Warm, Soft Facts
Matthew 11:28-30
Matthew 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 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.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
(NIV)
A Sunday School teacher wanted to see if her students knew how to get to heaven:
"If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me to heaven?"
"No!" the children answered.
The teacher was encouraged. "If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me to heaven?"
Again the answer was, "No!"
"Well then," he said, "If I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children and loved my wife, would that get me into heaven?"
Again they all shouted, "No!"
"Well then," the teacher asked, looking out over his class, "how can I get to heaven?"
A boy in the back row stood up and shouted, "You gotta be dead!"
Life is filled with cold, hard facts!
Reality says that this world is not a pleasant place.
A sampling of Murphy’s Laws bear this out:
If anything can go wrong, it will and it will be all your fault, and everyone will know it.
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
Things get worse under pressure.
Everything goes wrong all at once.
Everything takes longer than you think.
Traffic is inversely proportional to how late you are, or are going to be.
The more space you have, the more junk you’ll have.
There’s never time to do it right, but there’s always time to do it over.
Speaking of time, this evaluation, set to the cadence of the 23rd Psalm, reminds us of the reality of the busyness of our lives:
The clock is my dictator, I shall not rest.
It makes me lie down only when exhausted.
It leads me into deep depression.
It hounds my soul.
It leads me in circles of frenzy, for activities sake.
Even though I run frantically from task to task, I will never get it all done, For my ideal is with me.
Deadlines and my need for approval, they drive me.
They demand performance from me, beyond the limits of my schedule.
They anoint my head with migraines, My in-basket overflows.
Surely fatigue and time pressures shall follow me All the days of my life. And I will dwell in the bonds of frustration Forever.
I am glad the Lord gave us some warm, soft facts!
things that are absolutely true and much easier to receive that those cold, hard ones. Like the cold, hard facts, the warm, soft facts given by Jesus are true whether we choose to believe them or not. But the warm, soft facts will change our lives when we choose to believe them and accept them.
Exodus 33:14
14 The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
(NIV)
How we need the Lord’s presence to go with us! How we need His rest! Our souls will never be truly at rest until we rest in Him. You can take all the breaks and holidays you want, but we are never really at rest until we rest in the Lord. That’s a warm, soft fact!
Jesus said it twice in the passage read to us:
Matthew 11:28-29
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
29 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.
(NIV)
Jesus promises rest. The word really means “to make to cease”. Jesus promises that if you are weary of fighting those demons who keep attacking you,
tired of trying to find that ever-elusive peace of mind and heart,
worn-out from worrying if you’ll ever be released from the pain of the past,
overworked and waking up with questions on your mind,
If the cold, hard facts are in attack mode and you always seem to be the target,
he will make all that to cease so that you can rest.
Perhaps you struggle trying to sort through the burdens, wondering what you ever did to make life turn out this way. Without any choice of your own, you’ve been trapped by the cold, hard facts of life. The only time you see light at the end of your tunnel, it is only the headlight of a train set to run you over. Maybe you are like the folks who used to sing, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all!” Jesus promises you rest!
So what’s the catch? No catch, just a release!
Jesus promises rest when we do three things:
1) Come to Jesus
Matthew 11:28
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
(NIV)
2) Take
Matthew 11:29
29 Take my yoke upon you …
(NIV)
To “Yoke” with Jesus
means
to partner with Him!
Matthew 11:30
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
(NIV)
A pastor had been on a long flight from one place to another. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: Fasten your seat belts. Then, after a while, a Calm voice said, "We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."
As he looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. Later, the voice of the announcer said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal At this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us." And then the storm broke. The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Lightning lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash.
The pastor confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying. The future seemed ominous and many were Wondering if they would make it through the storm.
"Then, I suddenly saw a little girl. Apparently the storm meant nothing to her. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat; she was reading a book and everything within her small world was calm and orderly. "Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world. When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening Severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid." The minister could hardly believe his eyes.
It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, our pastor lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time. Having commented about the storm and behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid.
The child replied, "Cause my Daddy’s the pilot, and he’s taking me home."
There are many kinds of storms that buffet us. Physical, mental, financial, domestic, and many other storms can easily and quickly darken our skies and throw our plane into apparently uncontrollable movement. We have all known such times, and let us be honest and confess, it is much easier to be at rest when our feet are on the ground than when we are being tossed about a darkened sky.
Let us remember: Our Father is the Pilot. He is in control and taking us home. Don’t worry.
3) Learn
Matthew 11:29
29 … and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
(NIV)
