Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Guest (Male): Hello everyone, this is Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope with Rick Warren. I’m really glad you’re here. Today we’re continuing our series from Psalm 23 called Living in the Goodness of God. It’s all about how God’s goodness meets you right where you are and brings hope, even in difficult seasons. Can’t wait to get started today; here’s the final part of a message called Relaxing in God’s Goodness.

Pastor Rick Warren: Remember my value to God. And then number two, enjoy what I already have. Stop trying to get something else; just enjoy what you got. Number three, this is an important one: limit my work to six days a week. I'm saying if you're not doing that, you're breaking one of God's Big Ten—the Ten Commandments.

Rest and recreation are so important to life, God put it in the Big Ten, the Ten Commandments, right up there with "don't commit adultery," "don't murder," and "don't steal." He says every six days, you take a day off. If you're not taking a day off every week, you are breaking the Ten Commandments. You say, "Well, I'd never murder anybody, I'd never commit adultery," but are you taking a day off every week? It's right up there in the Big Ten. That's how important God considers rest and recreation and relaxation.

If the bow, like a bow and arrow, is never unstrung, you never unstring it, it loses its power. It loses the tension in the bow. Our best requires rest. Now, this is the fourth commandment. And when God gives a commandment, He's serious about it. This is not like an option like, "Well, if you feel like it, take a day off." No, it's called the Sabbath. Let me show you some verses. Exodus 23:12: "Work the first six days of the week, but rest and relax on the seventh."

This is the law, He says. This law is not only for you but also for your animals—so your pet needs to have a Sabbath, as well as everyone else, including foreigners among you. God says, "I don't want anybody unprotected from this law." He said this law of rest and recreation and having a Sabbath, having a day off every week—everybody should be protected from overwork, including immigrants and foreigners who have come in. They shouldn't be overworking either.

Now, here's the fourth commandment, Exodus 20, verses nine and 10: "You have six days in which to do your work. But the seventh day is to be a day of complete rest dedicated to me." Now this is called the Sabbath. Every seventh day, you take a day off. And a Sabbath means a day of rest. That's what it means. And did you know that your heart actually beats different every seven days? We're biologically wired for a day of rest.

Now, this whole idea where God says, "I want you to have a day of rest and worship"—it's not for God's benefit. It's not just some arbitrary law. God did it so you won't burn out. And the reason people are so stressed out today is they've forgotten this. In culture after culture after culture, it's for your benefit. Mark 2:27, Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made to benefit man." In other words, God didn't make the Sabbath for His benefit; He made it for ours. When I ignore God's laws, who gets hurt? Not God. I get hurt when I don't follow the owner's manual.

Now, when is your Sabbath? It doesn't matter what day of the week you take your Sabbath. The Bible says this many times in the New Testament. What day you worship on, what day you take as your day off, your day of rest, your day of recreation—it doesn't matter the day; you just need to do it every week. My Sabbath is not Saturday; my Sabbath is not Sunday. I'm working on those days. My Sabbath is every Monday. And by the way, I would encourage you to not call it your "day off" because if you call it your day off, you'll cheat on it. You need to start calling your day off your Sabbath.

Now, you say, "Well, what am I supposed to do on my Sabbath?" You do three things on the Sabbath. I'm going to summarize about 10 hours' worth of material. You rest your body, recharge your emotions, and refocus your spirit. Let me give it to you again. Number one, the first thing I do on the Sabbath is I rest my body. The fact is if you don't take time off, your body will make time off. You can't just keep pushing it and pushing it.

During the French Revolution, they abolished Sunday as a day of rest. They later restored it because the health of the nation had collapsed. They were all burned out. You say, "But I feel guilty when I relax." Well, Jesus didn't. He followed the Sabbath. So, you rest your body. The second thing you do on the Sabbath is you recharge your emotions. What recharges you is going to be different things. You can recharge your emotions through quietness, solitude—that's a good thing. Just be quiet, turn off all the noise.

You can recharge your emotions through recreation. I'm talking about recreation that rejuvenates you, non-competitive stuff, because some of you get into a competitive sport and you'll beat your brains out to win that, and that's not resting at all. The competitive spirit you had all week is now just being transferred to the tennis court or the golf course. You need to do something that is non-competitive and rejuvenates you so you're not stressed out when you lose. You recharge your emotions through quietness, through recreation, and through relationships. Spend some time with people on your Sabbath.

I rest my body, I recharge my emotions. Number three, I refocus my spirit. And that's what we do at worship. That's what we're doing right now. We're refocusing your spirit. Worship puts life into perspective. Now, you need not only time in group worship, but you need time alone with God worship. I'm telling you that you have to make a conscious decision to make time over the other things besides work.

I would encourage you to think through, "How many hours a week do I want to work?" and then stick with it. You schedule everything else. You schedule a doctor's appointment. Why aren't you scheduling recreation? Are you scheduling your Sabbath? I would encourage you to make it the same day every week and schedule your time with family into your life and relationships. This is especially important for those of you who are self-employed, who are entrepreneurs. If you don't schedule it, you're never going to take a break.

You're going to bring home work with you. You bring it home in your briefcase. I heard about a little girl sitting at a dinner table and every day her daddy came home with a briefcase. She said, "What is that?" He said, "Well, it's work I didn't get finished at the office." She said, "Well, why don't they put you in a slower group?" Maybe that's what we need. If you'll start obeying the Sabbath, taking a day off, and relaxing as God tells you to, you know what'll happen? You will actually end up with more time.

God promises that. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack anything." And He says if you'll do it my way, if you'll take one day off a week and it's to rest my body and recharge my emotions and refocus my spirit in worship, God says, "I will give you more time." Proverbs 14:30: "A relaxed attitude lengthens your life; envy rots it away." Envy is one of the reasons we overwork. "I want what they've got." He says instead of being envious, why don't you just get this relaxed attitude? It will lengthen your life. It will add hours to your day.

Remember my value to God, enjoy what I already have, limit my work to six days a week. Fourth thing God says to do—this is your Good Shepherd giving you advice from His Word—I must adjust my values. Why do I say this? Because to reduce the busyness in your life, you're going to have to change the way you think about what's important. And you need to ask the question: what is really important? We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't even like. You can't worry about keeping up with the Joneses or anybody else and live a restful life. You can't worry about them and reduce your stress.

Jesus gets right to the heart of this adjusting your values. Look at this verse on the screen, Mark 8:36: "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul?" But look at all the stuff I accomplished with my work! How's your soul? Did you forfeit your soul? Did you forfeit your relationships? Did you forfeit loving God? Did you forfeit loving your neighbor as yourself? What does it profit a man if you're on the cover of Time magazine and you lose your soul?

I love getting letters from you, emails from you. And I talked about stress and worry last week. Here's a note I got: "Pastor Rick, as I listened last week, it was like holding up a mirror to my face. I've been filling my life with activities and even ministries to keep myself so busy that I wouldn't have time to think about or face some issues that I really need to deal with. I know I'm not alone in realizing this, and I think you hit the nail on the head when you spoke about worry and stress and hurry. I think this series is going to be life-changing and life-saving for many people.

I think it's going to save some relationships, some marriages, some friendships, some families, some lives. Thanks to this last weekend's message, I rested yesterday and the world did not come to an end. I read the entire Sunday paper for the first time in ages. I talked to friends without having to rush off somewhere to do an errand. I enjoyed watching my kids play with their friends. I sat in a room I'd just redecorated so I could relax in it, but I had never sat in it or even just enjoyed it. I had just redecorated it.

Most importantly, I talked to God a lot during my quiet moments, and I painfully admitted to Him that I've missed my time with Him. That's the best thing that happened to me. It felt great to get back on track with God. And all day long, I found myself asking, 'What would have happened if I just sat still for two minutes? What would have happened if I just sat still for two minutes? What was I so scared of?' It was great. I know that there are probably some painful things that are going to surface as I clear my schedule and my mind has to contemplate certain things.

But if I'm close to God, there isn't anything I can't face because I'm not facing it alone. Thank you so much for this series. It's an answer to prayer in so many of our lives. We just can't keep going at the pace we've been at. We just needed somebody to tell us it's okay to take time and rest and to not feel guilty about it because God never meant for us to live the way we've been living. Amen." Here's the fifth thing you need to do: I need to exchange my restlessness for God's peace.

I exchange, I give up my restlessness. "The Lord is my shepherd, He makes me lie down in green pastures." I'm going to give up my tendency to roam, tendency to wander, tendency to veer off course. I'm going to exchange my restlessness for God's peace. Let me close with a couple verses. Matthew 6, we looked at this last week when we were talking about worry, verse 26 to 30. Jesus says this: "Look at the birds of the air; they don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them.

And you know that you are worth so much more than those birds. You can't add any time to your life by worrying about it. And why do you worry about anything else? Look at the beauty of the wildflowers in the field; they don't worry or overwork. But God takes care of them, so you can be sure that He'll clothe you too." If God cares for the birds, how much more is He going to care for you? God loves you more than you will ever know. And there's nothing you can do that will make Him love you any more or make Him love you any less.

And what we're talking about here actually gets to the root of your workaholism and my workaholism. What this gets to is the root of your restlessness and your stressed-outness. There's physical fatigue where your muscles are tired. And then there's emotional fatigue where your emotions are tired. And then there's spiritual fatigue where your spirit dries up. You need more than simply to go to sleep to cure those last two. You can go to bed, but that's not going to get rid of emotional fatigue; it's not going to get rid of spiritual fatigue.

People say, "Well, I just need a vacation." You might, but you need more than that. What you need more than a vacation is you need a relation—a relationship to Jesus Christ. In the 21st century, we're not made to live this way, the way we've been living. As I said, the ability or the insistence of "I'm trying to stay awake" is what little kids do; it's a mark of immaturity. Maturity knows how to rest. I told you in the first week of this series that sheep aren't very smart. They're really one of the dumber animals that God created.

Did you know that sheep don't like to lie down? They don't. They don't like to lie down. And yet it says, "He makes me lie down." And if you don't slow down, God will make you lie down. I challenge you to start working on this immediately. Plan your Sabbath. God's way is not only the right way; it's not only the healthy way. It's the enjoyable way to live. And if you are tired of living the way you're living, here's my answer to you: come to Jesus.

Matthew 11, Jesus is talking, verses 28 to 30. In The Message paraphrase He says, "Are you tired? Are you worn out? Are you burnt out? Come to me." Notice He didn't say come to a doctrine or come to class. He says, "Come to me." A relationship. "Get away with me," Jesus says, "and you'll recover your life. And I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me, work with me, watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace."

As your pastor, I want you to learn the unforced rhythms of grace. "I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." You come to Jesus. He's not going to load more on you; He's going to take it off you. Now let me summarize what I just taught you. Here are the five things: Remember my value to God, Enjoy what I already have, Limit my work to six days a week, Adjust my values, and Exchange my restlessness for God's peace. What does that spell? Relax. R-E-L-A-X. That's what God wants you to do. Let's bow our heads.

Augustine once said the beginning of good works starts with the confession of bad works. So why don't you confess to God what's caused you to overwork, to be stressed out, to be stressed instead of blessed? Maybe you'd say, "God, I've had a mistaken identity. I've been basing my worth on my work. I'm sorry." Tell Him that. "I've been basing my worth on my work. And God, I've always been wanting more. I'm never satisfied. I've been materialistic. And You've said, 'Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich; have the wisdom to show some restraint.'"

And you might need to say, "And Lord, I've been envious. I've wanted what other people have, and I've wanted to be like other people. And I haven't wanted to be me. Lord, I confess that I've let achievement be more important than relationships. Another thing on earth that makes no sense. And I haven't asked the tough questions: Why am I always working so hard? Why don't I let myself enjoy life? Who cares? Who's going to get what I leave behind?" And maybe you need to confess insecurity and say, "Lord, I live with the fear that I won't have enough to make it through retirement or whatever."

But today I want to change. It's senseless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night fearing you won't have enough, for God wants His loved ones to get their proper rest. Would you say, "Lord, today I want to learn to relax in the goodness of God. You are the Good Shepherd. I want to lie down in green pastures. I want You to lead me beside quiet waters. Help me to remember that my value to You is greater than anything else. That You love me unconditionally. That I don't have to prove anything to others.

And God, help me to enjoy what I already have instead of always be reaching for more. Help me to limit my work to six days a week and to obey the Ten Commandments that says take a Sabbath. And where necessary, help me to adjust my values, to put first things first and to focus on the major, not the minor things of life. Help me to take a day of rest every week. And today, I want to exchange my restlessness for Your peace, my pressure for Your peace, my problems for Your peace. I want to live in the love and goodness of my Good Shepherd. Jesus Christ, I give every area of my life to You. I want to love You and follow You. In Your name I pray. Amen."

Guest (Male): Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and listening to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. I hope that you were just as blessed as I was from today’s broadcast. Right now, here’s Pastor Rick with a special message.

Pastor Rick Warren: When I started Saddleback Church over 40 years ago with just a handful of people in our living room, I also began writing a simple devotional, just for the people in our church, to help them start each day with hope and with truth and with peace that comes from Jesus Christ. Well, that little devotional grew and grew, and today Daily Hope is one of the largest email devotions in the whole world. And each day people all around the globe are reconnecting with God’s promises and finding fresh strength in His Word to face whatever comes their way.

Now here’s the best part: it’s absolutely free. We don’t have any charge for this. Every day you’ll get a quick devotional read and a podcast that you can listen to on the go. In a world that’s more distracted and uncertain than ever, I want to help you start your day centered on what never changes. And what never changes is God’s unconditional love for you and His promises to you. If you’ll just spend just a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord, it can bring so much more clarity, more purpose, more peace to everything that happens in your day.

Psychologists have said that what you do with the first five minutes of your day pretty much sets the tone. So friend, you were never meant to go through life alone. I want to personally invite you to just sign up for the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today. I think it’s going to bring fresh encouragement to your walk with God.

Guest (Male): If you'd like to sign up for the daily devotional, it's easy. Just go to PastorRick.com. That's PastorRick.com. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God’s Word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.