Blessed, Broken, Given (Mar.22,09

Mark M6 Message Notes March 22, 2009

Title: Blessed, Broken, Given

Text: Mark 6:30-44

Big idea: Jesus’ revolution brings spiritual and physical sustenance.

I have been in conversation with someone who is becoming active in the movement to support the plight of the Palestinian people.

This person feels invigorated by her participation in this struggle.

She’s not a religious person and is surprised by how many Christians and rabbis are involved in the movement.

Whether we are religious or not, there is a part of us that longs to be involved in some kind of movement that is bigger than us.

If we follow Christ, we will discover that we are involved in the most significant revolution of history.

In the famous poem One Solitary Life we read:

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter’s shop until He was thirty.

He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born.

Yet, all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

This morning we’re going to look at the nature of Jesus’ revolution and what it means to be a part of it as we look at the miracle where Jesus fed the multitude:

If you have your Bibles please turn to Mark 6 vs. 30

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

37 But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
They said to him, "That would take almost a year's wages [a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"

38 "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."
When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish."

39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

In verse 30 we read that Jesus’ disciples are reporting to him all the things they have been doing and teaching. As we see earlier in this chapter (in Mark 6:7-13) Jesus’ disciples have been preaching that people should turn from their sins to God; they’ve been driving out demons and praying for God to heal people

Then we see in verse 31 that so many people were coming and going that Jesus and his disciples did not have a chance to eat. The students of Jesus were tired from their mission trips and hungry. Jesus says, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” They get into a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee to a quiet place on the north-eastern shore, but many who saw them leave, recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns, and got to the northeastern shore ahead of them. When Jesus landed, he saw a large crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

When we read the phrase that Jesus had compassion on the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd, we might picture Jesus as a shepherd with a shepherd’s crook who wants to offer care to these people who are weak and helpless, like a literal shepherd caring for sheep in some pasture. The word “shepherd” in the Jewish context was at times used in this pastoral sense. But the word “shepherd” was often used of a military leader who would mobilize Israel’s forces for war (like Joshua). In Numbers 27:17, when Joshua was appointed as the political and military leader over the Hebrew people, the Lord said Joshua was being appointed so that his people would not be like sheep without a shepherd.

When we hear this story in Mark 6 of Jesus feeding the multitude--a popular one in children’s Bibles and featured as a miracle of Jesus surrounded by children and happy families--we can close our eyes and perhaps imagine the blankets that have been laid out on the grass and the checkered red tablecloths that will be laid out on the blankets in preparation for the picnic that Jesus will lead.

But, as the commentators point out, this particular stereotype may be misleading.

The more accurate picture is that this scene looks more like a potential revolutionary uprising—than a Sunday school picnic. Rural Galilee (where this scene takes place) was a stronghold of the zealot movement. It had been a rallying point for Jewish military resistance against Herod the Great. We read that there were 5000 men. This is remarkable when you consider that the entire town of nearby Capernaum had a population of only 2000 people. It seems as though men are coming from various towns for this gathering and that the area was swept up in hopes of a political military leader who will led them into war. We know from John 6:15 that the people gathered here intended to make Jesus king, by force.

But Jesus is going to lead a different kind of revolution. Instead of giving out weapons and instructions on how they will attack the Roman Empire, he does something far different.

We read in verse 35 it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him and said, “Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and buy themselves something to eat.” Now this was a perfectly reasonable suggestion—dismiss the crowd and allow them to go to the neighboring towns to buy themselves dinner. There was no McDonalds, Subway, or Pizza Hut nearby--so the disciples encouraged Jesus to dismiss them so they could find a place to eat dinner in one of the surrounding towns.

But rather than going with their suggestion, Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.” Impossible—they think. They reason it would take 8 months of a person’s wages and where would they buy the food. Jesus asked, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother (as we know from John’s Gospel), spoke up and said, “Here is a boy with 5 small barley loaves and 2 small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” All they had were these small loaves of barley bread and fish. The loaves would have been small, flat loaves (you could easily eat several of these loaves of bread at a single meal.) The boy apparently voluntarily offers them to Jesus.

Taking the 5 loaves and the 2 fish, looking up to heaven Jesus gave thanks, broke the loaves, and then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. The text tells us in verse 42 they all ate and were satisfied. The disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces of fish and bread. The number of men who had eaten was about 5000.

What does this story mean? What does it show us about Jesus’ revolution and about his kingdom?

This story shows us that Jesus’ revolution, unlike the zealots who had gathered in that very place years earlier, was not a military revolution with the plans to violently overthrow the Roman rule. No, it was a revolution that Jesus would lead to people’s souls and stomachs being satisfied.

Bread is a key part of this story.

What does bread make us think of? As a teacher of mine, Tim Keller, says, “When we see bread, we think of carbohydrates, but for the people of the 1st century, bread was something that symbolized life.” For the Hebrew people, in particular, it signified God’s provision for them.

Jesus’ revolution involves giving the bread of life to people. In John 6: “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

There is within human beings the hunger that only God can satisfy. Some Asian people talk about how unless they have rice with a meal, there is a part of them that is still hungry. No matter how much other food they have, without rice they don’t feel like their hunger is satiated.

So it is with us. We may hope that something… having a certain educational degree, or a particular job, or a relationship with Mr. Right or Ms. Right, a home, a child, or some kind of achievement will be that “something” that will meet the deep longing of our heart. But none of these things can satisfy the deepest longing for our heart—only our Creator can fill that place in us.

Part of the revolution of Jesus is to offer people the Bread of Himself. He says, “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never grow hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

The revolution of Jesus also involves giving physical bread to people. God cares, not just for our souls, but for our entire beings.

Our bodies and souls are obviously connected. The famous missionary in India, Amy Carmichael, was criticized for not just telling people about Jesus and the spiritual difference she could make in their lives, but for also working hard to rescue boys and girls from temple prostitution, housing them in an orphanage she founded, feeding them, clothing them, educating them. She responded by saying, “You can’t just pitchfork souls to heaven. They are more or less connected to bodies. You have to take care of both soul and body.”

She was absolutely right. Souls and bodies are connected. The revolution of Jesus is one that meets both the need of both the soul and the body through the spiritual Bread of Life and literal bread.

The feeding of the 5000 here was a miracle.

There is no sufficient way to feed crowd. Jesus looks up to heaven, gives thanks for 5 small loaves and 2 fish he breaks them, and they miraculously multiply and a multitude is fed.

Why does Jesus perform miracles?

Jesus’ miracles are not as we might imagine… done simply to impress people. Jesus again and again resists doing something spectacular for the sake of doing something spectacular.

When Jesus multiplies the bread and the fish, when he heals people, he does not do these things to wow people. His miracles are not part of some marketing strategy. If they were, he would have been pulling off far more spectacular miracles on far bigger stages (cedar-planked salmon and champagne for 60,000 at BC Place).

No, Jesus’ miracles were not performed to impress people, but were signs about what his revolution was all about. Jesus’ miracles demonstrate what it looks like when the Kingdom of God, or the rule of God, breaks into the world through Him… When this happens, as we see in this miracle, people’s physical needs are met (and as we see in many other passages, their spiritual needs are met, as well).

How do we become part of this revolution? How do we participate of it?

Jesus receives the bread from this boy, he blessed it and broke it and gave it to feed the multitude, and just a few years later, Jesus gathered with his disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem. In Mark 14 we read how he took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take. This is my body.” (Given for you on the cross.) And then he took the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to them and he said, “This is the blood of my covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Like the bread that Jesus offered both at the feeding of the 5000 and in the upper room with his disciples, it was through this process of Jesus being blessed by God, broken, and then given on the cross that his revolution, that his Kingdom, would come into the world.

And Jesus calls us to be active participants in his revolution. Jesus says to his disciples when his disciples want him to dismiss the crowds so they could go buy dinner, “You give them something to eat.” And he calls us to be instruments of his revolution that brings spiritual and physical bread for the world.

How do we enter into this revolution? How do we become part of it?

As Henri Nouwen writes in his book, Life of the Beloved, part of the way that we enter into the revolution of Jesus is by understanding that like the bread that Jesus held here in Galilee and in the upper room, before going to the cross, we, too, have been blessed by God, broken, and given.

What does it mean to blessed? Being blessed means that we know we are chosen and loved by God. Henri Nouwen, in Life of the Beloved, says (as I have quoted before), “I have come to realize the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation of self-rejection…. self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the beloved. Being the beloved expresses the core truth of our existence.” Being blessed means that we know that we are chosen by God and loved by Him.

The foundation for our life for God is God’s love for us--and we see this love most powerfully displayed when God in Christ absorbed our sins on the cross so that we could be forgiven and freed.

The bread was blessed. Jesus gave thanks for it at the feeding of the 5000 and in the upper room with his disciples the night before going to the cross, and then the bread was broken.

As a mentor of mine Tim Keller says, in order for bread, of course, to actually nourish someone it needs to be broken. If bread remains whole, people will be broken (i.e., people will not be nourished unless bread is broken into small, digestible pieces), but if bread is broken, people can be nourished and made whole.

Jesus’ body was broken on the cross, and through that brokenness we are made whole. Our sins are forgiven.

We can think that it is through our strength that we can make the biggest difference. Of course, we want to celebrate the strength that God gives us. But Jesus’ greatest achievement came through his greatest weakness as he was naked and nailed to a cross. In a mysterious way we will never fully comprehend, Jesus on the cross was absorbing in his body our sins so that we could be set free.

And in that act of ultimate vulnerability, we are forgiven. In that act of weakness we are given the life of God. And it is in our place of vulnerability and weakness that God will use us most powerfully. It often said that our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness. If our strength is great confidence—our weakness may be pride. But in the economy of God our weakness is our strength. My friend Chris Woodhull says, “Your greatest weakness is your greatest strength.” When we feel weak and inadequate, as the disciples must have felt when Jesus asked them to feed the multitude, it is then, and only then, we are in a position to be an instrument of God.

When the search committee was interviewing a prospective senior pastor to lead the Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC, they asked the candidate, “Are you weak enough to be our pastor?”

Early in my experience as a pastor, I went to a mentor figure who was widely respected for his wisdom. I candidly expressed my doubts to him about whether I was really suited for the ministry. I explained to him that I had worked for a large corporation and that given some of my vulnerabilities and the temptations that I had struggled with in the past, I was wondered whether or not I might be better suited to serve in the corporate world, as opposed to the ministry, which I saw as a very lofty calling. (Both a call to business and the ministry are, of course, lofty callings in different ways, but I just wondered if I was suited for the ministry, or perhaps more suited for the business world.)

This wise mentor said, “Well, perhaps God will lead you to lead a church where people who have failed and people who have weaknesses can come and experience the grace of God. That is the way God led me. In the economy of God, our weakness can become a place where God can make us strong.

I have been talking to someone who told me how they are struggling in their relationship, but how they feel God more present than ever before. This person envisions one day being able to help other couples who struggle because of the struggle that this person is experiencing. Because of this weakness, the person hopes to offer something to others.

If we are participants in the revolution of Jesus, part of that will mean that we are blessed, that we are loved. Part of that will mean that we embrace and allow God to use weakness, our vulnerability.

Third, being part of the revolution means we will allow ourselves to be given. Jesus, both here and in Galilee and at the Passover meal in Jerusalem took bread, blessed it, broke it and then gave it.

And we become participants of Jesus’ revolution by recognizing that we are blessed, trusting that God will use our brokenness, and by giving of ourselves.

In the story where Jesus feeds the multitude, a boy gives 5 small barley loaves and 2 fish. They are multiplied by God and used to feed the multitude. Giving opens the door for us to be used in ways that serve God’s great purposes. Even when the gifts are small, as this boy’s were small, they can be multiplied by God for his purposes.

One of the things that I have done across the years is speak to students on the theme of giving our life to the mission of Jesus Christ. One of things that I have done is to challenge students, whether at the university, Bible School, or a seminary, to take steps now in making a difference.

One of the practical ways I encourage them to do that is to start tithing, even as students. That is, to give the first tenth of their income to the work of God. And I talk about how if you want to really give yourself to the mission of God and to be used in a significant way, it may be that God would call you one day to lay down your life for him. Part of the way that you can begin to do that now is by offering the first tenth of your income to God.

Then I just say frankly, if you are not willing to do that, it’s not likely that you would be willing to respond to God’s call if he were to ask you to do something more drastic, like change your life style in a new culture to serve him or laying down your life for him.

People may think of giving as a kind of sacrifice, but it is a great joy. The boy who gave his 5 loaves and 2 fish to Jesus was not someone that we pity. Jesus just took his small gifts, multiplied them and used then to feed the multitude. What a great privilege!

Our greatest fulfillment will come in giving of ourselves to others. For those of us who want to live this way for Jesus, tithing is one practical step. But there are other things we can do, as well.

We can also offer our time and our energy and our talents and our love for other people. I saw a news story this past week about a woman who is financially struggling because her small business is down 40% in this recession, but she is taking time to travel to a poor community to use a hammer and paint brush to help build homes for the homeless there.

We can participate in feeding hungry people. It might be in a direct way like volunteering in something like Out of the Cold. It might be in an indirect way, like participating in the march for the homeless or lobbying the government to give 1% of our budget to help end global poverty as the ONE Campaign has encouraged, or supporting the millennium development goals which supports such things as:

· Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger: Around the world, over one billion people survive on less than a dollar a day and one person in seven goes to bed hungry each night.

· Providing universal primary education: 72 million children are currently out of school across the world.

· Combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

I recently received a newsletter from World Vision. My wife and I sponsor a World Vision child and I am also on the board of trustees for World Vision CANADA, so I frequently get communication from them. In the most recent letter I received, I noticed that a member of our own community and a news anchor at CTV, Mi-Jung Lee, recently went to Brazil to see what World Vision is doing there.

I am going to invite her to share what that experience was like.

MI-JUNG sharing

If we will give ourselves to Jesus and allow him to bless us, and to break us, and to give us like that boy’s loaves and fishes, our lives can be used to feed a multitude.

Lord of the Storm (Mar.15. 09)

Mark M5 March 15, 2009

Title: Lord of the Storm

Text: Mark 4:35-41

Big Idea: God’s love and power are present to us in our storm.

It all seemed so promising. Michael Plant (show photo) had sailed through hurricanes, dodged icebergs, fought six-story high waves, and even survived capsizing in a storm with 45-foot waves in the Indian Ocean.

He was North America’s most accomplished single-handed offshore sailor and, after three daring previous sails, Mike Plant was now starting with his new sailboat.

His 60-foot yacht, The Coyote, was designed to race nonstop around the world – a circumnavigation of nearly 24,000 miles in one of the most demanding sea races ever conceived.

Michael set sail alone out of the New York harbor.He needed to cross the North Atlantic to meet his deadline at Les Sables d’Olonne, France, about 3,200 miles away for the start for his fourth solo round the world sailing race. He pressed his new boat hard into an oncoming storm. Radio contact with him was lost and then about a month later Michael Plant’s sailboat, The Coyote, was found upside down in the water. Sailboats don’t normally capsize so why would Michael Plant’s sailboat be discovered floating in the Atlantic upside down? In order for a sailboat to maintain a steady course, there must be more weight below the waterline (show photo—use pointer to explain) than above it—any violation of this principle will spell disaster. An 8000-pound weight that was fastened to the keel of Plant’s boat broke away, causing the boat to have more weight above the waterline than below it. When the first threatening wind or wave came along, the boat capsized.

There are times in life when we will sail into a storm. We may find ourselves struggling in school or in our job or out of job, or experiencing pain because of a relationship, or the loss of a loved one, or loss of our innocence.

Today, we’re going to look at how the “sailboat of our lives” can receive the weight to keep us from capsizing in the storm.

Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 4:35

Jesus Calms the Storm

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

In our text we see how evening had come and Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” They were planning to cross the Sea of Galilee. Leaving the crowd behind, we read that the students of Jesus took him in the boat. We also read that there were other boats with him.

These details may seem insignificant, but they play an important role in this story for us. How so?

The details show us that this incident on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus calmed the storm actually happened. Commentators point out that if we did not have details, such as “there were other boats with him,” a reader might assume that this story is simply a legend.

But, if we are familiar with the writing genres of Jesus’ day, the details will lead us to conclude that this passage in Mark 4 must be an eye-witness account.

Today, of course, we are very familiar with the genre of the novel where authors use their imagination to invent details. This kind of modern fiction writing, where an author might imagine details of how a harbor with boats docked would look, was simply not something that was present in Jesus’ day. Scholars point out that if this story was being “made up” the author would not include such unnecessary details, such as “there were also other boats with Jesus.”

It is also noteworthy that Mark’s Gospel is the earliest of the Gospels. This is significant, because this account would have been between 30 and 40 years after this incident had happened, likely around 67 A.D. This means that, at the time this gospel was written, there would still be people alive who would have been in a position to refute this story if the story was simply made up. If this story was simply made up, when this story was written and circulated, people would have stood up and said, “I was part of the crowd when Jesus climbed into the boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. I can tell you that this storm and the calming of the sea never happened,” and the Gospel of Mark would never have been accepted.

If I wanted to invent a story, where I was planning to say at some point in the future, “On March 15 2009, I didn’t need to take a ferry to get to Vancouver Island. I could just walk on water to get there,” I would do well to wait more than 40 years before I started circulating that story because, if I only waited 40 years, there would be people here who could refute that story and say, “We never saw it happen and we were alive at the time.”

So this story in Mark 4 actually happened.

Jesus is with his disciples on the Sea of Galilee in a boat. Suddenly a storm breaks out. The Sea of Galilee was especially susceptible to sudden violent storms.

The Sea of Galilee lies nearly 700 feet below sea level in a basin surrounded by mountains that are especially steep on the east side. Thirty miles north-east of the Sea of Galilee is Mt. Hermon which rises 9,200 feet above sea level. As the cold air comes off Mt. Hermon and clashes with the warm air which rises over the Sea of Galilee, great storms are produced. The word in our text translated “Furious squall” in original text Greek can mean “hurricane.”

To this day, in fact, cars parked on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee have signs warning drivers of what can happen during high winds. The sea can get rough very quickly, and big waves can swamp cars parked on what looked like a safe beach.

We know that this storm must have been a furious one. How so? The word describing the storm, as we said, can be translated “hurricane.” We also read in verse 38 that the disciples, who are experienced, rugged fishermen, wake Jesus up, who is sleeping on a pillow, and say to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Fishermen, particularly those who fished on the Sea of Galilee, expected the unexpected at sea. They would have been used to all kinds of storms, but apparently this storm was so ferocious that these experienced fishermen thought that they were going to die. They wake Jesus. Jesus gets up, rebukes the wind and says to it, “Quiet! Be still” or “Quiet! Stay Quiet.” And then the wind died down immediately and the sea became completely calm.

We know that something supernatural happens here, because not only does the wind die when Jesus speaks, which theoretically could have been coincidence—but the sea also immediately becomes as calm as glass.

When you are out at sea, and the waves are huge, such that you are afraid that you might be completely submerged by them, the wind can calm down, but it takes some time for the waves to subside. But as soon as Jesus speaks here, not only does the wind completely cut out, but the sea becomes instantly calm—like the early morning glass you sometimes see on the surface of a lake—and if you are a water-skier makes you want to water ski.

The text tells us that the disciples were afraid when the sea was raging because of the storm.

But in verse 41, after Jesus says to the wind and the waves,“Quiet. Be still.” and they obey him, we read in verse 41 that his disciples were terrified, and that they were even more afraid: “Who is this that even the winds and the waves obey him!”

In Jesus’ day the people believed that the sea represented dark power, a sinister beast with the capacity to destroy God’s creation, God’s people, and even God’s purposes. The Jews of Jesus’ day believed that only God could still the storm—only God could calm the sea.

So what does this story tell us? One of things this story tells us is that storms happen. In the movie Forrest Gump he coined a similar phrase when running and stepping on some doo doo, not “storms happen,” but “S_____ happens.” Storms happen.

As we see in the story, sometimes Jesus doesn’t deliver us from the storm, but through the storm.

C. S. Lewis wrote of Aslan, the lion figure who represents Jesus in The Chronicles of Narnia, “He is not safe. But he’s good, I tell you.”

Storms will erupt in our lives, and if you have never been through any kind of storm, it probably just means that you haven’t lived that long. Don’t worry. If you live long enough, you won’t be left out.

Jesus knows that this storm is coming. Apparently, he is not planning to do anything to prevent it, as such. How do we know that? Because Jesus falls asleep before storm erupts. It is not like he just happens to fall asleep. He plans to fall asleep. How do we know that? Because in verse 38, we read that Jesus was in the stern, in the back of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. When you are in an airplane, and you ask the flight attendant, “May I have a pillow?” you are planning to sleep. Jesus apparently had asked for a pillow because he was planning to sleep.

There are times when storms will happen, and God will allow us to go through them.

This storm, with hurricane intensity, causes the waves to break over the boat so that it is almost swamped, the disciples wake Jesus up and say,“Don’t you care if we drown?” There are times when we will experience the kind of storm that will make us look up at God and ask, “Don’t you care?” There are times when we will go through some type of hurricane-like experience, and we will wonder, “God, don’t you care? Are you asleep?”

In this time of economic crisis people have lost their jobs; others are afraid that they will lose theirs. Some of those people are asking God, “Don’t you care? Are you asleep?” People lose their health, a relationship that is important to them, a loved one and they wonder, “God, don’t you care?”

And often we don’t understand why we are going through a storm. A couple of months ago we took our son Joe in to get some of his shots. When Terry, the nurse, pulled out the needle, before she even stuck it in his leg, he turned and looked at us and screamed in anticipation of what was going to happen. It was actually funny because we knew that he wasn’t old enough, as far as we knew, to anticipate what was going to happen with that shiny, sharp needle. Terry paused. He stopped screaming, and then she stuck it in that thigh. He screamed again. Then he looked back at us with a look, as if to say, “I thought I could trust you…?!!!? Don’t you care!!” in so far as a 6 or 7 month baby can. Of course, we do care for him and that was the reason why we were taking him in for shots (and why we have allowed our lives to be so thoroughly disrupted by what John Gottman calls, “A grenade going off in our lives”).

But Joe doesn’t understand that he needs these shots for his health and protection. And sometimes we have no idea why God allows us to go through storms.

Jesus asks his students in their panic in the storm, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Or, to translate it in another way, “Where is your faith?”

Sometimes we do sense that God is working out some kind of larger purpose in a storm.

I recently received an email from Suzy Welch a columnist who writes for Oprah’s magazine.

She wrote:

I am in the middle of writing an article about the possible emotional and cultural upside of the "great reinvention" that our economy is currently undergoing. It's just that I've found in so many small conversations lately that people are experiencing a meaningful rearrangement of their priorities and rediscovering what really matters to them. Of course, I am not suggesting that there has not been terrible pain and loss along with the economy's collapse, and maybe I am just an unfettered optimist, but I sense there is a larger purpose in this event.

A number of people, I have talked with have said, both in the US and Canada, that while the economic storm is awful, it is helping them re-center on what is most important.

Sometimes after you go through something hard, and in looking back you have a clearer idea as to why you went through something. One of the most difficult storms I went through was breaking up with a girlfriend. It was a very painful breakup. At the time it just felt like a dark winter--without Christmas. I couldn’t see any good in what was happening, but now, now looking back, frankly, I can see exactly how we were not compatible, how our relationship would be a disaster waiting to happen and how I am now with someone now who is so much a better fit. Now I see that my ex-girlfriend is with someone who is a much better fit for her. I am deeply grateful.

But there are times when we go through something and we don’t know why we are going through it. In some future time, at least in our lifetime, when we look back, and we may not see exactly why God allowed that to happen. Donna Gardner, a member of this community, as we know, recently lost her husband in a sudden and unexpected way. Adam and Erin, Donna and Stu’s young adult children, lost their father. He was a young 66. We don’t know why—we know why medically, but we don’t know why, he’s gone.

When we don’t know why, that can be the hardest, most painful storm of all.

Early in our marriage, Sakiko and I lost a baby through an unforeseeable pregnancy complication. It was painful. We didn’t know why then; and we don’t know why today.

What can help our sailboat stay afloat in the storms of life? One is trusting in the love that Jesus Christ has for us.

When we are in a storm, and we don’t know why we are tempted to panic and be anxious, Jesus may ask us gently, “Where is your faith?” In those times when we go through pain and storms and we don’t why, what we can do is to focus on what we do know.


We may not know why this painful thing is happening, but we can exercise faith and remind ourselves that we are deeply loved by God. Many of us can point to things that we are aware of that are demonstrations of God’s love for us and his power to deliver us, and we can draw faith from those experiences.

Many commentators point out the parallels between this passage, where Jesus and his disciples go through a storm and the story of Jonah. In both Jonah’s story and this story, Jonah and Jesus are on a boat with others and a storm that suddenly breaks out. And with both the story of Jonah and this story, the protagonists Jonah and Jesus are asleep on the boat. In both of these stories the others on the boat come to Jonah and Jesus, and say, “We are about to perish. We are about to lose our lives. Do something!” In both the story of Jonah and this story, there is a miraculous intervention by God. The people are saved. In both Jonah’s and Jesus’ stories, as a result of God’s miraculous intervention calming the storm, the sailors are in awe of God’s power.

When the storm is raging on the Mediterranean Sea and the sailors come to Jonah, and say, “What should we do?” Jonah says, “Throw me into the raging sea. If I die, you will live.” And they do so, and the sea becomes suddenly calm. Jesus says, “I am the true Jonah, the one whom Jonah points to.”

As Jonah allowed himself to face the storm…the waves… death… to save those sailors, so Jesus Christ, in going to the cross, faced storm and the waves of sin and death, so that we could be set free…so that we could really live.

To the extent that we understand that deeply in our hearts that we are loved by God, we will be able to face the storm.

And to the degree that we understand what God did for us in Jesus Christ, no matter what we are going through, we will know that he cares, even in the storm.

What can help our sailboat stay afloat in the storms of life? One is trusting in the love that Jesus Christ has for us. Another is trusting in his power.

Jesus not only faces the storm of death on the cross, but he rose again. If we believe that Jesus can take our losses and deaths and use them to bring new life, we can face any storm. If we believe that nothing will be wasted in God’s economy of our lives, we can face face any storm. If we believe that Jesus will redeem our losses and pain and use them for his purposes, we can face any storm.

The storm may have been the worst thing the disciples had ever faced, but it also became the greatest thing—because the storm was the place where they met Jesus most deeply. The worst thing in our lives may turn out be the best thing—because in that place of vulnerability and weakness, we experience God’s love most fully. In that place of death we also experience his resurrection, his birthing new life out of death.

What can help our sailboat stay afloat in the storms of life? One is trusting in the love that Jesus Christ has for us. Another is his power, and third the belief that Jesus is with us in our boat. When we are in the storm, we can be tempted to panic or be anxious, but we don’t need to if we know Jesus is in our boat.

Several weeks ago I read an email I had received from Rachel Barkey who has been part of this community in years past. With her permission, I read part of an email from her.

For those who have not yet heard, recently cancer has returned--the cancer has spread to my liver and bones.

There is no cure.

And everyone is wondering "how long" and the truth is, we don't know. It is likely several months but it could be less or it could be more.

This is, by far, the hardest part of this for me: leaving Neil, Quinn and Kate. Serving them is my joy. Loving Neil and helping him has been the most wonderful privilege I could ask for. And being a mother has been a gift that I did not deserve. Quinn and Kate are treasures that were entrusted to me for a time and I am grateful that I was able to be their mother for these years. I struggle, of course, with the knowledge that I will not be there for them for much longer and wonder what life will be like for them without me. But I wrestled with this years ago, as some of you will remember, and was gently reminded that there is One who loves them even more than I do. And so He gently reminds me again.

Here’s an email from this week.

I am essentially bedridden. The pain in my back and constant nausea make it difficult for me to be vertical for more than a few moments of each day.

And so life continues. In a much different way than we expected this spring. We are often sad, of course, but underpinned with a deep and abiding peace and hope. God is with us and we know and treasure His comfort keenly these days. These days, weeks or months are often and will continue to be long and difficult. We find ourselves fumbling about trying to figure out how best to handle these circumstances that we have been given. But we are not alone.

"It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." (Deut. 31:8)

And it is true: He has gone before us. We are not alone. And so we are not afraid.

Rachel says we are not alone and so we are not afraid.

We are not alone and so we are not afraid.

Jesus says:

"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.


2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.

Jesus says to us, do not fear, I am in your boat and when you pass through the storms of life I will be with you and the waves will not sweep over you. I will see you through.


Benediction:

"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.


2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.

How Sabath Frees Us(Mar.8,2009)

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Mark M4 Sermon Notes March 8, 2009

Title: How Sabbath Frees Us

Text: Mark 2:23-3:6

Big Idea: We are set free through the Lord of the Sabbath.

This past week I saw the movie, Man on Wire, which just won the Oscar for best documentary film. Man on Wire tells the story of how Philippe Petit performed one of the most astonishing stunts of the late 20th century. On August 7, 1974 he strung a thin cable between the two towers of the World Trade Centre, and walked back and forth across from one building to another several times, and did a nerve-racking series of knee bends and acrobatic movements on the cable.

The New York Port Authority policemen immediately arrested Petit for the act, prompting many to call Petit’s stunt “the artistic crime of the century.”

In the documentary we are told that Philippe, as a boy, had a strict upbringing and he loved to push boundaries. As a boy he loved to climb trees and walk on ropes and break the law.

Some of us, though perhaps not as extreme as Philippe, can relate to him. As a boy, I also experienced pleasure in pushing boundaries, whether it was climbing the electrical towers that supported the power lines, or joy-riding in cars temporarily “borrowed” from the gas station, or shop lifting, or playing “truth or dare.”

One of my assumptions, as an adolescent, as I have shared before, was that committing my life to the way of God would somehow bind and restrict me. One of the biggest surprises that I have discovered in my following Jesus Christ across the years is the real freedom that he brings.

Jesus said in John 8 that “if you hold on to my teachings, you are really my disciples; and you will know the truth; and the truth shall set you free.”

Today, as we look at Jesus’ teaching on the Sabbath, we will see how the Sabbath sets us free.

As we explore this text, I am aware that there are a number of us here who are either unemployed, or fear the possibility of unemployment, because of our current recession. The Sabbath is something that is especially important for a person who is out of work because most people who are out of work, are looking for work (which itself is work--looking for a job can be a full-time job; and when you are out of work, if you are like most people, you are not in this place of inner rest and Sabbath). You feel like you ought to be working.

In between my time living in Southern California and living in Vancouver, I lived in White Rock for about 10 months and for most of that time—I was out of regular work. Although I was living in a condo with a friend from high school, right there on Marine Drive near the peer overlooking the ocean, and though you would think that it would have felt like a vacation for me, I had this feeling of inner restlessness, sensing that I ought to be doing something more productive. Sabbath was especially important for me then.

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Mark 2:23.

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

25 He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."

27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

1 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."

4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.

5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

Here in Mark 2 we see that Jesus was going through some grain fields. As he and his students walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees ask Jesus, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

Now when the Pharisees asked why Jesus’ students were doing what was unlawful on the Sabbath by picking some heads of grain, they were not referring so much to what the Scriptures actually said, but to the way the Jewish teachers of the law interpreted the Sabbath command.

According to Jewish tradition, there were 39 different ways to work and thus 39 ways to break the Sabbath command. Jewish tradition had so multiplied the requirements and restrictions for keeping the Sabbath that Sabbath-keeping began to feel like a burden, rather than a gift.

Jesus counters the Pharisees’ accusation that he was breaking the Sabbath by using Scripture. He cites the example of David from 1 Samuel 21. David and his companions were hungry and ate the consecrated bread which is lawful only for priests to eat. David also gave some of that bread to his companions. Jesus points out that David and his men’s hunger and well-being took precedence over ritual law.

Then Jesus says the Sabbath is made for people, not people for the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is made for us, for our good.

Jesus says in verse 28: “The Son of man (Jesus) is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

Right after this story, Mark us tells of another time when Jesus went into the synagogue and a man with a shriveled hand was there. “Some people who were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, ‘Stand up in front of everybody.’ Jesus asked them, ‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ But they remained silent. (Mark 3:1-5). He looked around at them in anger, and was deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was completely restored.”

In the teaching of the Jewish legal scholars, people weren’t allowed to initiate minor medical cures on the Sabbath, but it was permissible to save a life. The rule against minor cures on the Sabbath, according to Jewish tradition, applied to physicians, but not to healings brought about by God.

The Pharisees disputed among themselves as to whether it was permissible to pray for the sick on the Sabbath. So Jesus’ opponents in this story are taking a considerably stricter line against Jesus than the standard Jewish rules of their day would dictate. So Jesus asks the question, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”

When Jesus challenges the Pharisees’ interpretation of the Sabbath, he is not trying to abolish the Sabbath. He doesn’t say “I have come to do away with the Sabbath”; he says, “I am the Lord of the Sabbath.” I am not abolishing the Sabbath, I am here fulfill or fill-full the meaning of the Sabbath.

Jesus in these stories affirms the wisdom of the Sabbath command (which is the 4th of the Ten Commandments). What he is opposing, however, is the way that the Pharisees have interpreted the Sabbath commandment. He’s against the fact they have generated so many extra rules for the Sabbath that the Sabbath is no longer a joy for people, but a burden, no longer a delight for people, but a dreary obligation.

In these passages Jesus teaches us the commandment to take Sabbath was something that God made for people, for us, for our flourishing. The Sabbath was made for people—not people for the Sabbath.

Perhaps for a few of us here Sabbath was a dreary day as we were growing up. Though this was not my experience, I have heard people talk about how they were raised in strict Christian homes where the Sabbath day meant no playing hockey or baseball, no playing Scrabble, no chewing gum. Sabbath was a day they had to sit quietly in the house and read the Bible.

And on the other side of the continuum there are people who regard Sabbath, if at all, as a quaint, unrealistic luxury. In Japan, where I worked for a couple of years, I remember how people would typically get only one week of vacation time a year (and often not take all their vacation) and then in many cases would work during the weekend. To them life is work and work is life.

Though we are not as extreme in our work habits, with our advances in technology, with our laptops and the internet, our Blackberries and i-phones we can be working all the time.

Thomas Friedman, the columnist for the New York Times, points out that with our capacity to take our electronic devices and work with us wherever we go: “We are never ‘out’ anymore. We are always ‘in’. And if we are always ‘in’, we are always ‘on’. And if we are always ‘on’, what are we most like—a computer server.”

We know that a rigid, small-minded, tight-fisted, self-righteous legalism will squeeze all of the juice out of life. It is really clear to us how misguided the “legalists” are.

But we can be equally misguided on the other side of the spectrum by not taking time for Sabbath.

On the one hand, rigid rule-keeping that goes beyond what God requires will kill us; but, on the other hand, a relativism which assumes “anything goes, I don’t need to honour the Sabbath” will also kill us.

It is Jesus’ way that transcends both a rigid, rule-keeping legalism on the one hand, and“anything-goes” relativism on the other, that brings real life and freedom.

Jesus’ intention for us is to always bring life and freedom.

In one of my favorite verses, John 10:10 (and one of Stu Gardner‘s favorite verses) Jesus says, “The thief (meaning Satan or the personal force of darkness in the world) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full.” This verse is one of my favourites because it’s the verse that really caused me to give my life to Christ. I believe I was 15 years old and I had a sneaking suspicion that if I really gave my life to Christ, I would somehow miss out on the fun of being a teenager. But someone explained to me that Jesus didn’t come so that life would be boring, but we could experience life to the very maximum. That caused a powerful shift inside me and made me want to experiment with what it would be like to follow Jesus.

I thought that to really follow Christ I would be less free, but Jesus said in John 8, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Following Jesus’ way, brings life and freedom.

This is true as we follow his teaching on the Sabbath.

How so?

In Deuteronomy 5:15 when the Lord commands his people to keep the Sabbath he says, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”

The Lord tells them to keep the Sabbath day as reminder that they are free people.

Up until that point in history, no society that we are aware of had a “day off.”

Keeping Sabbath day reminds us that we are not slaves, but we are free people--people who have been freed by God. One of the markers of a free people, one of the markers of the people of God is that we keep Sabbath.

How do we know we are people who have been set free by God? We know it as we make Sabbath a part of our rhythm.

Sabbath reminds us that there is more to life than work and broadens our perspective—it gives us in the words of Abraham Heschel a “sanctuary in time.”

Getting away physically of course can broaden our perspective, but spending time in a new way also frees to see life in a new way.

Sabbath also frees us from our need to work all the time.

In Exodus 20 we read, "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.”

We are made to work (we had a series on work in the fall) and can work up to 6 days a week, but we are called to take a Sabbath day once week—even if it is Sunday or Saturday.

Sabbath gives us permission—in fact a command—to not work one day in seven.

Mark Buchanan, a pastor and gifted writer on the Island, says that the Golden Rule for the Sabbath is to cease from what is necessary and to embrace that which gives life.

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

When we read the Gospels, we see that Jesus chose life on the Sabbath: he healed people; he fed them; he supported rescuing animals that fell into wells on the Sabbath.

He honored the Sabbath by choosing life.

Mark Buchanan in his excellent book, The Rest of God, writes,

“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.”

Isn’t it great to have a day—when we shuck the “have-tos” and do the “get-tos”!

Part of embracing life is not do our “have tos” on the Sabbath and the stuff we normally do the other 6 days.

I have a professor friend whose work involves a lot of mental effort. He teaches, he researches, he writes. For him, on Sabbath, though he might not use the term Sabbath, he loves to fish. It is very restorative for him. Now if this person were a fisherman, fishing probably wouldn’t be restorative for him. So part of what Sabbath involves is doing something different from what we would normally do, what we normally do in our other 5 or 6 days of work.

If you’re a student, reading a textbook you have to read may be violation of the Sabbath, but going to the gym because you want to exercise, PE may be a good way to celebrate Sabbath.

Sometimes, as I’ve said before, what we can and can’t do on Sabbath isn’t necessarily black and white. Shopping is not a restful or enjoyable experience for me (as I have shared before). Going to Costco is not my idea of a good time—even with all the free sample…. But on my Sabbath day we will often go to a store we can walk to not far from our home, pick up some food at the deli for dinner, might buy some fruit, some baby food. A little bit of shopping, and I emphasize a little bit of shopping does not seem to violate the Sabbath for me, but if I do a lot of shopping, if I generate a list of all the things we need since we are at this store anyway for the coming week, then for me it starts to feel like work, starts to feel like I am violating the Sabbath…for me.

I think we can sense intuitively when something crosses the line and becomes work.

It is important to be honest with ourselves.

Nancy Woodhull, the founding publisher of USA TODAY, was a highly successful executive with a very busy and varied life: “I am not the kind of person,” she once explained, “who can just sit around the pool and not do anything, so I take a Dictaphone to the pool, and when I have ideas I can record them. Not being able to do that would be very stressful for me. People will say to me, ‘Nancy, why don’t you relax and recharge your energy?’ I reply, ‘I am being energized by getting these ideas down.’ Having access to a Dictaphone allows you to be more productive. So does having a cell phone. And so does having a computer. You take all these tools and there is really no need for down time. Anyone can find me anywhere, any time.”

Less than a decade after she described this—her modus operandi—she died of cancer. She was just 52 years old. There is no way, of course, of determining conclusively whether there was any relationship between Woodhull’s work habits and her early death, but her profile was not significantly different from many Japanese people who die from karoshi (death from over work). (p.42, Loehr and Schwartz). So we have to be careful to not rationalize the fact that we so love work that it is restorative for us. I love work in general, and I love my work in particular here. And I definitely have workaholic tendencies, but to disregard the Sabbath for me would not only dishonour God, but it would also dishonour his design for me…diminish my life.

Sabbath frees us from our need to work the way we do in our other six days, and to do what brings life to our self and for others as we serve them as an instrument of healing. This month the youth group will be serving the homeless and coming alongside underprivileged kids in New York City. One of the ways we honor Sabbath is by bringing life to others.

In our context here in British Columbia it would be easy to assume that Sabbath is essentially leisure. Leisure is important, spending time in creation and nature is restorative, but leisure alone will not bring us the deepest kind of rest and the most profound kind of life. Only God can…only the Lord of the Sabbath can.

Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls.”

In order to really deeply rest, we need more than simply the absence of work. We need absence from work, but we need something more than that—we need to experience internal rest. It is possible to sleep, but if we don’t experience REMs, rapid eye movement (which we typically experience about 90 minutes into sleep), we won’t feel deeply rested. It is not just sleep, but the quality of the sleep that matters.

And so it is with our lives. We need not just rest—we need deep inner rest, rest from the inner murmur that says, we are defined by what we do, or have or who we know. Rest from the voice of self-condemnation.

As we looked at earlier in message in the Mark series, Henri Nouwen has said, “Most of us are far more busy than we need to be.”

Henri Nouwen, in his book, The Beloved, says this:

There is absolutely no reason for most people to be as busy as they are….

If you are busy, very busy, ask yourself, “Why am I so busy? Perhaps you want to prove something. Why are people so busy? Perhaps they want to be successful or they want to be popular or they want to have some influence. If you want to be successful, you have to do a lot of things; if you want to be popular you have to meet a lot of people; if you want to have influence, you have to make a lot of connections… Sabbath frees us from our drive to have success: more money, more popularity, more influence.

Part of the reason why we are so busy is because we are trying to validate our existence to ourselves or to other people.

We wear a heavy yoke of our own making.

Sabbath…

One of my all-time favorite movies is Chariots of Fire.

I love Scotland. I love to run. I had even considered the possibility of applying to St. Andrews University because it is in Scotland and it has a great running beach and it is where Chariots of Fire was filmed!

POWERPOINT IMAGE

The movie, Chariots of Fire, is based on a true story of Eric Liddell. He is a devoted follower of Christ who represents Great Britain in the Olympic Games in Paris 1924. Liddell lived in a time and place where people believed that the Sabbath was to be observed on a Sunday. As a committed Christian, Eric Liddell refused to run in the Olympics on Sunday. As a result he chose to withdraw from the 100-meter race, his best event and the one for which he was expected to win the gold medal. I am sure that Liddell was disappointed that he was not able to compete in that race because he wanted to represent Great Britain and because he loved to run. But he was at peace with that because his life was not defined by winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games, but by the fact that he was beloved by God.

(Although Eric Liddell was not able to run in the 100-meter race, he was able to run in the 400-meter race. Someone withdrew from the race so Liddell could run in it. Now the 400-meter race was not Liddell’s forte, it was not his strongest suit, but he wanted to run it anyway. As Liddell went to the starting blocks, someone slipped into his hand a piece of paper with a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30: “Those who honour me, I will honour.” Liddell ran with that piece of paper in his hand, and not only won the race, but broke the existing world record.)

But Liddell was the kind of person who didn’t need the gold medal to validate his worth, because he knew that he was loved by God. His life was filled with such great peace and joy and went to become a missionary to China.

In stark contrast to Eric Liddell was another person competing in those Olympic games, Harold Abrams. Harold Abrams did not have Eric Liddell’s faith. He was intense and driven. At one point in the movie, when asked why was it so important for him to win the 100-meters, Abrams says, “I have ten seconds to justify my existence.”

For many of us here, you relate more to Harold Abrams because we feel we have to do something to justify our existence. Or Rocky Balboa who in Rocky I said, “I am going to go the distance with Creed. Then for the first time in my life, I will know that I am not just another bum from Philly.”

So many of us feel like we have to do something, or have something, or to be seen in a certain light, or have something to justify our existence. So even when we are “resting,” we are not really resting. We are not experiencing the REM of the soul.

Part of the reason why worship is such an important part of Sabbath, what we are doing here, is to remind ourselves of the great story that in Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, we find that we are beloved, that our life is not ultimately something that we achieve, but something that we receive. When we understand that, we can experience rest in our souls.

Jesus’ way doesn’t restrict us, as I had thought as young person, but sets us free.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

If we come to the One who says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden,” we can find rest for our souls. We can find relief from the burden of our sins and shame (as we were reminded of last week by Darrell) and find rest for our souls.