Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Hey, New Life Gillette Church, we are thrilled you decided to listen to our teaching on your favorite podcast app. If you made a decision to follow Christ today, would you let us know by visiting? Yes.newlife gillette.com Here is this week's teaching.
[00:00:24] Well, good morning again.
[00:00:26] I want to say good morning to everybody joining us online on Church 307 all over Wyoming. We're stoked that you're here, especially to our extended family down at the prison. We are so happy that you guys make it a point to be part of this. Every week. We are picking up right where we left off last week. We're on the fourth commandment today in this series called Stone, looking at the Ten Commandments or the foundational truths commands that last they're written in stone. They don't fade away. And we build our entire ethical worldview. The way we treat people, the way we treat God is all built on these 10 commandments. So Exodus, chapter 20. We're gonna start reading in verse eight while you're turning there. Mark mentioned this earlier, but I wanna make sure and some of you, you were coming in a little bit late. We have a class in the month of June. It's called what do I Believe? Through this class, we are gonna be walking through the basic creeds of the Christian faith and figuring out what are the things that are that define us as followers of Jesus. What are the things we're allowed to disagree on that aren't as important. What are the things that, if you don't believe this, it's not Christianity. Right? What are the foundational doctrines? What I want you to do, if you've already got your Bible open, is pull out your phone right now. You can do it in church just this one time. I know you do it every week. I can see you from up here, believe it or not.
[00:01:49] But go ahead and take your phone out and go to newlifejillette.com, scroll down to the events page and sign up for the what do I Believe Class. Just go ahead and do it right now. It's every Sunday night in the month of June. I think it's gonna be really, really meaningful.
[00:02:05] Exodus, chapter 20, verse 8.
[00:02:08] Here's what it says.
[00:02:10] Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
[00:02:14] Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
[00:02:18] But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall not do any work. Neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in Six days. The Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.
[00:02:41] But he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Let's pray.
[00:02:50] God, it's your word we want to hear from you.
[00:02:54] None of my opinions matter, so let all of my opinions be forgotten or rejected.
[00:03:00] But, God, would you align us with your truth and this fourth commandment? We love you. Amen.
[00:03:10] I want to do a little bit of a thought experiment, so I want you to imagine something with me. Imagine that you and I go to lunch after church today, all right? After service, we decide to go to lunch. Now, we're both believers. We share that in common. We both follow Jesus, right? So we have the same foundational worldview, you know, the same basic morals, etc. Anyway, we're talking at lunch and I'm talking to you about how bad things are right now. Just in life. I mean, I am stressed all the time. I am exhausted. I just, like. Money's tight, barely paying the bills. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to keep up. And there's this guy at work, and I'm not gonna name any names, but his name rhymes with Brant Dawson, and he is driving me nuts. Just can't stand it. And I just. I don't wanna go to work. I don't wanna go home. Cause we can barely keep the lights on. Life is just bad right now. But then I say, but you know what? Over the weekend, I actually figured out a solution.
[00:04:08] Yeah, I figured out a solution to the problem. I just went ahead and did it. I killed him. I killed Grant.
[00:04:13] I hit him with my car. Actually just ran him right over. And you know what they say, two birds, one car. Because I checked his wallet and there was a bunch of cash in there. And that took care of my financial issues. So we're gold. Now, actually, here's the experiment. If I said that to you at lunch today, would you say, oh, yeah, that makes sense.
[00:04:32] That was the right. Hey, we're not ever going to lunch together.
[00:04:37] No, you wouldn't be like, yeah, you made the right decision. Right? You made a wise, calculated, godly decision. No, you'd probably be like, man, that's murder and theft. Right? Okay, let's change the experiment a little bit. Imagine we're at lunch and I say something like, you know what? Life's going great. Things are so good. Finances are good, church is good, family's good. In fact, my wife and I were talking and we were just like, so in love. And we figured we've got some love to share, so we decided to have an affair. We're just going to cheat on each other just a little bit, like once a month. We talked about it. It shouldn't be a big deal, right? Would you say, great idea?
[00:05:15] No. No, you wouldn't. If you would say that, please schedule marital counseling with me. We need to talk? No, you wouldn't say that. You'd say, CJ, look, it doesn't matter if you agreed on it. That's going to ruin your marriage. You can't do that. You can't just decide that because things are going well, you should throw a live grenade into your marriage just to keep things interesting. You can't do that. Right. And probably over the course of this conversation, you would say something like, cj, we're both Christians and the Ten Commandments are like the big ones, right? And you got three of them right there. All right? You got adultery, you got murder, you got theft, all right? It doesn't really matter how bad things are. You can't go around killing people and stealing from their corpse. And it doesn't matter how good things are, you can't go around cheating on your spouse. Right? That's baseline Christianity. We would agree on that. Yeah.
[00:06:06] Here's the thing. Now, what I'm about to say is extremely heavy handed, and I know that, but I'm going to say it anyway.
[00:06:15] The same list that has, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, and you shall not commit adultery.
[00:06:25] When God is making these 10 foundational claims. In fact, we talked in the first commandment in our sermon on that. That command probably isn't the right thing to call these that. They're. They're truths. In Hebrew, they're called the 10 words. These are truths that the world that existence really is built on. It is true that you should not kill people. That that's bad for you, it's bad for the world. It is true that you should not worship other gods. It's bad for you, it's bad for the world.
[00:06:55] In the same list that God put, don't kill, don't steal, don't lie, don't worship idols.
[00:07:05] He put, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
[00:07:12] On six days you were given to labor and do all your work, but on the seventh day you are to rest in the same list.
[00:07:26] It seems like God regards the Sabbath with the same level of intensity that he regards worship, marriage, and even human life.
[00:07:42] Now that's not to say breaking the Sabbath is the same thing. As murdering people.
[00:07:47] But it is to say that when God is looking at the world, he's looking at the truths that make things function well, the way he designed the world, that would be best for us, for the animals. Did you notice that the command extends to servants? We'd say employees in this world, to foreigners living among you. And even to animals, the world works best. It is a foundational truth of the world that you shouldn't kill each other and that you should take the Sabbath day where you do not work.
[00:08:23] Here's the thing.
[00:08:25] I've been a pastor for quite a while now. I have never once heard someone justify murder because they had a bad day.
[00:08:35] I have yet to hear someone try to convince me that it's good for them to have an affair because life's going so well.
[00:08:43] But I have justified breaking the Sabbath. And I've heard it done. Because man, life's hard. What are you gonna do, right?
[00:08:50] Bill's gotta get paid, okay? I don't know what I've gotta do to keep up.
[00:08:54] I'm working seven days a week. I don't have time for a day off.
[00:08:59] And I've heard and myself have done justification justifying breaking the Sabbath commandment. Cause things are going well. I've got so many opportunities in front of me right now. I mean, there's just so much good stuff.
[00:09:13] Traveling every weekend for kids, soccer. I'm coaching five teams. I'm working and I'm working overtime. I'm volunteering at the church. We got stuff going on every day. I never get a nap. I never get to rest. But things are just good. Life's good, right? We'll justify breaking the commandment because things are good. This is the only of the Ten Commandments that I have pretty regularly heard people brag about breaking. Oh, man, you know me, I'm always on the grind. I hustle, right? No days off. That's me. That's my code. That's how we do stuff. No, no days off. If you want to make the money, it's not going to make itself. You got to keep going. So I'm going to be working nonstop. Nobody's going to outwork me. Seven days a week, Seven days a hustle, hear people brag about breaking it. We wouldn't brag about murder, but we'll brag about this one once again. I know I'm being very heavy handed and in general I think guilt is a really bad way to convince anybody to do anything.
[00:10:08] But I'm just so convinced that the Sabbath is so essential for humans thriving. I think if I could guilt trip you into following the Sabbath, that you'd guilt. You'd leave here today and you'd be like, man, I feel bad. I should probably practice the Sabbath. And after a month of feeling bad, you'd be like, this is so much better. Thank you for guilt tripping me about it.
[00:10:28] We should probably define what the Sabbath is before we keep going. So here's what it is. We read the command, we get an idea of it. But just so we're all explicitly the Sabbath is equals 24 hours in which you do no work. 24 hours in which you do no work.
[00:10:47] No work at all. So here's what the Sabbath is not. It is not a day off from your paid job.
[00:10:53] That's not what the Sabbath is. That's a day off.
[00:10:56] A day off is not the same thing as the Sabbath. A Sabbath is 24 hours in which you do no work. So it's not Sabbath if I take a half day. It's not Sabbath if I just don't work in the evenings. Sabbath, by definition, is 24 hours in which I do no work at all. And no work means no work. All right? It means I'm not working on the dishes. I'm not working on my homework. I'm not working on my goals. I'm not working, working on the yard. I'm not working on the house. It's 24 hours in which we do no work. And we know that. It's clear in Scripture because of the laws in Scripture, the way Scripture itself defines it, and because we know from the Jewish traditions that developed over time that it was very clear to the original audience that they were not allowed, that this was a prohibition against doing any type of work. It was not just a prohibition against getting paid.
[00:11:55] It wasn't a prohibition against doing your career. It was a prohibition against doing any type of work. In fact, some people argue, I don't know if it's true, but I've heard it said that in Jewish culture, they weren't allowed. Women were not allowed to look in a mirror on the Sabbath day because they might see a gray hair and pluck it out. And that was considered work.
[00:12:14] You were not allowed to do any work.
[00:12:18] So the Sabbath, by definition, is 24 hours in which we do zero.
[00:12:27] No work.
[00:12:31] Now, I can already feel the objections to this brewing in the audience.
[00:12:36] Here's one. So let's just head them off at the pass. All right, here's one of them. You might be thinking, C.J. look, I'm not lazy, okay? That's not me. I'm not lazy. I'm not one of those millennials, Gen Z people who wants avocado toast and a free whatever? That's not me, okay? I work hard, right? That's who I am. I'm a worker. I'm not going to take handouts. I'm not doing that. That's great, actually, because as Christians, we're not allowed to be lazy either.
[00:13:00] There is absolutely nothing in Scripture that gives us space to be lazy. Christians are commanded to work hard. Did you notice in the command it says six days you have been given to labor and do all your work. So in six days, we as followers of Jesus are supposed to work.
[00:13:20] It doesn't really count as a Sabbath if I'm, like, slacking off for a week and then sleeping in on Saturday, all right?
[00:13:26] I work hard. If you read the Book of Proverbs, in fact, I think you should, especially if you are a man. If you're a young man, if you're between the age of, let's say, 16 and 30, I think you should go read the Book of Proverbs. And I think you should read. There are, I think, 31 chapters in Proverbs. I think you should just read a chapter a day for six months.
[00:13:47] Read it six times, and it's going to blow your mind. And what you find over and over again in the Book of Proverbs is the instruction to work and to work hard. In fact, the primary person or one of the primary people you are told not to be like in the Book of Proverbs is the sluggard, the lazy person. We're told over and over and over again, work hard. Work hard for your money.
[00:14:10] Make wise decisions, multiply your investments, save and store up things based on your hard work. Told over and over again, don't be lazy. You are not supposed to be that work hard. In fact, in Genesis chapter 2, before sin ever enters the story, all right, this is the creation story. When humans are created before there's any suffering, pain, bad things in the world. God puts humans into the garden and he tells them to work it not like a song, not like work it like. No, like work.
[00:14:45] We are given work to do, a job to do before there's ever sin. Work is not the result of sin. Responsibility is not the result of sin. Work is not a bad thing. Work is a good thing humans are given to do.
[00:14:57] Even if there was nothing wrong with the world, we would still have work to do. In fact, in Genesis 1, once again, before there's sin ever in the story. Humans are given dominion, which means we have the responsibility to work the world. It is within our power to build things up and make them or to tear things down and make them worse. That was part of the human position before there was ever sin. We not only had work, but responsibility to do that work before there was ever sin in the world. So humans, based on scripture, we have no excuse for laziness. The Sabbath command is not a command that we would not be hard workers. In fact, let me take it a step farther. I have this dream that someday, if you decide to go get a job in Campbell county, that you could put New Life, you could put I attend New Life on your resume and you'd get hired. Why? Because they know for sure. The people who go to New Life are the hardest workers.
[00:15:56] They show up on time. In fact, they show up early. They never talk bad about their boss. They don't gossip. They're not, you know, they're not trying to stretch out their break or sneak in overtime when it wasn't approved. They're not trying to do anything sketchy. No, they work hard, they show up on time. They go above and beyond. Right. You know, if someone goes to New Life, that means they're a faithful follower of Jesus, and that means they're a hard worker. I think that would be incredible.
[00:16:20] We are given six days to work hard and commanded. It is a truth of the universe that we have to have 24 hours of rest.
[00:16:33] Genuine, real, no work rest.
[00:16:37] Here's the second objection you might have. You might be thinking, C.J. all right. Aren't you getting a little legalistic here? Okay, Isn't that the whole thing that Jesus came to fix all the legalism? In fact, you might be thinking, well, didn't Jesus talk a whole bunch about the Sabbath and how people were getting way too intense about the Sabbath laws? And didn't he go fix that? And yes, you're right, he did. They were getting way too intense about the Sabbath laws. They were getting very legalistic about it. And Jesus did fix it. In fact, there's a fairly well known story in Mark, chapter two, where Jesus is walking with his disciples on the Sabbath. And. And they're walking through a grain field. And as they're walking through the field, his disciples are hungry. So they're picking up the heads of grain and they're kind of, you know, shelling it in their hands and then eating the grain, which sounds like a horrible snack to me, but it's what the story says. They're walking through the field and Jesus enemies, the people who opposed him, they look at the disciples and they say, hey, that's technically harvesting. And harvesting is definitely work. Why don't your disciples follow the Sabbath laws? Why are you guys breaking the laws? And Jesus response to them is brilliant. First off, he says, you haven't read the rest of the Bible because you would realize what the intent of this command was. But then he says something. He says, first, I am Lord of the Sabbath.
[00:17:58] So he says, no, I'm in charge. He doesn't abolish the Sabbath. He says, no, I'm in charge of the Sabbath. I'm the Lord over all of it. But he says this in Mark, chapter 2, verse 27. Then he Jesus said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
[00:18:18] In other words, God gave us this command, this truth. And the best way for us to understand it is to see it as a truth.
[00:18:26] One of the words that all of life is built on that shapes the way we view ourselves and one another in the world and animals and God and everything.
[00:18:36] The Sabbath was made for us. We were not made for the Sabbath. God did not give us the Sabbath to give us another rule to follow. He did not give us the Sabbath to give us something else that we have to color in between the lines with. We do not serve the Sabbath, The Sabbath serves us. We were not made for the sake of fulfilling this law. This law was given to us for the sake of our good and our health and our well being. It is a foundational truth of reality. In fact, any of you ever read about the French Revolution? Maybe in high school? Anyone?
[00:19:16] Not a lot of history nerds here. All right, cool.
[00:19:19] The French Revolution was kind of like the American Revolution, not nearly as successful.
[00:19:24] And in the French Revolution, the revolutionaries did everything they can to uproot all religion from society. In fact, they wanted to get rid of anything that sounded like faith, sounded anything at all like religion. One of the things they did to do that was they changed the work week. They said, hey, the seventh day thing that comes from the Bible, we don't want anything to do with the Bible.
[00:19:49] So we're going to change the work week from seven days, six days of work and one day off to 10 days, nine days of work and one day off. Funny thing is, they gave you a half day on the fifth day. So they weren't just taking away all your rest time, but they changed the schedule.
[00:20:07] It was one of the worst ideas in history.
[00:20:12] It didn't work.
[00:20:14] The People hated it. Productivity tanked. Not only did it mess up church attendance and lunch at mom's house, it made people exhausted.
[00:20:26] Because to work that long without a genuine rest. And a rest is not just coming home early. A rest is a day in which you get up and don't have to accomplish anything, in which there's nothing on the to do list.
[00:20:40] Without that, without the ability to genuinely rest, productivity tanked. It sent society into more chaos. Chaos was already caused by the revolution itself, but it made things significantly worse. Why? Because it's baked into reality. As a human being, you need that rest.
[00:20:59] You need it. And the command itself tells us if God, God himself made the world in six days and on the seventh day, he rested. And I think we can all agree that if the omnipotent, all powerful, all knowing creator of the universe needed a day off, off, we do too.
[00:21:20] But more than that, it's baked into reality. It's part of how Earth was created.
[00:21:27] It's right there in the Genesis story and it's right there in the ten Commandments. This, the Sabbath command is not based on God just creating an order for society. It's based on creat we need helps us.
[00:21:46] It's good for us.
[00:21:48] The thing is, you will be more productive on your six days of work if you get a day of rest. Employers, let me just tell you, your employees will work better if they're rested. I can promise you. You want employees who are efficient and able to work hard, not employees who are just filling hours barely able to pay attention because they're exhausted and burnt out and drained.
[00:22:11] We're more efficient. We're more productive. We are better able to do that which we are called to do when we are rested.
[00:22:19] And once again, I'm not saying be lazy. I'm not saying give everybody a 25 hour work week.
[00:22:24] I'm saying we need 24 hours in a week of rest.
[00:22:30] Genuine no work rest.
[00:22:33] If I were the emperor of the universe, I would make this a rule that every person had to follow.
[00:22:38] I'd send you to prison if you didn't take a day off. I think it would fix so many things. I think there are people running cartels that just need a nap. Like they're just exhausted and it would fix it if they just got a day off. They'd be like, darn it, I don't want to ruin the world. I just don't want to do it. I was tired, you know, I needed Snickers and a nap.
[00:22:59] But it makes me wonder, why don't we do it if the payoff is. It's so clear in Scripture. Because it's abundantly clear in Scripture. It's not negotiable in Scripture. There's no debate about it, but it's abundantly clear in Scripture. All right, we put the Ten Commandments on the walls of courthouses, but this is the one that especially we as Americans. I don't know why, we just rage against it.
[00:23:21] We can't seem to want to follow it. I think it has to do with these two words right here. Trust and control.
[00:23:30] Anyone else here willing to admit that you're the type of person that if you're going to be in the car, you want to be driving the car?
[00:23:37] That is me, for sure. If I'm in the car, I want to be driving the car. It's not that I think you're a bad driver. It's just that I don't think you're as good a driver as me. And it's not even that. It's just I feel safe when I'm in control. My wife and I love road trips. We go on long road trips a lot, and I do most of the driving, but we'll switch eventually, and I'll try to go to sleep in the passenger seat. And it takes so much effort for me to go to sleep in the passenger seat because every time I feel us take a curve, I'm like, this is it. We're.
[00:24:06] Every time I feel the brakes go, I just imagine a truck coming head on. And it's completely ridiculous because my wife has been in 100% fewer accidents than me.
[00:24:16] 100%. She has been in zero accidents while she's been driving. One accident while she wasn't driving. I'm not gonna tell you who was driving, but I've been in more than zero accidents. Not a lot. It's dangerous out there. Guys don't judge me.
[00:24:32] But it's completely unfounded for me to feel like I'm safer if I'm the one controlling the car. It's how I feel, but there's absolutely no evidence for me to feel that way. It's silly, but I still feel that way. There's something about not being able to control the vehicle that makes me not trust that I'm safe.
[00:24:53] There's something about not being in control makes me feel like I can't trust.
[00:25:00] Funny thing is, none of us are in control anyway.
[00:25:04] Did you know that?
[00:25:06] You know what the hardest part about being a parent is? It's when you realize that's a little human being, and you're not in control of them.
[00:25:15] We can't control anything.
[00:25:17] And that's the thing. On the Sabbath day, it is a physical practice of trust.
[00:25:23] Do I trust God that you are the provider? I am not.
[00:25:26] Do I trust God that I might work hard to make the money, but you are the one who provides for my needs? I am not.
[00:25:33] Do I trust that if I don't go to the work site today that the job will still get done?
[00:25:40] Do I trust that if I don't fix anything around the house, that my family still appreciates me and loves me? Because a lot of us work because it's the only way we think people will love us and accept us. We wouldn't say that out loud, but we just feel useless if we're not doing something. And if we feel useless, we don't feel like we should be around.
[00:26:02] We don't feel like anybody wants us.
[00:26:04] What if I'm not in control?
[00:26:06] Sabbath is the practice of what Jesus said, and I believe Matthew 7 when he said, the Lord makes the sunshine and the rain fall on the evil and the good.
[00:26:16] He is the one who's in control.
[00:26:18] I cannot make anything happen. I can work hard. My work matters. I have a responsibility. Paul said it like this in the New Testament. He said, some plant and some water, but it's the Lord who makes the seed grow. In other words, it's the Lord who makes anything productive in general.
[00:26:36] And the Sabbath is the practice of acknowledging I am not in control.
[00:26:43] Taking a day where I say, you know what? The world will keep spinning if I don't work because I'm not in control of it. And then trusting that if God's the one who's spinning it, then it'll be okay.
[00:26:57] Now, when we talk about work, things get sticky because there are things that you would define as work that I would call fun. You put me eight miles back in the back country with a backpack on and a rifle and some meat to pack out. That's a great day for me. That doesn't feel like work, but some of you like running, and that doesn't feel like work. That feels like prison to me. Feels like a chain gang or something.
[00:27:20] So when we talk about work, it's kind of hard to really define it. So there are two phrases that my wife and I have started using that I think are helpful. It's these two phrases right here to help us figure out whether we're practicing the Sabbath. Here's the first one. Do nothing. That feels like work.
[00:27:38] Don't do anything that feels like work. So if you enjoy working in the yard, if you enjoy mowing the grass, if that helps you relax, there are some of you, I don't understand it, but there are some of you that do. That helps you relax, go out and do it, that's fine. But if you're going to mow because the HOA is going to give you a ticket, let the HOA wait.
[00:27:56] Or use the other six days to do your work. Mow beforehand so you can take the day of rest.
[00:28:02] If you like to cook, that's great. Cook on the Sabbath. I love to cook.
[00:28:06] A lot of times on our Sabbath days we will have big meals. I love to cook, but don't do the dishes. Because there's no human on earth who likes doing the dishes. Unless you desperately need counseling.
[00:28:18] None of us. That feels like work to everybody, right? So don't do anything that feels like work. Not everything you do is going to feel like work.
[00:28:26] But I realize that there are some of us that will hear that and will be like, oh, sure, then I'll rebuild the engine and you'll spend nine hours busting your knuckles and exhausted, sweating, and have not seen your family all day. And you'll have told yourself it won't feel like work. So there's another phrase that we need to carry together.
[00:28:44] Do not try to accomplish anything.
[00:28:47] Don't check anything off your to do list.
[00:28:50] Don't accomplish anything. If you like working in the yard, go work in the yard. Don't build a garden because it's getting late into spring and you gotta get it done, all right? That is turning what was supposed to be relaxing into something on the to do list. All right? Don't try to accomplish something. If you like reading, read on the Sabbath. But if you're reading on the Sabbath because you're behind in your reading goals for the year and you have to get reading or you're not going to reach the goals, then don't read on the Sabbath. Read on the other days. Don't turn it into work. Don't turn something designed for rest in to work. Don't try to accomplish anything. Why? Because on the Sabbath we need to remember God loves us even if we don't accomplish anything. He accompl salvation through his death and resurrection.
[00:29:33] We don't have to accomplish anything else to be loved and accepted and welcomed by Him. And we have to practice that for the good of our souls.
[00:29:43] So here's what I want to ask you.
[00:29:45] What step can you take towards the Sabbath.
[00:29:48] I know I said if I could just guilt you into doing it, I would, but guilt really isn't a good motivator for anything.
[00:29:55] So what step can you take?
[00:29:57] Maybe right now you physically can't. I mean, you can't, you couldn't pay the bills if you didn't work seven days a week.
[00:30:03] What step can you take?
[00:30:06] Can you take a half day and on that half day do no work?
[00:30:11] Can you find two half days in your week where you can stack two six hour spans together where you do no work?
[00:30:20] Can you decide in your house if it's impossible for you to take a Sabbath day right now? Can you decide in your house that you do not do any work after 6 o'? Clock? All right, if the dishes aren't clean, they stay in the sink. If the floor's dirty, the floor is dirty. But you're not going to do any work and you're just going to take a step towards the Sabbath. Can you get there? Let me, let me be as honest as I can possibly be here real quick. For a lot of us, we can take a Sabbath and the step you should take is a full 24 hours.
[00:30:50] All right? Don't play around.
[00:30:53] A lot of us can take it, we just don't want to.
[00:30:57] But it's one of the commands, so do it.
[00:31:00] But for some of us, it's not possible right now. So take a step. That step is not where you're going to land. That step is on the way towards the Sabbath. If you work shift work and you're working 12 days on, can you find two 24 hour days where you do no work with the family on your off days?
[00:31:17] How can you take a step towards the Sabbath? It might not be feasible right now for you to do the whole thing. How can you take a step towards it?
[00:31:27] Why? Because you are loved. The truest thing about you is that you are loved.
[00:31:33] Look, I know that's weird for some of us to hear, but it's true. The truest thing about you is that the God of the universe made you in his image, even in the midst of your sin and your constant rebellion. And my sin and my constant rebellion against the his ways and his commands. He loved us enough to die for our sins, to reconcile us to him so that we could spend eternity with him and so that we could live a little bit of what that eternity is like here on this earth.
[00:31:58] You are loved. Sabbath is the practice of being loved. When you take a Sabbath, you tell yourself, I am loved no matter what.
[00:32:11] I don't have to accomplish anything to be loved. It was accomplished for me.
[00:32:16] So what step can you take towards a Sabbath?
[00:32:20] Let's pray.
[00:32:23] Jesus, we thank you. That baked into the created order is your love for us.
[00:32:30] Would you teach us how to live reminding ourselves that you love us?
[00:32:36] God, teach us to work hard, to give it all we got for six days, but then to remind ourselves and everyone around us that you are in control of we are not. And we can trust you.
[00:32:47] We love you, Jesus.
[00:32:48] Amen.
