Finding Rest
Matthew 11:28-30
Good morning everyone, today we are going to look at Jesus words to us about rest. For some of us, you’ll see that you need rest. For some others you will be awakened to the fact that maybe you have rested enough and you need to get busy.
Let’s pray
Matthew 11:28-30 read slowly and clearly
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”
We started this study in the Wednesday small group and continuing it this morning.
In a indirect way Jesus talked about rest in the Garden of Gethsemane- remember Jesus asked them why they could not stay awake and pray- they were exhausted…they needed rest.
They had good intentions- but good intentions alone is not enough. They were exhausted.
We are going to see that finding the rest we need and what the Lord wants for us is going to come down to how much trust we have with the Lord.
Illustration- flying
When I was younger and before I got into ministry I use to fly several times a year for Interstate Brands Corporation. I was amazed as I looked at how many people could go and sleep on the plane. I could dose off but never got that deep sleep. The city boy who sleeps with one eye open. Then one day it dawned on me why I had a hard time. I was Mr. Fixit. I was the guy who had to have input on everything around me. I was the guy most people would ask if they had a question. But once I got on that airplane, I was a nobody. Just sit here Mr. Zibolski and we will let you know when you can get off this plane. I hated that… I was not in charge. I did not have a say in any of the decisions and I had to trust people I did not know behind a door I could not see behind to safely get me from point A to point B.
Where you have no trust, you have no rest.
You will need to trust the Lord to help you get through those times of needing rest in your life and if you don’t or won’t trust him, you will not be able to experience the rest that you need.
You see wisdom un-received is not wisdom! (Repeat) Jesus spoke too many but few listened and responded to him.
The doctor can speak of things going on in our lives…but do we hear him? He can tell us that exercise is of value for us to feel better and to give us better health. But if we do not listen, what was said had value, it just did not have value to us because we did not listen and respond- we just heard it.
Parents, can you relate to your kids? You give them good advice, they just often chose not to respond- you forced them to listen but you cannot force them to respond.
Before we can do anything with Jesus saying “Come to me”- we have to make sure we have heard him and understand what he meant when he said to come to Him-
You really have to go back to the beginning of chapter 11of Matthew-
Jesus was teaching his twelve disciples- then he went out to teach and preach in the city. John the Baptist heard while in prison (rumors) and asked if Jesus was the one foretold of.
He replies back to John’s disciples… go tell John that I am.
Blind are seeing,
lame are walking,
leprosy is being healed,
Deaf hear, dead are being raised. I am the real deal!
As John’s disciples go back to John to report- Jesus talks to the crowd about John-
Why did you come into the desert? To see miracles?
Come to see a man dressed in fine clothes? They are in the temple.
To see a prophet? Yes. Scripture said “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare the way before you.”
John was the one who would prepare the way for Jesus. Scripture tells us as important as John is that those who enter the kingdom of heaven will be greater than him.
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, (lament for the dead) and you did not morn.”
“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said He has a demon. The ‘Son of man came eating and drinking, and they said here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinner. But wisdom is proved right by her actions.”
What am I saying? I am saying that you cannot experience godly rest without the Lord!
Many have tried and all have failed. John was the forerunner,
Jesus is the messiah and the only way to experience the rest we need is to trust the one that was sent by God the Father to accomplish that in our lives.
(25) “At that time Jesus said (pay attention, Jesus said it) I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
So let’s look at a few area of our life where we may need Godly rest-
Physical rest (Godly physical rest)
The weary and heavy burdened are to come to Jesus-
Some people do not know how to rest and some do nothing but rest. Both issues have to be addressed.
I think some it is built into their DNA to be on the go. GO GO GO
They are the energizer bunnies! Keep on going! Jesus tells those kinds of people that you need to rest in me.
Rest has to be a planned activity- you purposefully go to bed every night desiring to get some sleep.
Each of us has learned what amount of sleep we need and that becomes our routine- we go to bed at the same time and if we are up later we pay for it the next morning.
There are also the ones that do nothing but rest.
They are the ones that have been resting so long that it has become a way of life.
That Lazyboy chair has become their mascot instead of a place to rest.
I believe that Jesus gives both warning signs- some to slowdown and some to get moving!
God gives us the example of physical rest when he rested from creation (Genesis 2:1-3).
Jesus, too, slept when he was in need of physical rest (Matthew 8:24)
On the surface, work and rest seem like opposites, as though one undoes the other. To do one must mean that we reject doing the other.
There’s a conflict: do we work or rest? The answer is, yes! We’re commanded to do both.
The fourth commandment in Exodus 20:8
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.” Six days we work and one day we rest.
The Sabbath is going to be different for each of us because of our work schedules otherwise who would take care of us as we go for lunch after the Sunday service. One day we are to rest.
The command to rest was not an excuse to be lazy- Work and rest and be in a right relationship with the Lord- resting in Him! Serving Him!
Missing church on a Sunday is not Godly rest!
Mental
Mental rest is where you stop forcing your brain to work hard and give it some time to process information, make connections, and cement memories.
What is the importance of mental rest?
"Sleep on it" is accurate because rest improves your ability to make good decisions.
Working long hours without rest reduces your concentration.
Regularly scheduled breaks—
Honest wives…sometimes when your man says he’s thinking about nothing, it is the truth!
Emotional
Get some emotional rest by offloading your feels to a willing listener, then keep talking to prevent future emotional overload.
Make sure you do it in moderation because you don’t want to be the person everyone runs from.
Some people live in drama- everyday and every situation is or has drama. They have emotional overload.
“Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad” (Proverbs 12:25).
Spiritual Rest (one of the most popular)
If physical rest is a planned activity, I don’t know how anyone does not look at spiritual rest as a planned activity.
Spiritual rest is getting alone with the Lord.
It is reading His Word and then letting the Word of God be soaked into your life.
It is allowing the Holy Spirit freedom to strengthen and encourage you in life situations and circumstances.
One of my friends this week said that he throws himself back in his recliner and listens to Christian music.
It is somehow letting the Lord speak to you to refresh your soul.
Social
Social rest is about pursuing energizing, positive and social connections. Some of us need to engage with people. Then also some of us need to disengage from social media because it is consuming us. Some of us need to examine our relationship and see who we connect or disconnect from.
Some of us cannot get away from that phone- it is an addiction.
Average person picks up their phone 1500-2000 times a day. The addicted ones can pick it up as much as 5000 times a day.
You will go back home for your phone and risk being late for work because to think a day without that phone causes anxiety issues.
Sensory Rest (Break from input)
Stuff coming into your mind
Sensory rest is about giving your senses a break. People need sensory rest when they overwhelm their senses with constant stimuli—for example, spending the entire day glued to computer, phone, and TV screens. (I am sure that is no one is this room)
Ones like me that cannot shut their minds down from THINKING
That is why they call it a cell phone because you cannot get away from it.
Creative Rest (Break from output)
Stuff from your mind that you have to produce
Give yourself a break by going on a walk in nature, or reading a good book. Surrounding yourself with inspiration can help replenish your drained resources—and take the pressure to create off your mind.
Professionals that feel like they have to always come up with a new way to say it, show it, or delivery it.
"And some of us, although God has promised us rest, are not resting
As we finish this up-
You add fear, pride, envy, hatred, doubt, the world being such a mess right now, it is a wonder everyone of us doesn’t have anxiety issues.
Illustration-
Jesus in a boat with his apostles- going through the same storm, but their different response is the result in whom they are trusting.
Being in a boat for fishermen was not a problem in a weather storm- they knew how to handle that. It was the other storms of life that they had a hard time with and needed to trust Jesus!
You and I can say we trust Jesus in the storms but until we actually do, we will not rest in Him during these storms.
ONCE I KNOW THAT I CAN TRUST JESUS I will not focus on the storm, I will focus on Jesus and I will find rest.
25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
26 But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
.Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”
If we truly believe Jesus is the Son of the living God, we would rest in Him daily!
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Let us pray!
