Tag: rest

Rest, Assured

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(Matthew 11:25-30)

Spend any length of time listening to a conversation between teenagers and time yourself. See how long it takes for the blank stare to come across your face when you have no idea what they’re saying.

I am not talking about mumbling or being soft-spoken, as teenagers can often be. Rather, the words and phrases they use will likely come across as either completely foreign to you or have an entirely different meaning attached to them.

For example, it might surprise you to find out that “bussin” does not refer to a method of transportation one might take, nor does “shippin” involve how one might send a package. Preaching a “fire” sermon has nothing to do with brimstone or heavy-handed law. I know it might sound like I’m “cappin,” but I assure you I am not. That’s the “tea.” 

My point? The words we use to communicate can only serve that purpose effectively if we know and understand what they mean. You’ve likely also experienced this when someone in a specific line of work explained to you what they do for a living and used words and phrases that totally flew over your head.

We can do it within Christianity, too, when we try to describe our faith using terms like redeem, atonement, justification, or sanctification – terms that are totally unfamiliar to non-Christians. 

That brings us to the overall theme on which we’ll be focusing over the next several posts, Define Christian. What, exactly, does it mean to be a Christian? How do we define it? What do we mean when we use that label or identify ourselves as Christian? Does it have anything to do with politics? What does the Bible have to do with it? What is the connection between a Christian and a church? And of course, since one can see the word “Christ” in Christian, who is he and where does he fit in?

With each post, we’ll look at how God’s Word defines “Christian” by exploring teachings and truths that guide us to a clear understanding. Today we see it defined by where a Christian turns for rest. 

We ought to first take the step of making sure we’re clear on our definition of “rest.” Rest, too, carries a lot of different meanings for a lot of different people. A hiker may need to stop and rest his legs and grab a drink of water at various points throughout the trail. A sick person or one recovering from surgery needs rest to allow the body to carry out its natural recovery processes. Ask someone who is sleep-deprived about the importance of being able to get good sleep or rest. Rest can also simply mean taking a break from something for a time or season in life.

So which rest do we have in mind as we determine where the Christian turns for rest?

Jesus’ personal invitation begins to clear it up for us: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). There is the invitation to receive rest from Jesus. He clarifies exactly the sort of rest he has in mind in the very next verse. “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” (v.29). There it is. The kind of rest Jesus offers is rest “for your souls.” 

How does one come to receive this kind of rest? We should first note that there are those for whom this rest will always remain out of reach. Jesus described them. “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do’” (v.25-26).

What? Two things here might catch us off guard. One, it sounds as if God deliberately keeps some people in the dark regarding his rest and certain other truths of Scripture. Two, Jesus sounds like he is on board with this, even going so far as to praise his Father for it. These two observations appear to be at odds with the character of a God who says he wants all people to be saved. Why wouldn’t God’s invitation to find rest be extended to all people? 

To better understand the point, consider the result if Jesus’ words were reversed – if he had said that he praised his Father because he revealed these things to the wise and learned and kept them hidden from little children. If that were the case, then certain people – those who lacked a certain intellectual ability – would automatically be excluded. No matter how hard they tried, they’d never be able to achieve the level of wisdom and learning required for salvation. They’d never be able to understand and believe Jesus’ teaching or ever find rest in him. We would have to conclude that God isn’t genuinely interested in saving all people; he’s just interested in saving the smart ones, the ones with the heightened intellectual ability to achieve a higher level of enlightenment. 

But Jesus didn’t say that. Instead, he praised the Father for revealing his truths to little children – to those with a child-like, simple trust and understanding. Therefore, to those who are too smart for their own good, who have either concluded they don’t need rest for their souls or that they don’t need Jesus to provide it for them, Jesus’ rest will always be out of reach. 

However, even for them, there is always the opportunity for the wise to set aside their prideful know-it-all-ness and humble themselves to receive the rest Jesus offers like little children. So Jesus’ invitation is for all people in search of rest who have realized they won’t succeed in finding it themselves. 

As we consider Jesus’ word choice in his invitation to rest, it also might strike us as odd that his invitation involves terms like “yoke” and “burden.” Those are terms that carry the idea of hard work and manual labor, not rest. Animals that share a yoke aren’t the animals resting in the barn, but rather working in the fields. So what can Jesus mean?

It’s important for us to nail down and be certain of what Jesus isn’t saying. Observe that Jesus doesn’t say his yoke is easier and his burden is lighter. In other words, Jesus isn’t inviting us to partner up with him so that it will be easier for us as long as we just do our best and he does the rest. This isn’t Jesus calling us to try our hardest to please him, to be pretty good people, with the assurance that he’ll take it from there so long as we’re yoked to him. 

No, Jesus wants us to know that the reason his yoke is easy and his burden is light is because he has done it all. He has done all the heavy lifting. He has done all the hard work. He has carried out every single detail of every single requirement the Father expected. There is nothing left to be done. 

Have you ever gone tubing down a river or floated around a lazy river at a resort or water park? Some find it so relaxing because once you’re parked in that tube, there is no effort required on your part. You are carrying nothing, but rather are being carried along by the tube and the flowing water. There is no burden. No weight – just a floating weightlessness that is perfectly relaxed and at peace. 

So when Jesus invites us to put on that yoke and learn rest from him, it is nothing more than this: an invitation to experience complete relief from the impossible burden of trying to perfectly please God on our own. That work has been done, and Jesus is simply inviting us to benefit from it by basking in the joy of his job perfectly done.

Suppose you hired a landscaping company to overhaul your entire backyard. After several weeks of watching the crew dig and ditch and haul away and pour concrete and build and plant and all of the labor under the hot sun, they finally finish. It looks absolutely breathtaking. There you sit, cold beverage in your hand, beaming as you take in the view. Although you didn’t lift so much as a finger, let alone a shovel full of dirt or a wheelbarrow, nonetheless, you are fully enjoying the work of others. 

So it is with Jesus’ rest. He has done all of the work. All of it. And his invitation is simply to come to him and bask in the results. He has fully satisfied the Father. He has fully paid for sin. He has fully prepared a place for us in heaven. There is nothing left to do but rest and enjoy the peace that is ours. 

Now return briefly to that backyard project once again. While you didn’t move a muscle to contribute to that backyard that you enjoy, assuming you’re satisfied with the work, you might take a step or two to reflect that. You could provide a glowing review for the company online. You could refer them to others looking to have work done on their yards. It would be natural for you to pass along how satisfied you are with their work.

Is that any different than the rest we have in Jesus? When we are satisfied and at peace with what he provides, isn’t it natural for us to point others to the rest they can find in him? Or do you suppose they already have it? Do you suppose the couple you know who just filed for divorce already has that rest? Do you think your day-drinking friend has that rest? Does your neighbor with a new toy every other week have that rest?

Or… is it possible that those priorities in their lives are either misguided attempts at seeking alternative rest or masks covering up their real need for rest? If so, don’t miss an opening to help them understand what it means that you’re a Christian. It means that you turn to Jesus for a rest that cannot be found in anyone or anything else, a rest that is assured. A rest that is for them, just as much as it is for any one of us. Invite them, as Jesus did, to personally join to find out why we gather in this place for rest. 

You may never understand the lingo that teenagers use, but you do know where to find rest. Take advantage of it. Go often to the only place where you can find rest assured: to Jesus.

Escape from Chemical Dependency

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(Proverbs 23:29-35)

There is no vaccination that can protect you from tough times. We are not, nor will we ever be, immune to stress. We may have different triggers that set us off, different topics that test us, but trouble trails us from the day of our birth until our last day on earth. Our series for the next several weeks will challenge us to evaluate how we cope with trouble, how we handle hardship, where we are inclined to turn to help us deal with it. Where do we go when feel compelled to escape? Where do we turn when we are tired and need rest?

There are many healthy ways to cope or escape. Socializing with friends. Working out at the gym. Volunteering in the community. But the past 18 months have contributed to the problem by limiting the number of healthy ways we have countered rising stress levels. Socializing with friends to take our minds off the headlines has been limited. Closed gyms have limited physical activity to release stress naturally. In the process of not having our normal outlets to beat stress and decompress, many have turned to alternatives to cope. 

But, rather than finding a healthy alternative by which to cope, some are much worse off now than they were before. That’s because unhealthy escape is a double whammy – not only does it NOT deal with or address the underlying problem; it actually ends up adding another problem to the mix. Imagine if you saw a drowning person struggling to keep their head above the water. If you could, you’d throw them a life preserver to cling to and rescue them. But turning to an unhealthy escape is like tossing a drowning person a rope with a cement block tied to it. Not only will it do nothing to help them; it will actually do more harm than good. It made a bad situation much worse! So it is when we turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms for escape or for rest that can truly only be found in one place: Jesus.

Let’s talk for a moment about how not to approach this series. Let me discourage you from ignoring it because you don’t think any of it will apply to you. Being too quick to jump to that conclusion may itself be a warning sign that a particular coping mechanism is a blindspot for you that you don’t even see. Also, this series is not being offered to puff up your pride because you may not have a particular weakness that someone else does. Nor is this series intended to equip you to become better at judging others, whether inside or outside the church. Instead, listen for two. Listen for yourself, being open to the possibility that you may have some unhealthy escapes in your life right now that need attention. But also listen for others who definitely do. Listen so that you better understand the struggles others are facing, and so that you are better equipped not to judge, but to jump in and help however you can.

To serve as a bit of a self-assessment throughout this series, here are four questions we’ll keep revisiting to guide us in possibly exposing some areas of concern we might want to address. 

#1 – Can I go without it? This is a better question to ask than just asking yourself if your use of something is excessive. This is because quantity and amounts are subjective and every one of us is proficient at justifying just about any amount for any reason. But the real question should be can I do without it? Can I go without? 

#2 – Is this a topic I can comfortably discuss with a fellow Christian? Am I able to share my struggle? If not, what does that say about the gravity of the situation? If it is something I am comfortable discussing, that may be the best evidence that this isn’t a problem area, or if it is, that you’re already in the process of seeking additional help to work through it. But if you can’t comfortably discuss it with a fellow Christian, why not? Is your inability to do so an indicator that you’re hiding a problem? 

#3 – Am I avoiding a long-term solution in favor of short-term satisfaction? Would you stick with the same mechanic if you had to keep taking your car back to him after every time he worked on your car? If he was doing a good job of fixing the problem, you wouldn’t need to keep going back to him, right? So if whatever you turn to for escape is actually helping you overcome a problem, should you need to return to it more frequently or less? If I keep returning to it because the same problem persists, how effective is it in the long term? Have you become so attached to its short-term satisfaction that it has led you to stop caring about a long-term solution?

#4 – Am I looking to creation for something that can only be provided by the Creator? It might be a person. It might be a substance. It might be a place or an experience. Whatever it is, if I am placing on it the responsibility or the expectation of freeing me from my burdens and providing me with lasting fulfillment and satisfaction, I will be disappointed. The sooner we understand that about anything – about everything – the sooner we’re ready to look to Jesus for what only he can provide: real rest. We’ll revisit these four questions again this morning as we consider our first escape: chemical dependency. 

To anyone who has ever had too much to drink, whether intentionally or not, the imagery provided in the verses from Proverbs this morning is rather obvious. The author is clearly describing what it’s like to be intoxicated, to be drunk. Does it surprise you to find such an accurate description in the Bible – to find such vivid imagery of a sin? It kind of catches one off guard, doesn’t it? We’re typically a little more comfortable simply naming the sin and forbidding it than we are going into detail about what it’s like. It’s one thing to read through an account in the Bible in which a sin takes place, and another to poetically paint the sin in such detail!

Moreover, the path by which we arrived at this candid description was itself a bit of an unexpected turn, wasn’t it? We’re drawn in by the first several questions and are quick to mentally shoot our hands up in the air: “I have woe. I have sorrow. I have strife. I have complaints.” We are sucked in by the completely relatable issues being raised, so that wherever the author is going, we’re listening. 

Then the road begins to turn slightly: “Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?” (v.29b). “OK, I guess… are we talking about someone being beaten up now? Not getting enough sleep because of the degree of suffering? I’m still paying attention, but now I’m a little confused. Go on.”

“Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine” (v.30). And now we get it. The point being drawn out is that abusing alcohol brings about all of those things for which I had my hand up. It is the source of those woes, sorrows, strifes, complaints, and yes, the needless bruises and bloodshot eyes. The irony, of course, is that what wouldn’t shock us would be for someone experiencing woes, sorrows, strifes, or complaints to turn to a drink or two… or three or more as an escape. But the proverb isn’t condoning cocktails as a means of coping, but instead concludes that they are the cause of woe, sorrow, strife, or complaints. In other words, turning to alcohol as an escape from problems will itself only foment problems. What we turn to as a solution only compounds the problem. 

We could at this point highlight all the destructive consequences that can result from chemical dependence, whether by drink or by drug. You already know how lives can so easily be ruined by such things. We could point to all those bad things and wrap up this message – and each successive message in this series – with a similar theme of “See – don’t do these bad things because they’ll mess up your life.” For some that would be enough. 

But God is never as interested in your actions as he is in your attitude. And that’s the underlying issue. When we talk about chemical dependency and turning to drugs or drinking for escape, for rest, the heart is the real issue. So rather than wasting your time with that little back and forth dialogue in your head that goes something like this: “I don’t have a problem. I just like to relax once in a while with a drink or two. Just a little something to take the edge off of a stressful day. Just a little me time. I’m no alcoholic,” let’s evaluate our relationship with drinking or prescription/recreational/illegal drugs as a heart issue.

Let’s steer clear of extremes, pretending that the solution is found in simply prohibiting such things because of the damage they could cause. They aren’t inherently sinful (unless we’re talking about taking illegal substances, or if we’re underage, or if we’re disobeying parental rules) and can be enjoyed in moderation. So rather than resorting to the easy method of making everything black and white and pretending more rules will accomplish what only the gospel already has, let’s evaluate the relationship we have with such substances. After all, a person can still have an unhealthy relationship with certain substances without being an addict or alcoholic. How do we determine that? We look at our hearts. 

Since I can’t see your heart and you can’t see mine, we have to personally wrestle with the questions I raised earlier to help provide us with an honest assessment of where we’re at.#1 – Ask if you can go without it. #2 – Is this a topic I can comfortably discuss with a fellow Christian? #3 – Am I avoiding a long-term solution in favor of short-term satisfaction? #4 – Am I looking to creation for something that can only be provided by the Creator? 

Now all these questions can do is make real for us the possibility of a problem. What they don’t do, however, is address the solution. We often presume that a sterner preaching of the law is the solution to solving chemical dependency. It’s not. A better understanding of the gospel is. I’m free. I have in Christ what no chemical can cure or solve. Chemicals may temporarily numb my pain, but Jesus nullified my sin. I have a Savior who promised a permanent long-term solution that also offers short-term satisfaction.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). Paul didn’t say, “Hey Christian, you need to or should crucify your flesh,” but that your flesh has already been crucified by virtue of Jesus’ crucifixion. Just as surely as he was nailed to the cross, so were your sins, and your sinful passions and desires along with them. There’s nothing for you to do other than to realize who you already are in Christ. And that isn’t an addict. It isn’t an alcoholic. It is a forgiven child of God. 

That current status is not something you have to achieve. Your flesh has already been crucified with Christ, which means you have real power to put off that old passion and desire. If it’s been nailed to the cross, then it doesn’t own you or control you. You are free to say no, free to embrace your forgiveness, free to stop falling for the lies of chemical escape that always elude you. You have in Jesus real rest, real escape from real problems. And more of Christ, not chemicals, will fill you with real rest. So heed Paul’s advice to the Ephesians: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians. 5:18). There is no vaccination that can protect you from tough times. But there is salvation that can provide rest from them. Real rest. Escape that is eternal. Literally! 

In Good Hands

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Photo by Geetanjal Khanna

Nothing has changed.

In light of tanking retirement portfolios, closed schools and businesses, travel bans, and a combination of other steps like social distancing being taken to flatten the curve of covid-19, anyone who states that “nothing has changed” may sound a bit like he’s had his head stuck in the sand for too long. Or, it may just be that he’s had his head stuck somewhere else – in the Word of God:

“But I trust in you, LORD;
I say, ‘You are my God.’
My times are in your hands.”
(Ps. 31:14-15)

Nothing has changed. Our times were in God’s hands long before anyone had ever heard the word “coronavirus,” and our times will be in God’s hands long after we’ve forgotten the word altogether. What does that mean? While many in the world are crippled with fear, we live confidently in faith. Faith assures us that we belong to God. No virus can change that – not even Satan himself could change it! God’s perfect love for us in Christ Jesus drives out all fear. Rest easy. You are in good hands – God’s.