Rhythm.

Here goes a random post from the talk given at the KAMP's Gathering last week...

RHYTHM

Read this piece of truth over and over again. Read it slowly. Let it get in you. Let it move and affect you. This is Jesus telling us why he came, what his purpose is...and it's for you, me, us, the world to have life. Not church life. LIFE!

John 10:10 says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
I came that they (A)may have life, and have it abundantly.
I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it [a]overflows).
My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
I came so they might have life, a great full life.
I have come so they can have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way.
I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”

The last thing Jesus came to do was start another religion…He is the way and he showed us the way to reality, life as it is and should be

I hope last week we were confronted with stuff – for life to be a work art we must ask really difficult question about how we are living life.

We (as a church – a community of followers of Jesus living and learning to live the best possible way) wrestle with what the best possible life looks like

***Genesis 2: 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested [a] from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

The 7th day he rested

***Exodus 20: 1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 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.

Ten commandments begin with grace and mercy and then show us some guidelines for the best way to live

Living in rhythm goes back to how God made the world – how things really are and how they should be – we call this the Kingdom

Rhythm – pattern of beats in music (the audience clapped in rhythm) / particular music pattern / pattern of stress in poetry / any regularly recurring pattern of activity such as the cycle of the season, night and day, or repeated functions of the body (heart) /
Beat / pace / tempo / time / measure / cadence / pulse / regularity / pattern / progression / sequence /

Rhythm - knowing when to play and when not to play
Noise vs music – when to be on and when to be off

Sometimes life is less and less of a life and more of an existence…machine like…give and give…go and go…produce and produce…less and less of a life and more like an existence

God made the world with rhythm…6 and 1…created us to live with rhythm…without rhythm…less music and more noise…

When to be on and when to be off…when to play and when to rest…if you don’t know where the rests are…you butcher the song

***Mark 1: 29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
32That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33The whole town gathered at the door, 34and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
38Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Verse 33 The whole town gathers to plug into jesus, take, needs met, giving
Verse 35 the next day while it was still dark jesus went off to a solitary place to PRAY –
The next day he didn’t go back out after it – what is Jesus saying to God?
There is a rhythm of heavy engagement and being alone

***Matthew 14: 12John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
13When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

***Mark 6: 30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

He is not just living this he is also teaching them how to live so that they may teach others
All kinds of people around wanting more…Jesus gets away
At this pace you are going to fry, burn out, be miserable
But what about all these people who need us? Let’s go rest
Jesus needed to rest…and he is teaching his followers to rest

***Luke 5:12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.[c] When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
13Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him.
14Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."
15Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Mass numbers of people are coming to him
Verse 16 but he withdrew and prayed
Link these two ideas…you need to know he spent a lot of time alone
Jesus has these rhythms that he lives by
He knows when he needs to rest, when he needs time alone, pray, walks away,
Of all the people in the world that did not have a messiah complex….was the messiah
On off, engaged disengaged, with a crowd alone
Changing the world in 3 years and he spends a lot of time alone doing nothing…not in a hurry…saying no to large numbers of people who know him…rhythms he’s living according to

Leviticus 23:24
God commands the people to party, 7 major feasts, celebration or party some are days some are weeks, weeks of traveling with friends, eating, singing,

Resting and partying is sacred
Some of the things we most enjoy are spiritual

These scriptures shape the world Jesus lived in
What is God really like?
Day of rest, no regular work, throw a party,
Some of you will find a way to work, God is trying to teach us how to party

Verse 35 no regular work
Verse 39 day of rest, celebrate this for 7 days each year, party, food, music

When you think of god do you think of resting celebrating singing eating partying dancing as things god insists his people do…are these the images you have when you think of God

Rhythm is about your concept of what God is like…gogogo…or living in a rhythm of work and play, resting and enjoying

Less about rules and discipline…and more about what I think about God…what I produce or just that I am

What are the rhythms in your life?
What is your life really like?
Unsettled, restless, off-center,

Our culture has no comprehension of rhythm…gogogogoRESTgogogogogogogogoREST…it’s jerky

A revolutionary community that confronts culture, the message of Jesus confronts culture. Your culture is screwed up. That’s why the gospel is so dangerous. In our materialistic consumer culture, we go against it…there is a best way…and a wrong way.

Do you really need to do this to add that or have you bought into a system that is screwed up or a system that says you have to say yes to every good thing…confronting even a Christian culture

God says Go Go Rest Party Celebrate Go A little more rest party celebrate go a little more

When you don’t live a life of rhythm…it kills us

Ecclesiastes 3: A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.

There is a time for everything...a rhythm...your rhythm...