Rev. Rob Henderson
Shelby Wesleyan Church
https://www.angelfire.com/mi2/robhenderson/
robnaomi@oceana.net
September 3, 2000 am
Matthew 11:28-30
Remember your first job? I remember mine. I had the opportunity to do yard work for a lady named Mrs. Bush in my neighborhood in Muskegon. As a junior higher I knew nothing about gardening but was willing to learn.
One day she wanted her garden cleared out of unwanted weeds and things. So I set about the task of pulling weeds. I came upon one that refused to budge. I hacked and whittled at the roots and dug around until finally he let go. Wow! What a hot job! But I was proud.
As Mrs. Bush got ready to pay me I bragged about how this one plant was really tough. I told how hard I had worked to get it out. A worried looked dawned over her face and she asked me to show her the plant. I did and she lost all composure! She cried as she talked about her “prize lily” that she had won prizes with. I was fired. And I was devastated.
I contemplated my issue and a few days later gathered up the courage to go to her house. I wanted to say my peace and was not able to properly apologize for my incompetent massacre of her lily. She answered the door and immediately apologized to me. She told me how she should have showed me which plants were which and that the neighbor lady had pointed out that she could now get two or three new lily plants from the bulbs that were in the root system. She paid me double and took the blame. Now that’s the kind of boss to work for!
As we celebrate Labor Day this weekend and the American worker- trust me, it is the worker that makes the economy work- let’s honor the One who has given us the abilities that we have so that we can enjoy the fruits of our labor.
God’s Word is quite clear that “he who does not work does not eat.” As Christians we do have a responsibility to teach a work ethic not only to our children but also to new converts. As we take care of the poor we should be teaching them skills that will aid them in becoming productive members of God’s kingdom and of society. There is nothing more meaningful to a worker than receiving a wage that they are worth.
Today I want to look at the other side of labor and work and look at something that Jesus said.
Have you ever been thirsty and hungry from working? In a few months many hunters from all over Michigan will take to the woods in order to put food on the table. I know I have a hungry family who is looking to their Dad to go out to the big wilderness and track down some wild game. I hunt and fish in order to feed my family. Of course, my mother-in-law says that if hunting and fishing were work we would never go.
A few years back several of us went deer hunting. The morning was exceptionally cold and nippy. I wore a pair of cover-alls under my hunting cover-alls. No way am I getting cold. Roland shot what he thought was a buck. And so the tracking game was on. We tracked through the cornfield row by row. We would find a trail and then lose it and then find it a few rows later. The sun rose about mid-morning and here I was slowly melting in my suits. Back and forth we walked and then finally I stumbled on my pastor’s doorstep and begged for a glass of water.
We never did find the deer.
I cannot recall ever being so thirsty in my life. But as I reflect on that day I am reminded of how at one time in my life I thirsted for something more in my life.
You see, we run our lives full throttle and try to get so much done. At the end of every week I look back with disappointment because for this reason or that I missed a phone call or didn’t make as many calls as I would like. Ministry work is never completed.
When I was a roofer I was under so much pressure to get the work done. I had contractors screaming for me and not understanding that if the truck is a day late for one job or if we get two days of rain on another week that my schedule gets thrown off. We would work sun-up until sun-down. Why? Maybe because I was a little bit crazy but mostly because I loved working outdoors and it was a job. And as my boss in Florida would say “I would drive away eating Rolaids and talking to myself.”
There was a time and there are still times that all of my labors drive me to those times of thirsting for more of God. Every so often I find myself doing the self-evaluation and asking about God. “God, what is it like to know you more? What does it mean to touch you and see your face? God how can I know you more?”
Jesus says to those who are thirsting for more of God to “Come and I will give you rest.”
Three Kick Rule
A big-city, California, lawyer went duck hunting in rural Colorado. He shot and dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer's field on the other side of a fence. As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer drove up on his tractor and asked him what he was doing.
The litigator responded, "I shot a duck and it fell into this field, and now I'm going to retrieve it."
The old farmer replied, "This is my property, and you are not coming over here."
The indignant lawyer said, "I am one of the best trial attorneys in the U.S. and, if you don't let me get that duck, I'll sue you and take everything you own."
The old farmer smiled and said, "Apparently, you don't know how we do things in Colorado. We settle small disagreements like this with the Colorado Three-Kick Rule."
The lawyer asked, "What is the Colorado Three-Kick Rule?"
The Farmer replied, "Well, first I kick you three times and then you kick me three times, and so on, back and forth, until someone gives up."
The attorney quickly thought about the proposed contest and decided that he could easily take the old codger. He agreed to abide by the local custom.
The old farmer slowly climbed down from the tractor and walked up to the city feller. His first kick planted the toe of his heavy work boot into the lawyer's groin and dropped him to his knees. His second kick nearly wiped the man's nose off his face. The barrister was flat on his belly when the farmer's third kick to a kidney nearly caused him to give up. The lawyer summoned every bit of his will and managed to get to his feet and said, "Okay, you old coot! Now, it's my turn!"
The old farmer smiled and said, "No, I give up. You can have the duck!"
We work so hard to take it easy. But what Jesus is telling us is “Come to me and I will give you rest.” We want the get rich quick scheme or the “I gotta have it my way” and we run ourselves sick. God’s plan is for man to stop relying on his own strength and depend on the supernatural strength of the Holy Spirit.
How? Make God your business partner. Make God your working friend. Take Jesus with you wherever you go. Our attitudes and actions are going to witness to a lost world where our dependence is at. Who are you depending on? Government? A pension fund? Your company? When Jesus says “I will give you rest” he is offering that place of assurance of our salvation. I am assured of my salvation based on the work of Christ on the cross not based on my efforts to impress Him. Jesus is offering to us more than a Rest Stop in life but a place where we can continually dwell in His presence despite where our journey here on earth takes us.
Woody Allen said something interesting: “I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it through not dying.”
There isn’t any of us here who doesn’t want to pass on any sooner than what God calls us. We strive so hard with the work of our lives that we tend to forget to rest in Him. Just rest in the everlasting arms of the Father who cares so deeply about us. We want to live forever but we are just sojourners in a strange land. We are going to a city, a holy city where the roses never fade.
But until then, we must allow our spirits to rest in Him.
Let me close with these three points.
1. Jesus offers a rest from life’s worries.
Are you burdened with concerns and troubles? Are you confused about the future? Where does God want you to go? Are you worried about your source of income? whatever the worry Jesus is saying “Come to me and I will give you rest.”
2. Jesus offers a rest from our way of doing things.
Sometimes I think I know it all. I know how to fix that front brake. I know how to replace a water pump. I know how to put in a thermostat. What I have learned from having car trouble is that first of all- I don’t know how to work on cars and secondly, any church I go to needs a good mechanic (or might be tempted to lose my salvation). I have learned that in life my way isn’t the best way and I have learned in my relationship with God that I need to continue to surrender particular areas that I try to still operate my own way. Jesus says for us to take a break from doing things our way and “Come to me and I will give you rest.”
3. Ultimately, Jesus offers rest from our war with God.
When we strive to do it all without God and try to earn our way into heaven we are doing it the wrong way. As a sinner I was dead in my transgression and sin. Without Jesus Christ I am at war with God. I love the verse from that great Charles Wesley song “Arise my Soul Arise:”
My God is reconciled. His pardoning voice I hear.
He owns me for His child I can no longer fear.
With confidence I now draw nigh, With confidence I now draw nigh
And “Father, Abba, Father” cry.
When Jesus said “Not my will but thine” he sealed his destiny. When Jesus said “It is finished” he sealed salvation’s requirement. When I say “I accept Jesus Christ” the war with God is over.
Conclusion
In verse 29 Jesus gives us this insight to our relationship with God: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.”
A yoke was a wooden frame that fit over the shoulders of animals, harnessing them to each other and to the plow they pulled together. Being yoked to Christ means that we are to rely on Him, to give Him our burdens, and to accept the necessity of walking with Him, side by side, step by step, day by day. And remeber, He is real, He is there, and He is not silent.
