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Nanosermon Script:
You know, there are times when I feel weary and heavy laden. You too might be labouring away and feel life is too much to bear. Maybe it’s all getting on top of you. Perhaps you feel overwhelmed, the problems seem insurmountable, you’re exhausted and discouraged.
So what to do? Well, you can call someone and moan, pour yourself a drink, or go to bed early. Actually, you probably should ask someone to pray with you, and you probably should take an early night. I find a hot drink never hurts either. And things often look better in the morning.
But maybe they don’t, and maybe none of that is working. At some stage, you’ll find yourself thinking, ‘Why didn’t I take all this to the Lord? Here are the words of Jesus, in Matthew chapter eleven and verse twenty-eight:
Matt 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
‘Come unto me’
The Lord just says, ‘Come unto me’. Not ‘go away and sort yourself out then come back in three years’ time’. No, just ‘Come unto me’. As you are. Then Jesus says ‘I will give you rest.’ No more struggle, no more being overwhelmed by it all. He just needs you to trust him.
But what is this ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me’ all about? Well, when you turn your life over to Jesus and trust him, you are going to do what he says. That’s what the ‘come unto me’ involves. But you are going to go to him and trust him first and then let him straighten you out, not the other way around.
The Greek word ‘zugos’ translated ‘yoke’ means a coupling or the beam for a balance. It’s put on a pair of oxen pulling a cart. Or a milkmaid would wear one to balance out the big milk bottles they had back in the day. But it also means a law or an obligation. Moreover, Jesus stresses that his way, his ‘yoke’, is not heavy, as you might think, but light and easy.
Submit to his authority
The great Bible commentator Matthew Henry gave this explanation: ‘Christ invites all to come to him for rest to their souls. He alone gives this invitation. Men come to him, when, feeling their guilt and misery, and believing his love and power to help, they seek him in fervent prayer.
‘All who thus come will receive rest as Christ’s gift, and obtain peace and comfort in their hearts. But in coming to him they must take his yoke, and submit to his authority.
‘Nor need we fear his yoke. His commandments are holy, just, and good. It requires self-denial, and exposes to difficulties, but this is abundantly repaid, even in this world, by inward peace and joy.
‘It is a yoke of pleasantness. The way of duty is the way of rest.’
His yoke enables his rest
God built rest into creation. He worked for six days, and rested on the seventh. So rest is good, and Jesus says by taking his yoke and learning from him how to conduct yourself, how to go about life, you will find rest from everything which is oppressing you.
We don’t just need to turn to God when things are getting on top of us. We must be in a daily walk with Jesus, that closer walk of the old hymn, where we seek him first and instinctively do things his way. You may have to give up activity, even a mind-set which is no good for you and giving you grief. Only in God’s way of doing things will you find physical, mental, emotional and spiritual rest.
Jesus says ‘come to me’. He promises you he won’t turn anyone away who comes to him and asks for forgiveness, salvation and rest and wants to learn of him. It’s never too late to give it all to Jesus. But it’s never soon enough. Get those burdens lifted. Take up the yoke of Jesus right now. Because when you do so, Jesus gives you rest. He says so.
SCRIPT ENDS
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