Burdens

Good morning. This is Jim Daniel, your announcer for Sunday, March 8th, the first Sunday in Lent. The sermon this morning will be brought to you by Mr. Sam Patterson, a former minister of the Leland Presbyterian Church. Call your attention to the books and the cues for the recording of your names while we're considering announcements. Pass those books down and record your presence. But a good day it is for me to be back in Leland again. You got to see so many faces out there. They're very familiar to me, meaning a lot to me. I just welcome this privilege and thank the session. Thank this church for the opportunity of ministering here today. I'm also glad to have with me as my traveling companion this morning, Victoria Black, Victoria Victoria and I both were deeply associated in life this church and based on by we both live over in the hills now. And Victoria is now at French camp, part of the staff there. We have a lovely, rusty agent, bread and bread and breakfast lodge on the campus right down near the trace at French camp. A restored old house that is about 150 years old, improved since we moved it up on the campus and it's just one of the most appealing places I know. Victoria lives there. She doesn't operate the bed and breakfast but she has an apartment there and she works for the academy. And we want to invite you whenever you get an opportunity to come just for the day but if you can come and spend a night we've got a wonderful place you will really enjoy it. And Victoria and I would both like to give you the chance of looking around and seeing French camp as it is today better than it's ever been. And so we'd like for you to come. Announcements are in the bulletin and I call your attention to them and if there are any announcements not in the bulletin that ought to be made this would be the time to make. So let us engage in our worship together. Here O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might.

Lift up your hearts. Let us worship the Lord our God.

Our evil that is joined in our prayer of confession. All mighty and merciful God from whom comes all good and every perfect gift we rejoice in your creation even as we also confess that we have misused and neglected it. You have given us the world to harvest and enjoy and we have exploited it. You have given us families to nurture us and we have taken them for granted. You have given us each other to love and we have refused to be your gift to others for give these and all the ways in which we fall short of your glad hope for us. Restore us to our rightful place in your creation and give us to know the high dignity of being cured in your service through Jesus Christ we make our prayer. Amen. We are told in the scripture that if we seek the Lord and we turn from our wicked ways he will have mercy on us. Our God will fully and freely pardon.

Life will still walk us in pastures of preefered is leading where I day and by night he will all beside the still waters of me. He is a good shepherd who died for the sea. His own he has promised to keep lovingly watches and God's while they sleep. Besides the still waters of me, the still waters, the sea find their rest. The shepherd stands by so that none can roll us. The flock by his presence is happy and blessed. Besides the still waters of people of his voice and they go not astray for Jesus will guide all the way in past that are righteous. He leads day by day. I just still waters of him. I receive the invitation from Ann Aldridge to come and preach over here. I really rejoice in that but I just forgot that you still have messages for boys and girls. So when I got here and I looked at the bulls and I saw that I hadn't even given one fault of that, I had completely forgotten. Ann prayed me into the study and shut me up and said get something up before church time. So I remage the round in Dick's office and his death and keep up with the

thank you and welcome. In rummaging a round in Mr. Deckard's death, I found that he'd left a few articles in there and it reminded me of something that I'd known for a long time. Heard long ago and even here many years ago with boys and girls about pencils and people. I think there are a lot of things that can be said that I'm not going to say but there are three things that come to my mind about pencils and people. I mean how pencils and people, how pencils and you are a lot of life. I mean you may not think you're like a pencil because you don't look much like a pencil but you're very much like one and so am I. First of all, these pencils are alike. They're about the same length, they're all the same shape. They all have paint on the outside and wood on the inside and live down in the middle. They all have a little caps up at the top. I don't have my glasses on. Maybe the writing is a little different on each one but they all have writing on them but they're all very much alike. Now they are different too aren't they? Very different in a way but the difference doesn't amount to much because it's just on the outside. They all three of them have different colors. But not that's the way it is with people. You know we're all very much alike. We're made of pretty much the same stuff. We all are shaped about alike. We have two eyes and two ears and we have arms and legs. We have skin on the outside. We have flesh on the inside and we down in the inside of us is our spirit, our soul, our personality. So we're very much like a pencil, three ways. The pencil has a lid and we have a life and people are different too but the differences are usually just skin deep. We've got black and white and red and yellow colors among people but inside we're just about alike. Like these pencils. Now these pencils have as the most important part of their makeup. What do you suppose is the paint or the wood or the lid? What would be the most important part of a pencil? You're exactly right. That's what we have pencils for is for that lid. That lid sort of represents the life of a pencil and it makes a lot of difference who holds this pencil in control. Now that pencil can't do anything by itself. Somebody's got to use it. And if you were to put this pencil in the hand of your little baby brother or sister this afternoon put a piece of paper down on the floor and give this pencil to them. They probably grab it like this to begin with and then they just start going like that and what you'd have would be just a mess because a little baby brother or sister just can't handle a pencil very well. They just make a mess but you could take that same pencil and put it in the hands of an artist and they could draw a lovely picture or put it in the hands of a poet and make it write a beautiful poem. Makes a difference on who has control of this pencil. Now the Bible teaches us that each one of us has a life that God has given us and that's the most important part about us. And the Bible tells us that if we try to control our lives ourselves we'll do just what baby brother would do with this pencil. We'll make a mess at it because we can't run our lives in this world alone. But the Bible says if we'll take our lives and put them into the hands of Jesus he who did such a fine job of his own life will take our lives and he'll write a story of life in your life that will be good and beautiful and lovely. But there's one of the parts of the pencil that's very important and that's the eraser. The company that made this pencil knew something about this pencil. They knew that that lid was going to miss right many a time. That many a time that lid was going to misspell a word or use the wrong word and so the maker of the pencil wisely made provision for those errors so that when you misspell or miss right you don't have to just pass through it and make it look worse. You can take that eraser and rub it out and then you can start all over again and write the word right. So that eraser is very important. And the Bible tells us that God knows that about us. God knew when He made us that we were going to miss up many a time because we would run our own lives and we would sin and say things and do things that were bad and God has arranged that all those bad things can be taken away. He's given us a eraser and a eraser and that eraser is once again Jesus Christ who when he died on the cross shed blood that can cleanse from all sin and that's why the Bible tells us that if we confess our sins as we did just a moment ago in prayer God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins for Jesus' sake and erase them from our record. Thank you for listening. Being a tattooed you can go back to your places now. Our scripture readings this morning will come from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 11 before we have our prayer for illumination. Let me ask any of you who happen to have your Bibles with you. I want to use a few Bible to turn to that passage. The 11th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew right toward the end of the chapter. Our Heavenly Father, we pray that you will look with favor upon the motions of our hearts here today to worship you and we pray that you will bless our coming our being here our opening our minds and hearts toward you by speaking to us from your words illuminating us with understanding by your spirit and making us to see and appreciate the significance of our Savior Jesus for our lives. We ask this in Christ name Amen. I'm going to read first of all about five verses from the Gospel of Matthew and then I want to read a few associated verses from the first epistle of Peter chapter 1. At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned it and reveal them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. 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 life. Now then just a very few verses from the first chapter of first Peter. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us you birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or save, kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while, you may have to suffer griefs of all kinds and trials. These have come so that your faith a greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen Him, you love Him and even though you do not see Him now you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Now out of that those blocks of scripture three verses we'll select for our textual study this morning and these are verses 28, 29 and 30 in the gospel of Matthew of all the verses I read these would be the most familiar. Jesus said come to me all you who weary and are burdens 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 yourselves. I have a little note in my Bible I don't know where I got it there when I put it there but sometime in the years gone by I jotted down something written by Oswald Chambers about these very verses that I just read to you. He said this here sin and sorrow have their end and the song and the saint began. Well what we do have here certainly is a very gracious invitation, a very gracious invitation to everyone who bears the heavy burden. As a matter of fact when you first hear these words or you just look at them it appears that it is a limited invitation. In the sense that Christ is directing this invitation to a select group of people out of all the people and that it isn't necessarily for everyone. This invitation is to a select group in the midst of everyone those who are burdens and trouble but when you think about that you wonder who is excluded who is not included in this invitation because where is the person who isn't constant all through life bearing burdens facing trials, testings, trouble. Who is trouble free who among us here today? Now this invitation is as broad as mankind, sin, death and suffering and trials are all universal to the experience of me and when Christ calls for the burden to come to him he's not talking about a special group of people who have more burdens than others. He's speaking about all the burden bearing human beings in the world come to him. Elephaz, one of the so-called friends of Job declared that man is as prone to have trouble as sparks are to fly up and Job himself said man is of very few days but of very many troubles and we can affirm that both of these are true. Trouble is our experience and when Christ speaks this invitation it ought to touch every heart and reach each one of us. Now Peter tells us that Christians are no exception to this general rule that everybody is going to live a life bearing burdens. It's going to be our calling in life. It's the universal calling and practice of humanity. We're going to be burden bearers. We'll have Christians are no exception in that first chapter that I just read to you from he says there. Even though we have received new life in Christ still now that is here on earth now during this present time we Christians will be called upon to carry all kinds of trials he says. A little later on in that same letter he says don't be surprised then when fiery trials come to you is it something strange for having is it because you're a Christian you ought not to bear any burdens or have any troubles or trials but also Peter says this in that very passage where he's assuring us that we're going to face throughout our lifetime on earth trials and testing twice he says that we experience exceeding joy those things not often go together we don't think of burdens and joy together but Peter says in Christian experience they can be put together that is it is possible for those of us in Christ to have heavy burdens all through our lives and yet not lose the joy of living

and we say how can this be and that's what Jesus is saying at this invitation come to me and I'll teach you come unto me all you who are laboring under heavy burdens learn from me I'll teach you how you can have rest he doesn't promise to release I wish he did not now not yet not here he promises release we won't get released from trials and troubles all through our lifetime that's what Peter has already assured us through this present time our lot will be to face over and again trials and troubles but Jesus does have something to offer us not release from them not reaching the point where we live the rest of our lives we never have any troubles or trials but release in the terms of rest while we even have that's what he's talking about here you know I don't think there was ever a generation of people Americans that were as conscious of physical fitness as we are today everybody seems to be involved in a personal physical fitness program bodybuilding one of the popular features of that for men and for athletes is weightlifting and everybody who has ever engaged in weightlifting early makes a discovery that the ability to lift and hold up a large amount of weight does not depend only on raw strength it depends just as much and may be more on technique there's a way to lift the load and there's a way not to there's a way to do it by which you can do it and there's a way to do it by which no matter how strong you are you can't do it technique makes it you know even our family doctor tells us that he'll explain to us look there's a way to stoop down and pick something up off the floor and a way not to do it's a wrong way and it will bring a disability do it the right way and you will have the ability to continue to do that without being back broken there's a right way to lift the thing in a wrong way and that's what Jesus is telling us here he says you come to me and learn and I'll teach you I'll show you I'll help you learn how to bear burdens I always thought Jesus said here come to me and I'll take your burdens away what he does he just a different flat all together he said you come to me and I'll tell you show you to help you learn how to carry whatever burdens you're called upon to bear in life now then Jesus had two disciples who learned their principles from him Peter and Paul and between the three of them they share three basic principles of Jesus tribe on how to handle problems Paul gives us one for instance in Galatians chapter six verse five it sounds like at least on the first two of these principles that it would only increase our burdens it wouldn't relieve them but it doesn't work that way they really work for relief Paul doesn't sound like he's helping us much with our burdens when he gives us the first principle but here's number one Paul says everyone must bear their own burdens there it is not much comfort in that is it everyone should bear their own burden now what is Paul driving at here well number one everyone has to begin by assuming responsibility for carrying your share of the burdens of life whether you were assured Paul tells us that if we're in Christ we'll never be overburdened he said the troubles and trials you have are common demand but God will not suffer you to be overloaded but will with the testing provider way of escape he knows our load limit we're assured that whatever burdens do come if they come to us it's God's assurance that we'll not go under we need not he knows the limit but most of all what Paul seems to be driving at it seems to me here along with those two thoughts are these is this we're arrested by these words from testing our burden on anybody else everybody is to assume responsibility for going through life carrying our own load of trouble in trials being assured that look God knows our limit and we're not going to be overloaded we can go on and therefore we are forbidden by God to cast our burdens on others now that's what most of us try to do when we're burdened in trouble we think there'll be some relief if I can just throw my burdens over on my family or somebody and we've got wonderful ways and techniques to be doing that uh complaining is one a lot of times we just keep filling our own problems over on others we make them be shares in our burdens by complaining to them all the time in the home or everywhere we just keep our burdens loaded on us or by self pity we may not complain much but it's that look it's that way it's that air it's that attitude that we have all the time that makes everybody sure that we're heavily burdened and a lot of times it just plain shirking our duties to do what we still can do and throwing those duties over on others because we excuse ourselves because we're hurting that's what we do and that's what Christ forbids we're arrested from that and it doesn't help anyway look nobody who carried a heavy burden ever found the burden lighter because they complained everybody all the time nobody ever found the load get lighter because they uh manifest an experience self pity all the time nobody ever saw the loader felt the load get lighter because they shirked duties their own conscience is adds to the load and those people who try to test their burdens over on others only increase the load their care on the other hand if we assume responsibility for our lives and the troubles our lives have if we say look I must do this I can do it and I will do it that surrender itself and the good conscience of knowing look with whatever it is I'm carrying I'm going the best I can to fulfill my fulfill my responsibilities and life as best I can that lightens the load that really lights but now then Paul is another principle he adds closely on that and once again it looks like instead of lightning the load it would hit and make it heavier Paul says and also in that scene chapter he says this bear you one another's burdens there it is assume responsibility for carrying your own burdens he says but not only that assume the responsibility of carrying the burdens of others that's in verse two that looks like it would just add to the load up not only are we forbidden to cast our burdens on others were commanded to pick up a share of the burdens that other people bear not only are we assured that God will give us Greece to bear whatever he brings upon our lives he will give us Greece also in addition to that to carry a portion of the burdens of others and here a strange mathematics begins to operate we can illustrate it like this suppose you have a hundred pounds of personal problem burden you're carrying a hundred pounds of burden but you extend your hand over and you take over 50 pounds of somebody else's problems now how many pounds of problems are you bearing well ordinarily when we say add we mean addition and if you add 50 to a hundred you get a hundred and 50 so if you had a hundred pounds of problem on your own before you took anybody else's and then you took somebody else's you had more problems than you ever had and more burden on your heart than you ever had but what actually happened is addition turns into subtraction if you have a hundred pounds of problem and you take a share of 50 pounds of somebody else's problem you find instead of being weighted down with 150 pounds of problems you're only carrying 50 the burden is lighter than it was when you just carried your own burdens and everybody in this room has experienced that to some degree in your own life there isn't a person here who hasn't given a helping hand to somebody and found that you felt better that life was lighter that your own trials were not as severe just out of that sense that God gives to people who do that you know Jesus makes a strange statement in these who verses that are read right down at the end he says come to me you that are heavily laden learn from me I'll give you rest for he says my burden is light why would Jesus say that his burden is light he carried the heaviest responsibility in the most awesome burden that anyone ever carried all the way to the cross how in the world could he say my burden is light well partly it's because of what he's doing right here he's just saying look I'll take your burdens too you who have burdens come to me people who do they take that attitude in life do have lighter burdens their hearts are light it does make a difference when we're willing to be sensitive to be thoughtful of others and their troubles when we take notice of them when we have empathy when we show sympathy when we extend the helping hand or a helping word just anything we can do to help others with their burdens it never does anything but light in our own and our burdens are lighter we can say the same thing that Jesus said then Peter gives us the final principle in this Christian way of dealing with burdens he says in his first epistle cast all your burdens on the Lord that's where we cast them we're not to cast them on others occasionally we'll come up on others who will just naturally take a share in our burdens like we try to take in the burdens of others but we won't force our burdens on them we've got another place to cast our burdens Jesus said come to me all you that labor in our heavy latent cast your burdens on me David is the one who first wrote that he put it a little differently put it like this cast your burdens on the Lord and he will sustain you he'll hold you up and Peter when he coach David changes his little bit and puts it like this cast your burdens on the Lord for he cares for you both are good and both are true but how do you cast your burdens on the Lord how can we do that and find this relief find this rest that Jesus speaks about how do we actually to one thing to say cast your burdens on the Lord but how do you do it folks ordinarily we think that means prayer we think the way you cast your burden on the Lord is to come to him and pray and pray about it and I think there is where we make a serious mistake I mean prayer does have something to do with it and we do pray about our troubles but prayer itself won't cast a burden on the Lord you can't buy just prayer by talking to God cast your burdens on you can talk about them to you can complain about them to you you can appeal for help from him but you can't really put the money Jesus tells us how you do it there's only one way to do it Jesus said come unto me all you who labor and are heavily burdened and I'll give you rest take my joke on you Jesus says take the burden of my Lord ship on you and all your burdens will belong to me that's the transaction that's the only way you can cast your burdens on the Lord it's a transaction Jesus said take my joke upon at least your life up to me unite your life to me let me be the Lord and the Savior in your life take my way is the way you will know you take my joke my calling on you and every trial you will ever have will be mine Jesus was a carpenter and no doubt made these oh yolks that he asked about that he spoke about two oxen yolks is what he's referring to here if you take an immature weak young ox and put it in the yolk with a mature strong old veteran ox that young ox will be able to carry on great deal of load because there's a shared experience and all the strength of the presence and power of that old veteran oxen in the yolk with him becomes his that strength and wisdom and knowledge becomes his and apart and he's able to pull along just keeping pace with the old veteran and they're pulling together a tremendous load that's what Jesus is talking about you link your life up with me give your loyalty and your love and your faith and your trust in your life and your living to me and every burden you've got will be mine and you'll have a shared experience with my presence with you with my providence in your life with my power and with my promise because Jesus does later promise full release not just release there will come a time when we won't experience suffering and sin and sorrow again Peter speaks of that too according to Jesus promise we have an inheritance that's incorruptible that never fades away and it's reserved in heaven and now Peter says during this short time on earth we'll bear all kind of crowds but we rejoice because we know someday we're going to have released into a kingdom of life that will last forever and be cursed by nothing for heaven is real and heaven is true and heaven is there where we'll be someday so it's a good provision that's made for now and for eternity Christ offers a lot to those of us who are heavenly birds as a matter of fact Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8 that he's already Christ has already born the heaviest burden we have he bore up in his own body our sins on the tree and that's our biggest problem he's already born that now Paul says in Romans chapter 8 will he not having given this blessing not give every one you need if he's born this burden will he not pick up and carry with us we with him all the other burdens of our lives and in doing so we are really experiencing the joy of rest and we can have troubles and yet not lose the joy of living bless our heavenly Father the call of Christ to our hearts give us the grace and the wisdom to be willing to yoke our lives up with Jesus and to go with him we pray in his name amen let us stand now and join together in the affirmation of our faith with the words of the apostle's creed I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and hers and in Jesus Christ is only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and siteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty from fancy will come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen our gracious Heavenly Father we earnestly desire to ascribe to you out of sincere hearts the glory that rightly belongs to you to your name we see ourselves our Heavenly Father as we look up to you we see ourselves in all the weakness and meanness selfishness and the sin that belongs to us and we see you everything we are mighty holy strong gracious loving compassionate ever caring and helping and our Father because you're like you are and we're like we are we appeal to you for forgiveness we pray there God that you'll be pleased to forgive us of our sins and give us the grace to receive everything that you freely offer us in Christ and give us grace to respond and hold hearted surrender and obedience and faith to him we pray that you bless Christ church in this world her worship her witness her works of mercy done this very day all around the planet we pray your blessings on this part of your church God this congregation these dear people and Lord soon bring here the spiritual leader of your choosing give wisdom and understanding to this congregation that that selection might truly be yours we pray our Heavenly Father that you be actively at work with great infinite power in the affairs of this world we pray that you resist and bring to confusion and bring to not all the forces of evil and all the evil people and all the evil ones and the greedy one we pray that you give victory God give support give strength give triumph to those who seek to work righteousness and justice and peace in the world we pray our Father the you grant sucker comfort and help through your grace through your son through your people to all in this world who suffer and the sorrow who are heavily burdened make Christ way become theirs

we pray our Father that you prosper the saving work of Christ in the world and hasten that day when all your will acknowledge the name of the regent redeemer Christ Jesus accept our praise and respond dear God out of your favor to our request or we make them in Christ name Amen