The 3 MPH God In a 65 MPH World // Read

In our nonstop world, efficiency and production are king. This Kingdom of Production has creeds and statements of belief like, "I'll sleep when I'm dead!”, "Go hard or go home!" and "Good things happen to those who hustle!" But in the Kingdom of God, King Jesus invites us to step away from this lie that can't deliver and step into a new way of being—Sabbath rest.

Well, if you would turn to Mark 2:23-28 if you have your Bible with you, if you do not have your Bible with you, don't worry, it will be on the screen. But if you do, I really want to encourage you to open up to Mark 2:23-28. Because what we're doing today, isn't just merely a spectator sport in which you're watching me, and I'm performing and then we all go home happy and ready for lunch. But instead, we are worshiping God together. And so we're diving into God's word together. So if you have your Bible with you, Mark 2:23-28. It says this, "One Sabbath, Jesus was going through the grainfields. And as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, 'Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?' He answered, 'Have you ever read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, and in need, in the days of Abbey Athar, the high priest? He entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat, and he also gave some to his companions.' Then he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.'" Will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your great love and this wonderful day in which we can gather and worship You, where we can humble ourselves before you recognizing the life that we have in Christ. Heavenly Father, by your Spirit, I pray that you would guide me as I speak today that I would speak what you want me to speak. And I would not say what you don't want me to say. Father, let your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, hello, Cornerstone, I'm so happy that you're here. My name is Donnie Sanchez. I am the NextGen pastor here at Cornerstone. Listen, if I haven't met you yet, love to do so after service. And I'm being totally genuine. Like if I have not had a face-to-face conversation with you, I would love to do so after the service is over. Now, today, we have a lot to get to today. So we're going to be covering a lot of ground. There's so much that we can't get into today that I wish we could, but there is a lot that we're going to be going through. So that being said if you are taking notes, the title of this message comes from the title of a book by a Japanese theologian named Kohsuke, Aiko-Yama, his book is titled "The 3 Mile Per Hour God. For our purposes today, the title of this message is The 3 MPH God in a 65 MPH World."

Today, we're going to be talking about something that is deeply good. It's nourishing to our souls, amazing, holy set apart, and yet, sounds like a dream, something that can never be actualized. And we will be talking about the spiritual discipline or the practice of Sabbath. We'll be exploring God's intention for the Sabbath day, and how it can help us become who God has made us to be as followers of Jesus. This leads us to the thesis for today's message or in other words, if you're going to condense the entire message into one sentence, this is it. God is inviting us into Sabbath rest, so that we in Christ may experience a taste of eternal rest that will come at the return of Christ. And before we begin, I must let you know that all that I will be teaching on today is not new. I did not come up with this on my own. I've been influenced by two wonderful books and two wonderful men, so the content isn't necessarily original all and of itself. Instead, I stand on the shoulder of two books, again, two wonderful men who have influenced me greatly on the practice of Sabbath. And so the first one, the first book/person is the "Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" by John Mark Comber. He is a pastor in Portland, Oregon. And then the second book is titled "Subversive Sabbath," and it is by AJ Swoboda, who used to be a pastor in Portland, Oregon, and is now a college professor in Eugene, Oregon. But again, they have influenced the way I've thought and practiced Sabbath. I cannot emphasize it enough, because I want to give credit where credit is due.

Now to understand why Sabbath is vital to the spiritual life of the follower of Jesus, we need to begin by recognizing that there is in fact a problem or in fact, a need for Sabbath. And the problem is that we live in a deeply distracted and hurry sick society. You see, American society is utterly ill, ill with this feeling of not having enough as if we're lacking something we need to get more of. And so we have this feeling of not having enough but then also this desire for more in order to keep that feeling of not having enough at bay, or in other words to get our fix, we consume, we distract. And we hurry, not just individually, but it is ingrained in the way our society works. And guess what? We're all sick. We're all in the same boat, we are all hurry sick and distracted.

Michael Zigarelli from Charleston Southern University conducted the obstacles to growth survey, he surveyed over 20,000 Christians across the world and identified busyness as a major distraction from spiritual life. This was his hypothesis. It may be the case that 1: Christians are assimilating to a culture of busyness, hurry, and overload which leads to 2: God becoming more marginalized in Christians lives, which leads to 3: a deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to 4: Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to 5: more conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry, and overload, then the cycle begins again.

Another study was done and found that the average American works nearly four more weeks per year than they did in 1979. Additionally, we sleep less than we did 80 years ago. Currently, the average American sleeps only 6.8 hours per night. In 1942, that was 7.8 hours per night. The sickness isn't just workaholism, the sickness of distraction and hurry is in literally how we live and how we structure our lives, and the decisions we make, what we do, and what we don't do.

A recent study found that the average iPhone user touches his or her phone 2,617 times a day. And additionally, each user is on their phone for two and a half hours, over 66 sessions. In other words, 66 unlocks, and in my personal experience, the younger that person is, the higher those numbers go. You see the goal of social media, the goal of the streaming services is not to make you a better person. Their goal is not to draw you closer to Jesus, their goal isn't even to connect you to friends and family, although they say it will. Instead, they continually ask the question, how do we consume as much of your time and attention as possible? According to psychologists, we live with a certain level of addiction to our devices. I'm looking at parents and grandparents also, this isn't something that only impacts children, it impacts all of us. And even if you're not a quote-unquote "techie person," you at least have a low-grade compulsion to several devices. It impacts all of us. And I don't say this merely to startle you or to call you out or something like that. But to show you that our culture values, overworking and dependency on devices, which leaves us distracted and hurry sick. And when we're distracted and hurry sick, we can't be fully present to God and fully present to those around us. Even those people we say we love.

And we know what a busy day looks like. We know what our busy lives look like. I mean, think about this. You wake up in the morning, you're getting ready for the day, if you're a parent, if you're a grandparent, maybe you have to get kids ready for the day. So you're cooking breakfast or if you even eat breakfast, if you have the time. And you're getting ready. You're trying to get dressed, trying to do all these things. Maybe you have kids to get ready, then you get in the car. And it's time to get the kids to school and even to get to work on time. So everybody in the family has to get where they need to be on time. While also, don't forget your morning coffee and connecting with friends and family on Facebook. Then you get into work and you have a long full day of work or errands. If you work a desk job, it's probably full of meetings. If you work a more trade job, it's probably full of arduous labor, constantly talking to people or maybe you're a stay-at-home mother or father and you are constantly going everywhere because things need to be done. By the end of the day, you're kind of like man, that was a long day. Guess what? Now it's time to get the family ready for dinner and to handle all evening activities. If you have kids in the house, that means you have sports, you have choir, you have band, you have all these extracurricular activities, or maybe you even have friends coming over. And so you have all these things you need to handle while getting dinner ready, while also understanding there are chores and things that need to be done around the house. Not things you want to do, but things that need to be done. So after that long process, you're running around, you're running around. Finally, it's bedtime. If you have kids, you put them to bed, you probably take a shower or something, get ready for bed. And you figure, listen, I had a long night, I've had a long day, I'm gonna treat myself, I'll unwind with Netflix, or some show, or some movie, only to realize that you were just as anxious and stressed out as you were before you started the movie because you're actually just distracting yourself. And then the vicious cycle starts over. And over and over. This isn't how every day goes. But I'm sure you can relate.

We long for this life that Jesus offers, where he says that we can have life and life to the full. And we read about the way that Jesus lived. He lived unhurried, he lived being present to those around him, present to God, we read about the peace that he brings. And we look at our lives and recognize we have a problem. And so what do we do? We read a book, we listen to a sermon, we go to church, we listen to a podcast or something. Then we go back to our lives, living the same way that got us here in the first place. You see, we love the life that Jesus offers. It sounds great. But we're often unwilling to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus. And so when I say we all live with low-grade anxiety constantly, I know you feel it because I do too. Additionally, I know that you know what it feels like to binge Netflix or your platform of choice, or endlessly scroll through social media, thinking that you're resting, only to feel empty and even more tired when you're finished. It's because it was never really resting in the first place. It was a distraction.

I think it's safe to save the world worships at the altar of hyperactivity. If we're not working and going from place to place, appointment to appointment, we're distracting ourselves with things and activities. Friends, we're sick. We're sick with buisiness. Hurry, and distraction. And the sickness is keeping us from experiencing the glorious presence of our God. It's keeping us from being fully present to God and fully present to those around us. Remember those people that we say we love? And this is not what God desires. This is not his intended plan. Life is not supposed to be like this. And if you feel what I have been explaining, you're probably saying with relief it's not supposed to be this way. Or maybe you feel what I'm explaining and you're terrified at what it might look like to slow down and unhurry your life because then you have to address the things you've been distracting yourself from.

The way of Jesus is unhurried and nonanxious. It's slow. Walter Adams, the spiritual director of the famous Christian author C.S. Lewis said this, "To walk with Jesus is to walk with a slow unhurried pace. Hurry is the depth of prayer and only impedes and spoils our work. It never advances it." Did you know that the average speed of walking is three miles per hour? The way of Jesus is slow. It's full of love. The way of hurry is fast, cold, and full of distraction. AJ Swoboda puts it this way in the book, Subversive Sabbath, "God's presence cannot be fully enjoyed if we are constantly checking the time or running to our next appointment. Enjoyment of beauty should not be rushed." You see love and hurry. They don't mix. My worst moments as a husband, as a follower of Jesus, as a leader in the church were when I was in a hurry. It's impossible to love like Jesus if we're running from appointment to appointment. You know, I want to encourage you when you go home to try to find a passage in the gospels, in which Jesus was hurried, and anxious. Spoiler you won't find such an event. He was utterly unhurried and anxious and full of love. And so I believe the practice of Sabbath is a way that we can fight the sickness of hurry and distraction. It's not the way, it's not the fix-all to the issue, but it is a way that we can fight this sickness of hurry and distraction and move toward being unhurried and unanxious, people full of the love of Jesus. To the point where we can be fully present to God and fully present to those around us.

And so now that we realize that we have a problem, that there is a problem that there is a need. Let's go back to our passage, Mark 2:23-28. It says, "One Sabbath, Jesus was going through the grain fields and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, 'Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?' He answered, 'Have you ever read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need, in the days of Abbey Athar, the high priest? He entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.' Then he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.' And we must remember when we come to any text of Scripture, that we are carrying assumptions about the world and see things through a 21st-century lens. And so to be faithful to this text of Scripture, or any text of Scripture, we must read it in its context, we must read it on the author's terms, which means trying to understand what the author is communicating, not what we want him to say. And so context, the traditional Jewish Sabbath takes place from around 6pm, every Friday, to around 6pm, every Saturday. And at some point, during the Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples begin to pick some heads of grain as they walk through the field.

Now, to understand why the Pharisees were up in arms, we need to understand what's happening culturally. You see, there was a common belief among Jewish leaders of this day, that if every Jewish person just kept the Sabbath, one time, if everybody just kept the Sabbath perfectly, for one day, the Messiah would come. To try and ensure that this would happen, and to try and ensure that the Jewish people would not break the Mosaic Law, they would build what was called fences around Jewish law. Meaning imagine you have the law of Sabbath, so you don't work on Sabbath, right? And you rest. So here's the law. What they would do is they would build other laws around it that you can't find in Scripture. They're not in Scripture, but they build them around this law to protect it from you breaking it unintentionally. So what the rabbis and the Pharisees would do is they had a list of over 30 things that you could not do on the Sabbath. Could you find these things in Scripture? No, it was a fence around the specific law so that you wouldn't actually break the law. Another common belief amongst rabbis at this time was that humans were actually made for Sabbath that humans were made for Sabbath not Sabbath for humans, but humans for Sabbath. I know it's a weird concept, but it was a common belief amongst rabbis. So when the Pharisees perceived that Jesus and his disciples were breaking the Sabbath law that you find in Exodus 34, they were mad. They were livid. I mean, think of the implications of someone breaking Sabbath law. But in trying to accomplish what they thought to be true, they missed the Messiah, the Son of God, and they missed what Sabbath actually is, and God's intention for it. And in trying to accomplish this perfection, their teaching became inconsistent with Scripture and inconsistent with God's intention for Sabbath rest. And so when Jesus addresses them, he clearly points out their inconsistency.

He reminds them of a story from 1 Samuel 21, in which David and his men ate the bread of the presence in the tabernacle, which could only be lawfully eaten by the priests. Yet the priests gave it to David and David was not condemned. If you read that passage in Scripture, it doesn't condemn David or say that he did anything wrong because it's King David, the man after God's own heart. So how dare the Pharisees try to condemn the Son of God? Sabbath was instituted by God as a gift to humanity and all of creation, not something that is to be lorded over people. It's a gift to nourish his creation to nourish our souls. This is what Jesus meant when he says, "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. So let's look at that sentence for a moment when we read the statement from Jesus. And honestly when we read this whole passage, in the Gospel according to Mark, with our hurried 21st century, Western eyes, we may think, there it is. Sabbath has been done away with Jesus fulfilled an Old Covenant, old law. Now I can get back to doing what I want and advancing my kingdom. Or if you're a Christian, you spiritualize and say, now I can get back to doing what I want and advancing God's kingdom. But that's not what Jesus is saying. If anything, this is an affirmation of the practice of Sabbath by saying that Sabbath was made for man. Jesus is saying that Sabbath is a gift to his creation, a gift to be enjoyed by saying that he is Lord of the Sabbath, he is claiming that he is the very God that instituted it. He's claiming his authority, and who he is, how dare they try to condemn the Son of God? And so, you may be asking if you're a curious cat, where exactly was the Sabbath instituted? I mean, come on, if we're gonna get into the nitty-gritty, where is this at? I'm so glad you asked Genesis 2:1-3 says "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing. So on the seventh day, he rested from all his work, then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because, on it, he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." What was the first thing that God did, after he made all that was made? He rested. And he made that day holy. He didn't run to go and do more things he rested and made that day holy. So now we Sabbath because God Himself rested, and has made the seventh day holy. As Christians, according to the Apostle Paul, we are to be imitators of God. And so because God rested, we rest. Who are we to say, no I'm fine? I know myself pretty well. I'm not that bad. I don't need that. God rested. So we rest.

Now there's an argument from some that the practice of Sabbath has passed away at the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, but based on the fact that the Sabbath was instituted at the very beginning of creation, before Mosaic Law, even before Abraham, and also because God Himself rested, and because Jesus affirms the Sabbath and practiced the Sabbath, we set aside a day of rest. Additionally, we see that Christians for centuries, whether on Saturday or Sunday, have practice Sabbath in some way or another, only until quite recently has the Sabbath fallen out of favor. For my older friends here today and online, you probably remember when Sunday was called the Lord's day. And if you lived in a small town, you can probably remember when the entire town basically would shut down whole businesses would stop business for one day. Now only Chick-fil-a does that. Yes. But notice how fast our culture has become since then, as hurry and distraction increase, Sabbath rest decreased. The arguments for the continued practice of Sabbath could go on. But that is not our purpose today. Our purpose is to see God's invitation to enjoy his wonderful gift of Sabbath rest and respond to His invitation. Even if a person were to reject Sabbath as a command, it is clear that Sabbath is woven into the fabric of creation. And as with anything that is a part of the created order, when we go against the grain of God's creation, we get splinters.

For example, think of climate change. So the more you chop down trees in the rain forest, the more animals are going to go extinct because the less room they have to live in that area. And if that doesn't connect well with you think about this. several decades ago, the city of Cleveland was pumping so much junk into the Cuyahoga River that it actually caught on fire, a river caught on fire. When you go against the grain of God's creation, you get splinters. And so we wonder, why is anxiety rising? Why is depression rising? Divorce rates are up, suicides are up. We are hurry, sick, and distracted. And so let's go back to that passage, Mark 2:27-28. We're just gonna look at that last statement of Jesus. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." The Sabbath is a gift from God meant to refresh, nourish and orient us toward himself. We're really good.

And this is not I'm not, I'm not making their critique. But in our Christian tradition, more of a contemporary non-denominational evangelical church, we're really good at knowing Jesus as Lord of the harvest, we're really good at standing up pounding our chests, screaming victory that God has done it, he'll do it again, we have victory in Jesus, which is all good and true. But we often forget that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath as well. He's Lord of the silence, the God who comes to us in the still small voice, this gift of a Sabbath rest. It's meant to draw us closer to God and help us grow a deeper and more intimate relationship with our Lord. It is a practice that slows us down to where we can actually abide in Christ. Behold Christ, and see how beautiful he truly is. You know, I've heard it said once, what you behold, you become. And so if we're be holding our phone, and I'm on it all day, and I'm scrolling and I'm on social media, I'm watching YouTube videos, or if I'm constantly in thought about my next appointment, or how so and so annoyed me yesterday, how I'm frustrated over here for this and that, or the laundry list of things I have to do today. Or I'm constantly beholding Netflix, sports, etc. put whatever you want there. We're beholding those things we cannot beholding Christ. In beholding that which is not God, we unravel and become distorted versions of who God made us to be as humans. It's only by slowing down and beholding Christ, that we begin to see the narrow path that he has prepared before us.

And so this begs the question, what is Sabbath? Exactly? What exactly is Sabbath? Okay, fine, great. Here. What is it? Simply, it's a practice in the way of Jesus, that in the words of John Mark Comber "helps us be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did." AJ Swoboda defined Sabbath as this. "Sabbath-keeping is like any discipline of the Christian tradition. A discipline is any repeated and intentional action that God uses to change our hearts and minds. Disciplines are critical to the Christian life. And there are many disciplines in the Christian tradition, such as prayer, scripture reading, church-going, and confession, disciplines our external actions under-taken. With the vision that God can use them to reform our internal affections, we must once again envision the Sabbath not in terms of a day that just happens, but in terms of a discipline that transforms us inside. Sabbath is a proactive, intentional discipline, not an add on that we get to when time make add-one for it because as we explore, time does not make space for it." If you want to break that or condense that down into a simple sentence, it is a 24-hour block in our week in which we stop, rest, delight, and worship. All of these being oriented toward and around God. It's a day to focus on God's Spirit. It's a day in which we find contentment in God, realizing that in Christ, we need nothing. We don't need another thing that we can buy. We don't need to watch another show. We find our contentment in God and on the Sabbath, it is a day of repentance and healing.

Because of these things, we participate in things that nourish our whole being things like eating really good food, or praying or reading scripture, or maybe we even invite a good friend over for coffee. Maybe we enjoy family time or go for a walk in our neighborhoods. Or maybe we paint, read a good book, or even take a nap. Here's a great filter. If you're wondering like what activity is a Sabbath rest, what activity is not Sabbath rest? It's simple. It's a really simple question. Is this rest and worship? Don't hear what I'm not saying. I did not say is this rest or worship? Is this rest and worship? If your response is no, or kind of, but like not really, but like I could try and find a way to justify it. Maybe flat out just I don't know, no idea, then simply just hold off. There are six other days in the week for that activity if it is really that important. In practicing Sabbath, we are saying yes to God and His good world and are saying that we are content in God in Christ Jesus, we have everything we need.

On Sabbath, we say no to another day of consuming media, another day of shopping, striving, another day of gaining desire and winning hearts tiresome. Instead, we give our attention to our Lord. On Sabbath, we embrace our limitations, in order to embrace Jesus as Lord. There's never going to be a week in which you finish your to-do list. If you're an adult, you know this, there will always be things to do good things, important things, things that need to be done. But on Sabbath, we embrace the limitations that we have and the reality that we can't do it all. We weren't created to. In doing so we place our trust in Jesus and experience a taste of what eternal rest will be like at the return of Christ in what theologians call the new creation, or really, Revelation calls the New Jerusalem. It's as if we get this weekly taste, a weekly holiday of new creation, longing for the restoration of all things, saying, Come, Lord Jesus. And here's the thing Sabbath will look different for everyone. There's no set checklist. We are all in different seasons of life. But it is a day that we stop all work paid and unpaid. Paid, of course, your job. Unpaid are things like housework, paying the bills, going to get a haircut, going to shop, and get groceries. We stop all work, we rest. So we let go of the hustle and bustle, the week we let go of consuming another ounce of media. We delight in God's creation and God Himself. And we worship. Sabbath is meant to be done with others in your community. So we worship with others and with all activities that we may do.

And so we now have some understanding of what Sabbath might look like. But we know what it is. It's also important though, to talk about what it's not. Sabbath is not just another day off, on a workday, you work for your employer, on a day off, you get things done around the house, you pay the bills, you run errands, you go to see a movie, you work out, you go shopping, you stream your favorite show, etc. These are awesome things. But these activities would not fit into our running definition of Sabbath. Remember, Sabbath is a day of stopping, resting, delighting, and worshiping, it's not a day of desire, striving, gaining, doing. Sabbath is the day centered around worshiping God and resting. A day centered around what we desire and, and meeting those desires does not constitute Sabbath. And so now we've explored what Sabbath is and what Sabbath isn't. But what would it look like for somebody to practically practice it? I love getting into the theoretical, getting into the deep weeds of what this is, what that is. But we need to at some point, bring it down to if I want to do this, if I'm compelled by Jesus to do this, how does someone practically practice it? If you want a more in-depth guide on how to practice Sabbath I would recommend the How to Unhurry workbook, which is a workbook that is meant to go with the book "Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" by John Mark Comber. You can find it online, it's free to download. But we're gonna run through six steps that get us off the ground if we want to practically practice Sabbath.

So number 1 or step 1: Sabbath time. It's important to figure out when you're going to Sabbath. Remember, this is a discipline that you must make time for, it won't just show up at your door with a nice bow. And there are various thoughts around when a Christian should Sabbath. Some say it's the traditional Jewish time, others say it's on the Lord's Day, which is Sunday, and another group says any 24-hour block, but we need to at least set a concrete block in our week in which we are going to Sabbath. Remember it's not an add-on. We can't just throw it in because time doesn't make space for it. We need to make the space for it. Personally, I see the heart of Sabbath and the heart of Jesus in the heart of the Scriptures, compelling me to see that it is more important that we Sabbath than on what day we Sabbath. Again, we have all different seasons of life. We all do different things for our jobs and school. And so what works best for me is Sunday at about 3:45pm to Monday at about 3:45pm. Again, yours might be different based on your work schedule based on your season of life, your vocation, but a 24 hour block Sabbath time.

Number 2: Sabbath ritual. This is establishing what you're going to do to begin and every Sabbath viewed as a weekly ritual that kicks off Sabbath for you and your family. Personally, I read Psalm 92, which is a traditional Sabbath Psalm. And then I pray to begin Sabbath. And then I also read scripture and pray to end Sabbath. The ritual can vary from simple like mine, or to more elaborate. If you have a family with kids, it's way more awesome to make it more elaborate. Traditionally what will happen is the father of the household will say, a blessing over the kids and the wife and the grandparents and everything like that. And sometimes they like candles, begin it with a really big meal, make it fun, it can again, be very simple, or very elaborate. So that's number two.

Number 3: activities. Sketch out what activities will be a part of your Sabbath. It's important to keep in mind what we talked about concerning stopping, resting, delighting, and worshiping, it's important to note also that this is not a to-do list, I'm looking at my friends who love to check off to-do lists. This is not a to-do list. It's simply a list of ideas for the day. If you don't get to some of them, that's fine. There are no to-do lists on Sabbath. So that's three sketching out what activities are you going to do as an individual but also as a family.

Number 4: preparation. It's extremely difficult to practice Sabbath if you're not prepared for it because again, time does not make space for it. So if you do not prepare, it's going to run right up onto Sabbath and you're going to find it really difficult to even find an ounce of rest. So the day before Sabbath, try to complete all time-sensitive tasks, get the house in order as much as possible. And if even possible, try and cook enough dinner to last two days. So there are leftovers. This will keep you from worrying about cooking on the Sabbath. Also, preparation is key when you're practicing Sabbath as a family with young kids. I know that can be difficult like kids can be pretty hectic and chaotic at times. And I cannot speak to what I've done, but both John Mark Colmar and AJ Swoboda have families, specifically, John Mark Comber has three kids ranging from elementary to high school. Also, I know of other families that practice Sabbath who even have infants and newborns and kind of a pre-k age. What's important is involving your kids in the Sabbath ritual, so to speak, involving them in that and preparing fun treats or fun things for them on Sabbath is a great way to help them love Sabbath as well. Personally on Sabbath, I set aside Sabbath as a day to like eat treats like waffles, pancakes, doughnuts, things I won't eat throughout the week. But on Sabbath, you bet I'm eating them. And so that's a great way to incorporate it as well. I know of some families, like AJ Swoboda and his son make like this giant pancake in the morning. And the Comber household, they make a skillet cookie, so you can make it fun. It can be fun and exciting. Again, you can get creative with it, what works best for you and your family.

So number 5: the digital detox. Make a plan to turn off all devices. If you have plans with friends or family. Plan so that you won't have to rely on your phone. Remember, this is a day in which we rely on God, we're fully present to God and those around us. So we really don't want to rely on a device when we already struggle with hurry and distraction. This can be hard. It is it's hard for me. But as I've done it, it's been refreshing. The only time I turn on my phone during Sabbath is if Jordan is out of the house for whatever reason my wife, and then even when I have it on, it's on do not disturb in such a way that if anybody tried to call me I wouldn't get a notification, I would get nothing. Only if Jordan calls will I get a notification and she only calls when it's an emergency. And so I leave the phone in another room with the volume up just in case. But if we're truly going to step away from hurry and distraction, we need to step away from our devices to be present to God and those around us.

So that was the 5th step, the 6th step, and the final step is the daily office or in other words, your quiet time with God. Set up two-to-three times in your Sabbath, to read scripture and pray. And you can even do this as a family if you have kids. Remember, Sabbath isn't just a day to veg out and do whatever you want. It's meant to connect with God and to those around you. And so feel free to get creative with it. I love to read scripture and really just sit in silence and solitude looks different for everybody. Again, this isn't something that is lorded over people, it's a gift that nourishes us. And so those six steps will help you kind of begin to practice Sabbath, get you off the ground, and enter Sabbath rest.

Okay, if this seems intimidating, don't worry, I know we've covered a lot of ground today I said, we're going to cover a lot today, there's a lot that we're not going to get to. But we've covered a lot of ground. And so my hope and my prayer, is that you feel compelled by Christ to enter Sabbath rest and experience it through this weekly practice, that you would become fully present to God and fully present to others, those around you. To be honest, at first, it's going to be difficult, it's not going to be fun, especially if you're a hurried person, which we all are, we've established that we're all in the same boat. And there will be times when you get what's called Sabbath depression. When your brain starts craving stimulation, your mind becomes sad, because your body is not being pumped with the adrenaline that you experience on a busy day. It's real. Trust me, there will be moments when you begin to practice Sabbath where you feel like you are just utterly failing. But remember, this isn't about winning. This isn't about losing. It's about following Jesus. It's about practice, not perfection.

You know, I've been practicing Sabbath for about four years now. And I still feel like a newbie. I still feel like I'm totally new to this thing. But what's important is that we keep our eyes on Christ and that we don't drift into two possible extremes. There's one extreme, which is the legalistic extreme, which is what the Pharisees fell into, which says, I Sabbath the right way, you need to do it like I do. Follow what I'm doing, I'm perfecting Sabbath. You're a terrible person, if you don't do it, like me, that's legalistic. So that's one extreme. But we also don't want to fall into the other extreme, which is the over-spiritualized Sabbath. Maybe you try to practice Sabbath and you're not experiencing immediate success. And so you throw it away and you say, you know what, you know what, you know what? I don't need this. I'm going to have a Sabbath rest posture as I work every day this week. And you know, I'll make time to slow down but no, no, no, no, it's just between me and the big man upstairs. That's over spiritualizing Sabbath, because, yes, Sabbath is a posture, but it is also a practice. The goal is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did. Every spiritual discipline, including Sabbath, is a means to an end, that end is Jesus Himself. The point isn't to be really good at checking off religious boxes. The point is to become more like our Lord Jesus Christ. If our practice of Sabbath or any other spiritual discipline for that matter, makes us think that we're great, we've utterly missed the point. If you become prideful in your spiritual practice, you've probably made your performance of the practice your focus instead of making Christ, your focus. And so let us come back to where we begin. God is inviting us into Sabbath rest, so that we in Christ may experience a taste of the eternal rest that will come at the return of Christ. So when we step into Sabbath rest, we begin to see God's good world, as he intended. As a divine expression of His love, something to be enjoyed and stewarded under his lordship. The world. Time. It's not, ours, and never was, yet by the grace of God, we get to enjoy it in the presence of God. So God is inviting you into Sabbath rest, so that you in Christ may experience the taste of eternal rest that will come at the return of Christ.

Now, I recognize that many of you may have many questions, and may have a great amount of uncertainty. And I'm more than happy to answer your questions. Again, as I said, if we have not met yet, I would love to do so after the service. I'm being entirely genuine. Heck, I'll even grab coffee with you to answer your questions. But I believe that God is inviting you into Sabbath rest so that you in Christ may experience a taste of the eternal rest that will come at the return of Christ. In doing so, you will take a step toward being fully present to God and fully present to those around you.