Sermon Tone Analysis

Vision Moment:

Introduction:

I hope you’re developing a love for the Proverbs and wisdom as we study select parts of the book.

A Proverb is a miniature model of reality

Wisdom is an attribute of God, one that He gives to those who seek for her with intentionality and desperation

Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge to real life situations

This morning we’re going to dive in to a few of the Proverbs that doesn’t get much attention, but as we enter the fall season is perfectly timed

I have to confess, there have been a handful of times in my adult life where I have hit an invisible but impenetrable wall that has knocked me flat on my back.

I remember one particular time about three years ago.

I couldn’t tell you all of the events surrounding it, but I remember being upstairs in the musty library of the Polish Hall sitting around that conference table with two other people and we were praying before the service when (out of nowhere) I began to weep, like ugly cry weep.

And I’m a crier, so that was not new, but this breakdown was unique.

I didn’t know how to really process it, but I remember getting a phone call either later on that day or the next day from Alex Russell.

He knows me pretty well and he said, “Are you okay?

What happened up there?”

Maybe you’ve been there before, your body is telling you something but you don’t know what to do with that information.

You may not have a meltdown exactly like I did but maybe you become highly irritable, or easily triggered, acutely sensitive, and irrational.

Everyone deals with pressure a little differently, but being that we’re all human, we must all manage our health including emotional health.

For whatever reason, our culture has taught us that talking about emotions is somehow a sign of weakness.

Unbiblical manhood strategies want you to ignore mental health and unfortunately, the people around you suffer for it.

If you’re joining us for the first time, this is church and we are going to open the Scriptures… it just so happens that the Creator God, knows how he designed us and has given much Scriptural real estate to walk through so we can gain care for the soul and have wisdom for stewarding our emotions.

And just before we hop right in to what King Solomon had to say about the one particular area we’re about to study (Rest) let me begin by saying that no where in the Scriptures will we get the idea that work is somehow evil and it is a byproduct of the fall.

When we read carefully, we will see that work (that is when what we do with out hands brings order, beauty, and benefit to others) it is one way that we not only imitate our Creator, but also join Him as He continue to bring about those things.

What I’d like to show you first is two idols that we erect that revolve around work and how the culture is recognizing the same thing and how culture is dealing with it, but how the root problem isn’t being addressed.

Then we’ll see what the Scriptures teach about rest and the root problem for avoiding or ignoring rest.

And then finally I hope to provide a few helpful points of application for us to think about.

What problem is facing our culture?

The Idol of Work

1. Work is a good thing until it becomes a god thing.

*By work I don’t necessarily mean job.

Being a stay at home parent, being retired, you still have (or should have) meaningful work that you do.*

2. Work becomes an idol when it becomes our identity.

That which we desire to be known by.

That which we desire to be accepted by.

a.

If you lost your ability to _________________, would you still feel as connected to your purpose?

b.

Would you lose your will to fight to be on mission?

In addition to work (as an idol) being the enemy of rest we also live in a society where busyness is another fierce competitor.

The idol of busyness

1.

I believe that in our culture laziness and idleness are strong enemies.

2. I fear that in our immediate culture busyness is an even greater enemy, because busyness masquerades as productivity and fruitfulness.

3. It’s rare that a week goes by and the response to “How are things going?” is “Life.

IS.

So.

Crazy!”

a.

We wake up early and we go to bed late.

b.

We work until we’re exhausted and can’t see straight.

c.

But then we go to bed and watch TV or play mindless games until we pass out.

d.

Or some can’t ever watch a movie because you can’t sit still for that long.

e.

We are slaves to our ever increasing load of work.

f.

We are so attached to our mobile devices that we are literally lost without them.

g.

We have our kids in sports, dance, music, OH YEAH and school AND the clubs they HAVE to be in—in order to fill out a college application.

h.

We encourage them to work out, read, study, make new friends, do community service, and on and on we could go.

i. Grown ups, are we blazing a path that will lead to bondage for the next generation?

Productivity is specifically about doing “the will of the Lord.”

It’s about specifically orienting our lives and decisions around God’s will.

We are to ultimately be Christ-centered, not just principle-centered.

We have to be warned against making work an idol and allowing busyness to become an idol.

And while society may not see work and busyness as idols, our culture is seeing that instead of people being happier due to being more committed to their jobs and because they’re making more money than ever, what they’re seeing is the decrease in health and productivity.

A Fascinating Discovery

And that is a sneaky lie to believe.

There’s a reason why the Creator designed us to need to be absolutely still for at least 1/3 of every day.

Sleeping should remind us how human we really are.

Think about this, the world’s system doesn’t collapse when we close our eyes.

The world is beginning to step back and say, wait a minute, something is not right about this.

Instead of people being more productive and healthy and strong we’re seeing the opposite come about.

So articles like this are being written:

Relax, You’ll Be More Productive

The Secret to Increased Productivity, Take Time Off

Claim Your Day of Rest for Improved Health and Productivity

The Foundation of Productivity is Rest

The 21st century business is experimenting with “Less is more” type models and are finding the results staggering.

Things like:

Open ended vacation policies

Open ended break times

Recreation stipends

Work from home and telecommuting

The idol of laziness and the idol of busyness cannot be treated by simply saying, “Take a break.”

It’s an issue that needs fixing, but there is a deeper problem.

This Proverb offers a model of reality about our restlessness that ends up revealing itself in our idols of being a workaholic and crazy busy

the cultural problem

Adam’s race has a history of being discontented with what God has given and with who God has made us to be.

But we keep repeating Adam’s folly.

But we keep repeating Adam’s folly.

We keep playing around with the Word of God vs. the challenge of the serpent.

We keep playing around with the Word of God vs. the challenge of the serpent.

The result is a continual state of discontentment with what we have, with who we are, and with where we’re at in life.

The result is a continual state of discontentment with what we have, with who we are, and with where we’re at in life.

And to remedy the problem we, what do we do?

We do not go with “I just realized I’ve not fearing the LORD.

I just realized that fearing Him unlocks the secret to resting satisfied.”

NO, we opt for “I just need a new job, a new spouse, a new house, a new church, a new set of friends, new neighbors, a fresh start, bigger, better, more…”