WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:03.919 So we are making our way to the second book of the Bible. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.160 If you've been with us, if it's your first time here, the second book of the Bible is this book called Exodus. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.800 It comes after the first book of the Bible, which is Genesis. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:15.039 And we get these great stories, and we've just been seeing story after story after story. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:22.960 And as we've been digging into these stories, what we've seen is that these stories are a lot more than what we read initially. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:28.640 We first think the story is about one thing, but then as we dig into it, it gets better and better and better. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:36.079 And so what we've seen is that the Hebrew people, this is the people that Jesus eventually is born out of. 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:40.960 The Hebrew people, they were enslaved in Egypt, and they were making bricks for the Pharaoh. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:42.079 They made bricks every day. 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:44.719 They made brick after brick after brick. 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:53.280 And they had quotas, they never could quite live up to the quota, and then they were beaten, and then they make more bricks, and the next day they wake up and they make more bricks again. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:56.719 And so these bricks became symbols of bondage. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:58.880 The bricks are a symbol of bondage. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:06.000 They're a symbol of the never-ending toil of a work that brings no life. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:12.640 And so now in the biblical storyline, this becomes a symbol of the bondage of sin. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:16.799 So finally, these people are rescued out of this life and they begin this journey. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:26.480 They begin a journey into the wilderness, which is like a desert, and we've talked about how it should only have taken a few weeks to cross this desert, but in fact, it takes them like 40 years as they keep settling down. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:30.640 And while they're in the wilderness, we start to get some really interesting things. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:34.959 And so the first thing we run into is we get the Ten Commandments. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:41.840 And I'll be the first one to say, and I've been saying all along, this was a passage, a text, a chapter I was not looking forward to. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:51.280 I don't think there's a lot of people who wake up ecstatic about reading the Ten Commandments, mainly because you read them and you realize you aren't perfect. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:02:03.680 And in fact, what we've been discovering is that's one of the big purposes of the Ten Commandments is to help you realize and remember that you and I are not perfect. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:16.560 And so that's what we've been talking about, how these commandments are good and holy and perfect, and we need them, and we need them for a guide for our society, like the boundaries of like what keeps us as a healthy society. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:18.400 We need them for us as individuals. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:23.199 We need them to help us see what is healthy, what a healthy life looks like. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:31.759 They are good, they are holy, they are right, and at the same time, they crush us because we don't live up to those commandments. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:32.879 And that's what we've been seeing. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:38.879 We went through commandment one and two last week, and then today we're gonna go through commandment three and four. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:54.080 Now, what we've also said, and I have to kind of re mention this every week, what we've also said is that perhaps you've been around a particular church or a person or a book or you read something or somebody's post on Facebook or they tweeted something out. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:03:04.319 You read it, you saw it, you talked to somebody, you experienced something, and you didn't know why, but you're so averse to that sort of version of Christianity or that thought. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:10.639 And you didn't know why you were so averse to it, but what you did know is that it just felt like exhaustion. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:20.319 Like what they were saying, what you experienced, what you read, you you didn't, you couldn't, you didn't have a framework for why you were averse to it, but you knew it just felt like exhaustion. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:33.199 And all of it seemed like exhaustion to you because probably it was life under the law, without allowing the law to send you on to the relief of grace. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:36.719 And now once you start to get this framework in your head, you'll start to spot it. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:44.479 You'll start to spot law without grace, and you'll go, oh, that's why that's exhaustion, because that's law without grace. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:48.240 But when we let the law send us on, the law does its job. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:53.680 It crushes us and sends us on to the necessity of Christ. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:56.400 Alright, so that's what we've been discovering. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:04.879 And that's the theological side of what we've been talking about the law, God's standard of righteousness, who we should be, not just what we should do, but who we should actually be. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:09.439 It guides us, but then it breaks us and it has to send us on. 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:13.599 And so maybe that explains your exhaustion. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:16.480 Because you live your Christian life under the law. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:21.839 Maybe that explains your exhaustion, or maybe your exhaustion is just you have kids and they call out your name 117 times a day. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:23.120 That's also possible. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:27.759 It could be one or the other, or you're in school and you sleep four hours a day and you study a lot. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:32.480 I mean, all these things are possible, but it could be, it could be life under the law. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:36.160 All right, so third and fourth commandment is where we're headed this week. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:40.160 And so we have to remember the third and fourth commandment in Exodus chapter 20. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:43.199 We don't get to verse 7 without verses 1 and 2. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:47.120 And verses 1 and 2 is where we remember what has happened. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:48.560 And that's what verses 1 and 2 say. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:51.360 They say, hey, remember, I saved you out of Egypt. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:53.920 Remember the storyline, I saved you out of Egypt. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:55.040 Here's why that's important. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:02.720 It's because the Mosaic law, all these commandments, the Mosaic law comes after the Lord saved them out of Egypt. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:03.839 And here's what that means. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:09.680 What it means is, is it means you already are redeemed. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:15.120 You already belong to him before the law. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:22.160 So that means that any motivation for obedience is out of gratitude of what's already been done. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:26.000 That's the starting point for a discussion about the Ten Commandments. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:28.000 And so we get in the third commandment. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:28.959 And here's the point. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:30.800 I'll make the point, and then we'll read the commandment. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:40.160 So the third commandment, here's the point, point number one, it's about our language, but it is about much more than our language. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:48.959 Exodus 20, verse 7, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:57.199 Here's what it means: because he has graciously loved you, just don't speak his name in futile, purposeless ways. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:00.160 It's about honor, it's about respect. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:04.879 But here's what it means: don't lift up his name to emptiness. 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:11.360 Hang in there because I think all of us have fallen into some habit of this. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:20.319 I mean, maybe you're not dropping GD, but maybe you're dropping Jesus Christ, or maybe you're just like me, and I just catch myself all the time, I'll just say like Lord Almighty. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:21.199 I don't know why. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:22.480 Maybe because I'm Southern. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:27.040 I don't, I don't know, but we fall into these traps, or maybe it's like Lordy, Lordy. 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:35.120 I don't know, but it's like we fall into these traps of just kind of like saying some reference to God into emptiness. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:37.439 So work with me here. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:44.639 Um so what we had back in 1924 is uh this started right here. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.199 That's that's the real deal with Kleenex. 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:50.079 This started in 1924, it didn't come from us. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:52.720 Japan was using it, by the way, in case you were wondering. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:59.040 And at first it came out just to um wipe makeup off, and because everybody's using handkerchiefs, right? 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:01.120 Like so disgusting, just snot rag. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:01.759 Okay. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:12.160 Uh so uh in the 30s we convinced people that the idea of a handkerchief was not the healthiest of options, and so in fact, you should throw that thing away, and so you should use a Kleenex, right? 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.319 So, like I said, you don't have to work with me here. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:15.759 This will all kind of make sense. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:21.199 So you get a cold, you don't want toilet paper, you want the real deal, right? 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:25.279 You don't want a knockoff, you don't want, we have the other options, right? 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:26.800 What came along after that? 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:28.480 Puffs, puffs plus. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:32.399 I I realize that we've been on a grocery store last week and this week. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:34.959 We've been spending time in the grocery store for sermon illustrations. 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:38.240 So Puffs Plus came along pretty good, okay. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:43.120 And then we just have all the knockoffs, just like the Kroger versions, a little bit like cardboard, right? 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:44.319 That's why it's cheaper. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:46.639 So, but this is the original. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:48.319 Kleenex is the original. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:54.480 Like so much so that you don't say, hey, give me a puffs, pass me a pass me a puffs, I need a puffs. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:55.920 You say, I need a Kleenex. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:58.560 You don't say, give me a Kroger, I need a I need a Kroger. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:00.879 Say, I need it, I need a Kleenex. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.279 It's what it's it's it's how we say it. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:05.199 It's the word, it's the term. 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:12.000 Now, let's let's just say, um, let's just say your little kids are in the back seat. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:18.959 Say you have kids, maybe don't, but let's say you have little kids in the back seat and they say, uh, I need a Kleenex, oh, and it sneeze, and it kind of went all over the place. 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:20.480 And this happened the other day for me. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:28.319 Uh one of the little girls, they I think they sneeze and it's kind of drippy and it's gross, and you're like, ah! And she said she says, I need a Kleenex, I need a Kleenex. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:30.079 And and this is what I hand her, right? 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:33.679 Because these are all over our car, the Chick-fil-a napkin. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:39.840 Like, so at this point, and I don't think I said, here's a Chick-fil-A napkin, I said, here's a Kleenex. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:40.799 Right? 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:45.360 So now we're not just calling the puffs and the Kroger Kleenex. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:48.799 Now I'm I'm down to calling Chick-fil-A napkin a Kleenex. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:53.759 I'm pretty sure I'll call a sleeve of a random jacket, my car a Kleenex at some point. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:58.320 Like, and and and it's just just like dilution over time. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:02.320 And it's like lifting the name up to emptiness. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:08.559 How far we've come from the original, like this was the original, and the name keeps getting diluted. 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:18.960 Now, let's just really be silly for a second here, and let's just say for some absurdity, we as a society we decide now we are gonna use the term Kleenex for disappointment. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:39.360 You stub your toe, going down the hallway, you just catch the edge of that little pinky toe, and oh and you just or you can't, all the top words or won't go back in, or your spouse, you know, you wake up and you're gonna drink that last drink, that thing that you thought was gonna be in the fridge, and it's not in the fridge, and it kind of made you mad. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:41.519 And then you're just like, oh, Kleenex. 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:42.879 Like, you see what I'm saying? 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:44.559 And absurdity, right? 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:50.320 Like, why would you pick just a random term and then all of a sudden put it into disappointment? 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:50.799 Right? 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:55.519 You're lifting a name up into emptiness. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:57.840 Are you tracking with me? 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:00.000 The absurdity of this. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:15.360 So the point is that using the Lord's name in vain is a sign of disrespect, but it creates a dilution of meaning, and here's what it risks: it risks our proper understanding of what is behind the name. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:26.159 So it's disrespect, it's not honoring him, but but then it's a dilution of meaning, and then we risk just not even sort of understanding what's behind the name. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:30.960 So it's about our language, but it's about much more than our language. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:34.480 And then there's this threat in verse 3, the second part of verse 3. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:38.559 I don't know if you when you when I read it, you're like, oh, hold on, what's that second, that second part? 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:39.519 Like, what is that? 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:48.559 Wow, because I've said Lord Almighty, or maybe you've dropped something worse in your lifetime, or this is weak, and you're like, whoa, so I'm gonna be held like that. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:51.200 Oh, okay, I don't know if I like that threat. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:51.919 And I don't. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.159 Like, I read a threat like that in the scriptures, I'll be honest. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:56.799 I just want to like turn back to 1 John and something nice. 00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:59.759 I want to go to another book, I know that's just like all the promises. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.000 So here's what that is. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:06.320 What that is, is it's it's the law without grace. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:07.200 There it is. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.200 You want life under the law, there, there it is. 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:10.000 And it's right. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:14.879 It is right, it is holy, it is true, and it should break you. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:15.679 Right? 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:28.799 Like you can't live up to perfection, therefore, this law better send you on to a work outside of yourself, namely Jesus and his work for you. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:34.159 So it's about our language, but it is about much more than our language. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:35.440 Fourth commandment. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:36.000 Here's the point. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:41.120 Point number two it's about a day, but it is about much more than a day. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:43.840 Exodus 20, verses 8 through 11. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.080 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:52.240 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:12:01.600 On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:07.840 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:12.000 Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:21.679 Can you imagine what it would have felt like for these folks living in an agricultural society to not go check their fields? 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:27.759 The temptation not to walk out and check the work. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:34.879 That urge, that inner urge, I'll just go check it. 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:36.879 Well, of course you can. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:39.200 And you know why you can imagine it? 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:45.600 Because we we walk around with our email in our pockets. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:48.879 Even that baby knows what I'm talking about. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:49.840 Like the pain. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:53.519 That baby's like, I've seen my dad do it already. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:56.240 And we do this. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:05.759 I mean, we have we have the work of identity creation and affirmation in our pockets, available at any point. 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:08.960 We know the urge to check the work. 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:17.120 So I want to talk about phones for a minute, not to give you like legalistic rules or make you feel bad, because if anybody's gonna feel bad in this subject, it'll be me just as much as you. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:20.799 Um, and maybe you have a problem with your phone and you already know it, you're like, oh no, here he goes. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:25.679 Or maybe you don't, or maybe somebody around you knows you have a problem with your phone, y'all have an interesting conversation later. 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:28.399 But it's not about legalistic rules, it's not what I'm headed toward. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:34.879 But your phone may strangely reveal something about you. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:44.399 I I think my phone strangely reveals something about me, just like the fields revealed something about those people in this text. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:48.080 Yesterday, I just I just thought through yesterday, Saturday. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:50.159 Not a work day for me. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:55.360 I woke up and immediately checked my phone. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:14:00.799 It it my phone sleeps about 10 inches from my head. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:05.840 I checked the time and I checked the weather, I believe, before I got out of bed. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:13.039 I don't know how quickly I checked email, but I checked email, I texted, I talked, I voicemailed, I used a flashlight at one point, that was pretty awesome. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:14.879 I love the flashlight every time I use it. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:20.320 Um I got on the internet for something, I can't remember what, some curiosity at some point. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:24.720 Um bought something on the Amazon Prime app, that was great. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:28.879 Uh used some game with one of my kids, uh, music. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:33.120 I got on Zillow and looked at some house uh for sale. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:34.159 I was talking to a friend. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:38.639 So uh I didn't get on social media, I'm not into social media, maybe you were on social media. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:40.480 All of this in our pocket. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:41.440 All of it. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:42.320 All those options. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:48.159 It's like a shopping mall and a library, I mean, like everything in it's like the Friday night football game is in your pocket. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:53.279 Everything, your whole job in your pocket, available at any single moment. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:55.679 What I mean, incredible gift, an incredible gift. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:58.159 But let's not pretend it doesn't come with some real challenges. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:01.919 And the challenge it comes against is the thing that this commandment's about. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:02.720 Rest. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:10.240 Just like the worker can't don't go check out, don't go check the field for a day. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:13.360 We don't go check the field, right? 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:15.039 The field's in our pocket. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:26.879 So a friend of mine, prolific blogger and author, David Zoll, he had he wrote this article called What 1792 blog posts, which is what he did, that many have taught me about the internet. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.320 And here's the quote you had it in your um in your bulletin, the handout. 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:33.120 He's talking about his phone here. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:36.480 I'd come to rely on the distraction it provided. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:44.799 Distraction from what exactly was unclear, but it had something to do with boredom and what that might represent emotionally and identity-wise. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:49.519 Theories aside, I was chained to the thing, and it was driving me nuts. 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:59.440 What sealed the deal was when my four-year-old drew a picture of everyone in the family and had it taken extra care to place a phone in my hand. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:00.960 That didn't feel good. 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:02.159 No, sorry. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:08.399 So research shows I did some research, I got on the internet, I'm not on my phone, on my actual computer. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:09.279 Amazing. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:16.639 Uh we check our phone about 150 times a day on average, average person, average American, 150 times a day. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:20.559 Uh what this means is it means we're constantly checking our phone. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:21.360 And we know it. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:24.159 Like we're we're kind of like like it's just that moment. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:26.240 Like you walk away and boom, right? 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:27.200 I mean, we know it. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:31.519 A lot of us at least know it, check after check after check. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:40.000 So some research, University of Glasgow, that they found this, uh, they did this research on phones and stuff, and what they found is that there's a perceived necessity. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:46.960 So we perceive a necessity to respond to post or text immediately, and it actually increases our anxiety. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:51.679 Now it's not a real necessity, it's a perceived necessity that we put upon ourselves. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:59.600 But then so we're getting the text or we have a post or something, and or we get an email, and there's this perceived necessity within ourselves that we need to respond. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:03.919 We need to respond somewhat quickly, and that increases our anxiety. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:10.240 I had texted my cousin not long ago, and she didn't respond for three days. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:12.880 I was like, oh my gosh, what happened to her? 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:17.680 And then finally she responded, it was over the weekend, finally she responded, and she said, I had an offline weekend. 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:20.880 Like, where was that language like 10 years ago, right? 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:21.759 That didn't exist. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:24.640 Like, even the need for that didn't exist. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:45.599 University of Glasgow also found that in teens who were extremely active and also emotionally invested in their digital lives, so really involved in this, they they had worse sleep quality, lower self-esteem, and higher instances of anxiety and depression when compared to their peers who cared less. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:47.680 So here's the lesson: don't care. 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:49.279 There's a lesson, don't care. 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:50.400 Just don't care as much. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:51.839 You'll be happier. 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:54.720 And most of us just know this, right? 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:55.440 We just know it. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:00.400 We know it on the experiential level of posting something or feeling the incoming amount of messages. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:01.759 We just know it. 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:10.160 Uh, another quote that's in your handout, Joshua Rothman, he wrote in The New Yorker about Matthew Crawford's book, uh, The World Beyond Your Head, talking about technology and distraction. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:13.440 Here's the quote: Distraction is a way of asserting control. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:16.000 It's autonomy, run amuck. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:19.440 When you're waiting to cross the street, and I've done this, I thought about this. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:22.880 It's like you know, grabbing lunch on the square, and I've done this. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:31.519 When you're waiting to cross the street and you reach to check your email, you're pushing back against the indignity of being made to wait. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:38.480 And you're like, how does this uh how does this speak into the reality of rest? 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:41.200 How does it challenge that? 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:44.079 And what if the waiting is the best thing for you? 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:47.759 Like, what if you're supposed to feel that boredom? 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:52.640 What if we as human beings are supposed to feel that sadness and adequacy? 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:53.680 Anybody see inside out? 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:56.079 Anybody, that's just like a reference, you should watch it. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:58.160 That's what I learned Friday night. 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:02.559 What if that is what if that's where God and the Holy Spirit actually meet us? 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:04.880 Is in that bit of time. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:07.759 Can you imagine not checking the work? 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:13.279 What we might see, who we might see, and the rest that might be there, right? 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:24.799 I mean, this is what the psalmist is talking about in Psalm 62, where he talks about the fact that our souls wait on God in silence and in stillness, and that is the place we know him as our refuge. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:29.359 And I mentioned all that not to tell you what to do with your phone, stay on your phone. 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:30.640 I don't, I don't, you know, whatever. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:34.079 You know, I'm just saying to you, don't give away the silence. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:55.119 And this has everything to do with the Sabbath principle because this is the dominant area in most of our lives where many of us are constantly working, whether jobs or identity formation and curation, this is the area we're constantly working and where we need rest. 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:58.559 And it's all in our pockets. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:04.240 And we need rest from that. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:07.839 This Exodus story is that they're no longer owned by Pharaoh. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:13.359 They're no longer owned by that kind of work, that brick after brick after brick. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:14.640 They're no longer owned by that. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:19.119 And God says to them, hey, you're different now, so hey, take a day, do nothing. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:26.000 Like, get busy with just being a human being and not doing stuff. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:38.480 Because you are making brick after brick after brick for so long, and what you need now is you need to remember your worth and value are not connected to your production in this world. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:41.039 And that's where you'll start to find freedom. 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:45.119 So we're not just talking about phones. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:48.799 We're talking about what it is that begs you to work. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:54.960 This is about the human need to be off. 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:03.440 See, it's about a day, but it's about much more than a day. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.920 And if I was to end here and just give you a few tips, we'd all feel very depressed. 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:11.920 Every time we get on our phone, we'd feel like extremely guilty because preacher said something. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.839 Uh we'd just be crushed by it, right? 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:16.960 Because we're all overly wired, overly motivated Americans. 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:18.480 So that's who we are. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:19.839 So we understand that. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.480 But fortunately, the story continues. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:26.400 So, point number one, it's about our language, but it's about much more than our language. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:29.759 Number two, it's about a day, but it's about much more than a day. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:35.839 And point number three, it's about Jesus, and it's about nothing more than Jesus. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:40.799 See, the point of the Sabbath is not about what we can and can't do. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:41.519 That's not the point. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:43.039 I'm working right now. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:44.559 This is my prime work day. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:46.480 The Sabbath is my prime work day. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:49.759 So if it's about what we can and can't do, I am the worst. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:52.319 I'm the worst at commandment number four. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:59.759 What it's about is it's about a life of rest, and where do you find that rest, and then how does that affect your daily life? 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:06.559 And then the New Testament redefines all this Hebrews 4, 9, and 10. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:16.240 So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest, and they're talking about the supremacy of Christ. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:21.599 For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:22.960 Oh, wouldn't that be nice? 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:27.599 Wouldn't that be nice if we could rest from our works as God did from his? 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:35.359 To your work, my work, it's never enough. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:47.359 Our work to be better, to be perfect, to be righteous, to be some measure of achievement, society, to look a certain way, it's never enough. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.519 That work will never be enough. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:57.759 Your work to work your way out of some debt, some failure debt, some shame, that work will never be enough. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:04.720 You will never all of a sudden feel like, you know what, I just feel like, I feel absolved by my own work. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:07.519 You'll never never feel that. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:14.799 The way that you get to absolution and you get to a belovedness with God is by Christ's work for you. 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:24.160 And Brian said it within the welcome, that all of our sin and our shame and our failure and our imperfection to these commandments and all the other ones, they are put upon Jesus on the cross. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:25.359 That's why he died for us. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:28.480 God humbled himself to take the debt of our failure. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:34.319 And then all of his perfection and righteousness is the great exchange his righteousness is put upon us. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:39.599 So when he sees us, he sees us as fully righteous and beloved in his sight. 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:49.680 It's how he sees us, it's how he regards us, it's how he thought of you this morning when you woke up, it's how he'll think of you this afternoon when you fail miserably, it's how he always thinks of you. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:57.599 And it's how you have to begin to learn to think about yourself based on what he says in his work for you. 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:06.160 So it's his love over your shame that his love is enough, and that his value for you, for your being, for your identity, that that's enough. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:11.440 And that you can be quiet and you can be still, you can even be small. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:14.880 You can even be great permission. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:22.000 You can even be the person who gets no little likes on your little post where you make that post of that picture. 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:25.200 There may be the person who you get almost no text every day. 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:26.640 It's fine. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:28.640 You can be small. 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:30.559 You can be the last. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:33.039 You are free to be that. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:47.359 Because you are valued and loved by your Creator based on a work outside of yourself, the great work of the cross, which frees you from that sin and then the result, all the self-justifying work that we do. 00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:54.160 You're free from the life of brick after brick after brick after brick. 00:24:54.319 --> 00:25:03.920 So, my brothers and sisters, may you hold him in higher honor and find him to be of greater rest for your souls than you could have ever imagined. 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:05.599 Let's pray together. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:18.799 Father, thank you that you know us fully and you love us fully. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:31.519 And you know that when it comes to these two commandments this morning, that we don't always use our language well, and we certainly do not rest well. 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:37.200 And thank you that our failure is put upon you, that you just take it. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:39.359 You say, I'll take all that failure. 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:58.720 And that the cross is about the great exchange of our sin to you and your righteousness to us, and that we can find a rest from our sin, our failure, our brokenness, our inability to feel affirmed and righteous. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:01.599 Would you help us? 00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:08.640 Would you help so many of us that work so hard under the law? 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:18.960 Whether it be in a religious form or whether it be in a secular form of trying to live up to the standard, would you free us? 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:26.799 Would you help us to constantly confess the self-justifying word and to rest back that you're enough, you're enough. 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:27.920 We're free today. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:29.759 We're free from that today. 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:46.079 And would this great Sabbath principle point us to you and that you are our Sabbath, and with that, with that reality, speak to every day, every moment, that we might honor you with our lives. 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:47.440 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:48.319 Amen.