Finding Rest When You’re Fully Stressed
Matthew 11:28-30
Do you sometimes feel that life happens too fast and that you are always in a hurry? Do you feel overwhelmed with the demands and pressures of life? Do you feel exhausted? Have you lost your sense of excitement about living every day? Are you discouraged? Are you bombarded by a sense of worry or fear? Do you feel that you are carrying a heavy load and you feel like you can’t take it anymore?
God invites us to experience peace amidst the mess and chaos in our world. God offers us rest amidst our burdened, tired, and exhausted daily lives. Stress is a part of life. The question is NOT “why do we experience stress?” The question is “what do we do when stress happens in our lives?”
We live in a very stressful world.
Stress happens when there are tensions, pressures, threats, or demands, that you feel you are unable to cope with. These tensions, pressures, threats, or demands can come from outside you or from within you. We know we are stressed when we feel anxious, uneasy, tense, fearful or panicky just thinking about unpleasant situations, people or events.
Our body is designed to experience a healthy dose of stress. Stress is our body’s natural or instinctive survival response to cope with physical threat or danger. To cope with emergency situations, the body produces hormones or body fluids that allow us to experience heightened levels of energy, strength, instant reactions, and clear thinking.
However, too much stress causes damage and dysfunction to our body, mind, and spirit. If our stress button is pressed frequently, our body is on almost continuous alert. When our body doesn't have a chance to rest and recover, we can suffer anxiety, depression and health problems. Study shows that constant triggering of our stress buttons can cause the following:
[Source: The Impact of Stress, By Steve Bressert, Ph.D.; http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/the-impact-of-stress/]
Physical signs of stress include:
• sleep disturbance
• digestive upsets
• agitated behavior
• increased heart rate
• general restlessness
• muscle tension
• chest pains
• dizziness
• hyperventilating
• nervousness
• high blood pressure
• lack of energy
• fatigue
Cognitive signs of stress include:
• mental slowness
• confusion
• negative attitudes or thoughts
• constant worry
• your mind races at times
• difficulty concentrating
• forgetfulness
• difficulty thinking in a logical sequence
• the sense that life is overwhelming; you can’t problem-solve
Emotional signs of stress include:
• irritation
• no sense of humor
• frustration
• feeling overworked
• feeling overwhelmed
• sense of helplessness
• apathy
Behavioral signs of stress include:
• decreased contact with family and friends
• poor work relations
• sense of loneliness
• decreased sex drive
• avoiding others and others avoid you because you’re cranky
• failing to set aside times for relaxation
We need to learn how to experience rest. If all we needed was physical rest we can always take a nap. If we needed only emotional rest, we can always take a vacation. But our ultimate need is spiritual rest.
Where can we find spiritual rest? How can we obtain relief regarding the deepest issues of life at the deepest level of our hearts? For when our soul finds rest our whole life finds rest as well.
Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
This passage contains 3 invitations from Jesus that lead to spiritual rest.
We will experience rest for our soul as we respond to Jesus’ invitations…
1. COME TO CHRIST
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (v.28)
Jesus makes a plea to those who are burdened by the law. To those who in their own strength are trying to please God. He makes a plea to those who have been weighed down with the laws and customs of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who have been told that if they are not perfect, they will suffer.
Christ is also speaking to us today. We who say we understand God’s grace and yet often wonder if He loves us, we who constantly in our wrong doing feel as if we’re no good. We who fall so short each day we have to ask God how he could possibly love us. Jesus says to God’s people then and today “come to me.”
Jesus invites us to come to Him to experience rest that comes from him. He calls people who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens. Do you feel tired or exhausted? Do you feel that you are carrying a heavy load and you feel like you can’t take it anymore?
“Come to me” – means to make progress toward Christ, to yield your will, to drop your agenda, turn from yourself toward God.
We need to realize that nothing in this world can give us true spiritual rest, genuine peace, authentic happiness, and real satisfaction in life.
John 6:35 (NLT) -- Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 7:37-38 -- Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ’From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”
John 14:27 (NLT) -- “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
You can gain a life of rest when you give God the rest of your life.
More often, the search to satisfy our needs on our own leads us to many empty roads. The weariness that Jesus is talking about is the tiresome searching of the soul, and then coming up empty. He promises the gift of rest to those who comes to Him. The sense of relief from burdens is real for all who come to Christ.
Are you looking for rest? Is there a place down deep in your soul that is searching for rest? Do you long to have a peace with God even when you have fallen short? Christ says, “Come to me”!
There was a time when I brought my son, Josiah, outside our house to play with other kids. Because he has mild autism, Josiah finds it hard to catch up with the other children. Because he has some difficulty in his speech, they cannot understand him. So more often, he ends up being bullied or rejected.
One time he was trying so hard to please his playmates and doing his best to play with them. But I noticed that he was so exhausted and a little bit sad. So I called his name, opened my arms, and asked him to come to me. I hugged him and kissed him. Then I gave him water to drink. Then he said, “I’m sad.” I asked him why. He said, “The kid’s don’t want to play with me.” I hugged him again. Then he said, “Tatay, I am tired.” I said, “Its ok. I am here. You can rest for a while.” And then I hugged him again. After a while, he was able to regain his energy and he was ready to try and play again.
Perhaps you are at that place in your life right now where you are tired, exhausted, burdened, and bullied… God invites you, “Come to me.”
You will also experience rest for your soul as you respond to the invitation to…
2. WALK WITH CHRIST
“Take my yoke upon you… and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (v.29-30)
Yoke is “a type of harness that connects a pair of oxen.” It is used metaphorically to refer to submission to a teacher. In New Testament times the phrase, “to take the yoke of” was used by rabbi’s to refer to “becoming a submitted student of a teacher.”
The word “yoke” has two dominant figurative ideas.
MAN-MADE YOKE -- The yoke of rules and religion.
Acts 15:7-11 spells out the yoke of following rules and religious system to be accepted by God. This is the way most people are familiar with the idea of relating to God – through rules and religion. This is not the “my yoke” that Jesus speaks of.
GOD-GIVEN YOKE -- The yoke of relationship.
Jesus said that His yoke is easy, “well fitted.” It fits the need. Rules and religion don’t fit the need for personal relationship. His yoke is easy compared to man-made religious yokes.
His burden is light compared to the burden of human effort.
Jesus commands we take up HIS yoke to find rest. There is no rest in rules and religion, but only in a personal relationship with God based on the finished work of Jesus.
Yoke Pictures Three Things:
1. Connection -- “Be with Me.” Yokes are made for two, not one. We were not meant to go through life living apart from God. His yoke fits well and is lighter than the one we’ve been pulling by ourselves. Connect to Jesus!
2. Direction -- “Follow Me.” The idea of a yoke pictures the forward motion of two connected together. You cannot be yoked to Jesus and go your own way anymore. We follow Him and His direction for our life. Follow Jesus!
3. Cooperation -- “Work with Me.” To be yoked together means that we cooperate with His work. We are joined to His work and our lives can make an eternal impact.
The yoke is a place of labor. Here Jesus is inviting us to walk with Him and to work for Him.
You can gain a life of rest when you give God the rest of your life.
When we take the yoke of Christ we learn that what we do for Him totally eclipses anything else that we do. When we work for Christ, we have peace that our Master is looking out for us and we worry less about life.
Once upon a time an African king who had a close friend. The friend had a habit to face every situation that happened to him (good or bad) saying: "All is well! God knows better".
The king and his friend one day left for a hunt. The friend loaded and prepared the weapons for the king. Apparently, the friend had missed something in the preparation of one of the weapons, the king shot and it took his thumb away. When examining the situation, the friend observed as always: "All is well! God knows better". The king answered, "No, this is not good", he commanded the soldiers to arrest his friend and put him in the prison.
After one year, the king was hunting in a region where, cannibals appeared, and captured the king and took him to their village. They tied his hands, and piled up the firewood. When the cannibals came closer to the fire they noticed that the king did not have the thumb. As they were superstitious, they never ate who had a part of his body missing.
Thus, after setting the king free, they banished him from the village. When the king arrived at his palace, he remembered the incident about his thumb and felt remorse for the treatment he gave to his friend. Immediately, he pays a visit to the prison to speak with his friend. "You were right", said the king. "It was good that I lost my thumb". The king started to tell his friend everything that happened to him. "I am sorry that I have ordered you to prison for such a long period. It was a great mistake."
"No", the friend said, "That was the good decision. All is well! God knows better". "What do you mean by that? How it can be good decision? I ordered my best friend to prison?" The friend answered: "If I was not in the prison certainly I would be with you in the hunt." Then you know what would have happened with me?
Are you discouraged? Are you bombarded by a sense of worry or fear? Do you feel that you are carrying a heavy load and you feel like you can’t take it anymore? Christ invites you to take his yoke… to trust His ways instead of your ways. Believe that God knows better.
You will also experience rest for your soul as you respond to the invitation to…
3. LEARN FROM CHRIST
“Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (v.29)
His third invitation is to learn from Him. Are you open to learn? When we come to Him, and take up His yoke, the process of learning begins.
The yoke is a place of learning. We are invited to learn of Him. The problem many of us face today is that we know so little about our Lord. His desire is that we would have a full knowledge of Him. We can only learn of him when we abide with him. That is one of the important elements of the yoke; it keeps us bound together with Him in a place of closeness where we can be taught. You cannot learn anything if you are not around the teacher. Christ desires us to be yoked together with him so He can teach us.
In the yoke we learn from Christ how to be patient in suffering, to walk humbly, to trust implicitly, to love intensely, and to rejoice exceedingly.
Because Jesus is our example, we can learn gentleness -- strength under control. Religious people can be cold and harsh, but not Jesus. His gentleness draws us to Him with our cares and concerns. Wouldn’t it be great to have someone you can pour out your deepest thoughts, a gentle person who has the strength to help.
1 Peter 5:7 --- “Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you.” (NCV).
Because Jesus is our example, we can learn humility – selflessness. Religious people can be arrogant and rude. The very things that turn people off from the church are the very opposite of what Jesus is really like. Hurting, lost and weary people were drawn to Jesus because He cared for them and met their needs.
You can gain a life of rest when you give God the rest of your life.
One day a man went by to see a farmer who was plowing his field with a team of oxen. The man noticed that one of the animals was seemingly a little bigger than the other so he asked him about it. The response from the farmer was very interesting. He said that the big animal was an older animal that was well trained and the smaller one was a young animal that was new to the yoke. The man went on to inquire as to why he put them together and this is the answer that He got…
Well you see it’s like this… That older ox is the best ox that I have ever had; he knows his way around the field. The reason I put the younger one with him is so the older, more knowledgeable ox could teach him how to plow. If I never put them together the younger one would never learn. By himself the younger ox would pull himself to death, but together he learns to cooperate with and rest in the strength of the older ox.
Does your life feel like the ox that’s pulling himself to death? Rest comes from responding to Jesus’ invitations --- COME to Me, TAKE My yoke upon you, LEARN from Me.
Closing
• Come to Christ
• Walk with Christ
• Learn from Christ
Do you sometimes feel that life happens too fast and that you are always in a hurry? Do you feel overwhelmed with the demands and pressures of life? Do you feel exhausted? Have you lost your sense of excitement about living every day? Are you discouraged? Are you bombarded by a sense of worry or fear? Do you feel that you are carrying a heavy load and you feel like you can’t take it anymore?
God invites us to experience peace amidst the mess and chaos in our world. God offers us rest amidst our burdened, tired, and exhausted daily lives. Stress is a part of life. The question is NOT “why do we experience stress?” The question is “what do we do when stress happens in our lives?”
