- If you'll take out your message notes. One of the big myths
in southern California is that everybody here is
laid back and easy going. Yeah right. You know, that southern California vibe, the Beach Boys, it's all copacetic. Yeah. It's also a haven for workaholics. And surveys have shown that
southern California residents would actually rather work than play. Or pray. For that matter. And studies actually
have shown, surveys show that we actually prefer
employment over enjoyment. And all this good weather
creates a lot of workaholics. And the truth is a lot of
people don't know how to relax. We are addicted to adrenaline. We don't know how to slow down. And that's true of
actually all of Americans. Studies have shown that
the average American today is sleep deprived. Than the average American
today gets two hours less sleep a night than we did 50 years ago. We don't know how to relax. We don't know how to rest. We love to work. A lot of Americans are
like Job 20 verse 18. Here on the screen it says. Message paraphrase, they
are unable to relax. And enjoy anything they've worked for. So busy getting more. I wanna do a little quiz. To see if you are a workaholic. Be truthful. No cheating. You don't have to raise
your hand on this okay? Are you always in a hurry? Is your to-do list always
unrealistically long? Me. Yeah, that's me. Do you use day offs, days off, to catch up on unfinished work? Has more than one person
ever told you to slow down? Do you feel guilty when you relax? Got so much to do. Do you have to get sick to get time off? You know you're a workaholic
when all your Christmas cards come back from business associates. You know you're a
workaholic when you head out for back to school night
and you don't know which one your kid attends. You know you're a workaholic
when you wear a beeper to church or leave your
cellphone on for texting. You know you're a
workaholic when your family refers to you as occupant. And you know you're a
workaholic when you take business related reading
material into the bathroom. I remember many times many years ago a lady said to me, she said, you know, pastor, I tried to call
you all day Monday. And I said, well I'm sorry,
but Monday is my day off. It's my sabbath. And she said well, the
devil never takes a day off. I said yeah, and if I didn't,
I'd be just like the devil. So you want me to take a day off. I'll never forget the first
year of Saddleback Church. I really was working 18 hours a day. And Kay was too. To begin this baby church. And the first two years of
Saddleback Church actually twice a week Kay cooked meals
to have people in our home from the church. We had every member of
our church in our home at least once the first two
years of Saddleback Church. That ain't gonna happen anymore, friends. Not all 35,000 of you. But I remember she cooked the same meal Tuesday and Thursday twice
a week for two years. I learned to like it. But we were working hard,
hard, hard, 18 hours a day. And at the end of the first year, I stood up to speak on the
last Sunday of the year and fainted. And I was just worn out from exhaustion. Physical, emotional, spiritual,
relational, and every area. And over the next year, God
had to teach me some things about balance in life, which
I actually have had to learn over and over and over again. I don't think you ever
permanently learn these things. But God gave me a verse at
the end of the first year at Saddleback. It's up here on the screen. It's Exodus 23. And this is what God
said to the Israelites when they were gonna go
into the Promised Land. He said I'm not gonna give you
everything I've promised you in a single year. 'Cause you're not prepared
to handle that much blessing. And it would be too
much for you to manage. Instead you'll take possession
of what I wanna give you little by little so that you can grow. Then you'll be strong
enough to handle it all. That verse changed my life. It's what I call pacing growth. Rome isn't built in a day
and neither is a church or anything else worthwhile. And God doesn't want you to
accomplish it all at once, he wants you to learn pacing growth. Little by little. While God is growing your
business, he's growing you. And while God is growing your children, he's growing you. And while God is growing your career, or whatever else is in your
life that's important to you, he's growing you. And he says I want you to
learn this little by little, pacing growth. The fact is, God considers
rest as important as work. Some people think only God smiles on them when they're working or praying
or doing spiritual things. God smiles on you when you rest. Did you know that? If you've ever as a parent
gone into watch your children sleep and the
joy that that gives you. Just watching them sleep. God enjoys watching you sleep. God rests. God rests, are you busier than God? The Bible tells us this, on the screen, Exodus 31 verse 17. One day a week, God says,
will always serve a reminder that I made the heavens
and the earth in six days and then on the seventh
day I rested and relaxed. Now why did God rest and
relax on the seventh day? Well he certainly wasn't tired, 'cause God doesn't get tired. God never gets tired. But he was modeling for us
what he wanted us to do. To rest and to relax, to keep the sabbath. That balance and to relax
in the goodness of God. We're in this series we've just started called living in the goodness of God. And we're looking at Psalm 23. Which actually models for us 10 ways that a good shepherd
takes care of sheep. He feeds, he leads, he meets their needs. And the 10 ways God's
goodness wants to benefit you. How God wants to take care of you. And a lot of your worry
and a lot of your hurry and a lot of your scurry and
a lot of your restlessness actually comes from not
understanding the goodness of God in your life. And when you understand
what God has done for you, and wants to do for you in the future, you can relax. You can learn to rest. You can learn to let down. You can learn to let go. You can live in the goodness of God. Now in that Psalm, the
Lord is my shepherd psalm, he gives us 10 things
that the shepherd does. And one of the things
that a good shepherd does is they make sure they
sheep get enough rest. In order to stay healthy. And that takes us to verses one and two. Let's look at it again. The Lord is my shepherd, Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd so
I have everything I need. He makes me lie down in green pastures and he leads me beside quiet water. Now you might wanna write this down. These images are actually a metaphor, they represent rest and refreshment. When he makes me lie
down in green pastures. That's rest. And when he leads me beside quiet waters. That's refreshment. Now notice, I want you to
circle the word he makes me. Has God ever had to make you lay down? For your own health's sake? So because you wouldn't slow down? If you won't lay down, God
will make you lay down. And sometimes the only way
God can get you to look up is lay you flat on your
back with an illness. And God will do that because
he's the good shepherd and he cares about your health. Your physical, emotional,
spiritual, every area of health. I want you to write this
down on your outline. To give God my best requires rest. To give God my best requires rest. If you don't have rest, then you're gonna be stressed. In fact, the difference
between being blessed and being stressed is often rest. Isn't it amazing how
much better things look after a good night's sleep? The difference between being
stressed and being blessed is often rest. The Lord is my shepherd,
he makes me lie down. When I don't even want to. Have you ever seen a kid, a child, frantically trying to stay awake? You know what I'm talking about? And their eyes are closed but
they're trying to stay awake? Resistance to rest is immaturity. It's immaturity. Now I've got a confession to make. Because I always preach every week, I always preach these
messages to me first. If it doesn't hit me, I don't
figure it's gonna help you. But if it helps me, I go, okay, that'll probably help somebody else. And so this message, I
need to hear this message on relaxing in God's goodness. I've had a couple of very frantic weeks. Where I had eight outside
messages to deliver. Speaking engagements outside of the area. I told you last week I was at
the national prayer breakfast and I spoke five times at that. And then I went to
another place and I spoke to the coalition of Christian
colleges and universities, to all the leaders of the
Christian schools around America. Then I went and I spoke to
a youth pastor's gathering. And I have been over stretched
the last couple weeks. I need this message. So if you get anything out
of it, congratulations, but I'm really preaching it for me. Okay? So if you wanna take a nap, you might get more benefit out of it then. Just put your head on the
shoulder of the person next to you with their permission. And I'll wake you up at the end. As I said, rest is often
the difference between being blessed or stressed. And when we look at scripture,
we see that God rests. We see that Jesus rested. Many many many times. He had advances and retreats,
advances and retreats. Seven of them in his three
and a half year ministry. Jesus rested. If you're gonna be like God, if you're gonna be like Jesus, you gotta learn how to rest. I have to learn how to rest. How to relax. How to relax in the goodness of God. Now, that's what I want
us to look at today. How do you relax in God's goodness? Before we do that, I just wanna mention
why do people overwork? We need to get to the
source of our stress. Why do we overwork? Why do we not get enough rest? The Bible's full of many
many examples and reasons why you get stressed instead of blessed. Because you're not at rest. And the Bible gives us many
many examples and reasons. Let me just give you five
from the word of God. And let's see if any of
these might be causing you to not get the rest you need. To not relax like God
wants you to relax in life. These are just some of the
common reasons from the Bible. Number one. The first reason, the Bible tells us that people don't relax is this. Misplaced identity. And that is basing my worth on my work. Basing my worth on my work. Now we fall for this all the time. One of the reasons why people can't relax is they confuse their
work and their worth. They confuse their net
worth with their self worth. Their value with their valuables. And they think, you know, if I work real hard, I succeed at work, then I am valuable. If I don't work, I don't
produce, I'm not productive, then I'm not valuable. And that's a total lie. It's a total myth. But in western culture, our identity often
revolves around our work. So we overwork in an
attempt to prove ourselves. And if I achieve a lot,
then I must be worth a lot. I must be valuable. I must be important,
I must be significant. But your significance has
nothing to do with your job. Or your career. Or your achievements, in fact. Ecclesiastes 10 verse 15 says this. Only someone too stupid
to find his way home would wear himself out with work. That's pretty frank. You might wanna put that on
a card and put it on your windshield there, okay. Only someone too stupid
to find his way home would wear himself out with work. He said life is more than work. That's important. But your life is far more
than the work you do. It's just a portion of your life. But when we have a misplaced identity, and we think our worth
is based on our work. Then we're gonna put all
of our time, our money, our energy, our effort, into our work. Number two. Second reason people don't
relax is materialism. This is obvious. Always wanting more things. And when I gotta have more things, then I gotta make more money. And when I gotta make more money, I've gotta work harder and longer hours. And yet the Bible says, not to do this. Proverbs 23. Verse four and five warns
us about materialism and it says this. Do not wear your self
out trying to get rich. Have the wisdom to show some restraint. Your money can be gone in a
flash as if it had grown wings and flown away like an eagle. You know, you can lose your money. Don't spend all of your
life trying to get something you can lose so quickly. It can fly away like an eagle. Now, evidently America's
founding fathers wanted you to remember this because they put an eagle on every dollar bill. As a reminder of this verse. It has been my observation
having counseled thousands of people, that we spend the first half of our life sacrificing our health,
overworking, in order to get wealth. And we spend the second half of our life sacrificing wealth in order
to get our health back. Have you ever thought about that? The first half of life,
you give up your health and overwork in order to get wealth. But in the second half
you spend all that wealth trying to get healthy again. This is not wise. Always wanting more things. In Luke 12 verse 15 Jesus says this. Watch out. Always be on your guard
against all kinds of greed because your life is not
defined by how much you make or how many things you own. So materialism. Just like misplaced identity,
cause me to overwork. The third cause in the Bible it says that envy can cause you to overwork. And that is wanting to
be like other people. I'm trying to keep up with the Jones. I'm trying to keep up with my neighbors. I'm trying to keep up with everybody else. And that will cause me to do things that I don't really have the time to do. Too busy trying to keep up
with others and that's envy. Their kids have dance lessons. So we have to have dance
lessons for our kids. And their kids are involved in these five extracurricular events, and so our kids have to be involved in these five extracurricular,
not necessarily. You know, my girlfriend is
on social media all the time. So I better be on social
media all the time. And we do things we don't need to do because other people are doing them. Now Solomon noticed this problem of envy literally thousands of years ago. In Ecclesiastes 4:4 he says this. I've learned why people work so hard. Why they work so hard to succeed. It is because they envy the
things their neighbors have. I wanna be like them. I wanna have what they've got. I wanna do what they do. I wanna go where they go. Well, they may be under
stress more than you. So make sure you're
following the right model. Envy. Number four. The fourth reason why people don't relax according to scripture is
when we value achievement over relationships. When we value achievement
over relationships. And men, we're more prone
to do this than women. But everybody can do this. Where you put your career
above everything else including relationships. We all know people who've
walked away from marriages. Because of their career. Or they've walked away
from being a good parent. Or just being a good friend. Because the career was more important. The work was more important. And when goals are more
important than people in my life, or when goals are more important
than people in your life, you're skating on thin ice. Again, here's what Solomon says. Ecclesiastes chapter four. And remember, Solomon was the
wisest man who ever lived. He says this. Here's another thing
that I've seen on earth that makes no sense. Some people don't have any kids or family or even friends, in other
words, no relationships. Yet they work obsessively,
never taking a break. There's no end to their toil
and they're never content with what they've done or earned. They never ask, and then he asks some very important questions. That if you're in this category, you probably ought ask 'em yourself. They never ask, why am I
always working to do more? Why am I always doing that? Why am I always working to do more? Why don't I let myself enjoy life? And here's the big one, who cares? Who cares? Who will get what I leave behind? I don't have any relationships. So what's this big career
that I'm working for and a massive, you know,
accomplishments and achievements and a pile of money. Who cares? Who's gonna get what I leave behind? What a senseless and
miserable way to live. He says, you're better off
having someone to enjoy and share the rewards of your work. When I value achievement
more than relationships, God did not put you on
earth to mark things off your to-do list. He put you here to learn how to love. He says it over and over in scripture. To learn to love God with all your heart, soul and mind and strength. And to learn to love your
neighbors as yourself. Tom preached a classic sermon
on this three weeks ago. That that's what matters. Not how many accomplishments
I have in life. Not how many achievements
I check off in life. Not how many goals I reach in life. When you get to heaven,
God isn't gonna say, tell me your goals and did you reach them? He's just not gonna say that. When you get to heaven, God's gonna say, tell me about your relationships. Did you get to know me? Did you get to know my son Jesus Christ? Did you love God with all your
heart, soul, mind, strength? How about other people? How did you score on
relationships with other people? Because you can hit home runs all day, and strike out in
relationships and God's saying, ah, wrong answer. Sorry, you missed it. I did not put you on earth simply to accomplish goals,
to make a lot of money, to do really cool things. I put you on earth first
of all to learn to love. And you can't learn to love if you don't have any deep relationships. Wow. This is why we don't relax. Misplaced identity, I base my worth on my work. So I pour all my energy into that. Or materialism, I always want more. So I gotta get more money to get more. Or envy, I wanna be like
what other people are like so I'm following their
ridiculous lifestyle too. And they're stressed out. Or I value achievement over relationships. He goes, why am I doing this? They never ask, why I'm
asking working to do more. Why don't I let myself enjoy life? And who cares? Who's gonna get what's left behind anyway? There's a fifth reason
that people don't relax. And it's insecurity. It's insecurity. Insecurity is when I'm
afraid I won't have enough. I'm, I was once sitting at a dinner table with some people who
were fabulously wealthy. In the multi-million dollar category. And I asked that person, so how much more do you
think you need to be secure? And the guy looked at
me straight in the eye, he says, about 20, 30 million more. I'm going, he has no idea
that when he gets that, he's gonna say it's not enough. Because it's never enough. You cannot have security if
it can be taken from you. And you can have a lot, a lot of money. And it can be taken from you. But it's always more. And I'm insecure and I'm afraid that I'm not gonna have
enough so I keep working, keep working, keep working, keep working. Here's what the Bible says. Ecclesiastes 6:7. I love this in the message. We work to feed our appetites, but meanwhile our souls go hungry. Bam. Our souls go hungry. That sound familiar? I'm so afraid I'm not gonna
have enough physically, materially, that I'm giving
up my spiritual depth in order to get it. We work to feed our
appetites but meanwhile our souls go hungry. Or how about this verse? Psalm 127 verse two. God says this. The living Bible. It is senseless, senseless
for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night fearing and worrying, there's
the reason, insecurity. Fearing and worrying that
you won't have enough. For God, let's read this aloud together. For God wants his loved ones
to get their proper rest. So go home right now and take a nap. All right? That's probably some of all you need is, we looked at the causes
of our difficulties. So how do you do this? How do I learn to relax? How do I live a more sane life? A more balanced life? A less stressed and more blessed life. Instead of living a restless life, how in the world do I live a
rest filled or restful life? Well I'm gonna show you the antidotes. To all five of these. Because God, in his word,
gives us the antidote to every one of these causes. What do you do? Well, you trust your shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd
I will lack nothing. I have everything I need. He makes me lay down in green pastures. And he will lead me beside still waters. If you're following God, if you're following the
good shepherd, Christ, he's not gonna lead you in
the pathway of the rat race. He's gonna lead you to lay
down in green pastures. And he's gonna lead you
beside still waters. Signs of tranquility and peace. How does he do that? Here are the five antidotes. Number one. Remember my value to God. That's the starting point for
getting a more sane schedule. Remember my value and my worth to God. This is the exact opposite
of basing your worth on your work. It's the opposite of basing
your identity on your career. Now this is so counter
culture because when you go to a meeting and somebody
says, who are you? One of the first things
they ask is, what do you do? As if what you do is your identity. And the first thing you
tell 'em is your job. You don't tell 'em who you are. You tell 'em about what you do. But he says, if you want
to get off the rat race, remember my value to God. Okay, how valuable are you? Let's think about this. Heavenly father created you. Which means God doesn't
create anything without value. And God doesn't create
anything without purpose. And God doesn't create
anything without intention. The fact that you're alive
means that God loves you and wanted you alive. So the heavenly father created
you, that's your value. You're priceless, you're a masterpiece. You're unique. Nobody's ever made like you. God didn't make any clones or copies. So the heavenly father created you. Jesus died for you. That shows your value. Jesus didn't die for junk. And the Holy Spirit lives in you. God puts his spirit inside
you when you trust him. All three of those show incredible value. Incredible worth. I want you to write this
down in your outline. It's not what I do that gives me worth but who I belong to. It's not what I do that gives me my worth. 'Cause what happens if you're disabled? Then all of a sudden you
have no value anymore? No, it's not what I do
that gives me my worth. But who I belong to. And for some of you, this
is gonna be a major change in your thinking. Because you grew up feeling I'm a nobody. I'm a nobody, I'm not priceless. I'm not a masterpiece. I'm not unique. I'm not extremely valuable, yes you are. But growing up, somebody
told you, maybe a teacher, or maybe a peer or maybe
even a parent said, you're nothing, you're a nobody. You're worthless, you're never
gonna amount to anything. And in the back of your mind, you filed that tape and ever since then you've been saying, I'll show them. I'll show my mom. I'll show my dad. And that is driving you
to work, work, work, work. That's not true of everybody. But for some of you
this is the motivation. That little voice that says
you've got to prove you matter. You gotta prove you're not normal. You're not ordinary. You're not average. You're a superstar. Maybe you were even compared
to a brother or sister. Or you compared to your
parents, your dad or your mom. Why can't you be like? And that has driven you
and driven you to overwork. And years later you still
hear that inner voice. And the truth is, you can't
afford to take time off 'cause you gotta keep paddling. And you're paddling up
a stream and the stream is coming the opposite direction. And you have to prove your worth. No, you don't. You don't. You don't have to prove your worth. You're already extremely valued God created you. Jesus died for you. The spirit lives in you. You're unique. You don't have to prove
anything to anybody. You don't need their approval to be happy. You don't need their
approval to be worthwhile. God says, you're worthwhile. Jesus' death says you're worthwhile. The spirit living in you
says you're worthwhile. What in the world are you afraid of? The antidote to this
building my worth on my work is to remember my value to God. You'll never be anymore valuable to God than you are right now. You'll never be any less valuable to him because he made you, he's your father. My kids are valuable to me not because of what they do. But because I created them with my wife. And I love them. It doesn't matter who they
are, what they've done. It's, they're my creations. You are God's creation. James chapter one verse 18. This is what God says about you. God decided to give us life, that's a big deal. Through the word of
truth, the word is Christ. So that we might be, circle this, the most important of
everything God has created. Do you realize you're more
important than the moon? Do you realize you're more
important than the milky way? Do you realize that in God's eyes, you're more important than all of the extinct animals combined? Did you know that in God's book, you're more important than
all of the rare flowers? And all of the trees. And all of beauty of
all the other creation. Look at that verse again. God decided to give us
through the word of truth so that we might be the
most important of everything God created. You matter more than the rest of creation. So what does it matter what
somebody else says about you? If God likes you, they got a problem. So you can relax. One of the reasons you
don't have to work is, you don't have to prove yourself. I'm a daughter of God. I'm a son of God. I'm a child of God. He made me. He made me. He wanted me. He loves me. He created me. And he made me just the
way he made me to be. And I don't have to be somebody else. I remember my value to God. Isaiah 48 verse 16. God says, I have engraved
you on the palms of my hands. We talked about this
cherished verse many times. When Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross and those nails went through his hands, God permanently showed how
much you matter to him. When you get to heaven,
the only person in heaven who's gonna have scars is Jesus Christ. So for the rest of your
life, you'll be able to see in eternity, you'll be able to see how much you matter to God. I love you this much. You matter to me. I have engraved you on
the palms of my hands. That's how valuable you are. God has a tattoo of you. When people fall in love,
sometimes they'll get a tattoo, their lover, their girlfriend
or their husband, their wife. God has a permanent tattoo of you. I have engraved you on
the palms of my hands. Why in the world are you
trying to prove your worth through your work? You're already infinitely
valuable according to the cross. And at the cross he says, this is how much you matter. I want everybody to right
now just close your eyes. Just close your eyes for a minute and think inside yourself. And take a deep breath. And just say father, help
me to feel loved by you. Just say that, father,
help me to feel your love. And then say, Jesus, help me to feel how valuable I am to you. And then say spirit of God, help me to feel how important I am to you. Amen. All right, so the antidote
to looking for the work as your worth is to just
realize how worthwhile you are to God. Are you broken? Yeah. Are you a sinner? Yeah, so am I. Are you perfect? Absolutely not. Are you deeply loved by God? Yes. Are you flawed? Yes. But are you infinite value? Yes also. I've engraved you on the palms of my hand. Why are you trying to throw, feel your work, worth, through your work? You don't need to. Number two. Second step, and this is
the antidote to materialism. Which is always wanting more and more. And it says, enjoy what I already have. If you learn to enjoy
what you've already got, then you can get off the rat race. This is called being content. Contentment does not come
natural to human beings. You are not by nature a contented person. By nature we are discontented. By nature we are not resting sheep. We are restless sheep. And by nature we are discontented. We always want more, we always
want something different. And yet it can be learned. In Philippians four,
up here on the screen. Verse 12 and 13. Paul says, I've learned, notice content is something you learn. You can be educated in it. I've learned the secret of being content. In any and every situation. Whether I'm well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything
through him, that's Christ, who gives me strength. So learning contentment means
I don't have to have this incessant grabbing for more. Grabbing for more. Grabbing for more. Can we become so
preoccupied in getting more we don't enjoy what we have? Yes, of course. It's amazing in southern California, you go down to the
beach or just any place, and you find these amazing homes. Over the top. Beautiful homes. Everywhere. But the people are never
around to enjoy them. Because they're always at work. 'Cause somebody's gotta
make the payments on those massive house mortgages. It's what I call the saddleback syndrome. And I've watched it for over 30 years. And what it is is, we get extended with the desire to acquire. I gotta have that, I gotta have that. And the desire to acquire
pushes you to buy something you really can't afford. Particularly a mortgage
that's over your head. And then you get over
extended financially. And then you have to constantly
hustle to make ends meet because you're over extended financially. And soon, because you're over extended financially, your relationships start to deteriorate. And then you don't
really even have a reason for that fancy home. The Bible says this. Ecclesiastes 4:6, up here on the screen. A little food eaten in peace is far better than having twice as much earned from overwork and chasing the wind. You know, it's better to
have a little in peace. The greatest things in life aren't things. I couldn't count the number of
death beds that I've stood by where people took their last breath. And in all the years
that I've been a pastor, I've never had anybody say, in their dying breath, man, I wish I'd spent
more time at the office. I've never heard that one. Man, I wish I'd spent more time at work. And I've never ever
actually had anybody ask for a particular object of
thing that they loved, valued or worshiped. Please bring me my bowling trophy. I wanna see it one more time. Please bring me my degree
from community college. Please bring me ... I wanna see my coin collection. Nobody's ever said that
in their dying moments. Nobody ever asks for things. In the final moments of their life. They always ask for people. Because eventually, everybody learns that it's all about relationships. I just hope we learn it
before the death bed. You're gonna learn this
one day when you're dying. You're not gonna ask for any
show me my car one more time. Show me my fancy television screen. Or my house. You're not gonna ask for it. At the very last moment of
your life, you're gonna realize it's all about people you love. Loving God and loving
your neighbor as yourself. Can we not learn that sooner? It sure relieve an awful lot of stress. It would sure make life more fulfilling. It's not about achievements. It's not about accomplishments. It's about relationships. You know, I've said this many times, you're not gonna take anything with you. You never see a hearse pulling a U-haul. If you laughed at that, Kay, they laughed at that. How many times have you heard me say that? Thousands? Thousands of times, that's what I thought. You're never gonna see a
hearse pulling a U-haul. You're not taking it with you. You know, it's so funny. In America, it's considered
a tragedy to quote, die penniless. You know, oh, she died penniless. What a better time to go. I mean, really. The moment you spend your last cent, boom, I'm out of here. I call that wise, not stupid. I'm out of money, let's go. That's just brilliant
living if you ask me. And then it still irks me, you can still see those
bumper stickers around, he who dies with the most toys wins. Are you kidding me? We need the bumper sticker he who dies with the most toys still dies. And he didn't win anything. All likelihood he probably
lost a lot of relationships building up those toys. Valentine's day is this week. So guys, I thought of
throwing a verse for you. Ecclesiastes 9:9 on the screen. Enjoy life with your life whom you love. That's the verse for Valentine's day. Memorize that one. Ecclesiastes 3:13 says this. All of us should enjoy
what we have worked for. It is God's gift. God says enjoy what you've
got while you got it. Enjoy what you have while you've got it. Look at this verse up here on the screen. Matthew 6:31. I love this in the message paraphrase. Jesus says, you know what
I'm trying to do here is get you to relax. To not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. Did you realize the relaxation
is a spiritual issue? That resting is a part of trusting. Resting is a part of trusting. Resting is the way to blessing. Okay. Remember my value to God. And then number two,
enjoy what I already have. Stop trying to get something else. Just enjoy what you got. Number three. It's an important one. Limit my work to six days a week. You say, you're kidding me. I'm saying, if you're not doing that, you're breaking one of God's big 10. The 10 commandments. Rest and recreation are
so important to life, God put it in the big
10, the 10 commandments right up there with don't commit adultery, don't murder, and don't steal. He says that every six
days, you take a day off. If you're not taking a day off every week, you are breaking the 10 commandments. You say, well I never murder anybody. I never commit adultery. But are you taking a day off every week? It's right up there with in the big 10. That's not important God
considers rest and recreation and relaxation. If the bow, you know like a bow and arrow, if the bow is never unstrung, you never unstring it, it loses its power. It loses the tension in the bow. Our best requires rest. This is a fourth commandment. When God gives a commandment,
he's serious about it. This is not like an option like, well if you feel like it, take a day off. No. It's called the sabbath. Let me show you some verses. Exodus 23:12. Here on the screen. Work the first six days of the week. But rest and relax on the seventh. This is the law, he says. This law is not only for you. But also for your animals, so your pet needs to have a sabbath. As well as everyone else
including foreigners among you. God says, I don't want anybody
unprotected from this law. He said this law of rest and recreation and having the sabbath,
having a day off every week. He said, everybody should
be protected from over work. Including immigrants and
foreigners who have come in. They shouldn't be over working either. Now here's the fourth commandment. Exodus 20 verse nine and 10. This is one of the 10
commandments, fourth commandment. You have six days in
which to do your work. But the seventh day is to
be a day of complete rest, circle that, complete
rest dedicated to me. This is called the sabbath. Every seventh day, you take a day off. And a sabbath, you might write this down. Sabbath means a day of rest. That's what it means. And did you know that your
heart actually beats different every seven days? We're biologically
wired for a day of rest. Now this whole idea of where God says, I want you to have a
day of rest and worship. It's not for God's benefit. It's not just an arbitrary law. God did it so you won't burn out. And the reason people
are so stressed today is they'd forgotten this. And culture after culture
after culture after culture. It's for your benefit. Look at this, Mark two verse 27. Jesus said, the sabbath
was made to benefit man. In other words, God didn't make
the sabbath for his benefit. He made it for ours. When I ignore God's laws, who gets hurt? Not God. I get hurt when I don't
follow the owner's manual. Now, when is your sabbath? I'm telling you, it doesn't
matter what day of the week you take your sabbath. The Bible says this many
times in the New Testament. What day you worship on, what
day you take as your day off, as your day of rest,
your day of recreation, doesn't matter the day. You just need to do it every week. Okay. My sabbath is not Saturday. My sabbath is not Sunday. I'm working on those days. My sabbath is every Monday. It's Monday. And by the way, I wanna
encourage you to not call it your day off 'cause if
you call it your day off, you cheat on it. You need to start calling
your day off your sabbath. Now, you say well, what am I
supposed to do on my sabbath? I'm glad you asked. Write these down, three things. Just find some place in your outline. Didn't give you a lot of space for it. You do three things on the sabbath. I'm gonna summarize about
10 hours worth of material. You rest our body, recharge your emotions, and refocus your spirit. Let me give it to you again. Number one, the first
thing I do on the sabbath, I rest my body. You know the fact that if
you don't take time off, your body will make time off. You can't just keep
pushing it and pushing it. Did you know that during the,
little history note here, during the French revolution,
they abolished Sunday as a day of rest? In the French revolution. They just abolished Sunday as day of rest. They later restored it because the health of the nation had collapsed. They just completely collapsed, they were all burned out. But I feel guilty when I relax. Well Jesus didn't. He followed the sabbath. So you rest your body. The second thing you do on the sabbath is you recharge your emotions. I recharge my emotions. Now, what recharges you is
gonna be different things. You can recharge your
emotions through quietness. Solitude, that's a good thing. Just be quiet. Turn off all the noise. You can recharge your
emotions through recreation. And I would encourage you, I'm talking about recreation
that rejuvenates you. If you get involved, I'm talking about non competitive stuff. 'Cause some of you, you
get into competitive sport, you'll beat your brains out to win that. And that's not resting at all. The competitive spirit you had all week is now just being transferred
to the tennis court or the golf course or wherever. You need to do something
that is non competitive that rejuvenates you. So you're not stressed
out when quote, you lose. Your recharge your
emotions through quietness. Through recreation. You recharge your emotions
through relationships. Spend some time with people. On your sabbath. I rest my body, I recharge my emotions. Number three, I refocus my spirit. And that's what we do at worship. It's what we're doing right now. We're refocusing your spirit. Worship puts life in perspective. Now, you need not only
time in group worship, but you need time alone with God worship. I'm telling you that you have to make a conscious decision to make
time over the other things beside work. And I would encourage
you to just think through how many hours a week do I wanna work? And then stick with it. And you schedule everything else. Why don't you, you schedule
doctor's appointment. Are you scheduling recreation? Are you scheduling your sabbath? I would encourage you to make
it the same day every week. And schedule your time
with family into your life. In relationships. Let me tell you who this is
especially important for. Those of you who are self employed. Those of you who are entrepreneurs and you're self employed. If you don't schedule it, you're never gonna take a break. And you're gonna bring home work with you. And you bring it home in your briefcase. I heard about a little girl. Sitting at a dinner table. And every day her daddy
came home with a briefcase. And she said, what is that, daddy? Well, it's work I didn't
get finished at the office. She said, well, why don't they
put you in a slower group? Yeah, okay. Maybe that's what we need. Now I wanna tell you something. If you'll start obeying the sabbath, taking a day off. And you relax as God tells you to, you know what, this is a constant battle. It's on and off with me. It's on and off with you. You know what'll happen? You will actually end up with more time. God promises that. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not lack anything. He says if you'll do it my way, if you'll take one day off a week, and it's to rest my body,
and recharge my emotions, and refocus my spirit in worship. God says, you know what? I will give you more time. Look at this verse on the board. The screen, Proverbs 14:30. A relaxed attitude lengthens your life. Envy rots it away. What did I say? Envy is one of the reasons we overwork. I want what they've got. He says instead of being envious, why don't you just get
this relaxed attitude? It will lengthen your life. It will add hours to your day. Remember my value to God. Enjoy what I already have. Limit my work to six days a week. Fourth thing God says to do. This is your good shepherd
giving you advice from his word. I must adjust my values. Now why do I say this? Because to reduce the
business in your life, you're gonna have to
change the way you think about what's important. And you need to ask the question, you might just write this question down. What is really important? What is really important? You've heard me say many many times, we buy things we don't need
with money we don't have to impress people we don't even like. You can't worry about
keeping up with the Jones or anybody else. And live a life that's
rest filled, restful life. You can't worry about them
and reduce your stress. Jesus gets right to the heart
of this adjusting your values. Look at this verse on
the screen, Mark 8:36. What good is it, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world
and yet forfeit his soul? But look at all the stuff I
accomplished with my work. How's your soul? Did you forfeit your soul? Did you forfeit your relationships? Did you forfeit loving God? Did you forfeit loving
your neighbor as yourself? What is a profit to man, if you're on the cover of Time magazine and you lose your soul. I love getting letters
from you, emails from you. And you know, I talked
about stress and worry. Last week. Here's a note I got. Pastor Rick, as I listened last weekend, it was like holding up
a mirror to my face. I've been filling my life with activities and even ministries. To keep myself so busy that
I wouldn't have the time to think about or face some issues that I really need to deal with. I know I'm not alone in realizing this and I think you hit the nail on the head when you spoke about worry
and stress and hurry. I think the series is
gonna be life changing. And life saving for many many people. I think it's gonna save
some relationships, some marriages, some friendships,
some families, some lives. Thanks to this last weekend's message, I rested yesterday and the
world did not come to an end. I read the entire Sunday paper
for the first time in ages. I talked to friends
without having to rush off somewhere to do an errand. I enjoyed watching my kids
play with their friends. I sat in a room I just
redecorated so I could relax in it but I had never sat in it. Or even just enjoyed it. I just redecorated it. Most importantly, I talked to God a lot during my quiet moments. And I painfully admitted
to him that I've missed my time with him. That's the best thing that happened to me. It felt great to get
back on track with God. And all day long, I found myself asking, what would've happened if just
sat still for two minutes? What would've happened if I
just sat still for two minutes? What was I so scared of? It was great. I know that there are
probably some painful things that are gonna surface as I
clear my schedule and my mind. Has to contemplate certain things. But if I'm close to God, there isn't anything I can't face. Because I'm not facing it alone. Thank you so much for this series. It's an answer to prayer
in so many of our lives. We just can't keep going
at the pace we've been at. We just needed somebody
to tell us it's okay to take time and rest. And to not feel guilty about it. 'Cause God never meant for us to live the way we've been living. Amen. Here's the fifth thing you need to do. I need to exchange my
restlessness for God's peace. I exchange, I give up my restlessness. The Lord is my shepherd,
he makes me lay down in green pastures. I'm gonna give up my tendency to roam. Tendency to wander,
tendency to veer off course. I'm gonna exchange my
restlessness for God's peace. Let me close with a couple verses. Matthew six, we looked at this last week when we talked about worry. Verse 26 to 30, Jesus says this. Look at the birds in the air. They don't plant or harvest
or store food in barns. But your heavenly father feeds them. And you know that you
are worth so much more than those birds. You can't add any time to your
life by worrying about it. And why do you worry about anything else? Look at the beauty of the
wildflowers in the field. They don't worry or overwork. But God takes care of them. So you can be sure that
he will clothe you too. God cares for the birds,
how much more is he gonna care for you? God loves you more than
you will ever ever know. And there's nothing you
can do that will make him love you any more or make
him love you any less. And see, what we're talking about here, it actually gets to the
root of your workaholism. And my workaholism. What this does, it gets to
the root of your restlessness. And your stressed outness. You know, there's physical fatigue. Where you got, your muscles are tired. And then there's emotional fatigue when your emotions are tired. And then there's spiritual fatigue. When your spirit dries up. You need more than simply to go to sleep to cure those last two. You can go to bed, but
that's not gonna get rid of emotional fatigue, it's not gonna get rid of spiritual fatigue. People say, well I just need a vacation. Yeah, you might. But you need more than that. What you need more than a
vacation is you need a relation. A relationship to Jesus Christ. In the 20th, or the 21st century, we're not made to live this way. The way we've been living. And as I said, the ability or the insistence
of I'm trying to stay awake is what little kids do. It's mark of immaturity. Maturity knows how to rest. I told you in the first
week of this series is sheep aren't very smart. They're really one of the
dumber animals that God created. Did you know that sheep
don't like to lay down? They don't. They don't like to lay down. And yet it says he makes me lay down. And if you don't slow down,
God will make you lay down. Now I challenge you to start
working on this immediately. Plan your sabbath. God's way is not only the right way. It's not only the healthy way, it's the enjoyable way to live. And if you are tired of
living the way you're living, here's my answer to you. Come to Jesus. Last verse on your outline. Matthew 11. Jesus is talking. Verses 28 to 30. In the message paraphrase
he says, are you tired? Are you worn out? Are you burned out? Come to me. Notice he doesn't say, come to a doctrine. Come to class, he says
come to me, relationship. Get away with me, Jesus says, and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me, work with me. Watch how I do it. This is my favorite line. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. As your pastor, I want
you to learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy
or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to
live freely and lightly. You come to Jesus. He's not gonna load more on you. He's gonna take it off you. Now let me summarize
what I just taught you. Look up here on the screen. Here are the five things. Remember my value to God. Enjoy what I already have. Limit my work to six days a week. Adjust my values. And exchange my restlessness
for God's peace. What does that spell? Relax. R-E-L-A-X. That's what God wants you to do. Let's bow our heads. Augustine once said, the
beginning of good works starts with a confession of bad works. So why don't you confess
to God what's caused you to overwork. To be stressed out, to be
stressed instead of blessed. Maybe you say, God, I've
had a mistaken identity. I've been basing my worth on my work. I'm sorry. Tell him that. I've been basing my worth on my work. And God I've always been wanting more. I'm never satisfied. I've been materialistic. You've said, don't wear
yourself out trying to get rich. Have the wisdom to show some restraint. And you might need to say
and Lord, I've been envious. I've wanted what other people have. And I wanted to be like other people. And I haven't wanted to be me. Maybe you need to say, Lord I confess that I've let achievement be more
important than relationships. Another thing on earth
that makes no sense. And I haven't asked the tough questions. Why am I always working so hard? Why don't I let myself enjoy life? Who cares? Who's gonna get what I leave behind? And maybe you need to confess insecurity. And say Lord, I live with the
fear that I won't have enough. To make it through retirement or whatever. But today I wanna change. It's senseless for you to work
so hard from early morning until late at night fearing
you won't have enough. For God wants his loved ones
to get their proper rest. And you say, Lord, today
I wanna learn to relax. In the goodness of God. You are the good shepherd. I wanna lay down in green pastures. I want you to lead me beside quiet waters. Help to remember that my value to you is greater than anything else. That you love me unconditionally. That I don't have to
prove anything to others. And God help me to enjoy what I already have instead of
always be reaching for more. Help me to limit my
work to six days a week. And to obey the 10 commandments,
it says take a sabbath. And where necessary, help
me to adjust my values. To put first things first. And to focus on the major
not the minor things of life. Help me to take a day of rest every week. And today I wanna exchange my
restlessness for your peace. My pressure for your peace. My problems for your peace. I wanna live in the love and
goodness of my good shepherd. Say Jesus Christ, I give
every area of my life to you. I wanna love you and follow you. In your name I pray, amen.
