WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.839 Today's reading is Genesis chapter two, verses one through three. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:07.919 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:14.800 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:21.600 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:22.879 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:24.239 Please be seated. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:29.359 Good morning. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:32.000 Welcome to Redemption Church Denver. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:33.679 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:38.079 Happy Groundhog Day to everyone. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:40.960 I hope Pucks Tani Phil makes the right decision. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:44.240 And uh also there's something else happening this evening. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:45.520 I can't remember. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:58.159 Uh and I also learned this morning when we were praying together as a volunteer team that today is a palindrome because it's O2 to what? 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:00.159 All right. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:10.400 It's the Oh wow. 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:13.040 This is my favorite church in the world. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:19.040 Um the uh uh so yeah, it's a palindrome like race car. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:21.120 Um thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:23.359 Uh my name is James Raspin, I'm the pastor here. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:26.319 Uh, there are two ways to get involved at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.799 We gather large together on Sunday mornings, and we gather small in each other's homes throughout the week. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:32.480 We call those redemption groups. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:42.079 If you'd like to be a part of a redemption group, you can download our app, tap connect, uh, or tap groups, and you can sign up for a redemption group that is closest to you. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:43.920 Uh ours has some space in it. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.560 My wife and I, we're in the Santa Fe Arts District. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:47.599 Uh, you could join ours. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:48.640 It could be a ton of fun. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.560 I just preach during it. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:02:02.640 Um the uh uh uh also next week, uh so a week from today, on that Sunday, the February 9th, we are having our Berkeley Connect meeting. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:08.000 So we want as many people uh to come and plan on sticking around for that as possible. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:09.120 All are welcome. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:16.319 Uh we've been in Berkeley, this is our fourth Sunday, so we've been here a month, and I think it's about time we introduce ourselves to the neighborhood. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:20.319 Uh and during that meeting, we'll be planning on how we're going to be doing that. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:25.439 Uh at uh next Sunday, the uh so there will be food provided. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:27.439 It'll be immediately after the service. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:32.159 Uh we'll probably get pizza from Fat Soli's because it's National Pizza Day. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:37.280 Yeah, next Sunday, or as I call it, any Sunday. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:48.000 And we are uh going to uh be the first thing that we're going to be doing uh to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood is we're meeting in a school. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:52.000 Uh, and uh schools are full of teachers and administrators. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:03:01.360 Um I think that I'm preparing each Sunday morning, uh uh uh going over my notes in their uh uh teacher's lounge. 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:03.759 And if I am, it's depressing. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:08.080 It's like very tiny, and I hope that they have another lounge that I don't know about. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:16.240 But uh we're going to be putting together gift bags for the teachers and the admin um with like a gift cards and candy. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:19.280 My wife's a teacher, and she said teachers love candy. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:27.439 Um and uh so just as a way of saying thanks for letting us use your space, uh, we're happy to be here, and just a way to bless them in a simple way. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:32.479 So come prepared to uh put things in bags uh next Sunday. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:36.479 All right, uh we are uh in our Genesis series. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:42.080 Um let's go ahead and pray together and we'll get into our text today going over the Sabbath. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:48.560 Holy Father, I pray that you would attend us this morning, you would provide us your strength. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:56.560 Lord, that your word would uh work on our hearts and uh bring your truth to bear on us. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:21.920 Lord, we pray that our hearts would see our greatest rest in you today, and that the restlessness that we come into with our hearts, that you might be able to uh bring a sense of peace as we gather together uh with uh fellow Christians this this Sunday morning uh to remember you, that uh that blessing on our lives might give us a glimpse of your peace. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:24.000 So, Father, we lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:24.800 Amen. 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:31.439 So we've been going through Genesis, and uh uh we've gone through how God created everything from nothing. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:43.519 We went through the creation days, we went through the particular creation of humans, and today is the seventh day where there is no creation that happens, but on the seventh day, God rests. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:57.199 Uh this is a I I know a pastor in um Boulder uh at a church that my wife and I went to when we were uh in college there, and uh we went to Europa, studied juggling. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:02.720 Um, it just I went to Boulder, and if you go to Boulder, it's the law that you make fun of Neuropa. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:19.759 Um uh so we uh uh went to a church there called the Well, and uh the pastor there says uh had told me this great thing that I thought was so true that you can know your maturity by the way that you handle your limits and your losses. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:22.240 That's a great gauge of your own maturity. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:27.199 How do you come in contact with your own limits and how do you handle losses? 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:38.319 And uh this, if that's true, then our culture is wildly immature when it comes to the categories of work and rest. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:47.439 We are we celebrate, we have a culture that celebrates just overwork, this strange relationship to work. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:06:05.120 We have it like you don't have to scroll too far through my Instagram to find like a like a hustle culture type of post where like I get up and I grind and I'm you know that that that type of language so that one day you can grow up and become Steve Jobs or something. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:27.600 Uh and it it it the uh and then there's there's a sort of other counterpoint to that where also in our culture is we celebrate just being at a in a constant state of rest, where you know you continue your scroll and it's like here's a van life post, where the like the greatest thing you can imagine is living in a van. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:36.800 And uh what it's but what it's a symbol of to us is just this state of constant rest. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:39.120 No work, no responsibilities. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:42.000 I'm able to be perpetually resting. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:56.720 Uh and it those two sides of the coin we experience, and they the boundaries between work and rest have become really blended with each other as well, because uh work no longer has any boundaries because of this. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:58.639 I'm always connected. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.040 You can get in touch with me anytime. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:04.720 There's no bad time to email or to answer an email. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:10.399 I can be sitting uh with my family at dinner and I'll get sucked in, and all of a sudden I'm I'm at work. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:13.279 There's no boundaries anymore. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:23.920 And there's also no boundaries the other way, because that little device also carries with it what poses as rest or times of just mindless recreation. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:37.519 And so that blends over into our work as well, where we're working in such a distracted and unfocused state that we leave with no sense of fulfillment or no sense of effort because we never really got into the work. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:41.600 And so we're never really working and we're never really resting. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:46.720 It's like I've got to get to work because you know these podcasts won't listen to themselves. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:54.480 It and then it when we're at home, it's like, well, I've gotta still be at work because I feel like I never was really there in the first place. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:59.920 Today is about the boundaries of work and of rest. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:07.040 In God's rest, we see that He He steps He steps back from his work. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:17.920 We're going to see, we're going to see today God's rest, and we're going to see our restlessness, and we're going to see how we are called to rest in God. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:21.439 So those are the three points that we're going to be moving through. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:26.000 God's rest, our restlessness, and how we rest in God. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:33.039 This is an incredibly convicting passage to move through for me this week. 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.120 I feel like I discovered a real blind spot in my face. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:40.480 Um so it may be for you as well. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:43.120 Genesis 2, 1 through 2. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:48.480 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:57.279 And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:05.600 Okay, so the first thing to note about God's rest is that it what God did before it was work. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:09.759 For six days, God works. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:18.399 This is the first time where that word, the word work, the word for work, is used to describe what God was doing over the course of the six days. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:26.639 And so that means that before the fall, before sin enters the world, work is in the world. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:29.120 God works. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:37.120 He puts his hands in the dirt and forms, he moves and separates things, he calls things into existence that don't exist right now. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:39.600 Work is a good thing. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:47.679 Part of being created in the image of God and part of us being called to take dominion over the earth is a call to do work. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:56.960 So God's rest is not a condemnation of work. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:02.480 The fact that God rests is not God saying, all that work was a bad thing. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:03.840 That was a bad part of my life. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:10.080 The way to find fulfillment is just to get rid of the work in your life and then live in a state of constant rest. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:11.519 That's not the point. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.559 It's not that rest is good and work is bad. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:17.600 Work is good and rest is good. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:24.240 They are both good, but they find their goodness in their proportion to one another. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:32.879 Our issue is not that we need to escape one and find the other, but it's that we need to bring them into their proper proportion. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:40.159 And something that we learned by looking at this is that work is actually something that we as humans can take in pretty heavy doses. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:46.799 If we just go by the ratio, it looks like for every six works, you only need about one rest. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:50.000 So you can take a lot of works for your rests. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:57.120 But when they're out of that ratio, when they're out of proportion with one another, that's where they lose their goodness. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:02.320 Their goodness is found, it's described in their proportionality. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:08.399 So that's the first thing to say about God's rest is that it's in proportion to work. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:12.639 Next, what is God's rest? 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:17.600 What does it mean for God to rest on the seventh day? 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:20.960 What was happening on the seventh day of creation? 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:27.600 Well, it certainly can't mean that God removed his providential hand from our existence. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:31.039 God is always upholding our existence now. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:39.120 Paul will preach in Acts that it is in him that we live, move, and have our being. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:44.399 And so the fact that you're living, moving, or having being, raise your hand if you have being. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.759 Yeah, that's like a Deepak Chopra question. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:49.840 Um, don't read him. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:52.559 A little pastoral advice. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:12:01.600 Uh the uh uh in him we are upheld in that way, so that we exist. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.840 So it doesn't mean that God removed this providential hand from it. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:08.240 But we're we're given it right in the text. 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:10.799 What does it mean that God rested that he pulled back? 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:16.639 Well, it was because he had finished the creation of the heavens and the earth. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:26.320 Which means that God had in his mind a point where he would no longer be in this stage of implementing these new things into creation. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:30.000 Each thing that was made according to its kind, it was enough. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:32.799 It was done for him to step back. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:35.759 God is able to stop tinkering. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:42.399 He's able to put the tools down and step back and say, it's complete. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:44.639 It's really finished now. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:50.799 Now is a time for me to rest and enjoy the work that I have made. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:13:02.720 And God's rest, uh, the the rest of a God in ancient Near Eastern culture is almost always tied to the creation of a temple. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:05.840 God's rest in their temples. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:07.759 It becomes their dwelling place. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:19.360 And so what's happening here narratively is we are being shown that God established creation for the purposes of dwelling in it. 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:24.480 God's rest says that this will be my dwelling place. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:45.279 And that form will continue throughout the rest of chapter two, as God establishes the world as his temple, and he'll create his holy of holies, which is the Garden of Eden, where he will dwell with his priests, which are his people, Adam and Eve, who he will put in there to worship and tend to the temple. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:54.960 And so God's rest has this purpose of making the day and creation holy. 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:58.159 And that's precisely what we see in the words here. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:01.519 And as it continues on, that God's rest makes holy. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:15.360 It's Genesis 2, 3, it says, So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:23.600 So God's rest makes this particular day holy. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:28.720 What does it mean that he blesses it? 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:34.080 Well, he defines it right there by saying he makes it holy, which means it's a sanctified day. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:40.399 There's one day a week that is set apart for the Lord. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:42.159 It is just for the Lord. 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:49.600 It is not for the pus for the for the pursuit of any other end, but it is one day a week that is set aside to the Lord. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:59.919 Now, it one of the things that we can draw from this is that the one of one of the things that that God was creating throughout this creation week was the week. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:04.399 This idea of there's a week, and a week has six days. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:05.840 Excuse me. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:09.759 I'm new to this exegesis part. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:19.440 A week has seven days, and uh six of those are set apart for work, and and one of those is set apart for rest, and it's made holy for the pursuit of God. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:24.159 A week is a real thing. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:27.120 I know that's hard for us to wrap our minds around. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:35.919 Uh when I'm doing premarital counseling, I spend like the whole first session just trying to relay that marriage is a real thing. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:37.679 It exists in the world. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:42.399 This is not uh, it's like gravity or uh the ocean. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.639 It's a real thing that actually exists in the world. 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:46.799 This isn't just some social construct. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:48.480 And the week is the same. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:57.279 We would think that this is just some social construct that somehow was agreed upon by people centuries earlier, and now we're stuck with this seven-day week. 00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:07.039 Um, but uh in fact, side note, during the French Revolution, they tried to make it a 10-day week because that would be rational and it wouldn't be based on this irrational God. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:09.039 Uh, it didn't last. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:16.320 Uh we find ourselves constrained in real patterns of time. 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:24.320 Six days are set apart for work, one day is made holy by God. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:28.080 This is the pattern that God has given us. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:32.240 So let's begin to talk about our restlessness. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:38.240 Why is it that it's so difficult for us to fit our lives into this created pattern? 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:52.159 At first in scripture, this is demonstrated in practice as a boundary that exists in the order of the world that people press up against and then find they've lost their bearings. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:17:00.080 It's first demonstrated in practice, and then it's demonstrated in principle, as we'll see it explicitly commanded by God in the Ten Commandments. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:03.840 So, first, let's look at our restlessness in practice. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:20.079 When God had rescued the Israelites out from the land of Egypt, um it didn't take long before they were saying, you know, back in Egypt we had pots of meat, they didn't, and here uh we're starving in the wilderness. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.039 Why did Moses, why did you even take us out here? 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:29.039 And so what God does is he hears their complaint, he hears their desire for food, and he responds graciously. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:35.039 And he says, I will provide for you manna from heaven, bread that comes down from heaven. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:43.599 And what you're called to do is to go out each day and gather up enough bread for that day. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:48.720 Don't gather up tomorrow's bread and try and store it, it won't keep. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:53.839 I'm going to give you bread every day, and I'm going to give you enough for that day. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:18:02.240 And you can see in the way that it's commanded that God wasn't only giving them the food, but he was also giving them a task. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:05.359 He was giving them work to do for each day. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:08.880 Go out and gather enough for today. 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:15.359 Well, uh immediately people start to just push against that limit. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:23.839 In Exodus 16, 19 through 20, it says, And Moses said to them, let no one leave any of it over till the morning. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:25.680 But they did not listen to Moses. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:30.319 Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.039 And Moses was angry with them. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:37.039 You know, this is the way many of us work. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:41.759 We're we're, it's never enough for today. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:51.920 We're never able to set down the work for the day and say, this is what God has apportioned to me for today to take. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.160 This is the task I've been called to by God for today. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:59.440 I'm not going to grab from tomorrow. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.359 I'm going to leave it there. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:11.680 And what happens is when we get in this pattern of constantly grabbing tomorrow's work and bringing it into today, it starts to stink. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:16.160 Our lives are out of proportion. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:25.039 And in the case of the Israelites, and this is true of us as well, what is their grabbing from tomorrow saying? 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:29.599 What is them storing up today, what should be left till tomorrow, saying? 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:34.880 It's saying that they don't trust God to provide the next day. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:47.519 If they're going to be safe, if they're going to be fed, if they're going to be cared for, if they don't take this into their own hands and store it up, then there's no way God is going to provide for them the next day. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:49.839 And so it's a faithlessness. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:53.279 It's saying God is not ultimately the one that's in control. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:56.400 I am the one who's going to have to take this into my own hands. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:02.880 And if nobody else does this, if I don't do this, then there's going to be no help for me. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:07.839 So God gives them enough work for the day. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:10.640 And they go beyond that limit. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:20.240 On the sixth day, God commands that they will be provided twice as much manna. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:28.079 So they're supposed to gather up enough manna on the sixth day that will provide them food for two days. 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:54.240 Because by his providence, for the seventh day, the manna that was kept will not stink, it will not rot, but it will be upheld, so that on the seventh day they may live in the pattern that has been given to us by God in creation, which is that they won't work, they won't go out and gather. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:56.640 They have no task assigned to them. 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:00.400 It is a day set aside completely for rest. 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:09.759 Humans are created in this strange way, where in order to sustain a human life, it takes six days of work for every seven days. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:13.599 And it takes one day of rest for every six days. 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:18.319 These are real patterns, actually built into creation. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:22.240 You know, I think this is one of the reasons we tend to throw this off. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:28.559 I tend and have tended to just over-spiritualize the idea of the Sabbath. 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:32.480 As though it was something that were just in my hands, and I could take it. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:41.039 And you know, I bet if I organize my week right, I can piece together a Sabbath throughout the week to where I can stand back and be like, well, a little bit here, a little bit there. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:46.000 But I'm a limited type of creature. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:48.319 I'm a limited human. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:53.359 I want to cast off these limits, but they're very clear. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:59.519 Throughout my whole time of studying this this week, I was like, gosh, this is unfortunately so clear. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:03.759 We are called to this day of rest. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.160 So, guess what happened? 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:09.279 They're saying, gather up twice as much for the sixth day. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:11.519 On the seventh day, you will rest. 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:14.640 So, Exodus 16, 27 through 28. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:20.160 On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:26.880 And the Lord said to Moses, How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:38.960 I think that we can live in almost a constant state of this, where we are ignoring the Sabbath that we're called to. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:46.000 And because of it, when we go out to gather on this day, there's nothing there for us to get. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:57.519 And so we find ourselves in this position where by our ignoring of the Sabbath, we are both fruitless in our work and we are restless. 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:06.480 I think that long patterns of our lives can feel like that by living out of step with who God made us to be. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:19.599 We are both fruitless and restless when we are forcing ourselves to work on the Sabbath, throwing off those good constraints that are given to us. 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:25.440 Okay, so that's how we see our restlessness demonstrate itself in practice. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:32.000 And so God must have thought something to the effect of, however God thinks. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:36.000 All right, well, I tried to show you this by just building it into the world. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:37.599 I'm gonna get a bit more clear. 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:42.400 Why don't we all gather at a mountain and I've got 10 things that I want to really tell you guys? 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:44.720 Uh so we're gonna have a family meeting. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:48.720 Um clean yourselves up, gird your loins, let's talk. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:53.359 Exodus 20, 8 through 10. 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:56.000 Uh, this is the fourth commandment. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:59.440 It says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:05.599 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:16.000 On it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:19.039 So, uh, first thing to note, this is the fourth commandment. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:24.960 So take a day off is in the same list as don't murder. 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:26.400 Same list. 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:33.200 This is a this is a real command to rest. 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:39.839 And it captures, it is for the whole of society. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:53.759 This is a call for everyone, every layer, from the one who runs the house to the servants of the house, men, women, this is for everyone, the whole household, the whole everyone is called to this day of rest. 00:24:54.079 --> 00:25:03.519 That makes sense that it would cover everybody, that there wouldn't be a class or strata that's left out, because this is a fact that we see is built into creation. 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:07.599 This is a framework that's established by God on the seventh day. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:10.640 Now, there are two sets of the Ten Commandments. 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:14.160 There's one in Exodus and there's another in Deuteronomy. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:23.119 And they both have this little tag on the end of the fourth commandment that explains why God is commanding the fourth commandment. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:25.839 And what's interesting is they're different. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:38.000 So in Exodus, uh it says, after this text, the fourth commandment, in Exodus 20, verse 11, it says, for, so why the Sabbath? 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:47.359 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:52.240 Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:26:01.039 So the reason that the Sabbath is commanded to us is because of this day in Genesis. 00:26:01.359 --> 00:26:07.359 Is because on the seventh day, God made that day holy. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:12.000 Now to make something holy is to set it apart. 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:16.160 But God isn't just setting things apart like, okay, I'm just gonna set it over there. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:19.680 God is claiming things for himself. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:25.039 He's setting this day apart to him. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:28.240 It is holy to the Lord. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:30.799 It is a Sabbath to the Lord. 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:33.680 See, the Sabbath has an object. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:37.039 And so he's saying, look at your life. 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:39.359 I'm not taking much. 00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:41.200 You know, six to one. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:42.559 Remember the ratio? 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:44.240 Not too bad. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:47.200 Those six days you pursue what you need to be pursuing. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:48.880 The seventh day, it's mine. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:52.880 And now, this day that's mine, what am I asking you to do on it? 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:53.839 Rest. 00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:00.000 We see the character in the heart of God in his command to the Sabbath. 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:02.160 Imagine a boss like that. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:04.880 It was very strict with your rest. 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:16.640 In this reason for the Sabbath in Exodus, what we see is that this is a pattern that God has established in creation. 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:25.759 And so by acknowledging it, by living in line with the Sabbath, what you're saying is God is God. 00:27:27.119 --> 00:27:28.559 He is the creator. 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:35.759 Now, if we move on to Deuteronomy, it explains almost verbatim the same commandment. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:37.039 It's a little different. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:44.160 Uh and then it adds uh uh this reason for the fourth commandment, right after saying the fourth commandment. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:46.160 This is Deuteronomy 5, 15. 00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:50.960 It says, You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:53.279 Why have the Sabbath? 00:27:53.839 --> 00:28:06.319 Well, remember, you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:12.559 Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:15.839 So you see these two reasons for the Sabbath. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:20.640 One is this is a pattern that God has set into the created order. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.839 So this is our way of acknowledging that God is God. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:29.759 Two, the other reason for the Sabbath, remember you were slaves once. 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:32.720 You were owned by the Egyptians. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:38.079 You did not belong to yourselves, but you were owned. 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:43.839 And as slaves, there was no day off. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:47.200 There's no day of rest. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:53.119 It's more bricks, less straw. 00:28:55.599 --> 00:29:02.960 And so the very reason that God is calling to mind is to remember: look, you don't belong to them anymore. 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:07.599 You don't belong to that cruel master anymore. 00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:10.720 I took you out from there. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:13.839 Now you belong to me. 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:19.680 And what does it mean to be a people who belongs to a God like me? 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:21.680 I command your rest. 00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:28.799 I command that you're more than just your labor, you're more than just your output. 00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:37.599 Just one day that's dedicated to enjoying me and just your very being, that's what I'm commanding. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:45.519 So we see that in the first reason for the Sabbath, it is to acknowledge that God is our God. 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:52.240 And the second reason for the Sabbath in Deuteronomy, it is to acknowledge that we are his people. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:30:01.440 The Sabbath, which means that to ignore the Sabbath is to ignore those two things. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:07.680 It's to ignore that God is our God and that we are his people. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:13.119 The covenant is the heart of the Sabbath. 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:19.680 To ignore the Sabbath is to ignore our rest in him. 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:33.440 Now, I I read several articles throughout the week on the Sabbath, and they all start, they don't all start, but most of them start in the same way, which is something something like this. 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:35.599 This is a true stat. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:51.200 In the Harvard Business Review, uh people who fake working 80 hours per week, and people who work 80 hours per week have the same level of productivity. 00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:54.960 Which is like, yeah, obviously. 00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:08.000 Uh and so the point, the point is, is like, look, you you we have limited, we're limited people, you're a limited person, you only have a certain amount of capacity, and when you try and go beyond that, you're fruitless and restless. 00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:15.119 And so the Sabbath is kind of sold as like this life hack or this productivity tool, this productivity tool. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:19.680 It's like, look, you gotta get the Sabbath in line because then you're gonna be able to be really effective. 00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:22.559 And look, I think that's probably true. 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:28.000 It seems to be, it seems like the data bears it out that that is true. 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:34.400 And look, when you bring your life in line with the created order, it's going to work better. 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:37.839 But here's what I don't want, and this is what hit me. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:44.079 Our motivation for the Sabbath is not that we'll be able to work more. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:52.240 Our motivation for rest is not that we'll be able to be more productive on the other side of it. 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:57.200 That's to miss the covenantal nature of the Sabbath. 00:31:57.519 --> 00:32:08.480 And it's to use a Christian principle to continue serving whatever the idol is that you're serving with your work or your rest in your life. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:11.359 And so our heart goes unexposed. 00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:16.000 Because why is the Sabbath so hard? 00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:34.079 Why is it so hard to take a day to stand back, to not be productive, to just exist, to consider the Lord, to have a day that's really set apart towards the consideration and the enjoyment of the Lord and the life that He's set us in? 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:37.039 Why is it so hard to stand back and say, it's enough? 00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:37.839 I'm done. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:40.000 I don't have to make any more. 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:45.920 There's something that you're worshiping. 00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:54.240 And on a Sabbath day, you're brought directly into contact with what that thing is. 00:32:54.559 --> 00:33:00.000 And I think for me, that's why I don't like taking a Sabbath. 00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:04.079 I don't want the space to reflect. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:06.000 I want to be distracted. 00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:13.440 I don't want to be brought face to face, face to face with what I'm actually chasing after with my work. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:18.640 Am I living in the biblical narrative with my work? 00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:25.759 Or am I chasing some Steve Jobs narrative of what fulfillment looks like? 00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:31.839 A Sabbath day will bring you face to face to that, with that. 00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:48.799 And we could, by taking a Sabbath, we could find ourselves more productive, find ourselves healthier, and we could be, you know, experiencing all these good things in life, and those are good, good things. 00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:57.119 But still be in our hearts serving some other God. 00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:04.160 Still in our hearts, we're we're resting to try and justify ourselves. 00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:11.280 And so we find ourselves taking this day off, and yet our hearts are still completely restless. 00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:16.400 Our hearts are still anxious all day long. 00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:23.760 Which means there needs to be a deeper rest. 00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:36.960 You may have noticed that uh when we first read the text from Genesis today, it breaks the pattern with the first six days of creation. 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:43.440 The first six days all end with the same phrase, and there was evening and there was morning the first day. 00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:46.800 There was evening and there was morning the second day. 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:50.400 And on the seventh day, it doesn't say that. 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:55.280 There's no bookend to the second, excuse me, to the seventh day. 00:34:55.920 --> 00:35:13.360 And the writer of Hebrews, I think, picks up on this and draws our attention to this fact and explains throughout Hebrews chapter three and chapter four that that's because God's rest of the seventh day never ended. 00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:21.360 His act of bringing the world into existence and making sky and sea and all these all these things, those those ended. 00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:26.400 But God's rest hasn't ceased. 00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:32.639 He hasn't stopped being in this place of real rest. 00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:36.159 God's rest. 00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:39.760 That's the rest we're longing for. 00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:44.079 And why can we not settle into it? 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:48.239 Because we're chasing some other God. 00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:51.360 We think our work will get us there. 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:54.559 We think some pattern in our lives can get us there. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:36:09.440 In our sin, we find ourselves completely restless before God, trying to find some way in which we can justify ourselves by our work to make our lives meaningful, to make our uh our life and our efforts somehow useful. 00:36:10.559 --> 00:36:16.000 And we're unable to step back and say, I can rest just in God. 00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:30.239 Well, what was promised of God promised his rest to the generation of people that we were just listening to, where we're the ones that were gathering up the manna when they shouldn't have been? 00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:32.320 God promised his rest to them. 00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:36.000 He said, You'll rest when you enter the promised land. 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:46.320 But that generation never did enter the promised land because they ignored God, they ignored his commands, and so that generation never entered their rest. 00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:52.800 So the question is, well then, does that mean that God's rest was just missed out on? 00:36:53.280 --> 00:37:03.360 But the writer of Hebrews shows us that David, later in a psalm, says that there is still a day that's appointed for us to be able to enter God's rest. 00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:06.079 And you know what David calls that day? 00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:08.639 Today. 00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:11.440 There is still a day. 00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:12.639 And what is it? 00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:14.239 Today. 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:18.559 Because it's a palindrome. 00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:21.360 No, I it no, there's nothing special about today. 00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:23.519 It's because it's, so like what day is today? 00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:24.719 Is today's today? 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:27.920 Yeah, today's today. 00:37:29.840 --> 00:37:34.400 There's still a day appointed where we might enter God's rest, and it is today. 00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:39.039 So while it is today, don't harden your hearts. 00:37:39.679 --> 00:37:42.320 He says this, Hebrews 4, 9 through 10. 00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:46.719 So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 00:37:46.960 --> 00:37:54.400 For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:57.440 Why can we not step back and take a Sabbath? 00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.079 Because our work isn't finished. 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:07.519 Because we know that if we just had a little more time, then we'd be able to get our lives together. 00:38:07.599 --> 00:38:09.440 Then I'd finally be able to get ahead of it. 00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:16.400 If I just had a little more time, I'd finally be able to fill this void in my life, I'd finally be able to bring things under control. 00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:18.559 I just don't have enough time. 00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:27.760 So I'm just gonna take this one extra day, God, just this one day, and I'm gonna use it, and I'll finally be caught up at the end of it. 00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:31.280 Our work isn't done. 00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:35.599