00:00:14,570	S1:
At the height of.

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The.

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Good morning. It's a great day to worship the Lord. Amen. My name is pastor. It's my joy to serve as one of the pastors here at FCC. If you're new to our church, we especially like to welcome you. And we have a QR code on the back of our bulletin, which you can scan and let us know you are here, and we'd love to get in contact with you and talk through any questions you might have about our church or God and Christianity. Got a lot of things going on in our church for this fall. I'm just going to breeze through them. I'd encourage you to look at your announcement sheet, and you can get all of the details you will need in there or on our church website. But right after this service, we have a post-college young adult breakfast, uh, in the cafe during our Sunday school hour. If you're in that demographic, I'd encourage you to come and, uh, come eat with us, and we're going to have a good conversation together. Top of that, tomorrow we have pilgrims pint. That's one you're not going to want to miss. Um, and then this weekend, we have a church family board game event, uh, this Saturday at 330. So I'd encourage you to go to that. All ages are welcome. And finally, in two weeks, we have our mission Sunday. And there's a lot that goes on in that. So I'd encourage you to look at that, um, in your bulletin as well. I know I breezed through a lot of things quickly, but it's so we could get Doctor David Rocks to come on up, and he's got a special announcement for us.

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Good morning everyone. Uh, you may not be aware of this, but this is not a choir robe. This is the official uniform of the search committee. No, I'm only kidding. We we only wear t shirts that say search committee. But, um, the search committee process has been looking for a lead pastor of preaching and teaching for about 16 months now, Snow. And we've been looking for a gifted preacher, a talented and experienced administrator, and someone who is compatible with our beloved pastor Kevin. Working with the Board of Elders, we developed a job description and a church profile, and we advertise the position and many candidates have applied. Many friends and members recommended people that they thought would be good candidates for us to approach, which we did, inviting them to apply. The vetting process included looking at resumes, including zoom interviews. If we felt that we needed those to follow up on them. Examining sermons and church websites, having people meet one on one with Pastor Kevin, checking references, and also many discussions with the elders. On September 28th, just a few weeks ago, the search committee voted unanimously to recommend Ali Vann Ruth to the elders.

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As our next as our next lead pastor of Preaching and Teaching, the Board of Elders swiftly approved our recommendation. Allie. Megan. Their family are well known to us here in the congregation, and we're excited to present them for your consideration. Ollie will preach next Sunday, October 12th and a question and answer session will follow in Heritage Hall over in the gym to provide as much information to the congregation as possible. A zoom meeting for the entire church will be scheduled on Wednesday evening, October 22nd at 7 p.m. to deal with budget as we approach our annual meeting, all of these dates and things will be continued to be publicized to you. So if you're not taking notes, that's okay. But an all church vote will be held on Tuesday, October the 28th at 6:30 p.m. to vote on the Elder's motion to officially appoint Ollie Van Ruth as our new lead pastor of Preaching and Teaching. We want to thank the pastoral staff and the elders for their faithful cooperation and prayers for the search committee, along with all your prayers during this time of transition, and we're confident that God is leading us into a new chapter of building his kingdom in Hamilton and beyond. With that good news and announcement, let us prepare our hearts for worship.

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Good morning. I invite you to stand. Let's join together. It's first Sunday of October and call to worship from Psalm 96. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth.

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Sing to the Lord. Praise his name. Proclaim his salvation day after day.

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Declare his glory among the nations. His marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. Let's join together in sing love divine. All loves excelling. Number 75.

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For.

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Us with our salvation and for freedom.

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We rely on our experience is to have a little more rest for us, for the rest of us, by the forest. And with the way all of us see the world, the way the Bank of England say, we send our hearts and we see.

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The life you.

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Give us for the glory. You suddenly reserve another member of the compulsory

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military

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will sing to me as I go along. Pray and pray. Sing privacy. Sing! Glory, God for the.

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Glory of the rest of us. Let us be. Let us sing, my great salvation.

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Restoring great chain of glory to glory, to glory to God. Praise to God. For us before we, the Spirit of God the way.

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Amen. Let us pray together. Heavenly father, we come to you this morning with hearts worshiping you. Hearts that have seen your faithfulness and your goodness. We look outside at creation. All of creation declares your glory. So, Lord, as we come here, gather together, we ask that you would work through your spirit in us to worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord, we confess that we fall short. We confess that we need your mercy each morning. But you are faithful and just forgive us, O Lord. We come once again to receive nourishment for our soul through the word and through communion and through our time together. We pray that you would be glorified by all that we do. Say, sing, and speak together. And Lord, we ask that Your Holy Spirit, my work in our hearts to give us a greater affection for you, a greater affection for your Word, and a greater love and service towards one another. And we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen. 00:14:05,899	S5:
Amen.

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Amen.

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We fall down.

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We lay our guns at the feet.

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Of Jesus.

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The greatness of.

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Song.

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Mercy and love at the feet.

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Of Jesus. We can only hope.

Holy. 00:14:54,799	S5:
Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the way.

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We fall down. We lay our guns at the feet.

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Of Jesus.

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The greatness of

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Mercy and love at the feet.

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Of Jesus. We come.

000 00:15:47,700	S5:
me we cry. Holy, holy holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the same.

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You may be seated. Children, it's our joy to invite you on up for our children's message with Mrs. Bigot. So come on up.

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Good morning. How are you this morning? Come on up. It's an amazing day. I got a great thing to tell you about. It's going to be so good. We're starting something new that we want to remember. Some things Jesus tells us and sometimes come on up. There's lots of room over here. Come on up. There's things Jesus says sometimes that we should remember. Sometimes we they say, memorize this. So we're going to be looking at some of those things today. I want to ask you a question. How much do you think a brick weighs? What do you think? How many pounds? Yes. Give me a number. £10. Could be. They say on average, a brick weighs 5 to £6. Do you think most of you could carry pick up a brick? Yeah. Probably. Right. Absolutely. So what if I said pick up a brick, but hold it out like this, and then I go, oh, you did that. Good. So how about if I take out another brick and I say, hold them out like this. I could probably do it. What if I say do it all day? What happens? Tired. What happens with the bricks? They just get heavier and heavier. Now I want you to imagine that each brick is something. Something that makes you sad or angry. I don't know, maybe somebody at school is picking on you. Somebody says something not nice. Grandma. Grandpa gets sick and all these things start to make us feel sad or angry. And the longer we hold them, it's just like putting my arms out. They get heavier and heavier. They call these burdens. Burdens that weigh us down. And we're like, oh. But guess what? Huh? Great news. Jesus says that if we come to him And give our burdens to him. He's going to give us rest. So it means if we say, Jesus, this kid has school, he is picking on me. I'm just so sad and weary.

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And then I say, oh my gosh, you're never going to believe it. I can't believe this person says such a mean thing to me. I'm so sad. Jesus says, give it to me. And you know what? Suddenly we can feel rest. So I just want you to remember this. Let's pray. God help me remember. Jesus said.

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Jesus.

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Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. I just need to ask. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. 00:19:23,200	S7:
Awesome.

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Thank you Jesus.

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I just need to rest. I love that. Yes, there are those days. Our scripture lesson this morning is from Luke chapter six, verses one through 11. Let's read it together as it's printed in our bulletins. One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain and rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath? Jesus answered. Have you never read what David did? When he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for the priest to eat. And he also gave some to his companions. And then Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. And the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. And so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said that the man with a shriveled hand get up and stand in front of everyone. And so he got up, and he stood there. And then Jesus said to them, I asked you, which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil? Stretch out your hand. And he did so. And his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious, and they began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. The word of the Lord. Amen. Would you join me for a prayer for our church family?

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Father, we bow before you this morning with the blessed assurance that you are in this place, and we can see your mighty power and your grace. We pray this morning for the needs and blessings of our brothers and sisters, for Ken as he enters into a dialysis treatment regime. We pray, father, that this will be a giant step in his recovery, and we also pray for his family as they endeavor to meet his needs. And we pray for Paul as he enters into a chemotherapy program, that he may return to a cancer free life. And father, we also pray most heartily the same for Ana's sister Katy and Pinto and Christian Christina. And we pray for the grotto family as they mourn the loss of their their dear father and our friend Frank. May your grace be sufficient for their assurance that their father is now with his blessed Saviour. And we give thanks for Karen's successful hip replacement surgery. And with your help, Lord, that she may regain the ability to walk without pain and return home soon. And we praise you, father, for the progress that Cece has made as she recuperates from her knee surgery. And father, we know that there are many more needs in our church family that we have not specifically mentioned. We may not be aware of them, but we know that you are. And so we offer up our silent prayers to you this morning. We offer these silent prayers to you now.

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Father, we know that your love and fills us, that your eternal light guides us, and that your infinite mercy gives us peace.

Amen. 00:23:23,730	S9:
Let's see. Will the ushers please come forward for our offertory? Thank you.

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My soul and the soul of the.

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Additional.

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I hear the sweet offer of him and his new creation.

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Andrew

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and My life is.

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Within.

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My family. My soul.

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How can I keep.

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From seeing.

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Him.

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The peace of Christ makes my heart a mountain. And springing all things are mine. And I am his. How can I even see. How small can Say why you won't come. Well, to the God guide thing. Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can.

00:25:35,970	S6:
I keep from singing.

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Lord, your joys and comforts thy. I know my Savior and Lord. Lord of darkness, gather The love songs. In the love.

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Of the night. Some days are gone. I mean, there are.

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Loads of songs about the limitations of our industry. Though for you, the game of nutrition.

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To love this kind of music brings He finds a glow in my soul. Two of them came from singing.

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For me to sing love.

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I am.

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King of God. Oh, Jesus. Promise me.

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Oh. Sing your.

00:28:09,599	S6:
Blessings. Oh! God, we are creatures, dear Lord. They sing our body,

00:28:26,200	S6:
O praise father, son and holy.

Oh! 00:28:37,029	S6:
Lord.

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Be seated.

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How lovely to be with you here on another beautiful autumn morning. And in the spirit of harvest abundance, I've upgraded the title from two stories. Four lessons to three stories. Five lessons in. In a world where you're getting less and less. We want to give you more. You think, what will it be? Too much? No, it'll be just right. So we'll have the two stories that were read, and then an additional Sabbath story of great importance from Luke 13. So as we turn to God's Word, let us as always, turn to him first in prayer. Let us pray. Heavenly father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the rest we enjoy and the ability we have, the opportunity we have to focus on you and your goodness. And so we pray as your Word comes to us, we might receive it into our hearts for a rich harvest of righteousness. We ask all this in Jesus name, Amen. So, like many of you, I grew up in Massachusetts and a long time ago, and so you will remember that back in the day, most stores were closed on Sundays. Right. It was this Sabbath rest because of the blue laws growing up in Duxbury. That meant if we really needed something on a Sunday, we had to drive up route 53 to stones, which is a Jewish owned store that would close on Saturdays and then open on Sundays. Well, I don't need to tell any of you that that is just a distant memory that almost all the stores are open, and even if they weren't, you could just go online and order it from Amazon. And so as a as a cultural phenomenon here in the northeast, Sabbath has really become just a memory. But it was a big deal in the time of Jesus and the Judaism. Judaism of his day was as concerned with the Sabbath as much as anything else. And so as we look at these stories, we're going to see that there are enduring truths from Sabbath practice in Jesus's day, truths that will not only affect the rhythm of our weekly lives, but will also get us a big picture on what our life is all about in the end. So let's jump right in. Five, three stories. Five lessons. First story. You saw it read in Luke six. It'd be good to have it in front of you from your bulletin. You remember that Jesus and his disciples are walking through the cornfield, and they take some corn and start to eat it. And some Pharisees think that this is objectionable, that this is not permitted on the Sabbath. And so a controversy ensues, or controversy if you're British or you just like to watch Downton Abbey. And what's interesting is the nature of Jesus response, because to me, it seems the most reasonable response is what? What do you mean? Working are they doing? Is grabbing some grain and eating it? What? I mean, if you have a bowl of cereal, is it work to bring it up from your bowl to your mouth? Come on. Leave them alone. That would be a very reasonable, I think, interpretation or engagement with the Pharisees who are complaining that, oh, you're working on the Sabbath. You'd just be to throw the whole thing out and say, no, this is not remotely work. And yet, Jesus instead tells a story from the Old Testament about David and his men eating priestly food, which technically you weren't allowed to eat, but for meeting a human need and urgency, you were able to do it, and we'll get to that human need part of the story momentarily. But I don't think Jesus has simply chosen a random story from the Old Testament to illustrate the point that it's okay for his disciples to pick the grain and eat the food. He deliberately chooses a story about David and his friends. David and his friends are an exact parallel to Jesus and his disciples. And why is that? Well, when we go back to the opening chapters of Luke, it's clear that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, who is a descendant of King David. And Jesus is born, as you know, in Bethlehem, the city of David. And so it's David, David, David, because Jesus throughout Luke is demonstrating that he is the true Son of David. He is the Messiah. And so by carefully choosing a story about David and his companions to mirror Jesus and his disciples, he is in effect saying, if anyone is going to determine what proper Sabbath practice is, it will be me, the Davidic King, not you Pharisees, who are just self-appointed, so-called guardians of righteousness. And so that's why he concludes in verse five by saying, The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. The Son of Man is a phrase that Jesus, drawing from Daniel seven and some other places, regularly uses about himself. He is the ultimate ruler. He's the anointed king. He's the true human being. He's a lot wrapped up in that phrase, but Jesus is the Son of Man, and he declares himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath. And so lesson one of five is Jesus will determine what counts as proper Sabbath practice, because Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Lesson one. Second lesson, we're going to turn to verse five, where Jesus says that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Now the alert listeners among you will say, well, wait a second. Do you need somebody to slap you upside the head and reboot you, because we just went to verse five for lesson one. And surely you mean some other verse? No, I mean verse five, The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Now how can I get two lessons out of one verse? Because this is a double entendre, which technically you say say double entendre to get the whole French package. But in English we say half French, half English double entendre. Two meanings at once, two meanings at once. Okay, because son of man is also a phrase in the Judaism of Jesus's day that just means a human being. Right? And remember, I mentioned that in this episode with David, the human need for David and his men to eat trumped the mere ritual observance about the priestly order. And that's a good and godly ordinance. God gave it for a reason, but in the face of human need, it was more important to judge in terms of what's the merciful thing to do that will lead to human flourishing, rather than simply keeping what we can call the letter of the law. Okay. And so when Jesus says, The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, yes, he's saying that he will decide what counts as proper Sabbath practice. But he's also saying, and this comes out clearly in Mark's version of this story, that the Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath. In other words, God just didn't have this abstract commanded that for some inscrutable reason he wanted to command. And then when people stumble onto the stage, he says, well, you better keep this command. Well, gosh, I'm going to die because I'm going to starve. Well, it doesn't matter because I said, you can't work. No. Jesus says, that's not the point of the Sabbath. The point of the Sabbath is directed towards human flourishing, not simply keeping the command for its own sake, so to speak. And so the activity of the disciples, which again in real life doesn't, to my mind, count as work anyway. Nonetheless, they are meeting a genuine human need. And so if we're judging what counts as proper Sabbath practice, the human need should outstrip the mere legalistic observance of the day. And so Sabbath rest is designed for human flourishing. Lesson two and its important lesson, especially in our culture, which is so obsessed with productivity and labor and just 24 over seven 365. Kind of a mentality that's completely unBiblical. I'm not going to do the math, but every seven days you're supposed to rest. You can. Our geniuses out there can figure out how many days that would be in hours, etc., but we're meant to have a rhythm of work and rest because that's what we need a to remind ourselves that we're not God be to refresh ourselves. That because we're not God, we can't just work constantly. And then as we gather for worship to remember what it's all about, which is the worship of our creator and our Savior. Now, I recognize that figuring out exactly how you're going to achieve Sabbath rest in a culture committed to non-stop activities is a challenge, right? The Sabbath was a communal ordinance for Israel, and so as a community they could agree not to. To work. And so as a little child grow Duxbury, I didn't have to think about not shopping on Sunday because it just it just wasn't an option. And so it'll be difficult for you. And then there are going to be some exceptions of people who have to work on Sunday. Nonetheless, to the extent possible, as Jesus gives you wisdom, you want to acknowledge him first by coming to church, which again, congratulations, you've already done that. But taking time for worship and and rest to remind yourself that God is the creator of heaven and earth, not you, and that God has freed you to be able to to rest and not just be a drone in an economy which just consumes you, even as it has you consume its products. And this, I would add briefly, is true of all God's commands, right? He doesn't just impose them for no reason, just to to show he's more powerful. God's commands are designed for human flourishing. They're a gift to us. They're a gift to us. They show us the right way to order our lives and the Sabbath rest. However that gets realized in everyday life is a critical component of that. Okay, so one story, two lessons down. Second story. Third lesson. The man with a withered hand. Again, a controversial because Jesus is wanting to restore this fella to full health. And yet he faces opposition again. He's, I think, a little bit upset at the fact they can't see the blessing that's arising here, and they just want to criticize him. So he he makes him an object. Lessons. Get up, stand in front of everyone and ask, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to harm? Right? Should I just leave this fella in his misery or should I do something about it? That's the question. And so the third lesson is kind of a corollary of the second. It's connected to the second. It's because the Sabbath is about human flourishing, not just keeping the rule. Therefore, it's lawful to do good on the Sabbath. It's lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And elsewhere, as we'll see. Jesus used the example of an animal falls in a pit on the Sabbath, and it's going to die. You bring it out. And other rabbis of this time and later probably would have agreed with Jesus in this and in later Jewish documents, which probably reflect truths of the first century. You get these kind of amusing discussions about what you can do. And some people say, yeah, you can just pull the animal up. And some very strict people say, no, no, you have to leave it in there. And other people say, well, you know, you put a ramp in there and then if the animal walks up, you say, oh, the animal walked up, you know. Imagine that. So, you know, you're not working, but you're sort of sort of putting the animal in an advantageous situation. So suffice it to say, in early Judaism, there was a range of responses to whether you could actively help people in need or animals in need on the Sabbath. And Jesus is firmly in the open side of that and saying, yes, it's lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And there are some deep spiritual truths here which will also be present in our third story. So I'll get to those later. But I just want to take this at face value for our third lesson. You can do good and save life even on the Sabbath. That's okay, because lesson two the Sabbath is designed for human flourishing. And so, even as we acknowledge the need for a rhythm of work and rest, even as we would hope that that could be a communal thing where you're working, you know, Monday to Friday and then Saturday doing your errands, and then Sunday you can worship and rest. That would be ideal. There are certain professions which rightly require seven day presence. Yeah. And so doctors and nurses, you can happily work at the hospital even though they make you work on Sunday sometimes. Right. You should try to find rest, but you can you can do that. And and God understands that because it's lawful to do what's good on the Sabbath. And here again, we run into that principle. I've talked about before that Jesus does what we can't do. Jesus does what we must do. He's our example. So yes, only Jesus can do these kind of miracles on the Sabbath. But to the extent that you're using your God given abilities as a doctor or nurse hospital administrator to bless people on the Sabbath, that is permissible. Now, you're not immune from the law of the rhythm of work and rest. You still need to take your time off. Pastors the same thing, right? Preaching on Sunday, meeting people. That's a kind of a work day for pastors, which is why they sometimes give them free passes for golf on Mondays. Right? And that becomes their, their I don't know if you knew knew that these like, secret little things. You'd also used to at least be able to get a pass clergy pass to the Red Sox, although, well, they're resting in peace right now. And especially this year, I don't know how restful it was to actually go to their games, but you you take my meaning. It's lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Lesson three. Well, two stories, three lessons down. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath determines what proper Sabbath practice is. We recognize that the Sabbath was designed for human flourishing, not just an arbitrary rule. And therefore, because it's for human flourishing, you can take necessary measures on the Sabbath to preserve life, both animal and human. So the third story, we jump ahead to Luke 13. It's not too long, so I'm going to read it for you because there are several details which are quite important to our deeper theology of the Sabbath. We've kind of focused on some practical concerns up to this point, but now we want to explore the the why of the Sabbath and explain why Jesus heals on the Sabbath. So Luke 13, starting in verse ten, now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for 18 years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, woman, you are set free from your ailment. When he had laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, there are six days on which work ought to be done. Come on those days, and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day. But the Lord answered him and said, you hypocrites, does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and leave it away to give it water? And must not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for 18 long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day. When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things he was doing. So on the one hand, this is similar to the man with the withered hand in which Jesus is saying it's it's lawful to do good on the Sabbath. But it's beginning to push the question a little more into our view of of, well, why does Jesus heal on the Sabbath? And again, Jesus could, could rightly say, what am I doing that's work here, right? I'm just speaking a word and it happens. I'm not setting up shop. I'm not trading. I'm not engaging in industrial activity. I'm just speaking a word. And for some reason, we'll get to that reason momentarily. These things happen. And of course, that reason is he is who God is. And if we had time for a fourth story, we could go over to John's Gospel and see that Jesus on another Sabbath healing, explains that my father is working until now, and I am working Because Jesus is who God is, he can uphold the universe because he must. And therefore it is not counting as work for him to heal this fellow on the Sabbath. In any event, you could still say, well, why does he kind of push up against the boundary in this way? Right. Why couldn't he just wait another day and, you know, heal people six days? I think the reason Jesus does this is because he wants to provoke his fellow Jews to think about what's the ultimate point of the Sabbath, what's really all about? And the key here is in verse 16 where Jesus says, and this is the way I would translate it, it's necessary for this woman to be healed on the Sabbath. And that's how the Greek reads. It's necessary for her to be healed on the Sabbath. In other words, Jesus is saying, not only is it permissible for me to do good on the Sabbath, which I've already demonstrated back in chapter six. In fact, the Sabbath is the ideal time for me to heal this woman. It's the ideal time. Why is that? Well, think back a couple of weeks ago when we were looking at Luke four and Jesus mission statement there in the synagogue at Nazareth, where he reads Isaiah 61, and you remember we summarized Jesus mission was to bring freedom and flourishing to oppressed people, right? I've come to preach good news to the poor, give sight to the blind, etc.. Remember that message, I hope. Freedom and flourishing. And that's precisely what the Sabbath is all about. Celebrating God's creating and liberating power. And it's right there in the Old Testament. There are two versions of the Sabbath command. Did you know that? And one emphasizes the freedom. One emphasizes the flourishing. So Deuteronomy chapter five, verse 12 and following, observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days. Use your labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall not do any work. And here's the key you or your son and your daughter, or your male and female slave, and your ox, and your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Here's the key. Verse 15. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arms arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. So why is Israel meant to keep the Sabbath? Because God freed them from their servitude to Pharaoh, he liberated them and therefore they should celebrate the Sabbath rest in remembrance of that. But if we turn to Exodus 20, same command work six days rest on the seventh. Why? Exodus 2011. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and consecrated it. And so the Sabbath is also a time to celebrate God's created goodness, which is designed for creatures to flourish, to have the good life that God intends for them. And so when we come to the woman who's been bent over for 18 years, who has, as we'll see, been bound, Jesus says, by Satan, for all her piety, we assume she's pious because she's showing up at the synagogue. Despite that, she's not fully able to participate in the Sabbath rest that God intends because she's still bound, she doesn't have freedom, and she's not fully flourishing.

00:51:48,130	S11:
Bound for 18 years, has an illness, is preventing her from full flourishing. And so Jesus puts her in a position where she can genuinely enjoy the Sabbath rest that God intended for his creation. And so lesson for Jesus, especially in his healing miracles, intends to restore people to the blessings of God's good world, to give them true Sabbath rest, which in some ways they've been deprived of all this time. Jesus comes to restore people to the blessings of God's good world. And the reason he heals sometimes on the Sabbath is to show that that's the purpose, or one of the purposes of these mighty works of his. So there's the fourth lesson. Fifth and final lesson, though, is kind of a big picture, one where we ask ourselves the question, why does Luke include this story or any of the healing stories? Right? Or is it just to give a historical antidote, or about an interesting thing that happened to one random person a long, long time ago? Surely not. And we could say, well, there's some spiritual principle here, but I'm not in love with that language because we don't want to. We don't want to miss the drama of this moment when Jesus heals this particular woman. Right. There's something irreplaceable, beautiful about that act at that time. But I would want to say this, that the gift that Jesus gives this woman becomes the gift that she gives to the whole church. The gift that Jesus gives to this woman in such a beautiful way becomes a gift for us all, and raises at least two questions. Well, how is she in a position to give us a gift? And what is this gift anyway? Let's take them in turn. How can she give us a gift? Well, as I've said numerous times from up here, and we'll continue to say for the rest of my life. One of the chief problems of modern Western life is that we think that we're isolated individuals, when in fact we're connected in this network of humanity, whether it's our genealogical table or our peers we influence. We're not isolated, choice making robotic entities. We're in this kind of living organism, as it were, of humanity. And so what happens to one affects everyone, even if those ripples are somewhat distant in time and space as it is with this woman. But there's something more here. Notice what Jesus calls her. This daughter of Abraham, daughter of Abraham.

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You know who we are. According to the scriptures, by faith we become children of Abraham, sons and daughters of Abraham. And so, yes, it happened a long time ago. Yes, it was it was distant, but it happened to one of our family members. Your sister? Yeah. And if it was, your natural sister had a miraculous healing, right? You. You'd be excited about that. Even if your own life was kind of falling apart, you'd take hope and you'd. You'd rejoice that someone close to you had this miraculous blessing fall upon them. And so it's it's the same thing that Jesus healed that daughter of Abraham so that we could receive a gift. And what's that gift? It's a gift of hope. And this is maybe the most important thing in this whole series of lessons we're learning on the Sabbath. It's these healing stories are messages of hope. Not. And this is critical, not messages of certainty of what must happen for every person right now. If you only have enough faith. Right. And it's easy, particularly in some church settings, to be told, well, if you just had faith, you'd get better. And that crushes people because they think, well, not only am I physically suffering, but now I'm seen as a deficient kind of a Christian because I can't quite screw up the right mental attitude or feeling or whatever people mean by faith. I can't do it. And so I'm sort of doubly cursed. And if these were stories of guarantees to what must happen to anyone who has genuine faith, then yeah, that would be cause less for celebration and more a kind of cause for despair. Now we do want to pray in faith, right? God does do miracles. But they're few and far between. They are signs pointing towards what God will do ultimately for everyone in the new heavens and the earth. And that's why I say there are stories of hope. The the gift the woman gives by receiving the blessing of God is to encourage us in in hope. Just as we we, we lament the illnesses that beset our brothers and sisters here, we grieve the death of our brothers and sisters like Frank, because God does permit this to happen. But he's given signs. He's given signs of the true rest that awaits us all as we maintain our faith in Jesus. And on that last day, he raises us up to life imperishable.

00:57:33,469	S11:
Stories of hope a gift of hope in the body of this woman who'd been bound, who'd been unfree for so long, and now is liberated by the healing power of Jesus, and liberated in such a remarkable way that it does encourage us that the Jesus who did that then, will do the same for me ultimately in the new heavens and new earth. Well, as we turn to summarize, I recognize that five lessons could be a lot. The good news is that we can summarize it really in one lesson, and it's the first lesson. But now it's the first lesson. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, seen in light of all the other lessons. So if you forget everything else, remember that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath in the fullest, deepest, most meaningful sense. That yes, he's Lord of the Sabbath, in that he decides what is proper Sabbath practice. But he also welcomes people into present day Sabbath rest so that they can take their place in God's good world. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, welcomes people into rest in the world that He Himself has created. As we learn in John one, Colossians one, first Corinthians and other places, and so they can enjoy the rest and we can enjoy the rest. That's part of God's intended rhythm through the week. But more than that, by putting these people into a Sabbath, rest in such dramatic fashion and doing it deliberately on the Sabbath. Jesus is signaling that there's more, that there is an ultimate Sabbath rest for the people of God in the new heavens and new earth. And that, among other things, is what will be celebrating now in the Lord's Supper in just a few minutes. Right. Yes. It looks back to Jesus's death to liberate us, to free us from sin and death. But it also looks forward to that great banquet when God welcomes us into his house so that we share in his table in an everlasting feast of eternal Sabbath rest and blessing. Let's pray.

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Heavenly father, thank you again for the wonder of the world we see around us. Thank you for the healings and blessings we experience in the here and now. We thank you for all these things, Lord, and pray that they would inspire us with a vision of hope, a hope in your goodness, that however long you may take, that you will bring us home and bring us to our Sabbath rest. Pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. I ask you to stand now and join with us in the very appropriate hymn. Number 324. Be still my soul.

01:00:40,469	S5:
Be still my soul. The Lord is soul. Thy soul.

01:00:48,769	S5:
Patient be.

01:00:52,400	S5:
Free for pain. Wait for my God. I provide in every chain. Ye faithful, every pain. Be still my soul. My best man friend who 40 ways leads to a choice for.

01:01:31,630	S6:
Me.

01:01:37,000	S5:
Be still, my soul. Thy good doth undertake.

01:01:44,469	S5:
To guide the future.

01:01:48,829	S5:
And the path

01:01:52,769	S5:
of my call. Better than nothing. Change. O the sea shall be bright. I love this of my soul. And with so

01:02:15,269	S5:
his boys who rule the world will.

01:02:33,699	S5:
Be still my soul. We are resisting God. But we shall be forever with the Lord.

01:02:49,230	S5:
When disappointed and grief and fear are called sorrows. Where God loves purest joy. Restore this to my soul. When change and tears are better. I feel safe and blessed. We shall all be alive.

01:03:27,699	S2:
As Sean shared, we gather before this table as a reminder of the great work of Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, who brings rest to our souls and forgiveness for our sins. So let us recount together what we believe. As a church, we have the Apostle's Creed in your bulletin.

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We'll recite that together. So, church, what do we believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived.

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By the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, dead and buried. He ascended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen. 01:04:42,199	S2:
Let us pray together. Heavenly father, as we come to this table, we are reminded that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.

01:04:53,570	S2:
He has sacrificed himself for us, that we might be able to commune with you, that we might be able to have a renewed relationship with you, that we might be able to rest. Lord, we pray that you would help us to trust in the saving work of Christ. And Lord, we confess that we fall short in this. Lord, we struggle to rest. We struggle to trust in you for our daily bread. We struggle to trust you as the birds and the flowers of the fields do so. Lord, we pray that you would help us. Help us as we come to this communion table, to be reminded that you are the author and the finisher of our faith, that you, who began a good work in us, will see it through to completion. That as we eat of this bread and drink of this cup, that we would be reminded that you hold our salvation in your hands, and that you will keep us. So, Lord, we pray that this would be an encouragement to us, and that we would find our joy and our rest in you, in Jesus name.

Amen. 01:06:06,730	S4:
Please be seated.

01:06:10,670	S4:
Did you notice in the children's message that we find rest with Jesus? We bring our burdens. And this morning we've heard that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. The day set aside for rest. He's invited us into his Sabbath. He's also, as Sean said, the Lord of the banquet, inviting us to this meal, inviting people to unite in repentance of their sin, to be united in acceptance of the broken body of Jesus for them, and to be united in this new covenant in his blood. And that's what we celebrate. That's what we take part in as his people today. And so if you're believing in that, you're so welcome this morning to partake. As we prepare to receive together, consider your ways and then consider his ways And pray that we might all be conformed to the image of God's Son. Let's prepare to receive together.

01:12:15,699	S4:
The Lord of the Sabbath. The Lord of all days, Jesus our Messiah. He took bread, he gave thanks and broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's take together.

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He also took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. Let's drink together.

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O Lord, we thank you for the rest. That you invite us into the way. That you invite us into the good that you invite us to do and to be a part of. Thank you for the privilege to do it together, as your people fit us for service today and every day in your kingdom. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand together and sing our final song.

01:13:14,300	S5:
Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to trust his cleansing words. Just in sing. O faith to blend ye with the ye blessed Lord Jesus. Jesus. Oh trust him. Oh I proof never. Meadows and Jesus. Jesus precious Jesus offered grace to trust him.

Oh. 01:14:17,199	S5:
Yes, he's so sweet to trusted Jesus. Just poisoned as hell to cease just for Jesus. I simply take my bed, rest and joy and peace. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him. How I prove him already know Lord Jesus. Jesus. Precious Jesus. Oh, the grace to trust you.

I. 01:15:12,600	S5:
Want to die. I learned to trust the precious Jesus. Save your friends and I. You know that thou art with me will be with me to thee and Jesus. Jesus love, I trust you. Oh, I proof in all that. Oh, Jesus. Jesus. precious Jesus offer praise to just him. Oh oh for grace to trust him more.

01:16:07,430	S4:
Thank you for joining us in worship. If you would like prayer. If you're wanting that freedom and that flourishing that was discussed today, we invite you to come and hear about that. If you walk up this ramp and through the chapel, the first door on the right is our prayer room. We'd love to pray with you and about anything that you might need as you go into the week. Receive the benediction. Brothers and sisters, may you receive the blessing of the Lord of the Sabbath, this Lord of the rest, who has given us his rest as we follow him. Go in the love of the father, the peace of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Amen. 01:16:43,270	S13:
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.