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“Rest for Your Souls,” Jeff Wright, 7/6/2014

“Rest for Your Souls”

A sermon preached by Jeff Wright

at Heart of the Rockies Christian Church

(Disciples of Christ)

Fort Collins, Colorado

July 6, 2014

            Jesus is not the creator of another religion, but the victor over religion; He is not the maker of another law, but the conqueror of law.  We, the ministers and teachers of Christianity, do not call you to Christianity but rather to the New Being to which Christianity should be a witness and nothing else, not confusing itself with that New Being.  Forget all Christian doctrines; forget your own certainties and your own doubts, when you hear the call of Jesus.  Forget all Christian morals, your achievements and your failures, when you come to Him.  Nothing is demanded of you – no idea of God, and no goodness in yourselves, not your being religious, not your being Christian, not your being wise, and not your being moral.  But what is demanded is only your being open and willing to accept what is given to you, the New Being, the being of love and justice and truth, as it is manifest in Him Whose yoke is easy and Whose burden is light.

Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the Foundations

Texts: Romans 7:14-25 & Matthew 11:25-30

Paul’s confession in the seventh chapter of his letter to the church in Rome is essential to our understanding of the Christian faith, essential to our hanging in with God in spite of ourselves.  Paul points to a common and discouraging experience.  I want to read again from the seventh chapter, a paraphrase of Paul’s confession written by Eugene Peterson (The Message).  (Read Romans 7:15-25)

We decide to follow Jesus, do our life one way, and end up doing it just the opposite.  We promise, “I’ll never do that again”, then turn around and do it.  “Something has gone wrong deep within me,” Paul writes (TM).  “It gets the better of me every time….”

             Look, you’re an amazingly gifted people.  You’ve been blessed in so many ways, each one of you.  You’re a blessing to many.  But you’re a mess, too.  Because you’ve got that something-has-gone-wrong place in you.  I know this about you.  You know this about me.  Because we’ve lived together for many years.  It’s no secret.  It’s here in the Bible.  Just like Paul says in Peterson’s paraphrase:  “We’re all full of ourselves (7:14).”

Of course, this public admission doesn’t let us off the hook.  It just takes some of the pressure off.  We don’t have to pretend around each other anymore.  Certainly not around God.  There never was any “keeping secrets” from God, but it’s nice to know that he knows all about this shadowy place within us and loves us anyway.

Our church’s elders have been reading Messy Spirituality, a book by Mike Yaconelli.  In his book, Yaconelli recalls one of his favorite Peanuts cartoons.  Dr. Lucy is at her five-cent psychology booth.  Charlie Brown has stopped again for advice.  Lucy says, “Life is like a deck chair, Charlie.  On the cruise ship of life some people place their deck chair at the rear of the ship so they can see where they’ve been.  Others place their deck chair at the front of the ship so they can see where they’re going.  Charlie, which way is your deck chair facing?”  He responds, “I can’t even get my deck chair unfolded.”  The Apostle Paul invites us to count ourselves among the Charlie Browns of the world – those who have tried again and again, only to fail again and again.

…Which puts us in good company.  The Bible is full of ornery, flawed, careless, rebellious, impertinent, indifferent, presumptuous, spiteful, foul-mouthed and foul-behaviored people.  You know what the Bible calls them?  The Bible calls them saints – most of them – because they believed that God had taken an interest in them, actually cared about them.  So they took an interest in God and discovered how God was inviting them into a holy partnership, in spite of their brokenness.

Consider the people whose company Jesus preferred: prostitutes, tax collectors, the irreligious.  And his inner circle – check me out on this: more than stories about the disciples’ deep, abiding faith, the Gospels tell about their impulsiveness, jealousy and betrayal.  Most of the time, they misunderstood what Jesus was talking about.  After his crucifixion they hid in a room behind locked doors without any idea what to do next.  I wouldn’t blame you if you asked why Jesus, after his resurrection, chose to hook up with them again.  But this is the point.  Jesus loved those guys.  He really loved them.  Their sinfulness didn’t put him off.

Let me say it again – because I think this is hard for us to believe.  It isn’t our sin that puts God off.  It’s our pretension to holiness.  Jesus enjoyed – there’s no other word for it – Jesus enjoyed his time with those who acknowledged that they couldn’t put their lives together: sinners, misfits, the broken-hearted.  The ones Jesus got most annoyed with were those who pretended that they weren’t as sinful, needy, hungry, weary and carrying heavy burdens as the rest of us.  Jesus has come to help us through the messes we make and the ones that are imposed upon us.  He’s come to make us whole and help him make things right in the world.

But how?  This is the question Paul addresses.   Listen to Jesus’ response.  I’ll read again from The Message, Peterson’s paraphrase.  [Read Matthew 11:25-30]

“I’ll give you rest,” Jesus says.  “I’ll help you… I’ll show you how to do it.”  Do you sense how Jesus is approaching us – choosing to come among us in ways that leave us free to say “yes” or “no”?  Jesus knows that a lot of us won’t come until we’re tired and worn out, burned out on religion.  “Come to me,” Jesus says, learn the “unforced rhythms of grace” (Peterson) through which God is redeeming the world.

“Take my yoke upon you,” Jesus says.  The yoke was a familiar first-century image: two cows, two horses, paired to do a task.  We often use the term yoke to imply a burden that may be laid upon us.  But Jesus’ yoke is not a burden, and it’s not laid upon us.  Jesus invites us to take his yoke.  It’s a gift, this double yoke Jesus is talking about – like the yoke of marriage: two people willingly and joyfully joined as one to embrace the world and work through whatever life brings.  Jesus says we don’t have to carry the entire load.  Even more, we find ourselves living into a new reality, we discover the “New Being” as Tillich writes on the cover of our bulletin.  Yoked to Jesus we begin to manifest the love of God in our own lives.

This has to be one of the most difficult things for us to understand as Christians.  Or understanding, for us to accept. Or accepting, for us to practice!  Ours is a God of invitation, not intimidation.  You remember, it’s in the Book of Genesis, how God put us in the Garden and invited us to till and keep it – to be God’s stewards of life in all its wonder and mystery and abundance and diversity and glory.  God is still inviting us, still expecting us to come as willing stewards.

God has given us the example in Jesus, shown us everything that makes for real life, life abundant, the kind of life we’d want to live forever.  But I’m not talking about an example of this kind of life, not now anyway.  In his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul is talking about the role of the Law, the 10 Commandments, and how the Law is an example, too.  Examples are helpful – they offer a picture of how life can be.  But as Paul writes, we need something more.  We know the right and good and beautiful and healing thing to do, but so many times when we resolve to do it, we don’t.  We do the opposite.

So Jesus, in our Gospel reading, and Paul in his letter point us to something deeper, something more freeing and empowering in our lives.  They’re talking about the power to live the Jesus life by depending upon Jesus every day.  Depending upon the Spirit of the Living Christ in everything.  Not just in our times of crisis when we cry, “Help!”, or in our moments of joy when we shout, “Thanks!”  In all the ordinary moments, too: sitting around the dinner table with family or friends; getting things done at work; mowing the lawn and washing the dishes; putting the kids to bed at night – not just the tucking-in part, but the argument before that and the baths and the last-minute project for school.  This is the transforming truth of our faith: God’s presence, God’s peace, rest and power are available every moment.  We just don’t access it and rely on it.

My entire ministry I have preached that the kingdom of God is here among us, at our fingertips; that Jesus is as near as the breath we breathe.  I have taught and preached and prayed about God’s invitation to intimacy.  I’ve known this.  I’ve experienced it, thanks, God!  I just haven’t lived it consistently.  I’ve believed it and practiced it at times, the presence of God, but not thoroughly.  You know what I mean?  It’s like I put on the yoke, looked over and smiled gratefully to Jesus, but when I thought I didn’t need him, or didn’t want him hanging around, or were embarrassed in his presence, I got out of the yoke again.

But the way God wants it to work, the way it works best – and to the most amazing ends – is when we take the yoke, put it on and leave it.  So we’re not always smiling across the yoke to our partner, Jesus.  Sometimes ours is a look of anger or confusion, weariness or shame – but we don’t take off the yoke.  We have this sense, whether we’re living in the light or in the darkness, that we’re walking with Jesus, working with Jesus, letting Jesus not only lead us but change us.

Here’s how Paul describes this transformation – again from Peterson’s translation: “…those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.  A new power is in operation (Romans 8:1-2).”  It’s the power of the Risen Christ Jesus, walking with us, working with us, going over God’s plan line by line and writing it on our hearts.  Paul goes on to tell us how to open ourselves to Christ’s transforming presence, God’s power at work within us.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you:  Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention on God.  You’ll be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it (Romans 12:1-2).”

We’ll still say one thing and do another.  That “something-has-gone-wrong-deep-within-us” place will still rear its ugly head.  But yoked to Jesus, it won’t have the same power over us that it used to have.  It won’t.  It really won’t.  Because we’re being changed from the inside-out.