Finding Rest in Christ

Summary:

The sermon examines how Jesus' teachings in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) invite us to reorder our lives around the narrow way of Christ. The pastor discusses how we often try to treat the symptoms of our brokenness rather than addressing the root causes, and how Jesus calls us to build our lives on the solid foundation of His teachings and the work of the Holy Spirit. The sermon highlights three key invitations of reordering: 1) Recognizing that weakness is greater than strength, 2) Understanding that the good life is measured by the quality of love we embody, and 3) Accepting that God blesses the life that resembles the cross - dying to ourselves in order to find true life. The overall message is an invitation to trust in Jesus, let go of our burdens, and find the rest and freedom He offers.

Transcript:

Well, the old saying goes, looks can be deceiving. Anybody ever heard that before? While it might not look as if this is true to any of you, I spent about five years of my life as a construction worker. I have since then traded in my boots and sold my truck and no longer have the title of construction worker. But I nevertheless enjoyed that work and was very fortunate for it and enjoyed the connections that I made in that line of work. My responsibilities were not actually to build the houses. We jokingly would always say that my most used tool was my cell phone because I would spend the majority of my days calling contractors, following up with contractors to ask them when they're going to show up, calling them to come back to fix the mistakes that they made and whatever else I had to call people to try and get them to do. 

That is practically what I did all day long, calling people on the phone. Another part of my responsibilities was following up with homeowners after the houses were built and sold to service warranty claims and usually they were pretty minor, but occasionally unfortunately something would go really, really wrong and it was always a hassle to try and fix those things after people move in. One house in particular was actually one of my favorite houses that I was able to build. I was in a really great neighborhood. It had a spiral staircase in the middle of the house, which was really cool and also very challenging to build. It was just a great house and the people who moved into it actually became friends of ours and that was a really cool part of that. But a couple of months before the house was to be completed, we noticed that there was a leak in the roof and so we called the roofing company that came out. 

They repaired the roof. A couple of weeks passed by and we noticed that in the master bedroom, the wood floors began to warp. If you know anything about wood floors, you know that when they start to warp, it means that there is moisture in them and that is a very bad thing. Wood and moisture do not go well together, and so immediately I knew that the leaking roof was the culprit and had caused this wood floor to warp. And once a wood floor starts to warp, the only thing that you can do is tear it out and put a new one down. You cannot fix them. So we tore it out and even though we were pretty sure that it was the leaky roof that caused the warping, we did our due diligence. We mopped up all of the water that was underneath the plastic that was a barrier between the concrete and the subfloor. 

We called the plumber out to make sure that there were no plumbing leaks. We had the roofer come back out and inspect there, repair to make sure that it was actually repaired and that there wasn't any moisture getting in that way. We left the floor bare for several days in order to make sure that there was no more water that was coming in, all of the things that we could possibly do. We did it and then we became confident that we had solved the leak problem and put in a new floor. And also we were closing the house in about three weeks, so we had to do it. Everything went fine. A couple of months passed after the couple who bought the house moved in, and then I get the dreaded phone call. He says to me, Jonathan, there's something going on with the wood floor and the hall bathroom, which was located next to the master bedroom, and my stomach just dropped immediately. 

I panicked. I rushed over to the house, found out that what he was saying is true. And then I thought, well, hey, maybe the toilet wasn't seated properly and as they were using it, it started leaking or something. It might not be related. And then my fears were confirmed as I walked into the master bedroom and that floor had buckled as well. And I realized that there was something going on beneath the surface that we were not able to find or we did not understand was happening and it was causing a leak. And what we eventually found was that when they installed the cabinets, the carpenters put a nail into one of the water lines and it created a very slow leak that happened. But then once the nail rusted out, it created a very constant leak and the drywall and the bathroom had to be replaced. 

The tile had to be replaced. It was molded underneath that. The floor had to be replaced again and on and on and on it went and the people lived in the house, so we had to move all of their stuff out and it was an utter nightmare for us. I sometimes in life we find ourselves in situations that we would rather not be in, and we do all of the things that we do to try and diagnose what is the culprit of the problem. But so many times we end up treating the symptoms and we don't take the time to do the deep work in order to root out what is the true cause of the symptoms that we are seeing. And when we treat the symptoms, we might be able to cover up the problem for a bit, but eventually what is buried deep within us will show itself. It will erupt, it will send us into chaos. Jesus told this parable that we read a few minutes ago at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, he talked about two different people who built a house. One of them built a house on sand, the other built a house on rock. If you grew up in the church, you sang the song When the rains came down and the floods came up right, you remember that? Do we need to sing it as a refresher? No. Yes. Okay. The rains came down and the floods came. 

The two people building their houses built their entire residence their entire life on the foundation that they chose. Now, the thing that both of them experienced that we might overlook in this story is that both of them experienced storms right in life, no matter who you are or what you have or the lack of what you have, you will experience storms in life at some point. And the reality is that if we have built our lives on a foundation that is sinking, whatever we have built will crumble. And if we have built our lives on a solid foundation, then we have the possibility of withstanding. The question is what is the foundation upon which our lives are built? And in this series called The Narrow Way, we are seeking to trust Jesus as he instructed us to build our lives on this narrow path, on this narrow way that the way of Jesus would be the foundation of our lives would be a firm foundation and would invite us into a life that is relaxed and displays the glory of. 

I want to read for us today for the last time, Matthew chapter five, verses one through 12. We've read this scripture the last three weeks, but we're finishing up with the beatitudes today. If you don't like the beatitudes, you only have a few more minutes left with him and then you can forget 'em as we move on. But if you are enthused about the Beatitudes, we have one more day, but I'm going to read them to you and I want us to be thinking about moments in our lives when we have been able to identify with any of these words that Jesus spoke here. So Matthew chapter five, verse one. Now Jesus saw the crowds. He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you. As we have been working our way through this series, we've mentioned that at the heart of what Jesus is calling us to and the Sermon on the Mount is a reordering of our lives. 

A reordering not just in the spirit of the 1990s ww JD bracelets that everybody wore the what would Jesus do or not just, and Jesus is pretty high on my list of people who I adore, but a reordering that changes not only the way that we understand Jesus and who Jesus is, but also the way in which we understand and see and view and act and move in this world in which we live and a reordering in what become the of our lives and what we understand as the good life or the life that we should be after. A couple of weeks ago we read this quote from theologian and as I read it again, I just want you to think about the reordering that is being proposed in just this one sentence. He says this, Jesus's healings are not supernatural miracles in a natural world. 

They are the only truly natural things in a world that is unnatural and demonized and wounded. Now, imagine if just for a moment, followers of Jesus understood and lived as if what is the truest reality is that the broken things that we see in our lives and the brokenness that grips people's lives is the intrusion into God's good world instead of the other way around. That requires quite a reordering of our understandings. Instead of settling for the best of the bad options or instead of living in the discouragement, wondering if life could be any different or instead of choosing the lesser of two evils, what followers of Jesus are challenged to reorder and see differently is that above everything else, they are to be people who trust the teachings of Jesus. That everything else that we see and experience in our lives would be filtered through the teachings of Jesus for us to understand and to know how to navigate our lives and entrusting Jesus, the people of Jesus seek to be formed by the Holy Spirit, not just believe in a set of teachings, but be shaped and formed deeply by the Holy Spirit. 

And the Holy Spirit forms us into people who have a kingdom vision of the world and what could be. This is the narrow path that Jesus is talking about here. This is the life that Jesus is calling us to two. Now, if you find yourself in a heightened state, something has irritated you, something common, I think for all of us living in the Dallas area, you drive around and somebody cuts you off or doesn't go at a stoplight or whatever, the myriad of traffic issues, that is very easily a frustrating experience, right? Am I by myself or can anybody identify with that, right? Yeah. Alright. Or somebody says something or does something or you get bad news or you try something and fail at it, something happens that irritates you, that takes you to a heightened state. Your emotions are on edge, you're afraid, you are agitated. 

Whatever the state is, you are upset. We've all been there, right? Maybe several times in the last couple of minutes we've been there, but we find ourselves in an irritated state. The worst thing that a person can say in that moment responding, somebody who is at a heightened state is relax, right? If you tell somebody to relax when they are on edge, relax is the opposite of what's going to happen, right? This is not a conversation on marriage. This is not even a conversation about the words that we choose, but what I can tell you from experience in my life and particularly with my life with Kelly, Kelly helps me navigate life and truly, truly makes me a better person. There have been many moments in our relationship where she has been upset by something and my response to her, I don't think I've ever said relax, but I have said, Hey, calm down. 

Lemme just tell you. That gets the same reaction as if you're telling somebody to relax, right? That is not the right thing to say. You need to identify with the person and jump in there and get mad about what they're mad about. Those are the types of things that you should do, but oftentimes at least I forget that, and we'll offer help offer truth that doesn't help. Even though it's the wrong thing to say, it's the last thing that you want to hear. Relax is exactly what you need in that moment, right? Maybe you need to be mad and irritated for a while, but once that begins to settle, the place that we need to find is to be relaxed, and the more we are able to find that place of relaxed peace, the more we are able to find pause between impulse and action, the more likely we are to allow things to not affect us, as significantly as what they do. 

When we just respond, the more we are able to navigate life in a presence that mirrors the kingdom of God rather than the ways of brokenness. And one of the ways in which we are able to relax is that we are able to understand that whatever is going on right in front of me, whatever it is, no matter how significant it is or how powerful it is that God is with me in the midst of it and whatever happens, we are going to be able to move forward because Jesus is here. That helps us to be able to grow our trust. As we work through these complex issues in life, we're able to relax. Therefore, we are able to in a world that is fraught with anxiety, be people who relax into peace in a world that is full of fear, we are able to, by following Jesus, be people who relax into love. 

In a world that is consumed with worry, the people of Jesus are invited to relax into contentment. In a world of enc judgments, the people of Jesus are invited to relax into grace. Now, I am fully aware that I don't always live up to these standards, and I know that the perception of the church is that very few Christians live up to these standards. Instead, Christians are often accused of being judgmental and unloving and unkind. I certainly have had moments, still have moments of being judgmental and unloving and unkind, but when we behave in these ways, we have to understand and also give ourselves grace and understand and give others grace too when they find themselves in this situation because they are not reflecting, we are not reflecting Jesus. Instead, we are mirroring the broken order in those moments. Here's what Jesus is getting to. 

Just because a person goes to church and claims Jesus as their savior, it does not necessarily mean that they are on the narrow way people can believe and consider themselves Christians, but being on the narrow way, Jesus is not talking about separating Christians from non-Christians. Here He's talking about those that are on the path of Christ likeness versus those that for whatever reason are not. And Jesus invites us all on this journey where we are able to let go to live relaxed lives, that all that has been built up and causes us to respond and live in these non loving unneighborly ways would be replaced by the grace of the kingdom of God and the depths of our beings. We are shaped and formed by brokenness, broken relationships, harsh words, damaging interactions, unhelpful narratives that we've learned about ourselves or been told about ourselves, unhelpful patterns that we have adopted, betrayals, bitterness, jealousy, envy, heartbreak, all of these things that things that we have both done and things that have been done to us. Also, things that we knew that we should have done but didn't do. All of these things shape us and we often don't even fully realize the woundedness that we carry around in result of all of these things. And if we don't understand the depth of how badly we are wounded or hurt, then we certainly won't be able to understand the depth that which these things affect us. 

So when life gets a bit out of shape, when the fabric of our life begins to warp, we see the effects of these deep, this deep seated brokenness that is within us. And in those moments, a lot of times we'll seek help maybe from a spouse or a close friend or a professional therapist or somebody like that, a pastor. We'll pray about it, we'll read scripture about it, but a lot of times we end up treating the symptoms and we don't do the deep work to be set free from that woundedness. Here's the deal for us, Jesus is not a moralist. 

Jesus is not a moralist. Now, Jesus certainly taught a life that is lived by morals. Jesus taught us to live by certain ethics. He taught us how to operate in a world that is morally significant, but Jesus did not ever say that holding those morals or keeping those morals will save us. On the other hand, Jesus is not reminiscent of a strict parent who wants you to behave because keeping the rules is the most important thing. Instead, the patterns that Jesus taught us to live by, it is not about keeping us in line. It is about our freedom. It is about living from a source and the kingdom of heaven uprooting the brokenness that is buried deep down in us and setting us free from it. Here's how Paul talks about this in Romans chapter eight in verse 20. He says this, for creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. 

In hope that creation itself will be what liberated from its bondage to decay and be brought into the freedom and the glory of what the children of God, the children of God have been set free. Those who are walking on this narrow path have been set free. They have been liberated. That's what the narrow path is about. That doesn't mean that we will do things perfectly all of the time, but it does mean that we can experience freedom and that is what Jesus is trying to teach us. That's what the Holy Spirit works in us, freedom from the chains that bind us, freedom from the narratives of perfection that say you'll never be enough or have enough or be good enough or do good enough. Freedom from the damaged parts of us where we've learned to bury our pain and bitterness freedom from the unhelpful patterns that we have learned and developed over time, freedom from the wounds that are left untreated and festering in our lives. And the truth for us today is that while on the outside, our lives might render us far from these people who Jesus counts as blessed in the beginning of his sermon. At some level, we can all identify with this woundedness that Jesus is talking about. We all carry around the ill effect of the broken order, and Jesus is inviting us to reorder our understanding of the world and inviting us to see that our measure of blessedness is dependent on our need for God. 

We cannot earn blessing. Our possessions or experiences in life are not indicators of how blessed we are. Also true for us today. Our achievements and successes are not indicators that we are free from brokenness. 

The truth is that whether we physically embody these characteristics that Jesus points out in the beginning of his sermon or if we have masked them over with our achievements and possessions, at the end of the day, all of us are equally dependent on Jesus for salvation. And here's the deal about the reordering, is that those that are on the bottom of society, they don't have the distractions that people who are somewhere up above them on the ladder of success have they understand people at the bottom understand their need for God. When you are mourning, you don't have to get a gospel track to tell you that Jesus wants to save you, right? You know that you are in need of a savior. When you find yourself poor in spirit and you are broken and you are at the bottom, you don't need someone to tell you that you have a need for God. 

You know that to be true. And the further we get down the road of ourselves from the brokenness through our achievements, through our successes, through our possessions, however we want to mask that, the further we get down that road, the harder it is for us to understand the amount of need that we actually have. When you have plenty, it is hard to see yourself in need and the kingdom of heaven, what is emphasized is not one's ability to get it right but grace and justice and mercy. And when we submit ourselves to these, we are opened up to salvation that is unfolding in our lives and all around us each day. Salvation that frees us from condemnation and guilt and shame and heals the wounds that we have instead of burying them. And rejoice is not in what we can get right? But what God has done for us, Matthew chapter 11, Jesus says this, come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. 

Jesus knows what you are carrying with you today. He knows what you brought with you today. He knows what you've tried to keep hidden even from yourselves, from everyone else. He knows that and he invites you to give it over to him in order that you can be set free, that you will not have to carry it around, that you will be able to rest and relax. In His grace that he continues, he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble and heart, you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

Maybe there's someone here today where whatever it is that you are carrying, you are struggling under the weight of it. Maybe what you need to hear today is that Jesus sees you and he doesn't look away. He looks right at you and says, lay it down. Maybe there's someone in here this morning and you are seeking to find your contentment and your self-sufficiency. The skins that you have on the wall, you are proud of them and you don't ever want to appear like if there's anything weak within your body, maybe what we need to hear is that Jesus sees you and he doesn't turn away. Instead, he invites you to lay down your self-sufficiency and trust in Jesus. If we are honest today, we can see parts of ourselves in these blessed statements. Even though we might be trying to convince ourselves otherwise, we, we've tried our best to hide it and instead of that being something that creates shame in us, we need to reorder that and understand that. Jesus says, if you find yourself in these blessed statements, you are blessed because of it. 

He doesn't say, figure it out and come back. He says, you are blessed. So here are the three invitations of reordering. The last one out of the first one I'm just going to mention because Jesus or we talked about it last week, but it's this weakness is greater than strength. Weakness is greater than strength. Jesus invites us to reorder our lives to understand that weakness is greater and strength. Blessed are the poor and spirit, those who mourn the meek deme, those who are in need of mercy. The second invitation of reordering is this. The good life is measured by the quality of love we embody. It's not about achievements and successes gained over time or victories or any of that. It's about the quality of love, which we embody those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are peacemakers, those who offer mercy to walk and step with Jesus on this narrow way as to walk in a life of love. And that's a love that seeks to bring reconciliation where there is fragmentation, has there ever been something more pertinent in our society than that reconciliation where there has been fragmentation mercy, where there is resentment working along with the spirit to end injustice instead of standing idly by. This is who Jesus is calling his followers on the narrow way to. And so we need to ask ourselves, how well do we love our neighbors? 

The third invitation of reordering is this, God blesses the life that resembles the cross, blessed of the pure in heart and the persecuted, the insulted. Jesus tells us to carry our cross and follow him. He calls us to die to ourselves. Over and over again throughout the letters of the New Testament, we have this understanding that the life of Jesus is one that resembles the cross. There is a version of Christianity out there which tells us that if we follow Jesus, we will get all the good things that God is just waiting to give us all the good things. The only problem with that is all the good things are the things that contribute to our brokenness, right? Wealth and prestige. And we think we can just get by and live lives of leisure. But those are only illusions of freedom and they're certainly not what Jesus taught. 

If the prosperity gospel was you will receive blessing when you are persecuted, you'll receive blessing. When you mourn, then that would be true. But that's the opposite of what is taught often, and that's the opposite of what Jesus taught us when we buy into those illusions that God will make everything work out the way that we want it to. And the reason why is because that puts us at the center. There's nothing wrong with having good things or earning accomplishments or any of those things. The problem is when we think those things justify us, or especially when we think those things make us better than others, and when we live our lives with us at the center, our lives are very small. Jesus calls us to find with him a death to ourselves, a crucifying of our egos, the death of our false selves and our self-centeredness. And the best news is that on the other side of that doubt, we experience and live in resurrection along with Jesus. So when we follow Jesus to the cross, as uncomfortable as that might be, as scary as that might be, when Jesus calls us to give up something, as difficult as it might seem, we have to reorder our understanding and remember that doing what Jesus told us to do puts us amongst the most blessed people on earth. 

So the question for us today is, are we willing to have our lives reordered by this narrow way? Are we willing to have our lives built on a foundation that will never be shaken? Would you pray with me today? Jesus. I know that for many of us, for a variety of different reasons, life is heavy. The truth is that there is no shortage of things to weigh us down. In fact, most of the developments in our society have contributed to us being more and more distracted from what is true instead of finding time to embrace the truth and to live in the truth and be defined by the truth and our resolve. God, most of the time we can stiffen up our backs and strengthen our legs and we can carry those burdens pretty far. But there's also another way, Jesus, I pray today for each of us in this room that are watching online, either now or in some future moment, that we would find ourselves in a place where we trust you and whatever it is that we've been carrying around, that we will let it down and take on your yoke and live in your relaxed patient love. May it be so for us today, Jesus, we ask this in your name and for your sake.

Amen.