Journey to the Cross - Lent Matthew 11:28-30 2-24-2013

Sermon 2-24-13          journey to the cross Lent  Sabbath

Mt. 11:28-30 ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are  weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Sabbath - On the 7^th day God rested and it was good.

I am not very good at this….neither are most of you

My attempts at rest are thwarted by……….

·        German work ethic

·        To do lists

·        Cant sit still

·        Drives my kids crazy………

Sabbath - Shabbat – to cease

Jesus retires to a secluded place

Do we do this?  How long do you stay? 

20 mins sometimes does not cut it. 

Skip your favorite tv show and go find some quiet time. 

Spend 3 hours doing nothing. 

Sabbath - Times when you find rest. 

·        Spent 3 days on a sail boat. 

·        Reading week in the redwoods. 

·        Gardening in the back yard.

·        Reading a book

Sabbath begins when we Get away from your routine. 

Forcing yourself to let go. 

Getting out of cell phone range.   Leaving the internet behind.

Finding a place of Sabbath.  A fire pit.  A fountain.  The waves.  A pontoon boat.  Fishing, hunting, the out of doors.  Working in the garden.

Sabbath is Rest from your labors

Worries, busy-ness

The animals met in assembly and began
to complain that humans were always
taking things away from them.

“They take my milk,” said the cow.
“They take my eggs,” said the hen.
“They take my flesh for bacon,” said the hog.
“They hunt me for my oil,” said the whale.

Finally the snail spoke. “I have something
they would certainly take away from me
if they could. Something they want
more than anything else.
I have TIME.”

You have all the time in the world, if you would give it to yourself. What’s stopping you?

Is your life this crazy running around? 

Your job, kids to practice, meeting a friend, fixing the deck, planting the flowers.

Remove all of them from yourself

Do you not still have your life?

Isn’t your life something of the soul?

Sabbath is Rest from painful religion

4^th commandment, remember the Sabbath

Sabbath is not about a certain day or a 24 hour period of time.

Sabbath is not about thou shall nots

This was the Pharisees approach

This is an approach live and well today

Rules and regulations created to put a box around what the Sabbath is and how we observe it

          Remember the blue laws?

          Should spend the day reading scripture, in prayer, at Church

In response to criticism from the Pharisee’s on his Sabbath practices, Jesus says…. Mark 2:27  Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath

Not about replacing one set of obligations (work) with another (religious duties)

Sabbath is not left over legalism

I know of the practice in jewish households of Laying out meals in advance

In contrast to the burdens laid out by the Pharisees

Jesus did much good on the sabbath

Jesus Yoke

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are  weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

His body of teachings

Is not like the Pharisees

His yoke is easy, his burden is light

Do you know a Jesus who’s yoke is easy?

Instead of reading jesus primarily in the light of paul, we need to read paul primarily in the light of jesus

Instead of understanding Jesus in the light of the hateful version of Christianity that we may have been taught, we need to understand our upbringing in the light of Jesus

Are there pieces of your belief system that you must let go of in order to find your way to Christ?

The bible doesn’t send us away with a longer to do list………….

Sabbath is more than rest, it is Rest in christ

To no longer be dominated by every problem

God rests

God doesn’t need  a break.  Doesn’t need to recharge. God’s not exhausted.  God doesn’t need a vacation.

But we do. 

Yet it is more than rest.  It is a resting in….a returning to….

          Rest means enjoy.  Experience joy and delight.

 Sabbath is like coming to a meadow

          You leave the woods behind.

          You enter the peace.

          You find a moment of return

          You come out on the other side, different, renewed, refreshed for the journey

The story of the Sabbath monkeys

Before Sabbath, every monkey is hurling a cocoanut.

After Sabbath a  monkey on a tree hurled a coconut at a wise man’s head
The man picked it up, drank the milk, ate the coconut flesh, and made a bowl from the shell.

Sabbath takes you away from the problems and resets your focus on God

Sabbath is indeed Rest for your soul

Psalm 23 KJV   The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. ³ He restoreth my soul:

A dialogue between a recent convert and an unbelieving friend:

"So you have been converted to Christ?" -- "Yes." "Then you must know a great deal about him. Tell me: What country was he born in?" -- “I don't know." "What was his age when he died?' -- "I don't know." "How many sermons did he preach?" -- "I don't know." "You certainly know very little for a man who claims to be converted to Christ!" -- "You are right. I am ashamed at how little I know about him. But this much I do know: Three years ago I was a mess. I was in debt. My family was falling to pieces. My wife and children would dread my return home each evening. But now I have given up foolishness; we are out of debt; ours is now a happy home. All this Christ has done for me. This much I know of him!"

To really know. is to be changed by what one knows.

To Sabbath or not – to rest or not, It is our choice

A sheep found a hole in the fence and crept through it.

 He wandered far and lost his way back. Then he realized that was being followed by a wolf. He ran and ran, but the wolf kept chasing him, until the shepherd came and rescued him and carried him lovingly back to the fold. In spite of everyone’s urgings to the contrary, the shepherd refused to nail up the hole in the fence.

If you want to let the world drive you crazy, God allows that

You are not forced to stay in his fold

As long as we are lost in the problems of this world, we will never find his rest

A child falls and hurts his knee. He is beside himself.  Then the child goes to the parent and the parent picks him up and the child relaxes.  The skinned up knee is forgotten. Sabbath is to allow yourself to be held by God.   Sometimes we must fall into the embrace of god.  It is the only answer

Mt. 11:28-30 ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”