Jesus' Invitation to Rest

The scripture reading this morning comes from Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen, the bulletin, or on your Bible.

Starting in verse 25, we read,

At that time, Jesus declared,

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

that you have hidden these things from the wise and 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.

This is the word of God.

Amen.

Okay, I think there we go.

Thank you, Angie, for reading that,

and thank you to the musicians for leading us in worship.

It was, man, what a wonderful time.

Welcome to those of you who don't know me.

My name is Kevin.

I'm one of the elder pastors here,

and it's great to be with you this morning.

To those of you in the community center

or at home watching on YouTube,

welcome to you as well.

A very warm welcome to our church family.

We are working our way through Matthew's gospel.

We've been doing that slowly over a fair while.

Two years ago we started it,

and we took a break for two years or so.

In the last eight weeks,

we've been working from chapter 8 to chapter 11.

And today's our last section in Matthew's gospel

for a little while,

then we'll take a break and pick it up again.

And we come to this amazing, amazing passage,

very famous passage in chapter 11.

But in order to understand this,

let's just remind ourselves

what's been happening in chapter 11.

You'll remember earlier on, chapter 9,

there's this kind of famous summary

of what's been going on in Matthew's gospel,

where Matthew says,

Jesus went around in all the cities of Galilee,

proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom

and healing every disease and affliction.

And Jesus is doing this amazing work and ministry,

and it elicits a response from various people.

Some people, as Chris explained to us last week,

are confused and full of doubt about who Jesus is.

One of these people is John the Baptist.

You remember, John the Baptist came with this fiery message.

He says to the religious leaders of his day,

you brood of vipers,

you bunch of snakes.

He says,

the axe is at the tree

waiting to cut you guys down.

And John the Baptist expected

that when the Messiah came,

he was going to reform the whole Jewish system.

He was going to wipe out all the corruption

and overhaul the system and start again.

And then when Jesus came,

he wasn't anything like what John the Baptist expected.

And so John is confused,

and he sends this message to Jesus saying,

hey, did I get something wrong?

Did I miss the memo here?

You and me are going to come and sort us all out,

and you just are doing all sorts of good.

And John is confused,

and he's full of doubts.

Other people are confounded by Jesus

because he doesn't dance to their tune.

Do you remember there's that amazing little line

where Jesus says,

the people of this generation

are like children who play in the marketplace,

and they say,

hey, we played a dance song for you,

and you didn't dance.

We played a dirge,

like a mourning song,

and you didn't mourn.

What's up with you, Jesus?

And Jesus says,

I don't dance to your tune.

I don't march to your drumbeat.

And this irritates them and frustrates them.

And so they write them off as a heretic

and as a lunatic.

And what Jesus is saying here

is that if you want to experience his grace,

if you want to encounter

the life-transforming power of Jesus,

you've got to come to him on his terms.

You've got to come to him as he reveals himself.

You can't come to him with your preconceived ideas.

You can't try and put Jesus in a box

and say, well, this is what I need from a Messiah.

You come to Jesus like that,

and you're going to be a bitly disappointed.

But if you come to him and say,

Jesus, I'm willing to learn from you.

Who are you?

If we come to him on his terms,

in that place,

we find the life-transforming power,

life-transforming grace of Jesus.

And so that's what's happening.

And so at the end of that passage,

we get to this very famous passage in chapter 11.

And look at this passage with me.

Jesus says this from verse 28.

We're going to focus on verse 28 to 30.

Jesus says,

Come to me,

all you who labor,

who are weary,

heavy laden.

I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you.

Learn from me,

for I am gentle and lowly in heart.

You will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy,

and my burden is light.

Friends,

if there's one thing that every human heart longs for,

no matter what your culture,

your background,

your ethnicity,

your language,

or your social status,

every human being longs for that rest,

that deep soul rest.

All of us long to rest in peace,

not only one day when we die,

but even in this lifetime.

And if you've ever been in a difficult relationship,

or you've ever been in a relationship that's under strain,

you'll know that is the least restful state of being.

That is the most stressful position anyone could be in,

a relationship where there's conflict.

But a right relationship brings rest.

And Jesus claimed there that ultimate rest,

true lasting rest,

peace,

the longing that every human heart has,

comes only through being in relationship with Him.

Jesus, in a sense,

is saying,

I am the true rest maker.

You want real rest?

I'm the one that you must embrace.

Jesus here is actually quoting from a very famous passage

in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah,

Jeremiah 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6.

The nation of Israel is in a relationship with God,

but the relationship is very strained.

And God says to Israel,

He says,

Stand at the crossroads.

Stand at the ancient roads, paths,

and ask for the good way,

and walk in it.

And when you walk in it,

you will find rest for your souls.

Everybody wants modern solutions to our ancient problems, right?

You want to try Google it,

or new piece of technology.

We're all looking for modern solutions

to our ancient problems.

Jesus says that our ancient problems

can only be fixed by ancient solutions.

God says to the nation of Israel,

Go to the crossroads,

and go ask for the ancient paths,

and walk in them,

and you'll find rest for your souls.

And what Jesus is saying here is,

that ancient path,

that for thousands of years,

people from every culture

have found that has led to peace,

is actually the path it leads to me.

Look at all the personal pronouns in this passage.

Look at what Jesus says here.

He says,

Come to me,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you.

Learn from me,

for I am gentle in heart.

I am lowly in heart.

My yoke is easy.

My burden is light.

Eight or nine times there,

Jesus is calling attention to himself.

Jesus doesn't say,

Go to God,

and he will give you rest.

That's what you'd expect from a prophet

or a religious guru.

Jesus doesn't say,

Look within yourself,

deal with your issues,

and that will find you rest.

Almost every modern philosophy

will tell you to look within yourself.

Jesus doesn't call us to join a religion,

to sign up to an institution,

or to go on a religious pilgrimage.

Jesus tells us that the kind of soul rest

that every human being is desperately looking for

is not found in a daily practice

or a great beach vacation,

as wonderful as that is.

It's found in coming to the person of Jesus himself.

Jesus is always saying things like this.

Jesus says things like,

I am the bread of life.

If you want to satisfy your soul,

you've got to come to me.

Jesus says,

I am the light of the world.

Unless you come to me,

you'll always grope around in the dark.

Jesus says,

I am the great physician.

Only by coming to me

can you be truly healed

of your cancer of sin

and be made whole.

Jesus says in John 7,

If anyone is thirsty,

let him come to me and drink.

Jesus is forever talking like this.

Now do you know what that means?

It doesn't mean that if you come to Jesus,

all your problems will be solved

and life will just be rosy, right?

Just ask our friends,

Gloria and Wilson in Australia.

Their five-year-old son

going through chemo at the moment.

Following Jesus doesn't mean

that life is just

walking on cloud nine

or a bed of roses.

But

Jesus is saying here

that if you have Christ,

if you're in Christ,

the deepest longing of our hearts

and our souls

are met.

And that apart from Christ,

you can have all the treasures

in the world,

all the money in the world,

but there'll still be

an empty gnawing

in your heart.

Augustine famously said,

you made us for yourself,

oh Lord,

and our hearts

will forever be restless

until they find

their rest in you.

It's amazing.

Our hearts will forever be restless

until they find

their rest in you.

Now, of course,

all this talk about

how Jesus is the one

is kind of what you'd expect

from a Sunday sermon

at church, right?

I hope that's what you'd expect,

not something else.

But

Jesus is not just

talking about Sundays here.

Jesus is not just saying,

listen, on Sunday,

don't go and play golf,

don't go to the beach,

come to church

and you'll find rest

for your souls.

What about Monday to Friday?

What about the rest

of our lives?

What Jesus is saying here

is what we sang earlier,

Lord, I need you.

Every hour,

I need you.

Monday to Friday,

every day of the week

in the places of our lives

that are most exhausting,

most wearisome,

most draining

in our work life,

in our relationships,

in our finances,

maybe at home,

in those relationships

that are tough,

with our children,

in those places,

come and find your rest

in Him

and He will give us

what we so desperately need

and long for

to come and give us

the rest of our hearts.

We spoke about Augustine

a minute ago.

Augustine,

if you don't know him,

he was a philosopher,

theologian,

hundreds of years ago

in the fourth century.

And Augustine was raised

by his mother

to believe and trust in Jesus.

But when he grew up,

he wanted nothing

to do with Jesus.

And so he ran as far as he could

in the opposite direction.

And he was born in,

I think, Algeria, Africa.

He went to Alexander

and Egypt

and then to Rome.

And he ran as far away

from Jesus as he could

because he thought

Jesus is going to restrain

his joy and his pleasure.

And so he was on a mission

to maximize his pleasure.

And he did that primarily

through as many relationships

as he could.

He was famous in his town

for being a real playboy.

And then sometime

in the middle of his adult life,

he hits a crisis,

he picks up a Bible

and he reads Romans 13.

And God's word pierces his heart,

arrests him on the spot

and he gives his life to Christ.

He surrenders to Jesus

and becomes a follower of Jesus.

But listen to what Augustine wrote

in his autobiography.

It's a little bit wordy,

so I apologize,

but see if you can follow on with me.

He says this,

Late have I come to you,

beauty so old and yet so new.

And yet you were within me all along.

I was in the external world

and I sought for you out there.

And in my unlovely state,

I plunged deep into those lovely created things,

things which you made.

But those lovely things

kept me far from you,

even though apart from you

they have no existence at all.

You called and cried out loud.

You shattered my deafness.

You were radiant and resplendent.

Resplendent means exceedingly beautiful.

You were radiant and resplendent.

You put to flight my blindness.

You were fragrant

and I drew in my breath

and now I pant after you.

I tasted you once

and now I hunger and I thirst for you.

You touched me

and now I burn like fire

to attain the peace

which is found in you.

You see what Augustine's saying there?

He's saying,

I ran all over the place looking for you.

I searched in all the lovely things of this world.

I looked for sex,

I looked for romance,

I looked for knowledge,

I studied in Alexander,

the leading institutions of the age.

I looked for you everywhere

but those things kept me

from the peace I actually needed

which is found in you.

And I tasted you once

and now I burn like fire

for the peace that is found within you.

Friends, is that you?

Are you weary and hungry for rest?

Jesus says,

come to me.

I am the rest maker.

I give you peace.

And notice,

who is it that Jesus is inviting here?

Jesus doesn't invite those

who have found their self-worth

or self-satisfied or self-sufficient.

Jesus does not promise rest

to those that have earned it

through hard work and striving.

Jesus promises his life-giving rest

not as a reward to the faithful

but as a gift to those who need it.

All those who are weary and heavy laden,

come to me, says Jesus.

Friends, Jesus invites the exhausted,

the storm-tossed,

the poor in spirit,

the anxious,

the abused,

those who carry baggage,

those who carry guilt,

those who carry scars in life.

Anyone who is wearied by life's burdens,

Jesus says,

come to me

and I will give you rest.

Now,

what does it actually mean

to come to Jesus?

Jesus says,

come to me,

but what does that actually mean?

Well,

look at our passage here.

In this passage,

Jesus gives us two instructions.

The first one is he says,

come to me,

verse 28.

But the second one,

verse 29,

Jesus says,

take my yoke upon you.

And that's actually what it means

to come to Jesus.

Now,

you may be familiar

with the language of yoke,

but if you're not,

a yoke is the wooden bar

that farmers would put

across the soldiers

of their oxen

or their horses

or something

to join two oxen together

so that they could pull

a cart

or plow a field

that they could work

in tandem together

and be effective.

And so,

they would get these two oxen,

put this wooden yoke,

this bar across their shoulders

with a collar around

so that they wouldn't

drift off separately.

And together,

these oxen could do

what the farmer

was needing them to do.

Now,

what would happen

in the ancient world,

apparently,

maybe still in some countries

in the world,

is that if you had

a new oxen

and an older oxen,

you would put the new oxen,

yoke them together

with the older,

bigger,

stronger oxen

to teach them

and to train them.

And so,

a new cow

would be yoked together

with an older,

stronger,

bigger one

so that he could be broken

and learn the way

of the farming.

But the other thing

that I learned recently,

Chris actually taught me this,

I didn't know this,

I didn't know Chris

was a farmer,

but apparently,

that if you've got,

that sometimes farmers

would have a bigger collar

and a smaller collar.

And you'd think

that the bigger collar

would go on the bigger oxen,

the stronger one,

the older one,

and the smaller collar

would go on the younger,

smaller oxen.

But actually,

farmers would often put

the smaller collar

on the bigger,

older oxen

because that ox

could then carry

the weight,

the burden,

and the young ox or cow

that is still being broken in

could still find its way

and didn't have to carry

the full weight

of the burden

on its shoulders.

Friends,

you see what Jesus

is saying here?

Jesus says,

you anxious,

you weary,

come and take

my yoke upon you.

Jesus is saying,

ironically,

that the only way

to be truly free,

the only way

to really find

the rest that we long for,

that we so desperately want,

the kind of rest

that lasts longer

than a week

or a month

or longer than

a good holiday,

is not found

in extended beach holidays,

is not found

in more leisure activities,

it's actually found

in being yoked to him

and what that means is

by surrendering

our autonomy,

actually coming

and submitting

ourselves to him,

coming under his authority

and allowing ourselves

to be mastered by him.

And that's completely

counterintuitive

and countercultural.

Jesus says that

only as we come to him

and allow ourselves

to be mastered by him,

submit to him,

do we actually find

the freedom

that we want.

Now Jesus was not

the first one

to come up with this analogy.

In the first century,

all rabbis spoke about

the yoke of their teaching.

And what they meant by that

was come under my doctrine,

my teaching,

and you'll take my yoke.

But Jesus points out

what everybody knew

but was too scared to say.

In Matthew 23,

Jesus says this,

he's speaking about

the religious leaders

and he says,

these religious leaders,

they preach

but they cannot practice

what they preach.

They tie up heavy burdens,

hard to bear,

and they lay them

on people's shoulders

but they themselves

cannot even bear

those burdens

that they put on others.

He says,

they do all their deeds

merely to be seen

by others.

And what Jesus is saying

is that every religious system

in the world,

every moral philosophy

in the world

that is divorced

from a relationship

with Christ himself

is ultimately

going to become a burden

because it necessarily

becomes reduced

to rituals,

to performance,

to practices,

to duty.

Jesus says,

only as you marry me,

as you come into

a relationship with me,

do the things

I call you to

not become a heavy burden

but actually become

life-giving.

Friends,

is your Christianity

exhausting?

Does it wear you out?

Does being a Christian

feel like a burden

on your shoulders?

It means that,

if that's the case,

it means you've divorced it

from the person of Jesus.

Your faith in Christ

has merely become

a religion

and that is forever

going to be exhausting.

Jesus says,

come to me.

But do you know what?

The secular worldview

of our day

which promises rest

and hope and peace

is just as exhausting.

It's the ultimate

bait and switch.

Do you know that phrase,

bait and switch?

It's like,

when somebody baits you

with something,

they offer you something,

this golden carrot

and then as you take it,

they switch it

with something else,

right?

They say,

buy this house

and,

or they advertise

like this beach holiday

and all food and beverages

are included

and you go on the beach holiday

and you find

it's like half a star restaurant,

the food is off,

it's the ultimate

bait and switch.

They seduce you

with a bait

and then they switch

it with something else.

Friends,

every,

our culture,

the secular cultures

of our age

promise us rest

in a thousand ways

but in the end

they're exhausting,

they're wearisome.

Friends,

how many of us

are weighed down

with exhaustion

trying to prove ourselves,

trying to be someone great,

trying to prove

whether to our parents

or ourselves

that we're not a failure,

that we're somebody,

that we've got the goods,

that we can make the great.

I plunged myself

into those lovely

created things

which you made

but those lovely things

kept me far from you.

Tim Keller said it like this,

in ancient times

the gods were bloodthirsty

and hard to please.

Even today

they still are.

Friends,

isn't that why

in Hong Kong

we all work

such exceedingly long hours,

always taking on

more projects,

always taking on

more assignments,

always taking on

more work?

Friends,

isn't that why

how many of us

live under the constant

yoke of people's expectations,

whether it's our boss

or our parents

or Facebook

or Instagram?

Friends,

how many of us

work harder and harder

at school projects

and assignments

and we're so overwhelmed

we carry this burden

trying to prove ourselves,

whether to our parents

or our peers

or to ourselves,

that we're somebody,

that we've got the goods?

Friends,

isn't that why

we find it so hard

to say no?

In ancient times

the gods were bloodthirsty

and hard to please.

Even today

they still are.

And Jesus says

that if you want

to find life,

if you want to find

the rest that He promises,

the way to do it

is to actually

give up your life.

You've got to abandon

all those other things

that you've yoked yourself to.

You've got to abandon

those other things

that you've surrendered

yourself to.

If you truly want

to be free,

you have to surrender

your autonomy

to His authority.

You've got to join yourself,

so join yourself

that you're actually

at His mercy.

And that's a remarkable

claim.

Now here's the question.

Why should we trust Him?

Why should we trust Him?

What Jesus is calling us

to here is radically

significant.

He says the only way

you're going to find

the rest that you long for

is to actually die

to yourself

and to come to Him,

to surrender yourself

to His yoke,

to His experience.

If you really want

to find the life-transforming

grace that He promises,

Jesus doesn't say

come and drop coins

in the offering

or go on a homely

pilgrimage to Israel

or join a siege.

He says you've got

to abandon yourself

to those things

that you've yoked

yourself to

and you've got

to come to Me.

Why should we trust Him?

Why should we do that?

Well, as we come to close,

I want to give us

three simple reasons.

Three reasons

why you can trust Jesus.

The first is this,

because He knows you

the best.

Look at what He says here

in verse 27.

Jesus says,

All things have been

handed over to Me

by My Father.

Another way of saying

that is all authority

in all the world

belongs to Me.

And Jesus says,

Nobody knows the Father

like Me

and nobody knows Me

like the Father.

What's Jesus saying there?

Jesus is saying

that I have existed

from eternity past

to eternity in the future.

I know you better

than yourself.

I know everything about you.

If there's one person

you can trust,

you can trust Me.

Friends,

have you ever bought

a new gadget

or appliance?

What does it always

come with?

It comes with instructions,

right?

And there's always

a little line that says,

For best results,

follow the maker's instructions.

Is that right?

Okay.

Maybe not your appliances.

And what is the problem

with most guys?

We throw the instructions away

and say,

I know how this thing works.

And our wives

are always looking

off the instructions

and helping us

when we get it wrong,

right?

How many have ever

tried to build

an Ikea cabinet

or cupboard

and you say,

There it is, love.

It looks great.

And she opens the door

and you realize

you put the door

in the wrong way

or something like that,

right?

For best results,

follow the maker's instructions.

Jesus is saying here,

I am the maker.

I'm the one who made you.

I know you the best.

If you really want

to find life,

you've got to come to me.

I don't know

if you've ever been

in a situation

where you've heard kids,

little kids,

having a conversation.

It's very funny,

right?

And sometimes you'll hear

a kid, let's say,

four years old

and one kid will say,

My dad's car

can drive

the speed of light.

And another kid says,

My dad's car

can drive

as fast as lightning.

And this kid will say,

My dad's car

can fly to America.

And the next kid will say,

Well, my dad's car

can fly to the moon,

right?

And they're kind of like

all these exaggerated things.

And some of them

even believe it.

I remember when I was a kid,

I had a friend

in kindergarten

that pointed to a car

and said,

You see that car?

It's called a ninja car.

It can fly.

And I totally believed him.

Friends,

every system of the world

is making radical claims

like that.

You want true rest?

Buy that holiday home.

You want true rest?

Put your kids

in this university.

You want true rest?

Invest in this vehicle.

You want true rest?

The rest that your heart

is longing for?

Buy this gadget.

Friends,

all of it is like

kids in the dark.

They don't know

what they're talking about.

But Jesus comes along

and he says,

I know you the best

and I love you the most.

And I was there at creation

and I know what's good for you.

You can trust me.

Remember what Augustine said?

Our hearts were made for you

and will always be restless

until they find their rest in you.

Friends,

how can you trust him?

Jesus is not just one

of a plethora of kids

in the car

making these radical,

ridiculous claims.

Jesus is the one

who knows you the best

and he knows what your heart

is made to function on.

Here's another reason

why I can trust him.

Because of the cross.

Jesus comes to us

and he says,

take my yoke upon you

and you'll find rest

for your souls.

And sometimes that can feel

like we're dying inside.

But friends,

Jesus doesn't ask us

to die ultimately.

He asks us to die

to ourselves

because he says,

in that place

you'll find true life.

How do we know

that he's true?

Because Jesus

really did die for us.

Jesus didn't just

put on his shoulders

a yoke,

a work instrument.

Jesus put on his shoulders

an instrument of death.

The yoke that oxen

put on his shoulders

is an instrument of work.

Jesus put on himself

the instrument of death.

He put on himself

the rugged cross.

And he said,

I'll go to the cross.

I'll die for you

so that when I say

you come and follow me,

it might feel like death

but actually

it's the way to life.

Jesus died,

friends,

that we can experience

true life.

Martin O'Jones

used to say it like this.

He said,

you'll never experience

peace of God

until you're at peace

with God.

You'll never experience

the peace,

the rest that God

promises you

until you've come

to peace with God.

In other words,

until you die to yourself

and you experience

the life that Jesus

wants for you.

But here's the final thing.

And this is

a couple of minutes.

Why should we trust Jesus?

Jesus

because of who he is.

Look at what he says here

in verse,

actually I'll read

the whole thing.

Jesus says,

come to me

you who are weary

and heavy laden,

I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you

and learn from me

and then he has to keep it.

For I am gentle

and lowly in heart

and you will find rest

for your souls.

Many Bible commentators

have noted

that this is the only verse

in the Bible

where Jesus tells us

what his heart is like.

Only verse in the Bible

where Jesus reveals

his own heart.

He says,

this is what my heart is like.

Dane Autlan says

that the one place

in scripture

where the Son of God

peels back the veil

and lets us peer down

into the deepest recesses

of his heart,

what we find

is that Jesus

is not austere

and severe in heart.

Jesus is not high

and dignified in heart.

The one place

where Jesus

peers back the veil

and invites us

to peer into

his very heart,

the depths of his heart,

what we discover

is that Jesus

is gentle

and lowly

in heart.

The word gentle

means meek

and meekness

means constrained strength.

Strength

that has been constrained

that you experience

gentleness.

When Jesus says

he is lowly,

lowly means

of humble origins,

of humble,

of low social status.

What Jesus is saying here

is that there is nobody

who is not good enough,

not rich enough,

not strong enough,

not educated enough,

not religious enough

to come to me.

Jesus says,

I'm not one step

above anybody else.

I have so lowed myself,

so humbled myself,

so taken on

the nature of a servant

that anybody,

no matter what your status,

your bank account,

your ethnicity,

no matter what anybody

in culture or society

says about you,

you can come to me

and I will not reject you.

You come to me

with your sin,

I won't reject you.

You come to me

broken and weary,

I'm here for you.

You come to me

exhausted and worn out,

I'm here for you.

I'm lowly

and gentle in heart.

Now friends,

of course,

that doesn't mean

that Jesus is weak.

Look at what he says

in verse 27.

All authority

has been given to me.

Jesus Christ,

the Son of God,

the one who is

seated on the right hand

to God the Father

in the glory of heaven,

clothed with glory,

the one who Revelation

says his eyes

are like fire,

they pierce to our hearts.

Revelation says

out of his sword

comes a mouth,

his word cuts to our hearts.

Revelation says

that Jesus is the captain

of the armies of heaven

and one day

he will come

and he will vanquish

and destroy his enemies.

Psalm 18 says this,

to the merciful

you are merciful,

but to the crooked

you seem torturous.

Jesus is not weak

by any stretch

of the imagination.

As tender

as his mercy

is towards those

who come to him,

so severe

will his judgment

be to those

who reject him.

So when Jesus says

I am gentle

and lowly,

he doesn't mean

weak and frothy

or light and weak.

But for those

who come to him,

to those who do not

refuse him,

to those who yield

to him and surrender

to him,

friends,

we will find

that even our worst sins,

even our greatest failings,

even our moment

of greatest insecurity,

even our supreme

weakness

and doubts

and anxiety

will never drain

or deplete

or limit

or exhaust

his tenderness,

his gentleness,

his mercy

and his rest

for those

who come to him.

Friends,

when you think of Jesus,

what comes to mind?

Dane Orton

says it like this,

Jesus is not trigger happy.

He's not harsh

and reactionary.

He's not easily

exasperated.

I was thinking about it

this way,

this week.

Can I make a confession?

I get easily

exasperated.

Jesus does not

get easily

exasperated.

The posture

most natural

to Jesus

is not a pointed finger

pointing out

your faults,

but open arms

saying,

come to me.

Gentleness

is not one way

Jesus occasionally

acts towards people,

towards those

that have got it together.

Gentleness

is who he is.

It is his very heart.

Friends,

when we come to Jesus

exhausted

and worn out,

weary and anxious,

Jesus doesn't hold

his nose at us.

Jesus doesn't say,

let me put on the latex gloves

and I'll deal with you.

Jesus doesn't sanitize his hands

or ask us to sanitize our hands.

Jesus comes

with the most

welcoming of open braces

and says,

come to me,

you who are weary

and heavy laden

and I will give you rest.

Friends,

can you take him up on it?

Let me ask you finally,

how heavy is the junk

that you're carrying

on your back?

Seriously,

the things that we look to

and trust

and how heavy

are those things?

Have any of those things

given us rest?

Friends,

have sexual relations

given us rest?

Friends,

have all sorts of relationships

that kill a boyfriend,

that kill a girlfriend.

Have those things

really given our heart rest?

What about the things

that we buy?

That holiday home,

that home entertainment system,

that new watch.

Have those things

really given us rest?

Friends,

what about that

first class honors?

That straight A grade?

100%.

Have those things

given your heart rest?

Friends,

Jesus Christ,

the sovereign God

of all creation,

he makes a radical claim.

He asks you to come

and take his burden.

Following Jesus

is the hardest thing

you'll ever do.

There's a yoke to embrace.

You must submit

to his authority.

You must surrender

to his ways.

But I'll tell you this,

it works.

Jesus gives you rest

that nothing in this world

will give you.

He brings rest

to every human being.

The rest that only comes

by being in right relationship

with him.

Let's pray together.

Oh, sovereign Lord,

wonderful maker,

magnificent God,

gentle and lowly king.

God, we come to you

this morning

because we know

that in you

our hearts truly find rest.

We come to you

this morning

because as we sang earlier,

God, we need you.

Every hour,

we need you.

Father God,

so many of us

have,

like Augustine,

God looked in a thousand places

to all the lovely things

that you've created

for the rest

that can only be found in you.

And God,

our souls are

exhausted.

Our souls are depleted.

Jesus,

we come to you

this morning.

Come and give us your rest,

we pray.

Father God,

as we come to you

in confession

and repentance,

as we come to you

in faith,

won't you match

our simple faith

with your magnificent

bounding leaps of grace.

Come and have your way,

we pray.

Amen.