Leave our Burdens at the Cross
How is everyone tonight? Kumusta? Pinagpala ba kayo? (Are you blessed) Sorry saanak makasao ti Ilokano (I don¡¯t speak Ilokano). Most Christians always respond the same way. For many Christians it is so easy to say yes, I am blessed. We come to church Sunday morning and we raise our hands and praise and worship our Lord and our hearts are so full of joy. And then as soon as they leave the church, we go back to our lives. When we arrive at church we leave at burdens at the door but when we leave, we pick them up again. We leave all the joy, all the happiness at church. Why is that? We are Christians, we are saved, we have Salvation, we are God's children. But so many of we do not correctly deal with our burdens. We take our burdens with us, we carry them we hold on to them. But that is not what Christ wants for us. He wants to give us rest from our burdens. The problem is as soon as we leave the church we pick up our burdens and start to carry them again. But Christ is willing to carry all of our burdens for us, yet so many find it hard to give them to him. When I was praying about this message I took a break and got on FB. It was there I noticed so many Christians are carrying our burdens during the week and are posting their burdens on FB and not taking them to the cross.
Matthew 11:28
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, for I am gentile and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.¡
There are just two words from this passage I would like to focus on today.
Burden and rest.
Actually the original text states all [ye] who labor and who are heavy laden. The Greek word used for heavy laden is - phortizo
for-tid'-zo which literally means to load up, like they would load cargo on a ship or would load up goods on a donkey. So in the first part of this text, our Lord is addressing how he knows we 'load up' burdens upon ourselves. So what burdens do we 'load up on'? Although there are many things we load upon ourselves in our spiritual life, I would like to share just four of them with you tonight.
Worry. We worry about money, we worry about our jobs, we worry about our loved ones, we worry about relationships, we worry about our health. Sometimes we even worry about worrying. Do any of you do that? Our Lord told us not to worry, but for many of us, that is a hard command to follow. In my ministry many have told me that Jesus just does not understand how hard life is. He does not understand their problems...Things are so different now. He is God and I'm just me. Some of us try to tell the one that created us that He just doesn't understand... ? God became flesh for a reason. God himself knows exactly what it is like to be human. God knows all the problems we face because he to faced them. And what happened? The Apostle John quoted Jesus specifically to address this John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.¡± The biggest problem with worry. I guarantee you if you are worrying, you are not praying. Satan loves us to worry because he knows it is nothing more than not truly trusting God. He knows that if we continue to worry about our lives, it further divides us from God. Instead, we are carrying them ourselves. And when we worry, we are not truly leaving our burdens at the cross and this creates doubt.
Doubt is another burden that he is willing to take from us and yet we hold on to it. Sometimes we listen to the world (Which is controlled by Satan for now) instead of listening to God. We believe our doubts and doubt our beliefs. When we have doubts we not only doubt ourselves, but we are also doubting God's promises and His word. Doubt can effect anyone. Remember Peter? Peter himself had heard the voice of God. Can you imagine actually hearing God's voice? Peter suffered from doubt at least 2 times in the bible. *****We all know the story of Peter wanting to get out of the boat and meet Jesus who was walking on the water. Matthew 14:22-33 When he first stepped out of the boat he had faith. Then he started to think, then came the doubt. How can I do this, I am human, this is not possible. And when He started to doubt, like many of us, he started to sink. But then he did a very wise thing that we all should take example from. He reached out to Jesus. When we cry out to Jesus, he catches us by the hand and raises us above the seemingly impossible surroundings. That is EXACTLY what we should do every time we suffer with doubt.
Peter also doubted the night that Jesus was arrested. He expressed his doubt by denying our Lord three times. Three times he said he did not know him. But one of my favorite redemption stories is how Jesus dealt with this. After his resurrection John 21:17The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.
Jesus asked Peter do you love me? Not just once but three times. He did this to rectify Peter, to release him from his guilt. We should ask ourselves when we doubt, which in essence is denying Jesus, how many times will Jesus have to ask us if we love him? I think for most of us it is many more than three.
Strongholds. Our endless containers of sin that we continuously hold on to and carry throughout our life. Strongholds can be anger, PRIDE, self- doubt, lust, laziness with our faith. and also the things I mentioned before such as worry and doubt. Strongholds is exactly what it says, it is Satan's strong hold on us. It is what keeps us from totally releasing and giving our lives to God.
Halfway
Pride. This is a sermon in its self. Do you know anyone who carries this burden with them? Maybe you? I often struggle with this and God uses my beautiful wife to remind me..."Guard your heart"... Pride prevents us from many things. Pride prevents us from going to the cross in the first place making it impossible to leave our burdens there. Pride in ourselves and in our feelings is always put before God. That is why it is pride.
Burdens, burdens, burdens and more burdens. We pile them up, we load them onto our spiritual life. Christ is willing to release us from them and yet many of us still hold on to them. We take them to the cross, lay them down and pick them up again.So let¡¯s stop here for a minute. If we have the opportunity to get all of our burdens off of our backs, and just turn them over to GOD, and GOD has promised to sustain us, and to provide for us, and to give us whatever we ask for in the name of Jesus, then my question to the church today is: what is our problem? Why is it that so many of us are still walking around with our burden bag securely fixed upon our backs. When Jesus is our burden bearer
So now, lets discuss what Jesus said about our burdens. He said I will give you rest. The Greek term used here for rest is anapano an-ap-ow'-o (reflexively) to repose (literally or figuratively (be exempt), remain); by implication, to refresh. When many think of rest, they may think of watching TV. Maybe some merienda, some facebook time...But this is not the rest that our Lord wants to give us. I think John MacArthur an American Calvinist, Baptist pastor and author known for his internationally syndicated radio program Grace to You best described rest this way. Rest also means to lean on (Ed: Play Leaning on the Everlasting Arms). To enter into God"s rest means that for the remainder of our lives and for all eternity we can lean on God. We can be sure that He will never fail to support us. In the new relationship with God, we can depend on Him for everything and in everything-for support, for health, for strength, for all we need. (MacArthur, John: Hebrews. Moody Press) Is this the kind of rest you want? We have a savior that paid the price for our rest, all we have to do is accept it. So how exactly do we get this rest? Remember the verse, Jesus said come to me all you who are burdened. We must come to Him, but how? I want to share with you three things that are imperative to accept God's rest in our lives.
The first thing we need to do is repent of our burdens. In Greek the word for repent is metanoe¨® (met-an-o-eh'-o) and it is a verb. Anyone know what a verb is? Teachers? A verb means action. We have to take action. Metanoeo is made up of two Greek parts /met¨¢, "changed after being with" and noi¨¦¨, "think") Change and think. We have to change our way of thinking about our burdens. We have to develop a dislike and even hatred for our burdens. It is not true repentance unless you make an effort to continuously change. And it will be absolutely useless to leave our burdens at the cross if we are just going to pick them up again. Many people repent after they have sinned, and sometimes that is okay, because we all fall. However, if you are dealing with burdens, if you truly want Jesus to give you rest, you must remember your repentance, before you give in too a burden. When faced with temptation, you should "Change and think" before giving in. Regardless of the burden or sin.
Next, we have to openly and honestly confess our burdens. We are told by pastor James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins {burdens}to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed". Notice it does not say forgiven because the moment you confess your sins to Jesus you are forgiven. The problem is sin, hurts, and shortcomings in our lives actually harms us and it leaves wounds. Confession to another person takes this burden from our hearts and enables us to allow Jesus to heal us. Also we are told in Galatians 6:2Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. Much easier for two than for one".
One another is over 50 times.
I realize that this is hard for many of us to do. We fear judgment when we share our shortcomings to others, but honestly none of us are without sin, so we should never judge. Please brothers and sisters, if someone is struggling, if someone is reaching out to you, gently restore them. Do not judge them, do not go and tell others, just love them, pray with them.
Last, and the most neglected, is prayer. Our God is always there for us, he never sleeps, he never has a weak signal, and we don't have to have a load to talk to him. This is the easiest way to relieve our burdens and yet many Christians do not exercise this plain and simple way to give us rest. God is powerful. He is always there, always listening, and always wants what is best for us. Prayer is our direct lifeline to God and he wants to hear from us. Not just when we need him, but everyday. And when we pray we must believe that he is there and that he is ready to relieve us. That's what a loving father he is. But how can we expect him to relieve us if we don't talk to him? In my ministry I have heard many times of people who are actually afraid to talk to God and to confess their burdens for fear of what he might do, or how he might respond. SURPRIZE...God already knows. He is ready to forgive, ready to help, ready to guide us. Psalms 55: 22
¡°Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.¡± (KJV)
Lastly on prayer, I have always found it is so important that when we talk to God, we should also wait for his answer. So many times we will pray to him for guidance with our minds already set on what we will do too hold on to our burdens. How can he guide us if we have already decided? To me that is not relying on Godly wisdom it is depending on human weakness.
Now back to our verse. Lets remember the last part. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentile and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.¡± Jesus's burden is so simple. Remember the two greatest commandments. Love your God with all your heart soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. That's it.
This is the burden that Jesus has laid upon us. Simply stated love one another and obey my commands. Which one do you want to carry?
So tonight, right now brothers and sisters, I want to invite you to leave your burdens at the cross. Regardless of what they may be. We want to start the process now by praying for you and for ourselves. And remember the nails of the cross? When we nail something we want it to be permanent, so tonight lets figuratively nail our burdens to the cross. Lets give them to our Lord and let him deal with it. Let's give him our heavy load and accept his yoke. Let's declare with our hearts...
Jesus I am worried about money take it.
Jesus I am worried about my children take it.
Jesus I have strongholds take them.
Jesus there are times I doubt take it.
Now, there is no tomorrow
There is no next week
There is only now! Jesus........... Lets Pray.
