Rest

Jesus calls us to rest from our toil, and to find our life and meaning in Him.

We have been talking about all of these heavy things. These things we have been carrying, holding onto. Trying to balance

creating identities out of fragments. Trying to balance

Trying to self optimize but never quite getting it right.

making sense of our desires which run ahead of us. Trying to balance.

illustration on balance?

It’s like trying to drive a car with a bull in your passenger seat. This past week a man was pulled over by police in Nebraska because he was driving with a bull in the passenger seat. Weighing approx 1500 pounds the bull would sit as gently as possible in the seat while his owner drove him around.

Now you may be able to do this for a bit but eventually something is going to give. The car, the bull, the guy, the road. It’s all a bit off balance.

Where do we find footing that we have been looking for?

We are all in need of some wholeness from fragmentary living.

We are all in need of balance. Not about balancing scales, putting the right weights on the right side of the scale. It is about balance by putting both your feet on the ground. to be balanced is to be supported.

In a fragmented unbalanced world we work to create footing when we don’t feel like there is any.

We try and make sense from brokenness and choose fragments over the whole,

This morning I want to talk about where we go with all of this. Where do we take the broken pieces?

Where do we go to get fixed? Where do we go when we just need to sit down from all the striving and working?

So if your desires are broken, introduce them to Jesus, if you feel far from home, introduce them know that Jesus is calling you, Home. If you feel like your life is fragmented, and your attempting to define yourself by less than how Jesus would define you ,

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

This morning we are going to break this verse into pieces and talk through the relationship that Christ is calling us to.

Come to Me

We are invited to move toward one person: Jesus

This is important to distinguish against all the other remedies the world offers.

This is both simplistic and complex.

Because to come to Jesus is to give up trying your own solutions. It is to find that your solutions haven’t been as helpful as you thought.

And the invitation to come to Jesus notice is not a remedy.

It doesn’t say, ‘try Jesus!”

He is inviting us to come near to Him not as a fix for whatever it is we are trying to fix. Let’s make that a little more clear.

When we feel that something is wrong. Whether in the culture or in our lives. We feel the weight of it or otherwise, we seek a fix, or a remedy. What can we do to make this better? What can we do to eradicate this?

And remedies are necessary.

But that is not what is happening here. Jesus is not the remedy for the sin of the world.

He is the replacement.

He take the place of the sin of the world. He stands in the place of our evil intent and our frantic need for remedy.

It would be like going to get your car fixed because there was something wrong and it needed a remedy and the mechanic looked and said, here is a new car.

the mechanic didn’t fix your car. they replaced it.

This is an important distinction for two reasons.

We may think we want a remedy but it is quickly realized we need more.

When He is only a remedy it is like calling a repairman to fix something in the house. The repairperson comes in, fixes the issue, and leaves. You exchange money for the service. And your problem is fixed.

God does not simply enter in to fix what’s wrong. He moves in

Revelation 3:20–21 ESV

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

This is important because we don’t want a God who can simply fix what’s wrong we want a God that relates to us. That eats with us. That sits with us.

God does not simply repair He is a replacement. And He stays with us.

All who labor and are heavy laden

This defines the kind of person that is invited to find Jesus. That is invited to come near to Him.

Anyone carrying something too heavy. Anyone off balance.

Anyone who hasn’t quite figured it out yet.

Anyhow who is defined as labor being the most descriptive thing about them. People who do nothing but labor are being coerced. Either by the Market or forced by someone else.

We all labor to a degree. It is part of who we are. We derive meaning from our work. But we live in a culture that defines us entirely by our work.

But this kind of labor is different. It is the labor and toil that leads to being heavy laden. Burdened. It is working all day and still feeling tired. There is no refreshing from toil. Because in it you are heavy laden.

Jesus calls us to come to Him when we are toiling and heavy laden.

And that toiling is simply the work of keeping whatever is heaviest highest.

and I will give you rest.

When we labor and can’t stop we are often being driven, coerced, by something. Usually something internal. Usually something that drives our optimized self.

We cannot stop because to stop is to look at what we create. and we don’t often like to see that.

But Christ invites us to stop. To stop seeing work and labor as the most important thing. To see drive as the most important thing.

When we come to Him we are offered rest.

And the rest that God offers is not simply a just sit here for awhile. The rest that God offers is to take all that is heavy laden, all that you are toiling for and offer it to Him

He doesn’t invite you to just sit down near Him, He takes the burden from you.

The only way we can biblically talk about God’s rest is by seeing how He handles the seventh day of Creation

Genesis 2:1–3 ESV

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

If we understand God’s rest then we understand ours.

The creation narrative is a narrative set against other ancient near eastern creation stories. But this one stands out.

What the ane would have understood is that

When a deity rests in the temple he is taking control and command. He, in rest, is taking his proper and rightful place.

God in Genesis 2 isn’t just resting because He’s tired He’s resting because He is ruling and and sustaining creation.

This is the rightful view of the Sabbath. God is the initiator of Genesis One, creating functionally and ordering the universe in Himself. All depends on Him.

So when we are invited into rest. It is agreeing with God that He is Creator and sustainer of all things. And that to rest is to understand He and not us is holding things together.

When we rest we don’t just sit down for a beat. We take off the burden because He has lifted it from us.

But the invitation is not just to see Him as Creator and sustainer but also to learn from Him.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me

The yoke is the ability to direct and connect and animal to it’s work. Jesus is realigning the idea of what it means to have purpose, to work.

It is to direct work and to help bear the burden of work.

He tells us to take His directive and His work upon us. Look to Him for what is most important. And learn from Him as we do so.

When we connect ourselves to Christ, trusting that He is working in our lives, we can see what He is doing and in seeing Him, learn from Him.

Like aSher following the tae kwon do masters. He sees what they are doing and then does exactly that. But from doing that he learns from them. I’m going to show you a video from Asher’s most recent test. But watch the relationship between himself and master garafano.

Asher has learned all the moves and kicks from him. And now while he is doing the action, he is following every step the instructor is giving him. There is constant give and take in martial arts but they are always following the masters teaching and action.

When we follow Jesus we are always following the Master’s teaching and action.

Our eyes are on Him. We take instruction and correction from Him.

We connect ourselves to JEsus. We learn from Him by connecting our lives to Him,

This is the means to growing in holiness. To becoming more like HIm. We anchor ourselves to Christ.

I like this image of the yoke. Because it says, no matter what, I am connected to Him. I sink or swim because of my connectedness to Jesus.

Matthew 11 becomes an important centerpoint for the Christian.

Because this passage is about invitation and challenge.

If you are burdened and if you are toiling. If you are imbalanced. If you need to connect with Jesus because evrything else you have connected to hasn’t quite worked out, this is invitation. Come to me...

But it is also challenge. Jesus takes up our burden and our toiling. But He doesn’t then send us off and say good luck. He tells us to connect with Him. To anchor to Him. To learn from Him.

This is a good model to think about the way in which we even talk about Jesus with others. Or talk about Jesus in the world.

If people are burdened and toiling. If people are outside of Christ. No matter how far outside of Christ. The call is invitation to Jesus. Come to me.

And once people have entered into that relationship then we talk about how we live differently based on taking Jesus yoke and learning from Him.

So most any conversation you have with people who are in relationship with Christ or are exploring Christ or are disinterested in Christ can come to or come from matthew 11.

We can still ask this point, why? Why Jesus? What is it about Him? Why is He better than yoking your life to something else?

for I am gentle and lowly in heart

This is the nature of Christ. It is the one area where we hear Jesus talk about Himself explicitly.

Jesus could have said anything about Himself. But He described Himself in 2 ways.

I am gentle

And lowly in heart.

This is the character of Christ.

Christ cannot ungentle Himself. Dane Ortlune in Gentle and Lowly says that In the same way that you can’t change the color of your eyes, Christ doesn’t change how He interacts with humanity

That doesn’t mean that He doesn’t get angry at sin and injustice

But it does mean that His posture is one of gentleness.

Christ doesn’t say learn from me for I am mean and angry.

Or impatience and grumpy.

But gentle and lowly

That is helpful because I am rarely gentle or lowly. And I need to learn from Him.

When we enter into the life of Jesus and learn from HIm

and you will find rest for your souls

This is where we see not just the rest for a moment.

But the rest for your soul,

that is eternal. and sustaining.

IT is a deep inner rest that allows you to keep from returning to toil.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus doubles down on what life with Him is like. It is not just that we are to connect our lives to Him but we are to cease toiling in Him.

and to come under His yoke, His teaching, His law is easy. Not that what He is asking is easy but rather our connection with Him as lifting our burdens.

When we see what He is asking we trust that He is also changing us through His yoke.

BEcause of His invitation, we grow in love

Because of His yoke, we grow in holiness and integrity.

We can trust Jesus’ invitation to find rest. To grow.

REst for your souls is not just a moment in the shade. It is a turn into a new life.

This is peace. Not peace in a moment but peace because God has forgiven us in Christ.

It is a life filled with the opportunity for peace.

This is the life we invite people into

To find rest from toil

and find growth from Jesus life and teaching

Where do you line up on this passage?

In the invitation

or in His yoke

Where do you need to find rest?

What is Jesus calling you to lay down.