Not Peace, but Rest

Text: “28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).

“Take my yoke upon you”— Those words of today’s text sum up the lessons for the past few weeks pretty well, don’t they? As you heard from Jesus last week, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword...” (Matt. 10:34) and “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me...” (Matt. 10:38). And, two weeks ago, you were reminded that there is, in fact, One who can kill both body and soul in the fires of hell— that there is, in fact, One who punishes sin. There is, therefore, One whom you should fear (Matt. 10:28).

This taking up crosses, this taking yokes upon yourself, this being gathered into a battle is not how we like to picture our faith. But is there any question that it is what faith really looks like?

It’s not a comfortable message on the one hand. But it’s really an acknowledgement of reality, isn’t it? It’s embracing the truth of what you and I already experience, isn’t it? The cross, the yoke, the battle you live with every day is described quite well by St. Paul in our Epistle reading from Romans 7, "21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

That’s it. That’s part of the battle that we’re talking about. That passage expresses quite well what it is like to be a Christian. Jesus has not set you free from the fight against sin, He has set you free to fight it. Those are sentiments only a Christian would express. Only someone who knows the holiness he has been called to and is striving to live that holy life.

And therein lies the problem. If you take the texts from the past few weeks seriously and really start to do battle against sin— trying to dig the rocks out of the garden of your heart— you will arrive at that place: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). Because, on your own, it is a hopeless task.

There is a book called “The Hammer of God” that compares it to trying to dig rocks out of a garden. It seems like a manageable task at first. There is usually a good collection of rocks right at the surface and they’re fairly easy to dig out. But, as you do, you notice other rocks that are a little deeper. And these rocks are bigger. They extend even deeper. You dig and you lift and you do the work. But the more you do, the more you discover that what you assumed was dirt with some rocks in it is actually a layer of solid rock down below covered by soil.

That’s a pretty good image of the human heart. Our fight against sin seems manageable at first. There are any number of sins right on the surface that you know you should address— obvious things that can be dug out of your life with a little effort. But, as you do, you notice other sins that go a little deeper. And those sins are bigger. They extend even deeper. You dig and you lift and you do the work to try to root the sin out of your heart. But the more you do, the more you discover that what you assumed was just scattered sins in a heart that is basically good is actually a human nature that is corrupted by sin all the way through.

That’s why some turn to battles that seem easier.

This is part of the reason why our political battles have become so ugly, for example. You and I see our person failings, we see our sinfulness. Our hearts cry out, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” But you can drown that voice out by shouting about those “evil liberals” or those “hateful conservatives.” Or you can pretend, at least for a time, that fighting against injustice or fighting for climate change or fighting against climate change— or whatever the policy of your choice might be— earns you a righteousness that covers your sins. But political battles will never be enough to rescue you from this body of death.

Others keep it more spiritual. This week in the evening devotion that we put on Facebook each night, we’ve been reading through the book of Acts, especially Acts 10 where Peter has a vision in which God tells him that all the unclean foods that had been forbidden under the law of Moses were now clean. In spite of that, there are Christians today who insist that those laws are still in effect. Again, their hearts and consciences cry out, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” And they try to soothe their consciences with rules like those that they can keep. But those rules will never be enough to rescue them from this body of death.

There are all sorts of other ways that people have found to try to quiet that cry of their hearts and their consciences. Last Sunday I mentioned the fact that, historically, flags would not have been permitted in the chancel like we have. There are denominations that go even further: they try to soothe their consciences by refusing to reverence any flag. The point is that it’s not fun to describe our faith as taking up a cross or taking a yoke upon ourselves or being conscripted into a battle. But it is reality. And if you and I don’t acknowledge that reality, then you will end up trying to find peace anywhere and everywhere except the one place where it is actually found: in the cross, the yoke of Jesus Christ.

Who will rescue you from this body of death? Christ has. And He will. It’s true: trying to dig every form of sin out of our hearts is doomed to failure. That’s why He took on our human nature. The battle against sin that you could never have won, He fought as He took on your sin and went to the cross.

Romans 6:6 ESV

6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

When He tells you to take up your cross and follow Him, it is a light burden because He has already borne the cross that carried the weight of your sin. And, in HIs death, He was set free from sin once and for all. His yoke is easy and His burden is light because He left behind the weight of your sin and guilt in the tomb. He doesn’t dig the rocks of sin out of your heart one by one. He kills your sinful flesh, buries it there with Him in His tomb, and raises it to new life.

And you have died with Christ. He doesn’t give you peace— He doesn’t give you freedom from that struggle, that battle over the good that you want to do that you do not do and the evil that you do not want to do that you do— He doesn’t give you peace from that conflict, but He gives you rest.

That’s what it means to remember your baptism every morning and every evening: to remind yourself that, even though the battle still rages within you, He has delivered you from the body of death. You are no longer enslaved to sin. And, in fact, He fights for you right now.

The same flesh and blood that successfully battled against sin for 33 years in this life, the same flesh that overcame the power of sin, death, and the devil on the cross, has joined itself to you in and with the water of baptism; offers itself to you in, with, and under bread and wine in Holy Communion. Christ joins His perfect, sinless flesh to yours so that, even as the battle rages within you, He fights for you and He fights with you.

His power, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, is made perfect/complete in your weakness. You are weak, but you are not alone. He invites you: “28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Victory in the battle against your sinful flesh is not a matter of an act of the will, but of drawing closer to Christ. It comes through returning to the waters of baptism— by faith— every morning and evening and being reminded of what was given to you here. It comes through receiving His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper as frequently as possible. Through those means of grace Christ yokes Himself to you, He puts Himself at your side for the battle. That’s why His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Because He’s already carried the burden of sin for you.

The burden you carry now is the burden of waiting, of groaning for heaven.

Romans 8:23 ESV

23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Ah, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Until that day, He has not given you peace, but rest. The battle will continue to rage in your heart for now. And He has called you to fight— not a self-chosen battle against another political party or against unclean foods or any of the other battles we would chose because they’re fights that we might have a chance of winning. But to fight the true battle against sin— the struggle to do the Good and to refrain from evil.

“28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).