Pentecost 5
July 9, 2017
Matthew 11:25-30
“Rest in Christ”
We're just coming off of a holiday weekend, and I hope you've gotten,
or will soon get, some vacation time this summer. Maybe you'll be
traveling, like we will, to go see family. Maybe you'll take the
kids sight-seeing. Or maybe you have something even bigger and
grander planned. Or maybe you'll just opt for a “stay-cation”.
Of course, many go away to see new places and things and participate
in exciting activities. But another reason we take vacations is to
take a break, right? To get some rest.
Even the secular world seems to understand the need humans have for
rest. But the pattern was already set in the first week – when
after 6 days of work God rested on the seventh. If even God can rest
from his work, then certainly we his creatures ought to, from time to
time. He designed our bodies to need a certain amount of sleep to
function. He set aside and prescribed certain times and days for the
Old Testament people to rest – even a once-every-50-years “year
of jubilee”. And all of this is a gift, as Christ teaches, man
wasn't made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man.
Here in Matthew 11, Jesus offers a different kind of rest, “rest
for your souls”. Let's explore what our Lord means by this
gracious offer of rest.
Before we get to the rest Christ offers, take note of what he says in
the first part of this passage. One, that God hides wisdom from the
wise and gives it to children. This is God's gracious will. It fits
with so many other passages of Scripture in which God does exactly
opposite of what the world expects. The world expects the wise to be
those who have studied and learned, who are well-read and
well-pedigreed, with alphabets following their names and
pontificating from ivory towers of expertise. But the wisdom of God
is found in the faith of a child that sings, “Jesus loves me, this
I know, for the Bible tells me so.” One seems to have it all, but
knows nothing. The other seems a credulous fool, but is wiser than
the wise of this world. We will come back to this.
And secondly, that everything Christ gives, he receives from God, and
gives or reveals to those he chooses. This shows us that there are
those things, those truths, which we humans cannot access on our own.
No matter how much we study creation and ponder it, no matter how
well we understand the mathematics and know the science, there still
stands apart from it all – Divine Revelation. That which we cannot
know or see or believe, but what must be revealed to us by the one to
whom it belongs.
As the catechism reminds us, “I believe that I cannot by my own
reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to
him...” so we confess that without what Christ gives us, shows us,
tells us... we are lost. We know nothing, we have nothing. It's all
gift. Which leads us to his gracious offer of rest:
A rest that is
given, not earned.
In this world, you have to earn your living, but also your rest. You
only get so many days off. You get so much vacation, or whatever the
benefits of your contract, and that's it. Sometimes you can cash out
the unused portion at the end – but only what you have earned, what
you are due, what you deserve.
Well if scripture speaks in terms of wages, we ought to tremble in
fear of what wages we have earned. The wages of sin is death. This
is the paycheck that comes due for those who turn from God and his
law. This is what we would deserve if God's economy operated purely
on justice, and not mercy. A man reaps what he sows. Without
Christ, our just deserved would be punishment, wrath, and a casting
away from God's presence forever. But rather than cast us out, Jesus
says, “come to me...” Rather than giving us what is due, he
gives us according to his grace.
Jesus doesn't say here, “Come to me, work for me, and I will give
you the rest you earn. When you're down plowing the fields, if
you've done enough, worked hard enough, then you'll get your pay.”
Far from it. He's offering something for free. He's giving, and
that is what a gift is – without cost. Here he speaks of this
gracious gift in terms of rest. Rest for the weary. Rest for those
carrying heavy burdens. Rest that consists of an easy burden and a
light yoke – rest that comes only from him.
For his part, he takes the heavy yoke of the cross. He bears on his
shoulders the tiresomeness of a world of sinners, the burden of all
our guilt and shame. He works – his whole life – carrying the
mantle for all of us who labor under the law to no avail. But Jesus
did it. He fulfilled the law and then paid the debt. A perfect life
and a sufficient death. His work brings us rest. His labor brings
us rewards. His earnings – our paycheck.
Rest from good
works.
And so the rest he brings is a rest from trying to do it ourselves.
Not that we could, but so many would try. It is a lie of the devil
that we could earn our salvation, or even contribute to it. That's
what the reformation was ultimately about – can man cooperate with
God toward his salvation? Rome said yes, we must! Luther (and
Scripture) say no, we can't. And we ought not think we can. This is
a giant hamster wheel that gets us nowhere fast. It either creates
in us a false sense of pride, that our good works are worth something
to God... or it leaves us in a place of despair, knowing that we
can't work our way to heaven (but obscuring Christ from our eyes).
Rather... Christ has done the work for us. You can rest in him!
This doesn't mean that the Christian does no good works. In Christ,
we want to, we strive to, and with the help of the Spirit we grow
into the good works he has prepared in advance for us to do. But in
Christ, the burden is light and the yoke is easy. The good works we
do spring from faith and are no drudgery. And though they are of no
value for our salvation, they serve our neighbor in love. The labor
of salvation is done, but the work of expressing faith continues.
Rest for the
conscience.
Related
to the rest he gives when it comes to the treadmill of good works, is
a rest for the troubled conscience. This rest, this peace, sets us
at ease knowing that in him even our deepest darkest sins are
nothing. That Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross is sufficient.
That we are baptized into Christ – and that's not
about the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear
conscience toward God.
What this rest is NOT.
The rest that Christ gives, is not,
however, a promise of a trouble-free life. It's not a
get-out-of-suffering-for-free card. It doesn't mean we can or should
be lazy. It doesn't mean that our earthly lives will be peaceful,
calm or restful. It doesn't mean we can expect no persecution –
quite on the contrary, the world will hate us on account of him. It
doesn't mean that our enemies – devil, world, and sinful flesh –
will just quit bothering us now that we are in Christ. If anything,
they trouble us even more. The world is a hostile place, with no
rest for the weary, especially the weary Christian. It is a valley
of the shadow of death. But in it, we are not alone. And from it,
there is an escape, a final hope, a promised rest.
Eternal rest.
Perhaps the most expansive fulfillment of this promised rest in
Christ comes at the last – when we enjoy the rest in peace that
comes at death, and in the mansions of heaven. Our hope in Christ is
not only for this world, for this life, but we look to the horizon,
and see life with him beyond. I believe in the resurrection of the
dead, and the life of the world to come.
Jesus made many promises of this, from his words of grace to the
thief on the cross: “today you will be with me in paradise”, to
his words to the sheep in the judgment of the sheep and the goats,
“enter into your rest”, to his words here in Matthew 11, “come
unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
In your hymnal, you have of course the various services we use here
in church – Divine Services, Matins, even Vespers and Evening
Prayer. But there is also a service called “Compline – Prayer at
the Close of the Day”. It's meant as a sort of expanded bedtime
prayer for God's people. We used this service every night with the
youth at our recent conference in San Antonio. And one of the
prayers it includes, well let me share it with you now. And let my
words here conclude with these words that ask for the rest that comes
only in Christ. We pray:
“O Lord, support us all the day long of this troubled life,
until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world
is hushed, the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then,
Lord, in Your mercy grant us a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace
at the last; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” Amen.
-->
No comments:
Post a Comment