3rd Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 11:28-29 7/3/11
3rd Sunday after Pentecost
7/3/11
Text: Matthew 11:28-29
Title: Rest! Who needs rest?
Last week I talked to you about Paul’s letter to the Christian congregation at Rome. Paul told a story about a woman who was married whose husband died. He tells us that the law of marriage states that if she marries another man while her husband is still alive that she would be committing adultery. But now that her husband has died she is released from that law, so she is now free to remarry. It makes perfect sense for in her husband’s dying the law became void.
Paul then went on to tell us that the same thing happens to the condemnation of the law when Jesus died. Those who have come to faith in Jesus as their Savior are now free of the condemnation of the law even though the law still exists; just as the law saying that a woman can only be married to one man at time still exists even though her husband has died
This morning we read in Romans the continuation of what we studied last Sunday. Paul writes, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Paul wants to do right, as all true believing Christians want to do right, but, as he says, “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry out.”
Paul is speaking as a Christian who knows that in Jesus’ death the condemnation of the law has been made void, for he says starting in verse 20 that spiritually he knows that he is free from the condemnation of the law, but in his knowing that the evil desires which are part of his nature take advantage of his release from the condemnation of the law to cause him to sin. In other words his sinful self is telling him it is alright to sin. Paul knows better than that.
In verse 24 he cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” He calls his body death because if you live your live according to the desires of body you will end up in hell. Can you imagine the anguish of Paul, at that moment? Can you imagine the anguish; maybe you have felt it, when you realized for the first time that your lifestyle, that is serving the senses of the body, is leading you down the wrong path toward destruction?
Paul then writes this wonderful confession of faith, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! He knows that through Jesus’ death the condemnation, that is the force of the law died with Jesus. He is saved from punishment from God even though he still sins.
Paul’s cry, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” comes from a man who knows himself and his Lord and Savior. Paul knows who will deliver him and it is not him. Paul is making a point. He wants his listener to know that even though Jesus has killed the condemnation of the when he died they are still going sin and bear the consequences of sin as long as they live. They cannot free themselves. They are lost without Christ.
This brings us to our Gospel lesson for this morning Matthew 11 particularly verse 28 through 30. “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.”
First just a few explanations that will help you to better understand what Jesus is saying. At this time and still being done in Jewish communities and those who follow Jewish law there were multiple laws put in place to safeguard the Ten Commandments; 630 of them in all.
This morning I want to give you an example of what has been put in place to just safeguard the Commandment “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”. It is pretty simple and straightforward commandment. The Sabbath Day is to be a day of rest for animals and humans. It is to be a day in which you worship the Lord. That is what God wanted, but as human nature goes God’s Word is not enough. The rabbis by Jesus’ time had put in effect today 39 laws safeguarding the Commandment “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”.
Here are some of things you cannot do on the Sabbath: carrying, burning, extinguishing, writing, erasing, boiling water, cooking, washing, sewing, tearing, knotting, untying, shaping, building, demolishing, spit on the ground making mud, or today flip a light switch. In other words you can do nothing that would change something such as in the example of boiling water, for the water changes from still to active water. You could not on the Sabbath leave the walls of the village.
All preparation for the Sabbath has to be finished 18 minutes before sundown Friday night and any kind of normal living cannot start up until 42 minutes after sundown Saturday night. That is what the people were living with when Jesus was walking the earth. This is still law today for those who are trying to please God.
This does not even take into account the Roman law to which they were subjected. The law that God had given to assure a good life had become a heavy yoke around the necks of those who took their religion seriously.
A yoke while it is used for single animals to control the animal a yoke is mor commonly used to hook two animals together, so that together, particularly when there is an experienced strong animal yoked with an inexperienced weaker animal the experienced strong one will carry the weaker inexperienced animal along training it how to do what it is to do.
The word lowly in heart while translated humble is some Bibles means in the Greek language a person with a servant’s attitude which accurately describes Jesus. The word soul in the Greek is referring to self, the whole self not just one’s soul. I looked up all the times it was used in the Bible and only once did it refer to just someone’s soul. Yoked to Jesus your entire life will be better, for he will get you through whatever it is that you are going through.
Jesus can say that his yoke is easy and his burden is light because he in his birth, life, and death has overcome the condemnation of the law. Those of us who are New Testament Christians are free to live our lives guided by the two commandments Jesus gave us in Matthew 22:37-39, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus through his death is our rest for in Hebrews 4:9-10 we read " So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his." In other words the rest that the Sabbath Commandment promised is ours right now.
We just need to believe, as Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, “(because) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." The secret then of finding rest in our lives is to stop depending on our own efforts and learn to rest in dependence on Christ who lives in us.
To find rest in God is to worship him and him alone. Worshiping God is not, as so many falsely believe just showing up on Sunday morning. It is a condition of the heart, as we read in Hebrews 10: “24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
Come then all of you that are burdened by life’s problems whether they are physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual. Come to the one who knows you, who knows your struggles in life. Come to Jesus and let him guide you with his Word and partake of his Supper where we take into our selves his very body and blood, for forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. Amen.
7/3/11
Text: Matthew 11:28-29
Title: Rest! Who needs rest?
Last week I talked to you about Paul’s letter to the Christian congregation at Rome. Paul told a story about a woman who was married whose husband died. He tells us that the law of marriage states that if she marries another man while her husband is still alive that she would be committing adultery. But now that her husband has died she is released from that law, so she is now free to remarry. It makes perfect sense for in her husband’s dying the law became void.
Paul then went on to tell us that the same thing happens to the condemnation of the law when Jesus died. Those who have come to faith in Jesus as their Savior are now free of the condemnation of the law even though the law still exists; just as the law saying that a woman can only be married to one man at time still exists even though her husband has died
This morning we read in Romans the continuation of what we studied last Sunday. Paul writes, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Paul wants to do right, as all true believing Christians want to do right, but, as he says, “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry out.”
Paul is speaking as a Christian who knows that in Jesus’ death the condemnation of the law has been made void, for he says starting in verse 20 that spiritually he knows that he is free from the condemnation of the law, but in his knowing that the evil desires which are part of his nature take advantage of his release from the condemnation of the law to cause him to sin. In other words his sinful self is telling him it is alright to sin. Paul knows better than that.
In verse 24 he cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” He calls his body death because if you live your live according to the desires of body you will end up in hell. Can you imagine the anguish of Paul, at that moment? Can you imagine the anguish; maybe you have felt it, when you realized for the first time that your lifestyle, that is serving the senses of the body, is leading you down the wrong path toward destruction?
Paul then writes this wonderful confession of faith, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! He knows that through Jesus’ death the condemnation, that is the force of the law died with Jesus. He is saved from punishment from God even though he still sins.
Paul’s cry, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” comes from a man who knows himself and his Lord and Savior. Paul knows who will deliver him and it is not him. Paul is making a point. He wants his listener to know that even though Jesus has killed the condemnation of the when he died they are still going sin and bear the consequences of sin as long as they live. They cannot free themselves. They are lost without Christ.
This brings us to our Gospel lesson for this morning Matthew 11 particularly verse 28 through 30. “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.”
First just a few explanations that will help you to better understand what Jesus is saying. At this time and still being done in Jewish communities and those who follow Jewish law there were multiple laws put in place to safeguard the Ten Commandments; 630 of them in all.
This morning I want to give you an example of what has been put in place to just safeguard the Commandment “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”. It is pretty simple and straightforward commandment. The Sabbath Day is to be a day of rest for animals and humans. It is to be a day in which you worship the Lord. That is what God wanted, but as human nature goes God’s Word is not enough. The rabbis by Jesus’ time had put in effect today 39 laws safeguarding the Commandment “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”.
Here are some of things you cannot do on the Sabbath: carrying, burning, extinguishing, writing, erasing, boiling water, cooking, washing, sewing, tearing, knotting, untying, shaping, building, demolishing, spit on the ground making mud, or today flip a light switch. In other words you can do nothing that would change something such as in the example of boiling water, for the water changes from still to active water. You could not on the Sabbath leave the walls of the village.
All preparation for the Sabbath has to be finished 18 minutes before sundown Friday night and any kind of normal living cannot start up until 42 minutes after sundown Saturday night. That is what the people were living with when Jesus was walking the earth. This is still law today for those who are trying to please God.
This does not even take into account the Roman law to which they were subjected. The law that God had given to assure a good life had become a heavy yoke around the necks of those who took their religion seriously.
A yoke while it is used for single animals to control the animal a yoke is mor commonly used to hook two animals together, so that together, particularly when there is an experienced strong animal yoked with an inexperienced weaker animal the experienced strong one will carry the weaker inexperienced animal along training it how to do what it is to do.
The word lowly in heart while translated humble is some Bibles means in the Greek language a person with a servant’s attitude which accurately describes Jesus. The word soul in the Greek is referring to self, the whole self not just one’s soul. I looked up all the times it was used in the Bible and only once did it refer to just someone’s soul. Yoked to Jesus your entire life will be better, for he will get you through whatever it is that you are going through.
Jesus can say that his yoke is easy and his burden is light because he in his birth, life, and death has overcome the condemnation of the law. Those of us who are New Testament Christians are free to live our lives guided by the two commandments Jesus gave us in Matthew 22:37-39, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus through his death is our rest for in Hebrews 4:9-10 we read " So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his." In other words the rest that the Sabbath Commandment promised is ours right now.
We just need to believe, as Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, “(because) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." The secret then of finding rest in our lives is to stop depending on our own efforts and learn to rest in dependence on Christ who lives in us.
To find rest in God is to worship him and him alone. Worshiping God is not, as so many falsely believe just showing up on Sunday morning. It is a condition of the heart, as we read in Hebrews 10: “24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
Come then all of you that are burdened by life’s problems whether they are physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual. Come to the one who knows you, who knows your struggles in life. Come to Jesus and let him guide you with his Word and partake of his Supper where we take into our selves his very body and blood, for forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 12:32 PM
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