Rest Area Series

Road Trip #4 – Rest Area

Matthew 11:28-30 (p. 682) August 3, 2014

Introduction:

Have you ever taken a road trip and you got so tired you had to pull over? I remember driving down to Florida after mid-terms one time, by the time I got to Atlanta I was bone tired...so I pulled over under this overpass near Marietta...the next thing I knew the car was rocking back and forth...blurry eyed I sat up and looked out the window to discover it was 7 am. Thousands of cars rocketed by at 80 mph. What did I do? I went back to sleep!

In Matthew chapter 11 Jesus is describing why He was sent here by the Father. How John the Baptist introduced the ministry, but unless you repent (and He mentions 2 cities that wouldn’t, Chorazin & Bethsaida) and accept the Son of God it will be worse on the Day of Judgment than it was for Sodom & Gomorrah.

But then Jesus reveals His soul like He’s never done before. It’s the only place in scripture where He describes Himself.

“Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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 light.”

Jesus seems to be talking to people who are on the wrong road, and it’s made them bone tired and weary...so it says...Let me show you an amazing “Rest Area” He offers.

I. A RELATIONSHIP THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING

What are most of us looking for in life? “C’mon Rick...I want the same things everyone else does...someone to love, someone to love me. I don’t want to constantly struggle financially. I’d like to be happy or at least satisfied in what I do, is that too much to ask?”

No...It’s too little!”

[The Demise of Guys by Zimbardo and Duncan

In the book---“the Demise of Guys: why boys are struggling and what we can do about it” Psychologists Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Duncan say we may lose an entire generation of men to pornography and video gaming addictions. Their concern isn’t about morality, but instead about the nature of these addictions in reshaping the pattern of desires necessary for community.

Before you zone out...listen to what they’re saying...Satan is not a creator...He’s a plagiarist. His power is parasitic, latching on to good impulses and directing them toward his own purpose.

God intends for a man to feel a strong sexual desire for his wife. And a man is meant to, when necessary, fight for his family, his people, for the weak and vulnerable who are being oppressed...

Those are God given desires and drives...these desires for real love and heroic valor are gospel matters...spiritual to the core!

But what Satan does in pornography is offer sexual release without intimacy...and in many games...video warfare games, he promises adrenaline without real danger...the arousal that makes both these so attractive is spiritual to the core.

Zimbardo and Duncan say powerfully...this is a generation mired in fake love and fake war. “The answer to both addictions is to fight arousal with arousal. Set forth the gospel vision of a Christ who loves his bride and who fights to save her. And then let’s train our young men to follow Christ by learning to love a real woman, sometimes by fighting his own desires and the spirit beings that would eat him up. Let’s teach our men to make love, and to make war...for real.”

And although I do not have the right to elaborate on it...Satan does the same thing to women...he plagiarizes God given impulses and desires...He lies about security and relationships. He turns having a child into the answer instead of a godly product of a Christ built union. He is a liar, murderer and a thief of our joy and lives.]

Satan offers novelty...temporary numbness and worldly disconnect. What does Jesus offer? Much, much more.

On this road trip called life the most important marks along the way are people...you’ll forget what you’ve worried and fretted over. You’ll forget about the things you thought you couldn’t do without.

But you will always remember the important people in your life, and the relationships that shaped you. Some uplifted you, filled your tank, gave you energy and enthusiasm...and some hurt you, scared you, drained your tank.

Satan offers no relationship. He offers what your sinful heart and selfish body wants... “The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life.” (1 John 2:16)

[Solomon had 300 wives, 700 mistresses...more power, more popularity and more stuff than anyone who’s ever lived...and when asked if it gave him fulfillment he said, “It’s vanity...it’s meaningless!” (Ecc. 1:2) He got to try it all...all the things we think will make us happy and his conclusion...“Fear God, keep His commandments...for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed to judgment including every hidden thing...whether good or evil.” (Ecc. 12:8; 13-14)