WEEK 01 || REST AND IDENTITY IN JESUS - RECEIVE || Matt 14:13-21 & Isaiah 55:1-5

Kia ora and welcome to the St Francis Church

sermon podcast. We're so glad that you've joined

us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would

encounter God's presence. Be refreshed in your

faith and equipped for everyday life with Jesus.

As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow

Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For

more info about who we are and what God is doing

among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and

Peace. Welcome today and welcome to August. It

seems to arrive quite quickly and hidden in some

ways. Over the month of July we did the series

about the Slow Apprenticeship. We finished that

last week but it's something that's actually

not actually to to lay aside but to continue

to live that way of thinking about discipleship

not as a task to a master but as a slow apprenticeship

to Jesus and learning continue to learn to walk

beside him and to follow on from there we're

going to do this series over the month of August

about a series on rest so after weeks of talking

about being the slow apprenticeship and deliberate

way of following Jesus, I felt right to turn

and ask, what does it actually mean to stop,

to rest well? Not as a reward for finishing,

but as something that God built into us right

from the very beginning. As He rested, He also

calls us to rest. So a quick question for all

of you, and I don't want you to answer out loud,

just answer it in your head and be honest with

yourself. When was the last time you felt actually

rested? Some might be able to go back briefly,

some of us might go back a few days or weeks

or longer. It's not about, hey, I slept okay,

or not the weekend wasn't a total write -off.

I mean rested. It's like a phone at 100%, like

the tank is full, it's ready to go. I think a

lot of us, the answer is... I genuinely can't

remember that fully rested feel that I've had.

And I know with the broad range of ages that

we have here, even in retirement and things like

that, we can still feel not rested. We're tired,

all of us. We see that in the world around us

and the things that are offered to help us to

rest. Out in the community and maybe in your

own lifetimes too, during the school run, as

parents, the sports run, the dinner run, everything

else, it's on loop and on repeat, isn't it? We've

done it today, we're going to do it tomorrow

and for the next few days and then do it all

again next week. And it could be even the ones

that are caring for mum or dad while holding

down a job. It could be shift workers at hospital,

students who are juggling assignments and part

-time hours. And it's also about those business

people, any one of us, where the phone is the

first thing you touch in the morning, last thing

that you put down. You see it even in the kids

get tired. They're scheduled and graded and compared

from the moment they can walk. But here's the

weird part. Somewhere along the line, we started

treating tired like a trophy. Someone asks, how

are you? How do you respond? Flat out? Crazy

busy? We have a mixture. But often that's what

comes out. And we say it. I think when we say

those things, like, oh, I'm flat out, crazy busy.

We say this with a little note of pride, like

busy is proof that we met. Because deep down,

a lot of us, I think, believe exactly that. If

I stop, if I stop counting my values, my output,

I am what I get done. That belief is running

most of our lives. It's running the world's.

And this month, I'm going to inviting us to step

with God and allow God to take all of that apart.

We're going to go over the next five weeks. this

series called Rest and Identity in Jesus the

Christ. And we're going to be asking these things.

Why do we rest? Who do we rest in? What is rest

actually for? And how do we work from rest instead

of just collapsing into it? And where does rest

send us? So why would an all -powerful God rest?

If energy is unlimited and not because God's

tired, but because God wanted to establish a

pattern for us. After all the work... rested.

And today we begin with the question, why? And

fair warning, the answer is going to sound too

good to be true. It isn't. But it's going to

sound that way because we're used to hearing

something completely different. Because as we've

gone through life, we've been trained by the

world that says nothing is free. And the God

that we meet today says, actually, the best things

are. 1700 years ago, a North African bishop called

Augustine wrote a one -line biography of every

human being who has ever lived. We've heard it

recently and I want to repeat it again. He actually

prayed it straight to God. You have made us for

yourself and our heart is restless until it rests

anew. I believe that restless hearts are not

a modern invention, but they've always had exactly

one address where restless ends. And that's where

we're going to be heading over the next few weeks.

So let's do some history traveling. About 2 ,500

years ago, God's people were having the worst

century of their lives. They'd been invaded.

Their city had been totally flattered. The survivors

had marched off to a superpower that was called

Babylon. And they became refugees in the empire

that wrecked them. And Babylon ran on one rule

and one rule only. The same rule every empire

runs on. You are what you produce. Hit your quota,

earn your keep. What have you done for us lately?

Does any of that sound familiar in your lives?

Babylon fell away back then, but its rule didn't.

We just now carry that rule in our pockets. The

reading we heard from Isaiah. And let's hear

how it starts, because it's not a religious voice.

It's a market voice that we heard from Isaiah

in our first reading this morning. So picture

a Saturday's market, whether that's in Cambridge

or Claude Lins or out at St Stephen's in Tamahiri.

And someone's shouting from behind a stall. You

can't see them, but you hear it across all the

other stalls there. Hey, everyone who's thirsty,

come to the water. You with no money, come and

rest. Hang on. You with no money? We go to the

market with money in our pockets, don't we, to

buy. That sentence is broken. That's not how

buying works. You can't walk into the supermarket

with empty pockets or walk out with a full trolley,

though we see examples of that trying to be done.

There's a word for that, and it involves a court

date at a later time. You see, every market on

earth runs the same rule. You get what you pay

for. except one store that's in the market, and

that's God's store. Water, wine, milk, bread,

the good stuff, there's no charge for it. It's

not discounted, and it's not on special, it's

actually free. Actually, better than free, this

store doesn't just skip payment, it actually

refuses payment. It says that your money's no

good here. This is free stuff that I'm giving

you. And then God asks the question, I reckon

he's asking it... down every street in Hamilton

this morning, and every other city and place

in New Zealand. Why do you spend your money on

what isn't bread? Why do you work so hard for

what doesn't satisfy? Ouch. Why do we do that?

Because deep down we know. We've all bought the

thing that was supposed to fill the gap. Saturday

when Diane and I and Diane are at the op shop,

there were loads of stuff. coming in from people's

vehicles. Stuff that's not of use or importance

anymore. You know, stuff that used to fill the

gap. Now there's other gaps that we try and fill

with the renovation, the promotion, the holiday,

the followers. It was fine. It was nice. And

three weeks later, or maybe even a couple of

days, the gap was back. None of those things

are actually evil. But Isaiah names a scam which

is inside of them. He says, they take your labour

and then they pay you back with hunger. So once

you've got it, you're hungry again for something

else. So here's a first answer to why do we rest?

We rest because the things we need most can't

be bought. So they can only be received. And

you can't receive on the run. Grace and forgiveness.

Being loved with no conditions attached. Peace

with God. There's no price tag on any of that.

Not because it's cheap, but actually because

it's priceless. And God, He gives it away. He

gives it away in abundance to us when we come

receiving. And receiving requires the one thing

that our culture has forgotten how to do. And

that's stop. And that's opening your hands. Nobody

eats a feast while sprinting. Now, I know from

a few decades ago of doing triathlons that as

you ate, you ate while you rode your bike. you

ate and drank while you ran. And there were stations

across every few k's back then that when you

drive past on your bike, flat out, you had to

grab something. If you missed it, you didn't

stop. You had to wait to the next station. The

same is running, trying to grab a cup back then

while you're running. You missed it, you ran

to the next. And often that missing cost you.

And it's the same for us in our everyday lives.

Nobody eats a feast while sprinting. We call

that takeaways nowadays. The feast is on the

table. When you invite people there, you sit,

and you are with people. Now let me show you

what this looks like with skin on. I want you

to take you to a lakeside 500 years later after

Isaiah. You heard it in our second reading. Jesus

has received the worst news of his life. His

cousin John, the man who baptized him, the one

who knew him, who understood him before anyone

else did, has just been executed. At a king's

birthday party for entertainment, he was beheaded.

And what does Jesus do with the grief? He withdrew

in a boat to a deserted place by himself. As

you read that again in Scripture, whenever you

come across it, don't skim past it. that he withdrew

in a boat to a deserted place by himself. This

is the Son of God. If anyone in history had a

legitimate excuse to skip rest, a world to save,

three years to do it, it's him. And he gets into

a boat and heads for quiet, where Jesus grieves,

he stops, and Jesus goes to be alone with his

father. Now, if he needed that, what exactly

is our excuse? But here's the bit that anyone

who's ever had a day off wrecked with will feel

in their bones. The crowd spot the boat that

he's jumped into and where he's going to, and

they run thousands of them around the edge of

the lake. So when Jesus steps ashore looking

for solitude, he finds a stadium worth of need

standing on the beach in front of him. So much

for the quiet day, the solitude. Now watch him.

Because how Jesus reacts in this moment tells

you more about God than a hundred theology books

that you might read. Matthew says it this way,

he saw the great crowd and he had compassion

on them. We heard this verse a few weeks ago

as well. Compassion, not the first thought, oh

you're kidding me, you people are relentless,

you'll follow me anywhere. The word literally

means he was moved in his guts. As we said that

physical ache, he felt it. when you see someone

hurting. So a grieving man, Jesus, exhausted,

looks at the crowd that just torpedoed his quiet

time. And what rises in him as he sees him is

love. Where does that come from? Not from digging

deep and then pushing through. It comes from

where Jesus actually lives. He lives connected

to his Father. He can be interrupted without

being emptied, you see. Because he's not running

on his own battery. He's got that... connection,

that channel to his father so he can draw on

what he needs. And that's the difference between

him and us. And it's the difference this whole

series is chasing. Think of this, how our compassion

runs out because our tanks run out. His flows

because it flows from somewhere. It flows from

his father. Then evening comes and we hear the

disciples and these guys make a very sensible

suggestion. It's late. We're in the middle of

nowhere, Jesus. Why don't you send everyone away

so they can buy food for themselves? Hear that

sentence with the ones before. Buy for themselves.

That resonates to something right back all those

centuries ago in Babylon. Everyone pays their

own way. Everyone's on their own. And Jesus says

to them, they actually don't need to go anywhere,

guys. You feed them. We know how it goes. They

hold up what they've got. Five bread rolls, two

fish. How is this going to feed thousands? It

can't be done. It doesn't add up. This sort of

thing never adds up. You've experienced similar

things in miniature in your own lives. Your energy

doesn't add up. Your patience doesn't add up.

Your money doesn't add up. And your love for

the people who need you don't add up. Well, that's

welcome to being human. And Jesus takes the not

enough that we've heard, looks up to heaven.

gives thanks, breaks it, and he just starts handing

it out. It's just going to keep going and going

and going. And everyone eats. Everyone is actually

filled. The word means satisfied. Sometimes you

might have had a lot to eat. I just feel stuffed.

We've eaten enough. 12 baskets are left over

that day. Isaiah's free marketplace from 500

years earlier has now just opened up on a hillside

with Jesus and bread and fish. And the poorest

people in the country ate a feast that nobody

actually paid for. You see the shape of how that

actually takes? Rest first, Jesus with his father,

then compassion, and then abundance. Everything

that actually feeds the world flows out of receiving

from God. It doesn't flow out of gritting your

teeth and producing harder. We've tried that.

Look at us. It's not working. Maybe you're thinking,

well, this rest stuff, it's nice. But it sounds

like checking out. It sounds like hammock spirituality.

Just put your feet up and... but there's a third

reading today from a man called Paul and you

can look it up in Romans 9 and it kills that

idea in one paragraph because as we read Paul

we find that he's completely at rest in God.

Think of what he did through his lifetime. He's

just written that nothing in all creation can

separate from God's love and in the very next

breath he says his heart carries great sorrow

and unceasing anguish for his own people. the

people who don't know that love yet. At rest

and heartbroken, both at the same time. Because

when we rest in God, it's not switching off.

It's being held so securely in that rest and

that presence of God that you can finally afford

to care about someone other than yourself. Now,

anxious people can't do that. They're too busy

surviving. Now, anxiousness comes in all sorts

of ways in life. Pervade and invade your life

and your thinking. You're too busy. to help others

because you're just surviving for yourself. It's

a rested heart that has room to break for others,

because it has room. Which means the running

on empty version of you isn't just costing you

something, it's costing the people God wants

to love through you. Now over the years I've

shared with you how I had a breakdown. I was

running on empty. It was actually not just empty,

it was minus something, great number. And God

wanted, called me to rest in Him. to rest, to

be refilled. We can do that every day. Rest in

him when we're feeling drained and empty. So

what do we do? How can we rest? Well, some homework.

This is the apprenticeship side that we do. And

like the last series and like anything else that

we do, it's small on purpose because rest doesn't

start with a life overhaul. Don't tackle the

whole elephant. Just take a little bit. And it

starts with the posture, like when we started

this morning to open ourselves to receive. It

starts with this series, four daily practices,

but at least two of them. And they're all under

10 minutes, so you can fit them at any time during

the day. The morning one you can do later, but

you can still do it as well. And if part of you

still suspects this is laziness dressed up, I

want you to hear Charles Spurgeon, a preacher

who who worked himself into the ground and he

learned this the hard way. He said, rest time

is not waste time. Hear that again, rest time

is not waste time. Five words, take them with

you. So let's look at these practices. Let's

look at the first two on the screen. The first

one is God before the phone or God before anything

else, whatever way you're doing or wherever you

are. And say out loud to Father, before I do

anything today, I receive from you. whatever

that's going to be. For this day I receive from

you and I thank you for that. One sentence, it's

the first voice that you and I listen to in the

morning tends to run our day. It sets the pattern.

Now most of us hand that job over to a screen

full of strangers telling us and selling things

to us or asking things of us. But that first

action, give it back to God. The second thing,

say grace. And as we say it, let's mean it, that

before one meal a day or through every meal that

you have, put whatever's in your hands down.

Thank God for the food. 15 seconds, just thank

him. Every meal is Isaiah's stall in miniature.

This is given to us. You don't make the sun grow

the wheat. You see, the gratitude for the food

that's before us is rest training. And then the

third and fourth things that you could do. The

honest question. Sit down with the kapa and ask

Isaiah's question without guilt. And it's this.

Where am I spending money and energy on what

doesn't satisfy? Don't fix anything yet. Just

notice and tell God what you see. For He's the

one who actually asked you. Where am I spending

money and energy on what doesn't satisfy? Because

as I said before, a lot of that ends up in op

shops or landfills. And the fourth thing, give

something away. Doesn't have to be big. Feed

someone at no cost to them this week, a pie,

a sandwich, or a drink or something. Shout a

friend a lunch. Not a big expensive thing, just

what you kind of see they normally would have

or something that you've got to share. Drop groceries

to a food bank. We're talking about a table,

and just like over in New World, that white table.

People put it on the shelves, and the table comes

in here. and then it gets dispersed to many tables.

People buying for people that they don't even

know. Or bake for someone. Or share some of the

produce that's on your trees that's just falling

down. Bring those in and pass them around to

people. Don't do this to be a good person. That's

just a Babylon thing with a halo put on top.

But doers is a copycat move, because that's what

God's like. That's what God would do, and God

has done. So why do we rest? Well, because we're

not machines owned by an anxious economy, even

though in our time they're trying to produce

robots to do things for us. We're creatures loved

by a generous God. Because the deepest things

are free, and the free things can only be received.

And to receive them means stopping. It means

sitting at the table with others, with God. Because

the Son of God Himself kept withdrawing to His

Father. And out of that quiet, He fed the world.

And He keeps on doing that. And just like that,

in a few minutes, at this table, God's going

to do it again with us. Bread and wine that we

didn't pay for and couldn't pay for, and He's

going to put it into your empty hands. Now you

can do this at home with friends, communion,

as you share with one another. That's one of

the reasons we do this each and every week. It's

not a religious ritual bolted onto real life.

That is real life. Everything else is the counterfeit.

Come, God says to us, and to everyone, everyone

who's thirsty. And if we're truly honest with

ourselves, we're thirsty. And Jesus set his own

version of it. And I think it's one of the most

loved versions of, or a sentence that he ever

spoke, if we sit with it truly. He says, come

to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy

loads, and I will give you rest. And in case

anyone thinks that the offer expires, it's also

practically the Bible's last word in Revelations

22 and right in the middle there in verse 17.

The final page of the whole book is repeated

this way. Let everyone who is thirsty come. Take

the water of life as a gift. First, it's the

word of the feast. and last word of the story.

You see the stall of God never closes. It's always

calling out to us over the marketplace. Come

and receive for everything's free. You don't

need your wallet. You don't need a CV. You just

need your thirst. And if you're honest, each

of us have got that. We're thirsty. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your marketplace. Where

the best is free. We open our hands to receive

them. Your grace, your mercy, your unconditional

love. We have to be honest that at times we are

tired and we've been spending ourselves on things

that can't fill us. Thank you that the feast

that you prepare for us is free. So along with

this week's and all the weeks that we have in

our life, teach us to stop and teach us to receive

from you. Fill us so that what flows out of us

is compassion, not just fumes. In the name of

Jesus our Lord, Saviour and King. Amen.