Continuing to Read Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."
Truth is hard to come by. There are lots of good ideas out there but truth is another matter altogether. Even for those who believe in absolute (revealed) truth, as I do, truth is highly personal. What I mean by this is that truth is not a neutral entity for me, it is not something I can indifferently look up in a book and sign my affirmation to. Truth is entangled with the whole of my life. It has deep implications for everything that is important to me. I have foundational reasons both to hate and to love truth. Truth can be tampered with, adjusted, redirected, twisted, crippled. I can even use one truth to destroy another. But what does this have to do with Jesus invitation to "come to me"? It has everything to do with it! If I am going to explore truth as it relates to my weariness, my burdens, and my need for rest I will have the best success if I do it with someone I trust. The more I trust Jesus the more I will allow him to speak whatever I need to hear. The more I trust Jesus the more I will be willing to let down my guard, give up my defensiveness, admit my hidden motivations and even my resistance to "being told." This is why Jesus says "take my yoke upon you and learn from me...". The only way we can face the really important truths is by getting into relationship with Jesus. Any attempt to get to the truth in some abstract, impersonal, way is doomed to failure. Jesus invites us to have an encounter with truth in the safety of his presence..."and you WILL find rest for your soul...".
Showing posts with label Matthew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matthew. Show all posts
Monday, December 05, 2005
Sunday, December 04, 2005
"...never follow a stranger..."
Continuing to read Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me..."
Our world is full of voices, both literal and metaphorical, that are saying "come to me." Sometimes it's a cacophony of whispers, sometimes it's a shouting match, sometimes one or another voice rises above the others with great insistance. What do I do with all the voices?
In the midst of the voices Jesus says "come to me." Hearing one voice in a crowd is a matter of familiarity. We can enter a room full of people and immediately pick out the voice of the one we know and love. Jesus said that "his sheep follow him because they know his voice" (John 10:4). If we don't want to be thrown off or misled by the confusion of voices the onus is on us to become accustomed to Jesus' voice, to the way he speaks, the kind of themes he addresses, the values he has, the way he puts out a warning, the way he expresses his love. If I don't know him very well then any voice might sound like his voice, particularly if I want it too.
After Jesus says that "his sheep know his voice" he goes on to say "they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize the stranger's voice" (John 10:5). Parents are always shocked to find that their children would go off with a stranger. It takes time for children to learn that not every kind voice or every kind offer is genuine, is reflective of that parental love that they have become used to. In the same way it takes time (in some cases a long time and a lot of hard lessons) for the Christian to be able to discern the difference between Jesus and the spiritual stranger.
When times of great anxiety and need, or offers of great opportunity, come to us it is easy to confuse the voices and find ourselves going down a road that can only lead to grief. The remedy for this is to invest in the relationship. Get to know Jesus very well. Be intentional about your daily time with God.
"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me..." (John 10:14). We are not safe just because Jesus knows us, because Jesus is willing to let us go a long way from home if that is what we really want.
Get to know Jesus and "never follow a stranger...".
"Come to me..."
Our world is full of voices, both literal and metaphorical, that are saying "come to me." Sometimes it's a cacophony of whispers, sometimes it's a shouting match, sometimes one or another voice rises above the others with great insistance. What do I do with all the voices?
In the midst of the voices Jesus says "come to me." Hearing one voice in a crowd is a matter of familiarity. We can enter a room full of people and immediately pick out the voice of the one we know and love. Jesus said that "his sheep follow him because they know his voice" (John 10:4). If we don't want to be thrown off or misled by the confusion of voices the onus is on us to become accustomed to Jesus' voice, to the way he speaks, the kind of themes he addresses, the values he has, the way he puts out a warning, the way he expresses his love. If I don't know him very well then any voice might sound like his voice, particularly if I want it too.
After Jesus says that "his sheep know his voice" he goes on to say "they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize the stranger's voice" (John 10:5). Parents are always shocked to find that their children would go off with a stranger. It takes time for children to learn that not every kind voice or every kind offer is genuine, is reflective of that parental love that they have become used to. In the same way it takes time (in some cases a long time and a lot of hard lessons) for the Christian to be able to discern the difference between Jesus and the spiritual stranger.
When times of great anxiety and need, or offers of great opportunity, come to us it is easy to confuse the voices and find ourselves going down a road that can only lead to grief. The remedy for this is to invest in the relationship. Get to know Jesus very well. Be intentional about your daily time with God.
"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me..." (John 10:14). We are not safe just because Jesus knows us, because Jesus is willing to let us go a long way from home if that is what we really want.
Get to know Jesus and "never follow a stranger...".
Friday, December 02, 2005
"Come to me ... and learn from me..."
Continuing to read Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me..."
This meditation prepared with the help of:
1. One very large cup of dark roast Columbian coffee.
2. The Brandenburg Concertos
The things we need to learn to convert weariness and burden into rest can only be learned by coming to Jesus. They cannot be learned at at safe distance. They cannot be reduced to lessons and principles that can be taught in a lecture and detached from the person of Jesus. How much of my spiritual/church life is actually a coming to Jesus? This is why prayer is so central to the spiritual life. That is, prayer as a coming to Jesus and not as a tool to control my life and the lives of others (not to mention God), or as a Christian rain dance (the right ceremony or sacramental act), or Christian magic (looking for just the right words), but as a conversation with the lover of my soul, as a "being with" the person who has already acted (was crucified) to secure my rest, both in this world and the next. This is an acceptance that what I need to ensure rest from my burden has already been accomplished. I just keep coming to the one who has secured this for me so that I can enter into an already accomplished peace.
This coming to Jesus involves certain risks, to name a few:
1. Trusting myself to another - can Jesus be trusted with my life?
2. Facing the most painful aspects of my weariness and burderns.
3. Surrender to someone greater than myself.
4. Moving outside the strict definitions of rationality and trusting in revelation.
-reference faith, "things not seen", the invisible (per Hebrews 11)
5. Engaging with an "absolute" authority.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me..."
This meditation prepared with the help of:
1. One very large cup of dark roast Columbian coffee.
2. The Brandenburg Concertos
The things we need to learn to convert weariness and burden into rest can only be learned by coming to Jesus. They cannot be learned at at safe distance. They cannot be reduced to lessons and principles that can be taught in a lecture and detached from the person of Jesus. How much of my spiritual/church life is actually a coming to Jesus? This is why prayer is so central to the spiritual life. That is, prayer as a coming to Jesus and not as a tool to control my life and the lives of others (not to mention God), or as a Christian rain dance (the right ceremony or sacramental act), or Christian magic (looking for just the right words), but as a conversation with the lover of my soul, as a "being with" the person who has already acted (was crucified) to secure my rest, both in this world and the next. This is an acceptance that what I need to ensure rest from my burden has already been accomplished. I just keep coming to the one who has secured this for me so that I can enter into an already accomplished peace.
This coming to Jesus involves certain risks, to name a few:
1. Trusting myself to another - can Jesus be trusted with my life?
2. Facing the most painful aspects of my weariness and burderns.
3. Surrender to someone greater than myself.
4. Moving outside the strict definitions of rationality and trusting in revelation.
-reference faith, "things not seen", the invisible (per Hebrews 11)
5. Engaging with an "absolute" authority.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Coming to Jesus is not like coming to church
Continuing to read Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened..."
Coming to Jesus is not like coming to church. We don't have to leave our burdens at home and make ourselves presentable. We don't drop our burdens at the door, enter into his presence, and then pick them up again on the way out. There are lots of things that we do to take our minds off of our troubles, coming to Jesus is not one of them. All of our entertainments, spiritual or otherwise may provide some relief, reprieve, and distraction from the things that weary us, and it's important to have this kind of outlet in our lives. But coming to Jesus is not a distraction from the central issues of our life. We don't come to Jesus to feel spiritual, to feel forgiven, or to get rest. Many of the things that we come to Jesus for are only a byproduct of coming to him with our burdens. To come to Jesus to get rest is like trying to catch a butterfly: the more you chase it the further away it flies. Rest is the result, not of pursuing rest in Jesus, but of bringing our concerns to him.
The most important burden to bring to Jesus is the burden of our own sin. We feel its weight, and "weight", is an appropriate biblical word for our sin (Heb. 12:1). This weight is the most fruitful of all the burdens we can bring to Jesus. I would like Jesus to give me rest without making me face my sin. I don't want my time with Jesus to be a confrontation, I want it to be pleasant. But Jesus knows that its getting wearisome for me to keep carrying around the same old garbage day in and day out, year after year. He wants me to bring my burdens into the relationship with him. It is both an act of desperation and an act of courage to come to him with all of my stuff. So many Christians have an unfruitful relationship with God because they aren't willing for God to talk straight with them about their life. Bring your burdens to Jesus and he will give you rest.
I find that we are often reluctant to bring the burden of what others have done to us into our fellowship with Jesus for similar reasons. We don't want to feel the pain again, don't want to be reminded of it. We don't want to have to forgive, don't want to feel like we are being forced into yet another injustice. We don't want to acknowledge that our own sin may have played a role in our being hurt.
Jesus can't heal a burden that is not brought to him. If I keep my suffering, my sin, my anger, my bitterness, outside the door of my spiritual life I will find that I experience a temporary distraction through prayer and worship and bible study but that I receive no significant healing. Many people multiply their spiritual exercises and devotions hoping in this way to crush the burdens that they are carrying around. The actual result is that all the pressure creates a counter force that eventually erupts in ever more pain.
Don't think that when Jesus says: "Come to me, you who are weary and burdened..." that he is inviting you to a world of make believe where your sin and the pain inflicted on you by other's sin no longer matters. As the verse goes on to say, he is inviting you to put on a yoke, to pull with him in one harness, to accomplish the work that leads to rest and peace.
Is the place where I meet with Jesus a truly honest place or do I bring my penchant for keeping secrets into the most holy place of my life?
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened..."
Coming to Jesus is not like coming to church. We don't have to leave our burdens at home and make ourselves presentable. We don't drop our burdens at the door, enter into his presence, and then pick them up again on the way out. There are lots of things that we do to take our minds off of our troubles, coming to Jesus is not one of them. All of our entertainments, spiritual or otherwise may provide some relief, reprieve, and distraction from the things that weary us, and it's important to have this kind of outlet in our lives. But coming to Jesus is not a distraction from the central issues of our life. We don't come to Jesus to feel spiritual, to feel forgiven, or to get rest. Many of the things that we come to Jesus for are only a byproduct of coming to him with our burdens. To come to Jesus to get rest is like trying to catch a butterfly: the more you chase it the further away it flies. Rest is the result, not of pursuing rest in Jesus, but of bringing our concerns to him.
The most important burden to bring to Jesus is the burden of our own sin. We feel its weight, and "weight", is an appropriate biblical word for our sin (Heb. 12:1). This weight is the most fruitful of all the burdens we can bring to Jesus. I would like Jesus to give me rest without making me face my sin. I don't want my time with Jesus to be a confrontation, I want it to be pleasant. But Jesus knows that its getting wearisome for me to keep carrying around the same old garbage day in and day out, year after year. He wants me to bring my burdens into the relationship with him. It is both an act of desperation and an act of courage to come to him with all of my stuff. So many Christians have an unfruitful relationship with God because they aren't willing for God to talk straight with them about their life. Bring your burdens to Jesus and he will give you rest.
I find that we are often reluctant to bring the burden of what others have done to us into our fellowship with Jesus for similar reasons. We don't want to feel the pain again, don't want to be reminded of it. We don't want to have to forgive, don't want to feel like we are being forced into yet another injustice. We don't want to acknowledge that our own sin may have played a role in our being hurt.
Jesus can't heal a burden that is not brought to him. If I keep my suffering, my sin, my anger, my bitterness, outside the door of my spiritual life I will find that I experience a temporary distraction through prayer and worship and bible study but that I receive no significant healing. Many people multiply their spiritual exercises and devotions hoping in this way to crush the burdens that they are carrying around. The actual result is that all the pressure creates a counter force that eventually erupts in ever more pain.
Don't think that when Jesus says: "Come to me, you who are weary and burdened..." that he is inviting you to a world of make believe where your sin and the pain inflicted on you by other's sin no longer matters. As the verse goes on to say, he is inviting you to put on a yoke, to pull with him in one harness, to accomplish the work that leads to rest and peace.
Is the place where I meet with Jesus a truly honest place or do I bring my penchant for keeping secrets into the most holy place of my life?
Sunday, November 27, 2005
The importance of steeped tea
This morning our pastor was talking about the value of "steeped" tea. (Now don't get the wrong impression about our pastor from this. He runs his ministry on pure java but he is still able to identify with those living in the tea counter-culture.) His point was that we should not simply rush on from passage to passage in our Bible study. From time to time we should just sit with one passage and revisit it day after day until all the nutrients and flavour of the words begin to be released into our hearts and minds. As I listened to him I decided that I would take a couple of verses and stick with them for a while to see what would happen. I'll record the results here. So, here's what were going to steep:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
I love the invitations in Scripture, they are so welcoming and accepting. I love to hear Jesus say "come to me." He has such interesting ways of determining who qualifies to come. He doesn't say, "come to me all you Jews" or "come to me all you religious people" or "come to me all you good living people" or "come to me all you intelligent people" but "come to me all you who are weary and burdened." Anyone carrying around a disappointment, a hurt, a wound. Anyone tired of living, worn out from the battle, used up, spent, down to their last crust, running out of rope. "Come to me." We're used to invitations in our culture. The whole advertising industry is one big invititation: "Come to me all you who have money and I will satisfy your needs with clothes, tools, toys, technology..." But God says: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:1-2). (Make appropriate applications here to the Christmas holiday mindset).
"Come to me." Something is being required here. It is not required that we be anything but needy, nonetheless there is something being asked of us. "Come." We are being asked to come. I thought of all the people who intentionally got up, burden and all, and came to Jesus. I thought of Zaccheus who climbed a tree and waited. I thought of the four friends who ripped their neighbours roof off so they could bring their friend to Jesus. I thought of the woman with the "issue of blood" who got in close enough to reach out and touch Jesus. I thought of the Centurion who came to Jesus for his son. I thought of example after example of people who got up and went looking for Jesus. It's not people who are weary and burdened who find rest. Its people who are weary and burdened and who get up under the weight of that burden and come to Jesus. This is what I am doing by steeping this tea. I'm coming to Jesus. I'm responding to his invitation. I'm telling him what's on my heart. I'm getting into proximity with him. I'm reaching out and touching him. I'm ripping the roof off of what ever is standing between me and a relationship with him. I'm getting into touching position. I'm getting into listening position. I'm comparing Jesus' invitation with all of the other invitations that came in the mail this week, as inserts in the newspaper, and as flyers and shout outs from all the people who are ready to meet my needs for a small fee.
Let the steeping begin.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
I love the invitations in Scripture, they are so welcoming and accepting. I love to hear Jesus say "come to me." He has such interesting ways of determining who qualifies to come. He doesn't say, "come to me all you Jews" or "come to me all you religious people" or "come to me all you good living people" or "come to me all you intelligent people" but "come to me all you who are weary and burdened." Anyone carrying around a disappointment, a hurt, a wound. Anyone tired of living, worn out from the battle, used up, spent, down to their last crust, running out of rope. "Come to me." We're used to invitations in our culture. The whole advertising industry is one big invititation: "Come to me all you who have money and I will satisfy your needs with clothes, tools, toys, technology..." But God says: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:1-2). (Make appropriate applications here to the Christmas holiday mindset).
"Come to me." Something is being required here. It is not required that we be anything but needy, nonetheless there is something being asked of us. "Come." We are being asked to come. I thought of all the people who intentionally got up, burden and all, and came to Jesus. I thought of Zaccheus who climbed a tree and waited. I thought of the four friends who ripped their neighbours roof off so they could bring their friend to Jesus. I thought of the woman with the "issue of blood" who got in close enough to reach out and touch Jesus. I thought of the Centurion who came to Jesus for his son. I thought of example after example of people who got up and went looking for Jesus. It's not people who are weary and burdened who find rest. Its people who are weary and burdened and who get up under the weight of that burden and come to Jesus. This is what I am doing by steeping this tea. I'm coming to Jesus. I'm responding to his invitation. I'm telling him what's on my heart. I'm getting into proximity with him. I'm reaching out and touching him. I'm ripping the roof off of what ever is standing between me and a relationship with him. I'm getting into touching position. I'm getting into listening position. I'm comparing Jesus' invitation with all of the other invitations that came in the mail this week, as inserts in the newspaper, and as flyers and shout outs from all the people who are ready to meet my needs for a small fee.
Let the steeping begin.
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