Message - Rest For Your Soul (Part 3)

Matthew 11, 28 through 30.

Then Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you.

Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

It does not matter how many times I read that statement of Jesus every single time.

It's like I'm hearing it for the first time, and my heart says, Yes, please.

I want that.

I need that.

Rest for my soul.

Your soul is a really deep part of who you are.

It's your thoughts, it's your desires, it's your will, it's your hopes, your aspirations.

It's really what drives much of what you do.

It's those deeper desires of your soul, which by the way is why you can have a life sometimes that surprises you, that confuses you, where you can look and say, hey, everything on the surface is good.

Maybe you're not in that season right now, but maybe you have been where, like, yeah, I've got everything that I need.

I should be happy.

I should have joy, but I don't.

Why?

Because something isn't right in your soul.

You're carrying a heavy burden, or you're just really busy.

You know, oftentimes we're either too burdened or too busy to have a restful soul.

And if you don't have a rested soul, you'll never thrive.

Because strength comes from rest.

We need rest for our souls.

And by the way, our world, our culture, it can't help us in that area, one iota.

Our culture is constantly in a state of unrest in every sphere of life that you can imagine.

There's no rest in our culture, so our culture can't give us rest for our soul.

But Jesus is different.

He is unique.

That is an understatement.

Jesus can offer you something that the world simply cannot.

So I want to read this again.

This is what Jesus offers.

He says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens.

Anybody weary this morning at all?

You want to raise your hand, engage a little tired?

Anyone carrying a heavy burden?

Anyone having some decision, some issue, some situation in your life, and it's like you can't stop thinking about it everywhere you go.

It's just on your mind.

You need rest.

And Jesus says, He'll give it to you.

He says, Take my yoke upon you.

In other words, let me lead you.

Tether yourself to me.

Put your life in my hands.

That's what he's saying.

Let me teach you, because I'm humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

That's what we're looking at.

We've broken this teaching down into four parts.

It's really simple, but really profound, as Jesus often is.

If we want rest for our souls, if we want that lightness, some translations actually say, I'll teach you how to live freely and lightly.

If that sounds like the life you want, then we've got to do four simple things.

Number one, we have to come to Jesus.

We talked about that our first week.

You can always catch up and listen to the other podcast episodes, however you want to online.

Number two, let me lead you.

We talked about that last week.

Jesus is a leader like no other.

No one leads like Jesus.

He's a leader worth following.

Number three, this is today, let me teach you.

And then next week we're going to talk about letting go.

Come to Jesus, let him lead you, let him teach you, and let go.

This morning, like I said, is let him teach you.

Are you familiar with the phrase?

And if you're in the room, raise your hand, if you're online, engage somehow.

The phrase caught, not taught.

Have you ever heard that phrase?

Like some things are caught and not taught.

Anybody?

Really?

Okay, wow.

It's a thing.

You can search it on Google and there are results.

It will pop up on your screen.

Here's the idea of it.

Some things in life, they say, are caught, not taught, meaning you just sort of catch on.

You don't need someone to teach you how to do it.

It's not a matter of someone sitting you down and teaching you and telling you, here's how you go about this.

You just sort of figure it out.

It's intuitive.

You you catch on.

Maybe you have a knack for something.

Maybe there's something you're really, really good at.

And it's not that someone necessarily taught you how to do it.

You just, you're just like, I don't know, I'm just I caught on.

I'm good at this, right?

Some things are caught, not taught.

For example, uh touch screens.

Anyone that has a three-year-old knows how intuitive a touch screen is.

Because if you have a three-year-old, I mean, they could basically buy things on Amazon on your phone if they get it.

My three-year-old knows my password to my my iPhone.

It's like he can grab my phone and but but but he just knows which ones to hit and he's in.

And who knows what can happen.

You know, if if I give my three-year-old son my iPhone, he can navigate it easily, which is probably an indictment on my parenting to some degree.

Um but when you got four kids, sometimes you're like, here, just this, do it.

You know, before I had kids, I used to judge those families that would give their kids tablets at restaurants.

I'd be like, I'm never gonna do that.

Nope, do it all the time.

Uh it's the only, it's the only hope I have sometimes.

But you know, it's amazing, it's just intuitive.

In fact, if you have really young children, you've probably had this experience where they don't understand why every screen is not a touch screen.

Because it's just so ubiquitous in their world.

And so they're like every day there's there's handprints on my TV at home.

And it's not a touch screen.

I don't even know if they make touch screen TVs, they probably do, but ours is not.

It never has been.

And it's like every day my kids go, is it a touchscreen today?

It wasn't yesterday.

Let's find out.

And they touch it.

I had to clean peanut butter off of my TV recently.

Peanut butter.

One of my kids was eating peanut butter and then walked up to the TV and started.

I'm like, why is there peanut butter on my TV?

Things you never think about when you have children.

Count the cost, guys.

Jesus said that.

Count the cost.

All right?

Some of you are thinking about having kids, count the cost.

It's worth it.

But you know, I've never sat my kids down and said, hey, let me show you how to use a touch screen.

They just kind of figure it out.

If you give a 10-year-old a phone, it's amazing how fast they can use their thumbs, right?

It's incredible.

Like this.

But then if you were to sit them down at a traditional keyboard and say, type something, that's different.

Like they might fly with a phone and their thumbs are good, but but if they haven't been taught how to type, they'll sit down at a keyboard and just be like, you know, it's it's hard.

You can't, you don't like catch on to typing.

At least I never did.

You have to be to be taught.

I remember being taught how to type on a keyboard.

I I'm a child of the late 80s and early 90s.

Any other late 80s, early 90s kids in the room?

Okay, so you may have learned math uh with a game called like number munchers.

Remember that game?

Or math blaster?

Like in in school, you played those those early 90s educational games.

Anyone tracking with me?

Oregon Trail?

Anybody?

Oregon Trail?

Yeah.

What did that game teach us?

I played Oregon Trail in school all the time, and it was an educational game.

And if you've never heard of it, it was an old game in the 80s on computers, 80s and 90s, and you were like going on a pioneer expedition on the Oregon Trail.

And it like I have no idea to this day what it was teaching me.

It taught me that people die.

That's what Oregon Trail taught me, because everyone in my party died.

And most of the time it was on purpose because I was like, Yeah, yeah, try to float the river.

Let's do it.

Let's see what happens.

And all that.

Um, Oregon Trail.

Uh, there was also this game that taught that taught us how to type, and I can't remember the name of it.

And if you have if you can remember the name of it, like find me afterwards because it's been bugging me all like all week long.

What is the name of that game?

Because I learned how to type by sitting at this game and it would like challenge you with time, and it would be like move your pinky and touch the cue.

I would just sit there with the pinky in the cue, and it was hard, but I learned how to type.

And now I know because I took a typing test this week that I typed 76 words per minute.

And uh that why are you clapping for that?

That's not the record, the world record is 256 words per minute.

Um, I'm nowhere near that.

All I know is that uh this became a massive contest in the office this week when we kind of were talking about this.

Thomas on our staff types 79 words per minute.

Madison only types 50, so he needs to he needs to get in gear.

He was actually really disheartened.

Like on Thursday, he was like, I took the test.

50 words a minute.

He was sad.

So pray for Madison.

Um, he's a slow typer.

But I had to be taught how to do that.

I didn't just catch on.

And my point is this no, that's random, but I get random sometimes.

Um much of life is taught, not caught.

There are certain things that you will never learn just by catching on.

You need someone to teach you.

That's why teachers are so vital.

That's why a great teacher can change the trajectory of your life.

Real quick, show of hands.

How many of you had someone who was a teacher in your life and they changed the way you thought about yourself, they changed the way you saw the world?

Absolutely.

I had a teacher in high school named Mr.

Goodwin, and uh, well, his name is Will Goodwin.

We called him Mr.

Goodwin.

And I wouldn't be a pastor if not for Will.

He kind of took me under his wing when I was a junior senior in high school and really helped me understand this calling that I had in my life that I had started to feel and couldn't really express, and he helped me understand what that was.

And then I went off to college and decided, you know, I don't think I want to do the ministry thing, and I was working in a marketing company, and he called me one day.

I was living in Kansas City and he said, Justin, what are you up to?

And I said, I'm doing this marketing thing.

He's like, That's not what you're supposed to do.

And I was like, I kind of think that's my decision, Mr.

Goodwin.

You know, that was my first inclination.

But he said, No, man, you're running from what you know you're supposed to do.

You know, you know what God called you to do.

You were so certain about that.

And then he said, I want you to call a church that's just now getting started in Woodstock, Georgia.

He made me call this church in Kansas City.

He was like, You have to call him.

He's like, in fact, I'm gonna tell them you're calling them.

And so I called him and it all happened.

I would not be a pastor if not for this teacher that I had that helped me see Jesus in a new way, that helped me understand my life in a new way.

Teachers are vital because life, much of it, most of it, is actually taught, not caught.

You need a teacher.

And so I want to ask some questions at the forefront.

Oh, not the fore forefront, like we're a little ways in, don't worry, I know what time it is, but some questions.

Who is your teacher?

Really think about that.

Who teaches you?

Who do you listen to on a regular basis and allow that person to have the authority to shape the way you think?

Who is someone whose voice plays loudly and often in your mind?

Whose opinions and perspective shape the way you think the most?

Who is your teacher?

What we have to understand is as Jesus followers, that person must be Jesus.

Jesus is our teacher.

I didn't clap for that.

Why do the claps always start on this side of the room?

We have clappy, like this side always claps first, and it like goes this way.

So I don't know if they're too excited.

I don't know if you guys are tired.

I don't know what it is.

So it'd be I don't even know what I would do one day if this side clapped first.

It'd throw me off.

I can't know.

I stepped into that one.

All right, now I'm done.

I've lost my train of thought.

Jesus has to be your teacher.

You know, it's interesting when we describe Jesus as followers of Jesus, there's probably words that come to our minds that are really connected to the relationship that we have with them, the things that we see Jesus offer us, the things that he's done for us in our lives.

And so maybe when you think of Jesus, you think of words like savior, like he's your savior, and he is.

You think of words like Lord, maybe you think of words like healer or miracle worker, or maybe it's even really personal, friend.

But I found that very often as Jesus followers, you don't often think of Jesus as teacher.

In fact, there's sort of this kind of cliched statement about Jesus in the world, and this is something that you know people who haven't quite crossed that line into believing in Jesus, believing that he's the Son of God, these all those other things, and maybe that's where you're at today, maybe you've heard this, but but people will say, I don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God, is divine, whatnot, but I believe he's a really good teacher.

And so sometimes when we're people of faith and we put our trust in Jesus, we kind of cross that line.

We're like, oh, he's so much more than a good teacher.

You know, he's he's the Messiah, he's the Savior, he's my Lord, he's God, he's all these other things.

And those are all true, but that doesn't change the fact that he is still a good teacher.

Like we don't have to pick and choose, he's all of that.

And it's vital for us as Jesus followers that that we allow Jesus to be our teacher.

He was he was often called rabbi or teacher by those who came to speak with him, and he never corrected anyone for calling him a teacher.

He embraced that identity, actually.

He was great with that identity.

Jesus is a teacher.

And he's not just a teacher, he's like, he's the teacher.

He's he's so amazing.

Sometimes we think about things, at least I do, where, man, if I could go back in time and see Jesus, like what moment would I choose?

And there's obviously some big ones you would start with, you know, him raising from the dead, that would be amazing.

Maybe you want to see his birth.

Maybe you want to watch one of the miracles, like when he walked on water, when he healed people, when he multiplied the food, like that stuff.

But sometimes I think about just going and sitting at his feet and just listening to him for hours.

You know, there's stories in scripture where it says that the people would sit and listen to Jesus, and five, six hours later, he would be done.

And what would it be like to sit and listen to Jesus teach for six hours?

There's a great story in John chapter seven about Jesus teaching.

He goes to the temple and uh makes quite a stir.

We see it in in uh John 7, verse 31, it begins Many among the crowds at the temple believed in him.

John 7:31

After all, they said, Would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?

And when the Pharisees, these are the guys in charge of the temple, uh, when they heard that the crowds were whispering such things, they and the leading priests sent temple guards to arrest Jesus.

So Jesus is in the temple and he's teaching, and people are just blown away, and he's done all these miracles, but the Pharisees, they're like, they're losing control.

That's how it feels to them.

So they send these temple guards and they say, go arrest him, and the temple guards do their job.

And it says later on in John chapter 47, verse 45, when the temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, why didn't you bring him in?

And I love this.

They go, We've never heard anyone speak like this.

I want you to think about this for a second.

It's actually really funny.

The the Pharisees, who by the way are teachers, this is what they do.

They teach in the temple all the time.

That's like their main gig.

So these guards have heard the Pharisees teach countless times.

They they they're they work at the temple.

Their whole job is to sit in the temple and listen to these guys teach.

And these guys say, go arrest Jesus.

They go, and apparently they are so in awe of what Jesus is saying and teaching that they forget why they came.

I just imagine that.

You ever do that?

Like you go somewhere, maybe you go to the store for one thing, and then you leave, and you get home, you're like, oh, I forgot the one thing that I went to the store for.

Like that's their moment.

They go there, they're like, we're gonna arrest this guy, and then like, wow, that's cool.

What's he saying?

I've never thought of that before.

And then he leaves, and they're like, What why did we go?

Oh man.

We were we're supposed to arrest that guy.

They go back, and the Pharisee is like, Why didn't you bring him in?

Like, we just he's amazing.

Like, we've never heard anyone teach like this.

No offense.

I know you guys are great teachers and all, but man, you should have heard him.

You know, it's hysterical.

At the end of Matthew chapter 7, it says that when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority, quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Jesus is a great teacher.

He's a great teacher.

And it's vital for us as followers to let him teach us.

Do we see Jesus as our teacher?

Do we listen to his voice?

And here's where this is challenging.

Even as passionate Jesus followers, as I know that so many of us are, is there's a lot of people in the world vying for our attention, asking for us to be their students.

We don't think about it in those terms, but there's a lot of people who will take the place of Jesus and be our teacher if we let them.

You know, maybe it's a television personality, you know, a pundit, and you you watch them on a regular basis, and what they say, man, it really tracks with you and it affirms what you believe, maybe.

So there's a lot of agreement.

There's nothing wrong with that, by the way, but sometimes, subtly and even subconsciously, we allow those people to become the top voice in our minds.

Really, at the end of the day, they're our teacher because they're the ones that we listen to the most often.

They're the ones whose words and perspectives most shape ours.

You know, it could be uh an author, it could be a politician, it could be some influencer that we we follow in in some sphere of social media.

It could even be like a celebrity pastor.

And again, there's there's nothing wrong with having people that you listen to.

There's a lot of people out there who say a lot of things, but but please hear me when I say this, none of them stack up to Jesus.

Never let someone outrank Jesus when it comes to how often you listen to them and how powerful and insightful you believe their words are.

A few years ago, I found myself listening to this podcast on a daily basis.

I love podcasts.

I don't know if anyone else in the room is like a podcast person.

I stopped listening to music like seven, eight years ago when I discovered podcasts, and now I just I have a bunch of podcasts that I listen to.

I like it, I like to learn.

And so um, I started listening to this guy, and he's he's someone who comments on current events, and he just so happens to be a Jewish man.

And so, like, I would listen to him every single day.

And much of what he said, I would just sit there in my car, like, yeah.

And I would even find myself having conversations with other people about things going on in the world, and I would end up repeating things that I had heard him say.

And you have to be careful with that, by the way, because sometimes you stop thinking for yourself and you just take someone else's opinions wholesale and then you regurgitate them to someone else as if they're yours, but they're not.

And that that's a dangerous thing sometimes.

But I was doing that, and I was listening to this guy all the time and just eating it up, and then one day I'm in my car listening to him talk, and I had this epiphany, like, like just this thought hit me like a bullet, and it was this guy probably shouldn't be the Jewish man I spend the most time listening to.

And uh, and and it's funny, I was having a conversation with a guy about a year later, and he was calling me, and I know him through the church, and he was kind of going on this rant about the state of the world, you know?

And by the way, it's one of the things you have to pay really close attention to when it comes to the people who teach you, the people that you allow to teach you.

Honestly, think in those terms, teacher student.

Who do you listen to?

Because if you listen to the wrong people, the result of you listening to them all the time is that you're just like all hot and bothered about the world.

You're just constantly like, you listen to him and you're like, yeah, I'm just kind of outraged.

The only people that left Jesus' teachings outraged were the people who wanted to kill him.

The people who sat at his feet and humbled themselves and listened to him, they had peace, they had joy, even though they were living in very crazy times.

So if you're listening to someone on a regular basis, and the result is that you just end up going on rants all the time, maybe, maybe choose a different teacher.

But this guy was going on a rant, and he said something, and it's like I knew as soon as he said it, oh, he listens to that guy.

Because I've heard that before.

And so I asked him.

I said, hey, just by chance, do you happen to listen to, and I I named the podcaster who happens to be Jewish that I listen to a lot.

And he was like, oh yeah, every day.

And I was like, oh man, I've I've listened to that guy a lot too.

I really like a lot of what he says.

It really resonates with me.

But just some perspective, it did occur to me about a year ago that maybe he shouldn't be the Jewish man I spend the most time listening to.

And he went, you know what?

You're right.

And then he named another podcaster who also happens to be Jewish.

And he was like, that guy's really good.

And I should probably listen to him more.

I was like, no, I'm Jesus.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, that that's the Jewish guy I'm talking about.

Like, maybe he should be the one I listen to the most.

But honestly, right now we live in a time and in a culture where, because of all the technology that we have, we have access to teaching 24-7, and we don't think about it in those terms, but we choose to sit underneath the teaching of a lot of different people.

And it's subconscious, but when we do that, we we put ourselves underneath their authority in some ways, and we allow them to shape the way we think.

And even though that that's not a bad thing, there's a lot of people with a lot of great perspectives, we cannot allow anyone to take the place of Jesus when it comes to being our teacher.

Because no one can teach like Jesus.

Guys, no one teaches like Jesus.

It doesn't matter what situation you're in, you can find a teaching of Jesus that will give you what you need.

It will challenge you sometimes.

Don't expect always to go, oh great, that's easy, but it's what you need.

For example, let's say today you're really worried.

Let's say you're stressed out, life is is unfortunate.

Certain, you're stressed, here's what Jesus might say to you, because he's your teacher.

Matthew 6, starting in verse 25.

That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life.

Don't worry whether you have enough food or drink or enough clothes to wear.

Isn't life more than food?

And your body more than clothing?

Look at the birds.

They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them.

And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

And why worry about your clothing?

Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow.

They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.

Why do you have so little faith?

Don't worry about these things, saying, What will we eat, what will we drink, what will we wear?

These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today's trouble is enough for today.

That's Jesus, your teacher.

And he tells you not to worry, not to forget the fact that God the Father sees you, he will not abandon you, he will meet your needs.

And I'm sure you can look back on seasons of your life where you were overwhelmed with worry and you didn't think you were going to make it through, but you did.

Because God the Father is exactly who Jesus says he is.

So important that we know the teachings of Jesus.

Sometimes as Jesus followers, it's, and I know right now I'm speaking specifically to those of us who would say, Yeah, I'm a follower of Jesus, we can be far more familiar with what Jesus did than with what he said.

But you gotta know his teachings.

Because honestly, if you don't know his teachings, you don't really understand the things that he did, because the things that he did don't make sense separated from the things that he said.

He's a great teacher.

If you're worried, he can teach you.

Let's say you're you're thinking about money, which I know none of us, we're all of us in this room, I mean, obviously, we're we're only talking to the people watching online right now.

Um, I'm joking, you guys are great.

But but honestly, like money dominates our thoughts much of the time.

How can we acquire more of it?

How can we use what what amount we have to accomplish what we're trying to accomplish?

It's just really easy to think about.

If you're thinking about money, here's what Jesus would say.

He's your teacher.

Listen to him.

Matthew 6, 19.

Don't store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.

Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy.

And thieves do not break in and steal.

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Now, this is a challenging teaching.

This is not Jesus saying, be wasteful, throw it all away.

You know, live it up and you know, it's not what he's saying.

But he's saying, Man, if you allow your hope in life to be tied to a bank account, to some earthly treasure, you're you're missing it.

You're missing it.

He will go on to say in verse 24, no one can serve two masters.

You will hate one and love the other, you'll be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

Now that is harsh language.

Being enslaved to money.

But if it dominates your thoughts, if it keeps you from having rest, if if it if it keeps you up at night, if it keeps you from enjoying life, then it's it's showing it has it has mastery over you and not the other way around.

Jesus does not want you to be mastered by your money.

So he says, Don't obsess about it.

Oh, by the way, Jesus, money-wise, will also tell you to pay your taxes.

Just want to throw that out there.

Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

Some people ask him, Should we pay our taxes?

He says, uh, hey, show me this coin that's used for the tax.

When they handed him a Roman coin, he asked, Whose picture and title are stamped on it?

Caesar's.

And they replied, Well, then, give to Caesar what is Caesar's?

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give to God what belongs to God.

This made the people really mad because no one wants to hear someone tell them to pay taxes.

But Jesus did.

But hey, even there, there's this perspective on money that Jesus has that will free you.

He says, Don't obsess about it.

Don't, don't, don't worry about it.

Don't let it dominate your thoughts.

He has lots of teachings on money, by the way.

There's one, I don't have it up on the screens, but there's one where he tells a parable of a man who gets so much wealth.

And in this man's world, it's like grains, it's a harvest.

He has so much that he ends up getting a second barn.

It's like he opens up another bank account.

And then he fills that one and he's like, boom, I'm done.

I have all that I need.

Now I can just sit back and relax.

Life is good, and then he dies the next day.

And Jesus is making the point that, like, that's if you put your hope in those things, it's short-sighted.

Put your hope in God.

Let's say you have conflict with somebody.

And again, this is just for the online people.

All of us in the room, we we're all good with everybody.

I don't know why I'm making fun of the online people, I love you.

I don't, it's just, you're not here right now, so I don't have to worry about you looking at me in the eyes.

Um but uh what happens if you have what happens if you have like something between you and someone else right now?

What should you do right now?

Here's what Jesus says.

If you're presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar, go and be reconciled to that person, then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

He's saying, essentially, in our culture, if you're going to church, if you're at church and you're in the middle of a worship song, or if the pastor is giving a message and you realize, oh man, me and that person have serious beef.

Leave.

I'm just waiting and seeing if anyone wants to do this.

All right.

He says that it would be like, it's better for you to go and be reconciled with that person than to even make an offering.

I mean, literally, I would love to see this play out, by the way, in churches that hyperfixate on money.

We we never have been that church, but like he's basically saying if you're in the middle of writing a check, just drop it and and you know, go and be reconciled to that person.

That's how much he values reconciliation.

Now you might say to yourself, wait, you don't you don't understand, like this person, they've really hurt me.

They've really hurt me.

Like they've they've crossed lines.

So here's what Jesus would say as your teacher.

Peter came to him once and said, Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?

Seven times?

Nope, not seven times, Jesus replied, but seventy times seven.

So if you're like, they have, they have, you don't know what they've done, they've hurt me, Jesus would say, forgive them.

And you might say, Jesus, oh, you don't understand.

It's not that simple.

Like they they've crossed so many lines, it's like they're an enemy.

Here's what Jesus, your teacher, would say.

Luke chapter 6, love your enemies, do good to them, lend to them without expecting to be repaid, then your reward from heaven will be very great.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

You'll be truly acting as a child of the most high, for he's kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.

You must be compassionate, just as your father is compassionate.

If you can't tell, Jesus isn't gonna let you out of this.

If they're your enemy, he's like, cool, love them.

If you say you don't understand, they're a terrible person.

Like Jesus, if you just knew them, like their issues are massive.

Trust me.

Jesus will look at you as your teacher.

And he'll say something like Matthew chapter 7, why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

How can you think of saying to your friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye when you can't see past the log in your own eye?

Hypocrite, first get rid of the log in your own eye, and then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.

These are the teachings that make you not like Jesus.

But we need them.

So you might say, okay, I'm just supposed to, I'm supposed to leave church right now.

I'm supposed to go and forgive this person 70 times seven, whatever that is.

We're not good at doing math in our heads.

If they're my enemy, I'm supposed to love them.

And if I recognize their issues, I'm supposed to forget about it and just kind of deal with my own.

I'm just supposed to trust them, let them into my life again and trust them.

And Jesus would say, No, not necessarily.

Matthew chapter 7, verse 6, don't throw your pearls to pigs.

Matthew 7:6

They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

Jesus is saying, He's not really talking about pigs and pearls, by the way.

This isn't like practical advice for how to deal with pigs and fine jewelry.

Um, it's a metaphor, and he's saying, look, you gotta love people, forgive people, but you don't necessarily trust everybody.

Sometimes you learn what you learn and you keep things that are precious to you.

You don't just throw it out there for everybody.

So love and forgive, but don't necessarily just give blind trust.

I mean, Jesus is wise.

There's so many statements that Jesus makes that are like these little one-offs that always they always play through my mind because he's such a good teacher.

He's such a good teacher.

Uh, one of my favorites, for example, and guys in the back, you'll just have to find these and throw them up there.

One of my favorites is he says, uh, be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.

Be shrewd as a snake and innocent as a dove.

That's a very odd teaching, right?

And if you guys don't have them on the screens, it's fine.

Like Jesus said that.

Like, think about it.

Jesus said, be shrewd as a snake and innocent as a dove.

It doesn't sound like something Jesus would say, but but he's an amazing teacher.

And if you think about that, what he's saying is, hey, be innocent, have pure motives.

You know, when you go hang out with people, don't be thinking about what they can do for you.

Have pure motives.

But then he's saying, don't be stupid.

Be smart, be shrewd, like a snake.

You wouldn't imagine Jesus telling you to be like a snake, but he does.

He says, be shrewd, be wise, practice discernment.

Have pure motives, but go about things in a way that that will work in your life.

And I meet a lot of people who are who are innocent but not shrewd.

And so they can be very easily taken advantage of.

And likewise, I meet a lot of people who are shrewd but not very innocent, and so they're always manipulating to get their way.

And Jesus says, no, no, be both.

Not manipulative, be that's a negative form of shrewd.

He's saying, be innocent but but wise.

Now the teachings of Jesus are powerful, they're practical.

There's pretty much any any situation you can think of, any practical thing that you're going with, Jesus has a teaching on it, but do you know the teachings?

And if the answer is no, great news, like it's so accessible today.

You can Google, what did Jesus say about this?

And you'll find something.

I'm telling you, you will find something.

And by the way, worship team, you guys can make your way out.

That's just the practical stuff.

That's just the everyday stuff.

And I say practical, I don't always like that word because we live in a culture, I think, church-wise, especially, where we've sort of separated the spiritual from the practical and we treat them as two separate things.

We say, oh, this is practical and this is spiritual, and the truth is they all go together.

Like you're a spiritual person.

So if you're a spiritual person, then what is spiritual is incredibly practical.

But we don't often think in those terms.

Jesus, man, he nails the stuff that we would classify as practical, but let's talk spiritual for a second.

Because if you want to have peace for your soul, if you really want to have rest for your soul, then it's good to have a teacher who can guide you through all the all the stuff that's kind of horizontal, all the stuff that that happens in our everyday interactions with people, and Jesus can handle conflict with you, money, you name it, he can walk you through all of it.

That stuff's helpful.

But what about the deeper stuff?

What about kind of the vertical stuff that's you and God?

You will never have rest for your soul if you don't have peace with God, if you don't have a healthy understanding of who he is and how he sees you and what he's done for you and what he offers you.

And I want you to understand this, this is big.

You might be able to find other teachers in the world who can give you really great advice about a variety of topics.

But there is only one.

There is truly only one teacher who can open your eyes to the reality of God.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'll take Jesus over anyone in the world when it comes to any issue you can name.

There might be financial experts in the world that can tell me how to invest and all that kind of stuff.

And I listen to that advice.

In fact, I have friends that give that advice, and I'm grateful for it, but I can't let anybody's opinion outrang Jesus.

But when it comes to the God stuff, there's no one who can teach you about God the Father like Jesus can.

No one.

Matthew chapter 11, verse 27.

Matthew 11:27

Jesus says, My Father has entrusted everything to me.

No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Jesus can reveal God to you.

I want you to think about that for a second.

There's this kind of church word that we always associate with like crazy stuff because of the book of the New Testament that uh that this word is often comes from when people use it, revelation.

Revelation just means something is revealed.

And Jesus says, No one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Jesus Christ can reveal to you who God is, what God is like, what God thinks, what God thinks about you.

And only Jesus can reveal God to you fully because Jesus is the Son.

We see this illustrated in a really interesting way in John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

If you've never read John 3, you've definitely heard parts of it, like John 3.16, for God so loved the world.

He came, he gave his one only son, all that stuff.

But but John 3 is an it's an interaction between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus, who was a religious teacher.

He was a Pharisee.

He was actually a member of a group called the Sanhedrin, which would have meant he would have, he was one of the leading experts on God.

This guy is a God expert.

And he has a conversation with Jesus.

I believe it's the most important conversation that's ever happened in human history.

And in this conversation, Nicodemus finds that he knows nothing.

That all of his years of study, all of his expertise, and he can't even compute.

That's a powerful statement.

We know that God has sent you what?

To teach us.

Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.

And Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, unless you're born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

What do you mean?

exclaimed Nicodemus.

Jesus says one thing, and Nicodemus is already like, the tables are being turned.

I have no category for this.

How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?

And Jesus replied, I assure you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit.

Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

So don't be surprised when I say you must be born again.

The wind blows wherever it wants, just as you can hear the wind, but you can't tell where it comes from or where it is going.

So you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit.

How are these things possible?

Nicodemus asked.

And Jesus replied, You're a respected Jewish teacher.

And yet you don't understand these things, I assure you.

We tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won't believe our testimony.

But if you don't believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe me if I tell you about heavenly things?

What Jesus is saying is that we need to listen to him, that he is the only one who can truly teach us and reveal to us what God the Father is like.

Apart from Jesus, the best we can muster is observation.

We can observe things about the world, about ourselves, about God, but we can't have revelation.

That has to be revealed to us.

But Jesus has a desire to reveal God the Father to you.

And if you walk with Jesus, and if you trust Jesus, and if you humble yourself and you put yourself at Jesus' feet as a student to a teacher, Jesus will teach you exactly what the Father is like.

And you will grow in an understanding of who you are in relation to God that you can never have on your own.

No matter how many books you read or podcasts you listen to, you will never ever understand who you really are and who God is in relation to you until you sit at the feet of Jesus and say, Teach me.

And when you do that, amen, when you do that, Jesus will teach you.

And he'll teach you things that are mind-blowing, that you are a child of God, that you're valuable, that you're worth everything.

It's amazing how often Jesus He does incredible things.

Like he gives new names to his friends all the time.

He gives them new names, new identities.

He lifts them up.

And he wants to do that with you.

You probably believe things about yourself that are far, far less than the reality of what Jesus sees.

Like he believes in you.

And if you sit at his feet and you humble yourself and you say, I'm your student, be my teacher, he'll teach you things about yourself, about life, about God that you could you'll just never learn otherwise.

It's not caught, it has to be taught, and Jesus has to be your teacher.

You want to know the deep things of God?

And by the way, I believe that that's a genuine desire that we have.

I mean, I don't know if you're with me, but you know, sometimes I get so wrapped up in the world and all this stuff that's going on around me, and I get to these moments where I'm like, I don't care anymore.

I just don't.

Like, I'm tired of paying attention to politics and all the stuff that's going on in the world.

Like, that stuff's all gonna, it's all gonna go.

It's all gonna pass away.

I want to know the deep things of God.

I want to understand what God values, what he cares about.

You only get that from Jesus because he's the only one who really knows.

And so I want to I want to close with by asking just a few questions again.

Who's your teacher?

Who's your teacher?

Who is the voice that plays the most often?

That plays the loudest in your mind?

Whose perspectives do you allow to shape you and mold you more than anyone else?

Let it be Jesus.

It has to be Jesus.

For some of us, here's what that means practically.

We need to stop watching the shows that we watch all the time.

We need to stop listening to the podcast that we listen to all the time.

We need to get off social media for a while because what's happening is we're we're listening to teachers who don't teach us as well as Jesus.

And the result of it is we walk away just outraged and all frustrated and convinced that the world is just going down the tubes.

And no one who ever sat at the feet of Jesus walked away going, like, it's over, it's done.

That doesn't happen.

There's no one who sat under Jesus' teaching and walked away with with doom and gloom and frustration and fear.

When you sit at the feet of Jesus, you walk away with hope, with joy.

You're just you're not worried.

But only he can teach you that.

So I want to encourage you this week, let Jesus be your teacher.

Like take a week and say, I'm not gonna let anyone teach me but Jesus.

I'm not gonna listen to anybody else.

If you did that for a week, it would it would have an effect on your life.

One week where I'm not gonna listen to anyone talk about anything, I'm gonna turn all that stuff off, and I'm just gonna spend my week reading Jesus, thinking about what Jesus has said, reflecting on his teachings.

If you're going, I don't even know where to start, I'll give you a great starting point.

Matthew 5 through 7.

Matthew chapter 5 through chapter 7.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

It's the most, it's the largest uninterrupted chunk of Jesus' teaching that we have.

And just read that over and over this week.

Just over and over and over again.

If you have the Bible app, by the way, it's a great app that you can have on your phone.

You could you could set it in your car and let it just play and just audio.

And just do that over and over again.

Matthew chapter 5 through 7.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Just Jesus' words.

Not the the cable news host, an opinion mouthpiece, not not the person on the podcast, not the person on social media, just Jesus for a week.

See what happens.

I promise you that Jesus is better than whoever that other person is.

Let him be your teacher.

Because he will teach you how to have rest for your soul.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much for this morning.

Thank you so much, Jesus, for being our teacher.

Lord, I am I am so overwhelmed sometimes by this weird reality that I'm a person who stands on a stage and teaches others, and yet I can't seem to figure things out myself all the time.

I'm so often at the end of my rope.

I'm so often at my wit's end, confused, struggling to figure out what to do.

And that is okay.

Because I'm not the teacher, you are.

I'm the student.

All of us, Lord, all of us.

We're just students.

And you're our teacher, and you're a good teacher.

You're humble, you're gentle, you're wise, you understand the world in ways we never can because you're the one who made it.

And I pray right now, Lord, that in this room, you would give every person here, young and old, alike, the same desire to sit at your feet.

To let you be the one who teaches us, to let you be the loudest voice in our mind.

To let you be the one whose perspective shaped the way that we see the world.

So that when when the world tells us that all is lost and that we should be afraid and panicked, that we should be angry at some group or some other group, that we should point a finger of blame and say it's their fault.

Instead, Lord, we would sit at your feet, we would let you teach us, and we would walk away with hope that everything's gonna be okay because you're God and you're in control, and you do not abandon your people.

God, fill us with the desire to be your students and teach us how to have rest for our souls.

We love you, Jesus.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.