♪ theme music ♪
(Derek) Welcome to Hope Sabbath School,
an in-depth, interactive study
of the Word of God.
We're in a series entitled Rest in Christ.
I need that rest today,
and I'm sure you do, as well.
Today, we're talking
about The Roots of Restlessness.
We discovered in our last study
that restlessness can lead to rebellion,
which can lead to violence and destruction.
God wants us to experience rest for our souls,
so we're really glad you joined us today
and glad to see the team here.
And we're excited that we're
now having some of our team members
joining us remotely.
We've got Shaina joining us from Maine.
Shaina, great to see you
as part of the team today.
And also Puia joining us from Hawaii.
Great to see you, Puia,
as part of our team.
We're always happy to hear from you,
our Hope Sabbath School members around the world.
You can always write to us
at sshope@hopetv.org.
We get excited, don't we, when we hear
what God's doing in your life
and how He's blessing you through His Word.
Here's a note from Cherryl
in Illinois here in the United States,
"Hope Sabbath School
has been such a blessing.
I've been watching for several years
and look forward to doing so every week
and sharing with family and friends,"
that's good, right?
"Thank God for the outreach
of Hope Sabbath School.
Be blessed, keep up the good work."
Well, Cherryl, thanks for writing
to us from Illinois,
and we're excited that you're sharing
what you're learning
with family and friends.
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that's South America, right?
He writes and says,
"Ever since I was introduced
to Hope Sabbath School
about four years ago,
it has become part
of my welcoming of the Sabbath.
I love how the study
is made simple by your team.
You stir an excitement in me
to study and know more about God."
(Team) Praise God. Amen.
(Derek) "My mother loves
the Scripture songs.
I'm all the way from Guyana, South America.
May God continue to bless
and have mercy on us all."
Well, Roger, thanks for writing
to us from Guyana,
lovely to hear from you.
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we still get hand-written notes.
From a donor in New Jersey
in the United States of America,
and the donor writes, "I watch
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your 81-year-old student."
(Team) Wow.
(Derek) Wow, you know who you are;
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We thank you for your support, though.
"I love how the lessons are explained
and personal testimonies
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May God continue to bless your ministry,"
and a donation of 25 dollars
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Well, God bless you.
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Here's a note from Terrena, a Jamaican
living in the United Arab Emirates,
and Terrena writes and says,
"Greetings in the name
of the Lord Jesus."
Well, Terrena, you got a wave there.
(Team) Greetings.
(Derek) "Thank you for your great work
in spreading the gospel
and encouraging us
to study the Word of God.
I watch your program all the time.
It's been a blessing,
especially during this pandemic.
Keep up the great work.
May God bless you and your team. Amen."
Well, thank you, Terrena,
writing from the United Arab Emirates.
And here is one last email,
from Amanuel, Amanuel, spelt
a little differently with an A, Amanuel.
"I'm writing from Ethiopia," Amanuel writes.
"I am a university teacher in my country.
I've been watching
Hope Sabbath School since 2017,"
listen to this, "when I was a student
at the very university
where I'm now a professor."
Congratulations, Amanuel, for graduating
and now becoming a professor at your university.
"Thank you for making the Bible
so simple and clear.
I feel as if I'm with you literally.
I smile with you; I'm touched
by your testimonies; I love you all.
May God continue to bless you,
speak to you and through you." Amen?
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) Well, Amanuel, thank you
for writing to us from Ethiopia.
We're glad each one of you are part
of our Hope Sabbath School family.
Right now we'd love to invite you
to sing our theme song.
It's taken from Matthew, chapter 11.
It's the words of Jesus, verses 28 to 30,
"Come to Me, all you who labor
and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest," let's sing together.
♪ music ♪
(Derek) I love that song,
and, you know, I love it so much
I want to speak to you
as our Hope Sabbath School family.
We'd like to give you a copy of the song
plus 11 other Scripture songs in a collection.
All you have to do
is go to our website, hopetv.org/hopess.
You'll see a button
that says, "Free Gift."
Go to our website, click
on the Free Gift button,
and you'll get a link to download,
not only this theme song,
but 11 other beautiful Scripture songs
so you can hide God's Word in your heart.
That's our gift to you
from Hope Sabbath School.
Let's pray together now.
Our Father in Heaven,
we've already seen in this series
on Rest in Christ
how much we need that rest for our souls.
And we've seen the damaging effect
of restlessness and rebellion.
I pray today, as we study
about The Roots of Restlessness,
that we might be convicted even more
to find rest for our souls in Jesus.
Guide each one in our study today.
We pray in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) We're going to start
our study today in Luke, chapter 12,
with a story about a restless individual.
Now, we're going to look
at three roots of restlessness.
Maybe you'll say, "Well, Derek,
I can think of four or five,"
and we can share those together,
but I'm suggesting that selfishness
is one of the roots
of a restless spirit.
Let's pick up the story
in Luke, chapter 12,
and, Nicole, if you could begin
our study today, verses 13 through 19.
A restless young man
actually interrupts Jesus who's preaching
and interrupts Him with a demand.
Let's pick up the story
in Luke 12:13-19.
(Nicole) And the New International Version says:
(Derek) Now, let's take this man,
he has a barn; it's too small.
What are some options
if he wasn't driven by a selfish spirit?
He's had a great crop. Jason?
(Jason) He could give away
some of it to other people.
(Derek) He could find some other people that didn't have
such a good year. Brittany?
(Brittany) I was going to say what Jason said, that, yeah,
he should look for those who are needy
or like they had in Israel,
they had this law that they would let
the reapers go through,
and then they would leave some behind
for those who are widowed and poor.
So, he should do the same with his stuff.
(Derek) That's a great example.
I think they call that gleaning, don't they?
We heard about that
in the story of Ruth
in the Old Testament.
In fact, with Ruth, Boaz gives permission
to leave extra piles, doesn't he?
I think he's already realized
what a precious person she is.
So, one option would be to give away
rather than tear down a barn,
which caused more expense for him.
What indications are there, though,
that this man is driven
by a selfish spirit? Sabina?
(Sabina) I think that we can look
at verse, let's see, verse 19; it says:
So, it sounds like he has
a very great plan for his own life
and his own self, too,
to care for his own problems
and not anybody else's.
(Derek) That's right.
He's certainly not talking to God.
He's kind of praying to himself.
And he's not talking to anyone else around
saying, "Does anyone else have any needs?"
He's saying, "Self, eat,
drink and be merry."
How does the Lord...By the way,
this is a parable, though it may have been
a true story, who knows?
Jesus may have actually seen
something like that,
certainly the interruption
that Nicole read was real.
Someone just interrupted Him.
How does Jesus respond, Pedro,
in verses 20 and 21 of Luke, chapter 12?
(Pedro) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version, and it says:
(Derek) In another place,
I think it's in Matthew 16, Jesus says,
"What does it profit a person
if she or he gains the whole world,"
like super big barn,
"and lose your soul," right?
But the whole point is,
when this man dies,
how much do you take with you?
(Team) Nothing.
(Derek) Only your relationship
or lack of relationship with God, right?
If you're resting in Christ,
well, death is just a sleep, right?
But you can't change, you certainly
can't take things with you.
So here's an unnamed selfish man.
Can you think of other Bible characters,
do a little scan in your Bible memory,
some other Bible characters
that they were just driven by selfishness,
and of course underlying this theme
of Rest in Christ,
you're restless when you're driven
by selfishness. Nicole?
(Nicole) I would say Jacob
before his encounter with God,
when he took the inheritance and ran away.
I would say that was a bit of restlessness
in terms of self, and, "I want
what my brother has."
But then when he encountered God,
his whole life changed.
(Derek) So, grabbing for that birthright,
which technically would have been Esau's,
but God had promised him, right?
So, there's a selfish grab, if you will.
(Nicole) It's a struggle.
(Derek) Alright, Brittany.
(Brittany) I was thinking of Balaam.
He was supposedly a prophet of God,
and God told him to go...
Well, actually a king came and said,
"Hey, will you curse
the children of Israel for me
because God is blessing them."
So, Balaam at first was like, "No,
I'm not going to do it."
But then when the king
offered him a large sum of money,
he was like, "Oh, sure, I'll do it."
And on his way, an angel of the Lord came
and blocked his way, and it took a donkey,
God using the donkey to speak to him
to open his eyes to his danger
and what he was doing against God.
(Derek) And, of course, when he
finally does open his mouth,
he blesses the people of God rather than curses them,
but those are two examples.
Another one, Jason?
(Jason) So, I think of Ahab and Jezebel.
I think it's particularly Jezebel,
with a vineyard - Naboth's,
I think, was the name - that she wanted.
And she actually had the guy
falsely accused and murdered,
and both her and her husband
were part of a conspiracy
because they wanted a vineyard.
(Derek) Sure. I'm seeing
Shaina's hand and Puia's hand
raised there in Maine and in Hawaii.
Shaina, another example of someone
driven by selfishness, which, of course,
creates a lot of restlessness in our hearts.
(Shaina) I'm thinking of King Saul.
Saul was anointed by God
to become the first king of Israel,
but when he saw that...
I mean, he had done a bunch of things
that were wrong in the sight of the Lord,
and when he saw that the Spirit
of the Lord was instead on David,
the rest of his life was somewhat
spent in pursuing David.
And it was a restless pursuit,
even to the point where there was
a time when Saul
was right in front of David, and David
had the opportunity to take his life.
But David was, like, "No,
I'm not touching the Lord's anointed."
So, that's another example of restlessness.
(Derek) Sure, and selfishness, for sure.
You know, while Shaina was sharing
(Puia, I'll come to your point),
while Shaina was sharing,
I thought, instead of spending
the rest of his life pursuing David,
what if he had spent
the rest of his life pursuing God, right?!
It would mean a totally different story. Puia.
(Puia) Yes, I was thinking of Satan,
Lucifer in Heaven.
His selfishness drove him
to rebel against God
as he wanted more and more power,
even above his own Creator.
And he, of course,
is the originator of sin, in Heaven,
and later brought it into this planet.
And so, I believe Satan is a good example
of what selfishness does to someone
when you allow that selfishness
to continue to drive you forward.
(Derek) Thank you.
He's also a great example
of the second root of restlessness,
which we'll come to in a minute.
Going to come to you, Pedro.
It seems like we don't have
much difficulty finding examples of people.
Selfishness is kind of a natural attitude
of a sinful heart, right? Pedro?
(Pedro) I was trying to find the name here,
and I found it in 1 Samuel 25 - Nabal.
He was helped by David and his men,
and he refused to reward him.
He said, "I don't know who David is."
And Abigail, his wife, had to intervene,
and we saw what greed caused in his life,
similar to the parable of Jesus.
(Derek) Sure, and that's right.
Eventually Nabal dies in a drunken stupor.
We don't know; his heart
stopped for whatever reason.
And it shows the futility of living a life
simply driven by selfishness.
Well, like I said, we didn't have trouble
finding many examples.
Confession time, oh, was there ever a time -
Puia and Shaina, you're joining us remotely,
and here we've got the team -
when, if you're honest with yourself,
you were being driven
a little bit by a selfish spirit
(notice I'm trying to tone it down just a little bit),
but it didn't satisfy the restlessness inside?
Anybody can relate to that in any way?
Well, we've got a few brave souls.
Sabina and then Nicole.
(Sabina) I have a sister;
she's older than me.
And I think that if she watches us,
she will be able to agree
with what I am going to share.
I think that we both
were selfish, usually, when we were not willing to share
our clothes with each other.
And I think that sometimes
in our relationship growing up,
just the fact that I wanted
to hoard my things to myself,
or she wanted to hoard
her things to herself,
made us sometimes to be in conflict.
So, I could give other examples in my life,
but I'm just sharing this one.
(Derek) Just that one, and I'm assuming
that that didn't result
in a very restful environment.
(Sabina) No, eventually, you know,
we grew up in learning
how to divide things with each other,
but I remember situations
in which we had fights as girls, you know,
not willing to share, just selfish.
(Derek) Sure. Nicole.
(Nicole) When I was in medical school,
I was very much driven
for a particular path
that I wanted to take in my life.
And it was really driven on myself
in wanting to be in a particular position.
And it was a very restless time,
because I was fighting against God
and what He wanted me to do,
and I wanted to do "X."
And so, when I finally gave in and said,
"Okay, where do you want me to go, Lord?" I found the rest I needed and was able
to choose the career that He wanted me to be in.
But before that, there was definitely a struggle
between my desire for my ego
to be stroked and my selfishness
versus what He wanted and saw for my life.
(Derek) So, we found many examples,
and we could probably all
find examples in our own lives
of how a selfish attitude
created a restlessness for us.
But have you ever seen,
either in the Scripture
or maybe even in your life,
someone that really models
an unselfish spirit which results
in rest for our souls?
Anybody? Is there an individual
that comes to your mind?
Puia, anybody that you know
that comes to your mind
that just models that unselfish spirit?
(Puia) Yes, I believe Jesus
is the prime example of Someone
who showed the opposite of selfishness
as He came to this planet as a babe
and then grew up as a man and suffered
to the point of death on the cross.
And so, Jesus showed us
what the opposite side of selfishness is,
and through love He was able
to accomplish the plan of salvation
to give us that rest in Him.
(Derek) Beautiful, it's hard
to find a better example, isn't it?
Anybody think of a family member,
a loved one, a friend?
Can I share someone?
I went on an assignment
to a refugee camp
on the Thai-Myanmar border.
Oh, Puia, that's getting close to home country.
And there in a refugee camp
were about 35,000 refugees in no man's land.
And there was a godly woman,
she's still there, named Helen Hall,
who started a school
called Eden Valley Academy.
And at times, there were
up to 1,000 students
in this refugee camp in the school,
and she's in her 80s now.
She could be somewhere
very safe in Australia,
which is her homeland,
but she said, "This is
where God's called me to serve."
I have never personally seen
a more unselfish spirit
than I saw in this precious lady.
And maybe we should just remember
Helen Hall and Eden Valley Academy
in our prayers because things
are quite unstable there on the border.
And yet, she's really kind of modeling what Jesus taught,
willing to lay down her life for others.
Anybody else, someone you've seen?
If not, let's move on, shall we?
One root of restlessness is what?
(Team) Selfishness.
(Derek) Selfishness, but you notice,
when we were talking about selfishness,
I think, Puia, you talked about Lucifer,
now called Satan, he's lost his place
in the heavenly courts,
is also that desire to exalt self.
Self-exaltation is also
a root cause of restlessness.
We don't have to go all the way
back to Lucifer and the rebellion.
Jason, we could find it
even among the disciples of Jesus.
Take a look with us, if you would,
at Mark 10, verses 35 to 40.
(Jason) Alright, I have
the New King James Version here,
Mark, chapter 10, verses 35 through 40:
(Derek) Now, while Jason was reading that, Nicole, you were
just kind of shaking your head.
There's definitely a root
of selfishness there, too, isn't there,
but this self-exaltation,
what are your thoughts
as you see these two...
They were fishermen right, James and John,
they were just asking
to be two vice presidents in the Kingdom?
(Nicole) It's a human tendency for us
to want people to praise us
and to give us honor and to give us glory.
And I think that we, if we're not careful,
will want that more than we want
to actually glorify God.
And so this is just us having to fight
against our natural tendency
to want things that Christ knows
are not good for us.
(Derek) Brittany.
(Brittany) When I read the story,
since we know the end of the story,
we know why Jesus came,
it's like they completely missed out
on His whole mission.
His whole mission was
not to raise Himself up
except to die for us.
(Derek) Doesn't He say,
"I've come, not to be served but to serve
and to give My life
for the ransom of many"?
(Brittany) And if they had known, if they had understood
He was going to give His life,
they wouldn't have asked for this.
They wouldn't have said, "We want what You are going to have."
He was like, "Yeah, you're going to receive the grief
and the suffering that I am going to experience,
but what you are asking, you don't understand."
(Derek) It's interesting
just thinking about it,
and, Pedro, then I'd like you
to read the next verse,
that one of them, James,
is beheaded by Herod, right?
And Peter almost is beheaded, right?
And then, John, well, he gets
put on a desolate island called Patmos,
but God works with him even there.
But you're right; they had no idea.
They were thinking of an earthly kingdom.
But that desire to exalt self is very strong.
Pedro, how did the other disciples respond and why?
Let's take a look, if you can read for us
in Mark 10, verse 41.
(Pedro) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version, Mark 10:41:
(Derek) Alright, Shaina, I'm going
to ask you a question.
Shaina, I know you're
a student of human behavior.
You've taught and you've seen
a lot of different character traits.
So, let me ask you, Shaina, up there in Maine,
why do you think the other disciples
were so upset with James and John?
(Shaina) They may have been feeling
like, "Do you guys think
that you're better than any of us?"
Like, "We're all on this same walk together; we've all
been through most of the same experiences together.
None of you are better than that,
so why would you be subject
to the next highest position in Heaven,
which is on the right hand
and on the left hand of Jesus?"
(Derek) Yeah, so let me paraphrase that.
They could be feeling a sense
of, "Who are you to push yourselves
over the top of us?"
But it may be actually something more than that.
We've got three hands here;
who would like to share. Brittany?
(Brittany) They might have been upset
that they hadn't thought to ask that question first.
"How come they got to ask that question? I wish I had thought of that."
(Derek) Anybody agree with Brittany?
Okay, well, I'm going to raise my hand.
What evidence, Puia, is there
that they were also contentious, can you think of...?
(Puia) Right, yes, in another chapter
we find them arguing on the topic
of who is the greatest among us,
like, who is the greatest in our group.
And even today in our church settings,
we may not say out loud
as to who is the greatest among us.
But, truth be told, I believe
we all think about it sometimes,
even in our church settings, even today,
as to who among our members
make the most money,
who among our members
is the most influential or the greatest.
It seems that this is human tendency,
not just for James and John,
but for the rest of us as well.
(Derek) So, lest we sit in judgment
on James and John for being so brash...
By the way, the reference here, I think,
was Luke, at least one reference,
Luke 22:24, where they're arguing
who's going to be the greatest. Sabina?
(Sabina) And I'm thinking also
of Jesus' reaction to the confusion
that is triggered by this comment
because the Bible says in verse 41
that the ten heard,
and they began to discuss about it.
And the way that Jesus intervenes
is by reminding them
that they were called to be servants,
and that even though we need
to look at authorities in the world,
that they look at them
as being the greatest ones,
that, in our case, it was
not going to be so,
with them and with us.
In the Kingdom of God,
the last shall be the first.
So, I think that the way that Jesus responds
makes us believe that all of them
were having the same sort
of heart issue going on.
(Derek) Well, before we come
to confession time when we've
ever felt like exalting ourselves,
there's a story of an ancient monarch,
"ancient," not being old himself
but many, many generations ago.
In fact, what, 2,600 years ago,
a monarch who had a problem
with self-exaltation,
and it's clear from the story
that he was restless.
You know, when you're
always wanting to be first,
if anybody drives faster than you do or jumps faster
or gets a higher score on a test
or gets the position you were hoping for,
you're never going to be at rest, right, if your desire
is to always exalt yourself.
Who's that ancient monarch
we're thinking about?
(Team) Nebuchadnezzar.
(Derek) Nebuchadnezzar.
Now there is a story about Nebuchadnezzar
in chapter 4 of his book.
Would you just read
a few verses for us, verses 28 to 32?
(Jason) Sure, I've got
the New King James Version here;
it's Daniel 4:28-32; it says:
(Derek) So, what happens to Nebuchadnezzar
after this declaration of this messenger? Yes, Brittany.
(Brittany) He is driven from his kingdom,
and seven years he spends outside.
He's getting wet; he's living like an animal.
It even says that his hair grew
like feathers of a bird, almost,
and his nails grew
long like eagle's claws.
He became like an animal.
(Derek) And that was
the end of the story, right? Wrong?
How does the story end?
I think it ends hopefully,
with some kind of rest for his soul.
Who would like to read for us,
Daniel, chapter 4, verses 33 to 37? Pedro.
(Pedro) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version, Daniel 4:33-37:
(Derek) Now, if you've read
the book of Daniel,
he has some things to say about the God
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego,
or the God of Daniel,
in Daniel 2 and in Daniel 3.
But what's the difference
in Daniel, chapter 4?
Did you notice a difference? Nicole.
(Nicole) He's actually internalizing
the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.
It's not just their God anymore; it's his God.
He gives the praise to this God,
and so he makes it personal at this point
because of his experience with God.
(Derek) So, why is it so important...
Shaina, let me take your point,
and then I want to ask
why it's so important.
I mean, I guess we could find hope
in the story of Nebuchadnezzar, right?
That if you have been living
trying to just exalt yourself,
you don't have to die that way.
You can change. Shaina?
(Shaina) I also find it amazing
that this king, who built a statue
all of gold because he was like,
"My kingdom is going to last forever,"
in verse 37, he says,
"Honor the King of Heaven,"
so it's a complete shift in character
or language, vocabulary, that he's using
to say, "This is the King; this is
the real deal that we're dealing with."
(Derek) Beautiful. Well, we're talking
about Roots of Restlessness,
and we know that God
doesn't want us to be restless, right,
but to find rest in Christ.
Selfishness doesn't work.
Why doesn't self-exaltation work?
Why don't we find rest?
When do we finally get
to the place, Brittany,
when do we finally get to the place
where we go, "Oh, rest, because I'm
finally at the top of the pile!
I've left all of these broken people in climbing up"?
Why doesn't that ever work?
(Brittany) Well, we were created to worship.
When we read throughout the Bible,
we realize that God
created us in His image,
and He created us with this desire to worship.
And we're never fulfilled
until we worship the One who made us.
(Derek) Alright, so actually,
back to Puia, what you said earlier,
and then I'll come to your point.
Actually, this desire for self-exaltation
finds its original root in Lucifer,
the rebellious angel,
where, if I keep wanting to exalt myself
as the driving force in my life,
I'll want to be above God.
I want to be God, right,
which, of course, will never work. Puia?
(Puia) Yes, picking up
on what Brittany said,
I believe the reason
why self-exaltation doesn't
lead us to actual rest
is because it completely goes
against the nature of God.
And as God is our Creator
and the Author of our lives,
He designs our life in such a way
that our lives will flourish
when we follow His principles.
And God's principles are
never about self-exaltation
but rather about humility
and serving others rather than self.
And so, when we try to exalt ourselves,
we're going against the way
God designed us to function best.
And so, we're not able to find rest
as long as we are going
against God's original plan.
(Derek) We found some examples
of people trying to find rest
in self-exaltation; it doesn't work.
Nebuchadnezzar does become an example
of someone who says, "I'm going
to exalt God rather than myself,"
and he finds rest.
Any other examples in the Bible
of people, Pedro, who find rest
by saying, "I'm just going to exalt God"?
(Pedro) Well, one thing
that got my attention when we
were reading in Mark was Bartimaeus
because the same question
that Jesus made to James and John
was the question He made to him.
But we see that Bartimaeus,
he heard that Jesus was passing by.
He was blind, this multitude was coming up,
and he was calling upon Jesus,
"Son of David," "Son of David,"
exalting God as who He is.
Everybody thought that He was
Jesus of Nazareth; He was just, you know,
He was the prophet.
But he recognized who Jesus was.
And Jesus came to him and said,
"What do you want me to do for you?"
And what happened to him?
He had an encounter with God, and God blessed him.
(Derek) Beautiful. And, by the way,
"Son of David" was a Messiah term, right?
And so I just thought
of that beautiful thing, "I want to see,"
and the first thing he sees is Jesus!
It's like, "I want to see Jesus.
I want to see the Son of David."
What a beautiful picture. Sabina?
(Sabina) I'm thinking of the apostles.
After Jesus departed, they were all
given great authority
by the power of the Holy Spirit
to heal, to preach, to teach,
and to do things that were
even greater than those things
that Jesus had made.
And they could have
eventually desired or placed themselves
in the space of being the authority,
doing those things, and not bringing glory to God.
And I believe that they surely were able
to succeed in their mission
because they were putting
the name of Jesus ahead
and not their own.
(Derek) There was one example,
and I see your hand, Puia,
raised there in Hawaii,
there was one example of someone
in the book of Acts who wanted
the power to exalt self.
Anybody remember what his name was?
Was it Simon the sorcerer?
He wanted to buy the Holy Spirit, right,
"Boy, I could be really famous
if I had this power." Puia?
(Puia) Another person that came to mind
is Daniel in the story
where King Nebuchadnezzar forgot his dream
and was trying to find out what his dream was
and inquired from all the magicians and the wise men,
and nobody could tell
the forgotten dream of the king.
And Daniel came along,
God answered his prayer,
but Daniel did not take the credit
when he explained it to the king
that the dream came from God.
So, I believe Daniel is a good example
of someone who gave the credit to God
rather than exalt himself.
(Derek) Great illustration,
and that's repeated in Daniel 5
in his interaction with Belshazzar.
And it's repeated in his interaction
with Kind Darius where he says,
"My God sent an angel,"
rather than saying, "Well, I was
able to tame these lions, O King."
He's always exalting God rather than himself.
Well, we want to move
on to a third root of restlessness.
Is selfishness going to help us
find rest for our souls?
(Team) No.
(Derek) No. Self-exaltation, is it going to help us?
(Derek, Team) No.
(Derek) There is a third root of restlessnes,
and that is hypocrisy.
What is hypocrisy?
Can someone give me a definition?
What is hypocrisy?
Shaina, could you give us
a brief definition
or maybe a definition of a hypocrite?
Unfortunately, Jesus calls
some people hypocrites.
What's the definition of a hypocrite?
(Shaina) In a very simplified version,
it's a person who says one thing,
or they preach one thing, and their lives,
their actions, preach another thing.
So, there is an inconsistency
between their words and their actions.
(Derek) So, let's go back; Jesus calls
some of the religious leaders...
We need to be careful here,
because there were some religious leaders
who were very devoted, godly people.
In fact, they're willing
to identify with Jesus
and even lay down all of their resources,
namely, who comes to mind?
(Derek, Team) Nicodemus.
(Sabina) I was thinking of Nicodemus.
(Derek) Joseph of Arimathea and others,
so not all of the religious leaders agreed
with the majority Jesus called hypocrites.
Let's look at that passage.
It's very strong language.
And, Brittany, if you could read for us
in Matthew 23, beginning with verse 1.
I don't think I've ever heard
Jesus speak more strongly than this.
And so while Brittany's reading,
ask the question, why is Jesus speaking
in such, what appears
to be such harsh language
to these religious leaders?
And it must have something
to do with, that hypocrisy
will never give us the rest
for our souls that we need.
Starting in verse 1 of chapter 23,
down through verse 13.
(Brittany) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version,
Matthew, chapter 23, verses 1 through 13:
(Derek) As you were reading that,
there seems to be a strong correlation
between hypocrisy and self-exaltation and selfishness.
Maybe it's all one root.
It's all kind of woven together.
Why would a person
make a profession of something
but live differently?
What do you think? Anybody?
Why would they make a profession
but not follow it? Shaina?
(Shaina) I can say I am these things
to look good to people.
And if no one is really checking my life
to ensure that I am living like that,
then, you know, my appearance looks good.
But really, well, Jesus knows.
(Derek) But that ties in
to wanting to exalt myself
beyond where I actually am.
Jason, why would a person do that?
"Hypocrite," Jesus said, "hypocrite,
you say one thing, but you don't do it."
(Jason) Sure, so sometimes people
want the benefits of a certain way
or a certain expression,
but they don't actually want the responsibility
or the things that may not
make them feel as good.
So, they kind of want
an external good feeling,
but internally they still want to do
what they want to do themselves.
So, they kind of want this
for their own purposes
and not really for anyone else.
(Derek) Nicole?
(Nicole) I recently heard someone say
that hypocrisy is the enemy of love,
because if you don't have love,
you're going to present yourself in a way
so you can appear to have it,
but you really don't.
Because love is authentic, love is transparent.
And hypocrisy, there's clearly
a shadow and a wall there.
So, I heard that, and it really kind of stuck to me;
it's the enemy of love, and that's why Christ can't have it.
(Derek) And it's interesting,
because the rest in Christ
is resting in His love.
I think it's all related, isn't it?
What a beautiful thought.
You know, some people might hear
these stern rebukes, Pedro,
that Jesus is giving
and think, "Jesus, You're a hypocrite.
I mean, don't be so hard on these people; nobody's perfect."
But in the same chapter, we see
that Jesus actually, He's so hard on them
because He loves them.
That's an interesting thought,
because hypocrisy will always lead to...?
(Team) Destruction.
(Derek) Destruction.
Look at a revelation of His character
there in Matthew 23 and verse 37.
(Pedro) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version, Matthew 23:37:
(Derek) You see the love of Jesus,
which is a revelation
of the Father's love.
Well, did anyone here,
either here in the studio or Shaina, Puia,
find yourself acting like a hypocrite,
and you're going to testify today
to the world, "Whoops, that didn't give me
the rest I was looking for." Jason.
(Jason) Sure, so, these days,
or at least over my life
I've spent a lot of time on social media,
particularly certain sites like Facebook.
And people get into arguments
and discussions there.
And there were times in my life
when I was in discussions
with people, friends, professors.
And even though people knew
I was a Christian,
knew I studied the Bible,
I was saying things and attacking people
and acting, well, very ungodly
in a public forum, even though people knew
I was a Christian.
So, I clearly was doing things publicly
that didn't match, you know,
my relationship with God, or showed
that there was a disconnect there.
(Derek) I'm hoping you're going to tell me you changed!
(Jason) Yes, well, by God's grace,
I spend a lot less time on Facebook and social media,
and I decided to turn my Facebook page,
not so much into debates
and discussions anymore.
(Derek) Well, thank you for sharing that.
I remember a time I was going to church.
I was 18; I looked, and a friend
from high school was across the road,
and I turned my head so he wouldn't
see me go into the church - hypocrite.
And I still feel the pain of that day,
because Jesus was not ashamed of me.
Fortunately, Jesus saved me.
But, we all contend,
if we're not connected, we could all
tend towards hypocrisy, right?
We could tend towards selfishness
and self-exaltation.
So Puia, would you read to us John 14:1-5,
because embedded in this story
we see both restlessness
from the disciples
but also the secret,
the antidote for restlessness,
whether it's caused by selfishness
or a desire for self-exaltation or hypocrisy.
Read to us John 14:1-5.
(Puia) Sure, and I'll be reading
from the New King James Version:
(Derek) So, why are they restless?
Why are they at least tempted
to be anxious? Brittany.
(Brittany) Well, their Master,
who they've been following for three and a half years
is saying He's leaving them.
And so, they don't know
where He's going, from what Thomas said,
and they don't know
how to get to Him.
They're worried; they're concerned,
"Now what is our life going to be?"
They had left everything to follow Him,
and now, "What are we going to do next?"
(Derek) And what is the answer
to their restlessness?
Next verse, Sabina,
chapter 14 of John, verse 6.
(Sabina) It says:
(Derek) "Rest in Me."
That reminds us of our Scripture song.
Can someone sing it for us? Well, no, don't sing.
Could you read it for us, someone? Matthew 11:28-30.
Jason, do you have it?
Because really, the rest
is not found in selfish grabbing,
self-exaltation, or trying
to project a life that you're not living.
It's found by resting in Christ.
What's the beautiful invitation there
in Matthew 11:28-30?
(Jason) The New King James Version says,
Matthew, chapter 11, verses 28 through 30:
(Derek) So, you finally come to the place
where you say, "I am going
to surrender my life
wholly to Jesus and rest in Him.
Whether I live, whether I die,
whether the result from this test
I just had is negative or positive,
I'm going to choose to rest in Christ
and be secure there."
Do you know there are some people
that, when they make that decision,
not everybody supports them.
Sometimes even friends and family members
criticize them for saying...
You know, it's like the survival
of the fittest, Jason, "Keep climbing up,
even if you have to climb over people.
You're just going to get," we have an expression in English,
"eaten alive if you just think
you can rest in Christ
and life will go well."
What would you say to someone like that?
Once you've made your decision,
"I'm just going to rest my life," Puia, "rest in Christ,"
what would you say to someone
who says, "You'll just be eaten alive.
You'll get trampled on by everybody"?
(Puia) I would say, continue
to look at the cross
and how much Jesus suffered
to give us that rest.
And once we have
that personal relationship with Jesus
and we are being persecuted,
either by our family
or friends or other people,
it means that we are sharing
in the journey of Jesus,
and we are carrying the cross
as Jesus calls us to.
And at the end of the day,
as we read earlier, Jesus said,
"I will give you rest."
And the yoke, Jesus said the word "yoke,"
and in some ways the yoke
would seem to be like a problem
for an animal that they often used
to drive the animal to work.
But, according to Jesus, His yoke is easy,
meaning, even when we
go through problems because of Jesus,
we find joy and rest and happiness inside.
(Derek) I've heard stories...
And I see a couple of hands
in the couple of minutes remaining.
I've heard stories, when Christians
are facing great hardship,
and yet the rest in their souls
is a powerful witness to people,
and to unbelievers, even who come
to conviction that they need
rest in God, too. Nicole?
(Nicole) I would say rest is not
just lying down and letting life happen.
Rest is allowing Christ to work
through you and in you to give you
what you need to accomplish
and deal with whatever situation
is presented in front of you.
(Derek) And your life can be a testimony,
that you found rest for your soul. Jason?
(Jason) And one thing also I would say
is the whole idea of, you can get
ahead of others, you know,
by fighting for yourself,
Jesus said, if you live by the sword,
you'll die by the sword.
So, one, that you're
kind of setting your destiny.
And then I would ask that person,
"Do you really want to live this way?
Does this way truly make you happy?"
Because, at least in my experience,
pushing over others doesn't really
make a person happy.
(Derek) Shaina, closing thought.
(Shaina) I also find that when we
truly rest in Christ,
we also get His promise,
that peace that passes all understanding,
and we're able to make
more coherent decisions.
So, it's the comparisons of being stressed
and worrying, and, you know,
being in that 24/7 society
versus taking that peace
and being able to maneuver
life's situations much better.
(Derek) And what a powerful testimony
from Shaina who not many months ago
went through a really tough accident.
And she had to decide
to rest her life wholly in Christ.
Praise God, Shaina, for the miracle
that you're experiencing
through resting in Jesus every day.
And you know, that's what Jesus
wants for all of us.
He wants us to learn to let it go,
the selfishness, the desire
for self-exaltation, the hypocrisy,
and say, "I'm just going
to surrender to Jesus and rest in Him."
And like Nicole said, it doesn't mean
you just don't do anything,
but whatever you're facing,
you're facing it with Jesus by your side.
Let's pray; Father in Heaven,
what a way to live,
instead of these restless ways, to rest in You.
And may our rest in Christ be a witness,
that others might seek rest in You, too.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) Well, thanks for joining us for Hope Sabbath School today.
Don't forget that free gift!
Go to hopetv.org/hopess,
click on "Free Gift!" button.
We'll send you some Scripture songs
including our theme song.
Hide those words in your heart.
Jesus wants to give you
rest for your soul.
And as you rejoice in His presence,
go out and be a blessing
to those around you.
♪ theme music ♪