REST
Notes
Transcript
Second Wind
Second Wind
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
REST
REST
Today, we begin a biblical starter-series on wellness. I'm calling the series Second Wind.
One activity I enjoy is going on long runs. I don't do it today as much as I used to. I miss the physical health benefits and other benefits. Sometimes, I run focusing on the run itself. Other times I run to clear my mind, sort out my thinking, regain my composure. The furthest I've run non-stop is a half-marathon. Next to that, New Haven's 20k Road Race.
One challenging run that I've done twice is named "Ragnar". Teams of 12 run roughly 200 miles—from point A to point B—on city streets, country roads, sidewalks, and bike paths. You run day, and night, and day again, sleeping (barely) along the way. It is a relay run.
During my planned and unplanned long runs there have been times where the remaining distance extended beyond my current ability to complete the run. In those moments, through a series of decisions and adjustments, I remember the times when I entered a different phase of ability that brought me safely to the finish line--in running we say gaining a "second wind". The Wikipedia author writes
"whereby an athlete who is out of breath and too tired to continue suddenly finds the strength to press on at top performance with less exertion."
Siri dictionary says a "second wind" is
"a new strength or energy to continue something that is an effort."
God, through the Prophet Isaiah, says in Scripture:
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
For our series "Second Wind", our starter-series on wellness, I want to **speak from the perspective of getting right when things aren't right**. It's easier in many scenarios to maintain a positive trajectory. It's often harder when in difficulty to navigate one's way through. Let's talk about when it's difficult and how to continue through/to move ahead.
I have noticed and learned:
# Even the best lives have to decide whether to go further, to complete a/the run.
I have also noticed that:
**The sprints of life often take care of themselves**
--as quickly as these runs begin seems just about as quickly as these runs end.
- you sit down to take a test. Shortly, the test is over.
- you stand up to give your presentation. Shortly, the presentation is over.
- you awake in the morning to start your day. Seemingly, it's not long before the day comes to an end and you head for bed.
The sprints of life often take care of themselves--whatever is needed we deliver it during the sprint. When the run is over the pressure to deliver is over also.
**The marathons of life we experience differently**
...and to be honest, many of us at some point ask the question, "Will I finish?"
We look ahead at what's coming and, by experience or intuitively, we notice our actions which brought us to this point (of a crossroads) are different from the actions we need to complete the run.
It's at that moment of recognition you and I are posed the question "Do I go forward as planned?"
Life and mission have a way of pausing us ...Living, on and off mission, has a way of bringing us to the end of ourselves. Have you ever been on your last nerve? Cried your last tear? Made your last excuse? Stayed up over night for your last time? Written the last sentence in your head? Thought your last good thought? Solved your last problem set? Seen your last patient? Completed your last case study? Studied your last chapter? Wrote your last entry in your lab book? Conversed--mask on--from a distance with your coworker, raising your voice and straining your ear just to be heard and hear, for the last time? Signed on to your last zoom call, knowing you have a full Zoom schedule for next week?
Do I go forward as planned?
Have you been to that moment when you ask, "Do I go forward as planned? _How_ do I go forward as planned?"
# You have given your all, think you have nothing left, but have more distance to go?
In our opening text Jesus talks about rest but not from the perspective of ceasing activity--not rest for our body, such as go to sleep (which is certainly good to do!). But Jesus names "rest for our souls", from the perspective of the burdens we carry. Jesus names a state of rest that allows us to keep moving forward.
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The religious leaders of the Jewish people--of the people of Israel--developed burdensome religious requirements that they taught and imposed upon the people--laid these heavy burdens/unreasonable burdens upon the people even though the leaders themselves could not uphold their own teachings.
The people worked but did not see progress proportional to their labor.
Jesus, thinking of His disciples, calls, "Come to Me..."
**I want to draw your attention to the "yoke" and ask what are you carrying--in this season of life, today, what are you carrying (that may be burdensome and not the "yoke" that God provides)?**
Biblical Commentary:
"Yokes were heavy, wooden crossbars used to connect two oxen together for more efficient plowing. Here, Jesus' yoke represents His teachings. Allegiance to Him and His kingdom results in a sense of peace--it is not laborious, like keeping the requirements of the Jewish leaders at the time, but instead is joyful."
The "yoke" of Jesus, like the yoke on oxen, can bring a divine synergy that makes living free in Christ possible (even joyful).
[IMAGE of OXEN]
# If being yoked with Jesus gives us the strength to carry on,
**Q: what are some of the things we carry that can get in the way of our peace and rest (and progress)?**
I ask myself: what are the...
- external expectations that shape my expectations of myself and others?
- My desires and cravings influence my thinking?
- Guilt, which ties back into expectations?
- cloak/spirit of fear/torment vs power, love and a sound mind?
- overly fearful and overly concerned with being taken advantage of, being rejected, loosing security, being criticized (...and so I try to live life in full avoidance of anyone of these things)
- religious rules? Spoken and unspoken. I carry the rules of religiosity and I reject Jesus' direction to make my goal to love God and love my neighbor. Luke 10:27 (NKJV)
So he answered and said, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
- Limited understanding and/or misunderstandings of who God is. Have I gained the mind of Christ and overcome that ....Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV) 8 "For My thoughts [are] not your thoughts, Nor [are] your ways My ways," says the LORD. 9 "For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
- Limited understanding and/or misunderstandings of how life works. Sowing and reaping. Spiritual principles at play.
- Emotional scars and wounds.
- Not knowing the score. Jesus paid it all. What I store up in heaven vs The Value of what I store up on earth.
- lost track of time. Psalm 90:12 (NKJV) So teach [us] to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
**What today are you carrying in your mind, in your emotions, that block your progress and your peace?**
When it comes to rest many can conceptualize a change in schedule (using our time differently), getting more sleep, doing less work or doing work differently.
We can stop doing.
# Q: but How do we stop thinking/carrying a burdensome mindset? Is it even possible?
Jesus says Matthew 11:29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me..."
"Carry what I give you to carry and let Me teach you--out of My own life, from My own words."
**Q: Do you know enough of what God ask you to carry that you can recognize when you are carrying thoughts, ideas, expectations and strategies God has not given you?**
**Q: Do you trust God enough to put on the mind of Christ and put down from carrying (and keep from carrying) the thinking of culture, the thinking of this world?**
I argue that it takes knowledge of and submission to God's will to have rest for your souls, but that submission is a result of trust--a willingness/a decision to allow God to prove Himself in your life.
In closing,
# Even the best lives have to decide whether to go further, to complete a/the run.
Saints throughout scripture have found the end of themselves—the end of current effort but more living to go, more mission to do, a cause unfulfilled.
Jesus is and was no exception:
34 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”
35 Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”
And so said all the disciples.
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” 43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”
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(Q: what are some of the questions you’ve asked yourself?)
**At this juncture--where exhaustion, and capacity, and vision, and destiny, and purpose and promise clash and hold a tense conversation--that the questions we ask ourselves, and the dialogues we entertain, reveal a lot about where we are and where we are heading. **
Jesus, on earth, is heading back to God the Father in heaven by way of death on the cross of Calvary (paying the price for our sins--sins Jesus did not commit).
In this familiar place of prayer, Jesus has with God His Father.
> Matthew 11:39
> 39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You [will.]"
Jesus had to decide to continue His journey, to finish His course and to accept the suffering prepared for Him.
Jesus, in His statement, "...nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" affirmed His walk of obedience to God the Father.
I am imagining what got Jesus through this moment--this was a transparent moment saying both, "I prefer to bypass this suffering" and "God, as You will."
# Jesus submits to God's will.
Jesus demonstrates what I think must be extraordinary trust...in order to continue this journey. Jesus, perhaps, trusted God's follow through, God's sovereignty, God's intent.
In His garden of Gethsemane, Jesus puts/lays down concern--concern for this eminent suffering He is about to experience.
Jesus lays down control over how things go.
# Jesus affirms His trust of God the Father and is able to continue His run.
I want you to know, God is trust worthy:
Paul told the believers in Philippi:
> Philippians 1:6 (NKJV)
> being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete [it] until the day of Jesus Christ;
> Philippians 1:6 (CSB) I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
>
To build up your trust:
- Meditate on God's Word--all of His word. (app SoulCare, Dwell)
- Do God's word--be an kinetic learner, and experiential learner. (listening to someone else's digest of scripture is good but not enough..take the journey yourself)
- Write the faith soundtrack for your life
Q: what is the soundtrack for your life?
**I almost let go...was right at the edge of a breakthrough but didn’t see. **
(Amazing grace—story behind the lyrics? )
**For Every Mountain—college jam.**
I am God.
Song:
Waymaker.