Abundant Life Christian Fellowship Service Live Stream

[Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] uh [Music] i thought alcf is a multi-ethnic multi-generational community of believers who are dedicated to being transformed by the love of jesus christ everything we do flows from what we value authentic relationships intentional discipleship and sacrificial mission simply stated abundant life exists to know jesus and to make him known this is alcf this is alcf amen hey good to see you everybody good morning good morning good morning come on stand to your feet if you can i invite you let's worship and bless the lord father we bless you this morning we give you glory all the honor all the praise our energies lord may it bless you so much lord that you just make things happen lord as you do father we honor you in this place in jesus name amen that's exactly the song we're going to sing in jesus name come on get your praise on this morning is jesus we will not be will live [Music] is in jesus name [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] is oh jesus and i am is is [Music] shout it out [Music] and we will shout it out shout it out [Music] let's continue in our time together hallelujah [Music] who can escape is we say is no more foreign [Music] been is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is my [Music] how can you corner that this morning come on lift your voice with us [Music] [Music] me [Music] you know i've often said that when we sing and no matter who's singing it and it may sound great but there's nothing like when god's people sing there's nothing when when you hear whether it's two three four but when the congregation lifts up their their voices unto the lord there's nothing that beats them so before we end our time of worship here on this section of the service i want you to i want to hear you guys is that all right i want to hear you guys come on ready break it down [Music] one more time sing it to the lord sing it from your heart [Music] thank you [Music] yes my own we're gonna head into a time of prayer [Music] and here's what i want to pray about this morning uh there are some of us here there are some of us watching online for whom singing that song came very easily and naturally god is good and we feel it in this moment but there are some here today and there are some who are walking watching online for whom singing those words did not come easily and maybe you couldn't even sing them at all i was reading in ruth this morning for those of you know the story of ruth there's a famine in in bethlehem and so she leaves with her husband and her two sons and her two sons get married as they're sojourning and her husband and her two sons die while they're gone and then she returns to her home city bethlehem with one of her daughters in law and this is what she says when she gets back this is ruth 1 21 out starting at 20. she says she said to them do not call me naomi call me mara for the almighty has dealt very bitterly with me i went away full and the lord has brought me back empty why call me naomi when the lord has testified against me and the almighty has brought calamity upon me what i think is so interesting about that passage is that the author of ruth does not stop and interject a commentary there and say no no no god did not bring calamity upon her the author just lets it stand because sometimes we go through seasons of life where it doesn't feel like god is good where it feels like all we get we ask for bread and we get a stone we ask for a fish and we get a scorpion but i want to remind all of us this morning myself included that as that song the waymaker says even when we don't see it he is working even when we don't feel it he is working even when god doesn't feel good to our emotions he still is good [Music] [Applause] because god god's goodness does not depend on our emotions but on his nature he he doesn't do good i mean he does do good he is good and he's good all of the time and i know there's someone here or there's someone watching online who needs to be reminded of that this morning so let's pray god we recognize that our journey through this life is full of ups and downs and we know that at any given moment in a congregation this size in a body this size there are some who are rejoicing and there are some who are weeping and this morning god we want to lift up those in our body who are struggling to feel that you are good we all are going to go through seasons like that at some point or another and our request to you god is that you would allow us to walk through the dark seasons of life where it feels like nothing is going right with a quiet confidence that you are still good even when we can't feel it god i pray for someone who is struggling this morning i pray that you would give them endurance to run the race that you have put in front of them i pray that you would give them supernatural power that can only come from your spirit to have as paul says joy in any circumstance because our joy is not founded on our external circumstances but on the internal truth that we are redeemed by god i pray that you would speak encouragement into someone's life this morning that you would remind someone that you are good all the time and all the time you are good just speaking the words has power we thank you and we praise you for the truth we are lost without you god and we long to have more of you we invite you into this service today god we invite your presence to be here holy spirit have your way among us we pray it all in jesus name amen [Applause] you can be seated uh my name is gary anderson i serve as the pastor here at abundant life christian fellowship uh it is a total total joy to be back with you this morning uh it is so good to see you all and we're so grateful to all of you who are able to join us either here in person or online via our live stream we are now going to get our announcements for the week so if you will direct your attention to the screens at alcf worship team auditions are now open if you have musical or vocal experience and are interested in auditioning for our worship team please contact junior tagatta at jr.tagatta alcf.net all safari kids classes are now open for more info contact megan at megan.com at alcf.net if you're in 6th through 12th grade be sure to join us upstairs on the second and fourth sundays after praise and worship for a special time to connect with other youth who want to grow in christ for more info contact alcf.net forward students or students at alcf.net alcf prayer gatherings provide opportunities to come together in prayer for our families communities nation and beyond please join us for one of our four regular zoom prayer gatherings and for more details go to alcf.net forward slash zoom to stay connected with the alcf small group community go to alcf.net forward slash zoom abundant life exists to know jesus and to make him known [Applause] i just want to make two quick additional announcements as i want to do the first is i have been asked by our prayer team to remind you all that the prayer baskets are still out here up on these steps that come up to the podium or the stage sorry not the podium the stage we love to pray for you and we love to pray for your request so please know there are cards down here you are welcome and invited to fill them out either anonymously or with your name and you can know that our prayer team will be praying for it whatever it is that you put there so these prayer baskets are open the other thing i want to just make sure you caught is that we are now taking auditions for our worship team and so if you you can clap for that [Applause] if you have musical experience we're not looking to train someone who has never played an instrument before or never sang before but if you have worship experience and you feel like god is leading you to maybe potentially join our worship team we would love to have you audition for that junior is our guy you can reach out to him at his email junior.tagatta alcf.net and let himself or me know if you have any other questions about that but we are uh really amazed that god is beginning to raise up a worship team here from our body and just think it is an awesome thing and so excited for what he's going to do through it so that's that we're now going to continue our worship with the giving of our tithes and our offerings so if you will stand and say our giving liturgy with me i recognize that most of you do not give physically on sunday mornings i was told this week that 95 of our giving is done online which is amazing and a huge blessing but this is still a meaningful moment in which we acknowledge that everything we have is simply a gift from god to us and it is our joyful response to what he has done for us to simply give some of what is already his back to him will you say these words with me as for the rich in this present age charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but on god who richly provides us with everything to enjoy they are to do good to be rich in good works to be generous and ready to share thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life amen a body life is time to give you can do it online you can do it on our app or if you have a gift this morning you can drop it in any one of the giving boxes located throughout the sanctuary or the lobby we just ask that you do that on your way out at the end of service let's continue worshiping [Music] sing this with me church i am a friend of god i am a friend of god [Music] i am a friend i've got you call me friend sing it now y'all i am a friend of god i am a friend of god [Music] father we bless you i am the friend of god he calls me prayer sing it who am i who am i that you are my full is it true is it true that you are thinking of me [Music] it's amazing [Music] is [Music] of is [Music] yes i am a friend of god [Music] he calls me [Music] me [Music] is it's amazing it's amazing it's amazing it's amazing i am a friend of god i am a friend of god [Music] think about it [Music] me [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] i am [Music] i am [Music] hey god bless y'all bless god amen let's pray god we have given you worship to the best of our abilities and now we turn to hear a word from you i pray god that as we quiet our hearts before you and as we prepare to hear what it is that you have for us this morning i pray that those of us who are hungry for the bread of life would be fed i pray that those of us who are thirsty for living water would drink i pray that you would show us what it is that you have to teach us this morning god and i pray that we would not leave this place unchanged but that we would our faces would shine like moses because we haven't been in your presence and we've had an encounter with you we thank you for your word we thank you for what it shows us we thank you that you have revealed yourself to us and we want to know you more so we ask that you would speak clearly now speak through me may the truth of who you are and the precious good news of your gospel be communicated clearly and powerfully in this moment we prayed in jesus name amen you can be seated thank you worship team [Applause] two waters this morning it's special good morning uh it is so good to be back uh for those of you who maybe were gone for july uh i was too and so we're all coming back together um i want to say thank you thank you for letting us take that time off it was amazing uh it was a restorative and restful time we went to tennessee for several weeks where both best family and my family is and while we had seen our parents a few times over the last year and a half we had not seen siblings or cousins or aunts and uncles and it was incredibly life-giving to be with uh to be away and to be with these people we dearly love so i just want to say thank you to you all for holding down the fort i want to say thank you to our staff and elders i particularly want to thank pastor zack and elder keith and and jason and anthony who all brought fantastic messages while i was gone [Applause] and it's good to be back a couple other things i just want to mention real quick this week we had vbs vacation bible school at our church and it was awesome i was there almost every night on thursday night some of you will know leslie she helps lead worship with the maranatha band she gave the gospel message to almost a hundred kids and i couldn't count the number of hands that went up when she asked who would like to invite jesus to come into their life it was it was awesome and it was powerful and it was a huge blessing and so i just want to say thank you to those of you uh from our body who are a part of that and served uh at vbs uh last thing i want to mention and some of you may notice this safari kids is open today that is uh i'm trying to keep track of these things as we go through this season of our church but that is a direct answer to prayer we've been praying that god would raise up the leaders that we needed and he did barely but we made it and so that is a huge blessing for our kids to be not have to listen to me and get discipled uh while we all are in here so pray for them and if god stirs your heart to serve uh we definitely could use more volunteers uh all right we're continuing our series in mark that we call let's go and so today we're gonna be reading starting in mark chapter two uh starting in verse 23 we're gonna go through chapter three verse 12 223 is where we're starting i'll give you uh just a handful of seconds to find that in your bible or on your app and as always we will show it on the screens if you need to follow along there mark 2 starting in verse 23. this is what it says it says one sabbath he that's jesus was going through the grain fields and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain and the pharisees were saying to him look why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath and he said to them have you never read what david did when he was in need and was hungry he and those who were with him how he entered the house of god in the time of abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the presence which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat and also gave it to those who are with him and he said to them the sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath so the son of man is lord even of the sabbath continuing in chapter three verse one it says again he entered the synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand and they watched jesus to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him and he said to the man with the withered hand come here and he said to them is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm to save life or to kill but they were silent and he looked around at them with anger grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man stretch out your hand he stretched it out and his hand was restored the pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the herodians against him how to destroy him jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea and a great crowd followed from galilee in judea and jerusalem and idumea and from beyond the jordan and from around tyre and sidon when the great crowd heard all that he was doing they came to him and he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd lest they crush him for he had healed many so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him and whenever the unclean spirits saw him they fell down before him and cried out you are the son of god and he strictly ordered them not to make him known this is the word of the lord thanks be to god i heard someone many years ago describe your first year in the real world as the freshman year of life and i love that and i've used it so many times since then particularly because it so aptly describes my experience the first year that i was out of college as many of you know because i've talked about it many times my first year out of school i sold hardwood lumber in buffalo new york and over the last year and a half as i've been preaching regularly i have often wondered if god gave me that year in my life just so i would have illustrations for when i was gonna preach later on in life i was clueless when i got to that first job i studied business and economics in college but mainly just because i thought it would leave some doors open for me when i graduated while many of my classmates during the summers were doing internships at jpmorgan chase and edward jones i was working at a christian outdoor camp in maine awesome i wouldn't trade it for the world but it wasn't exactly one-to-one training for what life was going to be like when i got into an office someday to show you how clueless i was i'm not making this up on my first day at that job they gave me a cubicle they gave me some paperwork to fill out and then they left me alone and i i will never forget sitting there thinking do i need to ask someone if i need to go to the bathroom or can i just get up and go anytime i want i was clueless and they didn't help very much their training program was here's your territory go figure it out i uh uh my manager early on told me uh kind of in passing but to kind of pass on the culture of the company he said we don't stay in expensive hotels i was 22 i was right out of college 70 for the holiday inn express seemed expensive to me and so i spent all of my time staying in the cheapest motels i could find and i still cringe thinking about some of the places i stayed in when i couldn't take it anymore i would splurge on the super 8 and just hope that no one called me on it when i turned in my expense report at the end of the month each month they would have a little meeting for the salesman and they would give out uh awards for record months and in my second month there one salesman got an award because he had a 1.2 million dollar month i got an award because i had a 37 thousand dollar month i was clueless and i spent most of my time that first year wondering when they were gonna fire me like tomorrow's the day i know that they're gonna fire me because i put all kinds of expectations and pressure on myself that ended up not actually being there they were my expectations not my boss's expectations not the sales manager's expectations not the company's expectations they were mine and i was miserable because i wasn't living up to the expectations that i had when i finally got when i did get a new job and and it was of god and it was the right move and um it was a huge blessing when i told him i was leaving one of the sales managers took me out to breakfast just to kind of debrief it and i'll never forget how the conversation went i was already leaving so i felt all kind of freedom to just be honest with them in ways that i hadn't been honest with them up to that point and i was like look i feel like you guys set me up to fail like you gave me the smallest territory with no customers in it any customers that existed in the territory they gave me stayed with the previous salesman so i was just scraping the bottom of the barrel i was grinding it out getting very little success feeling like i was dying a thousand deaths really every day being like i'm gonna lose my job tomorrow and i'll never forget what he said he was like you're doing exactly what we expected you to do he's like you're doing better than we expected you to do you're the new guy you're the young guy you're the junior guy of course you get the bottom of the barrel of course you get the small territory he's like you got to pay your dues and you got to grind it out and some days something will change someone will leave someone will get a promotion and then your chance comes you're doing exactly what we were hoping you would do and we hate to lose you and i'm like if you could have told me that like six months ago that would have been really great this is not part of my sermon but this is just a freebie if you're a manager and your people are doing well just tell them that it goes a really really long way but here's the point that should have been a really neat season in my life it should have been a fun it should have been a season of incredible growth and learning and new experiences now it was selling lumber and buffalo so i'm not i wouldn't have to over romanticize it but i was pretty much miserable and i was pretty much miserable mostly because i had put all these expectations on myself that weren't there still still struggle with that if i'm being honest but god's working on it i ruined something that was good because i put all these extra expectations on top of it and before all of you are like silly young man and pat me on the head we all do it we all do this we all do this in so many areas of life we do it at school especially here in a place like silicon valley right it's like some a's aren't enough it has to be straight a's a 3.9 is not good enough and actually a 4.0 is not good enough and i don't even know how the math works on this but it's got to be a 4.2 or whatever we do it at work right i mean i don't even have to i don't have to describe that just we we know what that's like this is a sermon for another day but god created us to work and obviously it's been affected by the fall it's been affected by sin but at some level that creation of us to work should carry through into our lives and we should find some semblance of joy and fulfillment in doing and working and creating because god made us to but it just is a chore because we put all these expectations on us it's got to be we got to be better than the next guy we got to get the next promotion the next bonus and it's just because this this miserable never enough deal for those of us who have kids we do it with our parenting right now there should be some level of just incredible joy in the process of raising these little lives and living with them and and and teaching them and and showing them how to live life but we put so much pressure on ourselves to be the perfect parents to have perfect kids who are always obedient and play an instrument and excel at a sport and get into an ivy league school and are well adjusted and respect their elders and get a great job that we lose the joy that should be inherent in just being a family we do it with vacation it's like the time that we're supposed to rest it's like we spent so much money on this and it's going to be perfect and everyone's going to be happy and no one's going to be in a foul mood and we've got to have all the right meals and we got to take the right pictures to put on instagram and it ends up not actually being a vacation or restful because amen because we're always adding on we're always adding expectations and pressures that don't need to be there and we don't just do it outside the church we do it in the church as well if there is one misconception one caricature of what it means to follow jesus that the world outside of the church has it is this it is that it is all about rules it is all about expectations it's all about living up to some kind of standard that has been set for us and if we can just keep it a hundred a lot of us who call ourselves followers of jesus feel the same way we treat this thing as if it's a if it's a performance deal as if as if there are these rules and these expectations and we got to live up to them if we're going to do it the right way but here's the thing and if you get nothing else out of this message here it is because it's we're gonna get to the text eventually it's what the text is telling us today following jesus is not about rules it's about people following jesus is not about rules it is about people and that is what we are going to see as we look through our texts today let's just get a little bit of context the reason we're looking at these three passages together is primarily because the first two deal with the same theme and that is what the sabbath what does it mean to follow the sabbath remember the words of god are the words of the bible are inspired by god the chapter and verse divisions are not so i think it's awkward that mark's gospel has a split between chapter two and chapter three here because the end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter three clearly go together they are both challenges to what it means to observe the sabbath and so here's what i wanted to do today i wanted to preach a sermon on the sabbath i wanted to preach a sermon about god's command for us to rest one day a week because we're terrible at it if we treated the command to sabbath if we treated the other commandments in the ten commandments like we treat the commandment to sabbath we would be in a lot of trouble i just came off the longest break from work i've had as an adult and it was good it was really good and we need to do better at following god's command to rest but here's the thing these passages are not really about the sabbath they are at one level of course but the sabbath command used in these passages by mark is simply a representation it is a representation of all of god's law see for the the people in this text for the israelites that jesus was speaking to at this time they had a law that had been given to them by god called the mosaic law we're in a similar boat today we have a law that's been given to us by god except it didn't come through moses on mount sinai it came through the person and teaching of jesus christ who incidentally upholds a lot of the mosaic law but does away with some of it that's a message for another day these passages are getting to a deeper question than should we or what does it look like to observe the sabbath they are getting to the question that satan has been putting into the hearts of men and women since the beginning of time and it is this is god for us is god good is he for us or is it really about rules because a lot of people back then and a lot of us today think that it's mostly about rules and expectations but it is not about rules it's about people so only two points to my sermon today uh i had three and as i was writing it i was way way way over on how long it should have been i guess i've been gone for a while and i got all these words inside of me that need to come out so two points today and the first thing that i want us to see as we look at these passages is this god's law is for us not against us god's law is for us not against us so as we come to our text you may remember before i went away uh we're coming off a series of conflict stories where jesus is having more and more conflict with the insiders the religious leaders of the day and it leads us to this story that we pick up in verse 23 and they are looking for ways to get jesus the mosaic law stated that if you broke the sabbath it was punishable by death don't miss that because we're only at the end of mark chapter 2 but the wheels are already in motion for jesus crucifixion uh 13 chapters from now he's making some enemies and they are looking for ways to get him and so here his he and his disciples walking through a field on a saturday and the pharisees are watching them and they see that jesus is plucking heads of grain he and his disciples and eating them and now we just got to understand what sabbath meant to the israelites back then sabbath was a huge deal sabbath is this hebrew word that simply means to stop to cease to rest it was modeled by god in creation he worked six days creating the earth and then on the seventh day he rested and when he saved his people out of slavery in egypt and he made a covenant with them one of the major things that he commanded them to do was one day a week to rest it was a major way that they were to be a peculiar people a holy people of people set out from the nations around them that one day a week they stopped work it was for their good and for god's glory but like so many of god's instructions for us by the time we get to jesus it had been so twisted and turned upside down this group called the pharisees who thought that rule following was the deal had added all these extra rules and expectations onto all of god's laws but particularly unto the law to set under the commandment to sabbath so they had 39 written forms of work that were prohibited on the sabbath you couldn't go for a journey on the sabbath and they considered a journey two thousand steps so you were allowed to walk 1999 steps but in 2000 and that was work if somebody was an imminent threat of dying you could help them but if it was just a broken bone or a dislocated joint that needed to wait till sundown because that wasn't going to kill them you could reap uh you could gather on the sabbath but you couldn't reap and here's jesus and his disciples walking through this field plucking heads of grain taking a snack on a saturday stroll and the pharisees are like gotcha and what does jesus say to them he points them to a story in their own scriptures it's in 1st samuel 21 we don't time doesn't permit for us to go there this morning but he points them to a story about david the greatest king in israel's history the one whom these very pharisees were waiting for his descendant to come and set them free he was right in front of them in the moment and he says remember when david was running away from saul who was trying to kill him he and his men and they were starving and they came to the tabernacle and the only food that was there was the holy bread which only the priests were supposed to eat do you remember what david did he said i'll take it for me and my men and he ate it and then he says this verse 27 the sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath do you see what he is saying he's saying you have twisted it so upside down he's saying look god did not create a bunch of rules and then create people in order to follow those rules he's saying god created man and then he gave them rules for their good and for his glory these rules my law it is not against you it is for you because god's laws are not against us they are for us one of the highlights of our trip last month uh was we spent a day uh at dollywood okay that's what i expected dollywood is dolly parton's amusement park in sevierville tennessee now i am not we're not an amusement park family probably because i'm not an amusement park guy 100 per person to get in a million people hours standing in the blazing hot sun in line for a 90 second ride 15 funnel cakes call me scrooge it's just not my deal love the rides they're fun if i could just go without anyone else there and on a cloudy day it'd be great but my parents had free passes and so we went and it was it like in all of about 10 minutes there i was like oh yeah this is why i don't do amusement parks but it turned out to be a a wonderful day a blast and maybe the best part of it was our 10 year old howie was dead set on riding his first roller coasters and so beth and i went with him on his first coasters and it was actually a really neat parenting moment standing in line for that first coaster and he had just been like i want to ride it i want to ride it i want to ride it and then we get in line and you can see he just kind of gets quiet and he's watching the coaster go and we're like hey bud we can step out of line anytime you want and just he was like nope i'm going to do it and and he faced that fear and anxiety and we walked up on the platform after an hour and sat down in that car and he loved it but imagine this imagine if we had gotten in that coaster and as the attendant came around to put the lap restraint down the bar down on his lap imagine if howie had been like what no no no you're not going to put that restraint on me that is not how i want to enjoy this ride you can't restrict me like that that is that is that is not within your your purview to do to me and i want to enjoy this ride without any kind of restraint he better hope that his forearms are like super strong because the first time that coaster does a loop-de-loop he's going to be hanging upside down or he's going to be praying that it makes it to the bottom of the loop to catch him after he has fallen out of the car why because the restraint on a roller coaster is not a restriction it is a kindness it is a goodness it allows you to enjoy the ride in the way that it was intended to be enjoyed without that restraint the ride probably ends in death and so it is with god's law god's law is not a restraint it is a kindness it is a goodness towards us that allows us to do the ride of life in the way that god intended for it to be done the problem is so many outside of the church and many of us inside of the church look at the traditional christian ethic which is just a fancy way of saying the teachings of jesus and we look at things like marriage is one man and one woman for life that sex is for one man and one woman inside the covenant of marriage that we're called to sacrifice our time and our money generously that we are called to live simply that we are called not to retaliate when someone wrongs us that we are called to take one day a week and rest and they're like that is so counter to the stream of culture that is flowing in this direction and it's like that's a drag that's a bummer that can't be the way i want to live my life and yet jesus is saying in this passage my law is for your good it was made for you my law is not against you it is for you my kids love legos and when you get a lego set you get what with it an instruction manual why because there is a designer there's a designer who designed that lego set and that instruction manual by following it will get you to the place it was designed to go and there is a designer for life and his name is god and this is his instruction manual for life he is like i am the alpha in the omega the first and the last the beginning in the end the creator of everything he made you and me and everything inside of us he made our bones and our joints and our marrow and our skin he made our brains and he he knows our gray matter and our synapses and the chemicals all these things that we can barely scratch the surface in knowing and he's like i know how you were designed this is the way to do life why does he tell us the sabbath because he made us to rest why does he give us the sexual ethic that he does because he designed us to flourish under those conditions why does he call us to love and sacrifice and give generously for others because he knows that we will experience a joy and a fulfillment and a satisfaction as human beings when we love and give and serve others that we can't experience any other way because he made us that way and here we are we're like we don't even understand how bitcoin works but we're like i know how i work and i know what's best for me and so thanks a lot god for your ideas about how to live life but i think i'm good on my own but nothing could be further from the truth god is the creator he is the one who designed us he is the designer and he has given us his guidelines he has given us his law he has given us his instructions for living not to make life a drag and tear us down not to restrict us but to set us free his law is for our good his law is for us it is not against us so that's the first thing i want us to see in this passage and the second thing is this god's law reveals our hearts god's law reveals our hearts so we finish up that first section verse 28 jesus says to the pharisees so the son of man is lord even of the sabbath he's basically like i created it so it's kind of my deal his linkedin profile says co-founder of the sabbath so he and he's like and just just so just to prove it to you let me just show you that i'm the lord of the sabbath and that's what we get in the next section verses one through six so he goes into the synagogue it's a sabbath they're having they're having sabbath services so presumably it's packed with people from whatever town he's in probably capernaum but we're not it doesn't say for sure and there's a man there who's got who's got a disabled hand or a disabled arm now that guy would have faced incredible shame and been ostracized because of that physical disability if they had been in jerusalem he would not have been allowed to worship in the temple because he was physically disabled so somehow here he is in the synagogue he probably snuck in the back hoping that he wouldn't be noticed at all and jesus sees him and he says in verse 3 come here now the english translators have taken a little bit of liberty there the literal greek says stand up in the middle and this guy who probably was hoping upon hope that no one would notice him is like i knew this was the day i should have gone to brunch jesus is like stand up here in the middle if you've if you've been to israel or seen pictures the synagogues were like stadium seating it was raised seating all the way around and so he tells this guy stand up here in the middle and then he speaks to the crowd that's there in the synagogue and this is what he says is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm to save life or to kill remember this is the crowd who were like if someone is bleeding out you can try and save them on the sabbath but anything else you can do that the other six days of the week and notice how jesus frames the question this is so critical for us to see what he's saying in this passage he does not say is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do nothing to save life or to do nothing because that's what the crowd thought the choice was that's what the pharisees thought the choice was they thought the choice was to do good or to do nothing to save life or to do nothing but jesus is like there is no neutral this is why we're calling this series let's go because this is the let's go moment of today's passage jesus is standing there in front of all these people who are like you can't help this man on the sabbath and he is like not to do good is to do evil not to save life is to kill because people come first it is not about rules it is about people let's go jesus is in the midst of them saying let's go you have twisted this you have missed it you have added all these expectations and rules that were never intended by god the pharisees had come into full contact with god's heart as revealed through his law and it reveals their own hearts mark only needs four english words he wasn't writing in english he only needs three greek words to tell us how they responded and in my opinion it's one of the most haunting sentences in the entire bible but they were silent they were silent they were more concerned with their rules and regulations than with a person and jesus does what he says stretch out your hand the man stretches out his hand and it's healed and then the pharisees leave and that very moment begin to plot how they can kill him now mark loves irony this is uh this is just a freebie it doesn't really serve the point that we're in but as as we get to the end of that that story don't miss the irony here how did jesus heal this man he spoke he didn't make a splint he didn't make an ointment he didn't rub any cream on it he spoke you were allowed to speak on the sabbath he didn't break any sabbath laws his own or theirs but they were so concerned with the extras that they had added on that they on a day that jesus words literally gave life they on the same sabbath went out and began to plot how to kill on the sabbath don't miss the irony some of you may be wondering why i have a couple bandages on my forehead and maybe you wouldn't be able to notice it if i wasn't projected like 30 feet high back here no need to zoom in on it for our camera folks i wish i had a great story on friday i ran into a doorway in my house you can laugh it's okay uh i apparently lost my spatial awareness and i spun around to go through a doorway and i led with my forehead wham right into the doorway and for 45 seconds to a minute i was pretty sure that was the day my life was going to end i was pretty sure that was it i was i was sure i had accordioned the front of my skull and this these were my last moments after i recognized that probably wasn't what was going to happen i i then began to realize that it wasn't just going to be a bruise or a knot based on the blood that was in my hand and my first thought was i gotta preach on sunday fortunately didn't need any stitches i just got some these butterfly things and i think we'll be good to go i ran into the doorway and what was on my inside came out the same thing happens when we run into god's law when we run into god's law what is inside of us comes out in this passage we just looked at the pharisees again they came bam right into god's law and their hearts were revealed cold mean idolatrous dead hearts that were more concerned with uh rules and and expectations and self-righteousness and performance than they were with a living breathing suffering human being and the question we all need to ask ourselves today is when we come into contact with god's law what is it going to reveal about our own hearts prideful rebellion or humble obedience let me frame it this way uh in the old testament there are two times that the ten commandments are explicitly laid out exodus 20 and deuteronomy 5. the spirit of the ten commandments all over the old testament it's referred to in a bunch of different places two times where the ten commandments are explicitly given by god to his people exodus 20 deuteronomy 5. in both of those instances do you know how god starts the ten commandments it is not with commandment number one this is what he says every time he says i am the lord your god who brought you up out of egypt out of the house of slavery now we got to get this because it is so critical for how we understand god and his heart and what his guidelines for living mean for us check the order god says i am the god who saved you who delivered you out of slavery who brought you from death to life now here is how you should live god did not send moses to the israelites in egypt and say moses tell them this here are my 10 commandments let's take 9 or 12 months and see how you do with obeying them and if you do well then perhaps i can save you up out of slavery that's not what he did he went to he said moses go tell them yahweh is here and we're getting on up out of this place and when he delivered them from slavery when he took them from death to life then he said to them here is how you are to live and the same is true for you and me god does not come to us in our sin and say here is how i want you to live let's see how you do with it for a little while and then maybe if you're good enough i will save you he comes to us in our sin and he rescues us and he saves us and then he says and now here is how you are to live how should the israelites have responded to god's law anything anything you ask of us god we will do if you want us to walk backward and cluck like chickens for the rest of our lives we will do it because you have done more for us than we could have ever imagined and how should our response be the same anything anything you want god i will do because of what you have done for me already you have done more than i could have hoped or imagined and if you did nothing else for the rest of my life it is enough i will do anything you want me to stop sleeping with my girlfriend i'll do it you want me to start giving my money and my time more generously i'll do it you want me to ask for forgiveness from that person that i hurt two years ago i'll do it you you want me to to blow up my life and move across the country away from everyone i know and love to answer your call in my life i will do it you want me to lose my life to die to myself in order that i might find it i'll do it when the call of jesus comes into our lives may it not be said of us but they were silent because god's law reveals our hearts now here's the problem we're getting the end and now i'm going to tell you what the problem is we can't do it we can't do it we we can't obey we can't live up to god's expectations uh why is the old testament at least in my bible i checked it this week 750 more pages after god saves his people out of israel and gives them his commandments because it's the story of how over and over and over and over and over again they could not do it they could not live up to his standard they could not obey his laws and their story is our story we can't do it either that's why it's not about rules it's about people and here it is it's actually about a person i kind of have to gloss over the last section of text that we read today why were so many people drawn to jesus when he walked this earth not everyone was but why were so many people drawn to jesus when he walked this earth because they were tired of striving they were tired of following the rules they were tired of following all the expectations and never living up to it it is exhausting to live a life of trying to follow the rules and they found in jesus the rest they were looking for get it they found the sabbath rest they were looking for in jesus christ and the same is true for us following the rules is exhausting and it's a loser's game and god knew that and it's why he sent his son it's why he sent the son of man it's why he sent the lord of the sabbath the only one who could obey the law what did jesus say i came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it he was the only one who could obey it and yet he took upon himself the curse for someone who did not obey it so that you and i when we make him lord of our life do not have to take that curse upon ourselves so if someone here today is tired if you are tired of striving if you are tired of looking for rest and not finding it rest is found in a person and it's found in jesus it is not about the rules at one level it is i got to nuance everything i know that doesn't mean you can just go do whatever you want it's not about the rules primarily it's about a person and his name is jesus let's pray with every head bowed and eye eyes closed god we want to acknowledge to you that we do a poor job of trusting that you know what's best for us and walking in the way that you have provided for us we know in our heads some of us that your law gives us life but in our hearts god it is hard to follow that because we are constantly fighting ourselves constantly looking to get the things that we think we want and the things that we think are good for us so i just want to offer two invitations as we're praying today if there is somebody here who is tired who is tired of feeling the burden of trying to perform of trying to follow all the rules or trying to live up to the expectations that are impossible to live up i pray god that you would move in their heart to give that to you and conversely god if there's someone here or someone watching online who is doing life their way and is recognizing that it just doesn't work well this this room and our online stream are full of people god who can testify that they tried life their way and it was a train wreck and when they did life your way they did they found a life they didn't think existed if there is someone here today god someone listening who is who is fighting you and doing it their way i pray god that you would soften their heart and allow them to um to submit to your lordship in their life and begin to walk in the way that you have for them we all need help god we all need help to do what is right we don't want to be silent when you come calling in our lives and we ask that you would give us the courage and the power to walk in your way we pray it all in jesus name amen please stand for the benediction uh and again just a reminder we're asking that folks exit out all the way out as quickly as possible and but then please feel free to to fellowship outside the church the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace until we meet again or until our savior comes and then forever amen you're loved and you're prayed for and you are sent you

Channel: Abundant Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 383

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: W2ZgYiwCNsE

Length: 82min 25sec (4945 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021