Lightening Your Load

My name is Mark and I just want to welcome all of you and invite you to grab your Message notes as we continue with our series Fuel. This morning, we're gonna be talking about lightening your load. The song was about it; the scripture passage that Gina read moments ago also speaks to this. Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." I'm guessing that many of you are familiar with this verse. It's one of the more popular sayings of Jesus, and I think we're drawn to it because we all like the idea of Jesus lightening our load and lifting our burdens, whether they're emotional burdens or financial, relational, personal, physical—you name it. Would you agree with me? There are no shortage of burdens in this life. There's no shortage.

So when Jesus says, "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened," I mean that sounds great. But what does it actually mean? I'm pretty sure he's not offering a vacation. There's probably more to it than that. In fact, as we'll see today, Jesus is talking about something that goes to the core of our being, the part from which everything else flows. Because the rest Jesus talks about begins in your heart, in your soul.

There's a great example of this in the classic book by John Bunyan called Pilgrim's Progress, written over 300 years ago. It begins like this: "I dreamed, and I thought that I saw in my dream a man standing with his face turned away from his own house. He was clothed in rags; a book was in his hand, and a great burden was on his back. Then I saw him open the book and read, and as he read, he wept and cried out, 'What shall I do?' By and by he turned and went into his house. His wife and children saw that he was in trouble, and they wondered. But he kept silent for a long time and said not a word. At last, when he could hold it in no longer, he said, 'Dear ones, do you see this great burden that is on my back? It is so heavy that I can hardly bear its weight.' But they could not see the burden, and they wondered at his words. 'Dear father,' they said, 'you are very tired. When you have slept and rested, you will feel much better.' He knew, he answered, 'It is not sleep that will relieve me.'

You see, sleep is good. Rest is good. Having a balanced life is good. And perhaps when it comes to this subject of fuel, you know, that's all you need. Maybe you just need a nap and you'll just be golden. But at some point, we've got to go to the heart of how we actually live, what really fuels us. Because otherwise, would you agree? We're just kind of picking around the edges, aren't we? Ultimately, Jesus isn't interested in just fine-tuning our lives. He's not applying to be our life coach. Jesus intends to be our Lord, and that's really today's message in a nutshell.

Because here's the big idea: you ready for this? If I want Jesus to lighten my load, I must be willing to let him change my heart. You might want to write that down. If I want Jesus to really lighten my load, I must be willing to let him change my heart. And with that said, I'm gonna invite you to open your Bibles to Matthew 11. I wish I could tell you what page that's on, but no. We've got about five different printings between here and over in venue, and so you're kind of on your own, but I invite you to try anyway.

If you're new to looking up things in the Bible, that's okay. A good thing to know is that Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. I'm gonna give you a little shortcut I learned from my Sunday school teacher many years ago: just take that Bible and crack it open to the very middle. Hard to do with the mic in hand, but I'll manage. You should end up in somewhere like Proverbs or Psalms, maybe Ecclesiastes. Then on the section that's on your right, the second half, split that down the middle. There we go, and hey, look at that, I ended up in Matthew. That's awesome! Hopefully, you're somewhere in the neighborhood and you'll find your way over to Matthew 11 today. We're gonna be looking at verses 20 through 30 because context is key.

If we want to feel the full force of what Jesus intends to say to us when he says, "Come to me, and I will give you rest," then it helps if we at least have a little bit of a sense of what he says leading up to that. Speaking of setting things up, a little bit of personal context here from me. There's a saying among pastors that goes like this: you gotta live the sermon. You gotta live the sermon. Not that we presume to be perfect—far from it—but it means that the scripture has to seep down into our hearts and souls and lives. In other words, I gotta wrestle with it before I can talk about it. It's got to speak to me during the week if I'm gonna have something to say to you on the weekend. Does that make sense?

Alright, well that said, that's what landed me flat on my face this past Wednesday. I mean literally face down on the floor, telling Jesus, "You know what, Jesus? I don't feel rested. I don't feel burnt. I feel burdened. In fact, I feel like you turned up the earth's gravitational pull and it just sucked me down onto the floor." Now, obviously, eventually, I got back up. But I was struggling with this passage for really two reasons. First of all, we're familiar with this passage, many of us, and we're aware of the ideal. But sometimes the reality is another subject altogether. I know just from the purview of a pastor, there are heavy loads in this room.

The other reason I was struggling is that, again, while the verse ends with this promise of rest, it begins on a pretty heavy note, and you're gonna see that. I was feeling this so much so that laying on the floor seemed like the best possible response because I sensed that Jesus was in fact saying, "Mark, let's take a look at your heart. Let's take a look at your soul," and invited me to kind of do some personal inventory. Out of that struggle, there came really four one-sentence prayers, and that's what forms your outline this morning: these four little prayers, four simple prayers for all who want lighter loads. And if that's you, the first prayer goes like this: Jesus, please give me a soft heart.

You know, there's another saying among pastors that the task of preaching is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. You ever hear that before? Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable? Well, that's what you're gonna see Jesus do big time in this passage today. He's gonna kind of turn that around. He's gonna start with the affliction first and then move on to the comfort. But man, this is like a full-on smackdown. Starting at verse 20, follow along as I read: "Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you."

Wow, what's going on here? I mean, did someone forget to give Jesus his coffee that morning? Let me give you a little bit of the backdrop. Jesus has been teaching and performing miracles in and around Chorazin and Bethsaida. These cities make up the region of Galilee. It's where he's done most of his miracles and his teaching. And what's it all kind of added up to? What's the result? Well, circle that phrase: they did not repent. They didn't repent. And bear in mind, these are people that believed in God. These are people that believed in their Bibles. These are people that gathered together every weekend for worship. So they felt pretty good about their faith, pretty good about their connection with God. But when Jesus comes with his message and even his miracles, it's like it just bounces right off their hearts—at least most of them.

So he says, "Woe to you! Woe to you!" Because if I would have gone to Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. And that's about as repentant as you can get. And here's the kicker: Tyre and Sidon, these were like notoriously pagan cities. These are cities that the Old Testament prophets railed against for their arrogance and for their wickedness. But Jesus says, "You know what? They're gonna have a better place on judgment day than those of you in Chorazin and Bethsaida." Wow! This is why I say pray for a soft heart. Not that God is gonna kick you out of the fold if you're a Christian, but think about it: these people in Galilee, they liked Jesus's preaching. They liked the big lunches that he put on for them. They loved to hear about the miracles or even see them with their own eyes. It was like, "Wow!" But it left them all unchanged. They're like, "Wow, Jesus! That was cool! What do you got for us next?" And Jesus is not interested in simply putting on a show. He's interested in transforming hearts, transforming lives.

In fact, the purpose of miracles is to change hearts. It's to motivate people to repent. It's to convince us that Jesus is for real. But they were unconvinced. And so as I think about this tendency, as I kind of thought through this this week, let's face it: it's a tendency that's in all of us. We can become so comfortable in our ruts, in our patterns of thinking, in our attitudes, in our behaviors, and yes, in our own sins, that you know, it's sobering to think how comfortable we can become. These verses remind me that Jesus can show up in hugely dramatic ways. He can just blow us away with his power, and we're like, "Whoa! Yay for Jesus! You know, praise the Lord! Hallelujah!" And then it's business as usual.

But God's no fool. No one's gonna pull the wool over his eyes. But me and you, we're pretty good at fooling ourselves, aren't we? So I pray, "Jesus, please give me a soft heart." Because here's the thing: people with hard hearts tend to end up with very heavy loads. I don't want to be one of those, and neither do you, I suspect. Well, if you thought that Jesus was a little bit tough on Chorazin and Bethsaida, wait till you read what he says next because it turns out he was just getting warmed up. He shifts his focus to another city called Capernaum, which was his home base in Galilee. This is like where Jesus has his PO box. He's a local celebrity, and that must have made the people in Capernaum feel pretty special, you know? Pretty good about themselves.

You can imagine that if you go down to their Chamber of Commerce, you know, they've got a brochure: "Welcome to the lovely city of Capernaum! Situated on the north shore of the beautiful Sea of Galilee, Capernaum is home to many fine restaurants, great shopping, and our own synagogue featuring exquisite Greco-Roman inspired architecture. And get this: when he's not traveling, Capernaum is also the hometown of Jesus Christ!" In fact, that sign is there today: "Hometown of Jesus!" Now, hey, where do you live, huh? I mean, this place is like the Malibu or the Santa Cruz of the Middle East—gorgeous! People are pretty proud of themselves.

So the second prayer goes like this: "Jesus, please give me a humble heart." Talk about afflicting the comfortable! Jesus says, picking up at verse 23, "And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? I mean, are you guys really that awesome? This is likely a reference to Isaiah 14:13, where Isaiah just skewers the King of Babylon for his arrogance. 'Will you be lifted up to the skies, really? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.'

Wow! Same basic problem as the other cities, but Jesus really singles out Capernaum. It's like, "You guys are worst on the list!" It turns out Capernaum ain't such a great place to come from after all. And why? Because of their arrogance. And what I find so stunning is that Jesus compares Capernaum to like the worst city in the entire Old Testament: Sodom. Right? The one that was so wicked that God wiped it off the map. But Jesus says, "You know, if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would remain to this day." And I just find that incredible that the people of Sodom would have repented if they saw what the people in Capernaum did with Jesus in action.

It's a fascinating glimpse, by the way, into the judgment of God because God knows not only what people have done; he knows what they would have done given a different degree of revelation. But for the people of Capernaum, no amount of divine revelation was enough. I mean, Jesus literally lived among them, and yet they didn't repent. They didn't change their ways. So I hope you're getting a sense of what I was wrestling with this past week because here's the thing: in this passage, the people who are the most informed, the most outwardly religious, the most comfortable in their faith, they're the ones who end up getting a very rude awakening, don't they? And the wicked people, well, they're still wicked, but at least they can claim a little bit of ignorance on judgment day. Not so with the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. They honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him.

And please listen carefully: I'm not saying that I was afraid of the same kind of judgment falling upon me. Man, I have full trust in what Jesus did for me on the cross. I don't have any righteousness of my own, but Jesus offers me all of his, and the same is true for every single one of you who has placed your faith and trust in Jesus. But nonetheless, follow me here: it still makes me think about the occupational hazards of being a career minister in my case or a career Christian in the case of many or most of you. Because the theological education and all the religious activity and all the church can dull our hearts to the point where Jesus can show up, and he has to in our church, but if our hearts become hard and arrogant, we'd be like, you know, we give him the polite little tennis clap: "Hey, nice job! Good serve, Jesus!" And you know, "Wow, that was cool!" But all the wows don't lead to any actual change in our hearts.

René mentioned last week—and maybe we've talked about this too much, so we're just kind of dull to it—but he mentioned the food drive this last fall, and we were amazed in that moment at what Jesus empowered this church to do. Or when each year we gather at the beach and 100 or more people get baptized, and you hear from their own mouths how Jesus has performed miracles in their lives, and that's what brought them to that point. Man, if that doesn't leave us changed, if that doesn't convince us all the more that Jesus is real, if that doesn't soften and humble our hearts, then I ask: what will? What will?

So to the extent that any one of us remains unchanged by the power of God in our lives, Jesus' words here are intended to afflict us and wake us up because arrogant and hard hearts miss out on the rest that Jesus is talking about, and he doesn't want that. Picking up at verse 25, at that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure." And let's face it, you know, the more impressive you are, the more wise and learned, the more likely you are to be impressed with yourself. That's kind of how we work, right? But on the other hand, the less impressive you are by the world's standards, turns out so often to the Bible, these are the people who end up being impressed with Jesus.

Verse 27: "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." And by the way, this is a little sidebar here, but this is where the idea that Jesus just claimed to be a good teacher completely falls apart because look at what Jesus is saying here in verse 27. He's making a pretty bold claim about himself, isn't he? Which means that Jesus is either God himself, who he claims to be, or he is the biggest egomaniac this world has ever seen. You just can't have it both ways.

But notice what he says: he says, "No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." So what kind of people does Jesus choose? That would be a good thing to know if I wanted to be chosen or if I already consider myself to have been chosen, you know what I mean? Well, in your notes, I reference 1 Corinthians 1:18–31. You don't have to look it up right now; I hope you will this week, though. But in this passage, the Apostle Paul talks about the kind of people that Jesus actually chooses, and he says this: "Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."

Well, that's not very flattering, is it? God chose the foolish things and the weak. He chooses the lowly and the despised. You know, how do you feel about that, church? And perhaps it'd be nice if I could, you know, explain how this doesn't really apply to us, but think about it. The first disciples that Jesus called, they weren't exactly the elites of their day, were they? Or when Paul is writing this to the Corinthians, the church is growing fastest among women and slaves who were considered to be on the bottom rung of their society. But no matter what your station or status in life, what's most important is this: it's that it's not the proud and the self-satisfied that hear the call and receive the rest. It's the people who realize that the only thing that they have to offer to God, the only thing that really matters, is to hand him their heart. They're the ones that get the blessing, that find the treasure.

It's kind of like this. I'll illustrate it this way. Here's a picture of two brothers here on the screen. The one on the left, we'll call him Paul. Notice that Paul could not be happier in this moment. And why not? Because when it was time to get his picture taken, Paul got to sit on the box, and Paul got the ball. So see how happy Paul is? But the boy on the right, we'll call him Mark. Mark doesn't understand because if Paul got the box, shouldn't at least Mark get the ball? I mean, does nobody see this? And now, I mean, he is supposed to put his hand on Paul's shoulder as if he's feeling any kind of genuine affection in this moment. And how about Mark's shoes? Paul's shoes are new, and they even match his pants. Mark's are smudged over for the tenth time with white shoe polish, and they have holes in them. Paul looks like he grew up in Capernaum; Mark, somewhere else.

So I ask you, church, whose heart do you think is closer to Jesus in this moment? Okay, kidding aside, Paul's on his way to Africa this morning, so he obviously came around. Maybe the look on my face in this photo resembles something like what you feel inside your heart. Life didn't just turn out the way that you'd hoped. You didn't get the ball; you didn't get the box. In fact, there are a lot of things you feel you didn't get that you'd hoped for, that you dreamed for. You're sad. Maybe you're sad because this weekend is less about burgers and barbecues and more about someone that you miss dearly, someone you continue to grieve that was taken from you. Maybe you're weary of just trying to make life work, giving it your best shot, but it's just grinding you down. You're tired of the struggle; you're tired of trying to impress others and live up to even your own standards, perhaps. Maybe you're worn out because somewhere along the line, somebody told you that the way to God is to be good, but you know you can't be good enough, and you're worn out. Your back is bending under the weight of your sorrows and your pain and your responsibilities and your regrets and maybe even your religion.

What do you do? Jesus says, "Come! Come! Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." That's his offer. That's his invitation to all who are weary and burdened. It's even his invitation to the folks in Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum because he longs to comfort them as well. The only question is this: are you willing to come? Because if you truly want Jesus to lighten your load, then the third prayer goes like this: "Jesus, please give me a willing heart." The New Testament says that one day a man said to Jesus, "Lord, I believe! Now help me with my unbelief!" And I love that because that's all of us.

I think for those of us, in fact, who have walked with the Lord for some years, it's so easy to forget that he calls us to himself daily, that his mercies are new every day. And yet we fall into this habit of trying to make life work on our own strength, in our own resources. And Jesus says, "Come to me again! Come to me with today's burdens. Come and live in my strength all over again today. Again, come to me." Reminds me of a story I heard years ago about an elderly couple. They were driving down the road in a pickup truck. A car passes them by, and with this truck now in front of them, they can see through the rear window of the truck this younger couple, and they're just right next to each other. The gal is just snuggled up right next to the guy as he's driving. It's a little hard to do in our cars today, but remember the days of bench seats? You'd see this, and it's kind of cool, you know? You drive down the road, and you get your sweetheart right next to you.

Well, when this older couple sees this, the wife says to her husband, "Wow! How come we don't drive like that anymore?" And this old guy behind the wheel, he just kind of looks over with a wry grin on his face and he says, "Well, honey, pretty sure I'm not the one who moved." I might have to think about that. The Lord, give me a willing heart—a heart that's willing to draw near over and over again. And when we come to him, it might be a good idea to include this last little prayer, this fourth one: "Jesus, please give me a teachable heart." So often when I fall at the feet of Jesus, I just want to dump the burden and then go find the couch. It's like, "Okay, I'm done!" And yet life doesn't always work that way because life is, in fact, a succession of burdens, isn't it? A succession, and that's just reality. So we need more than a couch and more than a vacation, as good as those things may be. We need someone to actually teach us how to live, and why not the person who gave us life?

To teach us to actually deal with the burdens that we're going to bear. It's not a choice of this conversation last night; it's not a choice between problems and no problems. That's not the promise. The promise is problems by yourself or problems with Jesus in his strength. That's the choice. And so verses 29 and 30, Jesus says, "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." And when Jesus says, "Take my yoke," he says, "Take up my teaching. Take up the mantle of my teaching, my authority, my leadership." This is a call to discipleship. In fact, this is where this whole passage leads to like a funnel. Jesus is calling us to be his followers, his students, and learn how to really live the life that he has given us.

Because living the life of a disciple, kind of betting the farm on Jesus, it is the best possible life you could ever live, and you only get one. So take his yoke upon you. And it's interesting: the only thing that Jesus says here about his heart is that it's gentle and humble. Which means that when we pray, "Lord, give me a soft heart and a willing heart and a teachable heart, a humble heart," what we're really saying is, "Lord, give me a heart that's just like yours. Just give me a heart like yours." And as he begins to change our hearts, we receive the rest that he promises because we learn to live a completely different way. And it's a deep soul rest. It's not a life free of trials or burdens, but there is a sense that Jesus is right there, walking with us, giving us strength that we just don't have in and of ourselves.

So if you're already a disciple of Jesus but you're running yourself ragged with some kind of crazy schedule, taking on way too many things, saying yes to far too many things, and the last thing you feel is any shred of rest for your soul, well, you might want to take a look at what's really driving you. In fact, I'll put it bluntly: you might need to repent, make a course correction. Because he says that his burden is easy, his yoke is easy, his burden is light. And we can't keep doing the same things and expect a different outcome, now can we?

And some of you might be thinking, "Well, Mark, amen! I'm not just busy; I'm broken. I'm busted. I'm buried. You have no idea." And you know, maybe I don't. But Jesus does. And Jesus promises to bear your burdens. And Jesus is your one and only true hope because he's the only one with the power to do that and to make a difference within the circumstances that you find yourself in today.

And finally, I'm aware that some of you, maybe you've never answered, maybe you've never even heard the Lord's invitation to come and to receive his rest. And you might be wondering, "Well, what does that rest look like?" Well, remember the man we read about in Pilgrim's Progress at the beginning? The one who knew that no amount of sleep could ever remove the burden from his back? And maybe you relate to that. And perhaps that's why God has you here this morning, because you keep trying to shake that burden off your back, and it just never falls off.

Well, in the story, the man's name is Christian because he's a symbol of every person who comes to Jesus. And as the story continues, it says, "Now I saw in my dream that Christian went on slowly and with great difficulty, for the road was steep and the burden on his back was very heavy. But he toiled on until he came to a hill upon which there was a cross. And at the foot of the hill, there was a tomb. So as he climbed the hill and came up to the cross, behold! His burden fell from his shoulders and began to tumble, and it rolled downward till it came to the mouth of the tomb, where it fell in. And I saw it no more. Oh, how merry of heart was Christian then! He stood for a while to look and wonder, for it seemed very strange that the sight of the cross should thus ease him from his burden. And Christian was so filled with joy that he leapt three times into the air and then went on singing, 'Thus far did I come with my burden of sin, and nothing could ease the grief I was in. But when I came hither, the burden I lost, and I found peace and joy at the foot of the cross.'

And I'm here to tell you this morning that is the only place any single one of us will ever find peace and rest: at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. And so let's bring our burdens as well as our hearts to him as we come before him in prayer. Would you bow your head with me?

Heavenly Father, thank you for your presence with us right now. Thank you for loving us so much that you would send your son for us. And Father, I pray that his life and his significance would not leave us unchanged today. That his teaching would penetrate our hearts. And Father, I think of those who are stressed out today because their job, their finances, their family, whatever—it just seems beyond their control, and the wheels are falling off that they never thought would. And they just need to know that you're with them, Lord. That you promise to receive their burdens and bear them with them. And know you might not take it all away, but you'll give them the grace that they need. You will walk them through each and every valley of life.

And for those, Lord, who are carrying deep sorrow and pain, they wonder how in the world could your yoke feel light, your burden? They don't feel that right now. God, I simply pray that your spirit would come alongside them and that you would comfort them. And that they would know that your spirit intercedes for them with groanings too deep for words and that you would lift them up.

And Father, for those finally who walked in with a burden of sin on their back and shame, regret, and they can't shake it, may they look to your son on the cross. And may they know that every single debt has been paid by Jesus. And may they feel that burden fall off and roll away and know that by confessing their need, Lord, they can be made new. Lord, your word says that you oppose the proud, but you give grace to the humble. And so I pray that we would be in a position to receive your grace right now. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Come, change our hearts, make us new. In your name we pray, Amen.