WEBVTT 00:00:05.929 --> 00:00:09.050 Kia ora and welcome to the St Francis Church 00:00:09.050 --> 00:00:11.570 sermon podcast. We're so glad that you've joined 00:00:11.570 --> 00:00:14.970 us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:17.910 encounter God's presence. Be refreshed in your 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:20.769 faith and equipped for everyday life with Jesus. 00:00:21.629 --> 00:00:24.289 As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow 00:00:24.289 --> 00:00:27.879 Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:30.899 more info about who we are and what God is doing 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:36.799 among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:47.219 peace. Good morning, you few and faithful. Welcome 00:00:47.219 --> 00:00:52.939 to July, kind of the cusp to the second part 00:00:52.939 --> 00:00:58.859 of the year, the first Sunday. And it's been 00:00:58.859 --> 00:01:01.960 certainly a mix of weather for us, isn't it? 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:06.640 Rain, freezing cold, but fine weather. But we're 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.140 here today, and we're starting a new series. 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:13.219 But first I want to ask you, who's in their lifetime 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:22.299 has actually done an apprenticeship? Cool. OK. 00:01:23.049 --> 00:01:25.829 I had one other hand went up with mine on at 00:01:25.829 --> 00:01:29.250 the earlier service. I thought it would have 00:01:29.250 --> 00:01:32.030 been a bit more popular with some older people 00:01:32.030 --> 00:01:36.849 if you served an apprenticeship. But I want you 00:01:36.849 --> 00:01:39.510 to imagine something for a couple of minutes. 00:01:40.590 --> 00:01:45.730 We're travelling back to the year 1700. You're 00:01:45.730 --> 00:01:49.549 in a small village in the Italian Alps. You're 00:01:49.549 --> 00:01:54.150 around 16 years old. And your father has made 00:01:54.150 --> 00:01:57.450 a decision for you. You are going to be apprenticed 00:01:57.450 --> 00:02:00.530 to the village luthier, which is a person who 00:02:00.530 --> 00:02:04.909 is the maker of violins. And the arrangement 00:02:04.909 --> 00:02:08.009 is going to go like this for you. You will live 00:02:08.009 --> 00:02:10.490 in his house for seven years. You're not going 00:02:10.490 --> 00:02:15.210 to be paid. You will eat at his table. You'll 00:02:15.210 --> 00:02:18.169 sweep his workshop for the first two years. You 00:02:18.169 --> 00:02:22.599 will not be allowed to touch wood at all. you'll 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:26.419 just watch and then you'll fetch tools as well 00:02:26.419 --> 00:02:29.479 as when it's required. You will hold things steady 00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:32.659 while he works. You will listen to him talk about 00:02:32.659 --> 00:02:35.460 the differences between the different woods of 00:02:35.460 --> 00:02:37.659 maple and spruce, about the grain of the wood, 00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:39.900 about the weather and how it actually affects 00:02:39.900 --> 00:02:44.219 the glue. You will be, to use a word that we 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:47.860 don't really use anymore, bound. You'll be bound 00:02:47.860 --> 00:02:53.020 to him for seven years. And at year three, you'll 00:02:53.020 --> 00:02:57.180 be allowed to sand, progression. At year four, 00:02:57.219 --> 00:02:59.939 you'll be able to use the plane on the timber. 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:02.840 At year five, you're able to carve a scroll. 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:08.020 At year six, you get to varnish. And finally, 00:03:08.099 --> 00:03:10.840 at year seven, you will make your first violin. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:15.400 And it will be almost certainly terrible. I remember 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:17.520 my apprenticeship and the first sign I thought 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:19.879 was wonderful. Looked back and I thought, ah, 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:25.840 let's burn it. What we think is beautiful and 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:29.300 looking back is not really good. But you will 00:03:29.300 --> 00:03:32.759 be a luthier after seven years. You also can 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:35.740 be called a journeyman. You will have a craft 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:38.199 after that time. You will have a way of seeing 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:41.120 the world that you could not possibly have acquired 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:47.379 any other way. Most of us, though, today, we've 00:03:47.379 --> 00:03:51.240 never apprenticed to anything in our lives. We've 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:55.039 learned everything by tutorial. We've done five 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:59.879 -minute videos on YouTube. We've done 10 -step 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:03.000 guides. We've done blog posts, podcasts at one 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:06.520 and a half speed to learn it quicker. We've learned 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:10.479 the information of 100 things and the craft of 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:14.729 almost none. And then we wonder why our faith 00:04:14.729 --> 00:04:18.769 feels thin, why we actually keep getting blown 00:04:18.769 --> 00:04:23.470 around by the things of the world, why the spiritual 00:04:23.470 --> 00:04:26.050 life seems to evaporate the moment we close the 00:04:26.050 --> 00:04:31.290 conference book war that we've been to. But here's 00:04:31.290 --> 00:04:34.490 a question that I want to put on the table this 00:04:34.490 --> 00:04:37.189 morning, the question that this whole July series 00:04:37.189 --> 00:04:40.269 that we're going to go through is going to circle 00:04:40.269 --> 00:04:44.120 back to. And it says, what if Christianity was 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:46.720 never meant to be a belief system you adopt, 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:49.060 but a craft that you actually apprentice to? 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:57.420 This Sunday, we are now 14 weeks into ordinary 00:04:57.420 --> 00:05:01.060 time of this long season, Heiwa Noa, the long 00:05:01.060 --> 00:05:05.600 green season of the church year. After Pentecost 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:09.620 and before Advent. Not the high drama of Lent, 00:05:09.699 --> 00:05:12.399 not the sparkle of Christmas. It's just the ordinary 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:16.300 weeks. The weeks where really most of life has 00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:19.819 actually lived. The wisdom of the Church across 00:05:19.819 --> 00:05:23.819 centuries is that this is a season where formation 00:05:23.819 --> 00:05:27.639 happens. Not in the spike, but it happens in 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:30.560 the slow ordinariness. Not in the spectacle, 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:32.740 but in the rhythms and the practices that we 00:05:32.740 --> 00:05:36.360 live out day to day. So over the next four Sundays, 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:39.420 we're going to lean into that. And we called 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:42.000 this series, The Slow Apprenticeship, The Slow 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.639 Work of God. We're going to walk with Jesus through 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:48.879 his kingdom parables in Matthew 13 and alongside 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:52.519 the long and the often messy story of Jacob in 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:55.939 Genesis. And we're going to ask the same question 00:05:55.939 --> 00:06:00.439 every week in different forms. And it's this, 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:05.600 what kind of person am I actually becoming? Today 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:09.339 is week one, it's the invitation to join in and 00:06:09.339 --> 00:06:11.660 where it all begins. And it's something that 00:06:11.660 --> 00:06:15.920 is really just a refocus of who we're following, 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:19.579 who do we give our apprenticeship and our life 00:06:19.579 --> 00:06:22.620 to, not just in ordinary time, but every day 00:06:22.620 --> 00:06:26.980 of this year. Listen to these words from Matthew 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:31.199 chapter 11 again, some of the most famous well 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:33.819 -known and beloved words that Jesus ever spoke. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:00.240 From those verses I want to slow down on just 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:04.459 three words, and the first word is yoke. When 00:07:04.459 --> 00:07:06.819 most of us hear yoke nowadays, I think people 00:07:06.819 --> 00:07:12.439 think of an egg. But in that time, we picture 00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:15.459 a heavy wooden harness, the thing that you put 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:18.620 on an ox to make it pull a cart. And we hear 00:07:18.620 --> 00:07:22.620 that Jesus is yoke, and we think, oh, more religious 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:26.199 load that we've got to take on. But in Jesus' 00:07:26.459 --> 00:07:30.759 day, the word yoke had a specific second meaning. 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:35.480 It was this. Every rabbi, every jurist teacher 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:38.699 had a yoke. And this was known as the yoke of 00:07:38.699 --> 00:07:42.060 the rabbi. And it was his particular teaching, 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:45.240 his way of interpreting Torah, his way of seeing 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:48.920 and being in the world. So to take a rabbi's 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:52.339 yoke upon you, well, that actually meant to enroll 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:54.740 with him, to apprentice, to live in his orbit, 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:58.060 to learn his way, to follow him in everything 00:07:58.060 --> 00:08:02.899 that he did. So when we hear Jesus say, Take 00:08:02.899 --> 00:08:07.860 my yoke upon you and learn from me He's not saying 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:10.480 well, here's another religious burden for you 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:16.660 to to take on He is saying enroll with me apprentice 00:08:16.660 --> 00:08:23.339 with me Walk with me Learn how I see how I speak 00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:29.860 how I love how I rest how I weep How I pray Let 00:08:29.860 --> 00:08:36.470 my life slowly shape yours. That is the offer 00:08:36.470 --> 00:08:39.590 from Jesus here. And he says, take on my yoke. 00:08:41.250 --> 00:08:49.830 The second word is easy. My yoke is easy. The 00:08:49.830 --> 00:08:53.049 Greek word is Christos. It doesn't mean light 00:08:53.049 --> 00:08:57.450 on content. It doesn't mean effortless. This 00:08:57.450 --> 00:09:00.279 word, it means something that is well fitted 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:02.919 just like a jacket or clothing that you wear 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:07.840 something that is suited to you kindly and it's 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:12.279 the right size a traditional yoke was made specifically 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:17.559 for the oak that it was going to go on now a 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:20.600 good craftsman then as nowadays around the world 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:23.500 would shape the wood to the curve of that particular 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:27.860 animal's neck uniquely to that animal a badly 00:09:27.860 --> 00:09:32.039 fitted yoke chafed and broke the beast. So a 00:09:32.039 --> 00:09:34.519 well -fitted yoke distributed the load so that 00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:37.899 the animal could pull all day without injury. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.259 It's like a well -worn pair of shoes, isn't it? 00:09:41.259 --> 00:09:45.620 Comfortable for you. Jesus is not saying that, 00:09:45.620 --> 00:09:50.419 hey, my way is small. He is saying, my way fits 00:09:50.419 --> 00:09:57.000 you because I made you. I know how you're shaped. 00:09:57.450 --> 00:10:00.830 I know what you can carry and how, and I have 00:10:00.830 --> 00:10:04.230 designed a way that you can sustain, not by sheer 00:10:04.230 --> 00:10:06.750 willpower, but because it actually fits the soul 00:10:06.750 --> 00:10:12.450 I gave you. We are often trying to find what 00:10:12.450 --> 00:10:15.870 our gifts and talents are in life. We see something 00:10:15.870 --> 00:10:18.850 in someone else, I'd like that, and we struggle 00:10:18.850 --> 00:10:23.269 with it because it's not yours. Jesus has placed 00:10:23.269 --> 00:10:25.929 within you gifts and talents and the fruit of 00:10:25.929 --> 00:10:29.970 the Spirit. that wear well, wear comfortable. 00:10:31.570 --> 00:10:35.330 So ask Jesus, what are they? And start wearing 00:10:35.330 --> 00:10:38.909 them because they won't be a burden, they'll 00:10:38.909 --> 00:10:44.610 be easy. And the third word we rest on, he says 00:10:44.610 --> 00:10:47.809 here that you will find rest for your souls. 00:10:49.009 --> 00:10:53.129 Notice that it doesn't say rest from work or 00:10:53.129 --> 00:10:57.090 from rest from retirement. not vacation, rest 00:10:57.090 --> 00:10:59.529 for your souls. There's actually a soul rest, 00:11:00.230 --> 00:11:03.210 something that is deep and inner, your being. 00:11:04.389 --> 00:11:06.970 He says, you will find rest for your souls when 00:11:06.970 --> 00:11:11.230 you follow the rabbi and wear the right yoke. 00:11:13.070 --> 00:11:15.850 A lot of us, I think, by the time we hit midweek, 00:11:16.350 --> 00:11:19.669 Wednesdayish, are bodily tired, but we're soul 00:11:19.669 --> 00:11:23.490 exhausted. Tired in a way that sleep doesn't 00:11:23.490 --> 00:11:27.740 actually fix. And that can be tired because we're 00:11:27.740 --> 00:11:30.500 performing. We're being something and someone 00:11:30.500 --> 00:11:34.519 that we're not. Tired of presenting, well, I'm 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:37.080 all happy and nice on the outside, but the inside 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:40.240 I'm crumbling. Tired of trying to be enough. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:44.299 You see, the yoke of Jesus is the only yoke that 00:11:44.299 --> 00:11:48.279 touches that kind of tired. Because it's the 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:51.360 only one that says, you don't have to be your 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:56.350 own God. Lay it down. Come and learn from me 00:11:56.350 --> 00:12:01.029 So here's the invitation and it's plainly put 00:12:01.029 --> 00:12:05.629 Stop being your own master and become someone's 00:12:05.629 --> 00:12:10.370 apprentice and let it be Jesus And I think there's 00:12:10.370 --> 00:12:14.090 another passage in Scripture that mirrors this 00:12:14.090 --> 00:12:18.549 honestly and Paul says it in Romans 7 Because 00:12:18.549 --> 00:12:20.470 I think he understands the apprentice's problem 00:12:20.470 --> 00:12:23.879 better than almost anyone Let me read this to 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:27.039 you. You'll see it on the screen. I do not understand 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:31.700 what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, 00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:35.279 but what I hate I do. I have the desire to do 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:39.379 what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For 00:12:39.379 --> 00:12:42.759 I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:48.500 I do not want to do. This I keep on doing. What 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:52.120 a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:55.399 this body that is subject to death? Thanks be 00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:58.679 to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ 00:12:58.679 --> 00:13:04.659 our Lord. I think it's a real honest passage, 00:13:04.779 --> 00:13:07.879 isn't it? From someone that struggled but who 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:12.100 gave us all these letters of deep faith. Paul 00:13:12.100 --> 00:13:14.519 names something that every serious apprentice 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:17.639 actually says, that I cannot make myself into 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:22.139 the person that I want to be. You can't make 00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:26.240 yourself patient by trying harder. You can't 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:30.840 make yourself kind by just sheer willpower. You 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:36.299 can't holy your way to holy. The harder you push 00:13:36.299 --> 00:13:39.580 from your own resources, the more you discover 00:13:39.580 --> 00:13:43.779 you're at war with yourself. And that's not failure 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:46.559 when you discover that. That's the beginning 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:51.539 of a real apprenticeship. You and I, we don't 00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:54.340 take Jesus' yoke because we've got it together. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:58.139 We take it because we don't. And we finally know 00:13:58.139 --> 00:14:02.379 it. The strong and the self -sufficient people, 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:04.840 the I -can -handle -this people, those are the 00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:08.340 ones who cannot really apprentice because they're 00:14:08.340 --> 00:14:12.740 doing it their way and in the limited power that 00:14:12.740 --> 00:14:16.399 they have. Apprentices are people who have to 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.279 come to the end of themselves and say yes to 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:24.580 a master. Dallas Willard put it like this, grace 00:14:24.580 --> 00:14:27.639 is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. 00:14:30.019 --> 00:14:33.480 Now, we will work hard at an apprenticeship, 00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:38.200 but we will not earn anything. We will receive 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:41.139 and respond and follow the one who's teaching 00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:45.519 us. And the grace is in the yoke that we wear. 00:14:50.809 --> 00:14:53.970 Briefly, I want to bring to you the Genesis reading. 00:14:54.470 --> 00:14:55.990 And as we go through the lecture, you'll see 00:14:55.990 --> 00:14:58.990 in the newsletter all the gray that's of the 00:14:58.990 --> 00:15:01.450 scripture. Those are the supporting ones to the 00:15:01.450 --> 00:15:03.409 main passage that we're using today in Matthew. 00:15:04.289 --> 00:15:07.350 Genesis reading, it's a long story, so I'm just 00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:10.850 going to sketch it out. So we find that Abraham 00:15:10.850 --> 00:15:15.090 is old. His son Isaac needs a wife, and Abraham 00:15:15.090 --> 00:15:18.509 sends his servant on a long journey to find one. 00:15:18.990 --> 00:15:23.250 The servant doesn't know who this person will 00:15:23.250 --> 00:15:26.870 be. He prays a quiet, almost timid prayer at 00:15:26.870 --> 00:15:29.149 a well that he'd stopped at, and he says, Lord, 00:15:29.750 --> 00:15:32.210 let the right woman offer me water and offer 00:15:32.210 --> 00:15:37.210 water to my camels. And lo and behold, Rebecca 00:15:37.210 --> 00:15:41.090 walks up, offers him water, offers water to those 00:15:41.090 --> 00:15:45.009 camels. The servant is stunned, and he worships 00:15:45.009 --> 00:15:50.759 God right there at the well. But notice the texture 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:55.000 of how God works in this story. He doesn't come 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.039 with fire from heaven, not with a thunderclap. 00:15:58.299 --> 00:16:03.139 He comes with hospitality at a well. But like 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:06.240 last week, those who receive you receive me, 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:11.340 the cup of cold water. He comes with a quiet 00:16:11.340 --> 00:16:14.000 yes from a young woman who didn't know that morning 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:16.720 that she was going there, that her whole life 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:20.789 was about to actually pivot. Rebecca's word to 00:16:20.789 --> 00:16:25.610 her family at the end of this chapter, she says, 00:16:26.009 --> 00:16:29.629 I will go. And they are the first apprentices 00:16:29.629 --> 00:16:32.669 words in the whole story. She doesn't know where 00:16:32.669 --> 00:16:35.370 she's going. She doesn't know what she's becoming. 00:16:35.789 --> 00:16:39.950 She just says yes to a journey God is on and 00:16:39.950 --> 00:16:44.389 follows. This is actually how the slow work of 00:16:44.389 --> 00:16:48.049 God almost always begins. It doesn't begin with 00:16:48.830 --> 00:16:53.169 fireworks, but with a yes you can barely justify. 00:16:53.909 --> 00:16:56.330 With a journey that you actually didn't plan 00:16:56.330 --> 00:17:00.690 and with a quiet hand you didn't see until you 00:17:00.690 --> 00:17:03.590 look back. Now as you scan back over your lifetime 00:17:03.590 --> 00:17:06.430 you will see these moments and these things that 00:17:06.430 --> 00:17:08.509 have been played out because God's placed them 00:17:08.509 --> 00:17:13.289 there. So what does that look like for us today 00:17:13.289 --> 00:17:16.289 in 2026? We've traveled to 1700s, we've gone 00:17:16.289 --> 00:17:21.920 to Genesis 22, But how does that play out in 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:24.960 our lives today, with our phones and our jobs 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:28.500 and our anxieties? I want to name three things 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:33.660 very practically. The first one is this. Choose 00:17:33.660 --> 00:17:37.039 a rabbi. The first thing you need to know is 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:42.140 that you are already apprenticed. You are. You 00:17:42.140 --> 00:17:46.579 think you're free, but you're actually not. Now 00:17:46.579 --> 00:17:48.599 you're an apprentice to the logarithm from the 00:17:48.599 --> 00:17:52.539 computer or the phone. It is shaping what you 00:17:52.539 --> 00:17:55.180 find beautiful, what you fear, what you desire. 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:59.180 Or you could be an apprentice to your anxieties 00:17:59.180 --> 00:18:02.519 or shame. And they are teaching you what kind 00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:06.140 of person to be. You live from that. But you're 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:08.160 an apprentice to the influence of the month, 00:18:08.859 --> 00:18:12.079 or the productivity guru, or the political party, 00:18:12.259 --> 00:18:15.519 or pundit of the day. or your parents' fears 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:20.740 from years ago, or from your own ambition. You 00:18:20.740 --> 00:18:23.740 have a master, each one of us have a master here. 00:18:24.220 --> 00:18:26.700 The only question is which one, and which one's 00:18:26.700 --> 00:18:30.140 going to be the first. See, your apprenticeship 00:18:30.140 --> 00:18:33.599 to Jesus begins with a conscious daily know to 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:38.700 the other masters. Most of us, I think, never 00:18:38.700 --> 00:18:41.819 really get free of these other masters because 00:18:41.819 --> 00:18:46.940 we never name them. We never say them out loud. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.980 So name yours, hear it as you say it, not just 00:18:50.980 --> 00:18:54.440 in this place, but wherever you are. And then 00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:58.819 once you've named it, turn, repent from that, 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:02.559 and follow the true master. And if you're not 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:05.039 sure what you're following, what are some of 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:08.759 those things that are driving you, ask Jesus, 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:12.759 the Holy Spirit, to show you. So then you can 00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:16.440 turn from them. So as you choose a rabbi, you 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:20.359 must also choose a rhythm and a practice. A rabbi's 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:22.539 apprentice didn't squeeze a rabbi into a busy 00:19:22.539 --> 00:19:24.599 week and say, I've got five minutes for you. 00:19:25.180 --> 00:19:28.400 And that's all. The rest of the weeks I'm busy. 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:31.480 They actually built their entire life around 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:36.839 the rabbi. And we need to do the same. This doesn't 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:40.539 mean dramatic reorganization of your Google calendar. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:45.480 It means a few small, really sustained practices 00:19:45.480 --> 00:19:48.539 that you put in proximity to Jesus on the regular. 00:19:49.819 --> 00:19:53.559 Now for most of us, I think that looks like some 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:56.539 version of a few quiet minutes of prayer in the 00:19:56.539 --> 00:20:00.539 morning before the phone winds out, or some scripture 00:20:00.539 --> 00:20:05.980 not as data, but as food to contemplate on. It 00:20:05.980 --> 00:20:08.940 could be a Sabbath day each week, where the work 00:20:08.940 --> 00:20:12.039 actually stops, or a table where the church gathers 00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:15.039 or could actually be a friendship where the truth 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:19.859 can be told. These things are not programs to 00:20:19.859 --> 00:20:22.259 put in place and then follow through with them. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:24.880 They are actually more rhythms and a practice 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:30.960 and living out. What we have to do is pick a 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:35.819 starting place and then just begin. We can do 00:20:35.819 --> 00:20:38.779 all the planning and all the things that we want 00:20:38.779 --> 00:20:43.170 to. but never actually begin. The third thing 00:20:43.170 --> 00:20:47.049 is choosing the long road. The single biggest 00:20:47.049 --> 00:20:49.349 reason people don't grow spiritually is not that 00:20:49.349 --> 00:20:53.490 they're tired, they tried and failed. As I've 00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:56.569 seen through 25 years of ministry in churches, 00:20:57.190 --> 00:20:59.990 it's that they expected fast results. They didn't 00:20:59.990 --> 00:21:04.269 get them and then they quit. The church has a 00:21:04.269 --> 00:21:09.569 revolving door. People are in and out. They were 00:21:09.569 --> 00:21:11.990 promised transformation in 30 days and got them 00:21:11.990 --> 00:21:15.190 mostly themselves. So when they realized that, 00:21:15.210 --> 00:21:19.230 they bailed. We do that in our own faith life. 00:21:20.650 --> 00:21:23.630 Eugene Peterson titled one of his books, which 00:21:23.630 --> 00:21:26.190 is a beautiful title, A Long Obedience in the 00:21:26.190 --> 00:21:30.329 Same Direction. He took this phrase from someone 00:21:30.329 --> 00:21:33.450 else who saw it, admired it, even though this 00:21:33.450 --> 00:21:36.970 person didn't follow it. A long obedience in 00:21:36.970 --> 00:21:41.079 the same direction. We have to pick a direction 00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:45.720 and then stay with it Not because the road is 00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:50.079 short but because the road is actually good because 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.640 the master is gentle because the yoke fits us 00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:56.700 and Because there isn't there's no other way 00:21:56.700 --> 00:21:59.299 to actually become the person God is making you 00:21:59.299 --> 00:22:03.900 to be The long obedience in the same direction 00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:08.619 will see you be transformed I want to read these 00:22:08.619 --> 00:22:10.839 verses to you once more, what we heard this morning 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:14.319 from Matthew. And hear them like it's actually 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:19.420 the first time. Come to me, all of you who are 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:21.700 weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:25.099 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for 00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:28.839 I am gentle and I am humble in heart. And you 00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:32.220 will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is 00:22:32.220 --> 00:22:41.400 easy and my burden is light. The invitation this 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:47.920 morning is simply come. Don't bring your achievements. 00:22:48.900 --> 00:22:51.319 Don't bring your tidied up version of yourself. 00:22:52.460 --> 00:22:56.279 Jesus says bring your weariness. Bring your divided 00:22:56.279 --> 00:23:01.019 heart. Bring your half -apprentice to life. Take 00:23:01.019 --> 00:23:05.079 the yoke that I have made for you and begin to 00:23:05.079 --> 00:23:13.480 learn from me. over centuries, and Jesus is speaking 00:23:13.480 --> 00:23:16.539 directly to this as well. If you've been carrying 00:23:16.539 --> 00:23:19.619 religion as a heavy load, he's saying, lay it 00:23:19.619 --> 00:23:24.160 down. Christ never asked you to carry it. If 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:26.660 you've been carrying performance as a load, Jesus 00:23:26.660 --> 00:23:30.720 is saying, lay it down. The master is gentle 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:32.799 and humble in heart. He has no time for your 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:38.779 performance. He wants to know you. This is a 00:23:38.779 --> 00:23:42.309 slow apprenticeship that we a journey on. It 00:23:42.309 --> 00:23:45.049 begins today in this room, in the room that you 00:23:45.049 --> 00:23:47.289 wake in, the place you wake up with tomorrow, 00:23:47.549 --> 00:23:51.630 in your workplace. It begins with a quiet word, 00:23:51.890 --> 00:23:56.349 which is, yes, I will follow you. I will live 00:23:56.349 --> 00:24:00.130 your way. I will wear the yoke that you have 00:24:00.130 --> 00:24:04.329 made for me. And as we go through this ordinary 00:24:04.329 --> 00:24:08.619 July, week by week, It's a prayer that may we 00:24:08.619 --> 00:24:11.500 slightly, almost without noticing, become people 00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:15.440 who actually know him. I want to close with these 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:19.420 words of the French priest and scientist. He 00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:21.640 was a stretcher bearer in the First World War, 00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:26.079 and he's writing back to his sister in France, 00:24:26.420 --> 00:24:29.680 Pierre Deschardins. He wrote them in a letter 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:31.859 of spiritual counsel. And I think every weary 00:24:31.859 --> 00:24:35.140 soul, whenever you feel like that, should pin 00:24:35.140 --> 00:24:39.240 this to the wall. Above all, trust in the slow 00:24:39.240 --> 00:24:49.480 work of God. Amen. Father, so as we trust in 00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:52.400 your work, as we apprentice ourselves to you, 00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:57.380 as we sweep out the things in our lives that 00:24:57.380 --> 00:25:01.140 should not be there, as we learn new ways, good 00:25:01.140 --> 00:25:09.230 habits, solid practices, that we choose to follow 00:25:09.230 --> 00:25:14.390 you as our Rabbi and as our Lord. Help us to 00:25:14.390 --> 00:25:18.069 be good apprentices. May we apply ourselves to 00:25:18.069 --> 00:25:20.970 the work that you have given us. May we serve 00:25:20.970 --> 00:25:25.650 you faithfully on that long obedience. Amen.