this is not honey made by bees. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:13.920 This is probably a syrup that they made by dates. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:15.680 This sort of changes things a little bit. 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:17.039 I nerd out a little bit more. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:19.680 I read an NPR article about dates in the Middle East. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:24.880 I read another article, and it said, You can be nourished forever. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:27.759 I don't know how true it is, but it sounds really good. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:32.000 You can be nourished forever on milk and dates. 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:36.799 So here's the point with this phrase. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:46.160 This is God saying to them, with that land and that image teaching us what we have in Christ Jesus. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:55.359 This is God saying, I want you to live, to have a state of your heart in a place where you always have enough. 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:01.200 Where your heart is at rest and is nourished. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:07.119 Who would have thought all of that in a passage about circumcision? 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.720 But you are Mark as God's beloved. 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:12.079 That's pretty good. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:17.440 God, thank you for your goodness to us. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:28.720 So many of our hearts, mine included, wander about finding definition and things that will fade and fail us. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:45.759 Remind us this morning that you are enough, that you grant rest to our souls, and you are the nourishment that ultimately satisfies our hearts. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.440 We come before you with busy hearts. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:54.319 We march into fights without pausing, without resting, without surrendering. 00:22:54.880 --> 00:23:06.799 Thank you for this reminder this morning to pause, to rest, to be still before we move on into mission and calling and what we're doing in this world. 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:14.640 May this have practical application for what it means for us to live Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:25.839 God, would you help us to wake up with a remembrance of your love for us, that you have already delivered us from guilt and shame. 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:30.400 And we are not defined by what we do. 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:35.599 We are defined by what you have done for us and what you proclaim over us. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:42.799 That we are your children by your grace alone and our faith in Jesus. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.119 And for that we are so thankful. 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:47.759 May our hearts and our lives honor you. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:48.799 Amen.