Life Apps #4

This is the 4 message in our current series, "life Apps". Here is the 3rd life app. Enjoy. Life Apps, part 4 “Rest” Sunday, March 18th, 2012- MRWC We’re in week 4 of our Life Apps series. This series is based on the true-to-life principle that says: “application makes all the difference” You see, it isn’t enough just to hear, know or acknowledge something, to get the most out of any application, we must apply it, because “application makes all the difference” This is the truth that James was telling the followers of Jesus. In James 1:22 he says: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22, NIV) The application is in the doing. Hearing isn’t enough—application makes all the difference. Followers of Jesus are to do more than just show up to church once in a while; followers of Jesus are to do more than just hear the Word of God— followers of Jesus are to apply the word of God, because “application makes all the difference.” We’ve looked at two specific life apps that God wants us to apply because the application is in the doing, not in the hearing. For today’s Life App, I’m going to need a couple of things: my treadmill, and a volunteer. I’ve pulled a few strings this morning, and Joshua Bradley is going to help me out today. ILLUSTRATION- Joshua, have you ever heard the line “time flies?” Well, you’re about to experience it. I’d like for you to get on the treadmill called life and begin walking. (Start off with a nice slow pace) I’d like to say, that life will always remain at this nice leisurely pace. But the reality is it doesn’t. Often times, though, life speeds up to a pace of 5.0, with an incline of 6.0. To make life more interesting: Eventually, you’ll get a job. (Briefcase) Then, you get married, and have a baby…boy. (doll) When the baby comes, your wife will want to stay in touch with you, so smart phone. This summer, you are building a home. (Hammer) Eventually, you’re going to need something to eat. (Cracker-jack box) How are you holding up, my friend? You’ve got your hands full there. Unfortunately, life doesn’t clip along at this pace, unfortunately, (for you) life speeds up—to 9.0. The trouble is, life eventually catches up with us, and we will eventually, fall off the treadmill and come crashing down. Is this the life God intended for his people? Does God actually expect us to work ourselves to death? The Question that I'm wondering this morning is: What are we to do when life moves at such a fast pace? Fortunately, God has an app for that. But, to be honest, this life app gets overlooked, and under-utilized. So many times, especially amongst the followers of Jesus, we reason that we have to be working “right out straight”, as if it were a sign of spiritual maturity. “Blessed are those who work 24/7/365, for they shall die.” The life app that we are going to be looking at this morning addresses what to do when you’re on the treadmill of life. This Life App is taken from the life of Elijah. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah had just demonstrated to the people of his day who the real God was. He was on a spiritual high, for God had just showed up in an awesome way. Then, in 1 Kings 19, Elijah finds out that there is a bounty on his head. “When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. 2 So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.” 3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. 4 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” (1 Kings 19:1-4, NLT2) Elijah’s statement: “I have had enough, LORD,” (I Kings 19:4, NLT2) has been felt, or expressed by most, if not all, of us. Elijah was running such a fast paced life, and he did not have time to slow down, so when he logged on to his Facebook account and received this notice from Jezebel, he went ballistic. We’ve all been there. You’re grumpy and in such a foul mood, that no one wants to be around you, let alone carry on a conversation with you. This was Elijah, running from one God thing to the next God thing, until finally, he felt like dying. This is what will happen to those of us who go all of the time. We will eventually hit the wall, and fell like throwing in the towel. Elijah was at such a point. He was literally running for his life. When he finally stopped running, he found a quiet place to rest, and poured out his heart to God. At this moment, we expect God to say “Don’t you remember what just happened? Didn’t you just see what I did? Didn’t the fire fall from the sky and burn up the wet-burnt offerings? We expect God to give Elijah an inspiriting speech. He will. Just not right then. What God does is way more important than anything He could have said at that moment. God meets Elijah right where he’s at, and gives him what he needs the most: today’s life app: “Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the LORD came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. 9 There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.” (1 Kings 19:5-9, NLT2) The Bible tells us that God dispatched a food Network angel to care for Elijah. The angel told him to eat and rest. Then the same angel comes to him again and asked Elijah to eat some more, then get up and make a 40 day journey and go to the mountain of God, where Elijah once again lies down to sleep. Don’t miss the pattern, it’s very important: Elijah slept. Elijah ate. Elijah Slept some more. Elijah goes on a journey and Elijah sleeps again. After this, God would come to Elijah and give him a glimpse of Who He is, but before doing so, God had Elijah step off the treadmill of life and rest. The Life app that God gave Elijah that day is the same life app that God wants to give us this day: it’s the app of rest. Rest is so underappreciated. We think- and I’m probably more guilty of this that all of you—but we think that we’re super-Christians if we work all of the time, but this simply isn’t true. If you look back at the creation of the world, God worked for 6 days and then He rested on the 7th day. Keith Drury says that “God simply rests. Ceases work. Does nothing.” (Drury, 2005, 53) ILLUSTRATION- Scientists have found that a lack of rest is affecting society in a negative way. In a recent study they found that the average person lost 364 hours of sleep last year. If you take those 364 lost hours of sleep and divide them by 24—representing one day—you end up with 30. Scientists have deduced that the average person was awake the equivalent of 30 straight days last year. (Jeff Henderson, life app sermon on rest) I don’t know about you, but if I stayed up for 30 straight days, it would severely impact my job performance. If I stated up for 30 straight days my relationships would be affected, and 30 straight days of no sleep would affect my ability to make informed decisions and would stress me out to no end. A lack of rest does strange things with our minds, to our bodies and to our emotions. ILLUSTRATION- Most, if not all, of the arguments that I get in with my wife,occur when one, or both of us, are tired. It never fails, when I am so baked that I can’t think straight, that we will end up arguing over something that wouldn’t even be an issue if we were both properly rested. So the question isn’t how do we get off the treadmill of life, because that will only happen when we die, but the question is how do we incorporate the life app of rest while we are on the treadmill of life? Thankfully, God not only tells us about this Life app, He actually shows us how to apply this app. We are going to look at the example of Jesus, and see how slowing down—even for a few moments—will greatly help us deal with the treadmill of life. Why use Jesus as an example? If the Savior of the world can slow down and take a rest, it’s probably okay if we slow down and rest. As you study the life of Jesus, you’ll notice that He had a pattern- He would endure an intense period of ministry—healing, feeding, teaching-- and then, He would stop, rest, pray. Then He would continue on again. Let me show you what I mean. In Matthew 14, we read that Jesus had just finished feeding upwards of 15000 people and in verse 22 we read: “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone….” (Matthew 14:22-23, NIV) Are you ready for this life changing truth: Jesus took time off!!! Jesus took time to rest. He stepped off the treadmill of life, and spent time in alone, resting and praying. ILLUSTRATION- One of the best things that I have ever done was taking a nap. I like taking naps so much that I take one just about every day. It’s amazing how good I feel when I wake up from my nap… Jesus took time away, so, why shouldn’t His people take time away? Someone once said: “Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is sleep” (Ortberg, I think,) Some of us could benefit greatly from taking—or getting a full nights rest… I wonder how many of us need to follow the pattern of Jesus and slow Down? I wonder how many of us could benefit from following the pattern of Jesus? I know I could. I bet you could as well. ILLUSTRATION- According to a much travelled analogy, if we put a frog in a pot of boiling hot water, it will immediately jump out. But put the frog in water that’s at room temperature and heat it slowly, the creature will stay there until it boils to death. If the frog enters a lethal environment he will escape safely, but introduce the danger gradually, and he will never notice.” (Ibid) Many of us are in a pot of room temperature water. Eventually the water will get too hot and we will die, so how do we prevent this from happening? How do we make the treadmill of life slow down just a little? Well, I want to give you two or three very practical things to try this week: Take a break. You’ll be surprised at how much you can get done if you take a break every once in a while. “But preacher man, you don’t KKKNNNNOOOWW what I’ve got to do in the run of a day!!” You’re right, I don’t. But I do, and I want you to repeat after me: “I’m not God. I can take a break.” The second thing is “practice solitude”. Follow the example of Jesus and unplug for a while. Don’t check your email, don’t log on to Facebook. (Don’t worry, you won’t die. You might actually like it.) Take a day off. Don’t do very much, just take time to rest. Keith Drury reminds us that: “God can work in us while we are sleeping and while we are resting on a day off. Refusing to receive this means of grace cuts us off from God’s work.” (Drury, 2005, 55) (BAND TO COME) James reminds us that the application is not in the hearing, but in the doing. So I ask you, which of these very practical steps will you apply to your life this week? James says that if we’re only hearing about rest and not actually applying it to our lives, we’re deceiving ourselves, but if we apply this life app to our lives, we will be blessed, because application makes all the difference.