Speaker: Rusty Gerhart

Theme: The Hurried Life

Weekend Music links on iTunes: Holding Nothing Back, Salvation Is Here, In Christ Alone, Forever Reign

Read: Psalm 127:2; Isaiah 58:13-14

Think: 

Take a load off. Take a break. We all know these common clichés so often used to signal that we need to stop, slow down and rest. It’s indicative of the subtle but very strongly ingrained idea that when we do rest from our labors it’s often viewed by many of us almost as an act of theft, like we are stealing time away from something we should be giving more time and attention towards. But consider what Jesus had to say in Matthew 11:28 about our need for rest: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

 

How different might it be if instead of living hurried lives where we take rest, if we started to embrace idea that we live unhurried lives where we receive rest? The difference might very well be a 100% difference in how we approach our lives.

 

So how might we get started receiving this rest Jesus offers us? Well, first we might need to really let it sink in, to trust what Jesus is saying to us here. Why? Because it does seem highly counterintuitive to everything we know and typically experience in the hectic age we live in. But Jesus is sincere here. He really does want to give us a break, to take some of the load off of us, to ease our sense of weariness, of feeling overburdened. So many of us are so conditioned to mistrust that kind of offer that if our boss at the office said “Why don’t you take a couple days off?” we might even be suspicious of his motives or protest that we can’t do it. So let’s stop protesting against Jesus. He doesn’t need to hear our protests and excuses, he knows what’s going on within each of us (John 2:25) and he’s already decided to offer us all the rest we so desperately need and want.

 

Next, let’s look at how Jesus talks about how He provides this much valued rest to us in the next verses from Matthew 11, verses 29 and 30: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 

Okay, so a good question to ask here might be this: What is this “yoke” thing that Jesus talks about? In this instance, it refers to a farming tool, a bar of wood constructed to unite two animals (usually oxen) and enable them to work in the fields, drawing loads, pulling the instruments used for farming. The way Jesus uses the image as a metaphor here it’s meant to describe how He pairs up and comes along beside each of us, much as an older larger stronger ox would be paired up with a younger smaller weaker ox to disproportionately carry the team as a whole. Jesus takes the burden that we would tire under and helps each of us to carry it further than we could do on our own. Rest for the soul is part of the good news Jesus wants to share with each of us. And as Pastor Rusty reminded us, when we deny ourselves Christ’s offer of spiritual restoration, we turn to unhealthy substitutes that only add further to our sense of unrest.

Do:   If you don’t usually do so, allow chores to be done other days (even deferred) so you can really receive God’s rest all day Sunday.

Pray:   God, help me to receive the rest you promise to those who follow you. Amen.