Series: Tipping Points --“Stop – Take a Break – Quit” (3)

Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:15
(with thanks to Eugene Peterson)

1. according to Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point, tipping points are little changes that can have big effects. When small numbers of people start behaving differently or buying a product, the potential is there for reaching a critical mass or ‘tipping point,’ leading to some kind of societal change.

2. for July & August I’m talking about tipping points in our relationship with God. Actions, behaviors, perspectives that will tip us in the direction of God’s presence, power & kingdom in our lives.

3. so far I’ve covered 2 tipping points - experiencing God’s forgiveness & the necessity of silence. This week – the challenge of busyness & the necessity of Sabbath.

the challenge of busyness
1. to start us off, I have some phrases that characterize the busyness of our lives:

2. multi-tasking – how many things can you do at once? Drive to work + talk on my cell phone + check my email messages + listen to the morning news + drink my coffee. I drove by a woman on I-5 the other day who was putting on her make-up. Hannah @ 6 years old, Look Dad, I can walk & chew gum at the same time!

3. 24/7 – stores & the Internet stay open 24/7 for shopping. Parts of our society never shut down. People work at all hours of the day & night.

4. over-choice – a newly coined term for the stress we feel from having more options than we can handle or actually need. Does it really matter if I buy the mint or the peach shampoo? What used to be just a cup of coffee has now turned into 125 different combinations at Starbucks. We live in a society immersed in options – a whole aisle of cereal to choose from when looking for breakfast food.

5. blurring of boundaries – technology blurs the boundaries between work & home & vacation. Rest becomes difficult because we are constantly ‘on.’ In May I spent 5 days at a monastery. I was intrigued by one of the people I met – he frequently checked his Blackberry to stay abreast of his emails & calls.

6. scheduled hyperactivity – this is what one child behavior expert calls the exhausting schedules we create for our children: school, volleyball, basketball, swim lessons, dance, music, soccer camp & on it goes. Do kids ever get to play anymore or have free time?

7. I do therefore I am – the words on a Nextel billboard. We are increasingly defined by what we do in our busy, action-oriented, see-how-much-you-can-accomplish world.

8. so we talk of no time, lack of time, not enough time, being out of time or trying to find more time. This challenge of busyness need to be counter-balanced with the necessity of Sabbath.

Genesis 2:2-3
1. let’s go back to the creation story. For 6 days God created, God worked. The days are numbered off. The 7th day is the final day in a series of workdays, days that are declared good by God.
2. 4 verbs give character to the 7th day – God finished his work…he rested…he blessed…made it holy. These verbs take us beyond the workplace. There is more to life than work. There is God, the God who finished, rested, blessed & hallowed. The 6 days of creation/6 days of work, reach their climax on the 7th day of rest.

3. the phrase God rested from all his work gives us our word Sabbath – rest. The word means stop, take a break, quit. There is nothing devout or sacred or religious about the word.

4. God has woven into the very fabric of the universe the notion of rest, our need of rest. Sabbath rest is the rhythm of creation.

Exodus 20:8-11
1. now we come to the 10 commandments. The 7th day is the only day of creation to be picked up & used as a commandment. The meaning – God’s rest is something that he expects us to participate in. As God does, so he wants us to do.

2. the 7th day comes into full play in the 4th commandment found in Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy 5. In both the commands are identical but the reasons given for the commands differ.

3. the reason given in Exodus – we are to rest because God rested. This is what God did. We are to quit doing & simply be. This is a Divine precedent.

4. remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy. The 7th day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. This means that Sabbath is keeping time with God. Sabbath is God-centered. Sabbath is oriented around God.
Deuteronomy 5:15
1. the Deuteronomy reason is different. God’s people were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. They lived under oppression. Their lives were work work work. Rest was hard to come by. Vacations were out of the question.

2. the people were commanded to quit work each 7th day in order to rest from their work. Take a break. Find renewal. Experience rejuvenation. Adults, slaves, livestock & children get a day off.

3. the moment we begin to look at others in terms of what they can do rather than who they are, we mutilate humanity & violate community (EHPeterson).

Summary
1. Eugene Peterson in his writings sums up the purpose of Sabbath with 2 words – prayer & play. I think he’s right.

2. prayer = Genesis 2 & Exodus 20. We are to cease from our work in order to rest. This rest day is holy, meaning that in some way it is to be set aside for God.

3. this is where the prayer comes in. Sabbath is a day to seek rest & renewal in the Lord. This takes the shape of community worship, prayer, teaching & connecting in relationships.

4. once a week we need to stop everything & come together around God to be reminded of his centrality & our need of grace.

5. play = Deuteronomy 5. We are to cease from our work in order to play. This means to do those things that bring rest & renewal to our minds, bodies, spirits & emotions.

6. you take a nap, you take a walk in the woods, you spend an afternoon with good friends, you read a good book, you watch a good movie, you listen to your favorite music, you enjoy a leisurely meal with family, you go for a run.

7. God has created us & his creation with a rhythm of work & rest. We disregard it at our own peril. We walk in step with the Divine cadence of creation by observing Sabbath.

Sundays
1. how do we do this? There’s very little sacred about Sundays in our culture. For many people it’s simply another work day. Or a day to get caught up on your work around the house.

2. sporting events have taken over Sundays. Tournaments & games are scheduled. Parents cart kids to this game & that. I’m all for sports. I think they’re good.

3. But what concerns me is the values we are passing onto our kids. It seems that we are teaching them that sports always come before God, that the development of their physical attributes is more important than the nurture of their spiritual lives.

4. there’s very little sacred about this day anymore.

5. here’s the key – if you can make Sunday a day for prayer & play, do it. If you can’t find another day during the week. Find sometime for extended prayer & life-giving play.




New people for a new building
1. for months I’ve been talking about becoming a new people for a new building. Part of becoming a new people are these tipping points that I’m addressing:
à To deal with the sin & shame & guilt in our lives we need to experience God’s forgiveness
à To deal with the noise in our lives we need to practice silence so we can recognize the gentle whisper of God’s voice
à To deal with the busyness of our lives we need to practice Sabbath – stop, take a break, quit – so we can be present to God

Sabbath perspectives from Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis
1. Sabbath is taking a day a week to remind myself that I did not make the world & that it will continue to exist without my efforts

2. Sabbath is a day when my work is done, even if it isn’t

3. Sabbath is a day when my job is to enjoy. Period

4. Sabbath is a day when I am fully available to myself & those I love most

5. Sabbath is a day when I produce nothing

6. Sabbath is a day when I remind myself that I am not a machine

7. Sabbath is a day when at the end I say, ‘I didn’t do anything today,’ and I don’t’ add, ‘and I feel guilty’

“Be Still & Know That I am God” (2)

Series: Tipping Points
Psalm 46:10

1. Malcolm Gladwell states in his best-selling book The Tipping Point that little changes can have big effects. When small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or ‘tipping point’ is reached, changing the world around them.

2. he illustrates his point by documenting the return popularity of Hush Puppy shoes; the rise of fax machines 15 years ago; the proliferation of cell phones today. All 3 reached a tipping point that sent their sales exploding.

3. for the next 2 months I want to talk about tipping points in our relationship with God. If we get these points God-right, they will tip us in the direction of God’s presence, power & kingdom. The result will be a spiritual power & presence in our lives that will make a difference in our world.

4. last week we dealt with the issue of experiencing God’s forgiveness. This week’s tipping point – the challenge of noise & the necessity of silence.

Yesterday vs. Today
1. 150 years ago the majority of people in America lived in the country. This from Anthony Doerr’s Four Seasons in Rome:

Imagine life back then. Night beyond the walls was lightless, the sky paralyzed with stars. The sound track of life was not the sustained grumble of engines, but the murmur of wind and the howling of dogs, the scolding of mothers; chisels, footfalls, and laughter; the clatter of hooves (Anthony Doerr, Four Seasons in Rome).

2. try to imagine living 150 years ago. It was a quieter time:
à no movies, radio, tv, video, dvds, mp3 players or ipods
à no phones, faxes, cell phones, pagers, Treos or BlackBerries
à no cars, motorcycles, trucks, scooters, airplanes
à no electric drills, saws, jack hammers, nail guns
à no washer, dryer, electric mixer, espresso machine or microwaves
à no furnace, air conditioner or vacuum cleaners

3. noise, as we know & experience it here in America, is a fairly recent human phenomenon. We live, quite possibly, in the nosiest country in the nosiest century of all human centuries, given the ubiquitous nature of the technology that fills our pockets, homes, cars & offices.

4. all this noise makes some of us uncomfortable with silence. We wake up – turn on tv or cd player. Hop in our car – turn on the radio or cd player. Sit down in our office at work – turn on some music. Elevators, stores & coffee shops are filled with background music.

5. we come to believe that noise of some kind is normal, when in fact, long stretches of silence have been normal for most people for most of human history.

6. tipping point – how does all this noise affect our relationship with God…how can we cultivate the necessity of silence in our lives?

7. 1st I want to look at an Old Testament story AND then take you into the life & rhythm of Jesus.

I Kings 19:9-13
1. this is one of my favorite Elijah stories. To set the context:
à God has just burned with fire sacrifices made to Baal on Mt. Carmel – power encounter!
à Jezebel has threatened Elijah so he ran for his life into the desert & prayed to die
à an angel comforted & fed him
à he traveled 40 days & 40 nights until he reached Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai)

2. 19:9-10: shows us that Elijah was desperate & feeling all alone.

3. 19:11: God instructs Elijah to go stand on the mountain in his presence (echoes of Moses on Mt. Sinai).

4. 19:11: 1st the wind tore through the mountain & then an earthquake. God was in neither.

5. 19:12: 3rd fire came after the earthquake but the Lord was not in the fire.

6. wind, earthquake, fire BUT God was not in them. God was not to be found in the spectacular.

7. 19:12: and after the fire came a gentle whisper. The presence of God, the speaking voice of God, was found in a gentle whisper.

8. how do we know this was the voice of God? Look at Elijah’s response – When he heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face & went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

9. sometimes, often, I believe, God speaks to us in a gentle whisper. More often than in & through the dramatic.

10. noise drowns out the gentle whisper of God. Silence opens a space in our lives to hear the voice of God. We see this in the life of Christ. He practiced silence as a necessity for hearing the voice of his Father.

Jesus: 6 texts
1. Luke 6:12: before he chose the 12 disciples he spent the entire night alone in the desert hills, praying & listening for the Father’s guidance. Silence before making a major decision.

2. Matt 14:13: when he received news of John the Baptist’s death, his cousin, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Wanted to hear the Father’s comforting voice.

3. Matt 14:23: after he fed the 5000 he went up into the mountains to pray by himself. Silence away from the crowds.

4. Mark 1:35: following a long day & night of work, he got up early the next morning to spend time with his Father in prayer. The priority of silence & prayer in his life.

5. Luke 5:16: after healing a leper Jesus withdrew to a lonely place & prayer as he often did. Lonely places are silent.

6. Matt 26:36-46: as he prepared for his crucifixion he hid away in the quietness of the garden of Gethsemani to pray.

7. these texts illustrate the importance of silence to Jesus. What are the ‘texts’ of your life, lifestyle, practice that show the importance of silence? Are you doing anything to cultivate silence in this noisy world we live in?

what others say
1. by silence we create a space in our lives for God to work. This comes from Brother Christian of the Abbey of Gethsemani. I spent 5 days at the abbey on retreat in May. Lots of silence.

Here’s a ‘text’ from my life. One morning I got up at 3am to join the monks for Vigils @ 3:15am, their 1st prayer office of the day. Vigils is 45 minutes of prayer, mostly psalms said & sung in the dark of this whale’s
belly of a church, huge church.

After Vigils I went down to the kitchen to get a cup of hot chocolate. I startled a woman eating a bowl of cereal in the dark. Then I went outside to the monk’s cemetery behind the church & stood with my back up against a stone wall. Here’s what transpired – 4am After Vigils.

2. Mother Teresa said this about silence – God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grow in silence. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us & through us (Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge).

3. Gordon MacDonald writes in Ordering Your Private World about the terrible conspiracy of noise. Our worlds are filled with the noise of endless music, chatter, and busy schedules. We are so accustomed to noise that we grow restless without it. With the intrusion of so much noise, when can we withdraw and monitor the still, small voice of God?

4. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together, We are silent early in the morning because God should have the first word, and we are silent before going to bed because the last word also belongs to God. There is a wonderful power in being silent – the power of clarification, purification, and focus on what is essential. The silence of the Christian is listening silence, humble stillness.

Practicing silence
1. practice silence each day with the Word of God before you. Bonhoeffer writes, In the end silence means nothing other than waiting for God’s Word & coming from God’s Word with a blessing. God speak to us through Scripture IF we are quiet enough to hear his whispering voice.

2. learn to pray by listening. Prayer is not only talking to God but listening to God. Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still and know that I am God. Be still, be quiet, be settled before God & listen for his voice.

3. turn off the sounds. Learn to make silence your friend. Learn to live without filling the space around you with noise. Turn the TV off. Turn your stereo or cd player or ipod off. Get used to silence.

4. spend time in nature. The sounds of nature have a way of bringing healing & renewal to our souls. The sounds of nature are soothing & comforting. God speaks through his creation.

5. start with 10-15 minutes a day. Sit in silence before God. When I do this I quietly repeat in my heart my soul finds rest in God alone to help me stay centered.

6. how are we ever going to become A New People for a New Building if we don’t learn to weed out noise from our lives so we can be focused & present before God, to hear his speaking voice? Silence will act as a tipping point that will tip us in the direction of God’s power, presence & Kingdom. Amen.

ÌÌÌ

4am after vigils
the abbey of gethsemani
june 1, 2007

a dark-haired woman eating a bowl of cereal
standing in the kitchen dressed for night
startled embarrassed by my entrance
I step outside hot chocolate in hand
head for the lower cemetery
back up against the rough stone wall
dwarfed by the big white church
brother owen laid out in front of me
stillness quiet calm all-at-rest
crickets flooding the night with their singing
an occasional dog barking in the distance
2 cars drive by
a jet flies overhead
fire flys light up the night air with green
tinged tails
birds still sleeping
my mind crystal clear and wide awake
merton’s beloved gethsemani
God’s creation humming
the sounds of silence
“by silence we create a space for God in our
lives” (brother christian)
full moon overhead trying to break through
the clouds
hum of the guesthouse air conditioner
singing monks since december 22, 1848
non-stop
for the love of God
7xs a day
rain or shine war or peace hot or cold lincoln
or bush
standing before their earthly resting place
held by the ground
hidden with Christ in God
the silence and the cool morning air
opens my spirit
awakens my soul
draws my interior outward
takes all that is exterior inward
unity oneness cohesion
God God God
i was made for this
we were made for this
to stand quietly in the presence of God
in a beautifully draped night of darkness
senses fully alive ignited wide awake
an epiphany moment
(and without coffee, caffeine)
a taste of eden
God walking with humanity in the cool of
the garden

i could be called to such a place as this
but for heather hannah elizabeth
every trip asking what if
i wonder wonder wonder
silence and stillness are the soul’s language
while the world sleeps the monks pray
the world turns over in bed
the monks turn inward Godward outward
living a life of prayer
of being truly human
4am at gethsemani
in the dark lit up by fire flys
standing with the dead in Christ alive
sitting in the palm of his hand
the Father Son and Holy Spirit
who was and is and is to come
amen

Series: Tipping Points

“What It Means to Be Forgiven”

Psalm 32

***With thanks to Ed Dobson sermon preached at Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Father’s Day***

1. Malcolm Gladwell states in his best-selling book The Tipping Point that little changes can have big effects. When small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or ‘tipping point’ is reached, changing the world.

2. he illustrates his point by documenting the return popularity of Hush Puppy shoes; the rise of fax machines 15 years ago; the proliferation of cell phones today. All 3 reached a tipping point that sent their sales exploding.

3. for the next 2 months I want to talk about tipping points that affect our relationship with God. If we get these points God-right, the affects will ripple outward to make a difference in our world.

4. the tipping points of forgiveness, noise vs. silence, busyness, fears, depression, compartmentalization of life, temptation & materialism.

5. each of these, depending upon how we handle them, will tip us in one direction or the other – either toward fulfilling God’s will or away it.

What does it mean to be Forgiven?
1. the 1st tipping point is forgiveness. What does it means to be forgiven by God. Vertical forgiveness. Psalm 32 tells us.
2. I believe there are many of us who carry around baggage. Stuff from our past. Things we have said, done or thought. Things that we believe God has not or will not forgive us for. We live with guilt & shame.

3. if this describes you, Psalm 32 is good news!

3 words for sin
1. 32:1-2 contains 3 different words for sin:
à transgressions
à sins
à sin
Each of these is a completely different word in the Hebrew language in which this psalm was written.

1 – transgressions (32:1)
1. in the Hebrew this word literally means to miss the mark.

2. one mark that God has set for us is telling the truth. To not tell the truth is to tell a lie & to tell a lie is to miss the mark.

3. Wednesday night I had this incredibly vivid dream. I was at a 50th wedding anniversary. A writer whose books I’ve just discovered was at the celebration – Anthony Doerr. I went up & talked to him. He asked me if I had bought any of his books. I said yes, knowing full well that I hadn’t. I was afraid to tell him the truth. I lied. I missed the mark.

4. all of us know what it means to miss the mark.

2 – sins (32:1)
1. in the Hebrew this word literally means to refuse a rightful authority in your life. Applied to God it means to refuse God’s authority in our lives.
2. I’ve been rereading Thomas Merton’s autobiography The Seven Story Mountain. In the middle part of the book he recounts the long process of his conversion to Christ. Although he had become a Christ-follower & joined the Catholic Church, he continued to live his life his way. His intellect was converted but not his will.

3. his drinking & partying continued. His desire to make a name for himself as a young, aspiring writer in New York City continued. His lustful ways after women continued.

4. he painfully came to the conclusion that he was still refusing God’s authority in his life. Thomas Merton’s will was trumping God’s will.

5. we sin whenever we snub God’s rightful authority in our lives.

3 – sin (32:2)
1. the Hebrew word here means to be bent or to be crooked as opposed to standing up straight.

2. during college I worked summers for the Ada County Highway Department in Boise. I was on a crew that painted crosswalks & directional arrows. On freshly asphalted streets we used a chalk line to lay out the crosswalks. Sometimes we stayed to the chalk line & painted a straight cross walk. And sometimes we veered to the left or to the right & painted a crooked cross walk.

3. sometimes we walk the line of God’s revealed truth & sometimes we don’t. The crooked crosswalks in our lives are called sin.

3 words for forgiveness
1 – forgiven (32:1)
1. literally means to pick something up & carry it away. In Genesis 50:13 this word is used to speak of carrying the dead body of Jacob from Egypt to Canaan after he died. His body was picked up and carried from Egypt to Canaan.

2. blessed are those who when they miss the mark their transgressions are picked up & carried from one place to another.

2 – covered (32:1)
1. this word means to cover something. Simple word, simple meaning. For example to take a coat & cover your face so you can’t be seen.

2. blessed is the one whose sins of refusing to live under God’s authority are covered so that they can’t be seen.

3 – not count against them (32:2)
1. literally the word means to determine or calculate something. In Leviticus this is the word used to determine the value of land. This land is worth this much.

2. blessed is the one whose crooked ways God will not calculate or determine to them.

Bags of trash
1. I’ve brought a bag of trash from home. We all have bags of trash in our lives. Your trash may be different from my trash. You may not struggle with the things I struggle with. This bag of trash is our sin.

2. and what does Psalm 32 tell us?

3. Blessed is the one for whom God picks up the trash of their lives & carries it away. Psalm 103 tells us, as far as the east is from the west so far has God removed our transgressions from us.

4. God himself has picked up our trash & carried it away!

5. Blessed is the one whose sins of snubbing God are covered up so you can’t see them any more. Here’s another bag of trash. And here’s a blanket to cover it up so it can no longer be seen.

6. God covers up my bag of trash so I don’t see it anymore!

7. Blessed is the one whose bent ways God does not calculate or hold against them.

8. this is what it means to be forgiven by God.

the Old Testament atonement for sin – Leviticus 16
1. this chapter contains instructions for the Day of Atonement. Once a year the high priest offered sacrifices for the sins of the entire community.

2. 16:7,15-16: the high priest brings 2 live goats. 1 is dedicated to God, killed, blood brought to ark of covenant, sprinkled as an atonement to cover the sins of the people. Key word is cover. Blood covers sins.

3. 16:20-22: now the live goat is taken. The high priest lays his hands on the goats head & confesses over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites. The goat is sent away into wilderness. It carries away the sins of the whole community. The goat is shoved off a cliff & killed. Sins are carried away.

the Jesus atonement for sin – Hebrews 9 & 10
1. now lets see how the New Testament applies this to Jesus. 9:7: the high priest on the day of atonement offers sacrifices for people’s sins – refers back to Leviticus 16 & the day of atonement.

2. 9:11-14: Christ was sacrificed once for all by his own blood.

3. 10:11-12: Christ offered for all time one sacrifice for sins. Then he sat down at the right hand of God. This means he finished his work! No more sacrifice for sin.

4. Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for all the bags of garbage in the world.

5. through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, once & for all, God picks up our sin & carries it away. He covers it up so that it cannot be seen. And he says I’ll never bring it up to you again.

6. this is what it means to be forgiven by God!

3 words that describe our response to being forgiven
1 – rejoice (32:11)
1. rejoice means to celebrate with wild unrestrained passion.

2 – be glad (32:11)
1. this simply means to shout. In other Old Testament passages this word is translated shout!

3 – sing (32:11)
1. literally means to shout with joy. To sing with inexpressible joy

Time to Respond
1. we are told in this psalm that we are a blessed people. Why?
à we are blessed because God carries away our transgression of missing his mark for our character & conduct – carries it away so it is no longer seen
à we are blessed because God covers our sins of resisting his authority & living by our own – covers our sin so we can no longer see it
à we are blessed because God does hold us accountable for the bent or crooked things in our lives

2. what this means for us is a response worthy of God’s action in our behalf –
à we sing, we worship with unrestrained passion & joy!
à we shout aloud to express our thanksgiving
à we shout with joy joy joy because we are a forgiven, freed people

3. 1st we’re going to celebrate communion & then we’re going to rejoice, be glad & sing as the Utes lead us in worship!