Balance – The Rest of God

North SideYesterday was fun at North Side. I preached a message on the Rest of God in our Balance series we are doing now. The big idea was: To experience the rest of God, you must set apart the Sabbath. The fourth commandment is what I think could quite possibly be the most neglected commandment in the Bible: Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Most people think that keeping the Sabbath holy means coming to church on Sunday, but honestly, that has nothing to do with it. God wants you to take a day off. He wants you to take one day out of seven and lie down in green pastures. He wants you to cease from creating to enjoy what’s been created. He wants you to stop working so you can enjoy the benefits from your work. One day a week (Jesus really doesn’t care about which day it is), God desires you to chill.

For those looking for balance, the Sabbath is key. God has given us a buffer every week to stop and reflect, to pray a little longer, to enjoy those relationships that we rush through with every week.  Set it apart (aka – keep it holy) every week and don’t let anything get in the way from keeping the Sabbath.  We will have the sermon audio up hopefully in about two weeks on the website after the update is finished.

A couple of questions were posed after the sermon on Sunday:

  • What if I volunteer at Project Love on Saturday and help out on Sunday too? That’s a great question.  For some of you, I would recommend that you find one place to serve and serve well.  I think you do yourself a disservice by occasionally volunteering in a couple of places.  I think to serve well, you need to find a place where there is a need and it meets your heart, and you serve there with all your heart.  Some of you who might do stuff on Saturday and occasionally Sunday should see if you can make sure you don’t do both in a weekend.  Maybe you could serve on Saturday, and then just come and enjoy church on Sunday without any positions you hold.
  • Can Sunday be my Sabbath? Yes!  It’s the spirit of the Sabbath we are looking for.  If you find yourself needing Saturdays to catch up and stay busy or volunteer somewhere, then wake up on Sunday morning.  Come to church (something I hope that gives you life) and then go play the rest of the day.  My C-Group gives me life – it’s not a chore – I love being with those guys.  So if you went to a C-Group on a Sabbath, that’s not bad either – you are enjoying God-given relationships.  Just shut down and rest on that day.
  • I don’t need a day of rest, I get to rest a bunch.  I was so glad that some students brought this up.  If you honestly don’t feel busy that you need a day off, may I suggest something: maybe you aren’t working hard enough the other six days.  We were put on this earth for something, and we better be doing it all for the glory of God (Col. 3:23).  And you should be doing it with all you’ve got since it is for God’s glory, and by the seventh day you should need a rest.  To focus on rest so much yesterday, I need you to understand something: the other six days are crazy busy for me.  It’s intentionally done that way.  I want to accomplish something through my life – I want to know I made a difference, not that I simply watched every Seinfeld rerun available everyday.
  • I only work five days, what else should I be doing? Find a place to serve your heart out.  Project Love needs people to love on children on Saturdays.  I could give you a list of ways you could serve at North Side on Sundays.  Work and work well, and if you need a place, make sure to call the church office and see how you can plug in.  In fact, you can go to this website and see where you can plug into at North Side.

To experience the rest of God, you must set apart the Sabbath.  But to truly enjoy that rest, you need to be tired.
We worshiped to the following songs today:

  • I Stand Amazed – Passion
  • How Can I Keep from Singing? – Chris Tomlin
  • God of This City – Chris Tomlin
  • If I Could Just Sit with You Awhile – Dennis Jernigan

Looking forward to the end of this series this coming Sunday when we talk about “The Rest of You.”