FOUNDRYcast

What do we all worry about?

I'm sure you can make quite a list. I know I can. I worry about things around the house, stuff at work, the relationships I have, and the things I would love to do in life but can't find the time or resources.

We all worry.

Over the last few weeks, Foundry has been talking about Living at the Edge. It's been 4 weeks of conversations about the difference between living a fulfilled life or a full life. As we make our final lap, we are finishing up with building a biblical picture of worry. Where it came from and how we can take care of it.

The bottom line is this. A fulfilled life is full of fantastic things. A worried life is full of mundane things. Our entire issue of worry is wrapped up in a cosmic struggle over control and how the act of "being in charge" can either create beautiful or mundane.

Jesus had a conversation with the followers of John the Baptist. This picture of worry tells many tales.

John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, 3 "Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?"

4 Jesus told them, "Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen—5 the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor." Matthew 11:2-5

The difference in fulfilled and full ultimately comes down to what we are willing to focus on and the world we believe we live in. Let's come talk about all of the things we will ourselves up with.

Time is a pretty valuable commodity. When asked, most of us reply it is the thing that stresses us out the most. We would all love more time for a variety of things.

We live in a world that is overworked, under-focused and generally revolving around the next thing. Most of us would love to have the time to stop spinning and start focusing. If we are called to live lives that are fulfilled, instead of simply being filled, we need to think about time. And if we are thinking about time, we need to think about resting.

Time is inherently a Biblical concept.

And the biggest engagement with the entire concept of time in the Bible is the idea of rest.

God's promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn't share the faith of those who listened to God.[a]3 For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,

"In my anger I took an oath: 'They will never enter my place of rest,'"[b] even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: "On the seventh day God rested from all his work."[c] 5 But in the other passage God said, "They will never enter my place of rest."[d]

6 So God's rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:

"Today when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts."[e] 8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. 9 So there is a special rest[f] still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God's rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. Hebrews 1:1-11

Resting Isn't Crashing.

If we want Jesus is help us figure out the whole time issue, we need to start with figuring out the rest (or lack of rest) issue.

When was the last time you told someone you were too busy? I'll bet it was within the last 48 hours.

We wear our tattered schedules on our sleeves with pride now. Honestly, I can't remember the last day that wasn't either hurried. And to be extra honest, there were also ones where I had guilt that I was taking a moment to breathe. The phrase #crazybusy is a hashtag I would love to de-enroll from. When we try to make our dream life ourselves, the only reward is often exhaustion. The older I get, the more I am learning there is a big difference between living a full life and living a fulfilled life.

What if I told you this sense of exhaustion, scatteredness, and anxiety wasn't just a personal issue…but also a theological one.

What if I told you one of the reasons Jesus came was to eradicate this emotion from your life?

It all starts and (nearly) the beginning.

But the Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother's blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth."

13 Cain replied to the Lord, "My punishment is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!"

15 The Lord replied, "No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you." Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.16 So Cain left the Lord's presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Genesis 4:10-16

Cain, who is now the only son of Adam and Eve, meets face to face with God over the murder of his brother Abel. And this incident with sin is loaded. Cain clearly has a problem with centering. The punishment fitting to the crime is not one of retribution, but of exile. Sent away from the presence of God, the center of the world Cain knows. And it is directly in this punishment each of us finds our own journey of worry beginning.

So let's jump into this together. Full force. Learn that living a life at the edge can mean two things. We are either terrified of falling over or exultant about jumping into the next big thing.

People can get testy over baptism.

I've seen it in plenty of places. I once worked at a church that split from another church…because someone was accidentally baptized in the wrong direction. And the pastor wouldn't redo the baptism.

Like I said…people can get testy over baptism.

In Europe, during the reformation, folks were hunted and killed over theological beliefs including baptism.

Like I said…people can get testy over baptism.

Once, I nearly got thrown out of McDonalds on 18th street in Monroe because of a conversation about baptism.

Like I said…people can get testy over baptism.

But what if we redirect our conversations about baptism from the how and when, and instead begin talking about the what and the why?

Paul did. In his letter to the Romans. During a conversation about the power of sin, and what happens when Christians willfully sin, he brought up baptism.

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Romans 6:1-11

Paul get's testy over baptism but in a completely different way. And in a way, we all could probably stand to be a little testy.

So come to worship this weekend, we will laugh about baptism being testy, we will hear about the what and the why. And then we will celebrate baptism together as a church.