American’s spend around $700 Billion a year on
entertainment & recreation & leisure.
I hear more and more people talking about the need to “get
away”, “get some rest” Motel 6 ad from 20 years ago – We’ll leave the light on
for you.
While the world looks for rest, Jesus is the only one who
can give it you. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God…Let us
therefore be diligent to enter that rest” Hebrews 4:9, 11. There is only one
thing that keep you from the rest – unbelief.
You will find that rest is an art, and a practice of
life. Let’s go back in order to go forward. Exodus 33: 12-14
Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring
up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet
You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now
therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way,
that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that
this nation is Your people.” And
He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Moses has now come out of Egypt with a little over 2
million people. He asked the Lord two important questions. Who is going to go
with me to this promised land you have picked out? And which way do I go? By
now, this well trained shepherd leader, is sure he needs to select the right
path to get to the right place. God answers, “Who is going? I AM!” and “Which
way? I will give you rest!” In other words, since I AM going that’s really all
you to need to know.
This word from God the Father reminds me of something God
the Son – Jesus said to us. Matthew 11: 28 He said “…I will give
you rest.” Good news huh? You bet it is good news. But let’s not build our
whole theology on just this little portion of Scripture. Back it up and let’s
look at the whole selection to understand this active practice of rest.
There are four words in this section we
must obey. Come, Take, Learn, and Find are big deals in the rest department.
Matthew 11: 28-30 –
Come to Me, all you who labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My
burden is light.”
Come to Me is the perfect way to see
salvation. We trust Jesus alone for our salvation and he gives us rest from our
sins. Now comes the challenge because Jesus says Take my yoke. Let’s own this
one – many of us city folk have no idea what Jesus is imagining here. There’s
the first challenge, but the challenge intensifies as we discover He is
serious.
My best idea for you is to tell you a
short story of an ox calf. One day a little calf watches as his mom is placed
in a yoke – a sturdy wooden bar fitted across the neck of an animal in order to
plow or pull. While mom is pulling the ox is playing. But mom is there to
nurture, nourish, and satisfy the thirst of the young calf. The calf has no
ropes, no load, no heavy weight; just attached to mom through need.
The happy day arrives when the ox is too
big to play and ready to pull; happy for the farmer not the ox. The ox has to
submit its neck to the yoke, bending in humility in an act that goes against
all the freedom now known and enjoyed. Refusing
to bow the neck ox is prodded by farmer (a nice word for hit with a stick). Eventually, through breaking the ox wears the
heavy weight of the yoke.
Can you see yourself yet in the story? I
sure can see me. We enjoy the freedom and no cares of the early days of
Christianity. We begin to grow and are introduced to the fact that all
followers of Jesus are to serve. We are saved to serve him. We must humble
ourselves and take the yoke.
Now we begin to learn something of Him.
You see this yoke is His yoke. Well, getting back to the story may help here.
When ox takes the yoke he is not by himself. There is an older more experienced
ox that he is yoked too. This yoke is actually the leader’s yoke. He knows the
ropes, the pathways, the process of the work. He will teach young ox all he
needs to know about life in a yoke.
Do you see it yet? It is Jesus’ yoke. We
are to take it – that means surrender, submitting, and serving. But so many of
us want to go our own way and do our own thing. We want to come up with our own
plan for serving the Lord that fits into our frame work and neat little
packages. We wish to make our own yoke, but Jesus has called us to take his.
The flesh always wants to go its own way.
We just don’t feel like it; or its way to hard and our hearts not in it. Danger
with those emotions is that are to close to the flesh to produce the
righteousness Jesus desires in our life. They actually lead us to more bondage
in the long run. Amazingly, as we learn more of Him and from Him then the
promise of the Lord for rest begins to come true in our daily lives.
You will FIND rest in him. Some of you are
restless, aimless, and directionless. All because you came to him but now you
won’t take his yoke and learn from him. Here’s what I will find when I submit
to his yoke- His yoke is easy. “Easy” means “fit for service and able to be
used”. This means it is good, virtuous, mild, and pleasant.
You see the greatest joy of the yoke of
Christ is fellowship with Christ. AS we are yoked with Him then we discover
that he does the pulling; because He has POWER, He has PEACE, and He has a
PLAN. My part is to make myself available and then rest.
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