Scripture: Matthew 12:1-8
Will Mancini said: “Like many in ministry, I’ve found myself drowning in techniques and tools to the neglect of my soul. In his book, Replenish, Lance Witt has thrown a life preserver with a perfect toss. Grab on and let him pull you back to Jesus.”
IPHONES AND YOUR SOUL
Timing: The $1000.00 IPhone 10 is about to be released
I have a love/hate relationship with technology. Even though I’m not very tech savvy, I’m a sucker for a new gadget. I like being organized and staying on top of my world. I like having instant and around-the-clock access to the web and e-mail and calendar and bank accounts. Technology helps me be more productive and efficient.
The good news for gadget junkies is there’s an endless stream of new and improved technologies to feed our addiction. Just consider the development of applications. Before the end of 2010 there were over 250,000 apps for the iPhone. (Today Apple Apps 2,200,000 Google Play 2,800,000 Windows and Amazon less than a million and Blackberry 235,000 )
I recently was in a meeting with a group of pastors where everyone brought a laptop. One of the first questions was, “What’s the password for the wireless router?” Going a couple of hours without being connected was unthinkable and unacceptable.
At one point I noticed something disturbing; remember, this was a live meeting with real people discussing important issues about the church. I realized I was multi-tasking. I had several screens open. I was answering time-sensitive e-mails. I checked some possible flights for an upcoming trip.
I also was carrying on two different chat conversations. One was with another guy in the same meeting. (By chatting we could give commentary without anyone else knowing what we were saying.) As if that weren’t enough, I was regularly checking my phone for text messages. And I was engaged in the live discussion. I am a sick person!
But I suspect you can probably relate to my dysfunction. Technology is dominating our world, and it’s not going away.
How do we leverage technology’s benefits without letting it create dysfunction in our lives and teams? How do we utilize technology so that it’s helpful and not harmful?
The starting place, I believe, is to recognize its limitations and the possible side effects of too much technology.
Constant connection creates internal as well as external noise. No wonder we struggle with spiritual practices like Sabbath and solitude and prayer and meditation. Even when we turn off the gadgets, we can’t seem to turn off the noise inside. We’re restless, fidgety, and edgy.
If you don’t believe me, just try being quiet for five minutes. Turn off everything and sit quietly. Seriously, try it. If you’re like me, this is no easy assignment. My mind quickly races to all that is going on in my world. Five minutes seems like five hours.
There was a time when silence was normal and a lot of racket disturbed us. But today, noise is the normal fare, and silence, strange as it may seem, has become the real disturbance. (Let’s try being quiet for just one minute)
The 7th Coin
In urging the sacredness of the Lord's Day, a Chinese preacher used this story:
"It came to pass that a man went to market, having on his shoulder a string of seven large, copper coins (Chinese coins were strung on strings and carried on the shoulder at that time). Seeing a beggar crying for alms, he gave the poor man six of his seven coins. Then the beggar, instead of being grateful, crept up behind the kind man and stole the seventh coin also. What an horrible act you might say! Yes; but in saying this you condemn yourselves. You receive from the hand of the gracious God six days, yet you are not content. The seventh you also steal!"
Pilgrims Sabbath Day
The Pilgrim Fathers, according to the old hymn, left England, first for Holland, and then for America, for "freedom to worship God." But freedom to have a day of rest and worship was one of the chief motives of their migration. King James had decreed that Sunday was a day for sports, and issued his Sports Book. The Pilgrim Fathers desired to build their families, and their civilization, upon another basis. From the very beginning, in all the colonies, observation of the Sabbath was part of the law of the land. There is no doubt, either, that their observance of this day made a mighty contribution to the moral stamina and spiritual well-being of the nation, as well as to its material and economic prosperity. The Sabbath gave the people a chance to know the Bible, the fountain from which flowed the noblest streams of influence in the religion, education, and politics of the nation.
PPT SLIDE 10 Commandments
Exodus 20:3-17 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
1 "You shall have no other gods before me.
2 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [ generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3 "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
4 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
6 "You shall not murder.
7 "You shall not commit adultery.
8 "You shall not steal.
9 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
The principal of Sabbath was established before man had ever sinned – before there was a need for any law. Even when it became a law in the 10 commandments, it was never meant to be a burden but a delight for man as we see in Isa 58:13-14 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
JESUS AND THE SABBATH
Prelude to Sabbath teaching
Matt 12:9-14
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Sabbath teaching
Matt 12:1-8
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." 3 He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread — which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Sharpening my ax while I rest
One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. "I don't get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did." "But you didn't notice," said the winning woodsman, "when I sat down to rest, I was sharpening my ax."
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