Sacred Rest Through the Sacred Text

So now I invite you to take your Bible and go to Matthew, chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

I am a huge fan like I think huge is the right word.

I am a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and part of my favorite elements of just about every Marvel movie are the end credit scenes.

You know, those 30 second to a minute clips at the very, very end of all the scrolling credits that kind of give you a little window into whatever's gonna come next in a follow-up movie, or a thread that connects this film with another film, or maybe even just a little detail that you didn't catch earlier on in the movie, or maybe just some comic relief.

My favorite end credit scene actually comes at the end of the first Avengers.

If you're familiar with the first Avengers spoiler alert, but it's been out for a while it's your fault if I spoil the movie for you.

They win at the end, but that's the way it always works, right?

The good guys win in the comic books, and so the original six Avengers have just defeated Loki and the Chitari Warriors who presented a threat to the galaxy.

And so here they are now after the big battle, after barely defeating the bad guys.

We don't find them receiving cheers from a crowd saying thank you, you saved us.

You find them in this end credit scene, absolutely exhausted, in a cafe eating shawarma, and what's interesting about this scene is that you see that they are absolutely drained, battle fatigued, not high-fiving, not replaying the battle, not giving credit to the ones who actually were the reason why they won the battle.

They're not doing any of that cheering Now, any of that congratulating.

They're sitting there absolutely exhausted.

In the entire end credit scene, not a single word is shared.

All you hear is the awkward sound of them chewing their food.

They're so depleted that they don't even have the strength to speak.

Exhausted people need one thing rest that leads to replenishment.

What a picture of what we're doing here today.

What a picture of what we do every Lord's day.

The shawarma scene is a picture of our spiritual Sabbath Sabbath after an exhausting, demanding week of living life in a sin-cursed, broken world that is constantly calling for more of us.

We don't come together on the Lord's day giving high fives, talking about how we crushed the week.

Now, if you're like me, you come together in the Lord's house, depleted, running on fumes, in need for rest that leads to replenishment.

Or am I the only one.

You may not have been saving the world this week, but you have expended yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, vocationally, academically and definitely spiritually.

We've worked all week and to various degrees we're weary.

And here we are today, on the Lord's day, in the Lord's house, seeking rest that leads to replenishment.

And if you're here this morning and you're wondering if there is rest for your weary soul, I've got good news for you.

You're in the right place and Jesus is eager to give it to you, and that's why we're in Matthew, chapter 11 this morning.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Jesus promises us that there is rest for weary people.

Let me direct your attention now to Matthew, chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

I'm actually gonna begin to read in verse 27.

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.

That is God's word.

May he add his blessing to his reading and preaching by the impowing presence of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

I want us to consider this morning how these words from Christ direct our attention to both a compassionate invitation and a clarifying instruction.

A compassionate invitation and a clarifying instruction concerning our need for sacred rest that leads to holistic replenishment, specifically in the context of the gathered church.

First, a compassionate invitation.

Look at those words from Christ again.

Hear them as being delivered to you.

Come to me, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Notice first what this invitation is not.

This invitation is not an invitation to pursue rest.

The invitation is not an invitation to take it easy.

The invitation is not to prioritize self-care, self-help or to create a little bit more time.

For me, rest is critical.

We all need it, but interestingly enough, rest is not experienced.

The rest we need is not experienced by pursuing rest itself.

Notice what the invitation truly is Not to pursue rest, but notice the words of Christ again.

Come to me.

The invitation is to come to Christ.

The invitation is to seek the Savior.

The invitation is to run to the Redeemer.

Why?

Because the rest we need most is found in the one who knows us the best.

Rest is not found primarily in restful activities or the cessation of physical work.

The rest we need most, jesus says, is a rest of the soul, and it's an inner rest.

It's a slowing down of the gears inside your heart.

And Jesus is letting us know that rest, as we know it, would be incomplete if we're only resting our bodies.

Rest is incomplete if you only take the weekend off from work.

Rest must be holistic body and soul for it to truly be replenishing, according to this compassionate invitation from the one who knows us best, the one who knows what we need the most.

This compassionate invitation is to find rest of the soul in the lover of your soul.

To find rest for your soul in the maker of your soul.

To find rest for your soul in the Savior of your soul.

Rest is not found in pursuing rest.

Rest is found in pursuing Christ, who gives us rest.

There's a difference.

Notice to whom this invitation is extended.

Come to me all who labor and are heavy-laden.

The word labor comes from a root word that means to take a beating.

It's a colorful word that describes the weariness that results from the excessive exertion of strenuous effort.

In general.

It describes the depletion and the drain that's experienced by putting forth a lot of energy and effort.

I mean a better translation of this word and you find this in other English translations is the word weary.

It's not talking about the labor or the work itself.

It's how you feel after you've worked.

It's how you feel after you've labored.

And then there's the word heavy-laden actually just one word in the original language and this phrase in our English translation is another colorful, colorful, picture-esque word.

It evokes the imagery of a ship that's docked and is being loaded with cargo, and as the cargo is being loaded on the ship, the ship begins to sink down further and further into the water.

So to be heavy-laden is to have too much cargo, is to be weighed down because you're trying to carry too much.

So this word heavy-laden in the original language is describing those who are worn out and weighed down as a result of carrying more than they can handle.

So, in other words, this invitation to come to Jesus and find rest for your soul is addressed to all those who are worn out, beat up, weighed down and exhausted by the demands of life.

Anybody here ever feel that way.

Anybody here ever feel worn out, beat up, weighed down and exhausted by the demands of life.

We get worn out, beat up, weighed down and exhausted by so many demands, for example, the demands of our vocations, our jobs.

Thinking about the demands of your job just this last week.

It may have been, it may be the weekend, but, like most of us, it's hard not to think about your work when you're not working.

And because of modern technology, we have a handheld device that constantly reminds us of the work that we tried to get done the week before and all the work that awaits us in the coming week, and we often get reminders and text messages and notifications of the incomplete work and the work yet to be done.

I mean even trying to disconnect from our mobile devices that remind us of the work incomplete and the work that's coming isn't enough, because we have hardwired into our brain the ability to remember and to think and to feel in connection to all that needs to get done.

We are constantly filled with lingering questions how did my work go last week?

Did I do enough?

Did I get enough done?

Did I measure up to the expectations placed upon me by my superior?

What do my coworkers think of me?

How are they talking about me when I'm not around?

Did I impress my manager?

Was I an asset to my team?

Our jobs are necessary but, let's be honest, they're not restful.

It might be good work, honest work, impactful work, but ever since the fall we work by the sweat of our brows.

Work is hard, work is depleting, work is exhausting.

Our jobs are wonderful means to provide for our families and to support God's kingdom causes.

But at the end of the day, we can say this about our jobs they take a lot from us and there's always more to do.

Do more, work harder, achieve higher, be better.

Our jobs Lay us down, make us weary, beat us up, leave us feeling depleted.

The same can be said for you if you're in school, regardless of your age, I mean, unless you're in preschool.

I guess coloring and playing and eating snacks isn't all that of a burden.

Some of us wish we could get back to that, right.

I wish I could spend my day coloring and playing with blocks and eating goldfish.

That would be wonderful.

But in general, academics wear you out, they beat you up, they weigh you down, they exhaust you.

Any students agree with that?

Yes, they do.

There's always an assignment due, there's a test to be taken, a project to complete a paper, to write pages, to read presentations, to propose.

When it's all done, you get graded for it.

And did you make the grade?

And how did you do in comparison to the other classmates?

And what does your teacher think of you?

What's your cumulative GPA?

Are you going to get scholarship?

Are you going to lose the scholarship?

Your education is necessary but let's be honest, it's not a restful experience and very often the demands of academics leave you feeling weighed down, worn out, always asking for more, do more, work harder, aim higher, be better.

We also get beat up and worn out and weighed down and exhausted by the demands of not just work and academics but relationships.

Relationships are a gift for God but they're work.

All my married brothers and sisters in the house, marriage is work, right, relationship is work.

Friendship is work.

Relationships, family it's work, it's a blessing, but it can be mutually draining.

Am I meeting the expectations of the relationship?

I have to answer that text message, get back to that email, make that phone call.

Relationships are hard.

There always seems to be more to say, more to do, more to invest.

And these relationships they take from us.

They give but they take and they wear us out and they beat us down and they weigh us down and they take and they drain.

And this is even before we talk about the fact that sometimes those relationships, which are a gift that demand stuff from us, sometimes they're hard, sometimes we don't see eye to eye with our spouse, sometimes our kids won't listen to us, sometimes our friendships go through difficulties and we experience tensions.

Sometimes family doesn't work the way family is supposed to work and we have to enter into reconciliation and have difficult conversations, isn't it true?

It's not our gift, but they're not always restful.

They wear us out, they beat us up, they weigh us down, they have demands, and that's not even talking about and we haven't even really even talked about the relationship that weighs us down the most.

It's the relationship with our own conscience as we go through any given week.

We are forgiven sinners who still sin, and we have these consciences that remind us we don't always think the way God wants us to think, we don't always talk the way God wants us to talk, we don't always act like God wants us to act and choose the way God wants us to choose.

And our conscience is a gift, but it reminds us and very often our conscience makes us feel shame and guilt and regret and remorse and it weighs us down Some weeks we roll into church on Sunday barely feeling like a Christian, and our hearts tell us so, because we said things we shouldn't have said.

Some places we shouldn't have gone and done things we shouldn't have done.

So let me ask you again, considering all these examples, are there any worn out, beat up, weighed down, exhausted people in the house of the Lord?

This morning I'm with you.

So here is what worn out, beat up, weighed down, exhausted people need more than anything.

They need, you need, we need to accept this invitation Come to me.

And when you do, when you accept this compassionate invitation from Jesus, here is what you get.

Jesus says come to me and I will give you rest, rest that replenishes.

What a compassionate invitation.

Life in this fallen, sin-cursed world wears us out, beats us down, takes off in more than it gives.

And Jesus says come to me and I will give you rest that replenishes.

You don't get rest simply by pursuing rest.

According to Jesus, the rest you need, the rest that replenishes the soul, comes on the other side of pursuing Christ, and that's what we're doing here this morning we are gathered in this assembly on the Lord's Day, accepting the invitation to find our rest in Christ, and part of this gift of rest is that Christ has so ordered the calendar of his kingdom that we do this every single week.

Because every Monday through Saturday on this side of the resurrection wears us out, beats us down, weighs on us to the point of exhaustion, and what we need is Sabbath.

What we need is to experience a rest that replenishes in the presence of Christ, and that is why we come together to find rest that replenishes in Christ's presence.

Rest is for replenishment and we need it because after every Sunday there's a Monday through Saturday.

Again, we need rest that replenishes so that we can reengage in our responsibilities.

Let me say that again, rest is for replenishment, to reengage in our responsibilities.

Rest is not just withdrawal, rest is not just a break.

Rest is getting what we need ready so we can do it again.

Leon Morris, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, has made the following observation about the kind of rest that Jesus is inviting us to experience.

He says the rest in mind is the rest that enables the worker to go back to the task with renewed vigor.

So by the time I get to the end of the week, I'm tapped out of vigor and we come together in the presence of God.

We come to Jesus, we receive, we take advantage of his gracious, compassionate invitation, and what we find is not only a context to celebrate.

We also find it a context to be refueled so that we can go back and engage in the work that God's call us to do at work, at school, in our home, in parenting, in marriage, in discipleship.

We can get back to being what we were called to be, in those spaces and places where he has gifted us and sent us for his glory.

What a gift, what a compassionate invitation.

If you identify this morning as the worn out, beat up, weighed down and exhausted, then Jesus says come to me and I will give you rest.

Do you agree that this is a compassionate invitation?

It is indeed, but something needs to be clarified.

How do we come to Christ to find our rest and replenishment in him?

How do we do this specifically?

Well, christ tells us let's notice here.

Second and finally, a clarifying instruction Verse 29,.

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.

So we find the rest that replenishes when we come to Christ.

How do we come to Christ?

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

So Jesus says the way we come to him, the way we find the rest that replenishes, is by taking his yoke upon us and learning from him.

Taking his yoke upon us and learning from him.

I believe Jesus is saying the same thing in two ways One through a picture and one through a proposition.

Notice the picture take my yoke upon you.

A yoke was a piece of farming equipment that was placed on the neck of an animal that kept that animal in control and directed them in the work of plowing.

So you take the yoke, you put it on the ox, you take the yoke, you put it on the mule and then the farmer is through the yoke, directs, controls, guides the animal to go and plow and work according to the farmer's plan.

Leon Morris notes that in the New Testament yoke is always used metaphorically and signifies submission to authority of some kind.

Craig Keener, in his commentary on the book of Matthew, says a yoke signified submission to another's rule or authority.

So to metaphorically be under a yoke, to metaphorically take a yoke upon you as a human being is to willingly submit yourself to the authority of another.

Therefore, it was common in the old covenant for Jews to speak of the law as the yoke of the law.

They spoke of God's word as the yoke that controlled them, that was placed upon them, that directed them, that guided their lives, that moved and directed their practices, meaning God's people believed that they were called to live under the yoke of the authority of God's word.

So to be under God's word was to be under God's rule.

So the way to functionally submit to the authority of God's word was to submit yourself to the authoritative teaching of God.

So living under God's rule was the only way to thrive and flourish according to God's wise and loving design.

So when Jesus says, take my yoke upon you, he is saying that to come under the yoke of his words is to come under the authority of the very word of God.

He's claiming that his words are God's words.

This is yet another window into the divinity, authority and lordship of Jesus.

This was self-aware that he was the second person of the triune Godhead.

Jesus knew that his words were the very words of God, because he was in fact God.

Earlier on, in verse 27, jesus identifies himself as the only one who had the authority and the ability to reveal the will and knowledge of God, the Father.

He says in verse 27,.

No one knows the Father except the Son, two persons and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

In other words, within the triune, godhead.

There is such a beautiful functional relationship between the Father and the Son that the Son's knowledge of the Father puts him in a unique position to be able to reveal him, to reveal his will, to reveal knowledge of him, to reveal the very thoughts of God.

New Testament scholar Michael Green explains and I love the way he says this Jesus, in this text, is quietly claiming to be the locus of all revelation.

Whatever revelation there may be dispersed in human intellect and values, in virtuous action in the history of humankind, the center of all God's self-disclosure is Jesus of Nazareth.

He fulfills the hopes of the Old Testament and is the heart of all revelation, and here's the sentence I love in a dark world lit by candles and lamps, he comes as the searchlight.

Jesus is the searchlight of God's revelation.

He is the living word, he is the word of life, he is the word made flesh.

So to come under the yoke of Christ is to come under the authority of the word of Christ.

And to come under the authority of the word of Christ is to come under the authority of the very word of God.

That's the picture.

To come to Christ and experience the kind of rest that replenishes, that offers relief for our weary souls, requires that we place ourselves under the yoke and authority of His word.

His words give us life, his words renew our lives.

His words breathe into us, the very breath of God.

The word of God, over and over again in the Scripture, is said to restore souls, to renew our minds.

They realign us with the will and ways of God.

And to place ourselves under the yoke of Jesus is to put ourselves in the exact position that the first psalm rejoices in, that when we delight in the law of the Lord, we find ourselves like a tree planted by a river of water, constantly being sourced, constantly being resourced, constantly getting everything it needs to bear fruit.

That's what it means to take the yoke of Christ upon us.

It means to submit ourselves to the authority of His words.

So that's the picture yoke.

But he also says it a second time, with just a direct proposition.

He says take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

Learn from me.

That's the proposition.

You want rest for your soul.

You want rest that replenishes.

Come and learn from me.

The word learn literally means to learn through instruction.

In other words, jesus is saying I know how to live, learn from me.

So to take the yoke of Christ is to place oneself under His authoritative instruction, not just His inspiration.

Oh, many will say that the words of Jesus are inspiring.

No one loved like Jesus.

He was a good teacher.

His thoughts are very inspiring.

No, they're more than inspiring.

They're binding because they're instructions.

So Christ is so concerned that we live according to the design that we were created for.

Christ is so concerned that we thrive and flourish as human beings created in the image of God.

He is so concerned that we fulfill the purpose that we've been saved and redeemed for that he gives us instructions.

Here is how you live.

Learn from me.

And so what you see in Scripture is that there are so many ways in which, in the teachings of Jesus, there's this beautiful connection between coming to Jesus relationally and listening to His words audibly.

For example, at the very, very end of Matthew's gospel.

Here we receive what's called the Great Commission.

He says go and make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, god and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded.

How do you follow Jesus?

You listen to what he commanded, you receive His instructions and so, as a disciple making disciple, one of the ways we help people follow Jesus, one of the ways we help one another follow Jesus, is to highlight how important it is to learn from Jesus, to listen and learn.

During His incarnation, christ is constantly making connections between how our relationship with Him is experienced through the instruction of His Word, for example, in the conclusion to the best sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount.

Here's what Jesus says in Luke 6, 47 and 48, everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like.

Let me just stop there for a minute before I read it all.

Can you see it?

How do we come to Jesus?

We come to Him by hearing His words and receiving His instructions, hearing His words and doing what he says.

He says.

When you do this, I will show you what you're like.

You're like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock, and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it had been well built.

We just sang a song I will build my life.

How do we build our lives?

How do we build our families?

How do we build our friendships?

How do we build Christ's church?

Here's how we do it.

We come to Jesus, we listen to what he says and we do it.

Thank you so much.

Notice again the relationship between coming to Jesus and listening and obeying His Word in John 15.7.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.

Abiding in Jesus, relating to Jesus, communing with Jesus, experiencing Jesus how do we do it Functionally?

How do we come to Him?

By having His words abiding us.

So what this means for us today is this the primary way we come to Christ, the living Word, is to come under the authority of Christ through the written Word.

Let me say that again the primary way we come to Christ, the living Word, is to come under the authority of Christ through the written Word.

Now, let's not miss the connection here.

What's this for?

What is this submission all about?

What is this bowing our needs to the authority of teaching of Jesus all about?

It's about rest.

It's about a rest that replenishes.

It's about receiving what our souls need more than the physical air we breathe when we come to Jesus and place ourselves under His authority and listen to what he has to say.

It is in that place of hearing the Word of Christ that we receive the grace we need to live for Christ.

That's where we find our rest.

This is how we find refreshment.

This is how we are renewed.

This is where we are replenished.

We come together and we place ourselves under the life-giving authority of the Word of Christ.

This is why you'll find all throughout the New Testament, and this is a little bit of a side.

But if you really want to be a blessing to the people around you, if you really want to love your brothers and your sisters, you really want to care for each other, you really want to take responsibility for one another, you really want to be the family of God, how do you do that?

Paul said it this way let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, and then you can do all the things that we're called to do to benefit one another.

We minister out of, we serve out of the reservoir of the Word of Christ that comes into us.

This is why the apostles preached the Word of Christ.

This is why the church diverted themselves to the apostles' teaching, which was nothing more, nothing less than the explanation and application of the Word of Christ.

There was nothing that would bring the church in the closer proximity to the crucified, risen and ascended Lord than for the Word of Christ to dwell in them richly.

The same is true for us.

Until Christ returns, there is nothing that will bring us into closer proximity to the one who promises us rest that replenishes than to allow the Word of Christ to dwell in us richly.

Now there's obvious application for this on a personal level.

As you're going, as you're working, as you're relating, as you're doing the stuff that you do Monday through Saturday, you need to personally fill your soul with the Word of Christ.

And it's especially true and it's especially connected to the purpose of God's people coming together on the Lord's Day that we come together on the Lord's Day for this reason that we might be filled richly with the life-giving, replenishing Word of Christ.

That's why everything we do, everything we do, is the church gathered in some form, in some way is tethered to the Word of God.

In connection with what we're considering in this passage.

This is how we accept his compassion invitation.

This is how we come to him.

This is how we find rest for our souls.

We come together as the church and we place ourselves under the life-giving authority of the Word of Christ.

In other words, sacred rest is found in Christ, through the sacred text.

And that's where I've been driving and I revealed a big idea at the end.

Usually do it in the front.

I wanted to build to this this morning.

Sacred rest is found in Christ through the sacred text.

So to be a Christ-centered people is to be a word-driven people.

If we truly want to be all about Jesus, if we truly want to be a church that makes much of Christ, then we must be radically committed to the Word of Christ.

So when we come together, think about our liturgy.

Everything we do in our liturgy is tethered to the Word of Christ.

We welcome you in Christ through the sacred text.

We call you to worship in Christ through the sacred text.

We confess our sins and we receive assurance through the sacred text.

We sing songs with lyrics based on the sacred text.

We read lengthy portions of Scripture from the Old and New Testament because we are tethered to the sacred text.

We preach to you, christ, from the sacred text.

We partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper here in just a few moments, with words of institution from the very mouth of Jesus, the sacred text.

Before you leave, you will be commissioned and have a benediction pronounced over you from the sacred text.

The gathering of the church is centered on Christ.

By being centered on the Scriptures, we receive His Word, we read His Word, we listen to His Word, we preach His Word, we share His Word and in the Word of Christ which we find rest for ourselves.

I was listening to a podcast by a pastor that I have been influenced and mentored a bit by, even on a relational level.

His name is Ray Ortland.

He said many people walk into church expecting a pep talk or maybe even a tongue lashing, depending on your tradition, maybe a cheerleading experience.

But exhausted, weary, defeated sinners don't need cheerleading.

What do we need?

What do you need?

You don't need a pep talk.

You don't need cheerleading.

You don't need to be told you be you.

You don't need to be fed the lie that even Christians will feed you and say you're enough.

You're not enough.

I'm not enough.

Me being me is sometimes the greatest problem in this world for me.

One of my biggest problems in life is that, rather than worshiping and centering my life on the Holy Trinity of God the Father, god the Son and God the Holy Spirit is that I tend to center my life on the unholy trinity of me, myself and I.

I do not need to come into the church and have my ego stroked.

I need to come to church and see Jesus.

I need to come into the sacred gathering of the church and hear prayers in Jesus' name.

I need to read scripture that points me to Jesus.

I need to sing songs that make much of Jesus.

I need a sermon that's centered on Jesus.

I need a supper that feeds me on Jesus and I need to be reminded.

I need to go out there in Jesus' name and represent him in all I say and do, and then guess what come back again and repeat like Groundhog Day.

We don't need cheerleading, we don't need rah-rah, we don't need some false promise that we can live our best life now.

We don't need some health, wealth and prosperity garbage.

Here's what we need when we gather as the church, we need more Jesus, amen.

And when we get more Jesus, we get everything we need to replenish our weary, exhausted souls.

Back in my soccer dad days, I remember attending one of my daughters a very, very intense soccer match between one of her rival teams, and those girls were out there and they were playing hard.

This was a very competitive public league in Philadelphia and my daughter's team was undefeated and they were playing the team that had the highest probability of beating them that season.

And after an intense full-time match, the game ended in a 2-2 tie.

But there's overtime.

But as these girls are standing over in the sideline, you can just tell that they're absolutely spent.

I mean, hands on their hips, red in the face, breathing real heavy, sweating like nuts, like do we need to go back out there and do more?

Can it just be a tie?

But come on, you know ties are bad.

I mean the difference between a tie and a win is like the difference between getting a kiss from your mom and your wife.

Okay, it's not the same thing.

You want to win, okay.

And so here's the coach on the sideline looking at the girls and they're saying absolutely nothing.

They've got no energy left.

But she's talking and they're listening, and she's telling them everything they need to do to go back out there and give it 10 more minutes and it works.

They go back out there and after a few moments they put the ball in the back of the net and they continue their undefeated season.

Yay, piper, yay.

Science Leadership Academy.

It was a cool experience, but it's kind of a bit about what happens here.

Sunday after Sunday, we're out there in God's world doing what we're called to do.

We come together as the church with our hands on our hips, sweating, exhausted from the week that we've just experienced.

And here's what we need we need to listen to our Christ, what's he have to say, and when we listen to him we receive everything.

We need to go back out there and do what he's called us to do, week after week after week, until Jesus returns, makes all things new and we enter into the eternal rest.

Sacred rest is found in Christ through the sacred text.

You may have noticed that in our formal welcome, you hear these words Sunday after Sunday to all who are weary and need rest, this church opens wide her doors, and that's our hope, the one thing that happens every single time you walk through the doors of Redeemer Church is that you find rest for your weary soul, because through those doors, as we gather here together, we find Christ who gives rest for our souls.

Amen.

Let's pray, father, thank you that sacred rest is found through Christ in the sacred text, and we thank you for how.

What we've done this morning is we have, whether we've realized it in these terms or not, we have accepted this compassionate invitation to come to your son, to take his yoke upon us, to learn from him and to find rest for our souls.

So, god, I pray that our church would be a community where weary people find rest in an amazing Savior, that we wouldn't come together and be told how much more we have to do, but we'd be amazed by how much Christ has done for us, that His grace, his gospel, his love, his mercy, his fountain of never-ending grace would put within our souls everything we need to go from this place energized, invigorated, renewed in our strength to do and be everything you've called us to do and be.

So thank you, lord, for what you've provided for us on this Lord's day, on this day to rest on this sweet and sacred space where we've experienced your divine restful presence.

In Jesus name we pray, amen.