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Hi, this is Pastor Tom Holliday, and I want to welcome you to week seven of our
look through the book of Exodus. That means we're in chapter 31 as we go through
a chapter a day, day one of week seven. And I just want to say, congratulations,
you have made it this far in our study of Exodus.

And by making it this far, you know that in many ways, Exodus is a perfect
picture of what it means to live the life of freedom in Christ. As we've walked
this far into Exodus, you know that the book started with excitement. At the
start of the book of Exodus, there were burning bushes and plagues and red seas.

But then you know these last couple of weeks that the book settles into deserts
and long sections on commandments and descriptions of the tabernacle and
priests. What a picture of our life as believers. You need, I need what is
taught in the first half to get you started, but you need the second half to
live in freedom day after day after day in your life.

The truth is, you don't get a red sea every day. So the red sea that God brings
into your life to set you free, then you have to settle into that freedom. And
these last couple of weeks, we've been able to talk together about how do you
live in freedom when you're in a desert.

This chapter, chapter 31, there are two truths about living the life of freedom
and the day-to-day routine realities of life that you and I find in this
chapter. And the truths about these two truths are truths about work and truths
about rest. Truth number one, you see at the beginning of this chapter, truth
number one is in order to live with freedom in your everyday life, you have to
work with the skill that God has given you.

Listen to what happens in the first six verses of this chapter. Then the Lord
said to Moses, "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Her of the
tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill,
ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts, to make artistic designs for work
in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage
in all kinds of craftsmanship. Moreover I have appointed Oliab son of Asmirak of
the tribe of Dan to help him.

Also I have given him skill to all the craftsmen to make everything that I have
commanded you. " Here is skill given for the work that God has commanded. They
are filled with God's Spirit and they are skilled for God's purposes.

And one of the questions that's behind this is the question, are you working
with the skill that God has given you? To live with freedom you have to work
with the skill that God has given you. If you've been around Saddleback Church
any time at all, you've heard us talk about shape, the fact that God has given
five things in your life that help you to see how he wants to use you in his
purposes.

Shape, spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality and experiences, those
five things. God's given you certain spiritual gifts. God's also given you a
heart to serve in certain areas.

You have a certain passion for certain things. The P in shape stands for he's
given you a personality, a certain way of looking at things and looking at life.
The E is he's given you certain experiences in life.

But the A right in the middle is he has given you certain abilities. And this is
one of the great passages we're reading today in all of the scripture about
God-given abilities. It brings out the fact that the abilities that you have,
just as much as the spiritual gifts that you have or the personality that you
have, the abilities that you have are given by God.

So you're able to live in the most wonderful sense of freedom in your life when
you find places to use those abilities. Now it may be that you're able to use
those at work. I pray that you have a job where you can use those.

You want to look for that kind of a job, but life doesn't always work out that
way. But even if you're not in the job where you can best use your God-given
abilities, you can in the church use those God-given abilities. One of your
great abilities might be music.

Your fellow workers may not love it when you sing at work, even though you've
got a great voice or when you play your guitar or whatever, but at church you
can use that God-given ability. You see, this great passage in God's Word about
God's abilities in our lives remind us that as abilities are given by God, that
means that they are a part of our calling. God has given those abilities to you,
not just as a toy to play with or something to be interested in, they are a part
of God's calling in your life.

God gave these artistic abilities to those that were to be part of building the
tabernacle, making the tent, setting the stones in just the right way, and God
has put certain abilities into your life. What are those? What are those?

And how are you using those right now? If you feel like I'm not living with a
sense of joy and freedom like I should be, one of the reasons may be you're not
using your God-given abilities as you should. If you are living with a sense of
joy and freedom, then you need to look in your life and see how am I using my
God-given abilities and how can I even expand on that?

That's part of living the life of freedom in the routine, everyday moments of
life. You work with the skill that God has given you, and then you do a second
thing. You rest.

You rest in the way that God has commanded you. It takes both. This is a
chapter, this entire chapter about work and rest, and it's a reminder that we
need both.

If you have all rest in your life, if all you ever do is rest, you're going to
feel empty because you're not using the God-given abilities that are in your
life, so you're going to feel empty of purpose. The opposite is also true. The
other side of the coin is also true.

If you have all work in your life, you're also going to feel empty because
without rest, you don't understand the meaning of the work that you're doing.
Without rest, you don't understand the significance of how it fits into God's
plan for your life, how you're connected to God in doing it. So either one, all
rest, you feel empty, all work, you feel empty, you need both.

God's very clear about this. We've already looked at it a couple of times in the
book of Exodus, but here it is again in verses 12 to 18. Then the Lord said to
Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths.

This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may
know that I am the Lord who makes you holy. Observe the Sabbath because it is
holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death.

Whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. It will be a
sign between me and the Israelites forever. For in six days the Lord made the
heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.

When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two
tablets of the testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed with the finger of God.
" You read these verses and you realize God is serious about the Sabbath. Under
the law, someone who desecrated the Sabbath and in some way sinned against the
Sabbath was to be put to death.

Someone who ignored the Sabbath and did work on the Sabbath was to be cut off
from the people. That's how serious God is about the Sabbath. Why?

Why is he so serious? Because as we read several times here, it is an expression
of his holiness. In order that you may know that I am the Lord who makes you
holy.

In order that you may know that I am the Lord who makes you holy. The Sabbath
causes you to know that he is the Lord. And the Sabbath causes you to know that
he is making you holy.

When I take a day of rest I realize there is someone greater than I am. He is
the Lord. The world is not on my shoulders.

I may have a lot of responsibilities but it's on his shoulders not mine. He is
the Lord. A Sabbath makes me recognize that.

And a Sabbath also causes me to recognize what he's doing in me. He is making me
holy. You are more than the work that you do.

Who you are, what you are is the work that God is doing in you. And many times
the work that he has given you to do, whatever it might be, whatever job you
might have, whatever responsibilities you might have, the work that he's giving
you to do, the most important thing about you is the work he's doing in you as
you're doing that work. And a Sabbath gives you the time to rest, to draw back a
little bit from life and to realize.

Realize these two things, who he is and what he's doing in you. That's why you
need to take a Sabbath. Now many people take a Sabbath on a Sunday.

It's a day of worship. You go and worship on Sunday and then you take the rest
of the day to rest and think about who God is and be with your family. There's a
lot of different ways to take the Sabbath.

Legalists want to tell you you have to take it this way. That's not the issue.
The issue is, are you taking a day of rest?

Whether it's on Sunday isn't necessarily the issue. I'm a pastor. I work on
Sundays.

So my Sabbath is usually a Friday. Sometimes it's on a Monday. I move it around
sometimes.

The day isn't what's most important. What other people say about what you should
do on that day is not what's most important. What's important is, are you taking
a day of rest?

This is a chapter about work and rest. And I need both in my life in order to
live in the freedom that Christ has given. So let's pray right now that God will
give strength for that.

Lord, give us strength for the work and give us wisdom to rest. We need both in
our lives. Help us to work with the skill that you've given to us and to give
you praise as we do that.

And Lord, help us to follow your command and to rest as you've shown us. Not
because we have to, but because you made us to and because we want to know that
you're holy. And we want to know that you're making us holy.

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow we're going to look at a problem
with a golden calf.