God's Boundaries for Abundant Living - A Word to the Overworked, Overwhelmed, and Over-Committed, Part 1

When was the last time you took some time to just rest me to be restored to be rejuvenated to be renewed. I mean just stop and smell the roses more candidly, do you feel like life is over race. There's pressure there's demand you feel overwhelmed really enjoying life.

If that describes you even a little love today. God is staggering welcome to this Friday a vision of Living on the Edge with shipping services are Bible teacher on this daily international discipleship program.

Nature continues his series God's boundaries for living with a unique look at commandment number four. If you're overworked, overwhelmed and overcommitted. Today's message is for you to mature God's plan for helping us balance work and rest now with this talk from Exodus chapter 20 years. Chip. This fourth boundary. I was a Christian about while 1012 years before I even understood it, let alone started to obey and I learned the hard way. I was driving a car was 1977 I had just graduated from college, I spent some time sharing Christ traveling overseas playing basketball, even in college, I was sort of a high energy played basketball and baseball and then was in a Bible study let a Bible study, met with the guy 101 and had six different guys that I met with and I was an RA to pay my way through the part that my scholarship didn't take care of so I learned to live a pretty fast pace enjoyed it and didn't seem to be a big problem and then I begin to work and lead a ministry and I would be up early, early in the morning to pray memorize some Scripture read the Bible go off to work coaching team get back do a thing on the campus and my life was moving a pretty high rpm's and I was in in shape guy you know 25 and I was driving back from Maryland and I'll never forget this and I was pushing pushing pushing menu that young you can go on for five hours sleep quite a bit don't think it affects you and a lot of stress, a lot of pressure and I was getting on and on ramp from Maryland back to West Virginia and I turned my head like this to see if any cars were coming and then no one was coming in Saigon on the Arnold on-ramp and then I had one small problem I couldn't move my neck back and it was like okay I'm going to drive like this.

I had like four hours and then I noticed that I'm not only driving anomalies my neck locks but I feel very cold and those of you have had a real high temperature or your body gets run down and I had a sweat but was very cold sweat, and I was thinking I'm not sure but I think I'm getting sick, you know, and so I made it to four hours and I went home and I and I got in bed and I remember sleeping about two hours and waking up in the middle the night and I'm one of those guys. When I play basketball I mean I lose 345 pounds.

I slept like crazy and I woke up in the middle the night and I was soaked and I'm in my gym shorts my T-shirt the sheets and boy wonder what happened. I got up, took a shower got all the wet stuff all through a blanket on the bed and went back to sleep in about two hours later I woke up again and I was drenched and I got no idea what's going on except for it's hard to take a shower with your head like this and it happened again and so being very smart intelligent person. I decided I would wait at least two days to find out this was anything serious before you go to the doctor.

You know I was would like you to take two aspirin. This will go away and it didn't. And I never forget I'm never going to that the doctor's office and he ran a series of tests and started asked me some questions about my schedule. I told him when I got up and how many hours I put in what I was doing and is leading a campus ministry and I was teaching full time and I was doing this other thing in and he said not run all test on your body and your body works fine. He said that your body and your immune system is so run down.

He said a good common cold can just I mean do severe damage and he put me in the hospital for about three days and put IV in me and then he said I'll release you had an uncle that lives in town for two weeks. You will just go and lay in bed and get your body back up to snuff, and I did.

My aunt was great. She fed me on this great food and is pretty good deal say the truth, and I didn't think that much about it and so I gradually got my my legs back and found out I had had a liver problem. Something was working quite right, and a member. As a young kid I had mono and hepatitis name were true, and so it was sort of my Achilles' heel that when I got really drained. That would pop up fast forward to 1984 made it through that I'm now got a wife got some kids I'm in Dallas seminary on finishing up my degree and I'm taking a small church and I get a make sure that because I'm the only pastor I get to get everything done in the same symptoms came back and I was in another doctor's office and he just looked me in the eye and he said you didn't die very very young man. Or you can learn to live differently and you know what I don't know much about your God, and I don't know much about the ministry but I can tell you you live at a pace and at a level. This can kill you if you don't change and I can tell you this. Your liver is your weak spot and when you get run down. This is what shows up in these tests and he said it serious and I thought maybe I should look into this. The title of this message comes out of my own personal life.

It's a word to the overworked and overwhelmed and overcommitted you know anybody like that.

Anybody know anybody that is overworked, overwhelmed and overcommitted that every time you want to get with someone you look at each other schedules and the Papas will PDA things and we could realize like next January. You have a free week or how many times you'd bump into someone church oh yeah be great to see you but great to see you and even saying that for like three years and some of you maybe different stages of life you know him Tuesday nights this Wednesday night if that's committee meeting on Thursday night. Your kids are in soccer, softball, ping-pong, ballet, music lessons and and mostly you know your meals together as a family are the drive through at McDonald's and Burger King overworked, overcommitted, stressed out ice to live that way and then I learned there was a gift. There's a gift from God and hit the gift is about every seven days stopping resting ceasing and allowing your mind, your spirit in your body to be rested, recalibrated and restored by honoring an enduring principle called the Sabbath. It's a gift from God and about 20 years ago I started to honor that and I honor it religiously and it has ice delivered a pretty fast pace, but one out of every seven days.

I Sabbath and what I like to do is as you look at your notes.

Let's do a little evaluation on the command let's give an explanation of reason in the basic message of the Sabbath and then this is one of all the commands are you ready for this. You can read the literature of all the commands I mean you would think that although all the books that have been written must be about. You know, no name other than God's name. The literature is overwhelming on this command. The most controversy. This command and so were to look at this command what it meant for Israel were to look at this command what Jesus said about it working.

Look at this command and for the early church and for today and then I want to get through that information and I want talk about what's it look like for you to practice the enduring principle of the Sabbath so that instead of being overworked. You can work at a pace and away that would honor God and restore you that instead of being stressed out. You can literally have your mind your spirit and your emotions like a battery charging as little cell phones you sticking to that thing at night. The Sabbath is a super natural battery charger.

God wants to use every seven days to get your body your mind your motions and your spirit where it says finished charging ready to go. So let's look at the text together.

Here's the command it says remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. That's Exodus 20 verse eight, the word remember here literally means to vividly bring to one's recollection. What recollection or to relive and will look at that just a minute. It's not just can't remember.

And someday is remember stop bring to your mental faculty, a sense of vivid restoration of a certain event and that event is this day and what it means to them in Israel. And then he says it is the Sabbath day and the word for Sabbath means to to put to an end means to cease.

It doesn't mean Saturday it came to mean Saturday, but the literal word for Sabbath is stop desist rest. Literally it means to be lacking, then here's the explanation six days you shall labor and do all your work, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord Yahweh your God.

On it you should not do any work. Either you knew your son or your daughter or your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals nor the alien living within your gates. It's a pretty comprehensive you, your family, your animals everything. One out of every seven days call a royal timeout and stop the reason he gives in verse 11 for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and all that's in them, but he rested on the seventh. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Now you all understand that God did not get tired after six days. It was like six days a minute. I am just beat right God gives out energy and never loses any energy. So what he did is he's modeling something force did you notice when you read through Genesis.

It was his evening and a day and he made it at the end of the day said it is good when God gets done doing something he takes a moment and he pauses and then he looks at what is made and he reflects on it and he enjoys it and after God had created 123456 days and he made all mankind and the earth.

He took a long pause and he Sabbath he ceased and he was modeling something for you and modeling something for me that you need to stop, you need to look back. You need to see what's been accomplished. Are you ready you need to enjoy it. You need to savor it, you need to drink it in some of us are so future oriented. So task oriented.

So about getting things done and getting the strokes and all the stuff that comes from accomplishing accomplishing accomplishing accomplishing you know what happens.

You never enjoy what God gives you, and you never look back and drink and what is been accomplished and so God says for six days here to work. It's a good thing. On the seventh day because I modeled this for you. I want you to learn to live in a way where you don't just work. But where you look back on your work and you appreciate and enjoy it. The message of the Sabbath. Basically there's three primary messages as you study this passage. One is it your work matters to God not notice it says six days you shall labor God gave you gifts energy focused creativity is a sense of purpose for your life your work matters to God is not like you come to a meeting like this and this is the spiritual part of the week or Sunday morning is a spiritual part of the week, 24 seven is spiritual to God and offering into God you we we live in Romans 12 one type lives work you offer your body a living and holy sacrifice, and so when you're doing diapers when you're babysitting grandkids when you're fixing people's body when you're drilling and filling teeth when you're taken a kid to soccer practice when you're taking a plumbing and and connecting some plumbing because that's what you do for living or connecting wires or whether you're in front of the computer screen when you work and do your work unto the Lord. It is a spiritual is coming to church is a spiritual as being a minister the gospel whatsoever you do, do it heartily. Colossians 323. As unto the Lord work is holy your work matters to God. Vocation doesn't mean job.

The word location means a calling God has called each one of us to do certain things according to our gifts and passions, and his purposes and he wants us to learn that we work and do you notice that work was assigned to us before the fall. You know what we live in a world where unit the TGIF mentality where everyone's trying to get as little work done as possible to get as much money as possible to do different stuff later. We got it with the whole world thinks the world is made for weekends, what isn't that a pretty big waste of the majority of your life. This command teaches us six days you shall work. I want to use your life only use you how I made you working whether it's at home as a mom with young children. Whether it's out of the marketplace as a woman. Whether it's as a man leading people whether it's doing construction, whether it's writing software programs or healing people's body. You do it every act unto the Lord your work matters to God. The second message of the Sabbath is there's more to life the labor is is there six days you shall work on the six you need to stop life can't just be viewed through work. People today prioritize all the world and all their life around work we make this decision based on work when we eat or don't eat as a family is because of work. What we do where we go, what to there's more to life than work. Work isn't enough to sustain you or sustain me.

It's an important part of life, but the Sabbath message teaches us don't view all of life to the lens of work. Where's the job how much money can I make people often relocate to quote a better job that pays a little more and what they leave as a church family and their best relationships and their kids growing in a good environment because you've been trained to think that every time you get a promotion, it's automatically God's will, maybe it is. Maybe it's not maybe God has bigger and higher plans than just a promotion. Maybe it's like living a life and so God wants us to know from this Sabbath principle that your work matters to God. There's more to life than labor and then finally, your time belongs to God. I mean, we all know that okay all that I am at all that I have a belongs to God. We teach what we have gifts from God were Stuart Paul said what you have the habit received answer. Nothing is organic teacher spiritual gifts belong to God. Our money our resources belong to God, our homes or cars or children there get from the Lord. What this says is your time is it your own. But we act like it is. He's gonna say out of 160 468 hours every week, 24 of those hours are much now I own them all and your steward of all them, but 24 out of those 168.

I've already marked off five preset their mind and I'm gonna tell you out of every seven days.

What to do on 24 those hours. But here's the amazing thing. It's a gift. It's not about rules and regulations is not about canned user can't use these can I say I love you so much I'm gonna set a boundary around that human tendency to go go go go go you know some of us how many people make those little lists where you write down all the things you have to do. Go ahead, raise your hand. I do and in that really just want I think I have a whiteboard over here in my office I get another whiteboard over here and I make lists and you I love you too, just for left the office and went to one of the markers check check check and you know what when you check three feels better check for the when you check for it feels better. Check five or six when you but if your life has any complexity at all, you never get done with your list. Do you and want to get done with that list. I have this amazing thing. I get up the next day and I have a whole new list. Do you understand that some people unconsciously are living from list to list the list with some illusion. Someday some way things are gonna slow down and someday somewhere you really gonna do some things that matter.

And someday somewhere you really can dig in and build some of those relationships and someday somewhere you really just can sit around the table and share hearts as a family and someday somewhere you can take that family missions trip in and get beyond ourselves, and someday later anyone things really calm down at work then you really gonna find your niche in the church and where to serve and how to do it and what you know is the someday someone ever comes and God says I got a solution to that you break through this boundary. I'll give you a Ingram experience. I think I've caught up on my sabbaths, see if you don't take and he'll give to you. I've been in bed a few times for not taking Sabbath. I got probably a litany of injuries that I could probably trace back to you know what I think God wants me to rest and now when I don't take it. He's got a weighted because because he loves me and he cares for you and he wants you know that your time isn't years.

It's his. But as the psalmist said our times are in his hands and he wants to do something very special very special and very good. Let's look now.

What's the meaning of the Sabbath must look at it for Israel and the Sabbath Jesus in the Sabbath in the church in the Sabbath, and then I want to get to the application. Part I've given you an outline here as you look at it.

It's obvious I can cover all this material. So what I want to do is highlight it and I've given you the passages so that I pray that since you're on some of you a little Sabbath vacation. You can, you know, go over the sweet shop in maybe get a coke or cup coffee, put your feet up, sit in the sun. Look at some these passages in Satan.

While this is neat. Let God speak to you personally, Israel and the Sabbath. First, the Sabbath was a test for Israel.

Second was a law and third it was a sign, let me just highlight these.

First of all, it was a test the first time we hear the word Sabbath in terms of its relationship to Israel is in Exodus 1621 through 30, and this was a test of faith. This occurs one week before they get to Mount Sinai and wanly before they get to Mount Sinai you know they were there whining and having struggles and you know there's not nothing to eat in God's is a here's what I want you to do you go out in the morning and Bilby Manna and just collect enough just for that day.

If you collect more than it will be good and of course being the really smart people. They were a lot like probably all of us. We were there. Some of the people said you know what this is good for today taste pretty good. What about tomorrow.

See, I don't know that I can believe got a supply tomorrow to member what they did. They got an extra jar when I got up the next day. The eighth one jar and what was in the second your anybody member maggots see this was a test of I am a faithful God. I will take care of you and then he talked about the Sabbath and said now here's business you do on Friday. I want you to take two jars and I in a summer thinking we been down this road before this can't work is if you take two jars on Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday but on on the Sabbath. He says what you take two jars and then what happens when the sun goes down Friday evening. You got this and when you wake up on the Sabbath. You don't have to go out and work. It's there.

What did they find both jars were good. The first mention of the Sabbath and Manna is a test of faith. So God's people could learn he will supply and that's why when he gives the law and he says remember the Sabbath bring into vivid recollection their first experience with the Sabbath was what the Manna what they can bring into vivid direction. Literally the word has the idea that they couldn't think of this because a number technology is if you could punch a DVD player inside your mind and read live in your mind what occurred on that first time when you had to not get more Manna this day and take two jars. Watch out supply.

On the other day is read live the Sabbath because the goal was there to have to learn in every situation, God will meet their needs.

He's a faithful God on the day you work he meet your needs and on the day you don't work you meet your needs and the goal was trust my word.

Trust me, I'm big and powerful. I can take care of it. So every time they were to celebrate the Sabbath. They were to remember this experience will write back if you're just joining us your listing to living on the Jew with Chip Ingram chips message a word to the overworked, overwhelmed and overcommitted is from his series God's boundaries for abundant living. Strip explained today other than a harsh list of prohibitions. The commandments are actually life-giving instructions from a heavenly father who loves his children. God's boundaries for abundant living provides a high view of God that will give you a new appreciation of your relationship with creating a solid foundation for every aspect of your life. If that's something you'd like to learn more about. We want to help for limited time, the CDs for God's boundaries are discounted and the MP3s are absolutely free. You'll find God's boundaries resources on our website LivingontheEdge.org or if you prefer to talk with one of our customer care representatives give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 will trip it only think about the 10 Commandments I think a lot of people imagine an angry God just waiting for us to mess up what resource do we have that could help people get an accurate perspective of God and then really see these commandments as the loving boundaries you set up for our good will Dave you need understand that God's boundaries come out of his heart and his heart is as a father that wants to protect his children and until you hear his voice and tell you really understand personally not what someone else says about the Bible. But until you get into the Scriptures yourself and hear the Holy Spirit speak compassion and protection and encouragement in your heart.

It's very difficult to see the 10 Commandments is anything more than than rules I have to follow and what we all know is we can't, in and of ourselves. And that's honestly why we've created free video resource called how to hear God's voice in Scripture it's five brief online videos where I I literally walk people through step-by-step how to get into God's word. I just find so many people that they just come at you and I tried reading the Bible and I just don't get it I or you and I read's only chapters and it's just performance what we want you to know is that there's an easy clear way.

There's a daily pattern of spending time with God, and you can learn to hear his voice and when you do kill direct your life is people who say have never open God's word and say I don't know where to begin this video series will help you start sort of that point Eddie and begin to hear God's voice and learn to study Scripture for yourself. We were really excited about putting this in people's hands and it's absolutely free will is online video course how to hear God's voice in Scripture really is a great resource for Living on the Edge with your opening the Bible for the first time or you've been reading it for years. What Chip shares will take your ability to discern God's voice to a whole new level.

You can do these five video sessions on your own time at your own pace as your relationship with God deepens your confidence will increase and you'll actually begin to look forward to spending time with them.

Just go online to LivingontheEdge.org to check out this free video resource and take your next step toward hearing God speak to you through his word will now here's chip to wrap up today's program I have to tell you that when I teach on this topic of the Sabbath, we get an amazing amount of mail. This really is a unnerved for a lot of people and but I think unfortunately, people gravitate very very quickly to sort of logistical issues. What day is a Sabbath and can you do this on this day or not do this on this day in different traditions and you know what were going to talk about those things in our next broadcast, but what I do want you notice, don't miss the message. The message of the Sabbath is that our work really does matter to God in the message to the Sabbath is that there is more to life than work and the message of the Sabbath is that the time that is entrusted to me.

It really does belong to God, and the very first thing he teaches in terms of the meaning of the Sabbath is that it's a test of faith. The Sabbath really is one of the greatest evidences in your life and my life. Do I really trust God in my confession, I mean I'm not gonna pretend here, it's a big struggle in my life and I've had to put talk about boundaries I've had to put real boundaries on a day off and I've had put clear boundaries on time with my family time with God and vacation times to get renewed because I love the work and I know there's some wacky things probably deep down in my psyche and my brain and I get a lot of reward for it. I'm not sure it's all godly but I could work work work work work and really miss some things and I'm probably talking to a lot of people that think just the same way. But when you hear yourself say things like I don't have time. I wish we could slow down yeah honey or yes to one of the kids or to your roommate, who's another single guy or another single gallon you say. Yet when this gets done, then we can all those phrases are telling you you don't get the Sabbath and you're missing out on God's gift. Some of us are working so hard, but the reasons we work is very fundamental. We don't believe God will provide. We don't believe he's in control.

He has told us to stop to rest to be physically, spiritually and emotionally renewed because with the object of his love because he wants you to see and me to see that when we are not working he is and he has our future and our best in mind and it is not a obligatory thing is much as a gift. Are you receiving the gift of the Sabbath do some hard thinking on this one and then make sure you tune in turn next broadcast because were going to dig a lot deeper. I'll see you then. Just before we close. I want to thank those of you who make this broadcast possible through your generous giving Living on the Edge invests those dollars to purchase air time create programs and provide resources to help Christians live like Christians Living on the Edge is been a blessing to you. Would you prayerfully consider sending a gift today. You can donate online at http://livingontheedge.org or by calling us at 1-888-333-6003. Thank you for your partnership with us will I hope you'll join us again on Monday as Chip continues our current series. For now, this is Dave really saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge