Dare to Rest

Well good morning again my name is Mark, one of the pastors here and before Herman comes up I just want to tell you a really quick story. Seven years ago this week my lifelong best friend Phil passed away and about ten days after that I was scheduled to speak at Mount Herman. They knew they had a broken speaker and not in the sound system, in me, and yet we went ahead with that and during that week a gentleman approached me with a lot of compassion and warmth and just care because I'd shared what was going on obviously and then a couple days later his wife also approached me.

In both instances they not only expressed their deep sympathy but their loving concern and their prayer and that happened to be how I met Herman and his wife Rhonda seven years ago. Both of them they didn't know me from anyone but they really wanted to go out of their way. I think independently of each other to express their love and their care. I mentioned that to Herman when he arrived three weeks ago. He didn't remember that at all which I did not take personally because I know this. There's been probably 15-20,000 people he's done the same thing for since that time.

He has never met a stranger as far as I can tell. Those of you who have talked with him know that there's a presence that he has where it's the only conversation in the world at that time and he invariably wants to end that conversation by praying for you. What I'm trying to say is this is a man who's not only gifted as a preacher but he has such an exceptionally warm loving pastoral heart. We've been so grateful to his church, his family for loaning him to us for these three weeks and so as he comes to speak to us this last time to next church I want you to express your enthusiastic gratitude. Let's welcome back Pastor Herman Hamilton.

Come on Herman. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning and God be praised. It's a joy to be with you guys again this weekend and I just want to say what a fabulous awesome experience it has been for me over the course of the last three weeks the combination of love and kindness and generosity that you guys have poured out from the pastoral team, Pastor Mark and Val to the individual conversations I've had with you guys has just been absolutely remarkable.

And I've said it again I've said it before I'll say it again this morning that if you're a first time or second time guest here I just want you to know that if I lived here in this area this would be my church home right here so let's give God a hand praise for the congregation that God is built right here. I want to acknowledge those who are watching also online you know we have a link here that has a collection of books and apps that really will help you to dive deep into the subject matter that we've been talking about my best life and how to just shape your rhythm etc.

Today I'm going to talk a little bit about the Sabbath day from the Christian standpoint there are two fabulous books on this website and so we just commend all of that to you just before I get started this morning I just want to say a word about what Pastor Mark led us in prayer regarding that is the shooting that took place earlier this week. I'm sure like many of you or rather I'm sure many of you were in the same place that I was and that is as I just watched the news stories I just found myself weeping and the fault that came to me in the midst of all of that was really the shortest verse in the Bible which simply says Jesus wept.

And if you're familiar with that story you know that Lazarus died and his family was inconsolable and then they looked over and they found Jesus weeping with them even though Jesus knew that before the end of the day he was gonna raise Lazarus from the dead and give him back to his family members. And so that's just a word for all of us who have found ourselves this week weeping whether it has to do with the tragedy that we saw this past Tuesday or some other tragedy I want you to know that Jesus weeps with us it's the first thing that came to my mind.

Secondly what I said to my congregation this morning by way of video is that so often and you know that we have a very diverse community of course race and class and politics and all of that rooted in the evangelical tradition what I said to them by video this morning is that so often we asked the question God why don't you do something especially when this continues to reoccur 10 African Americans murdered just a few days ago a few days later a life is taken by violence in a Taiwanese church in Southern California and then this past Tuesday 19 second third and fourth graders two adult teachers God why don't you do something.

And every now and then not always but every now and then I think this is one of those occasions the answer to that question is that God has already done something that God has given the power to do something to people to you and to me and so then the real question is why don't we do something and the answer to that question is that the divisions in our communities even in some of our churches our families in our country is deepening so dramatically that we find ourselves paralyzed when it comes to confronting some of these things that put us all at risk.

So my challenge to you this is what I said to my congregation I challenge you the same way on this Memorial Day when we are honoring people who literally gave up their lives to preserve the quote United States of America let us commit a new that we will push past the petty and find ways to find common ground and unite with those who we may disagree with on the right of issues but on the big stuff let's find a way to unite together and Jesus followers I'm really speaking to you because it was Jesus who said blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called what the children of God can you say amen.

I am I'll conclude these remarks by simply saying this despite the climate that we're in I still have hope because God is still on the throne and Jesus will have the last word let's celebrate that good news praise be to God. God we lift these words to you we ask that you would help us to commit a new work towards unity now bless this teaching in Jesus name amen and amen.

If you'd be kind enough to stand as we enter the last weekend together and today I want to talk about what it means to dare to rest can you just say that dare to rest dare to rest and here's the passages we think a little bit about the Sabbath day from a Christian context it's about Jesus listen here on Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grain fields his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat but the Pharisees said to Jesus look why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.

Then Jesus said to them the Sabbath it was made to meet the needs of people and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath and let everybody shout amen amen please please be seated say to the person next to you I dare you to rest.

I remember the first I love Starbucks I'm there all the time but I remember the very first time I went to a Starbucks I went to experiment and I didn't know what to order so I just ordered a cup of coffee and the young lady on the other side of the counter she said to me would you like for me to leave room I didn't understand that as I looked a little baffled at six excuse me she said would you like for me to leave room I said excuse me she says I mean would you like for me to leave enough room for you to add some cream.

I said oh I wasn't familiar with the language of leaving enough room to add cream as I think about our culture our collective lives together on the treadmill of life that seems to run 24/7 I think it might be true to suggest to all of us that in our own way we are not familiar with the language of leaving room leaving margin in our lives for the cream.

I want to suggest to you as a matter of fact I think that all of us kind of function every day with an unspoken prayer even if you're not a person of faith and I believe we function with this unfocused this this unspoken prayer because our souls are designed to work in a certain way and we are so out of alignment forced to be so because of how culture work and and and here is the prayer I think we wake up in the morning with is simply this Lord how do I make room for the cream for the cream how do I make room in my life for those things that are life-giving that will nurture internal joy that will create space for me to preserve the health of my relationships with God and with those around me that I love to to make sure that I'm focused and integrating my eternal purpose with my daily schedule that I might have this sense of peace.

How do I make room for the cream you know the cream those things you love to do is hobbies cooking and fishing and biking and hiking somebody shout cream cream yes for the for the cream you know like just reading a good book or going swimming with the family shout cream yeah cream you know like just having an unheard bath in the middle of the day a lie snuggled in bed and not having to rush out cream yes time to watch those grandkids you know just crawl around on the floor and giggle and not feel like I've got a rush out to a meeting a time to hang out with your grandparents saying to them the day is yours will do whatever you want to do can you say cream yes.

How do I find the time how to pray and laugh and dance how do I find the time to live my best life Jesus says well I've got an answer for you he says come walk with me and work with me and watch how I live life you see I and learn from me the unforced rhythms of grace and one of the unforced rhythms of grace that Jesus practiced in his life was a weekly Sabbath day everybody shout Sabbath day Sabbath day Sabbath day.

Jesus says and if he's walking through on a Sabbath day he honors the Sabbath day they're walking through the grain field and the disciples begin to pick corn that they're walking through not to harvest it not to sell it but they started simply aspects of God's delight around them and they were partaking in that the Pharisees says oh my goodness they're breaking the law Jesus says to them number one they're not breaking the law they are enjoying in the delights of God number two the Sabbath he says was made to meet the needs of people it is a gift from God to bless you not to enslave you the Sabbath meaning there's something embedded in the Sabbath that is incredibly powerful.

Now to lean in and to see what that is let's begin with the word Sabbath thereby shall Sabbath it means to to stop it means to stop but it also means to delight to support is to stop to delight so the Sabbath day is a day where we stop and we delight we rest and we worship it is so important this Sabbath day it is until that when God called Moses to help shape and give birth to the nation of Israel they come through the Red Sea they've been delivered from slavery now they're standing at Mount Sinai and there they're standing God has God gives to Moses 10 commandments and he says I want you to to teach these to the people because if they live out these 10 commandments they will become a nation that will model for the world what it means to live your best life.

And remarkably in the fourth commandment God commands the people check this out to make room for the cream that's what it's about listen listen to what Moses communicates to the people that God declares he says everybody shout remember remember the Sabbath day by keeping it whole and set aside watch this rhythm six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a sabah it is a stop day it is a delight day set aside for the Lord your God own it you shall not do any work any work any work neither you nor your son or your daughter sabah it's remarkable.

And then do you know that this fourth commandment about here's how to create space for cream here's how to here's here here's God's answer to that internal prayer about how do I make room for those things that enrich my life do you know that this is the only commandment wherein Moses gives us a reason for why we should do it everybody shout why Moses answers it for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth notice the rhythm and the seas and all that is in them but he's a bath that's the Hebrew word here he's a bath on the seventh day therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy Wow.

So first it's a day to rest and then let me just point out a few things I don't want to get trapped in legalism not to be enslaved by it first of all it's not about the particular day you know for in the Jewish context the Sabbath day begins Friday evening goes to the end of Saturday evening sundown Friday sundown Saturday when Jesus rose from the dead he rose on the what was the first day of the Jewish first day of the week for the Jewish calendar which is for us Sunday.

So Jesus followers took Sunday and designated it as as as the day of the as the Lord's day which we became became known as our Sabbath day but later on as as Christianity broke through the bounds of Judaism and begin to sweep across the Greco-Roman culture and sweeping through all of these cultures people started arguing about what is a holy day what's not a holy day some people say don't eat this in the name of God some people say well eat this in the name of God and Paul had to address this and so as he speaks about the how do you deal with holy days here's what he says in the same way some think one day is more holy than another day while others think every day is alike but here's his here's his instruction you should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is what acceptable.

Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him somebody shout pick your day pick your day not everybody some of us have to work on Saturdays and Sundays we can't we can't we have to what day is available for us pick that day your Sabbath day stop the light secondly never confuse the Sabbath day with your day off you see because we know we know that if you bless they have five days for your public job you know that six-day quote unquote that day off is really not a day off it's just a day off from your public job so that you can now work you know running errands and doing the maintenance on the car and doing the maintenance on the house and doing the grocery shopping and by the time you get to the end of your day off you need a day off.

So the Sabbath day is intended to be a rest day right arrest it notice what we learn as we look at this notion of the Sabbath day the secret to it the power in it is the rhythm six days you work one day you rest six days you what one day you six days you one day you and what what what Moses says that that God models this is in the creation story and that that that and part of why I got models it is is it's God's way of saying is that that in some way he's built this rhythm into the into the natural rhythm of creation into the natural rhythm of how your soul and my soul is designed to work.

Now I know some of you are thinking I would love to do that but if you but my job and the demands of my job they are so great I just have to work seven days a week to stay to keep up with everything to make sure that we are productive I hear you I hear you reminds me of a story when I was a young pastor starting off in Pine Bluff Arkansas and I was running here doing this and doing that the late dr. violin Coleman who was one of my elders she called me to decide one day she said pastor listen don't you let these people kill you see said see said listen if you fool around here running here and there and let these people kill you she said let me tell you what's gonna happen on the day your pharaohs they're gonna walk up and look in the calf's casket and see your course there she says and they're gonna say he sure does look natural and then all those things you thought couldn't get done without you they go go ahead and find a way to do those things.

Part of the power of the Sabbath is it forces us to break our illusions about the quote-unquote indispensable ness of us on what is actually required in God's world and might I tell you that we are not required to be God in God's world only God occupies that space oh I still I see some of you scratching his well I'm not quite convinced yet so might I suggest to you some information from some of the social scientists here's what the social scientists say they say that that the the best most productive hours of our work week is stops at the point of 50 hours everybody shall 50 hours as a matter of fact they've done study after study and they figured out that that the person who works 55 hours in terms of productivity and the person who works 70 hours a week that there's absolutely zero can you say zero zero difference between their productivity that once you hit 50 hours a week your productivity begins to decline.

Oh no you're not convinced yet so let me just share one more piece of data the Huffington Post did a had a doctor that did a survey a number of years ago the question was who are the happiest people in the world and they did a kind of a global survey and find come to find out that the top of the list of the happiest people in the world were a group of Christians called seven-day Adventist if you know anything about seven-day Venice you know that they religiously follow really the Jewish expression of the Sabbath they work six days and they take one day all Friday evening to Saturday evening and what the social scientists discovered was not only were they among the happiest check this out but they tended to live seven years longer than the average person.

Yeah you can go you can say wow you know you know what the word that comes at us from that remember the Sabbath remember the Sabbath six days work one day rest well not only today rest is also day worship and so if you'd asked me said what should it do on this day do I do some worship songs or listeners of course you can do that do I read some scripture absolutely if that's what you want to do do I spend time engaged in prayer oh that's fabulous certainly you should do that but I like what John Mark Comer writes in ruthlessly his book called ruthless elimination of hurry and here's what he writes he writes expand your list of the spiritual disciplines to include eating a burrito on the patio or drinking a bottle of wine with your friends over a long lazy dinner or walking on the beach with your lover our best friend and here's the point anything to here it is everybody shout index index make a list in your heart towards grateful recognition of God's reality and goodness he says that on the Sabbath day you put on a different set of lens and you begin to pay attention to those things that reflect the goodness of God and the glory of God and within you you allow a very soft and a very quiet hallelujah to tell to define your walk through life whether it is a nice burrito or walk on the beach with your friends somebody shout hallelujah.

So remember the Sabbath today of rest stay of worship but there's another insight about the Sabbath so this really makes me excited in case I haven't gotten excited enough Moses at the end of his time when he's about to go off the scene he gives with the book of Deuteronomy is his is his is his sermon his final sermon where he's emphasizing for the people this new generation of folk who are about to take the promised land these are things this is how you got to interpret your history these are the things you have to remember and he takes him through the Ten Commandments again but when he gets to the fourth commandment he tweaks it just a bit more because of the context of needing to really emphasize it for this for this this new generation because the old generation has died out they've been in the wilderness for 40 years.

So he tweaks it a little bit notice how he starts it begins with the word everybody shout observe observe the Sabbath day you know what you do when you observe we observe Easter we observe Christmas right so we create space we plan for it we make it a big day and when Moses is same once a week you should have a holiday once a week you make a big day observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy as the Lord your God has suggested oh I'm sorry I misread that as the Lord your God has recommended no it didn't say that as the Lord your God has what commanded did you yes as the Lord your God has commanded you and then the rest is kind of familiar six days you shall labor and do all your work all your work but the seventh day is a sabah to the Lord your God only you shall not do any work any work anyway neither you nor your son or your daughter but then everybody asked so why gives a different why here the same why still intact here the first why he gave which is he said by now you understand that that God did it he modeled the importance of it is built into the DNA of creation he says but there's another why knows what he says remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day observed a Sabbath day command.

So here is the question what in the world is the relationship between God bringing folk out of slavery and observing making it a big day making the Sabbath day a weekly holiday what's the relationship between the two well this generation will be the first generation that were then grow up in slavery their parents and their grandparents their great-grandparents they were slaves and and and and when you were a slave in Egypt you worked seven days you had no holidays you had no days off you were a servant of the Empire you were dehumanized to that point you had no days off and what God is saying here remarkably is that every time you dare to honor the Sabbath day you are reminding yourself that that God has not made you to be a slave.

So the Sabbath day is really a day of liberation it's a day where you and I celebrate that we are shall freedom this is that person who says to me I've got to work seven days a week just to do whatever doesn't that sound like slavery to American Express Mimi Marcus seers even more so we I say we I want to argue what drives us to work so much is that we are slaves to what I want to call an insatiable desire to accumulate look at all those shoes you got in your closet look at all the technology before you get before whether you the iPhone 12 is working just fine you got to get a third that's me that's me gotta get a 13 with this insatiable desire to accumulate more and more and more are this insatiable desire to accomplish greater and greater this trophy to be replaced by this trophy to be replaced by this trophy to accomplish greatness are that insatiable desire to be loved and so we keep working and working to to achieve this notion of love.

But but God tells us that he gives us one day where we are allowed to say in one word enough can you shout enough enough for one for this week it's enough enough trying to accumulate enough trying to accomplish enough trying to win love no no this is the day that I rest and I remember that that that that God is not my instrument achieving my goals but God is the one who is God in the world I'm God instrument achieving his goals and he can handle life without me for one day.

So today of rest day of worship is a day of affirming our freedom from and our trust in remember the Sabbath day observe the Sabbath day and then there's one final things and then we'll finish it is also a day of delight shall delight I wish you could I wish you could if you could really internalize this you would you would run to your Sabbath day I mean if you could if you could really get this I mean yours yours you couldn't wait till your Sabbath day come and then after the Sabbath day is over you'll be you'll be missing it for the rest of the week shout delight the light the light.

God really models this if you read closely Genesis chapter one is a remarkable text you find what I want to call the Sabbath rhythm there in Genesis chapter one he he's six times you find this reoccurrence God works and then the text says he stops and the text says and he saw that it was good and this notion of seeing that it was good it's not just observation it means that God works and then he pauses and he literally partakes in the creation he he he bask in the light and in the radiance of the light he he's blessed by the fragrance of the flowers he he's enjoying the wetness of the of the oceans and the seas and and he declares it is good he works and then he rests and he works and he delights he works and he delights he doesn't just wait till the end of it all come on now he does it as a Sabbath rhythm inside of his day.

There's some wisdom there I I wish I had time I don't have time but but wouldn't it be awesome if throughout our day we could pause just a little bit and enjoy life along the way but then at the end of it all in the final verse it says he says he says verse 31 thus in six days seven times this thing occurs and here's the crescendo moment God saw all that he had made and this time he says it was very good so very good.

You know I like ice cream and my daughter has been trying to get me to try this I think it's called is it gelato is that what it is gelato gelato that's it and I did I know that I figured it's artificial I don't have to do with that so one day she convinced me she's my daughter she can almost get me to do anything so so I said well okay one time so she took me into the gelato store and I said just give me a little bit she she picked what she wanted me to have and so she gave me a little bit and I taste it and I said wait a minute and I told that person give me the biggest cup you've got I want three scoops.

So now y'all if you ask me ice cream is is is good but gelato oh Lord it's very good come on down and that's what God has given us in the Sabbath day come on now your off day may be good come on now but but but but a Sabbath day a real Sabbath day that's gelato y'all that's the cream y'all it's very good so delight so delight mr. delight I stole this Sabbath question from John Mark Coleman you may want to take a picture of it here's the question he says what could I do for 24 hours that would fill my soul with a deep throbbing joy that would make me spontaneously combust with wonder or gratitude and praise what is it what is it is it is it is it spending time with the grandkids reading a good book an unheard bath in the middle of the day what is it whatever that is that is the cream that God calls us to enjoy as we glorify him on the Sabbath day somebody say remember the Sabbath day.

Now let me end with this practical question how shout how I don't want to give you any rules I just want to these are suggestions these really are suggestions and recommendations you God can shape and lead you however you want but let's just because you say I want to get started tell me what do I do okay here you do number one you set aside a weekly day in time figure out what your day and the 24-hour period is gonna be schedule it on your calendar number two you got a plan for it all the things that you were normally doing on whatever that day is you got to figure out how to reallocate those things it's not a excuse to be irresponsible you got to reallocate those things and and then you clear your schedule and then you got to have conversations with people in your family and seeking well they buy in and and and then your job and all that stuff you make plans for you see what I'm saying and then check this out turn off your phone.

Now wait a moment I hear the tension in the room some cold sweats breaking out for some people right now it's a suggestion it's not a law it's just a suggestion but but but you ought to try you ought to try for me I had there's a thing on my phone called focus and I said it and and my certain family members can get to me certain people from my staff and get to me in an emergency but but everything else is blocked off it's blocked off for 24 hours you can live without your phone for 24 hours I promise it's okay and then fourth ask the Holy Spirit to shepherd you forward this might mean that you start with a scripture reading and and a brief prayer and then you proceed and then what do you do well you rest you worship you delight you celebrate your freedom you observe the Sabbath day go ahead give God a hand praise you can do that I know there's some people say well how do I decide what do I do what don't I do here's the basic question you ask yourself a question is this rest if it is great or is it worship if it is great is it a delight if it is great if it doesn't fit those three categories don't do it see how simple that is it'll look different for different ones of us I'm married I'm in Silicon Valley it looks one way for me if you are a student in college it may look a different way for you.

But then the last thing remember this whatever you come up with don't be enslaved by it don't be enslaved by it listen another one of my favorite places is Chick-fil-a love me some Chick-fil-a y'all and in the early days of Chick-fil-a the owner says that he went in to work alongside of his workers and he did a four-week end and he was so exhausted and he remembered the Sabbath day principle he's a Christian and so he built into the schedule he said that that on the Sabbath day that that Chick-fil-a would be closed and if you know anything about Chick-fil-a on Sundays it's closed and on major Christian holidays it's closed and the competitors said oh my goodness you won't be in business alone because that's our biggest days is the weekends.

Well do you know not only are they matching their competitors this is one of the fastest growing companies and have been so for years in this country you see if you let God be God God's pretty good at being God but they are not enslaved by it in 2017 in Atlanta the International Airport was shut down thousands of people were stranded over the course of the weekend recognizing the opportunity to serve God Chick-fil-a opened up and they served on Sunday thousands of people in 2019 in Mobile Alabama a young boy who's 14 years old with cerebral palsy wanted to celebrate his birthday on a Sunday at his favorite place Chick-fil-a and guess what they opened up to do that do you see what I mean you can honor observe the Sabbath day and yet not be enslaved by it.

Let me in by offering you a gift you've been so good to me I want to offer you a gift that will radically change your life I want to invite you to make the commitment today that for three weeks you will honor a weekly Sabbath day of rest worship freedom and delight somebody shout three weeks three weeks three weeks trying and then at the end of the three weeks what I hope will happen is that you'll go wow this is kind of nice and you'll make one more commitment to do it for another three weeks because it takes about three weeks to figure out how to really do it the way you're gonna do it that will give you six weeks and at the end of that six-week period you can then make a decision should this be a lifestyle approach or should this just be something I tried because the pastor said try whatever your answer is cool right but try it me and my family we did this going into Easter and I want to tell you it has revolutionized my life not perfectly but faithfully I have so much more room for the cream.

Leave you with this reflection question you have it what is the primary obstacle to my stopping and resting one day a week I want you to process that as you go to see what God will have for you but I pray that you will let God answer that prayer how do I make room and his answer will be simply remember the Sabbath.

Let's pray real quickly father thank you so much for this reminder this word today that you love us that you want to bless us and part of us part of it Lord is calling us to Sabbath rest where we can truly rest our souls and our bodies and our lives and our itineraries and and we can worship you and we can delight in you and we can delight in the good gifts that you fill our lives with what what a tragedy to be given gifts that we don't even have time to enjoy and so Lord thank you for this reminder help us all Lord to to dare to rest on the Sabbath day guide and lead us to put feet to this Lord and make it a reality in our lives we pray this in the name of the Lord of the Sabbath Jesus Christ and all God's people said amen.