- September 23, 2020
To all the saints of Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, Oregon
Greetings to you in the abundant name of Jesus our Lord!
My wife and I just got home from a vacation. We were both ready for a little time away following her breast cancer surgery and subsequent radiation treatment. I was ready as well. We went to see some friends in Montana who used to attend Grace Baptist Church years ago, and I know many of you still remember them. They are Dennis and Pam Fischer, and also Lonnie and Christi Kamna. This vacation amounted to getting up late, grazing on good food, playing a number of games and just sitting around their house. The only sight-seeing was going to the Mt. Con copper mine in Butte, Montana, and taking in the view and the memorial there. That was quite a mine at one time.
On the way to Dennis and Pam’s and on the way back we stopped in at Joy Schoming’s place in St. Maries, Idaho. Joy is LaVoy’s little sister and has been to Grace Baptist a number of times. (Joy just lost her husband, Haran, and his funeral was on September 12th. With our new internet at our church, we were able to gather LaVoy, Velva and Jim Owings, along with Melissa and Stephanie Owings to watch the funeral together there. We arrived in St. Maries on Sunday night the 13th.) While with Joy we were able to bring some comfort and support to her. Pam helped with some computer and phone problems, while I helped with things around her house, like cutting down a tree, repairing a log splitter, and fixing her ATV and Lawn tractor. She is a dear sister in the Lord and she’ll need our prayers going forward as she adjusts to life without Haran.
Vacations are important and we should schedule some time away each year to help us with our overall well-being. We should also take one day each week for rest because none of us can thrive without seasons of rest. In the creation account, God modeled rest for us. In Genesis 2:2-3 we read: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” God didn’t have to record His rest in Genesis, but it was important that we learn from Him, and pattern ourselves after Him. When God gave the 10 Commandments to the Israelites He once again reiterated its importance and even made it a command. He said, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV2011)
In our world, we are tempted to work all the time because work is associated with success, wealth accumulation, status, and so many other things. God knew that we would easily begin to worship work—and not Him, so God made it clear that we are to remember Him and the pattern He provided for us. Rest is important for us physically, because the body tires and must be rejuvenated through rest. But rest is also important for us spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Rest is useful for all these areas in our lives, but we often neglect them—just like we sometimes neglect our rest physically. We need regular healthy doses of rest for proper soul-care. Jesus invites us to His rest in Matthew 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.”
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were considered the most pious, religious, and righteous of all the people. They worked hard at their observance of the law and most people would have thought that if any of them would get to heaven, surely the Pharisees were at the top of the list. They placed regulations on the people. Jesus said in Matt. 23:4 that they “tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves [were] not willing to lift a finger to move them.” Religion could be a hard and difficult thing—crushing people with unending duty. But Jesus here invites those who are weary and burdened to come to Him for rest. He is the One who can free us from the burden that is wearing us out. He is the key to rest. He is our rest. But before we will go to Him we must first realize that we need rest. In our self-sufficiency, we often falsely believe that “I’m not tired.” Yet in our weariness we collapse on the battleground of life. Then we wonder what happened to us?
Jesus provided a prescription to pace ourselves in life. He designed life to be a marathon and not a 50-yard dash. If you try to run a marathon the way you run the dash you will not last. So Jesus tells us to take His yoke upon us. A yoke is a wooden harness that fits over the shoulders of an ox or oxen. Once fitted to the oxen, this yoke can then pull a plow or a wagon. Hence, work could get done. Jesus is contrasting the burden bearing yoke of the Pharisees with His yoke of discipleship and a life with Him. Work still needed to be done, but Jesus would be in it—supplying His power. It would be power for the long haul, a marathon with Him and not a sprint of self-sufficiency.
Jesus told His followers to “learn from Him.” I want to suggest that He is the quintessential teacher and learning from Him will become an ultimate education. He knows what life is about. He understands the Father’s design for us. Jesus can provide His insight and grace for every situation. Jesus knows what’s in a person, and He knows the end from the beginning. Jesus has become for us wisdom of God. See
1 Corinthians 1:30. We are foolish if we refuse to learn from Him.
Jesus also tells us why we should learn from Him. He says, “I am gentle and humble in heart.” We do not need to fear submission to Christ’s yoke because for one, He is gentle. He does not crush or bruise; He is careful and mindful of us. Neither do we have to fear being taken advantage of because Jesus is humble. Yes there is work to be done and growth to be achieved, but because Jesus is humble we know that He is not trying to take advantage of us for His own benefit. Jesus went to the cross for our benefit, not for His. He endured it so that He might bring honor to the Father. He is not in this for Himself; He has pledged Himself for others. In a fallen world, we are constantly concerned about others taking advantage of us—but not so in the Kingdom of God. If we take Jesus’ yoke upon ourselves, we will learn gentleness which is a personality trait of meekness and humility—the opposite of which is pride. This is how we are to become more like Jesus—by taking His yoke upon us.
But the biggest reason we should take Jesus’ yoke upon us is that we will find rest for our souls. I know this sounds like a contradiction, and it is in worldly terms! But in the Kingdom of God it makes perfect sense. You see, everyone is in bondage to something. Jesus said that all who sin are a slave to sin. And this is true. But the Kingdom of God is upside down from the world. So now, when we humble ourselves and take His yoke upon us in the Kingdom, we find rest for our souls. Not a burden as we would expect. His yoke is fresh, light, freeing and invigorating. We have been made for His yoke, and apart from His yoke we are destined to destruction through the abuse of the world.
Jesus tells us what kind of yoke He provides. He says that His yoke is easy. In other words, the yoke fits. Like a favorite shirt, it fits me and makes me feel complete. It is not hard to wear; it is a delight to wear. His yoke is also light, as opposed to heavy. This is a relative term. We would regard some things light to us—but to someone else it would seem heavy. It depends on how much we can handle. Jesus’ yoke is light compared to the yoke of sin which no one can bear. It is also lighter than the yoke of religion which never says enough. Especially the kind of religion that the Pharisees practiced.
We need rest for our bodies and rest for our souls. We need rest for our minds and rest for our jagged emotions. The Father modeled rest for us, and we are wise to take Him up on it. We need rest—and Jesus has it for us. He beckons you every day with “Come to Me and I will give you rest.” Let’s take Him up on that.
“Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting,” by Jean Sophia Pigott
Jesus, I am resting, resting In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, And Thy beauty fill my soul,
For by Thy transforming power Thou hast made me whole.
Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so change-less, Satisfies my heart—
Satisfies its deepest longing, Meets, supplies its every need,
And surround me with its blessings: Thine is love indeed!
Ever lift Thy face upon me As I work and wait for Thee;
Resting ‘neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus, Earth’s dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father’s glory, Sunshine of my Father’s face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting, Fill me with Thy grace.
Benediction:
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
Pastor Russ Hilsinger
Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, OR
P.S. Please stay safe and healthy out there. I am looking forward to seeing you back in church again when you feel safe enough and the coast is clear. May the Lord be with you all until then.