Tired And Weary

Text: Matthew 11:28-30 28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Introduction: People today seem to be so beat down by the everyday struggles of life. They seem to be so very tired and weary. It is so bad that it has brought on a new illness called “chronic fatigue syndrome”. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people that suffer from this disease of our time. The doctors can actually do little about the problem if you suffer from it. About the best that they can do is give you some sleeping pills and muscle relaxers, but that does not cure the problem it only hides it. Wouldn’t you rather find a cure for your weariness? You may say, “Of course I would, does one exist?” I am happy to report to you that there is a cure for your problem of fatigue and weariness. We find the cure in our text, and we would like to examine it extensively with full confidence that it will help you.

Notice with me the truths that are given to us in this most blessed passage of scripture:

I. There is a Problem that we all face. (V.28)

…all ye that labour and are heavy laden…

We all labor, and we are all heavy laden with something. We are tired and weary physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Consider the following:

A. The Everyday Bothers of life weary us.

We all have things that are bothersome to us. They may not be big things, but just the same they weight us down and make us weary. Everyone faces these things everyday in the hustle and bustle of our busy society.

B. The Enormous Burdens of life weary us.

We all have some kind of burden that we carry around from day to day. Many may have financial obligations that are weighing them down, while others may have family sickness that is weighing them down. Still there are others that are contending with dysfunctional relationships. The list of burdens could go on and on. The sad fact is that we all have something that puts us under enormous pressure and stress from time to time.

When we add life’s enormous burdens to life’s everyday bothers things can get very stressful indeed. After a short time in trying to cope with the two together we grow very weary indeed.

Weariness is simply a problem that we all face in this life. Job said that, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1).

II. There is a Promise that we are all given. (V.28)

Come unto me…and I will give you rest.

In our text we find a most gracious promise by our Savior. He promises to give rest to those who come unto him. If any other person made such a promise we would laugh at them because we know that they do not possess the power to fulfill it. What about our Lord, can we count on Him to make good such a promise? Oh yes beloved we can. We can count on him to come through on this promise because of two things. Notice these two things with me at this time if you will:

A. His Godly Nature insures us that He can make His promises good.

We must remember that He is God, and that He holds all power in heaven and earth in the palm of His hand. When He makes such a promise it is not a shallow empty promise because He possesses the power to fulfill it.

B. His Good Name insures us that He will make His promises good.

We find one of the many names ascribed to our Lord in Revelation 19:11. Here in this particular verse He is identified as the rider of the white horse, and his name is “Faithful and True”. What a glorious name! What joy it should bring to your heart to realize that your Savior is always truthful in what He says, as well as, always faithful in bringing it to pass. His good name should insure you that He will make good His promises to you.

III. There is a Prescription that we are all pointed to. (Vv.29-30)

Here it is, the part that so many have been waiting for; the prescription for our weariness. We come to this particular point in our text and we are seemingly perplexed because of what is said. We are not told that we need more leisure time. We are not told that we are to take a vacation. We are not told that we need bed rest; rather we are told that we need the yoke. The yoke is the key to our rest. For so long we have been trying to work alone and we have worn ourselves down. It is now time to put on the yoke and get harnessed together with Christ; for the yoke that is mentioned is a double yoke. It is a yoke likened unto the yoke of the oxen where we see two yoked together. While we may feel that we need a hammock, Christ says that we need the yoke.