"Reducing The Pressure"
Sermon Transcript for September 19, 2004
(Third in 3-part sermon series, “Re-energizing Your Life”)
Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:28-30
By Rev. Mike Beck
We conclude today the three-part sermon series entitled, “Re-energizing Your Life”. And if you missed one or both previous messages, in your bulletin you’ll find a variety of ways in which you can get a hold of those sermons. In the first week we talked about the fact that to live healthy lives in Christ, there are some things that we have to let go of. We have to let go of the need for control. We need to let go of past hurts. We need to let go of the need to always be right. We need, at times, to let go of God’s resources so the Kingdom can be advanced. We need to let go of the future which we talked about doesn’t mean we don’t plan; but when we have done the best planning we can do, we leave the future then in God’s hands. And we need to let go of the fear of a deeper commitment to Christ of what we might have to give up. Or the fear that, “Gosh, if I really sell out to God, life will be dull and boring.” When Jesus promised He had come to give us life in all of its fullness and abundance.
And last week we looked at some spiritual passion killers. Passion being that driving, burning desire to be all that God wants us to be. But we said that if our purpose of life is unclear, it will rob us of passion. If our schedule becomes unbalanced because of too much work, it will rob us of passion. If there is an unresolved conflict with someone close to us, if we are living an unsupported lifestyle and we aren’t in relationship with other people who can support us, passion gets drained from our lives. If we don’t take time to both examine our life and correspondingly to feed our soul on the things of God, passion slips away. If we know what we are suppose to do but we fail to act upon it, an unapplied truth can rob us of passion. And then, finally, we said that faith needs to be shared with others. There needs to be both input and output in our walk with Christ. An unexpressed faith can rob us of passion.
Now don’t put the next slide up on the screen yet because I want to see if anybody remembers the simple little four-letter word that I gave you at the end of the message last week to help you remember how to keep spiritual passion alive in your life. Shout it out if you remember it. What was the word? C-H-A-T C—Check your spiritual progress, H—hear the word of God on a regular basis, --then A—apply it to your life. That’s why there are two parts to that wonderful hymn, “Trust and Obey”. And then, T—tell it to others.
Take out your sermon outline for today. Many people have said how much they are enjoying having that, to be able to follow along, to help keep attention, then to take it home and review points of the message. I want to begin with a funny story. There was a man in his car who was following a PETCO delivery truck. And the driver of the truck would get out at every stop sign or every red stoplight. He’d get out of the cab, he’d take a 2x4 and he’d beat as hard as he could on the side of the truck. Well, the driver of the car following, finally curiosity got the best of him and he got out as the truck driver was beating on the side of the truck and he said, “What in the world are you doing?” And the truck driver’s answer was, “Well, you see, I’ve got two tons of canaries in the back of this one-ton truck and I need to keep half of them in the air at all times in order to keep going.” And I wonder if some of you haven’t felt that way at times. That the truck of your life is overloaded? Well, if so, you’ve picked a good Sunday to come to church because we are going to look for guidance from the word of God on ways we can reduce the pressure in our lives.
Now hear me carefully as we begin today. It is very important that you understand what we are not talking about. We are not talking about eliminating stress and business from our lives. Persons who don’t have any stress in their lives need to have their pulse checked because they won’t have any; they are dead! Stress is a normal part of life. And there is nothing wrong with being busy. We have a lot of retired folks here at Grace and they consistently tell me, “I don’t know how I ever had time to work!” Their lives are just as busy as they were before and that’s not a bad thing. When you go to the nursing home, if we want to find persons who aren’t busy, and I don’t think any of us want to change places with those dear folks.
Our purpose in today’s message is to try and find some principles from God’s Word on how we can reduce the pressure in our lives through being intimately connected with God as we live out our lives in busy, stressful days. Look at the text verse on the top of your outline from Matthew 11:28-30. And before we read them, I want to ask, “Who can tell me where the first three words of Jesus in this verse are found in another prominent location in our church building?” Somebody shout it out. Where are they? Somebody knows! Right over the entrance door to the sanctuary in gold letters are the words, “Come unto me.” And you may be wondering why this yoke is up here this morning. It goes along with our Scripture verse. Laura, put it on the screen and let’s read it together, words of Jesus. “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.” I want you to circle the four words that are capitalized there in our text for today. Come--take--learn—and then, God promises that if we will do those three things, the fourth word that you circled, that we will find rest for our souls.
Come to Christ: The first step for you to write in your outline is very simple. It’s simply, “Come to Christ”. That’s step one. In the Gospels we see that people came to Jesus for a wide range of reasons. Some came because they had problems, some came out of curiosity, some came because they had spiritual questions, and some came because they were ill. And Jesus never criticized anyone for why they came. He never turned them away. He said, “Come to me.” But we normally don’t think about coming to Jesus for rest. We think about coming to Jesus for salvation, for forgiveness, for wisdom. But Jesus in this verse says, “I also want you to come to me for rest.” Now, here is another thing that is important to understand. The rest Jesus wants to give is much deeper than just physical rest. Physical rest is important. But what Jesus wants to give us is rest for our souls—spiritual, emotional rest. Because God knows that is needed to get out from under the stress and anxiety and of guilt of fear of bitterness because those kinds of things can weigh us down far more than a crying baby or being overworked. Jesus said the first thing we need to do when we are stressed out is to come, “come to me”. But isn’t it true that more often than not when we feel pressure we’ll turn to other things instead of Christ. Many of us flip on the television when we feel stress. Or some of you are like me, if you are feeling stressed you open the refrigerator door and you get something to eat. Some people turn to sex or to pills or to alcohol. And none of those things are going to take care of soul rest. They may, for the time being, work on the body, but they are not going to work on the most important thing that needs to be worked on—the heart and the mind.
Read with me these words from Isaiah, Chapter 40:29-31, “God energizes those who get tired and gives fresh strength to dropouts. Those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.” And I want you to notice that twice in that verse you see the word “fresh”. What Jesus is referring to there is that strength that only He above can give. Not something we can muster up on our own. When we need to reduce the pressure and it involves being intentional, it may involve reprioritizing our lives, what we need to do is to have more time with God. In that verse circle the phrase, “wait upon God”. That involves taking quiet times alone with our Heavenly Father. And, unfortunately, we Americans are not very good at either waiting or being quiet. For we always seem to be on the treadmill of life in a hurry.
How do we wait upon God? Look at the next verse in your outline, words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Read them with me. Jesus says, “Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” Matthew 6:6. Mothers with young children, I know it’s hard to find that quiet, secluded place. It might be ten minutes a day, but you can find it. We all can find it. It may be when we are driving in the car and we put in a tape with some Christian music. In that quiet time, I want you to notice in that verse toward the end these words; “the focus will shift from you to God”. See, I think that’s what prayer is. Now, yes, we bring our request to God and God will answer those in one of four ways. He’ll answer them, “Yes” or “No” or sometimes God will say, “Wait” or sometimes God says, “I have a better idea”. But to me, the main thing that happens when I’m quiet with God in prayer is that the focus shifts from me to God. When we begin to think less about our problems, we can think more about God’s power. When we begin to think less about our situation, we can think more about God’s sovereignty. When we think less about our circumstances and think about God, we can think more about the fact that He is ultimately in control. That’s the value of being plugged in to some small group study or ministry here at Grace.
Well, Gavin Shawn Beck has arrived. No details but he is here! Call Mickey on the cell phone after the service. You better believe I will! Now we are in a serious sermon, but in light of this I’ve got to tell you a funny story. My son, Adam, was a wonderful basketball player in high school. He hoped to play Division II in college but he was 2” too short and a little bit too slow. But we asked him, when he said they found out it was a boy, we said, “What’s the name?” And they said, “Gavin”. And we said, “Well, we like that name. How did you happen to choose it?” And he said, “Well, I laid there in my bed at night and I was thinking, “What would sound good over the public address system when they said, ‘Now starting at forward, 6’5”, Number 23, ____ Beck.” And he had known a basketball player that played named Gavin who went on to play at the University of Michigan. And that’s how they chose the name. To which his Grandma wisely said, “That’s great Adam, but what if he wants to be a musician instead of a basketball player.” And he probably came into this world at about four pounds because he is early so he’s got a ways to grow if he’s going to be 6’5”.
Well, back to the sermon. What we’ve been talking about, that’s the value of being a part of a group like Christian Believer or Disciple. Tara could tell you. Working, two children, new baby, she doesn’t have time to do that, but she is in the Christian Believer group because she’s learned that without time with God, I don’t grow spiritually. And when you are a part of one of those groups, it forces you to do something you really want to do. And it’s not too late. If you feel the tug of God to be a part of either Disciple or Christian Believer, you come and join us tonight at 6:30 p.m. Our culture tells us when we feel empty to go and do something—take a vacation. And, hey, there’s nothing wrong with any of those things. I love vacations. Just had four months of it; it felt great! But, the problem is and the reason that just going and doing something or taking a vacation isn’t going to solve the inner problem, is this: you go with you. That approach won’t address the core problem in our heart and soul. And that’s one of the things that I have mentioned. Some of you have said you’ve seen it on my face what the renewal leave did, it restored and gave rest to my soul. Jesus simply said, “Come to me”. And there are no qualifications to do that. Just as that great hymn of invitation says, “Just as I am, I come.”
Give Up Control: The second principle from God’s word to help reduce the pressure in our lives, it might be a little harder for some of us. Write down, it involves “give up control”. And we talked some about that in the first message and for lack of time I’m not going to spend long here. But, a lot of us operate on this philosophy, “If it is going to be, it is up to me.” Not a real good philosophy to live by! In fact, at the Women’s Retreat last weekend, Becky Suitor who co-pastors with her husband over at Martinsville United Methodist Church, could not believe that I could be gone for four months while a building project was under way. And Mickey said, “We’ve got a good building committee and Mike’s getting better in this area of letting go of some things.” For friends, the higher our need to control things, take it to the bank, the higher your stress level is going to be. I like what Rick Warren says and I give Rick credit for these last two messages in this series. Rick, in this message, told his congregation, “Don’t make all the mistakes yourself. Let other people make some of them. Spread the blame around a little bit.” That sounds like an awful good philosophy for a pastor or a manager at work. And Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you.” Now, for you non-farming people, Jesus wasn’t referring to the part of the egg that has got all the cholesterol in it. He was referring to this. I didn’t have this here last night, but Ted and Phyllis were here for Saturday night’s service. We’d been looking for one as a visual prop. They came up to me afterwards. Phyllis said, “We’ve got one in my garage. My dad made it by hand.” This is the yoke that Jesus is referring to. It joins two animals together in pulling the plow or some other heavy load. Now, initially that doesn’t sound like taking pressure off. You would think putting that on your back adds more weight. But the purpose of that yoke is to help make the load lighter. For instead of a harness that is good on one animal who has to do all the work himself, a yoke links two animals together to help lighten the load and actually even allow them to pull together a greater load.
The yoke that Jesus was speaking about is a symbol of two things and both of them help to reduce the pressure in your life. First of all, a yoke…write this in your notes…is a symbol of partnership. You weren’t meant to carry all of the burdens of life by yourself. Jesus wants to partner with us in dealing with the stresses of life. In Psalm 55:22, the Psalmist said, “File your troubles on God’s shoulders – he’ll carry your load and help you out.” But then, secondly, a yoke is a symbol of submission. Yes, the load is lighter but there’s somebody back behind these two animals guiding and controlling and giving direction. When you are yoked to someone, you aren’t free to just go off in your own direction at your own speed. And, friends, when we are yoked with Christ, the neat thing is we move together in the same direction Christ is pulling and at the same pace that he is going and leading us.
Romans 3:28 says, “Our lives get in step with God by letting Him set the pace.” Some of us have got the speedometer of our lives set way higher than God wants it to be. It’s the same principle Jesus talked about there in the Upper Room when he told his disciples, He said, “If you want to bear fruit, you’ve got to stay connected with the vine which is Jesus in the person of the Holy Spirit.” Hear me carefully, friends, because you are going to be yoked to something in life. Some of you are yoked to your jobs and your career. Some of you are yoked to constantly trying to live up to the expectations of others. Oh, that’s a heavy yoke, heavy load. Some of you are yoked to the desire to acquire. Your purpose of life is to get more and more of life’s stuff. And the list could go on and on. My suggestion is that you choose the easiest yoke. And Jesus said, “My yoke is easy. My burden is light.” And that word “easy” in the Greek, I discovered, means “custom made, perfectly fitted” just for you. And friends, we can trust Christ to fit us to that perfect yoke that links us to him because he’s the one who made you. He holds the blueprints to your life. There was a song a few years ago that says, “Everybody serves somebody”. So I ask you this important question, “Are you yoked with Christ? Have you given up control of your life to Him?”
Follow Jesus’ Model: Come to Christ, give up control, and then, thirdly, follow Jesus’ model. That’s the third thing. Write in, “Follow Jesus’ model”. For Jesus’ model (some of transcript lost due to tape change)…. and you’ll find rest for your soul. Now I want you to relax. That learning doesn’t happen overnight. God is infinitely patient with us as we develop new priorities, rearrange our life in different ways, and try and cultivate new habits. He knows we’ll make mistakes; we won’t do it perfectly. All God wants us to do is get started following his model for living. And Jesus, in our text today, tells us He wants us to learn gentleness and humility. And perhaps our first reaction is to say, “How does gentleness and humility help me lower the stress in my life?” At first glance, we’d rather have Jesus teach us confidence and endurance, courage and strength. We would want Jesus to teach us time management and goal setting skills. But, no, Jesus here says we need to learn how to be gentle and humble. Why did he choose those two things? Because the two greatest sources of stress in most of our lives, write these down over in that left column, are aggression and arrogance. And then, over to the right, write down these two corresponding de-stressors: gentleness and humility.
Let’s talk just very briefly about each of these. Aggression—why do we often get so stressed out? Because we don’t know how to wait, we don’t know how to ponder, we won’t delay, and we get over committed because of our over aggressive approach to life. And then in this matter of arrogance, arrogance is when we are trying to control everything. Our pride causes us to think we can do more, be more, and have more than we are actually capable of. Friends, my ego and your ego are responsible for a lot more stress in our lives than we are willing to admit. Jesus, fully God, was also fully human and He knew his limits. He didn’t heal everybody that needed to be healed. He took time to go up in the hills and be alone with his heavenly father. And He was gentle with people; and He was a man filled with humility. And He lived a life much reduced in stress.
We’re about done. I want us simply to read together these four versus under the final point in this outline. Read with me Proverbs 20:24, “Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything that happens along the way?” Let me stop there. I need to say this. Friends, in the crises of life, we are all down at one time or another. It is totally natural to ask, “Why?” Do not beat yourself up. That’s the natural response. Why did this happen? But, you know, even if you had an explanation, that explanation wouldn’t be helpful. Like Job, what we need far more than an explanation is we need God and his power in our lives. Read with me Psalm 142:3, “When I am ready to give up, He knows what I should do.” Hebrews 13:5, read it with me, “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.” And then, finally, that great first verse in Psalms 62. Read it with conviction, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him.”
God’s plan to reduce the pressure in your life.
- Come to Christ – you need that time alone with God.
- Give up Control – say to God, “I’m going to take on Your yoke. I’m tired of pulling this weight by myself.
- Learn to Trust – which simply means we say in the confusing moments of life, “You’re God, I’m not. I will trust you.”
Reflect on God’s word to us in these moments of quiet as the trio sings.
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