Come and Find Rest
The
Yorktown United
Pastor Roy Grubbs
July 6, 2008
Jeremiah 31:23-26
8th Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
These are awesome words words we so desperately need to hear.
"Come unto me", Jesus said, "and I will give you
rest." And they come at such a
perfect time. This year has been so
amazing. So much has transpired and
I have tried to get to know as many of you as possible.
We have all worked together to allow the Spirit to lead us, flow through
us, and to reach out into the surrounding community with love.
We have had many awesome experiences in worship, like our Youth Sunday
last week. We have had engaging
Bible Study sessions, powerful mission experiences, wonderful opportunities for
fellowship and community. We have
also had some strong highs as well as some deep lows.
And all of this can cause us to wear down.
In addition, we all have to deal with a society in such desperate need of Good News. Our economy is in rough shape. Energy costs are at their highest ever. Many in our congregation have gone through job transitions, due to cutbacks. There is illness, depression, anxiety, fear, and anger within our Body. All of these are burdens; heavy burdens.
But many of us are not suffering from physical fatigue. In fact, unless overdone, physical fatigue helps us sleep peacefully at night. It is emotional and mental fatigue that actually keep us awake. And thats when we get really, really tired. In this hectic world we live in, we are trying to get it all done working more than ever, driving our kids around from one activity to another, visiting family and hosting visitors, even going on vacation is more stressful these days. We need a break; we need to find somewhere to turn, to relax.
That
is one of the functions of Worship for many of us - a time for rest and
refreshment - when we let our overheated radiators cool down.
That too is one of the functions of prayer and of Christian fellowship-
to bring to us the rest and refreshment that we all need so much. There is
nothing quite like coming to the Lord and setting aside our burdens for a while
- nothing quite like having our batteries recharged and our spirits lifted.
All
of us here, from the youngest to the oldest, know about burdens. When
Jesus spoke of burdens and of our coming unto him he was indeed talking about
the burdens of care and of anxiety and of labor that we are all familiar with.
But Jesus was also speaking of the burdens of religion that some of us
carry - the burdens that are tied to our backs by the Pharisees and scribes of
our age - the burdens of endless rules and regulations concerning what we can
and cannot do - at work, at play, at home - and at church.
Jesus
broke radically with the religious pattern that had been established by the
religious persons of his day. He ate
and drank while others fasted. He
plucked grain and fed his disciples on the Sabbath while others looked on in
disapproval. He rejoiced in God
while others prayed solemnly with long faces.
He called God 'Father' while others dared not even speak the name of the
Lord.
Jesus
came to us to lift the heavy burdens of life and of religion from our backs.
He reminds us that the Sabbath is made for us, not the other way around.
He urges us to know that faith is a thing that is meant to set us free,
free to truly worship, and to truly serve our God, with joy and love in our
hearts, on the Sabbath and on each and every day in between.
Jesus promises rest from the burdens that we carry - rest from the burdens of legalism and judgment and from the weight of anxiety and worry and from the yoke of unrewarding, endless which can never satisfy. I have been talking with so many who are working too much. We have all heard the saying that few if any come to the end of their life and wish they worked more.
Come
unto me - all you who are tired - all you who are feeling drained - all you who
are feeling empty - all you who are burdened by a sense of disappointment and
let down - all you who are exhausted by the struggles of life and weighed down
by your sense of duty and of what is right and wrong - and I will give you rest.
I will cleanse you - I will fill you with new joy - and establish you in
a relationship with God that will give you new life - here and in the world to
come.
That is the first part of what Jesus had to say - of what Jesus promised. The second part is this - "take my yoke upon you and learn from me." This seems a contradiction - only Jesus could promise rest from our burdens in one breath and turn around and speak of taking up another burden and another yoke in the next.... What we need is vacation - a rest - not more labor. Or so our worldly logic would dictate. After all a burden is still a burden - a yoke is still a yoke.
What
Jesus was driving at however is that there is no such thing as a burden free
life - life always has burdens, but WHAT KIND of BURDEN it is that we carry.
As Pastor, I spend much of my time providing comfort to people who are
cracking under the burdens of affluence - mortgages, debts on two cars - how to
deal with keeping together a home full of appliances and conveniences which are
meant to give them free time, but often times instead, enslave them to working
harder and harder to pay for them all.
I
deal with those who lives are overwhelmed with constant activity - and conflict
- providing counsel to those who are weighed down heavily by the burden of
dealing with the hassles of others the activities of others - hassles and
activities with their children - their in-laws - their parents - their spouses -
their bosses and their own selves...
One
thing I have learned in this is that life's greatest burden is not having too
much to do, nor having too much to care about.
Some of the happiest people I know are the busiest and care the most.
Rather the greatest burden we have is our constant engagement with the
trivial and the unimportant - with the temporary and the passing - with the
ultimately uncontrollable and unpredictable.
The
issue in life is not if
we shall be burdened - but with what shall we be burdened, it is not if
we shall be yoked - but to what and with whom we shall be yoked.
Jesus
is interested in lifting the burdens off our backs that drain us, that suck the
life out of us, so that he can place another on them that is better suited to
us. He is interested in removing the
harness that we forge for ourselves, or the world forges for us with its
constant demands and pressures, so that he can place around our necks his own
yoke - his own harness the yoke, the harness, the burden - that brings to us
new life, new energy, new joy, so we will find rest.
The
yoke that Jesus puts upon us is an easy one - it is designed for us -
individually and personally. It does
not drag us down, it does not chafe or bind or cause us to collapse in
exhaustion. It is well fitted for
us.
Jesus'
promise is not that we shall find a good vacation with him - that we will be
able to get away from it all - but rather that he will refresh our souls when we
come into his presence - and that when we venture forth - with him - into the
world again, that he will minister to us and through us that he will give
strength and hope and joy and peace, and patience and love, that he will give us
new life - here and now and in the world to come.
"Come
unto me all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light." Amen.
*** Based on a sermon by Rev. Richard J. Fairchild***