Good Morning Friends,
Meeting the test of being a persecuted Christian is the topic of today’s text. The key is not a focus on those who underestimate the value of a human life. The key is to realize that denial of worth comes from our inhumanity to each other which is a form of a denial of God. We are to meet persecution in our church life with an awareness of the backing of Christ who came that we might have life in abundance. We are to meet problems in the church with an attitude that difficulties must be addressed, and some problems are there because we are doing something right not something wrong. Neutrality is not an option. We must choose whose side we are on, for darkness hates the light. Feed the right dog. Put Christ first and learn from the teacher. Find yourself by choosing selective pruning of those things in your life that hold you back from what God would have you do to improve. Take up the cross and ask, Are We Energized By Jesus’ Rest And Easy Yoke When Facing A Hard Act Of Faith?
Scripture: But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations. Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have given heed to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. I declare that I will bring you up out of the misery of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ They will listen to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; let us now go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ I know, however, that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will perform in it; after that he will let you go.
Exodus 3:13-20 (NRSV)
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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 11:28-30 (NRSV)
Message: The early church, even with all its problems, might have been doing something right as well as something wrong. So, do not lose heart if you are living in a worshipping community that struggles with problems and their solutions but sometimes cannot seem to get on top of them. That could be a sign of the life of the church. The church will be what the church will be, but more importantly God will be who God will be. So, today’s message may seem a little mixed and that is because it is about the fate of churches and how our attitude is related to the outcomes in them. You see, when we arrive at worship we may well leave our burdens at the door, but when we leave, we often pick them up again. We leave our confession, repentance, joy and happiness in places instead of them being from the inside out and that makes us ineffective in the battle for our souls and the cause of Christ in family and community. The yoke may be easy, but the faith is hard work. Friends, you have heard this before, but it is worth saying again, if you find being a Christian is easy work you probably are not one. Our culture seems perfectly designed to lead us into this sort of false faith. Worshipping communities need to change culture and that is hard work. Popular standards of what it means to be considered a Christian, would lead us to believe that the faith is nothing more than a collection of vague and friendly sentiments. And we know that we are apt to believe whatever the world tells us. It is dangerous to believe that a person with the Jesus fish on his/her bumper, the Bible quote in his/her social media profile, and Christmas lights on his/her house in December, must be a Christian. The world is fooled. We can be fooled. But God is not. Honestly our culture may be more hostile to authentic Christianity than we would like to believe. And our problems in our worshipping communities may be more a sign of a healthy faith than we would like to believe. Being superficially Christian in America is attractive but eventually will cost us. Instead we are to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Cheap grace is a problem. Communion without confession. Grace without discipleship, Grace without Jesus Christ and the cross is pointless. The church is called to minister to less than perfect people. Churches are going to have more and more problems because people come into a relationship of worship with problems. And maybe that is as it should be. Finding an ideal church is pointless. We must learn to live a life shaped by the cross and resurrection of Jesus. And that mean hanging out with social outcasts as well as the social in crowd. This is hard work.
And So, we live in a tense, uptight and fast paced world and may also face a heavy burden of work and faith and family as well. Indeed, we may feel a heavy burden to produce at all costs. The combined affect can be very unpleasant if priorities are out of order. That the CDC has come out with a report that we are not getting enough sleep and that the effect is unhealthy is relevant to the issue. We need the silence of sleep. So today we build on that thought as we explore scripture about finding rest in the Lord…rest not found in the church… rest not found in work or family, but rest found in relationship with Him who experiences the Father. Instead of working to find rest we can work out of the rest we find in Jesus. We can find in Christ because through Him we are completely forgiven… absolutely accepted and totally loved. So, each day we put on the yoke of His friendship…each day we respond to His gentle nudges…each day we grow more mature in the faith and we realize that the real work has already been done… we just need to join Jesus in the joy of His purpose. So, you got stress? Do you have too much to do and too little time? Get your priorities in order and there will be time for everything that is needed. Understand that our purpose is to glorify the Lord and part of that is enjoying the creation He has made for us. Jesus made it clear. Our lives and souls matter. When we put our relationship with God first, then our family, then our work, then our time of serving it all can fit like an easy yoke. God never intended for man to carry life’s burdens alone. Jesus gave the weary and stressed out three commands: to come to Him…to take His yoke and to learn from Him. He personally invites us to come and see….to come and drink….to come and eat…to come and work….to come and be changed…to come and be transformed in His blessing. Friends find rest in the gentle and humble gift of Jesus…become a new creation. Get a good night’s sleep and awake to a new dawn. Then discover how to find spiritual rest a prescription for weariness in the first place. Friends when we come to Jesus, we receive not just the promise of rest, but a yoke to make the load lighter…a relationship of stability and growth. When we are too tired, He gives us rest. When we feel unloved, He loves us.
Pray that our priorities are in order. Pray that our yoke is connected to Jesus. Pray that we work with Jesus for His purpose and glory…. that we rest in His Sabbath each day. Pray that we give up our way of self, for His yoke and His way. Pray that we would be connected to Jesus…to follow His lead and complement His power, as we learn to cooperate in His work and find rest when His strength is combined with our obedience. Pray that we find rest in a relationship with Jesus. Pray that our yoke is a place of purposeful labor. Pray that our yoke is a place of learning. Pray that our yoke is a place of patience, humility, trust and love. Pray that our yoke is a place of rejoicing in discipleship. Pray that when we are tired and weary we open the door to God’s presence.
Pray we realize that some of us are discouraged and weary…. tired of caring. Pray that when we face discouragement and the lack of commitment of others we know that some want to be doing more than they feel they are doing. Pray God never grows tired of us. Pray we get a good rest and awake to the Lord. Pray we are of good courage. Pray we take our burdens to the cross. We need not continue to carry our burdens because Jesus has paid the price for us. Pray we not worry. Pray we not doubt. Pray we not be prideful. Pray we accept the great invitation to lean on God and work together for blessings both received and given. Pray we realize that the church is called to minister to less than perfect people. Pray we try to continuously improve. Pray we realize that dealing with our problems may be a path to a stronger faith.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 