WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:01.600 Well, you may be seated. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:07.919 So this morning we are going to continue to dig our way and work our way through Genesis chapters 1 through 3. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:11.679 So we had six days of creation, and then we get day seven. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:15.759 Now, in each day of creation through Genesis 1, it's sort of building. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:24.800 Each day builds upon the day before it, and then day six hits, and it's the greatest day yet, because humanity is created. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:26.320 You are created. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:28.000 And there's another day. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:41.840 Another day comes, so it's standard reason that day seven would be even greater, because every day is built upon the one before it, and it's got better and greater and greater, and day six is this great climax, but there's day seven, so it's standard reason he's going to create something even greater. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.240 But he doesn't, does he? 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:45.439 He rests. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:47.520 God rests. 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:52.719 And so we get Genesis 2, 1 through 3, which Sam just read for us. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:56.880 My mother-in-law lost her phone last week. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:58.320 We know that feeling. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:01.679 Maybe you've lost it for five minutes and that felt bad. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:05.439 And then maybe it was 30 minutes or a couple hours and that was really bad. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:08.480 Well, she lost it and it's been gone for a week. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:11.760 And so she lost it and she thinks it's in her house. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:14.239 It had 4% charge left. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:16.959 And you know what that feels like in general when you have 4% charge left. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.120 You don't feel good about your whole life at all. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:23.200 She has 4% left when she loses it, so we know what this means. 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:31.439 It means by the time she has searched for it and then goes to GPS track it, the phone's dead, so you can't GPS track it. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:33.439 So she puts a bounty out on her phone. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:36.799 Anyone who wants to come to her house, I think all of y'all are welcome. 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:40.719 Anybody who wants to come to her house is$100 if you find her phone. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:46.719 And so my oldest daughter yesterday, she spent an hour or two looking for it, and still nothing. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:48.000 Nobody has found it. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:49.760 The bounty's still out there. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:55.680 And so I asked my mother-in-law yesterday afternoon, I said, hey, uh, what has it been like to not have your phone? 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.519 And so she gave me, well, she's like, well, you know, it at first it was horrible. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.840 Like she said, at first, and we know that feeling. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:07.680 She said, it was just, I was anxious, you know, I was just anxiety, and I just searched everywhere, up and down. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:10.000 I was really going through where was I at? 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:10.639 What did I do? 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:11.599 Where could I place it? 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:12.479 Just going through it all. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:14.719 And I searched for a whole day, and it was horrible. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:18.479 And then I've just came to the realization, like, I can't find it. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:21.360 Like, sort of, it's gonna have to find me, it's gonna have to show up. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:28.000 And then she said the rest of the week was, and you can guess it, wonderful heaven. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:28.879 Right? 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:29.439 Right. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:30.639 Of course it was. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:31.680 Of course it was. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:36.960 She said that what happened the rest of the week is everything became consolidated into certain places. 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.840 She would get home and she would make phone calls. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:42.960 She would leave her house and run her errands. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:49.759 She would get somewhere else and do something else, but everything wasn't on her all the time. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:55.439 Like, what would it feel like if your phone's not attached to you all the time? 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:59.599 This is a good question when it comes to this idea of Sabbath rest. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:05.039 Because we have such a great privilege, right? 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:15.840 To have something in our pocket that can do so much, and yet it can stand in between us in so much at times. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:22.080 Yesterday was my Sabbath, so naturally we did the opposite of what I'm going to tell you to do on Sabbath. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:38.479 Uh, we woke up and we decided we were gonna clean out our garage attic closets, and so we did that, and then we posted it on the Let Go app, which is like, I guess, the more modern uh Craigslist, which is a more modern garage sale, basically, is what that is. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:04:03.039 And so basically, what it means on my Sabbath, yesterday, the day of rest for me, I we worked in the morning, and then I had to have my phone on me all day long because I need to be negotiating with Connie and Wayne and these different people I don't know who show high interest in my belongings, and they actually aren't that all interested at all. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:08.719 But I have to be ready, gotta be ready to negotiate with them the whole day. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:21.360 And so I think later in the day, and I'm I'm at my brother-in-law's house, and we're seeing their new house, and we're swimming with family, and I think I'm swimming, but really I'm working. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:24.240 Because I gotta check my phone to check the let go out. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:27.680 And then once you're checking your phone, you might as well check your email, right? 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:28.720 Just in case. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:30.959 Just in case something pops up. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:32.160 You might as well. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:33.680 You're already there. 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:35.279 You know the feeling. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:37.600 There's so many things to check, right? 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:39.680 I mean, there's just so much to do on it. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:41.920 It's so incredible. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:49.920 Every meaningful document our church has ever produced, I can get to on my phone. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:51.759 That's incredible. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:52.319 Right? 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:55.360 We can communicate with people across the world. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:05.839 We can review our banking and our investments, we can work on projects, we can research, we can look at the pricing of housing in neighborhoods we will never live in. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:17.680 You can look at pictures of people doing things, and you don't really care about these people because you hadn't seen them in 20 years, but you are really investing time in these pictures. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:21.519 And all of it is with us all of the time. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:26.160 Of course it's hard to live present with each other. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:30.800 Of course it's hard to just sit in a restaurant and observe. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:36.160 Of course it's hard to get bored on your back porch and fall asleep. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:38.399 Of course it is. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:39.360 Right? 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:40.240 And that's my point. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:56.879 My point is not that phones are evil, although obviously I have a little bit of a slant there, but how can you, how can I just breathe and exist and not work when your source of production is always in your pocket. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:00.480 It's just so close. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:06.480 And so I can't talk about Sabbath rest without talking about your phone. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:08.399 A few points to guide us. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:10.959 Let's start kind of big and kind of whittle our way down. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:12.959 Point number one, God wanted to rest. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:16.879 I mean, I look at this text, I read it, I think, this is amazing. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:18.720 Six days of production. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:22.800 I mean, really big, incredible creation, imagination. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:24.639 This is unbelievable. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.079 And then you get to day seven, he could have created something else. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:29.759 What he could have created, I don't even know. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:36.319 But he could have come up with it, something, I don't know what it could have been, but he wanted, he didn't need to rest. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:37.680 He didn't need it. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:39.279 He wanted to. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.680 That's just point number one. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:50.399 When he could have merrily, without any energy depletion, kept on creating, even then, God wanted to rest. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:56.720 Point number two, you have ontological value before you have functional value. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:59.680 You have ontological value before you have functional value. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:08.879 That's a really fancy way to say that means your being has value before your doingness. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:13.600 Your beingness has value before you're doing this. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:16.560 Work hadn't shown up yet on the picture here. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:17.920 We hadn't got work yet. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:19.360 You'll get work in a little bit. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:20.800 We'll get to work later on. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:23.680 Work will come into the picture, but not yet. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:30.720 You are created and valued out of this Trinity, this paracresis, which we looked at two weeks ago, the dance of love. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:36.240 You're created out of that, and you are created and valued before we are given work. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:45.759 So this means you are beloved and valued before you produce a single thing. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:50.800 Now that's something to sink our beingness into. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:54.959 So you have ontological value before you have functional value. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:08:05.120 Point number three, in the goodness and the grace of God, you can take regular time to not produce and not create. 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:10.319 In the goodness and grace of God, you can take regular time to not produce and not create. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:13.120 Now, the idea of God resting came in Genesis. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:18.319 The idea of us resting in a rhythm came in Exodus. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:19.839 Probably you remember the story. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:23.519 God's people were in Egypt and they were enslaved and they're making bricks. 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:24.560 They make bricks every day. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:27.920 So in the hot sun, they just produced bricks. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:32.960 They had quotas every day to wake up, make a certain amount of bricks every single day. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:34.879 The next day, make more bricks. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:36.639 The next day, make more bricks. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:39.279 Spend your whole life making bricks. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.320 This is what your life was about. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:55.360 Eventually, through Moses, these people, God's people, are taken out of Egypt into the wilderness, and then God says, Hey, take a day a week, take a day a week, do nothing. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:58.080 Just don't do anything. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:08.320 I know you've been making bricks every day, your entire life, but I want you to take one day a week and just don't do a single thing. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:12.799 Take a walk, take a nap, read, spend time with people. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:14.399 That's what I want you to do. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:19.919 You are the beloved apart from your work. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:22.399 And it's good for us to remember that. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.600 Now, what's interesting in that Exodus story is they couldn't do it, right? 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:28.320 There's a group of people, they couldn't do it. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:31.360 They worked on the day they were supposed to rest. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:32.720 They couldn't resist it. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:33.919 Why would they do that? 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:39.039 They were given permission to not work, and still they worked. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:40.879 Why would they do that? 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:44.480 Well, the same reason why we do it, right? 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:47.600 The same reason we can't resist it. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:10:00.559 It's just that feeling to just to clear a few more emails, to work on the project just a little bit, to clean out a little bit more, but to do nothing. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:02.879 To do nothing. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:13.919 Like to just be with people and to play games, and to take a walk, and then take a nap, and then read, and then watch a movie, and then take another nap? 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:15.039 Like to do that? 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:16.960 Like two naps in a day? 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:19.200 Like really going for it? 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:20.320 Like that? 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:22.080 Could you do that? 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:30.879 Like the thing that we think would be so easy is actually really hard for us. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:36.480 Because when I'm producing, I think I matter more. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:40.080 When I'm producing, I think I matter more. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:54.639 And if I stop, and if I stop, I'm not sure if I really believe the thing God is trying to teach me with Sabbath rest, which is I have mattered to him the entire time. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.360 Before work was even invented, I mattered. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:09.519 This is why in Mark 2, 27, when Jesus talks about the Sabbath, he says, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, meaning Sabbath was made for us, to give to us. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:13.759 Jesus is saying, Sabbath rest isn't for us to be something for him. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:17.120 Like, oh, you know, I'll fulfill this command, I'll be something for God. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:17.919 No, no, no. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:19.279 This is something for us. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:23.679 This is this great gift for us, for our human experience. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:25.200 Something we need. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:32.639 Eugene Peterson, uh great pastor and author, he wrote, did the translation of the message Bible. 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:33.679 Here's what he says. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:46.639 When we realized, he's talking about him and his wife, when we realized that the command to keep a Sabbath is one of the most repeated in Scripture and yet the most ignored in our culture, we had to readjust radically the way we were living. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:50.559 No other decision has made as much difference in our lives across the board. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:56.399 It has impacted our marriage, children, church life, friendships, writing, the works. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:04.159 Sabbath keeping shifted our attention from what we were doing for God to what God was doing for us. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:08.960 It's interesting that science has actually picked up on this goodness of rest. 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:11.519 There's a New York Times article called Relax. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:13.120 You'll get more done. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:14.639 Listen to this paragraph. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:15.679 You'll love this probably. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.519 Don't send it to your boss tomorrow morning. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:25.919 Here's what it says: more and more of us find ourselves unable to juggle overwhelming demands and maintain a seemingly unsustainable pace. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:31.600 Paradoxically, the best way to get more done may be to spend more time doing less. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:50.159 A new and growing body of multidisciplinary research shows that strategic renewal, including daytime workouts, short afternoon naps, long sleeping hours, more time away from the office, and longer, more frequent vacations, boosts productivity, job performance, and of course, health. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:53.360 So again, that's relax, you'll get more done. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:56.559 New York Times, you just get the link, email it to your boss tomorrow morning. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:01.039 I'm sure it'll go very, very well for your job. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:02.799 But it's true. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.440 Like even the science is showing that it's true. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:35.600 And what it means is Ted down the hall, who's like working the really long hours, like the macho hours, like the unneeded hours, he could be the most inefficient, just non-producing, no creativity in his job, employee in the place, and Janet, who leaves at 4:30 every afternoon to go get her kids and spend time with her family, and she doesn't reply to emails on the weekend, she could be the best person in the company. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:37.840 And it's true. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:43.759 Now you might say, great, there's still laundry to be taken care of. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:46.639 Like it, like to carve out a day, a week. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:51.519 You know, there's still laundry to be taken care of, there's errands to run, there's emails do have to be answered. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.240 You don't understand my job, you don't understand how my job works. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:54.720 Great. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:55.360 I know that. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:56.240 I know that. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:57.759 My life has that. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.240 This isn't this isn't about forming a legalistic rule and then feel bad about it. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:05.279 I mean, then we'd just be trading one way of work for another way of work. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:14.960 This is not about a phone being evil, it's not about your kid playing soccer on Sunday, or you need to go by the office to do something on Sunday, or you need to work on your schoolwork on Sunday. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.600 It's not about any of that sort of legalism. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:26.559 This is about intentionality toward rhythmic rest over and over and over and over again in your life. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:40.720 It's you saying, I will intentionally, because it's important to me and it matters to my soul and to the soul of my family, I will intentionally put in my life a plan for rhythmic rest. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:47.759 A few months ago, my mentor he asked me, he said, Hey, what do you do for fun? 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.360 I said, Oh, I work in the yard. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:54.399 He said, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.799 Um you have to work in the yard. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:08.000 I said, well, I don't have to, like I'll do other stuff, you know, like I'll install like, you know, some perennials and some annuals, and you know, I'll do he said, no, no, no, that's still stuff you feel like you need to do. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:09.519 He said, let me rephrase. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:13.919 What do you do that doesn't have to be done? 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:17.600 Don't know. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:19.440 Still don't know. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:21.440 What do you do to rest? 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:23.279 What do you do to play? 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:30.080 See, in a normal rhythm in life, God wants us just to lay it all down. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:35.600 Like to have time where you're not like, oh, the purpose of this is da da da da. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:36.480 Like, no, no, no. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.080 The purpose of this is for me to do nothing. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:41.200 That's the purpose of this day, is to do nothing. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:44.000 And I will fill it with nothing. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:46.720 That's rest. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:50.559 Point number four. 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:54.720 The gift of the Sabbath points us to the God of Sabbath. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:57.600 That's the that's the most important thing about Sabbath. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:02.080 The gift of the Sabbath, and it is a gift for us to for us to take on. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:03.039 I mean, this is a gift. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:05.120 The gift of the Sabbath points us to the God of Sabbath. 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:08.559 Hebrews 4, a chapter about Jesus, Hebrews 4, 9 and 10. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:11.759 So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:21.440 And this is now using Sabbath as this beautiful, wonderful metaphor, and say, hey, this was all about us pointing us to see that Jesus is our true rest. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:28.480 Verse 10, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:32.399 So Christy and I were married 13 years ago. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:38.159 When we got married, up until that point, I had known her for, I don't know, probably 10 years before that. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:42.720 I'd worked for her father for several years, and so I'd been around the family for a long time. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:44.320 We dated for a couple years. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:49.440 Every time we went out to eat, her dad treated us to dinner. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:52.960 When we got married, I thought it was time to be a little grown-up. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:58.559 You know, it's time to grown up, 25 years old, got married, so it's time for a grown-up conversation. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:00.480 And so we went out to eat with her parents. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:06.400 We're leaving the restaurant, we're walking to the car, and I say, hey, Frankie, I just want to let you know you always treat. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:07.519 That's incredible. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:11.039 We are so grateful that you always treat us. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:18.799 I just want to let you know, you know, anytime you want us to pay for ourselves, you know, we're we're happy to pay for ourselves. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:26.640 And he looks at me with the gracious wisdom of an older man to a young guy, and he just says, if I go broke, I'll let you know. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:27.759 And he kept walking. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:29.440 And it was a little funny. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:31.440 It was a little funny. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.720 Um I felt very young at that moment. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:37.039 Very small. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:42.000 And he kept walking. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:52.240 Now, why why did why did I feel compelled to even say this to him whom I'm pretty sure, I was pretty sure he was not going to accept it anyways? 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:54.720 But why was I compelled to this? 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:55.440 Right? 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:58.880 Maybe you know this feeling to be compelled to say something like this. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.680 Was it because I didn't want him to feel obligated? 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:02.319 Right? 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:03.519 I think a little bit. 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.160 I didn't want him to feel obligated, like he started something. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:12.000 I don't want him to feel obligated that because he started it and became a pattern, like then he's obligated for this forever. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:13.200 Like a little bit. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:17.680 Um maybe I didn't want him to think us entitled. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:19.839 I think a little bit. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:35.039 I don't want us to be entitled because of gifts toward us, and so I want to make sure that was clear a little bit, but you know, there's there's this other part about it, and it is very humbling to receive a gift that does not end. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:40.240 It is very humbling just to keep receiving. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:44.720 You will eventually start to look for a little bit of work. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:47.039 Just a little payback. 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:48.640 How can I pay it back? 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:49.920 God did all this for you. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:51.759 What are you gonna do for him? 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:54.720 Just a little bit of payback. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:59.680 Because you're going, could Jesus really be that sufficient for my guilt and shame? 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:08.799 Like, could he really be that sufficient for my righteousness that I don't have to like build up my own righteousness report and sort of present it to him every once in a while? 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:10.960 I mean, is he that sufficient? 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:16.000 Is the rest, is the Sabbath rest of Jesus that real? 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:28.640 Could God actually love me in my ontological value, in my beingness, before I perform, before I produce, before I create? 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:30.079 And does he love me? 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:36.400 And do I have full value as a beloved child of his when I don't produce anything? 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:42.400 Can I actually, in the grace of God, form a life? 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:44.799 Because it is your life, by the way. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:47.200 You get to choose how you spend your days. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:53.200 Can you form a life that has rest as a normal part of it? 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:06.000 To take a Sabbath day, a Sabbath afternoon, a Sabbath week, all to mirror the Sabbath rest you live in all the hours of your entire day, and that you can just turn it all off. 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:15.119 And that you have learned in the freedom of Jesus, you can turn it all off because your value is in Jesus, in Jesus alone. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:35.759 So, my brothers and sisters, all the acceptance you ever needed, all the acceptance you're ever looking for, and all of your work and production, all of it, all of it has always been there from the very beginning, as you were created in the prayer Croesus, the Trinity, and you are redeemed in the work of Jesus. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:37.279 Let's pray together. 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:40.079 God, thank you for your work for us. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:44.559 Thank you that you have loved us from the beginning. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:50.720 Forgive us for trying to pay you back for suffering for a gift. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:21:03.920 May our lives be a reaction, a reflection, a mirror of this great gift of grace and value and love that you have given us. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:08.960 But may we be free from trying to justify ourselves. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:15.279 May we be free from trying to use our work and production in this world to feel like we matter. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:19.039 Help us up as a great gift. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:25.119 The great grace to know in Jesus we always matter. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:27.119 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:27.920 Amen.