Rest Area Series

REST AREA

Matt 11: 28-30 (p689) June 10, 2012

INTRODUCTION:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In this life what do you long for? What are you looking for?

Are you kidding Rick? I long for the same things everyone else does….Someone to love…someone to love me….I don’t want to constantly struggle financially…I want to be happy or at least somewhat satisfied with what I’m doing…

That’s not much to ask is it? No…It’s too little to ask for!

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 actractive 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 who would eat him up. Let’s teach our ment 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 godly product of a Christ built union. He is a liar, murderer and a thief or our joy and lives…

He offers novelty…what does Jesus offer? Much, much more….

He offers

I THE RELATIONSHIP THAT CHANGES EVERTHING

As we journey through this life the most important stops along the way are with people.

You’re gonna forget things you worried and fretted over…you’re gonna forget things you thought you couldn’t do without…

But you will always remember important people in your life…and these relationships that changed you….family, people you loved, and people that loved you…even…negative relationships will make a mark…or a scar.

Satan offers no relationship…He offers novelty…faux friendships, selfish acquaintance, fleeting conquests…”The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boaster pride of life”

Solomon had 300 wives and 700 mistresses…more stuff than anyone could even need…more power…more popularity...and he said at the end of it all… “Meaningless! Meaningless! Says the teacher everything is meaningless…Here is my conclusion. Fear God; keep His commandments…for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment including every hidden thing…whether it is good or evil… (Ecc 12:8, 13-14)

Solomon said…let me try it all…and he did…and at the end he said…you know the only thing that really matters is my relationship with God…He knows it all!

That’s why Jesus says…”Come to me”

Jesus isn’t a theory…He isn’t a philosophy…He isn’t a religion…He is a person…a person that invited us to intimately know Him…and share life with Him.

How would you describe a life spent searching for salvation and completion following Satan’s lies?

How would you describe the man or woman who has exhausted all their energies on porn or games, or relationships and stuff…

How about these two words…Weary and burdened. They fit well, don’t they?

I think my favorite New Testament illustration of this is in John’s gospel, chapter 4…It’s a woman you’re familiar with..you’ve seen her at the grocery store…probably late when no one else is there….In John 4 she’s drawing water at a well in the middle of the day…(crowd avoidance)..She has a horrible track record when it comes to relationships… 5 husbands….5 divorces…now she just lives with a guy…maybe trading sexual favors for a place to live…Weary…burdened, dying of thirst…they all fit well.