Bury Your Burdens
Have you ever had a terrible day? Just when you thought things could not get any worse it does. You learn quickly that things could always be worse but you’re not sure how.
Top ten signs it’s going to be a bad day
10. Your twin sister forgets your birthday
09. You see a "60 Minutes news team" waiting in your office.
08. You turn on the TV news and they’re displaying emergency routes out of your city.
07. You open the paper and find your name in the obituaries.
06. You have an appointment in 10 minutes and you just woke up
05. You get pulled over by the swat team because you look like a person on America’s Most Wanted.
04. You call suicide prevention and they put you on hold.
03. You have Friday work department meeting in 10 minutes and you just woke up. You rush to work and realize its Saturday.
02. Your horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a highway patrol in a funeral procession.
01. You go to church hoping for a word of encouragement and the fill-in Pastor is reading top ten signs it’s going to be a bad day.
We all have had some not so good days. We all have had some days that will confirm Murphy’s Laws. We all have had some terrible days. But only you have experienced the most horrible, terrible, worst day in your life day. 1
Everyone experiences some disappointments. Problems and difficulties are a part of life. Jesus knows the very problem some times that we go through. For every burden that we bare we are to take them to Him in prayer. Listen to the words of Jesus again. Matthew 11: 28 "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Let’s pray
We all have difficulties and problems that will knock us down on our knees at various times. The question we must ask ourselves is what can we do with these burdens that so heavily weigh us down? Sometimes we allow little things to pile up and before we know it the little thing becomes a big thing.
Jesus gives us a plan of deliverance if we will just follow through. The first thing we need to do is:
1. Come to Jesus. 28 "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest
Jesus gives us the invitation to come to Him. The plan that Jesus has is so simple that many times we think it will not work for me. We have no problem in giving encouragement to others who are facing difficulties but when it’s us facing trials then it becomes unbearable. We must have a come to Jesus meeting.
What are we to do when we are burdened down? Jesus tells us to come to Him. The first thing we must do is to come.
A. Present self to Jesus
Jesus wants us to come directly to him. I know of various religious faiths that teach their parishioners to come present their needs to the Priest.
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I am of the opinion that if you can go directly to the individual you are mostly likely to get the better results.
Tell joke about man went to his barber to get a hair cut before he went on vacation to Rome.
Airlines, hotel, Vatican to see Pope.
Punch line “Where did you get such a lousy haircut.
When Jesus died on the cross His blood sacrifice opened up the door for all of us to boldly enter the throne room of heaven. We have the direct connect to God the Father. We can bring all of our cares to Him. When we are burdened we are to present ourselves directly to God.
Jesus said those who are labored and heavily laden come unto me. So in coming to Jesus not only are we to present ourselves to Christ but also:
B. Present your needs
Not everyone who comes to Christ actually give Him their needs. Not everyone who prays at the altar leave their cares at the altar. So many times when we present our needs to Christ we leave holding onto the same cares in our hands with a tight grip.
We continue to hold on to our needs so we can continue to be in control of our needs. It is only when we release our control over a situation do we fully give our needs and concerns to the Lord. When we present an offering to the Church we have to let go of the gift in order for us to fully give it to the Church. So it is with our needs. We have to let go and give it up. Jesus says, come unto me those who are labor and are heavy laden. Are you ready to bury your burdens?
The second thing we must do when we bury our burdens is:
2. Take from Jesus. . 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart;
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So many people in this world are so heavily burdened and they try to deal with the burden on their own. When we deal with the problem alone, we end up getting into deeper trouble and the problem becomes double from what it started from. Jesus wants us to do two things.
A. Receive from Christ
Take my yoke upon you. Jesus wants to give us something far greater than what we have. Jesus wants to relieve us form the heavy burden that we bear. He say to take His yoke. The yoke of Christ is not some burdensome item that we cannot carry. We struggle and struggle and struggle some more. We attempt to work out our problems our own way.
Yet God has a plan and His ways are not as our ways, but His ways are better than our ways. His ways never causes ulcers, stress, strokes, and heart attacks. Yet somehow we think we must do it our way first. After we are in the hospital undergoing heart surgery do we turn it over. Jesus says to take my yoke up you.
A yoke is a harnessing device to work oxen’s or other large animals together to do a great work. Jesus wants us to be teamed up with Him. Jesus wants us to be under His direction. Take upon yourself the yoke of Christ. The second thing Christ wants us to do is:
B. Learn from Christ
How do we learn from Christ? We learn from Christ by reading His word on a consistent basis. By consistent I’m not talking about consistently once a year at Christmas or Easter. Read God’s word daily. Another way to think about reading the Bible this. As often as you feed the physical person feed the spiritual person as well.
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We learn from Christ by attending worship services, Sunday school, Bible Study. Sometimes we can learn spiritual things as a group. We can learn from each other the things of Christ. The younger Christians can learn from the more mature Christians. One person had said it very well, “When you’re through learning you’re through.” Learning is a lifelong process.
We want to hold on to our burdens. Jesus wants us to give them over to him. We want to worry over the issues that burden our heart. Jesus wants us to trust Him. We bury our burdens by coming to Jesus. We bury our burdens by taking from Jesus. The third step in burying our burdens is:
3. Find in Christ. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
A story is told about a wood chopping challenge between two wood workers. One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.” I don’t get it,” he said. “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.” But you didn’t notice,” Said the winning woodsman, “that I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest.”
When rest in the Lord it’s like sharpening our spiritual soul for spiritual battle and growth. What does it mean to rest in the Lord?
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Imagine yourself watching a little baby who has been sick for hours through the night. You stayed up all night. You are physically exhausted. Your sister comes to relive you and watches the baby while you rest. You fall asleep and wake up refresh. While you rested you did not worry about the baby because you trust his care to your sister. To rest in the Lord is:
A. Resting by Trusting
The greatest rest comes from the truest trust. I don’t worry about my car. I trust it will start every time I turn the ignition. I trust my prayers to the Lord that He will answer them in His way. Your greatest rest truly comes from undoubting trust.
B. Resting by believing
We need to take God at His word. If God says that all things work together for the good, then He will work it out. If God says he will not put anything more upon you what you can carry, then that’s all that will come your way.
We bury our burdens by coming to Christ. We bury our burdens by receiving from Christ. We bury our burdens by finding our rest in the Lord.
We need to give our burdens to the Lord and when we give them to the Lord He will give us His rest.
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