rhythm, III

You see, anything that starts with depth and purpose and beauty, if it's not nurtured and taken care of, that passion and beauty and depth will always give way to dry technique.

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Now, the Sabbath was one of those things that God gave mankind to enjoy life, to drink deeply of all that is, and over a period of time, it became so technical that it stopped giving live and started sucking the life right out of the Hebrews.

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Now here's why you were created, that God might be admired, that He might be famed, that He might be worshiped. That's why you are. Now Dr. John Piper, he's made the Westminster Catechism the most popular thing in the world. And the funny thing is that people always quote it like it's him, but he's quoting the Catechism. And it says this, “God is most glorified in us when...” what? “...we are most satisfied in Him.” Here's why this is such good news. It's such good news that you and I were created to bring glory to God, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. So, the way we give God glory and honor and reflect the magnitude of His worth to the world around us is by enjoying Him, not by simply obeying Him and doing everything He says, because we know He can damn us to hell, but rather enjoying the goodness of the way of Jesus.

So, let's go back to the Sabbath now. Go back to Mark 2. So God scoops up the dirt, breathes into it, man is born, knocks him out, breaks his rib, creates the woman, tells them to be fruitful and multiply. The prophet Habakuk would say that man was going to cover the whole globe...said that, “the whole earth would be covered with the knowledge of the glory of God.” And He creates man to display, reflect the glories, beauties and magnitude of God. Now let's get back to the Sabbath. Verse 27, “Jesus said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath'” So watch this...God begins to create...He begins to speak into being...He speaks the universe into being...the stars into being...the planets...the mountains, the oceans, the camels, the ducks, the weird things at the bottom of the ocean,He speaks all of that. The He creates man to reflect His glory, to make known his manifest wisdom.

He creates it all and everyday takes a step back and goes, “It's good...It's good...It's good...It's good...It's good.” And on day 7, He creates what for man?...Rest. Sabbath. He creates man for His glory. He creates man to enjoy Him thereby glorifying Him. And He creates the Sabbath as a tool for man to accomplish that purpose. Your enjoyment of God is inseparably woven into the idea of Sabbath. Which is why God is so serious about it throughout scripture. He puts it in the top 10, doesn't He? Right in the 10 Commandments. Leviticus 23:30 says “as for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy.” I mean He's serious enough about the Sabbath to say, “take it, or I'll kill you.” He's serious enough about the Sabbath to say “stop, or I will destroy you.”

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And the thing about the Sabbath, the Shabbat, it slows you down enough to see people again...to be grateful again. Because gratitude is the foundation of worship, and worship is the consummation of the glory of Christ in our lives.

-- matt chandler. rhythm, pt. 3