Time/Money (March 9. 2008)

Time/Money M5 March 9 2008

Text: Matthew 6: 19-24

Title: The Currency of Heaven


As a 5 or 6 year old child in England, I remember fantasizing about finding an old, wrinkled treasure map (use prop) left by pirates that would lead me to a chest buried somewhere, filled with gold coins, diamonds, rubies and sapphires.

Then, when I was a little bit older, maybe around ten or so, according to my grandmother, I always asked her “How can I be rich when I grow up?” “How can I be rich?” I guess, as a boy of saw my grandmother, who was very generous, as also being wealthy.

Then, as a teenager, I was trying to figure out how I could make the most amount of money with the least amount of education. “Dealing drugs?” Perhaps.

I’m sure I was more of materialistic than most of you were as children, but the desire to have wealth is a primal one.

When we give our lives to Christ what happens to that desire?

Is the desire for wealth obliterated? I think it be more accurate to say that they were re-purposed…

If you have your Bibles with you, please turn to Matthew 6: 19.

This text is part of Jesus’ famous sermon on the mount.

Treasures in Heaven
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, [c] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, [d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
When Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,” in case you are wondering, he is not saying that we shouldn’t have bank accounts. Paul a writer of the Bible tells us that it is natural for parents to save for their children (2 Cor.. The Book of Proverbs, the writer praises the industry of the ant for saving for the future.
Pray for Audrey Orton
Jesus is not so much condemning people for saving money or investing it, he is however warning people about putting their security in earthly investments.
Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” In Jesus’ day people could build wealth by hoarding clothes because clothes were a kind of currency of the way. People like Versace, the Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, my fashion conscious younger sister would have been especially wealthy if they had lived in the first century. People could also become wealthy if they were able to store grain in barns. If a famine hit and the grain prices soared, a person could become fabulously rich. A third way a person could get rich in the ancient world was by exchanging their assets for gold. Jesus pointed out that none of these investments were really secure. Your garment, after all, could be lunch for a moth; grain could be eaten by mice or rats, or could just rot; thieves could steal your gold.
A couple of thousand years later, wealth is still not secure. People were stunned recently here in Canada when CIBC, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and some investors tied to them--lost billions of dollars on investments that were regarded as guaranteed Triple A-rated investments (CHECK). The markets have been very shaky around the world in this year. Analysts are telling us that the U.S. is headed for a recession this year. That, of course, will affect us here in Canada. As we know because the global economy is now integrated, even a recession in a small country on the other side of the world can trigger economic downtown right here in Canada.
When Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal,” he is not preaching “doom and gloom” he is simply warning us against putting our security in earthly investments that are so insecure. But “Jesus doesn’t just tell us where not to invest, he also gives us the best investment advice ever—we are to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.”
Jesus does not condemn our ambition. He simply elevates it. Jesus invites us to make an investment that will pay off forever. The fact is that even if our earthly investments do not crash, there will come a time when our earthly investments will be taken from us through death, and a day will come when all of our money and earthly goods will be worth nothing.
On January 1, 2002, 12 European countries switched from their existing currencies to the new currency, the Euro. After a grace period of a couple of months, all the currencies in these countries would become useless. According to the Chicago Tribune, two men in Berlin planned to fill an empty swimming pool with 45 million dollars worth of Deutschmarks and invited people to dive in. The Austrians planned to turn their shillings into 560 tons of compost. There will come a day when all of our money will be no more valuable than compost.
Jesus here, in Matthew 6, is telling us that we cannot rely on our earthly wealth that will not last and that we can’t take with us to the next life.
There was a man who worked all his life and saved as much as he could. He loved money more than anything.
Just before he died, he said to his wife, "When I die, I want you to take all my money and put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with me." His wife promised she would.
At his funeral, just before the undertakers closed the casket, his wife put a box in the casket. The undertakers shut the casket and rolled it away.
The wife's friend said, " I know you weren't foolish enough to put all that money in there with that man."
She said, "I can't lie. I promised him I would put that money in the casket with him."
"You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him?" her friend asked.
"I sure did," said the wife. "I wrote him a check."
We can’t take it with us, but by investing in the things of God we can send it on ahead.
Martin Luther, the great reformer, said, “Everything I have kept I have lost, but all that I have given to God I still possess.” We can’t take it with us, but we can send it on ahead.
As Augustine we can exchange our earthly money for the currency of heaven.
Some of you, who are not familiar perhaps with this teaching of the Bible, may ask, “What do you mean by sending it on ahead?” The Bible clearly teaches that there will be a life to come after death. It is not simply wishful thinking, but the Bible clearly teaches it. The Bible also teaches (though people are sometimes embarrassed to talk about this) that there will be rewards in the life to come for those who have been faithful to God here on earth... The Bible teaches that many people, who have been considered first in this life because they had great wealth and hoarded it, will be last in the world to come. And many who are considered last in this world, because they didn’t have much by worldly standards and give what little they had to other people, will be first in the world to come.
What will these rewards look like in the world to come? As Randy Alcorn points out in his booklet the Treasure Principle Scriptures tell us the rewards of God include power (and the opportunity to govern cities). “Possessions,” and “ Pleasures”. And Jesus in Matthew 19:29 actually promised that those who sacrifice for him on earth for him will receive over a hundred times as much in heaven (Matthew 19:29). That’s a 10,000% investment return!
Some people say, “Well, it is selfish if you want to store up rewards for yourself in the next life.” But Jesus here in Matthew 6 commands us to do it. Storing up treasure in heaven is not a zero sum equation; your gaining treasure in heaven does not mean someone else will miss out.
Serve the living God to put it crassly ultimately serves our self interest. Perhaps not in the short-term--short-term, we may suffer considerably for serving Christ, but in the long-term it is always in our interest to serve God. It’s not necessarily wrong to be blessed for doing what is right and what we were made to do. As a pastor named John Piper says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
Jesus says, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” As I said two weeks ago, “Jesus here teaches that our heart will follow our treasure. He didn’t say our treasure will follow our heart.” I talked about how we know this by experience, when we buy an i-pod or a snowboard, a bike, a car or a condo, that when we put our treasure in these things, part of our heart gets attached. It is not necessarily wrong to buy any of these things, but it just gets attached. It is also true that when we invest in the things of God, when we tithe to the work of God through the church, when we invest in a para-church organization like World Vision or World Relief, that works to bring aid and opportunities for underprivileged children in the developing world, when we send money as we recently did to China through International China Concern (ICC) who are at great risk because of the severe winter, to Kenya to bring aid, as we make a long term investment in Cambodia, part of our heart goes to what God is doing in these places.
If you want a heart for God, a heart for eternity, the heart for things that will truly last, then invest in God, invest in the work of God, and your heart will follow.
Sometimes I pray, “God, teach me to care and not to care. Teach me to care, and not to care.” I want to care about things that will last forever, and I don’t want to care about things that are fleeting. If you were to come to our house, trip and fall into a vase and it were to smash, I want to be a person who doesn’t care very much about that because that vase is not something that will “last anyway.” I pray teach me to care and not to care. Teach me to be passionate and dispassionate. If you want to become a person who doesn’t care, in the best sense of that word, if you want to become a person who doesn’t become attached to things that are fleeting, that are passing, transient and temporal, invest your treasure in God, in things that will last forever, and your heart will follow.
Investing in heaven not only benefits us personally, but it also enables us to make a huge difference in the lives of people around the world. Randy Alcorn in this book Treasure Principle (hold up) says, “Giving is a giant lever positioned on the fulcrum of this world, allowing us to move mountains in the next world. Because we give, eternity will be different for others and for us.” (Powerpomt)
John and Sylvia Ronsvale have estimated that, if Christians in North America would faithfully tithe their income (which means responds to God’s call on every follower of Christ to give at least 10% of their income to the work of God), there would be approximately an additional hundred billion dollars available to help meet needs around the world. That extra hundred billion could meet the most essential human needs in the globe such as projects for clean water and sanitation, pre-natal and infant maternal care, basic education immunization, and very much-needed economic development to impoverished communities around the world.
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals which range from halving extreme poverty and providing universal primary education by 2015 are achievable goals. Governments have pledged money toward these lofty, millennium development goals, but, as we all know, governments around the world have a habit of pledging money, but then not following through on that pledge money.
Not only Christians who happen to be stars like Bono, but ordinary people like us should call on our governments to support movements like the Millennium Development goals and other efforts to alleviate poverty around the world.
We should also encourage ourselves to be faithful in giving to the work of God. I think that each Christian should walk in a close relationship with one or two other Christians, at least, and we should ask each other how we are doing in our walk with God, including how we are doing in our giving (I’m delighted we’re this series is sparking a conversation about both Sabbath and money). Kevin Miller talks about how when his dad was 60 years old, he gave his life over to Christ. He began to read the Bible for the first time on his life and he began to tithe and began to give his money generously. Kevin’s dad told him that it has been a great adventure. Kevin said, “My dad suffered a heart attack at age 70 and five days later he died. At the funeral home they laid him in a casket with his navy blazer and tie.” Kevin said, “At the funeral a woman I had never seen came up to me and said, ‘You don’t know me, but I was in a bad marriage and my husband was beating me. But I needed to get out to save my life. I didn’t know what I would do to support myself. Your dad paid for me to go to junior college and get the degree so I could become a dental hygienist. He paid for the whole thing and no one else knew about it. Now I have a job and I am making it. Your dad literally saved my life.’” Kevin says, “God helped free his dad from a love of money. Because of that, among other things, the woman now knows every day when she cleans people teeth that it is a miracle that she is alive, and she thanks God.”
One day in the life to come that woman will thank Kevin’s father. As we give, we can unleash blessings that will last forever in the lives of people in this world, some of whom we will not meet until the world to come.
In closing, I want to just take a moment to address some different groups here because we are diverse here at this church, not only in race, but also in age.
I want to speak to those of you here who are students. Some of you are at UBC, some at Regent, some at other schools. As I said a couple of weeks ago, I would urge you to begin to follow God’s call for you to tithe now as students when you are not making a lot of money. Tithing is setting aside the first tenth of your income to the work of God.
A student from UBC approached me and said, “I make no money. What would my tithe be? 10% of nothing is nothing.” If you are not working, don’t sweat it. But as you income perhaps through a gift, giving an offering. Use your time and talent to invest in to invest in the work of God.
But if you are working part-time, begin to tithe now. One day you will be making a 5-figure income, some 6, and a few of you perhaps 7 or figure incomes. If you don’t tithe now, you certainly won’t tithe then. Tithing will not only set your heart in the right direction, but will unleash powerful blessings through you in the world. Begin to set God-honoring habits while you are young.
And I want to say to those of you who are still considering what career path to choose, don’t choose a career path just because it is going to generate a lot of money for you. When I was an undergrad, I began as a business economics major. Most of the people in my graduating class were business economics majors. I went to university in the late 1980s when the stock market was very robust. Many of my classmates aspired to become investment bankers, stock brokers on Wall Street.
A very devoted Christian professor of mine, named Lyle Dorset, challenged me and my classmates by asking us, “How many more investment bankers does America need?” (By the way, Canada and America need investment bankers and that’s your call, please don’t feel judged at all. But the late 1980s was a very heady time where you make a lot of money on Wall Street.) Lyle challenged us to consider using our gifts in business economics to help bring economic health to places like Cabrina Green which was then considered one of the poorest and most dangerous sections of urban Chicago.
We could go to some places in Africa or in Latin America to use our gifts in economics and business to these places. Lyle Dorset, who became a good friend of mine, told me in private that sometimes he would get irate calls from parents who would say, “I am not spending 60,000 dollars so my kid can work in some kind of slum.” By using this example, I am not saying that all of you need to work with the very poor, but I am saying to you don’t choose your career path because of a dollar figure. Choose your career path because you feel that that would be the best way you could use your gifts to make a difference in the world. If it happens to be very high pay, don’t feel guilty about it, but use that income stream, in turn, to bring blessing, a blessing to people that will last forever.
Let those who are single—young or old. Singleness provides you with a great gift… you have freedom to give significant amounts of your money and time to the work of God that will last forever.
As my friend Catherine who for the longest wanted to be single and married to Christ says as single person every child can be your child.
I want to speak to you who are in your careers and those of you are considering getting married and perhaps beginning a family one day. I want to say you are thinking about getting married or are married, don’t idolize your spouse, even if they are amazing and you sometimes tempted to sing “how great thou art”. Put God first, your partner second and that will be the best gift that you can give to your partner. If you put God first, you love your partner out of love for God.
If you become parents one day, the order is God first, spouse second, children third. I know it’s not quite that simple, but if you get that order mixed up you can create all kinds of problems. The best thing a couple can do for each other is to put God first, as I just said. And the best thing a couple can do for their kids is to love each other at a higher priority level than their own kids. If you start loving your kids more than your marriage partner, it’s obviously not good for your partner and not good for your kids—it’s wierd.
This order also ought to be reflected in our giving and in our investments. In our culture we tend to emphasize children, and that is in most a very good thing, but we can over-emphasize children and make them idols by pouring all our resources into them.
When I was working in Tokyo, I remember my dad came to visit me. One night we had a very personal conversation and he talked about he regretted the fact that he wouldn’t be able to leave x amount of dollars for us 5 kids. (He actually named the dollar amount.) My dad began his career in international business, but then as a young man he switched over to journalism, working first for the BBC and then CBC as a broadcaster and producer. My dad ended up, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, working for the CBC (which is quasi-government). So we are talking modest income, single income. That was his “call” more business.
I remember saying to my dad, “It doesn’t matter. I don’t think any of your 5 kids are going to need money in the future.” I don’t know if I said this at the time, but I know that I reflected on it, that my dad and my mom have given me and my 4 siblings something far more important than a financial windfall—they have given us an example of a mom and dad who put God first…who gave generously to the work of God…who gave generously to other people. That’s a far more important legacy than money.
For those of you who are parents, and when you become parents, put God first in your giving. Give generously to the work of God. Love your spouse and those will be great legacies that you will be passing on to your children.
Now, I will speak to those of you who are older. I guess in our church that might be anyone past 40 and above. The others can listen in.
I want you to crush, obliterate, forsake forever the typical North American ideal of a dream retirement where you buy a home in Florida or Arizona and you spend all of your days golfing, playing tennis, lawn bowling. I want you to follow the example of someone like Ken Nixon in our congregation who recently celebrated his 80th birthday.
He has been a big blessing to me personally and to this community. To honour him on his 80th birthday, our staff had lunch with him and Ken was sharing how he didn’t want to spend his retirement years just collecting shells on a beach, but serving God. He referenced a message I gave some years ago in which I cited a story about a couple that originated in Reader’s Digest as having taken their early retirement in their 50s and are now living in Punta Gorda, Florida where they spent all their time cruising on their 30-foot boat, playing softball and collecting shells.
I said in that message, “When you come to the end of your life--your one and only life on earth-- and God asks you to give an account for your life, and specifically those retirement years when perhaps when you had the most freedom and the most disposable income, the house all paid off, etc. I said you don’t want to get to that day and stand before your Creator, sort of hesitating, pausing and saying. ‘Lord, you want to see my shells?’”
Use your retirement years to serve the living God, to make a difference in the world. It doesn’t mean you can’t take a vacation once in a while in a warm place as an older person. It would probably be good for your health, but don’t spend the last decades of your life selfishly spending all your time—playing softball, sailing, and collecting shells. Leverage your life as Ken Nixon is doing--and many retired people in our congregation are doing--to make a difference in eternity.
Living not for the dot of temporary existence, but for the line (Powerpoint image) –a line of eternity—
Pastor John Piper in his book Don’t Waste Your Life writes…
The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing. If you want your life to count, if you want the ripple effect of the pebbles you drop to become waves that reach the ends of the earth and roll on into eternity, you don't need to have a high IQ. You don't have to have good looks or riches or come from a fine family or a fine school. Instead you have to know a few great, majestic, glorious things… and be set on fire by them.
One of those great glorious truths that can set us ablaze is that we can invest our lives in way that will echo in eternity…
Prayer:
BENEDICTION:
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
As you leave this place, know that there will be a cost involved in investing in heaven. But as Jim Elliott once said, “Become people who love God from the very depth of your and who know she is no fool who gives up what she cannot keep to gain a prize she can never lose—he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain a prize he can never lose/
Book Recommendations:
Don’t Waste Your Life…
Treasure Principle…

(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio)

Finanncial Freedome: (Feb. 24, 2008)

Financial Freedom Text: Malachi 3: 6-12

BI “We return to God by bring him our tithes and offerings--our first and best.”

Jerry Seinfeld says, “According to most studies, people’s no.1 fear is ______ public speaking. No. 2 is death. This means if you’re the average person and you go to a funeral, you’d rather be in the casket, than giving the eulogy.”

People may not prefer death over giving a speech, but many people do dread the prospect of public speaking.

According to a survey, pastors dread speaking more about money than any other subject. I think that the reason many pastors dread speaking about money is because they are afraid that what they are going to say is going to sound like a “hustle” (or that they’ll be associated with some manipulative television evangelist).

Former pastor and respected author, Randy Alcorn, notes that “Jesus spoke more often about money and possessions than any other theme, except the Kingdom of God.” Why? Because the Scriptures make it clear that there is a powerful connection between a person’s spiritual life and their attitudes and actions toward money and their possessions.

One of the signs of a healthy a person or a healthy relationship is that they can talk about money without getting defensive, manipulative, or reactive. One of the signs of a healthy church is that it can talk freely and frankly about money.

Three weeks ago, when we began this new series, I talked about how if a person can gain mastery over Sabbath time and over money that a person will make significant progress in their spiritual life. In the realm of our physical health, if we can gain mastery over diet, (what we eat) and exercise, it won’t solve all our issues physically, but we’ll find that we are moving toward greater health. So it is with Sabbath time and money, if we can gain mastery in these areas, we’ll find ourselves progressing in our spiritual life. (I’ve been reflecting on for about 2 years ago when I first started thinking about doing this series.)

And, of course, there is a great deal that we could talk about around the subject of money. How to earn it how to spend it, how to save it, how to invest it, how to avoid debt, how to become generous. We offer courses here at Tenth on a regular basis on financial stewardship led by people like Ken Mair and Alphil Guilaran.

This morning I want to talk about a cornerstone financial issue for a person who wants to follow God…

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Malachi 3 (powerpoint).

In the book of Malachi, we see God’s people have been unfaithful to God. God’s people have not been faithful to the terms of their covenant relationship with God. God feels betrayed by his people. In the book of Malachi we sense that there is a kind of lovers’ quarrel going on between God and his people.

God says…
"I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.
8 "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says The Lord Almighty.
God’s people have separated from God by committing some very serious sins: they’ve been exploiting the poor, unfaithful to their marriage vows, committing spiritual adultery, etc.
God entreats his people in vs. 7 by saying, “Return to me and I will return to you.”
But what does God call his people to do in order to return to him?
Does he call them to start acting with justice and compassion? Does he call them to become faithful to their marriage partners? Does he ask them to stop worshipping pagan idols?
These are all very, very important to God. But are these the things what he tells his people to do in order to return? No, in verse 8 we read that God calls his people to bring tithes and offerings to him…. Vs. 10 God bring the whole tithe (first tenth of your income) into my storehouse, that there may be food in my house.”
Why does God, in the context of inviting his people to return to him with their whole hearts, ask them first to bring their tithes and offerings to his house? God calls his people to tithe and to bring offerings to him as a way of returning to him because he knows that, when they start giving obediently and generously, other areas of their life will fall into place.
Jesus spoke about this in the Sermon on the Mount when he said (in Matthew 6), “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus taught that our heart would follow our treasure, not the other way around.
What we do with our money, not only reveals the priorities of our hearts, but it also determines the priorities of our hearts.
When we give our money to something, out hearts tend to follow. We buy an i-pod, a car, a condo part of our hearts will follow… we get attached at some level.
If you are with your 8-year-old nephew on the balcony of the 20th floor apartment building overlooking the city and the kid starts to lean his head over the rail and to rock back and forth, what do you say? You, say, “Don’t lean over the rail with your head like that!” If the kid said, “It’s just my head.” You respond by saying “Yes, but if your head goes over, you’re whole body will go over with you!”
That’s the way it is with our money. It may be just part of our existence, but it is a significant part. And where our money goes, our heart tends to follow…
A couple of weeks ago, as we were discussing the Sabbath, I talked about a conversation that I had with a friend who was telling me that when she works day after day after day without a day off, without a Sabbath, she has the sense that her work may be becoming an idol to her. And in Ezekiel 20 God says through the prophet Ezekiel, “If we fail to honour the Sabbath, our hearts will be given over to idols.” Idols of work, productivity, or achievement. If we fail to take a Sabbath, a 24-hour block for worship and rest and life once a week, we’ll begin to depend on our work, our productivity, our achievement, more than God. These things will become idols to us—our “god” and we’ll begin to use the truly real God to help us attain these others gods.
And, so it is with money. God calls us to tithe. It is very clear in this passage in other parts of Scriptures. Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew affirms tithing, giving the first tenth of our income to God. The Scriptures teach, when we give the first tenth of our income to God, we are saying to God, we are saying that we believe that all of money belongs to God.
If we, as followers of God, withhold the tithe from God, in whole or in part (as is true of the Sabbath) our hearts will be given over to the idols of money or financial security or idol of having the capacity to be eat at certain restaurants and do certain things… and very subtly the idols of financial security and financial comfort will become our real gods, the things that we are really trusting in, rather than the living God, and we begin to use the living God to help us serve our real gods.
There are a lot of similarities between Sabbath and giving. That’s why we are combining these issues in this series.
A couple of weeks ago someone came up to me and said, “I have been convicted about keeping the Sabbath,” and he says, “It reminds me of tithing. I heard you say that what tithing is about is trusting that you will be more secure on 90% of your income, with God’s blessing, than on 100% of your income without God’s blessing. The same principle, I think, applies to the Sabbath. What you seem to be saying is that we, long-term, will be better off working 6 days a week than 7. Long-term we will be even more productive working 6 days a week than 7, working on 85% of our time, rather than 100%, as paradoxical as that may seem.”
BTW, Students and working people are telling me how unbelievably refreshed they feel by simply starting to take a 24 Sabbath…
It pays off long-term to honour God’s ways with time and in money.
Again, to relate this to our tithing theme to Sabbath some people will say, “I am so busy with work, I really have no time to take a Sabbath. I have no time to participate in a worship. If the person is married and kids, I have no time no time to spend with my spouse or my children. I just have so much work to do!” God’s response to that would be, “Begin your week with Sabbath. Let the first day of your week be a Sabbath where you worship me, where you rest, where you embrace life, where embrace your friends and family (if you have a family). And then work those other 6 days really hard.” But the rhythm of God is work from rest, rather than rest from work. “Set the aside the first 24 hours for me, for your loved ones, for you.”
Some people say but I can’t afford to tithe. I have so many expenses.
John Maxwell a former pastor and currently a writer and speaker on leadership was talking about how his 14-year-old son Joel got his first job—and got his first official pay cheque. Joel was thrilled! He came home and showed his John and his mom his pay cheque. Then Joel said “You know, I have thought it over and I am not sure if I can afford to tithe.” Whether a person is 14 or 24 or 44, or 84, they may think they can’t afford to tithe. And, if we think about all the expenses we have and all the things we want to do, we may come to that conclusion too…. but if we offer God our first tenth and that’s what tithing really is offering God our first and best, not the last tenth, but the first tenth of our income we will be able to tithe.
Proverbs 3:9 we read that we are to honour the Lord with the first fruits of our wealth, your barns will be filled to overflowing and vats will brim over with new wine.
In Malachi God complains to his people in the midst of this lovers’ quarrel. He asks, “It’s wrong to bring me blemished animals for sacrifice, but you bring to me animals that are lame or diseased. Try offering those to your governor. Would he accept that?”
Paul Harvey, the radio broadcaster, tells the story about a woman who called the Butterball Turkey Company one November. She asked, “Is it still Ok to eat a turkey that has been in the bottom of my freezer for 23 years?” The representative of Butterball said, “As long as your turkey has been properly frozen, the turkey should still be safe to eat, but the flavour would be so long gone that it wouldn’t be worth the effort.” “That’s what I thought,” the caller replied. “I’ll donate it to the church.”
Sometimes we will offer God something that we would never consider offering a friend… Sometimes we treat God worse than our friends and--even our enemies. And in the midst of this lovers’ quarrel, God is saying, “Bring to me your first and best, your tithes and offerings, bring me your first and best, and as you do, everything else in your life your heart will follow and I will provide all that you need.”
God says in verse 10, “Bring the whole tithe into my storehouse so there may be food in my house.” “Test me in this” (God almost always don’t test me, but he says it here because this is so important) says the Lord Almighty “and see if I will not throw open the front gates of heaven and pour out such a blessing, that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “All the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
God is calling his people to honour him with their first fruits and then to trust that with God’s blessing they will be more secure on 90% of their income than 100%. He says that if you tithe and bring your offerings in, he will prevent pests from devouring their crops and vines in their fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe.
Most of don’t have literal crops that can be devoured, but we know that money can come and go—be devoured like pests crops? Not just in obvious things, like a down turn in the market as we’ve seen recently, or by inflation, by being robbed, but through things unexpected expenses with home or car for our health or undisciplined spending and interest payments.
A lot of us know couples, where both the husband and wife have six-figure incomes, but they mortgaged up to their eye brows, chronically in debt, maxing out their credit cards. The money seems to be eaten away. The converse is also true. There are people on relatively modest incomes who have been faithful in giving the first tenth of their income to God. And God has blessed them and provided remarkably for them. They seem to have financial discipline and enough. (BTW, one of things that tithing and giving generously to God’s work does is that it helps to discipline your spending. If you are committing to giving God your first and best through tithing--you’ll be less likely to waste your money on things you don’t need because you’ll want to make sure you’re always a position to give freely to God’s work).
For many years my parents were attending a main line church, and when the offering basket would come around, apparently my parents (this what they’ve told me years later) they would just reach for whatever cash they had on them (maybe a 5 or 10 or a 20), place it in the offering basket and felt like they were doing well. When they really turned their lives over to Christ, around the time I was a teenager, they were also taught about tithing, about honouring God with the first tenth of your income. I am sure that it initially came as a jolt to them (as it does for most people who starts to tithe), but they began to honour God in this way. I don’t remember all the details as a teenager, but my parents say that looking back…up until that point in their lives it seemed like they were always struggling to make it financially—with 5 kids. My dad was working as a radio announcer for the CBC (which is quasi-government), so we are a modest income, single income family. According to parents, it always seemed like we didn’t have just quite enough to get by, always a little in the red. But after they started tithing, it seemed like they were always in the black—God just faithfully provided.
God began to work some small sort of financial miracles for them. As a teenager, living in a home where my parents started to follow Christ and honour God financially, felt like I was living in a mini-Book of Acts. As a family with 5 growing kids—we lived in a fair-sized house in Surrey, but the basement wasn’t finished and my parents didn’t have the money to finish it.
One day our neighbour Mr. McQuarrie, came by and said, “I have some extra wood and materials from a construction project I was working on. You are a growing family. I don’t need this material so I’m going to finish your basement for you.” So he just started building.
Story after story I could tell you how God provided in extraordinary ways for our family.
My parents taught me to tithe—as teenager… around the time I committed my life to Christ.
When I was making money on a part-time job, the first 10 percent went to God. When I was making 6 figures in the “secular world” tithing became even more important to me. Tithing saved me from becoming too money-centered. I didn’t feel like I was becoming materialistic (hardly anyone does… Donald Trump and Paris Hilton and my cousin Vinny they’re materialistic not me!), but people around me, who were not Christians, were telling me that I was becoming more materialistic. So, I felt the best way to combat that was to give more considerably more than my tithe.
When I took my first ministry job…out of seminary in California…I know that I have shared this story with many of before, but many you haven’t head it because you’re asking if Tenth my “first church.”
My first full-time Christian ministry gig was in Orange County, California. I was a church planting pastor and my starting salary was $200 a month. I committed to giving the first $25 as a tithe to God. The first cheque is always for God’s work. (If you’re asking how could you do that living in the most expensive places in North America on 200 and still afford to tithe? Two weeks ago, I got in one week I got the two cheques from medical insurance company for $550 dollars each. I should have only received one. I immediately thought, this is a mistake one these cheques is not mine to keep. For a moment I thought—I’m curious if both cheques will cash. But, I shred one of them. When I got my cheque for $200 as in Califorina in light of the Bible I immediate think the first 20 is not mine to keep. I would be stealing from God to keep it. I really need God’s blessing right now in a variety of ways. And so because if I give 20 feels it like an obligation, I give the first $25 to God so I can give with joy).
And God provided in amazing ways. I ended up living in a beautiful house verlooking the ocean--free of charge. The owners, who I didn’t know traveled a lot and said to me, “We want someone to live here free of charge in exchange for taking care of our dog and watering a few plants (they ended up getting an automatic sprinkler system of the plants). Do you like dogs? (I do now!). Our little church-start up… didn’t have a building…we didn’t have enough money to rent a building. As we were getting started, one of the mega churches in Orange County offered their facility free of charge for the first year as we were getting started (the pastor felt guilty because this huge was attracted thousands of upper middle class white folk, but not people of color. We had vision to be multi-cultural). We had no money for advertising… when launched our first public service, the Los Angeles Times (Orange County edition) featured us on their front page.
Before we were married… Sakiko and I talked by phone (she was in Japan) frankly about finances… and she asked, do you see us renting or buying a home? I said, renting. Housing prices in Vancouver are expensive… Honestly, I don’t know if we’ll ever get to buy a house… (btw, that’s not a personal goal of mine). She said, Maybe we could save over time for a down payment… Maybe, I said that couldn’t happen for a long time… you see our church is in a building campaign… I’ve asked our community not just to tithe, but to consider giving a sacrificial offering over above their tithe over the course of several years… so I been trying to do that and I haven’t to save much and won’t for some be able to save like that for a long time…
We get married… and not long after someone asks us, “Have you thought about buying a house?” We’ve thought about it, but we are not planning to one … but over the course several months the person keeps asking us the same question… he says… (and you have to understand this is completely “out of character” for this person), I’ll help you get into a house--find one… We say we can’t do that because our church is in a building project… and people are sacrificing their money to pay for it, we can’t, it wouldn’t look right for us to buy a house… he pick a house, and if any one asks, “Where you got the money, this person (not a Christian) says tell them, “God”.
We have a simple, modest house… but when I go upstairs at night look down, my heart fills with thanks…
I feel with God my cup overflows… Your story will be different than mine… but you give God your best first fruit and best in your life, you may never be rich by worldly standards, but you will feel like your cup overflows… with God’s blessing…
The Bible says that if we honour God, God will also honour us. If we honour the Lord with our first fruits, then he will provide more than what we need.
It is an incredible way to live. It is the best way to live. Maybe I am more reflective of this now because my wife is expecting. But I know that some of you will children or kids you’re responsible for nephews, nieces, godchildren, mentorees and you may say that it is all very well to give as a single person, but you feel like if you give God the first tenth of your income your children may miss out.
In the fall, when I was in Boston, one afternoon I went over to a friend’s house unannounced…just dropped by…and my friend, Doug Birdsall, was mowing his lawn. He was glad to take a break. We started chatting. He asked me what I was doing that night. I said, “I am going to be giving a talk at one of the chapters for InterVarsity Fellowship at Harvard.” Doug said, “I wonder if my daughter Jessamin, who is a sophomore at Harvard, will come and hear you speak.” Then Doug paused and he said, “When my wife Jeannie and I felt called to become missionaries to Japan, we had no reservations whatsoever, but we had a little regret about the fact that, as missionaries, our children might miss out on certain opportunities. That hasn’t been the case at all. God has provided beyond our wildest dreams for our kids.” He didn’t articulate this, but I know that his eldest daughter Stacia ended up graduating from Princeton University and then from Yale. Then she spent time in Nepal and India to help Save the Children, and then to Kabul, Afghanistan to work and teach in a hospital there. I know his son Jud graduated from Wheaton, which is considered the Harvard of Christian colleges, and is now working for the US State Department. Jessamin is a sophomore as I said at Harvard.
Doug would be the first person to say that each of their kids faced different challenges at different points in their lives as they grew and developed, but each of them is serving Christ and is seeking to use their gifts for the common good.
Doug is one of those extremely intelligent, gifted people who has an attractive personality, the kind of person who could succeed in any field if he wanted to go into. He chose, not just to tithe his money, but to tithe his whole life. He is a living example to me about when we are faithful in giving to God, God will provide, not only for our needs, but the needs of our loved ones. Doug and Jeannie are living examples to me of the fact that you cannot out-give God.
God says to us, as he said to the people in Malachi’s day, “Trust me. Trust me in the Sabbath. Trust me in the tithe and your heart will follow.” Make Sabbath and tithing two of the spiritual cornerstones of your life and you will free.
Over lunch some time ago, I heard of a pastor’s confession. This pastor said “Back over my ministry I have one significant regret that, as a pastor, I never taught my people in my churches to tithe and to give faithfully to God. I seemed to be able to speak about tithing and giving as a guest at places, but in my own churches I couldn’t do it. I regret that because I feel that I didn’t serve them well in a very important area. I feel like they would have been blessed by God if they had been taught to give.”
Unlike a lot of my colleagues, I don’t hate to talk about giving and about financial stewardship because if God, through me, can teach you to give to God, to give a Sabbath to God, to give of your tithe to God, your first and best, and out of that to donate your whole life to God in the world, I feel that I am imparting a gift of immeasurable value to you and through you to the world….

(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio)
PRAYER…

Sabbath/Time Feb. 17, 2008

Message M3: Series Sabbath/Time Ken Shigematsu

Title: Living by a Rule of Life

BI: Become an Athlete for God by Living by a Rule of Life

Text: Daniel 6: 1-23

Think about an athlete that you admire.

Whoever this person is you’re thinking about you know that that he or she didn’t develop their skill in their particular sport by accident.

Michael Jordan (show photo) is considered one of the best, perhaps the best basketball player to have ever played the game. Jordan was extraordinary to watch on the court. He seemed to defy gravity as he would soar to the basket. But what is less known about Michael Jordan is the fact that he was consumed with practicing.

As a teenager the fact that Michael Jordan was not considered good enough to play on his high school basketball team, engrained in him his passion to practice.

As a member of the Chicago Bulls Jordan was typically the first player to begin practicing and the last player to leave. His coach Phil Jackson says that before practice he often found Michael Jordan playing one-on-one with the younger less experienced players keen to develop their game.

Think of someone like Tiger Woods. (Show photo) Woods is considered one of the greatest golfers to ever play the game. Woods makes golf look easy, but as he himself would be the first to say, “Golf is not an easy game… it’s a ‘fickle’ game.”

Tiger Woods is a very private individual. The public doesn’t know much about his personal life compared to many other celebrities. But according to a friend of mine (Elizabeth who has worked on the PGA), Tiger works out about 7-9 hours a day when he is not in a tournament. That includes about 3 hours of stretching and stretching-related exercises. Like Jordan, Woods is passionate about training and practicing.

Great athletes, great musicians, and great artists don’t achieve their level of skill by accident. They have a life structure that enables them to become the kind of people who excel in their field.

The Apostle Paul, who was familiar with the Olympics, urges us to be athletes for God…
Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 says, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last.
In 1 Timothy 4:7 Paul says “Train yourself to be godly.”

Christians from the earliest centuries spoke of themselves as “the athleti dei,” or “athletes of God.”

Athletes who train their mind, body and spirit to center on the things of God.

Darrell Johnson in his series in January talked about how we are in the midst of a spiritual battle, whether we are aware of it or not. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6: 11-12 that we are to stand against the devil’s schemes, 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Daniel was an outstanding spiritual athlete whose life can instruct our own.

As a young man, Daniel’s homeland of Judah was besieged by King Nebuchadnezzar, of Babylon. Then about the year 600 BC, Daniel and a number of his contemporaries were deported to Babylon. As a young man, Daniel found himself cut off from his family, many of his friends, his teachers, his culture and his language.

He was brought to Babylon as a potential leader in the Babylonian Empire, and he was sent to the best university in his new realm. He was immersed in a completely foreign pagan way of viewing the world in terms of history, literature, math, science, philosophy, religion. As commentators point out, he was also being exposed to astrology, sorcery, magic—all things that were banned in Israel.

Babylon, in an effort to completely assimilate Daniel, even changed his name to Belteshazzar. And yet, Daniel was able to resist the enormous power of Babylon and continue to serve God. How did he do it? How did he continue to live for his God?
Daniel did not leave it completely to chance. He had a plan to develop as a spiritual athlete. He lived by a “rule (or rhythm) of life.”

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Daniel 6:1-11
Daniel in the Den of Lions
1 [a]It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally these men said, "We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God."
6 So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: "May King Darius live forever! 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions' den. 8 Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed." 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.
10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.
(So these men conspire to have Daniel thrown into a den of hungry lions).
In verse 3 of our text, we are told that Daniel distinguishes himself from among the administrators and satraps by his exceptional qualities. In Hebrew it literally reads Daniel had an “excellent spirit.” Wouldn’t you love to have it said by God of you that you have an “excellent spirit”?

Throughout the book of Daniel we see that he was a person of extraordinary wisdom, integrity and courage.

In these chapters we see that Daniel is willing to be mauled to death by hungry lions for his conviction that he must seek the living God through prayer…
Last week, I saw the play "A Man For All Seasons". Thomas More is the chancellor of England and friend of King Henry the VIII, but he’s about to be executed because his Christian conscience will not allow him to support the divorce of Catherine of Aragon and re-marriage of King Henry the VIII to Ann Boleyn. Thomas More’s daughter Meg asks him, “ Why can’t you swear an oath submitting to Henry and pretend to support him so you can save your life…?” And More tells his daughter Meg, “When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then - he needn't hope to find himself again." Sir Thomas More chose his death rather than compromise his integrity before God by taking a false oath.
More was a man of astonishing integrity and courage…
So was Daniel… he was willing to die rather than compromise his integrity before God.
How does Daniel become this way?
How does he become this way? As is the case with a great athlete in verse 10 we read that Daniel prays 3 times a day toward Jerusalem, toward the temple of the living God—even when his life was at risk because of this practice. And by virtue of this daily rhythm of praying toward the temple, Daniel is saying through the day, “I am utterly dependent on the sustaining life of living God.” As he prayed he received the life-giving presence of God.

When we become people who structure our lives so we spend time consciously in the presence of the living God: in prayer, mediation, the Word, nature, with people, music and the places where we are uniquely meeting God… we become people who bear the life of God and are able to live in a new kind of way in the world.

The great athletes structure their lives around their goal to become champion athletes. And the great athletes for God have also structured their lives like Daniel, so that they can become great athletes for God.

How do they do this? By structuring their lives so that they are centered on God.


Some people may ask, “Well, what about grace? Isn’t the Christian life simply a gift?”

Dallas Willard says wisely, “The path of the spiritual growth in Christ is not a passive one. Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning.

My friend Elizabeth Archer Klein a great athlete says when it comes to becoming an athlete for God, we distinguish between “trying and training.”

She says "Trying" is saying over and over that tomorrow will be different, but mostly staying in the same old patterns.

Elizabeth says:

Training is setting up a new pattern of behaviors or habits that lead to change.

One of my images for this is running. You'll only get so fit if you run the same loop at the same speed every day. But if you start a 5 day a week program of tempo runs, sprints and long slow distance, with rest days and weight training, throwing in a hill day a few times a month: you get stronger. So, you are training smarter and the effectiveness is completely different. If I just said I would "try" harder the next time I raced, there would be little impact. But if I trained smarter, I will get faster.

Most of you here could complete a 26.5 marathon. Many of could climb Mount Everest. But you couldn’t do these by going out and “trying.” You could do them by training.

So will you become a trainee for God? (use prop… giving running shoes).

So, it is in our spiritual life… it’s not just through “trying” but through training that we become stronger athletes for God…

A rule of life (btw the term comes from the world of the monks, who lived a rhythm of worship, work, rest) enables us to live our lives with a kind of training that we can begin to do things that we cannot now do by our effort. Training gives us a new power to do what we cannot do now by direct effort.

It is true in sports, in art, in music, in speaking a language and it is also true in our spiritual lives. Living by a rule of life will enable us to structure our lives so that we can succeed in the most important race of all—our race for God.

So, what exactly is a rule of life (or a rhythm of life) if you prefer? A rule of life is simply a pattern or a structure for living that enables us to organize around God at the center and trains us to fulfill our life purpose.

Thomas Moore contends that “every thoughtful person, no matter what his current life style may be, has a rule,” meaning a pattern or a model for living (even if it has not been written down). Is there a pattern that we could establish in our lives that would draw us into an intimate relationship with God and ensure that we will fulfill God’s purpose for us?

Some of the categories that we might think about in a rule of life would include:

§ Sabbath (resting, worshipping, embracing life)

§ Prayer (finding a rhythm of prayer that works for you)

§ Scripture (finding a rhythm of Scripture reading that works for you)

§ Study (learning about God, yourself, and the world)

§ Work (seeing your work as part of your spiritual life)

§ Financial Life (using your income in a way that honors God)

§ Care for the body (sleeping, exercising, diet)

§ Re-creation & play (doing things that re-create you; e.g., outdoors, sports, music, art, etc.)

§ Spiritual friendship (committing yourself to walk with spiritual companions)

§ Family (caring for your family)

§ Reaching out/Mission (caring for others, serving, mission, care of the earth)

I am convinced that a rule of life is essential for anyone for who wants to be an athlete for God.

Whenever a young leader asks me the question, “If you could tell me one thing, what would you tell me?” My most frequent answer these days is live by a rule of life, a pattern that will enable you to keep God at the centre of your life and will enable you to continue to grow as a person. When people ask me how I am able to do all that I do—pastoring a church, working on a doctorate (part-time), serving on governing boards, speaking, mentoring, commitment to wife, family, relationships—I say it is not as hard as it may seem (It helps to have a great staff). The key is to live by a rule of life, a pattern of life—a daily pattern, a weekly pattern, a pattern across a month, a year, etc. It’s a great gift.

Part of my rule of life, as you probably have guessed if you have been here the past two Sundays (and heard the messages on Sabbath), is to partition off 24 hours for Sabbath each week. That includes time for worship, exercise, often spending time in nature, seeing a movie or play that is hopefully uplifting. If you are considering even right now the possibility of by living by a rule, one of the first blocks you may put in is that 24-hour block for the Sabbath, to seek to become a person who works from rest, rather who rests from work.

A rule of life ought to be built slowly over time--one category at a time.

An area, for example, that I am seeking to work on is “rest and sleep.” As my wife knows, I have a habit often of getting often quite early in the morning and one of my doctors, as well as a few close friends have been encouraging me to aim to get more sleep. Because I like to get up early, I have decided that I will do more sleeping in,--but sleep in on the “front end” meaning go to bed earlier. Instead of going to bed at 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, I am aiming to try to get to bed, if I can, by 10:00 and be up at about 5:00. And, as I am pursuing this, I am feeling better.

I have worked for years on a morning rhythm that works and I will keep tweaking.

Yours will like look very different depending on your wiring.

There is very set pattern to my mornings. I often begin my mornings about 5 a.m. by going downstairs and petting the dog. I do some light exercise in my home office (pull out the yoga mat as a prop). I begin with some stretching, (I am not very flexible!), some sit ups, push ups, chin ups, exercise with the elastic ropes, etc. It’s not intense—and only I do this for about 20 minutes.

Then I will read my Bible so a number of years I’ve used the ONE YEAR BIBLE which gives a daily reading--a section from the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Psalms and Proverbs each day. I have also been reading from the beginning of this year Romans 8 every day. I then enter into a time of prayer… and silence… (if it feels stale, I’ll change the approach).

And then I will go downstairs, do some reading and some creative work--outlining, some writing, some preparation work. Mornings are a very quiet time and I try to take advantage of that. In the morning (originally inspired by Rocky Balboa) I also go running (the dog is big motivator and he gets real excited about it), I come back and have breakfast. I am ready for the “official day” to begin by 8:30 or 9:00 a.m.

For years I have been thinking about how I can have a life-giving morning rhythm.

I will change it if I get bored with it—to commit to pattern for enough time perhaps a month to give time to become a habit, BUT to also have the freedom to tweak it (it’s important to feel free to tweak the rule).

An important key to developing a sustainable rule of life is to build one section at a time. Enter into it slowly. Don’t let the prospect of a rule overwhelm you.

It is hard to overemphasize the building a rule of life slowly. As you leave this service today and say, “I have been a lazy bum. I haven’t been praying much. I haven’t been exercising much. Starting tomorrow I am going to get up at 4:00 in the morning, spend an hour in prayer, an hour reading the Bible. And then I am going to go to Stanley Park and run the sea wall twice, come home and have a really nutritious, hot breakfast, then I’ll go to work, come home by six, eat dinner with the family, help Susie with her homework, do my e-mail, watch part of the Canucks game on TV, start reading The Brother Karamazov.”

What’s going to happen? First of all, you’re probably going to arrive late to work all hot and sweaty because you had no time to take a shower. And then you’re going to be up until about two in the morning trying to get everything done. And then the next morning when the alarm goes off at four, you are going to hit the snooze button (repeatedly), and pray while you are going to work. So the key is to build a rule of life slowly one category at a time.

I am going to invite you to just take a moment to look at this list, this rule of life, starter list. I want to you to focus in on just ONE area where you think that if you could grow in one of these categories—whether its prayer, or rest, finance, or spiritual friendship—anything that could make a significant difference in your life. Just jot some things around that category that you think you may be called to pursue.

(5 minutes to do the exercise—they will have a handout).

If you are interested in pursuing a rule of life, I also want to mention, too, that a rule of life isn’t just about adding things. Jim Collins, the wise and respected business writer, says, “Some of us need to generate a “to do” list and some of us need to generate a “to stop doing” list. I believe it was Meister Eckhart who said, “Spirituality is not so much about addition but about subtraction.” For example, as I begin to do some governing work for World Vision, I am planning to leave the board of the seminary I care about to open more space in my life… (use prop of the plate and apples, as you add you must subtract).

Remember, as you create your rule of life: make sure that you include an element for fun, play. Some times, we who want to really live for God can become too serious. I love trail running with the dog, I love sailing… I love the movies… it’s important to have fun.

Also, keep in mind that for some people more structure is helpful, and for other people less structure is helpful. Have as much or little of structure that helps you serve your END GOAL of centering you life on God and making a difference for God in the world as a spiritual athlete.

Add some flexibility to your rule so that you don’t get bored with it.

Make your rule unique to you. Some people are morning people; some people are evening people. When I was a single person my rule looked different, than when I got married. As my wife and I become parents God willing at the end of June, our rule will look different.

Talk it over with a friend, some kind of spiritual companion, your small group. It helps to be able to talk about it.

Remember that, as Basil Pennington says, “A rule of life is not to be lived so much, as to be lived out of. It is not something that you serve, but serves you and your desire to put God at the centre of your life and to fulfill God’s purpose for you.”

Your life circumstances, may change, you may get the flu, your family may descend upon your apartment as part of a surprise family reunion for a week—if you can’t keep your rule that week don’t sweat—you don’t exist for the rule, the rule exist for you.


If you are interested in developing a rule of life further, I would commend a couple of different books to you: my friend Pete Scazerro, who has spoken here, has written a book called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (It’s on the recommended reading list.) The last chapter in that book is on developing a rule of life. I think it is also in our small group library. Another great book I would recommend is a book called Living by Faith Day by Day by Debra K. Farrington. It is a book that describes how to develop a rule of life. Debra Farrington is a wonderful writer on the spiritual life. Tiger Woods will not share his training secrets with you or Golf Digest—it’s a secret. But these people will, they show how like Daniel, you can become an athlete for God who makes a difference for God in the world.

Mary Oliver, the poet, asks the question, “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” What will you do with your one wild and precious life?

One of the greatest ways that you could honour your life and honour God’s purpose for you is to live by a rule. Like Daniel, live your life as an athlete for God.

(The sermon can be heard on line at : www tenth.ca/audio)

Trusting for Tomorrow on the Sabbath (Feb 10, 2008)

Title: Trusting for Tomorrow on the Sabbath Text: Exodus: 16

Big Idea: Sabbath calls us to trust God to provide.


When I was in seminary, from time to time I would have breakfast with a pastor at a family restaurant just outside of Boston. Gordon was the pastor of a large church and he had also served as the president of an international ministry to university students. His story has publicly made known by him--so in sharing part of it I am not breaking a confidence.

Earlier in his ministry, Gordon had a brief extra-marital affair. When he was later asked how he as such an intelligent, disciplined and devoted man, could engage in such a damaging boundary violation, Gordon answered that he had become so busy with his ministry, and his traveling, he felt that he could not afford to honor God’s commandment to take a Sabbath each week. So instead of taking a Sabbath day once a week, Gordon said he was taking a Sabbath day once every ten days…once every 12 days…once every 15 days. Without fully knowing it, Gordon’s soul was leaking and he was become spiritually weak… And in that state of vulnerability, Gordon violated his code, God’s code for him...

Gordon ended up repenting, turning back to God, taking significant time away from public ministry, and experiencing a profound restoration of his soul.

Gordon now says, “I am of the opinion that busyness is a deeper threat to the soul than pornography ever was…” (2x)

Thomas Merton, the deeply perceptive writer on the spiritual life, has said that perhaps the most pervasive form of violence in the modern world is busyness… not drugs, not guns, but busyness…

Like Gordon, many of us feel that we are too busy to take time for Sabbath once a week. We feel that we won’t be able to accomplish all that we need to if obey God’s commandment to take Sabbath weekly. As I said last week, the Apostle Paul seems to suggest in Romans 14 that the commandment to rest one every seven days doesn’t mean necessarily require that day to be on a Sunday. If you work for example as a doctor or a or firefighter it may not be possible be take Sunday as a Sabbath. But the call to take a Sabbath is call to take one day, a 24 hour block in seven.

I was talking to ceo this week who said that he had been in the habit working 90 hour weeks and he had heard me talk about the Sabbath being a 24 hour block of time a few years ago and more importantly through the influence and inspiration (protestations and threats perhaps?!) of his wife began to take his Sabbath as 24 hour block of no work…

Whether we are ceo or a student or a mother of young children: the commandment to live the Sabbath is a call to live by faith. It is a call to trust God if we honor the Sabbath, if set aside 24 hour block as a day for God and the restoration of our soul, God will provide for our future…

If one day in seven seems arbitrary (as opposed to a day in 10 or 15), it is interesting to that scientific research that demonstrates that there is a biological need for rest one day in seven.

Juan-Cardos Lerman, at the University of Arizona, has done research that shows there is a biological a need for rest every seventh day. According to Lerman’s theory, failing to rest after six days of steady work will lead to insomnia, or sleepiness, hormonal imbalances, fatigue, irritability, organ stress, and other increasingly serious physical and mental symptoms. Not taking one day as a Sabbath in seven makes people more vulnerable to addictions.

A couple of years ago National Geographic published an article on why people live longest in Okinawa, Japan, , Italy and Loma Linda California than almost anyone on earth. The article noted the reason why people live longer in Loma Linda California (many live 10 years longer on average than other people in California) is because they are Seven Day Adventists and they honor 24 hour Sabbath principle… (& because they eat a healthydiet).

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Exodus 16 (1-5;17-30) POWERPOINT PERSON TO WAIT BEFORE BRING UP TEXT

As you’re turning, let me set up the context.

The people of Israel had been living as slaves in Egypt for some 400 years…

God raised up a man named Moses to deliver the Israelite people out of their land of slavery in Egypt to a land of Canaan, the promised a fertile land described as “flowing with milk and honey.”

As God leads his people out of Egypt into the desert en route to the promised land of Canaan and he gives them an opportunity--a test really---to see if they would trust Him, by taking a Sabbath day of rest.

(Powerpoint: heads up show map)
(Scripture text)
Manna and Quail
1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days."
(The people of Israel make the absurd accusation that God (through Moses) has brought them out of dessert to kill them! But how does God respond? He provides bread for them in dessert. Some people say the God of the Old Testament is the God of law. But the God of the New Testament in the God of grace. But in the Old Testament we also see God’s grace over and over again.)
17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Each one had gathered just as much as they needed.
19 Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."
20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers (4 liters) for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.' "
24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 "Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."
27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you [c] refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out." 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. [d] It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.
God provided his people with this wafer in the wilderness called “manna” literally means “what is it?” It was not some tasteless wafer. It tasted like honey.
This food is a gracious gift that God miraculously provides for his people. All God asked was that his people were to gather just enough for each day and no more… God wanted his people to trust him day by day (God’s people were to gather just enough for each day except on the eve of the Sabbath when were free to gather two days worth so they wouldn’t have to work collecting manna on the Sabbath).

As we might anticipate, in vs. 20 some do not obey God’s simple instruction to gather only the food they need for day… Some people try to gather more manna than they need for a day. What happens (on every day the eve of the Sabbath)? The manna spoils... become full of maggots…

Moses tells the people because the seventh day is a Sabbath, day of rest, they are not to gather any manna on the Sabbath (but they are to have gathered two days worth on the day before the Sabbath so they can eat on the Sabbath, and that manna miraculously lasts two days), but some of God’s people refuse to obey this commandment and try to collect the manna on the Sabbath anyway. They find there’s none available. God rebukes them.

So, the provision of manna is a sign of God’s grace, a sign of God’s great faithfulness and generosity, providing for his people in the wilderness, but the manna also represents a test for God’s people to demonstrate they trust in God… Do they trust God’s Word? Do they trust God’s character? Do they trust God will provide?

Darrell Johnson pointed out in his series on the testing of Jesus that there are times when God tests us and gives us an opportunity to demonstrate whether we trust his Word…trust his character… whether trust that God will provide… While we are not called today to gather manna in the same way as the Israelites were, we still are called to honour the Sabbath and to trusting that God will really provide for us…

Sabbath gives us an opportunity to turn our work, productivity things we would be tempted to depend on, over to God. But it also places us in a vulnerable place where we are called to trust.

Marva Dawn, is a theologian and author of Keeping the Sabbath Wholly (she has spoken here at Tenth Avenue Church). She describes how difficult it was for her to keep the Sabbath during her PhD program at Notre Dame. Her PhD required her to take French, German and Latin all at once.

She says “ the only way for me to keep the three languages straight was to devise an arduous study schedule beginning each morning at six.” “I was not a morning person” “I worked on Latin till Latin class at nine, after which I studied German till that class. Studying French and class took half the afternoon and then I would swim a while to stay in shape (and cool my brain!). Returning home, I continued working on French till dinner, and then studied German till I went to bed at eleven. Each night I dropped into bed uttered exhausted, but the intense pace was necessary since, after only six weeks of class, I had to be able to translate a thousand words in a two-hour test in each language.”

“What enabled me to keep following this absurd schedule every day was my anticipation, celebration, and remembrance of the Sabbath. Toward the end of the week, the knowledge that Sabbath would soon come gave me incredibly powerful comfort and courage to persist, even as, at the beginning of the week, memories of the Sabbath delight I had just experienced motivated me to begin again. And on Sundays ceasing to work at languages set me free for lots of fun.”

“Every Sunday I enjoyed worship and Bible study, ate different foods than I ate during the rest of the week and engaged in relaxing and creative activities. Sometimes I played the organ for worship, went to the beach or swimming pool, took long walks, or played in the parks in the afternoon with friends or by myself. Most of all, Sunday was a day for enjoying God’s presence.”

Even now thought things are not as intense, Marva says each week I do experience a lovely moment of release when at last I go to bed on Saturday nights. To tell you the truth: I sleep differently on Saturday nights because the Sabbath has begun.”

When I was in seminary I had not read Marva Dawn’s book, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, but I felt convicted that I was to honor the Sabbath commandment by taking a 24-hour cycle away from study once a week. Because I sometimes had an exam Monday morning, I decided would take Sabbath from dinner time, or six o’clock, on Saturday night to six o’clock on Sunday night.

I wanted to ensure that I had a kind of academic record that would keep the doors open for a top tier PhD program if I wanted to pursue that. I engaged in this practice of Sabbath keeping and I ended up doing better in that academic degree than I had ever done before.

Dr. John Mackay, who teaches Old Testament studies at Reformed Seminary in Florida, says a number of his students were convicted obout keeping the Sabbath. They believed that day should be set apart for worship and rest, but their main concern was the idea of not being able to study on that day. According to Dr. John Mackay an odd thing happened. When they kept the Sabbath, their grades actually improved. They worked diligently the other six days of the week and they looked with eager anticipation to the Sabbath. The Sabbath became a joy for them.

Now I am not saying by these examples that, if you are an undergrad at UBC and you honour the Sabbath, that you will necessarily be admitted to your first choice Medical School or Law School or graduate school but if you honor God’s will to study and honor the Sabbath, God will provide all that you need, in his academic plan for you.

This principle of trusting God on the Sabbath, of course, extrapolates into other areas of life too, including our work life. If we need Sabbath as students, how much more we will need it in the work world.

In my first undergrad job I worked as part of a large corporation in Tokyo, the city of workaholics. As young person fresh out of undergrad, I wanted to compete and succeed and make a good impression on my boss. I would leave my apartment around 7:00 am and return home at the end of my work day after 11 pm. I love to work hard, but I also felt I was working so much that I was losing my soul… I felt convicted to not to work on weekends but instead to give my weekend to the serving God in the little church I was attending and to things not related to my “main job.” When you are young and ambitious and eager to please, it takes some faith in God to say I honor you by not working on the Sabbath… to say if to say, if I don’t fast track, as fast as I’d like so be it… (BTW, things went well… On one of my last days at work, my boss said to some I know, and said “He’s the best we employee have here in this department. I remember…my boss telling me as I was preparing to leave the company, “Look if things don’t work out in the (Christian) ministry for you, you always have a job here…”

I had dinner with my friend Ben Ting recently in the San Francisco Bay area. For several years Ben served as the chair of our board (he’s has given me permission to share this story). Ben started working for Microsoft before it went “public”.

Ben said it was so exciting, so heady to work at the company back when Microsoft was a relatively small company and beginning to rise…. He remembers how a friend at the company would work, work, work, work….crash and sleep on the floor at work… and wake order pizza and keep working….

My friend loved working for Microsoft, but he and wife were beginning family (they ending up having four children) and he and his wife agreed he would work just 40 hours per week… except during crunch times when he’d work more hours.

When he told his boss he was only planning to work 40 hours, his boss said, “Ok, but this will limit your career path.” Ben told me this week that there was a part him, that didn’t want absorbed in the company, but there was also a part of him that wanted to work more hours so he could be he more of an “insider” at Microsoft…

Ben was transferred to the team developing the internet explorer (they were competing with Netscape at the time), his manager told Ben, everyone on this team works at least 80 hours a week here. His boss said, “I expect you to work 80 hours every week. The good news is I don’t care when you put them in”

Ben didn’t say anything… and tried for two weeks to work at that pace, and then approached his boss and said, “I can’t put in 80 hour per week… I have a family… and life outside of here.” He was transferred the new technologies department.

Ben said throughout his time at Microsoft he and his wife were praying that God would make him more productive in the hours he was working and grant him favor. God was good.

He ended up advancing in the company and became a key leader of Windows 95, 98, and 2000 (team leader for developing the Far East Asia versions of these operating systems).

Ben, said during his yearly evaluations he was always ranked in the top 5% at performance at Microsoft… Unlike a lot of leagues, he did not burn out. He was able to retire at 39.

And if we honour God’s Sabbath around our work, I believe God will provide all that we need. Maybe not all that we want, but all that we need.


Gordon Smith, an associate member here and formerly on our staff here said once in one of his sermons said, “I know that it sounds rather stupid to say this, but I keep the Sabbath religiously.”

If we are asked to work seven days a week and we are followers of God. Perhaps we should challenge that request on “religious” or faith grounds.

Many Jews kept the Sabbath, and some kept the Sabbath even when it was a risk to their lives…. because they so wanted to honor God’s Word…

So, I wonder if we shouldn’t be willing to honor Sabbath even if it seem that we might be slowing our career path in some way… or put our career at risk in some other way.

I think that if a Christian person were being asked by their boss to lie, they’d object… saying I can’t say that, but I can frame it this way… or if a Christian woman was asked by her boss to sleep with an important potential client if that was necessary to close the deal… I think she say, “I can’t do that… I can’t make a stellar presentation, but I can’t do that…”

But if a Christian were asked, by their boss to work seven days a week, week in/week out, they NOT might think about it as an ethical issue or an issue of faith…

But the call to take a 24 hour Sabbath is a commandment from God… so I think if we are expected by our bosses to work 7 days weeks, we should make that a deal-breaker…

Perhaps would we could say I can work 6 days a week, 60 or 70 hours (depending our energy levels and other priorities), but I can’t do seven, I love my work, but there’s something more important to me my life than my work…

I was talking to friend this week, who right now is very busy in her work and she said when I work days on end without a day off… I get the sense that work may be becoming an idol for me… In Ezekiel 20 the prophet says, if we don’t honor the Sabbath, our hearts will be given over to idols…a god other than the real God… If don’t take Sabbath we will begin to put in our work, our studies, our productivity, achievement, rather than God…

The call to obey the Fourth Commandment, is a commandment… to make God our real God, the one we trust to provide all we need…

Prayer…

Is there a place if your life…. maybe in your academic world, or in your work world, or in your family life, where you are being called to trust God by keeping the Sabbath, day set apart?

And day to affirm that God and not your school, work or family is your real God…


The manna that God provided in the wilderness was a test that he a test, to see if his people would not try to collect manna on the Sabbath and rest on the Sabbath, but it was also a sign of God’s faithfulness, of God’s grace to his people.

God has given us an even greater sign than that manna he provided years ago for our spiritual ancestors in the desert. He has provided his Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio)

The Rest of Your Life (Feb.3, 2008)

bdoTitle: The Rest of Your Life Text: Exodus 20:8-11

Prop: bucket and hammer…


BI Idea: Cease what is necessary. Embrace what gives life…

(Room in the 3rd service)

I have a friend who has a magnet on her refrigerator that says, God put me on earth to do a certain number of things. Right now I'm so far behind that I think I will never die."

So many of us feel that we have an unending list of things we need to do--or ought to do. I’ve been reading David Allen’s popular book, Getting Things Done. He talks about consolidating our “to do” lists into one bucket (get bucket). For most of us, it feels like that one bucket is never going to be empty. That that bucket is bottomless…

But our busyness is not without consequence…

The Chinese character for busyness is a pictograph for that combines heart and killing.

(Show image of character)

The heart is the place where the busy life exacts its great toll.

(show image of the broken heart)

Thomas Merton writes in his book, Seeds of Contemplation is a pervasive form of violence in the modern world….busyness… It kills the root of inner wisdom which makes our lives fruitful.

For the next number of weeks, we will be begin a series on what it means to be wise managers or stewards of our two very important resources that God has entrusted to us: our Sabbath/time and our money.

Darrell led in a wonderful series on being tested.

If we can experience victory in the areas of Sabbath and money, it will make an enormous difference in our spiritual lives. In the realm of our physical life if we can live a disciplined life through good eating habits and exercise, it doesn’t solve everything, but puts ahead significantly in term of physical health…

So in our spiritual lives, if we can gain mastery with Sabbath and money… we’ll benefit greatly… (I use the word mastery intentionally with Sabbath because there is a sense in which you have to work as writer of the book of Hebrews tells to enter rest. Bernard of Clairveux has said that busyness is sloth. Because a busy person is too lazy to gain control of their life.

This morning we are going to be looking at the Sabbath.

Thomas Cahill, the historian (who, How the Irish Saved Civilization) in his excellent also wore The Gifts of the Jews says that the commandment to take Sabbath once a week is surely one of the simplest and sanest recommendations any god has ever made.

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Exodus 20:8 (PowerPoint person: heads us please wait. Do not bring up the text yet on the screen)

As you are turning to Exodus 20:8-11 (2nd book on the Bible, after Genesis), let me just take a moment to set up the context.

The Israelites had lived as slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. They never had a day off (BTW, according to historian Thomas Cahill no ancient civilization prior to the Hebrew had a day off). They never had a stat holiday… No 2 weeks of vacation. They were not regarded as human beings made in the image of God, but as tools (use hammer) to make pyramids for the Egyptians.

As my friend Pete Zcazzero says in his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: The Hebrew people were ‘doing machines” in Egypt’ They were seen in terms of what they could do, not who they were as persons.

And though none of us here are technically slaves, there are times when we get so busy that we feel like slaves, we feel like “human doings,” instead of “human beings.” The Sabbath commandment is very powerful and important in that it restores to us our humanness: we are not “human doings,” but “human beings.”

Listen to the Word of God now in Scripture, Exodus 20:8-11:

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 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. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The word “Sabbath” in text and Hebrew Scripture comes from the Hebrew word which means “to cease”, to desist, to stop working.

The Sabbath will not necessarily be Sunday. Nurses, doctors, police officers. The key is to set a regular rhythm of keeping the Sabbath every seven days for a twenty-hour block of time. The apostle Paul (in Romans 14) seemed to think one day would do as well as another.

It is also, perhaps obvious, but important to note, that call to Sabbath is not a suggestion, but a commandment. And it is just not any commandment, but it’s in the Ten Commandments…

Notice in the text it’s preceded in verse 3 by the commandment to not have another gods, i.e. idols before God and followed by the commandments such as you, You shall not murder (vs. 13), You shall not commit adultery (vs. 14). You shall not steal (vs. 15).

The Sabbath commandment to rest is a commandment…

Eugene Peterson, respected Presbyterian pastor says, “Nothing less than the force a commandment has the power to make us stop.”

This fourth commandment to honor Sabbath is by the far the most detailed and specific than all the Commandments.

In it we are called to imitate God. In verse 11 we read 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. And like God, we are to work, but we are also to rest. Stop. Cease from working.

But we before launch into unpacking what it means to stop, to desist, to cease from working, let’s remember that the text tells us in verse 9, “Six days you shall labour and do all your work.” When we work we are fulfilling God’s intention for us. This ennobles our work--whether we are work in a paid capacity or as a volunteer.

In the Ritz-Carleton hotel chains…the management tells the people who are responsible for the menial work making the beds, clean the rooms… “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”

No matter how menial our work (whether paid or volunteer) may seem at times, if we know that what we are doing is in response to God’s command, that what we are doing is for God and for people who made in God’s image--then our work is made noble and we can have that deep sense of fulfillment in our work.

In some lines of work, it is easier to make the connection that our work is something we are doing in response to God’s commandment, but no matter what it is that we do, we can know our work is noble, holy…

Prior to working in Christian ministry, I worked for a part of big corporation in Tokyo, then some years later for a big newspaper in Los Angeles and as a younger adult I worked stocking shelves for drug store… even though our work may seem very secular, doing our work unto God, makes it holy and noble.

So, we are to work six days, but on the seventh day we are called (commanded) to stop; we are to cease from working. Six days you shall labour and do all your work. The seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord, our God. On it, you shall not do any work. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.

Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (“Holy” means set apart for God.) As we have so much to do, to actually stop from our work to Sabbath, involves faith; it involves trusting God will provide for our future…

The commandment says that the Sabbath day is to be a day where we stop and set apart a day for the Lord, it is to be kept holy. It means to be set apart for a sacred purpose.

Vs. 10 we read the Sabbath is holy, a day dedicated to the Lord our God.


Eugene Peterson points out that Sabbath is not primarily about us, or how it benefits us, it is about God and how God forms us. Sabbath is not primarily about self-help (what we get out of it) and what we get want out of it, but honouring God with our life.

But, what exactly does it mean to stop, and then to honor God in our Sabbath?

Pause… reflect… (perhaps one idea sharing with others)



Part of it means to honor God on the Sabbath is to do what we’re doing now… to worship God in community.

Part of it means to honor God on the Sabbath is do things that orient us to God.


But as we honour God with our lives by Sabbath--we ourselves will flourish.

But, not everyone, though associates the Sabbath with flourishing.

At times in history, as we know, people have gotten ultra-micro about the Sabbath. They have become “legalistic” about it. There may a few of you here who have bad memories about the Sabbath. It was a day, when as a little kid, you had to wear a necktie all day when it was fun…or stay in your dress all day. You couldn’t play sports, couldn’t play scrabble, you couldn’t have fun. But is this what Sabbath means?

When my seminary professor, Dr. Haddon Robinson, came here to speak some years ago, I remember when we had lunch at a restaurant.

Dr. Robinson, who grew up in Harlem is very straightforward. He leaned over at lunch and said, “I am going to give you some unsolicited advice. Take a day off. At least once a week, take a day off. Are you doing that?”

I said, “Well, er, yeah, I think so. Like a lot of pastors do, I work 6 days a week for the church. And then, on my day off I may do other work, like I’ll write an article. But, it may for a publication that’s not related to Tenth.” “Sabbath means that you do something on that day that is different from what you have to do the rest of the week. Writing an article on your day off is too similar to the kind of work you do on the other 6 days. You have to take a day for something where do things you that are different from what you have to do the other six days.

Wise counsel.

Mark Buchanan has, a pastor on Vancouver Island says that the Golden rule for the Sabbath is to cease from what is necessary and to embrace that which gives life. 2x

So the Sabbath golden rule is to cease from what is necessary and to embrace that which gives life.

If you read the Gospels, you see Jesus honored by Sabbath and we see that he choose life on the Sabbath, he healed people, he fed people, he supported rescuing animals who fell into wells on the Sabbath.

He honored the Sabbath by choosing life…

Part the way we honor Sabbath is by giving life to others through by using our gifts… which many of you do…

Using gifts of hospitality, teaching, working with children…

Markus Buckingham is his book Go Put Your Strengths to Work when we use our strengths to serve others we feel strong…

BTW, I think a great way to use part of our vacation, not the only way, but a great way to use our is to use it for mission…

We honor by bring life to others and by bring life to ourselves…

Mark Buchanan in his excellent book, The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath, He says that the Golden rule for the Sabbath is to cease from what is necessary and to embrace that which gives life.

“Sabbath… is a reprieve from doing what you ought to do, even though the list of oughts is infinitely long and never done. Oughts are tyrants, noisy and surly, chronically dissatisfied. Sabbath is the day you trade places with them: they go into the salt mine and you go out dancing. It is the one day when the only thing you must do is to not do the things you must.

You are given permission--issued a command, to be blunt--to turn your back on all those oughts.. You get to willfully ignore the many niggling things your existence genuinely depends on--and is often hobbled beneath--so that you can turn to whatever you’ve put off and pushed away for lack of time, lack of room, lack of breath. You get to shuck the “have-tos” and lay hold of the “get-tos.”


What does choosing life look like?

For me to read intense theological books on my day off would be work since that’s so similar to my regular work, but if you are a construction worker and your week is spent in physical labor, perhaps reading philosophy or theology would be a Sabbath because it would be something you don’t have to do, something you “get” to do. If you enjoy that.

Can I cut the grass on the Sabbath? If it feels like an ought-to, probably not, but I personally really enjoy cutting the grass. A lot of my work is more mental and I enjoy all kinds of physical activity. I enjoy cutting the grass at our home, enjoy the informal conversations that emerge out of that time. We have a manual lawn mower and some people ask questions about how it works. In the summer, someone in the neighborhood who was walking by said, “Hey, I am hoping to buy a lawn mower like that. Do you mind if I check it out.” She starts cutting the lawn for me… I say Pay me a Tonnie, I’ll let you cut it all.

Sabbath is about ceasing what is necessary and embracing that which gives life.

What about shopping on our Sabbath? If shopping feels like an “ought to” probably not. But if shopping feels I want to do this…and life giving I think it’s ok
I want to get the chocolate for my friend or I want that little thing for my apartment… it feel like an ought to it’s ok

(If we are have guests for dinner, but suddenly realize we need salad dressing for the dinner—I think it’s ok to get it… Or suddenly we need to buy milk for the baby… it’s ok to get it).

But as I think of my own life, I think I too much ought to “shopping” on my Sabbath… I don’t particularly like shopping, my (not the Bible’s) idea of hell is shopping mall you can never leave… I was telling someone this week, I help govern some fairly complex organizations, I should be able to figure how I can do my “ought to” shopping on days other than my Sabbath…

It’s a good thing that many people have 2 days off each week… One can be a Sabbath and other can be a day for getting things done we need to do: shopping, laundry etc.

The text tells us that in six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day he rested.

Many commentators have noted that the command implicitly forbids creating. So it is for us. We are called to stop creating on the Sabbath; that is, creating things we have to create.

But the seventh day is the day when we step back and simply enjoy creation.

Mark Buchanan says the seventh day is the day when we stop creating and experience being re-created. Sabbath is not for creating, but for re-creating.

Ceasing that we have to do and embracing what gives life…

So, when we think about honouring Sabbath, making our Sabbath holy to God, I think we ask ourselves, “What is it that recreates us in God? How can we put ourselves in the space where God can recreate us?

J.I. Packer, the respected theologian, says choose leisure activist us closest to God, to people, to beauty and to all the ennobles.

Part of that includes public worship in community, doing that orients us to God…

And then for different people being re-created will look different. I love to spend time outdoors. I remember asking as young pastor a respected author on the spiritual life, named Dallas Willard, if it would it be alright for me, in his opinion, to mountain bike on the Sabbath as part of my day off. I mountain fairly hard for hours. Dallas asked me, “Would the primary reason you mountain bike be to stay in good condition?” I said, “Honestly, no. I run most days to stay I shape”. “Are you training for a race?” “No, I just like a mountain bike recreationally.” “I just love doing it.” Dallas said, I it’s ok…
Look forward

I also love to be in the water. Swimming is a kind of prayerful experience for me. Being on the water…sailing is a kind of spiritual experience for me.

WHAT ABOUT FOR YOU?

Other worship and prayer… what draws you close to God… and restores your soul?

So think about what draws you to God, recreate you in God, these are things that Sabbath are designed for…

So, why do we rest enter the Sabbath rest of the people of God as the writer of Hebrews calls us?

We work to enter the rest of God because Jesus laid down his so that we might enter the rest of God in life and in eternity…

On the night he was betrayed…

On the night Jesus was betrayed he took bread and broke it and said this is my body given for you… this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins…

For your eternal rest…


Prayer (from the Book of Common Prayer):

Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all of your creatures: Grant that I, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of public worship. Grant, as well, that my Sabbath upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven.

Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen

(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio)