Finding Rest For Your Soul

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Helping people to know, joy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org.

Lord, when we say that we're going to make it through because our house is built on you, that's not just a lyric to a song, that is the gospel.

That is what you said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.

You said, Whoever hears these words of mine and puts them into practice.

So if we're just hearing the words, but we're not practicing them.

When the rain comes, our house is going to collapse and great will be the fall thereof.

As men, it will not just affect us, it will affect our children and their children.

So we are sobered by the responsibility to be men who integrate gospel into our living, not just on Sundays.

So our wives are like, hey, you took our family to church.

Good for you.

No cookie for us for coming to church.

The change happens when we integrate what we hear on Sunday into our life on Monday, and we're still savoring it on Thursday.

And it's affecting what we do and don't do on Friday and Saturday.

That's gospel integration.

That's what we're here for.

Because you said, whoever hears these words of mine puts them into practice.

So we've really gathered here today, not for a show.

We've gathered here to hear more of the words of Jesus and put them into practice because that is the firm, unchanging, unflinching reality at the bottom of it all.

It's a Holy Spirit, speak from your word and by your spirit because your servants are listening.

And whatever you say, we submit to today.

With your blood, you purchased men and women for God.

You didn't put us on layaway, you paid for us in full.

So let us be full, free people as a result of what we hear today.

We ask for this in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

We're in a four-part series right now on our core values, which are gospel, community, mission, and blessing.

And so, but I'm going to hit the pause button on that.

We'll pick that up next week since it's Labor Day weekend.

I wanted to talk to you about something germane to Labor Day, which is not labor, okay?

But just stay with me.

I want to talk to you this morning about finding rest for your soul.

Finding rest for your soul.

Now, this is not getting a better night's sleep.

Mattress Matt can help you with that right here on the Grand Parkway.

I'm talking about soul rest.

I'm not talking sleeping better.

I'm talking about uh uh what Jesus says when he says here, we'll see in just a minute.

He says, Come to me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and you, and I'll give you rest.

And he goes on later to say, and you will find rest for your souls.

And I realize this is kind of like what?

Kind of abstract and fuzzy.

So let me give you uh some stuff that may help you with some granularity around what I'm talking about.

Let me start with the definition of soul rest.

Soul rest is a deep, all-consuming rest we feel in our mind, soul, and body, which restores all these areas of our life to their created levels.

Hear that again.

Soul rest is a deep, all-consuming rest we feel in our mind, soul, and body.

Ladies, you know this.

Sometimes your husband, you can be at dinner with him, and he's not there mentally because his mind is at work.

Okay?

And men, you can get in bed at night and you can lay there and try to go to sleep, but your mind just will not turn off.

Ladies, your mind will not turn off.

It is still holding on to that one wayward child uh that keeps you up at night and you kind of pray for every night before you drift off into bed.

Soul rest is a deep, all-consuming rest we feel in our mind, soul, and body, and it restores all of these areas of our lives to their created levels.

Okay?

And so uh let me give you some signs that you lack soul rest.

That's a definition.

Here's some indicators that maybe you lack soul rest.

Number one, physical fatigue.

You can get plenty of sleep when you wake up and you're still tired.

You go on vacation, you come back, and that didn't do it for you because you're exhausted.

You're just consistently physically fatigued.

Secondly, a lost hunger for God's word.

It used to be important to me.

I used to kind of have a desire, appetite for it, but not so much anymore.

Thirdly, this feelings of being far from God.

I'm just far from God.

I mean, it just doesn't feel personal, doesn't feel intimate to me anymore.

Fourthly, there's no desire to serve others.

It's kind of like, hey, you know what?

I used to be gracious, I used to serve, I used to volunteer, but that didn't work for me.

That's an indication right there.

If everything has to work for you, you got to get a return on that investment immediately.

That that's an indicator.

No desire to serve others.

Put a start by this one.

Number five, entitlement.

Entitlement.

Uh, you're so tired, you seek nothing but your own satisfaction.

It's just kind of like, yeah, it's it's me time.

And I've done this, and it now it's time for me.

And if everybody else doesn't recognize that, well, that's their fault.

But it is time for me to be about me.

And here's the last sign you may lack soul rest.

The feelings of vague uncertainty.

Vague uncertainty.

I don't know becomes your mantra, and you doubt people and things that you shouldn't.

Some of the most consistent people in your life, you begin to look at them kind of suspect, kind of like, uh, I don't know if you're quite what you say you are.

It's just kind of this vague sense of uncertainty surrounds everything.

Uh, there's a pastor out in Portland named John Mark Comer.

He has a great this this this is kind of where I think this quote captures where we are as a culture.

Uh our our our lack of soul rest.

He says this, when our innate human restlessness collides with the digital age and a culture of accomplishment and accumulation, the result is an epidemic of emotional unhealth and spiritual death.

Yeah, hear that again.

When our innate human restlessness, there's a restlessness to being human.

It's just innate, it's born in us.

You students, you don't necessarily have have to have anxiety.

There's just a restlessness to being human.

Augustine said, our hearts are made for thee, and God, our hearts are restless until they find their home in thee.

And so there's this innate human restlessness that collides with the digital age.

Pick up my phone, I lay in bed, and I just stare at my phone until finally I'm drifting off to sleep and I set my phone down.

I want you to envision a day where you don't have a phone at all.

Where you just fast from it.

Matter of fact, I would just tell you, everybody in this room, students, adults alike, you should go at least one day a week without even picking up your cell phone.

Sometimes I just leave my phone somewhere on purpose, and when I get back, I got 14 messages, 18 texts, and the world's still running.

People say, Well, shouldn't you get that?

They need something.

I'll get it to them eventually.

Yeah.

But see, this is an epidemic of emotional unhealth and spiritual death.

This is where we are.

That's kind of a that's kind of a dark picture, but let me give you another quote that's a little hopeful.

Dallas Willard, who is a philosophy professor at USC, said this.

We have to arrange our lives where sin no longer looks good to us.

Soul rest.

Kind of having finding this little intermission.

If you've ever thought on Sunday afternoon or Sunday night, I wish I had a 12-hour period between now and Monday morning.

I I would be so much more ready for the week.

You really desire soul rest.

And if you structure your lives, you arrange your lives where sin no longer looks good, soul rest thickens your margins and it deepens your perspective.

And you see sin coming a long way away, and you're like, you know what?

No, thank you.

That doesn't even interest me.

It's not, it's just, no, I'm good.

Never mind.

Thanks, but no thanks.

You got to arrange your lives where sin no longer looks good.

Here's my concern.

We live at such a pace, we're so driven to accomplish that we we sin is almost necessary because we have to self-medicate from the pace at which we live.

And so this is what I mean by soul rest.

And here's what the Bible speaks about it.

In Matthew chapter 11, verse 25.

Matthew 11:25

At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Come to me, all 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.

There's three things I want you to see in the text today.

And the first one is invitation.

It's verse 28.

Jesus says, Come to me.

Now, come to me.

This is the invitation of Jesus to us today, and it should be as jarring to us as it was to people in the New Testament, because there's five or six different places in the New Testament where Jesus stands up, and typically he stands up and it's socially awkward.

It's inappropriate, it violates social mores.

You wouldn't learn this at Catilian.

I mean, it is like, what in the world is he doing?

But Jesus likes to stand up and announce in awkward times, come to me.

Like, for example, my favorite is in this five or six times.

I'll just give you one.

In John chapter seven, don't turn there towards the end of the chapter.

There's a feast going on.

They're celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles.

Uh, and what they would do for seven days as a part of the Feast of Tabernacles, they would get these golden pitchers, they would march in a processional down to the pool of Saloon.

That's it in John chapter 5, and they would scoop water out of it, and they would march back with, they'd have music playing, and like a graduation ceremony that goes on forever.

John 5 · chapter mention

And they'd march down and they would pour these pitchers of water on the altar at the temple to signify, and they would chant and they would quote from Isaiah chapter 12 One day with joy we will draw from the wells of salvation.

Isaiah 12 · chapter mention

And the Bible says in John chapter 7, by verse 37, on the last and greatest day of the feast.

John 7 · chapter mention

You know why is the greatest day of the feast?

Because everybody had procrastinated up to this point.

They're like, I ain't going to that thing.

It's seven days long.

I'll see you on day seven.

So everybody and their dog is there, their grandmother is there.

They're all packed in, 40 people deep on all sides, and they're going through the thing, and they've got the golden pitchers and they're pouring out water.

And then there's Jesus, rude, inconsiderate Jesus over there, gnawing on a chicken wing, sipping on authority, and he just, while they're pouring water on the altar, Jesus blurts out, Come to me.

If any man thirst, let him come to me, and out of your heart will flow rivers of living water.

Y'all don't get what just happened.

It would be like you being in a wedding with your kids, and and and and everything, everything's happened.

The groom's there, and the bridesmaid and the groom, and they chime the aisle, and the doors swing open, and the bride comes in, gets about halfway down the aisle, and your your eight-year-old son blurks out, How did he get her?

That would be wildly awkward, but your son would be a rock star at the reception.

People would be like, I was one of the same thing, my man.

Give me five.

Yes, Jesus is over there so disinterested in religious rituals, he just gnawing on a chicken wing.

It's like, when you guys get tired of going through these empty motions, that mean nothing.

Come to me.

Come to me and drink.

What kind of a narcissistic person does Jesus have to be to insist that people come to him?

I mean, they've got pomp and circumstance, they've got golden pictures, they've got a band, they've got uniforms, and Jesus has got a bucket of chicken wings and a half-drank 40, and he's over there.

That makes y'all uncomfortable, doesn't it?

How many of y'all know what a 40 is?

Say amen.

Sinners.

Yes.

Yes.

This is how Jesus doesn't give a big rip about their religious rituals.

Look, Jesus, we're going through the motions.

And Jesus is like, yeah, keep going through the motions and miss the reality.

Come to me.

Come to me.

This is the invitation, and it should be so jarring because Jesus clearly thinks a lot of himself.

Come to me.

You say, I don't know what you mean.

What's the big deal about coming to Jesus?

You seem excited about that.

It's it's not, see, you you gotta learn to come to Jesus instead of calling a friend.

Every time you have a hard day at work and talking to them all the way on the phone, all the way home.

You know, you won't believe what my boss did today.

He's such a jerk, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Jesus says, Come to me.

Or it's not students, oh yeah, oh, you wouldn't believe.

Texting one of your friends, oh, you wouldn't believe what he did today in algebra.

He didn't even talk to me, blah, blah, blah.

Come to me.

Because the people you look to in those moments, they have power over you.

Oh, yeah, sure they do.

Why do you think they ghost you?

Because they want to exercise control and power over you.

And for many of us, the reason we don't feel close to Jesus is because he's like the sixth or seventh person on the list that we call only after we've gone to all these other people and they didn't give us what we needed.

Then we fall in bed at night and we're like, well, you know, Jesus, can you believe?

You know, I texted her three times, she didn't text back, and my friend wasn't available.

And Jesus is going, Come to me.

Come to me.

Again, whoever you look to has a measure of power over you.

And if you don't learn to come to Jesus, you keep going to people and they disappoint you, and then you go turn to yourselves and you go deeper and deeper into yourself.

And eventually over time, you experience what I call the insufficiency of self, which is an epidemic in America.

It's why almost every teenage boy and girl has some form of anxiety, and we just keep cranking out the meds for them.

And I'm I'm all for meds.

Don't hear me say, do not take medication.

Take medication.

If you've been prescribed medication, smoking weed every day is not your self-diagnosed prescription, okay?

If you're visiting today, you're like, really?

Yeah.

Oh, I've got so many self-diagnosed friends.

Oh, yeah, I smoke weed for my anxiety.

You're 47 years old, bro.

You're just a pothead.

I'll be here next Sunday, too.

Yes.

See, here's one of the reasons that our students have crippling anxiety, and many people, many students are considering being something besides what they were born to be.

I was born a boy, I want to be a girl.

I was born a girl, I want to be a boy.

I was born as a man to love women, but maybe I'm just really gay.

Maybe that's God because I can't really find satisfaction anywhere else.

No, maybe what's happening is you're experiencing the insufficiency of self, and it causes us to seek to be someone else because this self is so consistently not satisfying.

And here's the here's here's the grace of God today for anybody to experience the insufficiency of yourself.

You were never created by God to meet your deepest need.

That feeling should drive you to God.

And there's Jesus over there like the third base coach with his big windmill arms of grace going, Come on home, come to me.

I got plenty of chicken wings left in the bucket.

Come to me.

Religious rituals are not going to change or help you.

So that's the invitation.

Come to me.

And then Jesus qualifies the kind of people who are invited to him.

He says, There's two qualifications you gotta have.

All you who labor and are heavy laden.

Let me define what those words mean in the text.

To labor means to grow weary, tired, or exhausted because of toil, burdens, or grief.

I wonder if there's anybody here that's just laboring.

I wonder if anybody here got more than two kids, and by the time you, mom, you get your last kid in bed, you come downstairs and you look at your husband, and your thought is just like, if I had more energy, I might kill you.

But I don't, so you're safe for tonight.

Now just turn on Netflix and pour me up something and shut up.

That's laboring.

Or you're just like, oh, I got a friend right now, he's on a big project, and he is just, he is winning.

So I'm working 12, 14 hour days.

I come home like 8:30 at night, my kids are already in the room doing homework, they'll enjoy being around me.

And I just say, what is God inviting you to?

Yeah, but if I just get this one project, I mean we'll be set.

You get that one project, and you won't have a family left.

Come to me.

You labor.

And he says, heavy laden.

That's people that are just those bearing a burden or a heavy load.

I wonder if in this room right now there's anybody bearing a heavy load.

There's anybody just come walking in, like, yeah.

Oh, if anybody had any idea, I know someone that does.

And his invitation to you today is simply to come to me.

So Jesus begins by saying, if anybody falls into these two categories, my solution for you is to come to me, not to go do anything else, not to go to somebody else, not to consult somebody.

I want the weary, the tired, the exhausted, the burdened, the overwhelmed and overloaded people to come to me.

Now, again, I keep harping on this because you got to ask yourselves what Jesus thinks about himself or knows about himself that will cause him to make such a claim, because he clearly thinks a lot about himself.

Or is it that he thinks a lot about what happens when we come to him?

He says, Come to me, all you that weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

When's the last time you felt rested?

You felt physically, emotionally, and spiritually, mind, soul, and body.

I felt full to my created levels.

Rest here's a verb.

Here's the definition to cause and permit one to cease from any movement or labor in order to collect our strength.

Take a message, please.

Somebody's phone went off.

It happens.

Rest.

We are so frenetically busy and moving.

God has to chase us down and cause us to cease from any movement labor in order to collect our strength.

We'll come back to that in a minute.

Here's the second thing you see in the text.

Number one is invitation.

Number two is submission.

Submission, verse 29.

Take my yoke upon you.

There's submission.

Take my yoke upon you.

Now, before I go any further, let me clarify what he means by yoke.

It is not what some people think, it's not like a big wood, heavy piece of wood that's kind of arched, like the McDonald's arches that goes over the back of two oxen and they get equally yoked up together.

That's not what he's talking about here.

If you've been to like uh uh to Asia or in the country, you see this a lot over there.

A yoke is basically it's like a wooden stick that goes across your shoulders and it evenly distributes the weight of two different things you're carrying.

Like a lot of times, if you go to Asia, you'll see women carrying like a five-gallon bucket of food over here and a bucket of water over here, and they just slide the yoke over and it balances out and they just walk.

It's just balanced across their shoulders.

They're so used to bearing this burden.

This is why when Jesus says, Take my yoke upon you, uh, he's metaphorically signifying this submission to the weight of some kind of authority.

Anytime you see the word yoke in the New Testament, this is what he's talking about.

It's this, hey, this is submission to the weight of some kind of authority.

So ask yourself this question today: who or what do you submit to?

If you want to see how your husband submits to authority, watch your husband when two lanes go down to one.

Yeah, that's my wife talking over here.

Because I think just pull out and drive on the shoulder, or stay in the lane that's closing as long as you can, and then put your blinker on when no one lets you in, it's their fault.

Yeah.

Who or what do you submit to?

Now, there's a lot of people, if you were honest, the answer is I don't submit to anybody.

The problem for many of us is that we never really submit to anybody.

We're the perpetual exception to every rule.

Nobody can tell you where to park, no one can tell you how to live, no one can tell you what to do.

You're like, hey man, I'm my own man.

I mean, we have D groups in our church, discipleship groups, and they're designed to like three to five men in a group or three to five women in a group, and they go through a book of the Bible, and we lay it out.

Hey, we want you going through a book of the Bible.

Why?

Because the Bible is the only thing that says it never goes out and comes back void.

And regardless of how many times we say that, people come to training, people go to things, and then they go, yeah, thanks.

We're gonna read a book.

Oh, we're gonna read this book or that book by some Christian author, and we're just like, ah, now by the way, we're not against reading books.

If you want to have a book club, get with Oprah and have a book club on Saturday mornings at your house.

But if you want to lead a D group here, submit to the leadership of your church and do what we ask you to do.

Oh, did you feel that?

I'll be right down front when we're done.

I don't know who you are.

And by the way, Travis didn't say anything to me.

He didn't come complain to me.

Travis is over D groups.

I just hear, you know, third and fourth hand.

I want to go to a book of the Bible.

But really, you know, I read this book five years ago, and it really moved me.

So, really, if you're in a group like that, you have a leader that's leading out of leftovers, not fresh revelation.

I wish I could see you.

Don't email Travis, email me.

And by the way, Travis didn't say anything to me.

I just hear it and I just chuckle.

You know what I think every time?

That is a man or woman who doesn't submit.

And you've got lots, especially if you've been in church a long time, lots of justification.

The bottom line, you just don't submit because your ideas are better.

And so church is just where you get people and baptize them into yourself.

You don't submit, you're just like, hey.

Now you got to understand the difference what Jesus is calling us to submit to and what religious people call people to.

In the Bible, there's these guys if you ever want to see Jesus just kind of being a little um little different.

Direct, read Matthew chapter 23.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

And there's these people called the scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day.

And in Matthew 23, Jesus just takes the top off and goes after them.

He has these seven woes where he says, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

And then he describes the behavior.

He starts in the chapter in verse 2.

He says, This.

Now, when Jesus says, Take my yoke upon you, look at me, okay?

Look at me.

When he says, take my yoke upon you, they have a frame of reference for a yoke.

Because they think the law is like a yoke, they just put on it like thank you for this millstone necklace.

I'll do my best.

No, because they just thought we're going to be overwhelmed, because this is what religious leaders did.

Matthew 23, verse 2.

Matthew 23:2

The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat.

So do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do.

For they preach, but they do not practice.

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and they lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

And so Jesus says, Take my yoke upon you.

The key word in that sentence is my.

Because he's telling us something about himself.

If you look at verse 30, he defines what he's talking about.

He says, For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

That word, the English word easy, it's a Greek word.

Now, why do I say the Greek word?

Because the New Testament was originally written in Greek, translated into English.

Nothing was lost, okay?

And so when he says the word easy, my yoke is easy, uh, that's the Greek word kristos.

You know, you know what it means?

Kind.

So Jesus says, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.

For my yoke is kind, it's easy, and it's light.

Compared to juxtaposed against the religious leaders of the day who would tie heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, and but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

So when I say submission, I don't mean, oh, it's miserable.

No, look at me.

It's easy and it's light because Jesus is kind.

Here's the third thing we should see in the text: transformation.

Verse 29.

He says, Take my yoke upon you.

And then he says, and learn from me.

This is transformation.

Learn from me.

Learn is a verb, and it's as if we're being commanded to do something.

This kind of learning puts us in the habit of becoming accustomed to learning.

You don't just, you never learn enough.

I never learn enough.

We learn and it puts us in the habit of becoming accustomed to learning.

And so ask yourself, what's the last thing I learned from Jesus?

What's the last thing that I just, well, you know what?

God taught me this.

It was so good.

It's so showing up in my life and transforming the way I relate to my wife and the way I parent my kids and the way I drive and the way I spend money and the way I talk.

This is what's happening in me.

Now, by the way, we're all for learning here.

Matter of fact, we have classes, we have Sunday morning Bible studies at 9.30 in the building next door.

We have probably four or five classes that meet at 9.30 because we want people to learn.

We have midweek classes which start here in like in a week, like on November Tuesday, like November 13th, and then Wednesday the 14th, they start.

They go for 10 weeks.

And we only do them for 10 weeks in the fall and 10 weeks in the spring.

And you say, why?

Because we believe there's a rhythm to life, not just pace.

And so we start with a midweek meal.

If you're new to our church, I want you to know this.

In the old sanctuary building, the one with the green roof right there, we have a midweek meal, and it's something different every time we have Chick-fil-A, canes, and we do pizza, kind of rotate.

Personally, I prefer Chick-fil-A because it's Christian chicken.

Amen.

And it's so much easier to throw a nugget at a kid than throw a pizza.

I mean, meaning there, if you're new to our church, seriously, it's$5 a person,$20 for a whole family.

By the way, we've got some homeschool families with 17 kids.

They clean up on this bad boy.

They're just like, hey, 20 bucks, we're in, and they come and eat.

And I'm like, glory to God.

But we start eating about 545 and about 6.25, parents take their kids and children, drop them off because we have a program for children.

We have stuff for youth.

They're going to have Chick-fil-A in the warehouse every night.

Ian, the new youth pastor, can Cheyenne say, hey, we have Chick-fil-A for our students.

Can they bring a bag of lunch?

He's like, no, y'all are eating peer.

We want to eat out there, so they'll have Chick-fil-A for your students.

So Wednesday night, you can take dinner off the agenda, mommy.

Ain't got to mess with it.

And you can learn.

Now, if you some of you have already signed up for midweek classes on the website, if you haven't, let me let me come in two classes to you.

If you want to learn something, there's a women-only class that meets on Wednesday nights, taught by two women in our church on the book of Romans.

You're like, oh, the book of Romans.

No, they'll just walk you through it to where you'll understand what God is saying and what it means that matters in your life.

There's another class taught by Brent, uh our teaching pastor, and Blake, our spiritual formation pastor, about your spiritual gift.

Your spiritual gift.

And then there's understanding the way God wired you up.

My spiritual gift is God gives you an ability and a capacity.

Like because of what my spiritual gift is, sometimes I say things that sound a little bit uh what's the right word?

Awkward.

There you go.

Yes, yeah, that's a great word.

Yes, I say things that sound awkward.

And some of y'all may be thinking, ooh, is he mad?

Not at all.

Because of my spiritual gift, I just think y'all want the truth, right?

Now you're like, well, I kind of like it, you know, with a little sugar on top.

That's why we have Brent and Leo on staff.

Yes, the kingdom is about diversity.

Aren't you glad?

Now, that doesn't mean I don't like sugar.

That just means I'm just like, what do we do?

But see, when you understand what your spiritual gift is, how you're wired up, then you understand what God wants you to do.

And so I come in those two classes to you.

We're all about learning.

Learning, transformation is about learning.

It's about going from this to this.

It's not, it's just learn from me.

Not just learn about me.

See, we've got to be careful, our knowledge of Jesus is not just secondhand that we collect from podcasts while we're driving around the city.

My fear is we've got so much religious content floating around that our need for Jesus has gone away.

As long as we got the internet, we'll be fine.

You have to be careful, beloved.

Because, see, both taking my yoke and learning from me are predicated on the right understanding of who it is that is issuing the invitation.

Let me say that again.

Both, Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

Both of those things are predicated.

Submission and transformation are predicated upon the right understanding of who it is that is issuing the invitation.

So Jesus says, uh, he describes himself for the first and only time in all four Gospels.

And this is how he describes himself.

It's right here in the Bible.

Don't miss it.

Verse 28, or excuse me, verse 29.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

Here's why you should do that.

He says, For I am gentle and lowly in heart.

Now hear those two words, in heart.

At the center of my being.

This is not something I pretend to be, so you'll like me.

This is God says, This is who I am.

I am gentle and lowly in heart.

He said, What do you mean, gentle?

It means a mildness of disposition, a gentleness of spirit.

And then he says, I'm lowly.

We don't understand lowly.

When I say lowly, most of you hear little John, get low, get low.

Everybody on the floor, get low.

I know how you think.

They played that at my daughter's wedding.

I was just like, somebody's going to hell for this.

Yeah.

When he says lowly, what it means is this of low degree, not rising far from the ground.

Now, you say, why is that such a big deal?

Here's why that's a big deal, okay?

You still with me?

Say amen.

Here's why that's a big deal.

Don't miss this.

When he says, I'm gentle and I'm lowly, I don't rise far from the ground, because God knew that there'd be some people in this room today, at some point in your life, you knew better and you did it anyway, and you were so disgusted with yourself, so full of self-hatred, you wanted to cut yourself, you wanted to punish yourself, and you sure could not even look at yourself.

You were so humiliated.

True or false?

I couldn't hear you.

Here's why it matters to you people that he's not just gentle, but he's lowly.

He doesn't stand over you and go, uh-huh.

Yeah, what'd I tell you?

Well, I forgave you last time, and I'm about tired of forgiving you for that one.

So this is going on the scoreboard.

So just do your best, and I'll see you on judgment day.

It's not the God of the Bible.

No, the God of the Bible is lowly.

He just gets down here and you're just laying there, and he just puts his hand on your back and says, Shh, shh, shh.

He talks to you like you talk to your children when they are in the crib.

Hey, hey, it's okay.

And you can't even look at him.

So he just gets low and he just puts his hand on your back and says, It's okay.

It's okay.

I know you can't look at me, but my face is towards you.

I'm unchanging in my affection towards you.

There's nothing you can say or do that's gonna make me stop loving you.

So you have to learn to live as a loved woman.

Cry all you want.

I'm here.

I'm not like all the other men in your life.

I'm not leaving.

I'm here.

And finally, when you just feel his hand on your back and you realize he's not going away.

He's just lowly, he's just right here.

You finally turn your face towards him, and he sets up and smiles and says, Yeah, not only am I gentle and lowly, I'm also a lifter of your head.

Let's get up off of this now.

Come on.

We don't have to waller in this.

You are more than what you failed at.

This is why Jesus, this is why submission is possible.

This is why transformation is real.

Because he's gentle and he's lowly.

He's oh, I'm lowly.

And and this is what he says after this.

This is the part you can't miss.

It's so subtle and yet it's so profound.

And he says, and you will find rest for your souls.

Now, think with me just for a minute.

You will find rest for your souls.

Now, wait a minute.

Verse 28, he's giving you rest.

Right here in verse 29, you're finding rest.

What happens?

There's a change that takes place.

Where he began in verse 28, Jesus gives us rest.

Where we end up in verse 29 is that we find rest for our souls.

Here's why.

Don't miss this.

A part of maturing is experiencing.

If if life is needed and never experienced, then you will live perpetually tired the rest of your life.

If it's just if you relate to Jesus, because oh, I just need this again, I need this again.

Yeah, you need rest.

I need rest.

But Jesus said, if you do these things, you will ex you will find rest.

You won't need anybody else to give it to you.

You'll just, as a part of the way you've structured your life and the rhythm of your being, you will find rest for your souls, for the deepest, most eternal part of you, you will find this rest.

Now, back in verse 28, the word rest is a verb.

I gave you the definition.

Here in verse 29, it's a noun and it's defined as intermission.

This may or may not surprise you.

I don't much enjoy the theater.

I know you're probably taken aback by that.

Like, hey, I took you as an artsy type.

Now, if students in our church are involved in a play and they say, Pastor Neil, would you come?

I'll go.

I've been to some productions before.

I don't mind that at all.

I went and saw the sound of music this past year.

It was great.

But I also love the intermission.

Because you got to go get snacks.

And you got to look at the program and say, okay, we got this much more, and then we're done.

All right, glory to God.

So I went and bought some overpriced snacks.

Got me a Coke Zero and a candy bar, and I thought, I'm gonna make it.

One's gonna offset the other here.

Why do I tell you that?

This noun here means intermission.

You'll find an intermission for your souls so your soul can get what it needs to do what you were created to do, and that is soul rest.

You will find rest for your souls.

Jesus will not have to track you down and slow you down and give you rest because you have so structured your life to where you just find rest.

You're finding rest.

You'll find the thing that has felt so elusive for so long.

You'll find an uncluttered space in your life and experiences where you become the person that God created you to be.

This is why Jesus says, Come to me.

Because either Jesus is a self-centered narcissist who thinks way too much of himself, or Jesus believes that only in him can you and I experience what we were created to experience.

And it's not just that he likes himself.

Look at me.

He likes what happens when you and I come to him.

We find soul rest.

Let's pray together.

If you're our guest today, just relax.

We'd like to teach the Bible and give you some space to think about it.

Some questions come up on the screen.

Those are for you to ponder.

We'll talk about in our community groups, but don't try to write them down.

If you want to, you can discreetly take a picture.

But just be still right now and just ask the Holy Spirit hey, what goes in the to-go box and I take home with me, and what do I leave here?

Lord, brew it over us now.

As we think about something that we don't talk about enough in the church.

We don't need a sleep number bed, a temperature, adjustable mattress.

All those things are well and good.

I hope everybody has one.

But we need rest, not sleep.

Spiritual, not just physical.

And you said we would find rest for our souls.

And so, Lord, we're just we're tired of needing.

We want to experience.

Would you talk to us about that for just a moment before we go?

Jesus, you know this, but to be certain and to be clear, none of us thinks you're a narcissist.

We think you're the Son of God.

You're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

And you're the God who's gentle and lowly.

So when we are so full of self-hatred and self-loathing, we want to punish ourselves.

You come and slay beside us in the dirt and put your hand on our back and say, I know, I know.

I understand.

That's why you pleaded in the garden with your father.

If it would be possible, let this cup pass from me.

But he put his hand on your back and said, It's not.

You gotta drink this cup, and you did.

And so when the Bible tells us that you're gentle and lowly, we want to submit to you.

We want to we want to be transformed by you, we want to learn of you.

So, Lord, this we take the yoke today.

The weight of authority.

We're okay with that.

Because we can taste the insufficiency of ourself, and it doesn't taste good.

Lord, and let that drive us not to not to sinful behaviors, but let that drive us to you, not to self-hatred, but to self-understanding.

I was never intended to satisfy myself in the first place.

So I'm feeling what God created me to feel, and that's mercy.

And we're so thankful for that, Jesus.

So we say thank you in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being here.

You're always welcome.

Your questions are always welcome.

One thing we'd ask of you, if you're our guests, if you just pull your phone out and text welcome to that number on the screen, we'd love to have a record of your attendance.

Uh, we're not going to show up uninvited in your life.

We just want to help you take your next step in your spiritual journey, whatever that may be, okay?

Uh also, if today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity when it comes to giving, uh, there are offering boxes located by all the doors.

I haven't mentioned this in a while.

And uh we had a visitor for the first time a couple weeks ago, and he came up at the varsity luncheon and he said, Hey, I got here a little late.

I missed the offering.

And I said, Oh yeah, we don't pass the plate.

Uh, we just our people understand that stewardship is a part of the DNA of a Christian.

And so there's boxes there for people to give.

Some people set it up and they give online.

You can do either one, okay?

So if today's a day that you're you're you're giving, that's where you could take care of that.

All right.

We have a couple things coming up, uh, opportunities to learn of Jesus, we want you to be aware of.

So let's check out our video announcements.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's a few things we want you to know.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.

Men's Weekend is coming October 14th and 15th.

Chris Brooks will be speaking, and it will be a full weekend of worship, God's Word, and fellowship with the men of the church.

Also, there is a Men's Discipleship Group Information Meeting September 11th at 4 p.m.

For both of these events, register at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So if you would stand to your feet.

Remember when your kids were little and they were in the crib?

Remember how you talked to them?

Hello?

Hold your hands out.

Your father is gentle and lowly.

And he speaks to you the way you spoke to your children when they were most vulnerable.

Remember that.

You don't have to be afraid of him.

He says, Come to me.

Come to me, all you that labor heavy laden, and you'll find what you're looking for.

Depart now into this reality.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.