Are you tired? You might have had a late night. Perhaps the kids kept you awake and then woke you up early in the morning. Perhaps your tiredness is self-inflicted. Maybe you’ve been working too hard. Perhaps you’re tired of pretending and tired of letting people down. Perhaps you’re tired of crying. Maybe you’re tired of trying, tired of pretending, and tired of failing. Maybe you’re just tired! What we may not realize is that rest is a life and death issue!
Why We Need Rest.
Our problem is we don’t rest. Within us there is a great restlessness. We get worried and anxious and can’t sleep at night because we don’t have a deep, deep calm that we really need.
Jesus recognized the need we have for rest. He said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.’ (Matthew chapter 11, verses 28-30)
Our great problem is that we cannot rest. We know we should be more loving and more patient. We realize we should try harder at being a better Dad, or a more understanding spouse. Perhaps we feel we should give more money to sponsor starving children , or put in longer hours in our job. We get tired just thinking about it!
In Jesus’ day, there was a religious sect called the Pharisees who put heavy burdens upon people, telling them that they had to perform. They were expected to do things like forgive, tithe, help the poor, keep the Sabbath, and show compassion. But no one could make the grade!
The real weariness, is the need to impress others so you impress yourself, because you aren’t satisfied with who you are. So we are work to convince ourselves that we are good people. Living up to the expectation of society, family, your boss, and yourself is a heavy burden that we all bear. But most of all, we look for ways to prove ourselves to God. Such under-achievement weighs us down with guilt, so we get weary.
We need rest from our burdens, guilt, and performance. Jesus says he wants to lift that heavy burden from us.
How we get rest
Jesus says ‘Come to me’. We are invited to come to a person. The real rest happens when we stop trying to perform like a trained seal, and come to Jesus. He asks us to lay down our burdens, our actions, our performances at his feet and simply to come to him. There is no need to try and impress him, or prove ourselves to him. All we need to do is come.
He also says ‘take my yoke upon you’. A yoke is a farming instrument that is put over 2 bulls so that they can plough out the field. He’s actually saying ‘you’ve already got a burden. You’re weighed down by your own yoke of guilt and performance. Let me take that one off you and give you mine because it’s light and freeing.’
How can Jesus do this? How does he take away our burdens? The answer is that he became the burden himself. When he went to the cross, a glorious emancipation took place: he shouldered the weight of our burdens. On that cross, he took upon himself all our wrong motives and the things that we live for. He became the under-performer in our place and he offers us his perfect life which perfectly lived up to God's expectation. Because of what he did, the burden of performance and the pressure of guilt and anxiety and the pain of proving yourself can now be lifted!
Why We Need Rest.
Our problem is we don’t rest. Within us there is a great restlessness. We get worried and anxious and can’t sleep at night because we don’t have a deep, deep calm that we really need.
Jesus recognized the need we have for rest. He said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.’ (Matthew chapter 11, verses 28-30)
Our great problem is that we cannot rest. We know we should be more loving and more patient. We realize we should try harder at being a better Dad, or a more understanding spouse. Perhaps we feel we should give more money to sponsor starving children , or put in longer hours in our job. We get tired just thinking about it!
In Jesus’ day, there was a religious sect called the Pharisees who put heavy burdens upon people, telling them that they had to perform. They were expected to do things like forgive, tithe, help the poor, keep the Sabbath, and show compassion. But no one could make the grade!
The real weariness, is the need to impress others so you impress yourself, because you aren’t satisfied with who you are. So we are work to convince ourselves that we are good people. Living up to the expectation of society, family, your boss, and yourself is a heavy burden that we all bear. But most of all, we look for ways to prove ourselves to God. Such under-achievement weighs us down with guilt, so we get weary.
We need rest from our burdens, guilt, and performance. Jesus says he wants to lift that heavy burden from us.
How we get rest
Jesus says ‘Come to me’. We are invited to come to a person. The real rest happens when we stop trying to perform like a trained seal, and come to Jesus. He asks us to lay down our burdens, our actions, our performances at his feet and simply to come to him. There is no need to try and impress him, or prove ourselves to him. All we need to do is come.
He also says ‘take my yoke upon you’. A yoke is a farming instrument that is put over 2 bulls so that they can plough out the field. He’s actually saying ‘you’ve already got a burden. You’re weighed down by your own yoke of guilt and performance. Let me take that one off you and give you mine because it’s light and freeing.’
How can Jesus do this? How does he take away our burdens? The answer is that he became the burden himself. When he went to the cross, a glorious emancipation took place: he shouldered the weight of our burdens. On that cross, he took upon himself all our wrong motives and the things that we live for. He became the under-performer in our place and he offers us his perfect life which perfectly lived up to God's expectation. Because of what he did, the burden of performance and the pressure of guilt and anxiety and the pain of proving yourself can now be lifted!
What he did was so complete that you no longer have to perform! The pressure is off!
What happens when you take Jesus’ rest?
When we believe that Jesus did this for us, what we get is ‘rest for our souls’. Because the job that Jesus did was so good and satisfying, we are now able to say ‘all the work I need to do is finished because my Saviour has completed it for me.’
In life, there are 2 kinds of jobs. Firstly, there are jobs which never seem to end, no matter how hard you work at them. A dishwasher will always have dishes to wash, every day, no matter how hard they work. A nurse will always have sick people to care for. A mother’s job is never done. But there is another type of job where, once it is complete, it is over. The organizers of the Sydney Olympics had to find employment elsewhere once the Olympics were over. There is a sense of finality once the last brick is laid, or the project is complete. I’m sure the actors in Harry Potter are now looking for employment elsewhere now that the last movie has been made. (Although, now that J.K. Rowling has penned the very last chapter of Harry Potter, I don’t think she’ll be in need of work anytime soon! Her job is complete!)
The things we work for are like that first kind of job. We’ll always feel the need to perform, no matter how much we’ve done. There is always someone to impress, and it's never enough. But the work that Jesus did for us on the cross is more like this second type of job. It was complete! Right before he died, Jesus said from the cross ‘It is finished!’ In other words, the work has been done.
What happens when you take Jesus’ rest?
When we believe that Jesus did this for us, what we get is ‘rest for our souls’. Because the job that Jesus did was so good and satisfying, we are now able to say ‘all the work I need to do is finished because my Saviour has completed it for me.’
In life, there are 2 kinds of jobs. Firstly, there are jobs which never seem to end, no matter how hard you work at them. A dishwasher will always have dishes to wash, every day, no matter how hard they work. A nurse will always have sick people to care for. A mother’s job is never done. But there is another type of job where, once it is complete, it is over. The organizers of the Sydney Olympics had to find employment elsewhere once the Olympics were over. There is a sense of finality once the last brick is laid, or the project is complete. I’m sure the actors in Harry Potter are now looking for employment elsewhere now that the last movie has been made. (Although, now that J.K. Rowling has penned the very last chapter of Harry Potter, I don’t think she’ll be in need of work anytime soon! Her job is complete!)
The things we work for are like that first kind of job. We’ll always feel the need to perform, no matter how much we’ve done. There is always someone to impress, and it's never enough. But the work that Jesus did for us on the cross is more like this second type of job. It was complete! Right before he died, Jesus said from the cross ‘It is finished!’ In other words, the work has been done.
This means we can rest from having to carry the weight of all our under-performance. We can rest from the fear of death. We can rest because Jesus brings us into an intimate relationship with God where God is our Father and Jesus is our brother. We can rest in what he has done.
The real reason our souls are restless is because we live for the burdens. We live for the deadline, the pressure, and the expectations of others. We feel the need to prove ourselves. But because Jesus said ‘it is finished’, you too can say ‘it is finished’ and walk away, resting in the knowledge that your sins are paid for. Your life can be complete. There’s no need to feel wearied anymore. Do you know this rest deep within your soul? It's a relief when you do!
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