weekend Broadcast

A Word to the Overworked, Overwhelmed, and Overcommitted, Part 1

From the series God's Boundaries for Abundant Living

Are you feeling stressed out? Not enough time in the day? Chip brings a word of encouragement to those who are overworked, overwhelmed, and over-committed. So take a break today - you’ll be glad you did!

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Message Transcript

This fourth boundary, the Sabbath is a supernatural battery charger that God wants to use every seven days to get your body, your mind, your emotions, and your spirit where it says, “Finished charging, ready to go.”

So let’s look at the text together. Here’s the command. It says, remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. That’s Exodus 20 verse 8.

The word “remember” here, literally means, to vividly bring to one’s recollection or to relive. And we’ll look at that in just in a minute. It’s not just, kind of, remembering some day. It is remember, stop, bring to your mental faculty a sense of vivid restoration of a certain event.

And that event is this day and what it means to them and Israel. And then He says, it is the Sabbath day. And the word for Sabbath means to, to put to an end. It means to cease. It doesn’t mean Saturday. It came to mean Saturday. But the literal word for Sabbath is stop, desist, rest. Literally it means to be lacking.

Then here’s the explanation: Six days you shall labor and do all your work but on the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, Yahweh, your God. On it you should not do any work, neither you, nor your son or your daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien living within your gates. So, pretty comprehensive. You, your family, your animals, everything. One out of every seven days, call a royal timeout and stop.

The reason He gives in verse 11: For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that’s in them. But He rested on the seventh. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy .Now you all understand that God did not get tired after six days. It wasn’t like, six days and man, I am just beat. Right? God gives out energy and never loses any energy.

So, what He did is, He’s modeling something for us. Did you notice when you read through Genesis, it was, is the evening and a day and He made it and at the end of the day He said, “It is good.” When God gets done doing something, He takes a moment and He pauses and then He looks at what He’s made and He reflects on it and He enjoys it.

And after God had created one, two, three, four, five, six days and He made all mankind and the earth, He took a long pause and He Sabbathed. He ceased. And He was modeling something for you, and modeling something for me, that you need to stop. You need to look back. You need to see what’s been accomplished.

Are you ready? You need to enjoy it. You need to savor it. You need to drink it in. Some of us are so future oriented. So task oriented. So about getting things done and getting the strokes and all the stuff that comes from accomplishing, accomplishing, accomplishing, accomplishing.

You know what happens? You never enjoy what God gives you. And you never look back and drink in what has been accomplished. And so God says, for six days, you’re to work. It’s a good thing.

On the seventh day, because I modeled this for you, I want you to learn to live in a way where you don’t just work. But where you look back on your work and you appreciate and enjoy it.

The message of the Sabbath, basically, there’re three primary messages as you study this passage.

One, is that your work matters to God. Notice it says, six days you shall labor. God gave you gifts, energy, focus, creativity.

There’s a sense of purpose for your life. Your work matters to God. It’s not like you come to a meeting like this and this is the spiritual part of the week or Sunday morning is the spiritual part of the week.

24/7 is spiritual to God. An offering unto God. We live Romans 12:1 type lives where you offer your body a living and holy sacrifice.

And so, when you’re doing diapers, when you’re babysitting grandkids, when you’re fixing people’s bodies, when you’re drilling and filling teeth, when you’re taking a kid to soccer practice, when you’re taking a plumbing and connecting some plumbing, because that’s what you do for a living…

Or connecting wires or whether you’re in front of a computer screen. When you work and do your work unto the Lord, it is as spiritual as coming to church. It is as spiritual as being a minister of the gospel.

Whatsoever you do, do it heartily. Colossians 3:23. As unto the Lord. Work is holy, your work matters to God. Vocation doesn’t mean job. The word “vocation” means a calling. God has called each one of us to do certain things, according to our gifts, and passions, and His purposes, and He wants us to learn that we work.

And do you notice that work was assigned to us before the fall. You know, we live in a world where, you know, it’s the TGIF mentality where everyone’s trying to get as little work done as possible, to get as much money as possible, to do different stuff later.

I mean, we’ve got a whole world that thinks the world is made for weekends. What, isn’t that a pretty big waste of the majority of your life? This command teaches us, six days, you shall work.

I want to use your life. I want to use you how I made you. Working. Whether it’s at home as a mom with young children. Whether it’s out on the marketplace as a woman. Whether it’s, as a man, leading people, whether it’s doing construction, whether it’s writing software, or programs, or healing people’s body.

You do it, every act, unto the Lord. Your work matters to God.

The second message of the Sabbath is, there’s more to life than labor. He says there’s six days you shall work and on the [seventh] you need to stop. Life can’t just be viewed through work.

People today prioritize all their world and all their life around work. We make this decision based on work. When we eat or don’t eat, as a family, is because of work. What we do, where we go, what we’re going to do. There’s more to life than work.

Work isn’t enough to sustain you or sustain me. It’s an important part of life but the Sabbath message teaches us, don’t view all of life through the lens of work. Where’s the job? How much money can I make?

People often relocate to, quote, a better job that pays a little more and what they leave is a church family and their best relationships and their kids growing in a good environment because you’ve been trained to think that every time you get a promotion, it’s automatically God’s will.

Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. Maybe God has bigger and higher plans than just a promotion. Maybe it’s, like, living a life. And so, God wants us to know, from this Sabbath principle, that your work matters to God. There’s more to life than labor.

And then, finally, your time belongs to God. I mean, we all know that, okay, all that I am and all that I have, it belongs to God. We teach that we have gifts from God, we’re a steward. Paul said, what do you have that you haven’t received? Answer: nothing.

And so, we’re going to teach, our spiritual gifts belong to God, our money, our resources belong to God. Our homes, our cars, our children. They’re a gift from the Lord.

What this says is, your time isn’t your own. But we act like it is. He’s going to say, out of one hundred and sixty-four, hundred and sixty-eight hours every week, twenty-four of those hours are mine.

Now, I own them all and you are a steward of all of them but twenty-four out of those one sixty-eight, I’ve already marked off, I’ve preset, they’re mine. And I’m going to tell you, out of every seven days, what to do on twenty-four of those hours. But here’s the amazing thing. It’s a gift.

It’s not about rules and regulations. It’s not about can-dos or can’t dos. He’s going to say, I love you so much, I’m going to set a boundary around that human tendency to go, go, go, go, go.

You know, some of us, how many people make those little lists where you write down all the things you have to do? Go ahead, raise your hand, I do.

And isn’t it really just wonderful? I, in fact, I have a white board over here in my office. I got another white board over here. And I make lists. And you know what I love to do? Just before I left the office, I went and took one of those little markers. Check, check, check.

And you know what? When you check three, it feels better to check four, doesn’t it? And when you check four, it feels better to check five or six? And when you…

But if your life has any complexity at all, you never get done with your list, do you? And once you get done with that list, I have this amazing thing. I get up the next day, and I have a whole new list.

Do you understand that some people, unconsciously, are living from list, to list, to list, with some illusion, someday, someway, things are going to slow down. And someday, someway, you’re really going to do some things that matter.

And someday, someway, you’re really going to dig in and build some of those relationships. And someday, someway, you’re really just going to sit around the table and share hearts as a family.

And someday, someway, you’re going to take that family missions trip and get beyond ourselves. And someday later, I mean, when things really calm down at work, then you’re really going to find your niche in the church and where to serve and how to do it.

And what you know is, the someday, someway never comes. And God says, “I’ve got a solution to that.”

See, if you don’t take them, he’ll give them to you. I’ve been in bed a few times for not taking Sabbaths. I’ve got, probably, a litany of injuries that I could probably trace back to, you know what? I think God wants me to rest and when I don’t take it, he’s got a way that…

Because He loves me. And He cares for you. And He wants you to know that your time isn’t yours. It’s His. But as the Psalmist said, ’Our times are in His hands and He wants to do something very special, very special and very good.”

Let’s look now, what’s the meaning of the Sabbath? Let’s look at it for Israel in the Sabbath, Jesus in the Sabbath, and the church in the Sabbath and then I want to get to the application part.

I’ve given you an outline here. As you look at it, it’s obvious I can’t cover all this material. So, what I want to do is highlight it and I’ve given you the passages so that, I pray that, since you’re on, some of you, a little Sabbath vacation, you can, you know, go over to the sweet shop and, you know, maybe get a coke or a cup of coffee, put your feet up, sit in the sun, look up some of these passages and say, “Hmm, wow this is neat.” Let God speak to you personally.

Israel in the Sabbath. First, the Sabbath was a test for Israel. Second, it was a law. And third, it was a sign.

Let me just highlight these. First of all, it was a test. The first time we hear the word “Sabbath” in terms of its relationship to Israel, is in Exodus 16:21 through 30.

And this was a test of faith. This occurs one week before they get to Mount Sinai. And one week before the get to Mount Sinai, you know, they were whining and having struggles and, you know, there’s nothing to eat.

And God says, here’s what I want you to do. You go out in the morning and there’ll be manna. And just collect enough just for that day. If you collect more, then it won’t be good.

And of course, being the really smart people they were, a lot like, probably, all of us if we were there. Some of the people said, you know what? This is good for today. It tastes pretty good. But what about tomorrow?

See, I don’t know that I can believe God will supply tomorrow. So, remember what they did? They got an extra jar. And when they got up the next day, they ate the one jar and what was in the second jar? Anybody remember? Maggots.

See, this was the test of, I am a faithful God. I will take care of you. And then He talked about the Sabbath and said, now here’s what you’re going to do.

On Friday, I want you to take two jars. And they, you know, some of them are thinking, we’ve been down this road before. This can’t work. Because if you take two jars on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…ehhh. But on the Sabbath, He says what? You take two jars.

And then what happens? When the sun goes down on Friday evening, you’ve got this. And when you wake up on the Sabbath, you don’t have to go out and work. It’s there. And what did they find? Both jars were good.

The first mention of the Sabbath and manna is a test of faith so God’s people could learn, He will supply. And that’s why when He gives the law and He says, “Remember the Sabbath.” Bring into vivid recollection. Their first experience with the Sabbath was what? The manna!

It’s re-live the Sabbath because the goal was, they’re going to have to learn, in every situation, God will meet their needs. He’s a faithful God. On the day you work, He meets your needs. And on the day you don’t work, He’ll meet your needs. And the goal was, trust My word. Trust Me. I’m big. I’m powerful. I can take care of you. And so, every time they were to celebrate the Sabbath, they were to remember this experience.

The second, then, is it became a law. Exodus 20:8 through 11. You know, He just told them to do it and then when the Ten Commandments are given, He says, this is going to be something that is a part of Israel’s weekly rhythm. One out of seven days. It’s a law. It will be enforced. This is a part of the theocracy. God is the King and My people will do what? One out of every seven days, you take off.

Third, it’s going to be a sign. Exodus 21:12 through 17. And as He explains the Sabbath here, it’s a testimony to pagan nations. It’s almost like a wedding ring. You know, like, I wear a wedding ring so people know that there’s someone that I’m connected to and it’s a sign, an outward, visible sign, of a relationship that I have with another person who happens to be my wife.

The Sabbath, as you study that passage carefully, Exodus 21, about four or five times, the word, sign, sign, sign, sign pops up.

Well, you say a sign to whom? It’s a sign to the unbelieving world. Can you imagine being a Canaanite farmer? And these Israelites come in. And you are busting it. And it’s time to harvest the grapes and harvest the wheat.

And you bust it and you work, and you work, and you work. And you look over at your Jewish neighbor. And he works six days, then he stops. And you’re thinking. It’s harvest time. If it rains, they’re in big trouble. I mean, you better. What you know as a farmer is, when it’s harvest time, you better get it when you can.

And you’re working like crazy, around the clock. And they go right up to the sixth day and they stop. And you make fun of them and you sit around the Canaanite supper table thinking, you know, those Jews are nuts. They are crazy. I don’t know what’s going on.
And then at the end of the harvest time, you go and look at your barn. And your barn is about this full. And then you look at their barn. And their barn is about this full.

And God has just made a sign to say, My people do something unusual. They dedicate one day to Me, in which they have the freedom as a gift from Me to rest. And when they rest, I’m a faithful, providing God as a testimony to the pagans around them, that they belong to Me. That’s the history of the Sabbath with Israel.

What happened, however, over time, people being, kind of, what we are. Is the Sabbath became, instead of a gift, it became a burden - became abused. By the time of the Pharisees, there were, I forget how many hundreds of specific laws written about the Sabbath. They actually had thirty-nine different categories about what you could do and couldn’t do on the Sabbath.

And you read the literature. I mean, it’s, I mean. Quick, quick example. If you were a tailor, on the Sabbath, if you took two needles home with you, that was a violation of the Sabbath and work. But you could take one needle home, in case of an emergency.

If you walked so many steps on the Sabbath, that would be okay. But if you took one more step then that would be a violation of the Sabbath.

They had rules for everything imaginable. In fact, even to this day, it goes on. I was in Israel a few years ago and, you know, they keep the Law. And so, you know what they have? They have timers on everything. They set all the elevators in a way where no one has to push the button so we’re not working. They take all the food and they put them in certain things and they have them all on timers so everything gets cooked, their lifestyle doesn’t change, but they, quote, don’t break the law.

And that’s what had happened by Jesus’ day. The Sabbath became a heavy burden. And all these rules and all these lists. You can’t do this, you can’t do that, you can’t do this, you can’t do this, you can’t do that.

Six different confrontations. Study Jesus’ life. Six different times He takes them on centered around the Sabbath. He ate grain on the Sabbath. He healed on the Sabbath.

And what you have is Jesus’ statement about the Sabbath is Mark 2:27. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

In summary, Jesus taught, the Sabbath is a gift to man, it’s not a burden. It ought to be a spirit of joy. It’s a time of rest and celebration. It’s a time where Jesus said, the Creator of the world understood your human tendencies toward accomplishment, and task, and push and getting overworked, and losing the joy, and losing perspective.

And how you so live in the future and so live in fear and being so anxious. I’m going to build something in to the economy of God where you will be forced to stop and get spiritually refreshed, physically renewed... And Jesus said, that’s the purpose and that’s the way it needs to stay.