Illustration
In 2014 I took a 3 month Sabbatical. One of things I did was something I had wanted to do for a long time. Guess what that was? - a Triathlon
Triathlons are pretty hard
Standard or Olympic Triathlon—1.5 kilometer (0.93 mile) swim / 40km (25 mi) bike / 10 km (6.2 mi) run
Sprint Triathlon—750 meter (0.465 mile) swim / 20 kilometer (12.5 mi) bike / 5 km (3.1 mi) run.
I started with a run (reverse sprint triathlon). After about a mile my knees were already hurting. I was already tired.
Eventually I finished the run… when I got to my bike I noticed that most bikes were already gone
Non professional, heavy hybrid road bike I went off
I was being passed up by people who physically had no business passing me up. I was tired
I didn’t even know how far I was supposed to ride, I just knew that I had to ride (felt like it would never finish)
And yes, I finished the bike ride, which was helpful to my knees that I kept pounding on but by the time I got off the bike I was limping to the pool. I get to the pool and just when I’m about to get in… “where are your goggles?”
Back to the bike to get my goggles, back to the pool (by this time people were already packing up their stuff).
I begin to swim the number laps. I was tired, good thing it was a pool because I wouldn’t had made it.
and then… I was done!
I don’t remember how long it took but the point for me was that I actually finished.
I was tired and weary and I had to rest.
In this race, I was offered rest at the end of the line or if I gave up. I really didn’t want to give up, I really wanted to get to the finish line and rest there.
____
Today’s message teaches us that in this race we call life we can get very tired, bogged down, discouraged.
But many people live their lives with the promise that they’ll get rest - but at the finish line.
In this passage Jesus is offering us rest as we run the rest, you don’t have to wait to get to the finish line.
He offered to link arms with us, support us, and even teach us along the way how to run this race.
Matthew wrote these words that he heard Jesus pronounce.
Why did Jesus invite people there to “come to him”. In the previous verses leading up to this part of the story we find Jesus speaking to a group of religious leaders.
This all started because Jesus likes to hang out with sinners and the outcasts. They called Jesus a “Friend of Tax Collectors and Sinners” (Matt 11:19)
That which was meant as an insult Jesus wore as a badge of honor. Then Jesus went on to pronounce these words with the purpose to shock these religious leaders that they would have to take a serious look at their own spiritual condition. If they are not willing to sit with so-called “sinners” then what are you doing?
Matthew 11:21-27 is known as the "woes".
But after saying these words, knowing that many where wondering, “well, if that’s truly our spiritual condition, then what must I do?”
The invitation is not to keep doing what you are doing, instead the invitation is the same invitation he makes to all of us here today.
The "rest" that Jesus invites us into is the experience our souls long for and we can rest even when we busy.
Come to Me
Invitation to a relationship
stop running to other things or other people (other relationships)
When we are seeking to fill the void of the relationship we are supposed to have with Christ we seek for it by gaining material things (things we acquire in order to feel better about ourselves)
The invitation is not to keep doing what you are doing, instead the invitation is to take a different direction on the road...
I mean, just ask yourself this morning,
“Why am I so tired?”
Maybe it's not just because you work so much or how busy you are. You can still be “tired” even on the weekends, on holidays or vacation.
You get tired when you are seeking to fill your void with relationships in order to find friends that will help you take away the loneliness and still finding yourself lonely even when you have friends.
you get tired when you are trying to fill the void by trying and working hard to be good, to prove yourself, to prove you are somebody and living trying to please someone (a parent, a teacher, someone who said you couldn't). But you still find yourself frustrated, tired of trying so hard and that person you're trying to impress isn't even aware of your efforts.
Labor ??p??? - a weariness due to exertion you put upon yourself.
It's in the active voice which means that it something that you actively do.
So you labor, you’re trying, you’re planning, you’re working so you can make a living.
Nothing wrong with that, but Jesus calls us to rest from this kind of labor when it’s devoid of a relationship with Him.
heavy laden - f??t??? -it is a burden that is imposed or placed upon us.
in the passive middle voice which means you are not actively pursuing, instead it is acting on you
These are the things that you are not working for, planning on, trying for, but they come to you. Last-minute requests, someone got sick and you have to cover, someone got sick at home and you have to take time off and you wonder how you are going to pay the bills. Things go wrong at work, at school.
Things that are out of your control, but you deal with it, but you stress out.
Jesus doesn't promise that these heavy laden will disappear, instead, he’s inviting you to come to him to make the burden lighter.
The “labor” in my sprint triathlon was that I put myself in the place where I knew I was going to run, bike and swim.
The “heavy laden” in my sprint triathlon was that things started to go wrong, I began to doubt, second-guess, and wonder why in the world I did this. I began to stress about my knee, which is my fault for not being in better shape, for not preparing better, etc.
Review so far:
Come to him - 1st step most important one. Before we take the yoke and learn from Jesus, the invitation is to "come to Jesus". An invitation to a relationship. Relationships are scarier to commit to than to do something for that person.
Take my yoke
"Take" - still speaking to "all who labor" and are "burdened"
Take what? "My yoke"
the yoke is figuratively submitting. To take the yoke is to submit to a teacher. You have to go at the teacher's pace. The teacher is gentle and humble and won't go too fast but will push you enough to help you learn. So in order to "find rest" we need to submit to Jesus and allow him to slow us down.
- to teach us. He's offering to go with us, walk beside us, teach us how to deal with the labor and burdens.
By taking on his yoke, we will learn from him. He's a patient teacher. He'll be gentle with us and humble. He won't "yank" the yoke instead gently continue to walk and show us how to "walk".
Take his yoke -
come to me leads to "submit" to me.
Take off the yoke that oppresses you and put my yoke on which puts us on a path of a satisfied and fulfilled life. Start walking on a different path, at a different pace, and controlled and not so distracted and worried because you are not alone.
Learn from me
Jesus being "gentle" and "lowly" in heart.
"Meek" Matt. 5:5; 11:29; 1 Pet. 3:4
"lowly" Matt. 11:29; Luke. 1:52; Rom. 12:16; 2 Cor. 7:6; 10:1; James. 1:9; 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5
He'll be gentle with us and humble. He won't "yank" the yoke instead gently continue to walk and show us how to "walk".
He's humble - a teacher that is willing to not make us look we are not important or valuable. He wants us to succeed and to prosper in life.
We are all under some "yoke".
Jesus' yoke is "easy" compared to the yoke we have been walking in.
The yoke deals with my "active" pursuit in life. Jesus invites us to actively “take” decide to walk with Jesus, to be "yoked" with Jesus, linked and tied to Jesus.
“That sounds restrictive”! Isn't the yoke you carry restrictive anyway?
Jesus’ yoke is the way to "rest".
the burden is what is placed on you - Jesus' "burden" is light. Any "burden", commandment, the Law, (whatever you want to call it) can only be heavy when you try to do it alone (even trying to do religious/spiritual things).
Trying to live up to God's commands, his standards can never be done alone and YOU WILL get weary/tired/frustrated/burned out.
Find rest
The result - find rest for your souls.
Besides physical rest (which we all need) we have a rest we need to seek to find. Spiritual rest. A rest that replenishes the soul. A vacation may not even do it (most don't).
We need to rest in Jesus - our worries are diminished and put into perspective; our pursuit for recognition is tempered by the reality of who we are in Jesus (I'm loved no matter what).
Your need to impress is diminished when your only concern is to be impressed with God's amazing grace, his great mercy, his everlasting love.
Jeremiah 6:16 NIV
16 This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
This is talking about when we are offered rest and we refuse it.
We are offered the "good way" and to walk in it in order to find rest. This means that we are shown the road that will give us the rest we so much want.
Stop long enough to look at the road and wish we just could, but we count the cost and think it'll be too hard, but at the same time we want to rest, but we think that resting will lead us to lose out on something or someone.
The remedy for this is not doing things better, bigger or greater. The remedy is still and just Jesus - “come to me”
We may try to earn our salvation by wearying ourselves and burdening ourselves in order to please God and hope we earn salvation.
The result of that is still emptiness
For unbelievers - all the human pursuits leave us empty
When you are fed up, sick and tired, Jesus invites us to rest.
we don't have to wait until we are fed up, sick and tired, but we hear it today.
Jesus invites those, who are so tired of trying to do what is right and still find themselves not satisfied, to come to him, take his yoke and learn from him
Learning - as we walk with Jesus we learn from Jesus.
This may seem like a lot of work but it actually gives us REST!
We all (believers/unbelievers) are wearied and burdened by something. We may know the concept of resting in Jesus, but in practice fall short.
To make sure we practice “rest” God gave us a 24 hour period per week where we are allowed to rest!
What a novel concept?
God knows that we will drive ourselves to the ground, working, playing, studying, etc.
So he programmed our bodies to need a weekly rest - so he created the Sabbath, the 7th day of the week (Ex 20:8).
Hebrews 4:9 NIV
9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
We’re offered a weekly holiday, you get the day off, to spend with family, to have enough time to allow God to work on you, time to meditate, pray, read God’s words. An all expenses paid vacation every week that comes with a spa package, a rest and relaxation package.
It is God’s gift to us and yet we so easily forget the one commandment that tells us to remember.
Do you need to remember when your day off is?
Do you need to remember when your vacation is? We usually are counting down the days
Yet God chose the word “remember” when it came to remembering his “rest” day.
On the Sabbath day, we are to rest, not just from our weariness, physical tiredness, but are also commanded to rest from our burdens.
Many SDA’s are good at resting from our weariness/tiredness but the “burdens” are on our mind thus we don’t really experience the Sabbath rest experience. That is why we are counseled to refrain from certain activities on the Sabbath so that our minds are not “burdened” with the everyday things of life.
Jesus took this day to do good to other people, to heal, to bring hope, to share his life, to improve on relationships, to do mercy, to do justice and love one another.
So today Jesus invites you...
Today accept the invitation to "come" to Jesus - acknowledge that you are tired and that you want to stop spinning wheels and coming to the one who makes this all possible. // How do you learn who Jesus is? You read about him in the Gospels. It's not just a storybook or novel. When you read these words there is spiritual power there because it begins to shine light in the dark areas of your life. When this happens you know who Jesus is and you accept his invitation to come
Submit to Jesus' ways - You submit by admitting that your way of doing things hasn't been very successful. If you think your way has been successful, then compare your life with that of Jesus and you'll realize that you have a long way to go.
Learn from him - Sitting in Jesus' classroom will give us a broader understanding of our questions, concerns, and these answers are found in the Scriptures.
Closing Story
a young man had worked hard all his life…
He worked at his dad’s business and had helped turn it into a reputable company.
As the older brother, he felt it was his responsibility to take care of the business that one day he’ll eventually take over.
His younger brother wasn’t so careful. He didn’t really care about the business but the younger one liked the fact that he was able to take his dad’s money and spend it.
He decided to take a vacation and took a pile of money from the family business which left the family in a tight situation.
The older brother was irritated by this, began to resent his brother, didn’t hear from him for months, no letter, no calls… His anger increased, most of the work fell on him, but he did it anyway without complaining.
the older brother stuffed his feelings and decided to work harder to show his dad that he was responsible and not like his younger irresponsible brother.
Turns out the brother showed up unexpectedly one day. The strange thing is the brother was in an embarrassing situation. His clothes were messed up, he was barefooted, he looked like he had been mugged and sleeping on the street. He came back apologizing for his behavior and even offered to work to pay it all back, but his dad just welcomed him back home and gave him a place to rest.
Dad right away allowed him back in the house and gave him a place to rest, gave him the best bed in the house, gave him a foot massage, washed up and gave him a comfortable blanket and now resting.
The older brother, though he had done everything he had for the dad, saw his brother resting, and was furious.
He went to his dad with his list of grievances about how unfair he was with him, making him work and treating the spoiled brat to a bed while he worked.
the dad told him that he should be happy for his brother that after a long journey home is now able to rest.
the dad invited the older son to also come in and rest but he refused. I have my own room and bed.
Son, you do have your own room and bed, but even though you do, you haven’t been able to find rest. Even though you’ve done all of these things for me, you haven’t been able to find rest.
Even though you’ve never left the house, you haven’t been able to find rest.
- A modified? version of the Prodigal Son
We can be like the older brother, even though we live in the Father’s house, and still not have really had? rest - peace, harmony, grace, forgiveness
Our the younger brother, though had wasted it all, behave irresponsibly, but recognized it, repented and entered into his father’s rest.
The decision is yours?.
