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SERMON SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

460 East Main Street Lexington, Kentucky 40507 Rest for the Weary July 9, 2017 Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 Rev. Dr. Thomas G. Groome III

The scene of Gustave Dore’s last great picture, “The Vale of Tears,” is laid deep in a valley between high, steep hills. The light is dim, for the day seems drawing to a close. At the end of the valley, in the foreground of the picture, is a crowd of men and women of almost every class and station. There is the monarch whose aspect tells how uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. There are the statesman and warrior, weary in their country’s service. There are the outcast and the respectable, the sick and the whole, the aged ones bent with years, and the children of all ages, even to the sleeping babe on the breast of its worn, anxious mother. At the farther end of the valley can be seen spanning the sky, a rainbow of hope, and under it the meek form of the Son of Man, bearing his cross and with beckoning hand inviting all to come to him. The entire picture is intended to be an illustration of our text this morning, “Come to me, all you that labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Rest! Rest for the weary and heavily burdened! That is welcome news of the gospel. Rest . . . sleep, they are essential, as important as our other activities. Personal experience as well as research shows us the necessity for the body to have some rest, time to shut down and take a break. It’s necessary for us to recharge our batteries so that we can have energy to carry out the activities we need to do. Sleep deprivation can cause blurred vision, impaired judgement, confusion, and loss of memory.

Some researchers speculate the important role that dreams play in our healthy lives. In my life BS . . . that’s before seminary . . . I was a manager for the Federal Reserve Bank in New Orleans. Six and one-half of the 12 years I worked there, I worked the night shift. The hours were approximately 10:00 pm to 10:00 am. I would get home, have a bowl of cereal and then crawl into bed about 11:30 am and would sleep until Leslie would get home at 5:00 pm. While I was on this schedule not once did I dream while sleeping during the day. I never got into the REM sleep. I was always tired, never feeling fully at rest. When I wasn’t in bed, it seemed I was often laying prone on the couch. Leslie used to say that she felt married to a corpse. I do believe I had a little bit more life than that.

Dreams play an important role in Scripture. Jacob dreaming about angels ascending and descending the ladder to heaven, or Pharaoh’s dreams in the story of Joseph. Aided by God Joseph was able to interpret those dreams in a way that changed the course of a nation. Recall 2 another Joseph, betrothed to Mary who learns in a dream that she will bear a son. I often wonder if God speaks through dreams because there wasn’t another time God could get a word in edgewise. It was not until the conscious mind, always working, planning and controlling, was shut down that the dreamers could hear God’s Word.

Someone I once worked with said that sleep was a waste of time. He would say, “If you sleep more than four hours, you’re wasting time.” But solid rest is necessary to our well-being. I used to tell him that even God took the seventh day to rest!

Come to me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Jesus is able to ease the burden of the overwhelmed of the world. First, Jesus says his yoke is easy. The present context calls to mind the “yoke” of the law which weighed heavy on the hearts and in the minds of the people. A yoke in the ancient world would consist of a curved wooden piece that rested on the shoulders of oxen and leather, rope, or wood pieces that went under their necks to help hold the yoke in place.

When Jesus spoke of taking his yoke upon them, his listeners would be able to call up a specific image. They would also have heard echoes of Jeremiah, who wore a yoke that symbolized Babylon’s conquering of Judah, as well as the request of the people of Rehoboam that he not place the heavy yoke upon the people that Solomon, his father had. A yoke in most cultures is a symbol of bondage and servitude. Rather than holding out a new burden or obligation, however, Jesus does not leave his disciples to their own devices, but remains with them to sustain them. The risen Christ confirms this to the disciples in the Great Commission, “and lo, I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).

Second, God’s Son invites those who are burdened to “rest.” Rest is a condition which God creates, and in keeping with his unique relationship as son, Jesus establishes the condition of “rest” for his followers. We read in Isaiah where, God offered rest to the weary. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isa 40:28-31). Like the “easy” yoke, Jesus offers a superior rest, which is bestowed on any and all who will come to him.

Come to me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.

Rest. Seems like a good thing to talk about today. We just celebrated the 4th of July. Many made a long weekend out of it by taking Monday off as well. Most people I know try to cram as many activities as they can into a holiday. However, the change in routine gives us a rest of a different kind. A rest from the daily, weekly patterns that we allow ourselves to fall into.

We need rest, and we need the kind of spiritual rest that Jesus offers. It’s a rest that recharges our batteries, it’s a rest where we stop activity, a rest that enables us to think and see clearly, to make creative judgements and decisions that honor God. 3

The rest that Jesus gives us here is prayer. It means stopping all of our busy-ness, our activities. It means to stop trying to accomplish and do, and just be before the Lord. Coming to God in prayer is a way of resting . . . it is a ceasing of our activity so that God can be active within us.

There are many different kinds of prayer. There is the prayer of intercession in which we pray for others . . . the prayer of petition in which we pray for ourselves . . . the prayer of thanksgiving in which we express gratitude for our blessings. There is also prayer which is simply opening ourselves up before God . . . letting go of our activity so that God can be active within us.

My pastor when I was growing up in Vicksburg, MS used to cross-stitch to relax. When I was in seminary he cross stitched two small patches with different phrases on them. They are in my office even now. One reads, “Thy Will, Not Mine,” and the other reads, “Let Go, Let God.” Isn’t this what our text is saying to us today? Let go of all your worries and burdens and give them over to God. Let God carry the burdens for us.

Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Jesus issues this invitation not only to us as individuals, but also as a community. Jesus issues this invitation to this community, the community of Second Presbyterian Church. Jesus promises a spiritual rest for Second, if we would only allow him. Many of you may be worried about the leadership of this church without an installed Senior Pastor, but I can assure you that the leadership in this church today is committed to preaching and teaching the Word of God. The leadership is dedicated to spreading the good news of salvation to those who need to hear it. I am willing to “let go and let God” in guiding this church into the future. The future of this church is bright.

When we stop our activities long enough to allow God to be active within us, a new sense of well-being begins to emerge—a new sense of assurance. This new sense that ‘we can handle this because we are not alone,’ is a new sense of approaching the world from a posture of gratitude and hope rather that out of a grim despair and hopelessness.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Rome writes, “to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” For Paul, the word flesh is anything that distracts us from being faithful to God—it may be sin, or self-absorption, it may be our burdens, it may be a physical ailment—anything that keeps us from giving our hearts and lives to God. Our distractions pull us in 100 different directions. To let Jesus give us rest is to let him focus and shape our priorities so that we can set our hearts and minds on him. When we begin to have the heart and mind of Christ we begin to know life and peace.

Jesus wants to give us rest. It is a necessary rest and it is promised to us. By entering into this rest through prayers and by allowing our activities and priorities to be shaped and transformed by this rest, we enable God to open our eyes, our hearts, and our minds to see, and know, and love God better in this world.

Jesus spoke to those who were desperately trying to find God and desperately trying to be good. His invitation is to those who are exhausted with the search for truth. The way to know God is not by mental search, but giving attention to Jesus Christ for in him we see what God is like. 4 Jesus invites us to take his yoke upon our shoulders. The Jews used the phrase “the yoke,” for entering into submission to. They spoke of the yoke of the law, the yoke of the commandments, the yoke of the Kingdom of God. Jesus says, “My yoke is easy.” In the Greek language, easy can mean well-fitting. What Jesus means is that the life he gives to us is not a burden at all— our task is made to measure to fit each of us.

Give your burdens over to Jesus and see how well-fitting life can be.

Sources: The message here is from sermons that I preached over the many years that I have been in the pastorate. I have compiled them from the notes I made before they were preached. I do not know where I found the material contained here. I may have borrowed it, as a whole or in part, from others. I simply do not remember. But if this is the case, I apologize right now, and that our combined efforts will glorify God.