Sermon Series
Ten Truths that Show Us How to Love – Part 4
"God's WORD for Workaholics"
Pastor Jerry
Mark 6:30-32 (NLT); Exodus 20:8-10a (NLT)
------------------------------------- Message Synopsis -------------------------------------
Today is week four of our sermon series concerning,
“Truth!”
There is confusion in our world today in who and in what to believe and it has never been more important than now to know,
“What’s the Truth?”
Thousands of years ago
God gave ten truths for living; they are called
The Ten Commandments. The first and great commandment is to
love God with all our being—which is what the first four commandments teach us. And the second great commandment is
to love your neighbor as yourself—which is what the last six commandments teach us.
Today we're going to look at the 4th commandment and how it will
build our faith and teach us truth on how to show love. The message today is titled, “God’s Word to Workaholics.”
So, here is Truth number four in our series! Exodus 20:8-9
“Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. You have six days in which to do your work but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work."
Today we're going to look at what God has to say about taking a day off each week for rest.
Would you agree that there are people who work too much and in doing so causes damage to their health and also hurts their relationships with their families?
It's interesting to me that God has more to say about taking a day off than He does about either murder or adultery.
Why do you think God is commanding us to do this? Isn’t it a Truth that God has given to teach us how to Love Him
(and in so doing showing us how to love ourselves). The Truth is that observing the Sabbath…is for your benefit!
- THE SABBATH: …IS AN ANTIDOTE TO BURNOUT
What does the word Sabbath mean?
Sabbath means "Day of rest". God says every seventh day you are to take as a day of rest.
Why? Mark 2:27, Jesus said
"The Sabbath was made to benefit man, and not man to benefit the Sabbath." The purpose is to prevent burnout.
When is the Sabbath? Saturday, Sunday, Friday? It doesn't matter.
The answer is once a week. God doesn't care when you do it as long as you do it once a week.
In the New Testament the first Christians took the Jewish Sabbath and began to celebrate it on Sunday in honor of Jesus' resurrection.
The Truth is that keeping the Sabbath Holy… is for your benefit!
- WHAT ARE YOU TO DO ON YOUR SABBATH
How do you
"keep it holy"?
What does it mean to be holy? Holy means
"set –apart," different. God says, I want you to set one day a week apart to do something different than you do the other six days of the week. How do I do that? God wants you to use the Sabbath, your day, at least once a week:
(1) to rest, (2) to recharge and (3) to refocus.
- (First) God says you make the day holy by using the day to rest your body.
Psalm 127:2
"God wants his loved ones to get their proper rest." Your body needs rest. This is so important that God used Himself as an example.
When he created the world, it says he took six days to create the world and on the seventh He rested.
How about you? Have you felt burned out? You need to have time off to rest. There are a lot of tempting things that pull you toward your work -- money, success, recognition …and with the Pandemic, especially for health responders, there’s the un-relinquishing demand. Our bodies were not built for nonstop work. The first principle, the first thing you do to keep the Sabbath holy, you rest your body.
- (Second) God says you make the day holy by recharging your emotions.
Use the day to recharge your emotions because constant work creates a stress that drains you.
Americans are always in a hurry, wanting what they want now. That’s why this coronavirus pandemic is so hard – we don’t know how to wait (we don’t know how to be patient).
We don’t find it easy to wait for needed doses of inspiration and encouragement. How do you do that? There are 3 things that are universal that you need to build into every Sunday (or build into your Sabbath):
- In order to recharge your emotions (first) you need to include time for quietness.
Ps. 23:3
"He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul." Quietness and soul restoration go together. The Bible says,
"Be still and know that I am God." You need to schedule quiet periods in your life and
God says part of your Sabbath needs to be a quiet time.
- In order to recharge your emotions (second) you need to include time for family.
Sunday has historically been a day for two things:
church and family. God wants you to plan some special time with your family, to spend special time with them that draws your family together.
Relax, have some fun with your family. You're not wasting time,
- In order to recharge your emotions (third) you need to include time for fellowship
You need time with other believers. That is why this Pandemic is causing so much strain on the church and people’s lives.
We draw strength from being together. When we get together we encourage each other. That’s why you are going out of your way to come to church today under these circumstances. It’s not ideal, but it’s needed.
Many of you grew up in churches where after Sunday church you had a family over for dinner. That is lost today, especially in this Pandemic.
I think that is the thing that's most missing: the fellowship, the interaction, the relationships, the hugs that we need to recharge.
- (Third) and finally, God says you make the day holy by REFOCUSING your SPIRIT.
You need God. This is the most important part. Ps. 95:6
"Come let us bow down in worship before the Lord our Maker." Sunday is mainly a day to worship, to get a focus on God, a time to remember what's important, a time to get a spiritual make over.
You need every week to refocus on God. That's what worship does. It helps bring into focus what's really important.
The problem is if all you ever do is work and play, then, pretty soon you start thinking that that’s all there is to life is work and play; however, there's a lot more to life than just work and play.
Be still, and know God.
Mark 8:36
"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? What can a man give in exchange for his soul?" God wants you to ask that question every seven days, God wants you to stop and reexamine your priorities, reevaluate, regroup, relax, tune into God, listen to Him, get your perspective right, get your priorities rebalanced and refocus on God.
You need that every seven days. That’s what makes Sunday a holy Sabbath!
You need to understand this Truth in order to know how to love God and love others! Jesus says,
"I came that you might have life." When you do it God's way, you benefit -- physically, emotionally, spiritually, in every way.
When you don't follow God's truth and you don't have Christ as the center of your life, you're out of balance. Matthew 11
"Come to me, all you who are weary and over-burdened, and I will give you rest! Jesus says if you're carrying a heavy burden today, come to Me—because you're carrying something that I don't want you carrying. You're trying to be God. Now is the time to let go! Let God be God and you be just you. That’s the truth! The Sabbath was made for man to benefit you. Come to Jesus—He is waiting for you!
