The End of Life as we Know It

Well if you’ve been here for a the last couple of months, you know we’ve been in a sermon series through the New Testament book of Acts. And this is what we generally do at Park—we pick a book of the bible and teach straight through it.

This week and next week, though, we’re going to take a break and use this time to talk more about our vision for this church.

And by vision, I don’t mean a statement about what we are trying to accomplish at Park Community Church—those kinds of statements do have their place and can be very helpful.

But I want to focus in over the next two weeks is the quality of our church…the kind of life we live as Christians and the kind of church we want to be at Park | Forest Glen. Both of these are important for us to think about…the kind of life I live and the kind of church we are…both are things that people all over the world have many different thoughts on. And

Introduction

How would you answer the question, ‘what kind of life do I want to live?’ or the more honest version, ‘what kind of life do I actually live?

Philosophers for generations have recognized that may be one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves…because hidden in our answer is a basic assumption about life itself…meaning. What kind of life you live hinges almost entirely on the meaning, or lack there of, you see in life itself.

If you believe the meaning of life is being happy…then that will have an outsized influence on the direction you take and decisions you make.

Right?

Thinkers throughout time have put forward their ideas about life and the way we should live.

“Begin at once to live, and count each day as a separate life.”

-Seneca | First Century Roman Philosopher

“To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”

-Robert Luis Stevenson | Author

“The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.”

-Arnold Schwarzenegger

“The artist's job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.”

-Woody Allen | Actor, Director, Writer

“That’s life, (That’s life), That’s what all the people say, You’re riding high in April, then shot in May”

-Frank Sinatra

Whether we recognize it or not, we all have a compulsion to answer this question—

And we could go on and on, adding to this list of what people have said about life, living, and meaning.

But in the few moments we have together this morning, I want to add to this list of thinkers, the words Jesus, who regardless of what you believe about him, is unquestionably the most influential person to ever walk the face of the earth. What does he have to say about life and meaning? What does he have to say about the kinds of lives we ought to live? And His answers are important wherever you land on questions of faith.

On the one hand, if you’re a Christian, what Jesus says about life, living, and meaning, are foundational! We take them as marching orders and a framework for how we ought to live.

On the other hand, if you’re not a christian, or curious about Christianity, you can evaluate what he has to say against what others throughout history have said; holding his words up against experience to see what they might offer to you.

But what I love about this passage, is that Jesus extends his words as an invitation to us — and all who hear his words — to take hold of true life, the way it’s meant to be lived.

And I know that promises a lot…and gives us a lot of ground to cover…but my hope with our time this morning is not that I answer all the questions that will certainly come to mind about the kind of lives we want to live or actually live…but that you would receive the invitation from Jesus to come follow Him on the path He puts forward to the life that is truly life.

And just so you have a bit of road map of where we’re going to today, Jesus’ words break down into three sections…he will talk about “Life as we know it”, “The end of life as we know it,” and “Life way it’s meant to be lived.

So if you have a bible with you, open up with me to Matthew 11:28. Matthew 11:28. If you need a bible, you can grab one from the seat in front of you. Matthew 11:28. It’s on page 816 in the house bibles.

I’ll read the passage, pray and then we’ll get started.

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

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.”

PRAY

Life as we Know it

Alright let’s get started.

One of the things I love about this is the honesty Jesus has about life. He understands something about the fundamental reality of life as we know it. Look at these words in the beginning of v. 28 (Matt. 11:28), “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden...”

If you’re reading a different translation, you might see the words weary and burdened, or tired and burned out.

And there’s just something real about that way of describing life isn’t there?

Look at that first word, labor or weary. In the original language of the New Testament, Greek, it’s a word that sometimes just means work…but it often has the negative nuance. It’s not that ‘work’ is a problem but what work can do us.

And this is an important distinction. The bible very clearly talks about us being created to work in partnership with God…and there’s really compelling about that. You see this in the book of Genesis, where God takes man, places him in the Garden of Eden and instructs him to work the Garden…to cultivate it…to reflect the image of God, the Creator, as we too take what He has made to craft and create more. We were made to work. That’s why there’s something satisfying about finishing a project, at home or the office.

And by ‘work’, I don’t just meant the things you get paid for…it’s much broader than that. In the last year, Courtney and I were able to buy our first home…and after living in Chicago for about 11 years, this was the first time I had a yard…and I remember the feeling of mowing the lawn for the first time in over 10 years…it just felt good…it’s because we we’re made to work, create and cultivate.

But in that same Garden, Adam and Eve, who are there as the representatives for all humanity, first rebel against God’s command about what not to do…they take the fruit of tree which they were told not to eat…they eat it…and with this first act of rebellion against God, they usher in a curse that hangs over the rest of humanity. This is the Garden they were told to tend, work, and cultivate…but instead, they rebel. They rebel, become rebels and produce rebels. It’s the same curse on humanity today—and one of the clearest places we feel that is in this realm of work.

Look at how what God says to Adam:

Genesis 3:17–19 ESV

17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Do you hear those words?

The work will continue…it will produce what they need to be sustained…but the it will be hard. It’s not that work is bad, but what we experience in work is hard. Blood, sweat, and tears are the mark of life as we know it.

This is the kind of labor…or weariness that Jesus is talking about.

Obviously, the idea of a hard life is relative…and it’s almost always true that if you’re born and raised in the United States, what it means to have a hard life is nothing compared to what people have endured in other parts of the world—especially in areas of extreme poverty. But regardless of the level of weariness, we all have felt it.

It is part of the curse of sin in the fallen world we all feel.

SLOW

This is the hustle of life that we get caught up in all the time. It’s the daily grind that we are all apart of. [EXPAND] Do you feel it? Do you know that weariness?

We have this drive inside of us that keeps us going to on to the next thing, and part of that is because we’ve been created to work, cultivate and create…but we also live under the curse…that keeps us to the grind—addicted to busyness and more.

And if you don’t believe me, just take inventory for a second…when someone asks you ‘how’s it going?’…honestly...how often do you respond with something like: it’s busy.

We wear that like a badge of honor…

And I know that because that is how I have lived! I would talk about busyness with pride especially in talking with other pastors…that, you know, I’m in one of the largest cities in the country…Chicago has a grit to it…there’s a lot going on…ministry, church life, everything is busy…and I’d talk about this as if the only other alternative was laziness…with no middle ground between the two.

I didn’t see…we don’t see that we’re getting sucked into a tornado of a million good things...a job taking up 45-65 hours a week…there’s getting to Aldi before they run out of the one thing you need…jump-in over to Mariano’s/Jewel or Whole Foods cuz Aldi didn’t have, all the while you’re dropping one kid off a swim practice, the next kid off at soccer, and trying to make sure both have school work finished…not to mention dropping them off AND picking them up from school.

You still need to mow the lawn, fix the drain (or hire someone else to do it), get laundry away, and pick up the things your spouse (probably the husband) left laying around because he got distracted by something else.

And the church doesn’t always help with adding to the busyness of good things…small group, prayer meetings, book studies, Youth Group, Awana, and then you got a pastor who often tells you to pray more, read more, and think more.

And this may not be your list exactly…but you have your own things.

Part of the human condition, our sinfulness in this fallen world, is our inability to find enough. And it’s only exacerbated by the American Dream that is constantly putting on display a very compelling picture of perfect house, school, schedule, romantic life, family or whatever else you want…and you’re always almost there! Life as we know it has a perpetual restlessness with what we have that propels us to want and fight for more.

And where does it end up?

The very place Jesus is talking about.

Weary.

Tired.

Burned.

Spent.

Think back to May of last year..this is like 2 months into the pandemic…we’re just out of stay-at-home order…and I know that people had very different experiences with the quarantine…but I remember thinking and hearing a lot about how this new pace of was actually kind of nice. Many of us even said we wouldn’t go back to the same kind of schedule once things started happening again. How many of you said something like?

How many of us have followed through?

Why?

It’s because busyness and the inevitable weariness that comes with it is life as we know it. We’re hooked.

And yes it looks different for all of us…but we know that weariness as labor, toil, and grind under the curse of sin. Jesus get’s it. He knows.

He’s talking about life as we know it and He’s talking to us all.

The End of Life as we Know it

SLOW

And yet look at what he says about this life. v. 28 (Matt. 11:28)

Matthew 11:28 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

I love this.

Where life as we know it is consumed by the unending quest for more…marked by labor and weariness…Jesus offers an end to life as we know it.

Remember, I said that this passage is not so much a command to do something different…but an invitation to follow. Jesus says to the weary, the worn out, the tired, and burned…“come to me…and I will give you rest.”

PAUSE

And it’s an interesting word that Jesus uses here too because ‘rest’ could be a little misleading…not because it’s the wrong word, but I think because it doesn’t capture how contrary the Life Jesus offers is. The word actually means something a bit more like relief…and in that way, you really see how different these two ways of life are!

But to that weight, Jesus offers relief. To the burned out, he offers refreshment…to revive and heal. He offers the end to life as we know it.

In just a few words, Jesus beautifully articulates a new way of life for those of us who have grown used to the grind. He offers something better than we could imagine or think up on our own…that in the midst of the hard realities of life—where we toil just to make it through…he invites us to come and find something fresh, new, and vibrant. He invites us to experience true restoration, revival, and relief. He calls us to follow him to the end of life of life as we know it where rest in it’s purest form.

And honestly, this is what we want…deep down we want to rest.

And yet as Jesus keeps talking, we start to realize that this kind of rest may not be exactly what we think it is.

Look at the first part of v. 29 (Matt. 11:29) because this is where Jesus describes how to experience this kind of rest. “Take my yoke upon you...”

Yoke is not really a word we use too often.

You may know this already, yoke is like a neck brace that would have been placed over oxen or other field animals to keep them in place—and used by the farmer to help guide them as the worked in the field.

Most of the time, when this word is used in the bible, it’s a metaphor…for some kind of guidance or teaching. The Jewish people, even to this day, talk about the Old Testament Law—the Torah—as a ‘Yoke’.

And in Jesus’ day, teachers like him, Rabbis, had interpretations of the Old Testament Law. These Rabbis would have followers, just like Jesus did…and they would share their interpretation of Yoke of the Torah. The 613 commandments that God had given and then all the additional rules and regulations the Rabbis had also put in place. They would teach their people how they though God wanted them to live. They taught what God had allowed or forbidden…and these were knowns as the Rabbi’s Yoke…his way of life according to the Law.

And so when Jesus comes along and promises rest…we could easily think he’s offering something like freedom from the yoke of the Law—the yoke of the Old Testament! That he takes off the yoke to let us find rest and relief.

And honestly, this fits really well with how we typically think of rest today, right? That rest is when we have responsibility removed…it’s when we are freed from the pressures of life and can start to stretch our own wings. It’s freedom, it’s liberty, to be ourselves and set our way forward. But the reality is, this isn’t rest…that’s a clever counterfeit…laziness!

Jesus has something else in mind for the end of life as we know it. We rest, not when we finally shake free the yoke off our neck, but when we find the right one! And the way Jesus talks about this is brilliant because it’s like he anticipates what we might think we want…freedom from the yoke, freedom from any yoke…but he knows that freedom would become a yoke, a cruel master, in and of itself! Autonomy has it’s dark side and makes us slaves to ourselves...

But, again, what Jesus offers here is an end to life as we know it, because instead of no yoke, he offers his yoke.

It’s easy and light, not because it’s less, but because Jesus carries it with us! The same weight of Old Testament Law—of obedience to all of it—is there in Jesus yoke, but while we cannot bear up under it he can. While we could not live up to the standard of obedience that God calls us too…Jesus has.

He has lived the life we could not live. Perfectly obedient to all of what God had commanded us.

And where our failure should have cost us our lives, Jesus stepped in to die the death that we deserved. For our failure to live up to the full Yoke of the Law…for our absolute addition to and worship of busyness.

And having died the death we we should have died, Jesus rose again from the dead to new life…to true life. Life the way it’s meant to be lived.

And his invitation of, ‘Come to me’, is an invitation to come before him and believe. To follow him is lay down our burden…to turn from the old way of life—the toil, labor and busyness that leaves us weary and trapped under the curse. And in that belief…in following him…we find rest for our souls. We find true life…we find life the way it’s mean to be lived.

Life the Way it’s Meant to be Lived

Forest Glen, have do you live this life?

Have you come to the end of life as we know it and received rest for your soul?

See, all this goes back to the question I started with, ‘What kind of life do I live?’ What kind of life do I actually live?

Matthew 11 shows us Jesus has something far greater than we this world has to offer…and it’s not an endless vortex of more, better, newer, bigger…but it is a life with rest. Relief for your soul.

If you’re a christian here today……when is the last time you’ve felt that kind of rest? And you may be experiencing that right now now.

But I suspect that for many of us…it’s been a while. You may recognize that you’ve drifted back into the vortex you were once pulled from when you first started to follow Jesus. And, for you, the Christian life has become far more about what you can or can’t do…what you should or shouldn’t do instead of being able to rest in what pastor and author Eugene Peterson calls, “…the unforced rhythms of Grace”.

Friends, that is our first love…and net week, we are going to talk a lot about what it practically looks like to return to our ‘first love’ as a church community. So if you’re asking, ‘HOW DO I DO THIS?” you’re going to want to be here next week too.

Others of you are here today and you’re not a follower of Jesus…but you know you are caught up in life as we know it…weary and tired under the curse of the world...

Hear these words as an invitation to us all today. As an invitation to believe…to follow…an invitation to the end of life as we know it where Jesus offers rest and life the way it’s meant to be lived.