WEBVTT 00:00:09.819 --> 00:00:12.699 Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church 00:00:12.699 --> 00:00:15.279 Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.000 podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:20.820 you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:24.359 change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:28.339 message from our preaching team. Today's teaching 00:00:28.339 --> 00:00:31.940 text comes from Matthew chapter 11 verse 28 to 00:00:31.940 --> 00:00:38.729 30. Then Jesus said come to me all of you who 00:00:38.729 --> 00:00:41.869 are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will 00:00:41.869 --> 00:00:45.310 give you rest Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach 00:00:45.310 --> 00:00:48.549 you because I am humble and gentle at heart and 00:00:48.549 --> 00:00:52.990 you will find rest for your souls For my yoke 00:00:52.990 --> 00:00:55.450 is easy to bear and the burden I give you is 00:00:55.450 --> 00:01:09.060 light This is the word of the Lord Thank you, 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:18.340 Big Red. Last year I decided that I wanted to 00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:20.799 set some goals that were gonna really, really 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:23.939 push me. Like really push me. I wanted to set 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:30.099 big, hairy, scary, audacious goals. And I set 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:36.030 seven of them and I completed one. So last year 00:01:36.030 --> 00:01:39.670 went really really well for me I'm someone who 00:01:39.670 --> 00:01:43.730 loves loves comfortable life the The pressure 00:01:43.730 --> 00:01:47.469 -free cozy cozy life and and I've come to learn 00:01:47.469 --> 00:01:50.069 that actually life That kind of life when it's 00:01:50.069 --> 00:01:52.590 pursued is not a good life because the best things 00:01:52.590 --> 00:01:57.469 in life are hard fought for and and hard usually 00:01:57.469 --> 00:02:00.890 So one of my failed goals last year was that 00:02:00.890 --> 00:02:05.939 I wanted to run a sub 20 minute 5k That's 20 00:02:05.939 --> 00:02:08.080 minutes five kilometers in an under 20 minutes 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:10.539 and to run that you've got to run less than four 00:02:10.539 --> 00:02:14.419 minutes a kilometer Which which is fast and this 00:02:14.419 --> 00:02:18.000 body is not exactly built for speed This was 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.580 a big and scary goal and it required diligence 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:26.080 and training and to push myself and I needed 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:28.280 to because I had to get like minutes and minutes 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:30.960 faster than what I was currently running and 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:32.680 so I was training four times a week I was getting 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:35.580 better I was getting faster and I had I'd done 00:02:35.580 --> 00:02:38.639 something to motivate motivate me where I'd written 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:42.039 down all of my friends on Strava's PB's for their 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:47.400 5k and I as a kind of hit list right to motivate 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.500 myself I'd go Go out for a run, like, and I'm 00:02:50.500 --> 00:02:52.419 going out for a run, but I'm going in to take 00:02:52.419 --> 00:02:54.560 down someone I went to high school with, who 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:58.280 I haven't seen in 10 years, so that I could cross 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:02.960 them off as weak and beneath me. So I'm not competitive 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:07.500 at all. The march of that year, I got this perfect 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:10.039 opportunity to cross some names off my list. 00:03:11.139 --> 00:03:13.180 Ash and I went, we went for a little night away 00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:15.400 in Victor Harbour. So it was park run, I was 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:17.840 ready, it was good conditions, race conditions. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:21.280 But the race started and I was out of the blocks 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:25.000 way too fast. My first two kilometers were too 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.560 quick. So I gassed myself. I didn't pace myself. 00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:31.319 And so even though my first two were quick, my 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:34.759 last three were really slow. And so overall my 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:39.919 run was not fast. And that really made me sad. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:42.699 And that kind of burned me out of running for 00:03:42.699 --> 00:03:45.300 a while because I put all this hard work in and 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:49.330 then I had It wasn't my endurance, it wasn't 00:03:49.330 --> 00:03:52.090 my speed, it was actually my pacing that let 00:03:52.090 --> 00:03:56.590 me down. It wasn't that I wasn't fit enough, 00:03:56.650 --> 00:03:58.909 it was that I couldn't keep myself from being 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:02.650 either too fast or too slow. You see, pacing 00:04:02.650 --> 00:04:05.750 actually matters. It matters in running and it 00:04:05.750 --> 00:04:09.030 matters in life. The average person lives a long 00:04:09.030 --> 00:04:13.250 time. If you're in your 20s, you probably have 00:04:13.250 --> 00:04:16.290 like 50 or 60 more years left in... this world 00:04:16.290 --> 00:04:21.110 so life is less like a sprint and actually more 00:04:21.110 --> 00:04:25.709 like an ultra marathon and yet it seems like 00:04:25.709 --> 00:04:27.970 whether you're in your 20s or in your 50s or 00:04:27.970 --> 00:04:31.250 somewhere in between or above or below everyone's 00:04:31.250 --> 00:04:38.990 tired everyone's weary are you weary today do 00:04:38.990 --> 00:04:41.089 you feel like you you went you've been you've 00:04:41.089 --> 00:04:43.350 been going too hard too early in your life you've 00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:46.170 come out the blocks too fast Or you've been running 00:04:46.170 --> 00:04:48.389 so fast for so long that you don't actually know 00:04:48.389 --> 00:04:51.310 what it looks like to slow down. You don't even 00:04:51.310 --> 00:04:54.769 know what, you can't even comprehend that. Are 00:04:54.769 --> 00:04:57.290 you struggling under the weight of the obligations 00:04:57.290 --> 00:05:01.449 and burdens of everyday life? The pressures of 00:05:01.449 --> 00:05:06.829 what everyone wants from you. Work, family, school, 00:05:07.689 --> 00:05:11.250 friends, the bank, the 19 extracurricular activities 00:05:11.250 --> 00:05:13.740 your children do. If you've got children, you 00:05:13.740 --> 00:05:17.300 any assignments up into your ears? Yet another 00:05:17.300 --> 00:05:20.300 kindy birthday party. I mean, I'm just, I'm over 00:05:20.300 --> 00:05:23.199 it at this point. Don't even get a week's notice 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:26.579 that there's a birthday party. But we have to 00:05:26.579 --> 00:05:30.680 go, so it's gotta happen. We struggle under the 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:34.000 weight of too much, but we also struggle under 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:39.660 the weight of too little. We have these thought 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:42.300 patterns of I should be doing more. I should 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:45.959 be this or that at this point in my life. I should 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:48.399 be working more. Or I should be working less. 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:51.860 I should own a house. I should study more. But 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:54.360 I should also have more time with my kids. I 00:05:54.360 --> 00:05:56.779 should have more kids. You can't say I should 00:05:56.779 --> 00:06:02.160 have less kids. I should exercise more. I should 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:05.860 eat better. I should pray more. I should do more 00:06:05.860 --> 00:06:07.879 with this life that I have. We struggle with 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:11.500 too much. and we also struggle with too little 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:14.920 and everyone seems tired, everyone seems weary. 00:06:16.379 --> 00:06:21.100 How do we find the right balance? How do we find 00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:24.980 the right pacing in our lives? And as the church, 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.199 people who have access to the living God every 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:32.259 moment of their lives, shouldn't this be different 00:06:32.259 --> 00:06:37.910 for us? I wonder if you're weary tonight. Well 00:06:37.910 --> 00:06:40.870 Jesus in our teaching text, he tells us how to 00:06:40.870 --> 00:06:44.689 find rest. He has the solution. He says, are 00:06:44.689 --> 00:06:49.910 you weary? Come to me. He doesn't say come to 00:06:49.910 --> 00:06:53.370 church. He doesn't say come to religion. He doesn't 00:06:53.370 --> 00:06:56.129 say come to a denomination or he doesn't say 00:06:56.129 --> 00:07:00.610 come to caffeine. He says come to me. He doesn't 00:07:00.610 --> 00:07:02.670 say come to the things that we do because we 00:07:02.670 --> 00:07:05.970 think we will find rest in them. He doesn't say 00:07:05.970 --> 00:07:09.149 come to a romantic relationship. He doesn't say 00:07:09.149 --> 00:07:12.490 come to TikTok. He doesn't say come to video 00:07:12.490 --> 00:07:16.209 games. He says come to me. He doesn't say come 00:07:16.209 --> 00:07:19.009 to sex. He doesn't say come to substances. He 00:07:19.009 --> 00:07:21.370 doesn't say come to retail therapy or online 00:07:21.370 --> 00:07:24.689 shopping. He doesn't say come to fitness. He 00:07:24.689 --> 00:07:27.029 doesn't say come to books. That one was for me. 00:07:27.629 --> 00:07:29.870 He doesn't say come and stay on top of your work 00:07:29.870 --> 00:07:33.750 while you're on holidays. He says come to me. 00:07:34.459 --> 00:07:38.120 I will give you rest. See, we look for rest in 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:39.899 all these things. We look to all these things 00:07:39.899 --> 00:07:43.399 and more to ease the weariness in our lives, 00:07:43.660 --> 00:07:46.420 but they are best taking the edge off and at 00:07:46.420 --> 00:07:50.019 worst, distracting ourselves to death. If we 00:07:50.019 --> 00:07:54.660 want to find true lasting rest, Jesus says, come 00:07:54.660 --> 00:07:58.980 to me. I'll give it to you. Okay, Jesus, but 00:07:58.980 --> 00:08:02.339 how are you going to give us it to us? How are 00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:04.449 you going to give us rest? this is what he says 00:08:04.449 --> 00:08:09.009 he says take my yoke upon you now yoke if you 00:08:09.009 --> 00:08:11.889 don't know it and and i didn't uh is a piece 00:08:11.889 --> 00:08:15.050 of wood because i'm not a farm boy that ties 00:08:15.050 --> 00:08:18.569 two oxen together so you you can hook up a load 00:08:18.569 --> 00:08:21.329 to it that it can carry which was called a burden 00:08:21.329 --> 00:08:24.310 a yoke is a tool of work so jesus saying you 00:08:24.310 --> 00:08:28.550 want to rest it's time to work makes sense right 00:08:28.550 --> 00:08:33.320 you're weary Because you are yoked to heavy burdens, 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:39.440 Jesus says. So take my yoke upon you. Take my 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.320 instrument for carrying a heavy burden upon you 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:46.940 and you will find rest. It's curious, isn't it? 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:49.559 You might think Jesus would give us rest by just 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:53.679 taking our yoke off of us, right? But He says 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:55.799 no. He says you'll find, you actually find rest 00:08:55.799 --> 00:09:00.289 by swapping other yokes out for His. See the 00:09:00.289 --> 00:09:02.029 yoke is a well -used metaphor in the Bible which 00:09:02.029 --> 00:09:04.269 uses a metaphor for submission and obligation 00:09:04.269 --> 00:09:09.090 and even slavery Isaac who's one of the old patriarchs 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:12.690 in the Old Testament He gives a sub -par blessing 00:09:12.690 --> 00:09:15.809 to his son Esau because his other son stole the 00:09:15.809 --> 00:09:18.669 good one And this is what he says you will live 00:09:18.669 --> 00:09:21.169 by your sword and you will serve your brother 00:09:21.169 --> 00:09:24.669 But when you decide to break free you will shake 00:09:24.669 --> 00:09:29.169 his yoke from your neck It's an obligation to 00:09:29.169 --> 00:09:32.909 submit and serve to his brother as a yoke. Jeremiah 00:09:32.909 --> 00:09:34.929 in the book of Jeremiah is a prophet is told 00:09:34.929 --> 00:09:37.409 by the Lord to put a yoke around his own neck 00:09:37.409 --> 00:09:40.350 and then go to the king of the time Zedekiah 00:09:40.350 --> 00:09:43.330 to command him to submit to the yoke of Babylon 00:09:43.330 --> 00:09:47.230 so that the people can live. See a yoke is a 00:09:47.230 --> 00:09:50.509 common metaphor for an obligation to submit to 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:54.210 something and in Jesus time what it become most 00:09:54.210 --> 00:09:57.850 known for is in terms of God's law. See, correct 00:09:57.850 --> 00:10:00.509 worship was to yoke yourself to the commandments 00:10:00.509 --> 00:10:03.470 passed down to Moses. It was the obligations 00:10:03.470 --> 00:10:06.149 you must fulfill to submit to the law of the 00:10:06.149 --> 00:10:09.529 Lord, which is not just what every good Judean 00:10:09.529 --> 00:10:11.389 wanted to do. It's not just what they wanted 00:10:11.389 --> 00:10:15.350 to do. It's what they knew they had to do to 00:10:15.350 --> 00:10:18.190 be saved, to be right with God. They had to keep 00:10:18.190 --> 00:10:22.559 the law perfectly. But the Pharisees, the religious 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:25.000 teachers of the day, had piled up and piled up 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:27.799 obligations onto the people. They had made the 00:10:27.799 --> 00:10:30.740 burden so heavy. They said, if you want to be 00:10:30.740 --> 00:10:33.279 right with God, you have to do this enormous 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:36.440 list of rules and regulations. And Jesus calls 00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:39.100 them out for this in Matthew 23. He says this, 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:41.720 the scribes and the Pharisees, they sit on Moses' 00:10:42.039 --> 00:10:44.679 seat. Therefore, do whatever they teach you and 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:48.120 follow it, but do not do as they do. For they 00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:52.000 do not practice what they teach. They tie up 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:56.539 heavy burdens, hard to bear, and they lay them 00:10:56.539 --> 00:10:59.039 on the shoulders of others. But they themselves 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:03.039 are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. 00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:06.960 Do you see the yoke language there? The obligations 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:08.879 that you must do to be right with God that the 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.759 Pharisees put on the shoulders of the people 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:13.820 is on their shoulders. They tie it to their shoulders. 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:16.980 It's heavy and it's hard to bear. And at worst, 00:11:17.019 --> 00:11:19.259 they won't even lift a finger to help move them. 00:11:20.580 --> 00:11:22.799 The life that the Pharisees call the people to 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:26.759 live is hard and it's heavy. And the Pharisees, 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:29.080 they're useless in the effort. They don't practice 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:32.159 what they preach. They don't carry the same burdens 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:35.120 that they heap on others. See, a yoke was what 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.279 you must do to be right with God. And the Pharisees, 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:39.960 they heaped on things that they taught the people 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:42.779 that they must do to be right with God. But Jesus 00:11:42.779 --> 00:11:50.039 says, come to me. So here's the thing, we are 00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:53.519 all yoked to something. We're all under submission 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:56.340 or obligation. We are all slaves in a way to 00:11:56.340 --> 00:11:58.960 something. We're all under a yoke that tells 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:02.159 us what we must do to be right with God and the 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:05.600 world. Maybe we are weary even in the church 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:10.240 because we are yoked to our career. We are yoked 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:14.059 to our family story. of what people in our family 00:12:14.059 --> 00:12:17.940 do. Maybe we're yoked to what our friends think, 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:21.039 we're yoked to our cultural narratives of how 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:25.419 to live, we're yoked to our doom scrolling, mind 00:12:25.419 --> 00:12:28.500 numbing video games, we're yoked to do -it -yourself 00:12:28.500 --> 00:12:31.299 identities, yoked to our ideas of parenting, 00:12:31.940 --> 00:12:35.340 or yoked to a religious mindset that says I must 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:41.600 do this to be saved. And every yoke is an obligation. 00:12:42.029 --> 00:12:45.590 that comes with a burden. And so every yoke is 00:12:45.590 --> 00:12:49.429 a kind of slavery and the burdens are heavy. 00:12:50.730 --> 00:12:52.250 See, here's what I think Jesus is getting at. 00:12:52.309 --> 00:12:56.750 Life is a burden. Life is work. Life is an obligation. 00:12:57.009 --> 00:12:59.610 Life is a kind of slavery and there's no getting 00:12:59.610 --> 00:13:02.370 around that. No matter how hard you try, you 00:13:02.370 --> 00:13:05.549 actually can't avoid this. Even the pursuit of 00:13:05.549 --> 00:13:08.850 freedom from obligation, freedom from work, freedom 00:13:08.850 --> 00:13:12.289 from burdens in life will itself become a kind 00:13:12.289 --> 00:13:16.690 of slavery. This is life. Life is a series of 00:13:16.690 --> 00:13:20.529 obligations and burdens. Life is a series of 00:13:20.529 --> 00:13:23.929 weight to carry. But friends, it's only in coming 00:13:23.929 --> 00:13:27.090 to Jesus, in taking His yoke upon us, binding 00:13:27.090 --> 00:13:29.350 ourselves to Him, taking on His way of life, 00:13:29.789 --> 00:13:32.750 taking on His way of being right with God, that 00:13:32.750 --> 00:13:36.470 we will find rest, that we will find balance, 00:13:37.149 --> 00:13:41.669 that we will find pacing. And here's why. There 00:13:41.669 --> 00:13:44.730 are no obligations you have in your life. No 00:13:44.730 --> 00:13:46.769 other burden that you have to carry, no other 00:13:46.769 --> 00:13:49.610 yoke tied around your neck, no other person that 00:13:49.610 --> 00:13:52.029 tells you this is what you need to do to be right 00:13:52.029 --> 00:13:56.509 with God or with the world gets in the yoke with 00:13:56.509 --> 00:14:00.009 you, side by side, day by day and helps you pull. 00:14:00.629 --> 00:14:03.070 No other yoke, no other giver of a yoke will 00:14:03.070 --> 00:14:06.230 get in the saddle with you. Every other yoke 00:14:06.230 --> 00:14:07.990 leaves you alone to strain against the weight 00:14:07.990 --> 00:14:11.389 of the burdens they tie to you. Only Jesus. Ties 00:14:11.389 --> 00:14:13.429 his obligation around your neck and then ties 00:14:13.429 --> 00:14:17.470 it around his own as well So the Pharisees they 00:14:17.470 --> 00:14:19.409 tied around the people's necks and then they 00:14:19.409 --> 00:14:24.509 said good luck off you go. Have fun No other 00:14:24.509 --> 00:14:27.370 set of obligations in your life will get alongside 00:14:27.370 --> 00:14:32.970 you and pull Jesus says come to me Let me teach 00:14:32.970 --> 00:14:36.250 you side by side day by day. I am gentle and 00:14:36.250 --> 00:14:39.009 humble I won't push too hard. I won't let you 00:14:39.009 --> 00:14:41.799 shoulder at all But I also won't let you get 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:44.940 away with not pulling at all and not trying. 00:14:45.740 --> 00:14:47.620 Let me set the pace of your life. Let me set 00:14:47.620 --> 00:14:50.059 the obligations. Let me set the burdens because 00:14:50.059 --> 00:14:52.600 the burden I give is light and the yoke I give 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:59.039 is easy to bear. Why are we weary? Because we're 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:01.960 not living into the invitation of Jesus to come 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:04.600 to him and take his yoke upon us. And I think 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:07.179 there's two key ways that we don't live into 00:15:07.179 --> 00:15:12.519 it. First one is this. We've got too many yokes. 00:15:13.259 --> 00:15:15.580 We're weary because there are too many other 00:15:15.580 --> 00:15:18.639 things that we are yoked to. Too many other things 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:21.980 that tie obligations around us and feel immovable 00:15:21.980 --> 00:15:26.440 and heavy. And trying to pull the obligations, 00:15:26.620 --> 00:15:29.679 the burdens of all these things plus Jesus is 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:33.000 exhausting. It's just too many burdens and Jesus 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:36.320 is inviting us to lay all the other yokes down 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:40.110 and take up His. And our first response is usually, 00:15:40.450 --> 00:15:44.269 I couldn't possibly. I couldn't possibly. Let's 00:15:44.269 --> 00:15:46.669 take buying or owning a house, one of the greatest 00:15:46.669 --> 00:15:49.590 metaphorical and also quite literal yokes of 00:15:49.590 --> 00:15:53.769 our day. The cultural life script of buying or 00:15:53.769 --> 00:15:57.350 owning your own house is very, very strong. I've 00:15:57.350 --> 00:16:00.169 felt it, the anxiety, the burden, the necessity, 00:16:00.269 --> 00:16:02.590 the feeling that I have to own my own house or 00:16:02.590 --> 00:16:06.389 I'm some kind of sub -adult, it's so strong. 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:09.059 And yet it's getting further and further out 00:16:09.059 --> 00:16:11.820 of our reach and you have to compromise on so 00:16:11.820 --> 00:16:13.899 much to even get into the market. But here's 00:16:13.899 --> 00:16:17.399 the question. Is this a burden that Jesus is 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:20.799 inviting you to carry with him? Or is it the 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.700 yoke of your family, life or cultural script? 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:27.659 Are you laying the burden of owning a house on 00:16:27.659 --> 00:16:30.080 yourself based on your preferences or your fear? 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:34.179 This is Jesus, the one who famously said, foxes 00:16:34.179 --> 00:16:36.179 have dens and birds of the air have nests, but 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:39.360 the son of man has no place to lay his head. 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:43.500 Home ownership is probably not high on the list 00:16:43.500 --> 00:16:46.679 of Jesus priorities for your life. It's probably 00:16:46.679 --> 00:16:50.639 not. All right, what about marriage? One of the 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:53.080 greatest yokes of the modern church and of our 00:16:53.080 --> 00:16:56.500 culture. There's a cultural narrative that says 00:16:56.500 --> 00:16:58.559 that you are not a complete person unless you 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:01.169 are in a romantic relationship. And the church 00:17:01.169 --> 00:17:03.370 is actually horrific at perpetuating this narrative, 00:17:03.750 --> 00:17:06.049 but the Western culture that we live in is worse. 00:17:07.089 --> 00:17:09.230 It's a script that says that you must find the 00:17:09.230 --> 00:17:12.009 one, and if you can't, then there must be something 00:17:12.009 --> 00:17:15.170 wrong with you. That you're less than human if 00:17:15.170 --> 00:17:17.190 you can't find someone to date, and it's a crushing 00:17:17.190 --> 00:17:20.650 obligation and burden for single people. I felt 00:17:20.650 --> 00:17:24.670 it when I was a single person. But is this a 00:17:24.670 --> 00:17:27.250 burden that Jesus is asking us to carry with 00:17:27.250 --> 00:17:31.000 him? Jesus probably the most famous single person 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:35.460 ever. So famously single that best -selling authors 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:37.859 invent narratives that make him secretly not 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:43.400 single. No, Jesus was not a sub -human being 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:46.339 because he was single. Jesus in fact was the 00:17:46.339 --> 00:17:49.319 most alive, most complete, most human being ever 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:53.220 to exist. So Jesus puts a nail in that one. You 00:17:53.220 --> 00:17:55.299 know, marriage is a good thing, it's a living 00:17:55.299 --> 00:17:57.500 metaphor for the marriage between Jesus and the 00:17:57.500 --> 00:17:59.680 church, but at times it becomes for us an ultimate 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:02.980 thing. A thing that we say, if I just had that, 00:18:03.660 --> 00:18:07.039 then I would be okay. And when we start saying 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:11.279 that, we tie internally or externally, it becomes 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:14.480 a yoke that we tie around our own necks. And 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:17.059 as a church and as married, and on behalf of 00:18:17.059 --> 00:18:18.420 married people in the church, I want to say to 00:18:18.420 --> 00:18:21.140 the single people in our midst, like, I'm sorry, 00:18:21.160 --> 00:18:23.910 we have to be better. and not perpetuating this 00:18:23.910 --> 00:18:26.130 cultural narrative about singleness. We have 00:18:26.130 --> 00:18:28.410 to be better at not inadvertently tying the yoke 00:18:28.410 --> 00:18:31.049 of marriage around our single people's necks. 00:18:31.450 --> 00:18:33.549 We have to be better married, dating and single 00:18:33.549 --> 00:18:37.049 at being a family together because marriage is 00:18:37.049 --> 00:18:39.769 probably not that high on the list of Jesus priorities 00:18:39.769 --> 00:18:44.309 for your life. It's just probably not. We do 00:18:44.309 --> 00:18:46.470 this with so many things, so much. We take on 00:18:46.470 --> 00:18:48.250 the yoke of other things and all their burdens 00:18:48.250 --> 00:18:51.230 and obligations and we feel forced to carry them. 00:18:51.289 --> 00:18:53.589 We do this with our education, our careers, our 00:18:53.589 --> 00:18:55.930 families, our cultural narratives. We take on 00:18:55.930 --> 00:18:58.369 the yokes of these things as ways that we to 00:18:58.369 --> 00:19:01.970 truly live and ways we must live to be okay. 00:19:02.670 --> 00:19:06.150 And all they do is make us tired. Because like 00:19:06.150 --> 00:19:08.549 the Pharisees, these things that he burdens on 00:19:08.549 --> 00:19:11.490 us, but they don't lift a finger to help. But 00:19:11.490 --> 00:19:13.769 Jesus invites us to take off these yokes and 00:19:13.769 --> 00:19:16.930 to yoke ourselves to him, which is easy to bear. 00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:22.240 And his obligations are light. We'll find a way 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:26.180 to live that is filled with rest. And your first 00:19:26.180 --> 00:19:28.400 response might be, but won't that cost me too 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:31.059 much? Because we actually tend to like our yolks. 00:19:31.900 --> 00:19:35.079 We tend to like the burdens and obligations and 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:38.160 what they give us. Home ownership, success in 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:40.920 career and education, respect in our family or 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:43.299 community, a sense of having made it, of having 00:19:43.299 --> 00:19:46.019 our lives together. But I wonder, do we count 00:19:46.019 --> 00:19:49.160 the cost of these things? Do we realize what 00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:52.220 these yolks are requiring from us? What they're 00:19:52.220 --> 00:19:55.759 taking from us? How they're inhibiting life and 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:59.579 life to the forward Jesus? Both cost something. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:04.559 So choose your cost. The cost of dragging around 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:07.460 these obligations or the cost of letting them 00:20:07.460 --> 00:20:11.400 go. The second thing is this, it's setting our 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:15.119 own pace. You see, we might have let Jesus set 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:16.819 the obligations and burdens for our lives. We 00:20:16.819 --> 00:20:19.539 might have held nothing back from him, but yet 00:20:19.539 --> 00:20:24.079 we are still really weary. You know, with a yoke, 00:20:24.140 --> 00:20:27.859 you have two oxen working a field. What happens 00:20:27.859 --> 00:20:31.960 if one is stronger than the other? Or the weaker 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:34.160 of the two starts to pull ahead of the stronger? 00:20:34.679 --> 00:20:38.400 or it lags behind. It creates friction. It creates 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.079 tension. The weaker ox is working harder than 00:20:41.079 --> 00:20:43.180 they would have to work if they were in synergy 00:20:43.180 --> 00:20:46.460 and flow with the stronger ox. And I think it's 00:20:46.460 --> 00:20:48.220 the same for us. I think if we're going through 00:20:48.220 --> 00:20:51.099 life side by side with Jesus, carrying the burden 00:20:51.099 --> 00:20:55.259 He has given, like it is easy and light. But 00:20:55.259 --> 00:20:57.700 if we pull ahead of the pace that Jesus is setting, 00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:00.839 what are we gonna feel? We're gonna feel tired. 00:21:01.549 --> 00:21:04.069 And if we fall behind the pace that Jesus is 00:21:04.069 --> 00:21:06.650 setting, what are we going to feel? We're going 00:21:06.650 --> 00:21:09.990 to feel tired. Either way, we're working harder 00:21:09.990 --> 00:21:12.589 than we need to be. It's only when we fall in 00:21:12.589 --> 00:21:14.950 line with the pace that Jesus sets that we find 00:21:14.950 --> 00:21:17.750 the momentum and synergy of life with God side 00:21:17.750 --> 00:21:21.849 by side that we live into this rest. And this 00:21:21.849 --> 00:21:25.509 is rest not in the absence of work, but in the 00:21:25.509 --> 00:21:28.690 midst of it, which is what we all really want 00:21:28.690 --> 00:21:31.559 actually. Working for the weekend is not the 00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:34.259 kind of life that we actually want. Nor do we 00:21:34.259 --> 00:21:38.380 really want to be not working at all. You might 00:21:38.380 --> 00:21:42.339 feel like you'd like 20 years off work, but you 00:21:42.339 --> 00:21:46.119 actually don't. Both are miserable existences. 00:21:46.180 --> 00:21:48.779 We don't want to work for rest and we don't want 00:21:48.779 --> 00:21:51.500 to actually not work at all. What we want is 00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:55.940 to be at rest while we work, while we live, to 00:21:55.940 --> 00:22:00.680 have a peace in the work. And so here's the invitation 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:03.740 from Jesus at its simplest. It's give up your 00:22:03.740 --> 00:22:07.400 own way, give up your own pace and come and follow 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:11.420 me. Side by side, day by day, let me set the 00:22:11.420 --> 00:22:15.440 pace. Which practically means like letting Jesus 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:18.579 set your yes's in life and letting Jesus set 00:22:18.579 --> 00:22:22.380 your no's. Instead of saying an immediate yes 00:22:22.380 --> 00:22:24.460 and putting it in your calendar, if you don't 00:22:24.460 --> 00:22:27.440 have a calendar, get a calendar. Come on guys, 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:33.069 get a calendar. Instead of saying yes immediately 00:22:33.069 --> 00:22:35.990 or saying no immediately bring those things to 00:22:35.990 --> 00:22:39.130 Jesus in prayer. Lord I want to do this or Lord 00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:41.789 I really don't want to do this what should I 00:22:41.789 --> 00:22:44.950 do? And you'll have a sense of peace about a 00:22:44.950 --> 00:22:48.950 yes or a no. Let Jesus run your calendar seriously 00:22:48.950 --> 00:22:52.750 let Jesus set the pace and this is the invitation 00:22:52.750 --> 00:22:54.970 to a better life that Jesus invites all people 00:22:54.970 --> 00:22:58.240 into. come to me swap your heavy rough yokes 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.859 for my yoke and you'll find rest for your souls 00:23:00.859 --> 00:23:06.440 friends some of us here we're tired because we 00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:08.900 have too many competing obligations and their 00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:12.740 burdens and jesus is saying hey i've got i've 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:15.160 got something better for you but it requires 00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:17.000 you to slip off the things that you're putting 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:19.400 on yourself can't you see that they're a kind 00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:22.559 of slavery they're bad masters let me teach you 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:25.700 how to live I am gentle and humble. I'm a good 00:23:25.700 --> 00:23:29.220 master. You can trust me. For some of us here, 00:23:29.220 --> 00:23:31.380 we are tired because we're trying to pull ahead 00:23:31.380 --> 00:23:34.759 of Jesus. We're running too far ahead with all 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:37.920 there is to do and Jesus saying, hey, slow down, 00:23:38.339 --> 00:23:41.240 work with me here. You can't make me work any 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:45.480 faster by your busyness. And for some of us here, 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:49.839 we're tired because we're going too slow. Jesus 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:52.079 having to drag us along to the things he has 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:54.150 for us. He's saying, come on. Like, I'm with 00:23:54.150 --> 00:23:56.750 you, side by side, day by day, you've got this. 00:23:57.150 --> 00:24:00.190 You're not alone. It's time to be brave. It's 00:24:00.190 --> 00:24:02.710 time to step out and step up to pick up the pace. 00:24:04.470 --> 00:24:07.589 You know, I burnt out of that run because I didn't 00:24:07.589 --> 00:24:11.009 submit to a pacing. I went too hard, too early. 00:24:11.309 --> 00:24:13.529 I thought I could keep it up and I couldn't. 00:24:14.109 --> 00:24:16.650 But I also wouldn't have been successful in my 00:24:16.650 --> 00:24:19.130 run if I went too slow out of the box, out of 00:24:19.130 --> 00:24:22.910 fear. There was a pace, a balance. that had I 00:24:22.910 --> 00:24:26.069 kept it, I would have smashed my PB and other 00:24:26.069 --> 00:24:30.630 people's as well. Friends, I feel like I preach 00:24:30.630 --> 00:24:32.890 the same sermon every time I get up here in a 00:24:32.890 --> 00:24:35.509 thousand different ways. You want the life that 00:24:35.509 --> 00:24:37.569 God has promised you, I want the life that God 00:24:37.569 --> 00:24:40.109 has promised me. The only way to that life is 00:24:40.109 --> 00:24:43.809 through surrender to God. It's letting go, it's 00:24:43.809 --> 00:24:46.670 trusting, it's giving over. It's trusting God 00:24:46.670 --> 00:24:48.829 more and more with the deepest, most vulnerable 00:24:48.829 --> 00:24:51.650 parts of our lives. It's letting God set the 00:24:51.650 --> 00:24:54.009 obligations, the pace and trajectory of our lives. 00:24:54.990 --> 00:24:57.809 The way to the life we all want, the way to the 00:24:57.809 --> 00:25:00.170 life that is promised is surrender to Jesus. 00:25:00.809 --> 00:25:03.410 It's letting Him lead. It really is that simple 00:25:03.410 --> 00:25:07.690 and it's also that hard. You can't do it overnight, 00:25:07.890 --> 00:25:10.150 but you can't also expect it to just happen. 00:25:10.779 --> 00:25:13.319 You must put effort in, but you also must rely 00:25:13.319 --> 00:25:16.319 on the Spirit to do it. This is the tension of 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.940 following Jesus. You can't make it happen, but 00:25:18.940 --> 00:25:21.160 you can't do nothing and expect it to happen. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:25.079 Our lives must be an ongoing journey of deeper 00:25:25.079 --> 00:25:28.099 abandonment to Jesus, of deeper surrender, of 00:25:28.099 --> 00:25:31.039 time after time, bowing the knee, handing over 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:33.960 the things we carry, our obligations, our dreams, 00:25:34.039 --> 00:25:36.900 our desires, our passions and our burdens, giving 00:25:36.900 --> 00:25:39.640 them over to Him and trusting Him with them. 00:25:40.039 --> 00:25:43.759 that He will either let them die or He will restore 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:47.819 them and grant them. You see, we're tired because 00:25:47.819 --> 00:25:50.819 we hold so tightly onto so much of our lives 00:25:50.819 --> 00:25:54.660 and how we think they should pan out. We're tired 00:25:54.660 --> 00:25:56.900 because we're constantly grasping for control. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:02.259 Me too, me too. The true rest is found in coming 00:26:02.259 --> 00:26:06.819 to Jesus and giving that control to Him. But 00:26:06.819 --> 00:26:09.640 even if we do this, Even if we do all of this, 00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:13.579 and we should, even if we surrender, even if 00:26:13.579 --> 00:26:15.900 we let Jesus at the pace and trajectory of our 00:26:15.900 --> 00:26:18.940 lives, that still won't make us right with God. 00:26:19.859 --> 00:26:21.779 These are all good things for us to do, things 00:26:21.779 --> 00:26:24.859 we should do, but we can't mistake these things 00:26:24.859 --> 00:26:28.019 for things that we must do to be right with God. 00:26:28.660 --> 00:26:30.700 Yes, we should put effort into our faith. We 00:26:30.700 --> 00:26:32.619 should step into the invitation of life with 00:26:32.619 --> 00:26:35.720 Jesus, but we can't mistake effort for earning. 00:26:36.430 --> 00:26:40.769 We can't mistake receiving for achieving. You 00:26:40.769 --> 00:26:42.930 see, in our lives, the true yoke that we carry, 00:26:43.329 --> 00:26:45.730 the true obligation and burden we pull is to 00:26:45.730 --> 00:26:48.970 sin. The true thing that is crushing us, that's 00:26:48.970 --> 00:26:52.309 enslaving us, is our rebellion against God. Paul 00:26:52.309 --> 00:26:55.369 says this in Romans, famously, I do not understand 00:26:55.369 --> 00:26:59.269 what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. 00:26:59.690 --> 00:27:04.009 But what I hate, I do. That is the yoke of sin 00:27:04.009 --> 00:27:07.759 around our necks. And yet the humble and gentle 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:10.180 one, the one who had equality with God, the one 00:27:10.180 --> 00:27:11.880 who always did what he wanted to do and didn't 00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:14.460 do what he didn't want to do, the one who saw 00:27:14.460 --> 00:27:16.680 us drowning under the weight of our yoke to sin, 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:19.619 weary without hope, without the possibility of 00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:24.839 life, did not abandon us to it. We're friends 00:27:24.839 --> 00:27:27.460 out of sheer love and sheer grace for us. Jesus, 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.299 one with the Father, God in flesh and blood, 00:27:30.819 --> 00:27:35.329 tied the yoke of sin around His own neck. and 00:27:35.329 --> 00:27:38.390 stepped into our yoke with this unbearable burden 00:27:38.390 --> 00:27:41.210 and took it to the cross to die with it so that 00:27:41.210 --> 00:27:44.650 those that are in him could also die to sin and 00:27:44.650 --> 00:27:48.410 be raised to life to be reconciled to God. See 00:27:48.410 --> 00:27:51.769 the true yoke we were carrying was sin and because 00:27:51.769 --> 00:27:53.930 of what Jesus has done for us, because he has 00:27:53.930 --> 00:27:57.769 dealt with our yoke to sin, he can actually give 00:27:57.769 --> 00:28:02.029 us his yoke, his way of being right with God 00:28:02.029 --> 00:28:06.019 according to him, not to the Pharisees and his 00:28:06.019 --> 00:28:11.140 yoke is faith. It's declaring Jesus as Lord and 00:28:11.140 --> 00:28:13.259 believing in your heart the cross is raised from 00:28:13.259 --> 00:28:15.859 the dead. It's trusting in the cross and that's 00:28:15.859 --> 00:28:18.579 why Jesus can say my yoke is easy and my burden 00:28:18.579 --> 00:28:21.099 is light because he has dealt with the ultimate 00:28:21.099 --> 00:28:23.359 yoke and the ultimate burden of sin and death. 00:28:23.980 --> 00:28:26.519 Your only obligation in life to be right with 00:28:26.519 --> 00:28:33.259 God is faith. It's taking God at his word. It's 00:28:33.259 --> 00:28:36.400 trusting Him. And His burden is light because 00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:39.720 what you have to do to be right with God has 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:43.039 already been done. It's already been paid. What 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:46.480 you need to carry has already been carried. This 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:49.140 is the good news. This is the whole claim of 00:28:49.140 --> 00:28:51.759 Christianity. God has done for you what you could 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:55.059 not do for yourself. And once you were a slave 00:28:55.059 --> 00:28:57.500 to sin, you were yoked to sin, but now you are 00:28:57.500 --> 00:29:01.839 free to be yoked to Christ through faith. Friends, 00:29:01.880 --> 00:29:05.079 can you see how it is only faith in Jesus that 00:29:05.079 --> 00:29:09.759 makes life easy and light to bear? You did nothing 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:12.940 to earn it. You have not worked for it. And yet 00:29:12.940 --> 00:29:15.980 God gives it as a free gift of grace because 00:29:15.980 --> 00:29:21.579 He loves you. What Jesus has done for you is 00:29:21.579 --> 00:29:23.900 like inviting you to the greatest feast you have 00:29:23.900 --> 00:29:28.980 ever seen. Choice meats, wine, all the cheeses. 00:29:29.289 --> 00:29:32.569 and hot chips cooked in beef tallow. If you know, 00:29:32.849 --> 00:29:38.009 you know. You have not earned the invitation. 00:29:38.789 --> 00:29:42.069 You did not and could not pay for it. And God 00:29:42.069 --> 00:29:44.890 knows you will never be able to pay it back. 00:29:45.769 --> 00:29:49.369 But it was laid for you by the sheer love and 00:29:49.369 --> 00:29:52.250 kindness of the dinner host. And all there is 00:29:52.250 --> 00:29:54.690 to do, my friends, is to acknowledge the host, 00:29:55.150 --> 00:29:59.369 sit down and tuck in. When you know in your heart 00:29:59.369 --> 00:30:01.630 that ultimately your greatest burden and greatest 00:30:01.630 --> 00:30:04.990 yoke has been dealt with, it actually doesn't 00:30:04.990 --> 00:30:07.650 matter. It really doesn't matter what happens 00:30:07.650 --> 00:30:10.910 in life. It doesn't matter what burdens you have 00:30:10.910 --> 00:30:13.569 to carry or what burdens you need to let go of 00:30:13.569 --> 00:30:16.950 because you're safe. You're home. You can be 00:30:16.950 --> 00:30:21.450 at rest with Jesus. Life can be hard and with 00:30:21.450 --> 00:30:25.650 Jesus, light and easy at the same time. That 00:30:25.650 --> 00:30:31.180 is good news. Are you weary? Are you carrying 00:30:31.180 --> 00:30:36.660 heavy burdens? Come to Jesus. He will give you 00:30:36.660 --> 00:30:42.059 rest. Rest from sin. Rest that He won from you 00:30:42.059 --> 00:30:44.640 on the cross. Rest from the burden and obligation 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:49.599 of other yokes. Through faith, take on His yoke. 00:30:50.180 --> 00:30:52.940 Let Him come into your life, side by side, day 00:30:52.940 --> 00:30:55.599 by day. Let Him teach you how to truly live. 00:31:13.670 --> 00:31:16.349 Thanks so much for tuning into this week's message. 00:31:17.049 --> 00:31:20.109 If you felt challenged or need prayer, we'd love 00:31:20.109 --> 00:31:22.509 to hear from you on Instagram at encounterhenley. 00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:25.440 or if you're interested in how you can support 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:29.500 this ministry please go to our website encounteradelaide 00:31:29.500 --> 00:31:33.579 .com .au Thanks again for listening. God bless 00:31:33.579 --> 00:31:33.940 you.