Promises from God....part 3

This is our third and final little series on the promises of God.  And like I keep saying, these words are helpful to me, and I believe that unless you’re way ahead of my spiritually, these words might also reassure you.

Here this promise from Jesus: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.    Matthew 11:28-29 ESV.  Do you feel pressed down and under attack right now?  Are you worn out of dealing with something, or someone, in your life that’s stealing your joy, your enthusiasm, your zest for life?  Do you send no end in sight for the troubles that are straining and handicapping you right now?  Well, there’s an answer.  Trust that what Jesus has said is true!

1. Come to Him

2. Take upon yourself His tasks, i.e. His yoke

3. Let Him teach you about His joy, peace and strength that comes from being gentle and humble, in heart.

The first step is essential: Come to Him.  “You have not because you ask not”.  Come to Jesus, just as you are right now, and tell Him of your troubles and your inadequacy. Admit it!  “Coming” to Jesus means you’re getting off your butt and going to Him!  It means that you are ready to admit that you need to come to Him for help!  He does not need to come to you for help!

So come to Him—-stop putting it off or trying other means of getting rest for your soul and peace in your heart. Come to Jesus.

The second step is to yield your plans, your ambition, your intentions—-however noble and selfless they might be—-to His plans, purposes and enterprises.  Can you do that?  Most folks fail here.  They come to Jesus wanting to receive, but are unprepared to yield. “Taking His yoke” means that we are prepared to work, side by side, with Jesus in loving the unloved and helping the helpless.  It’s not so much as looking at where we’re headed, as to simply, humbly, and with total surrender pulling that plow with Jesus. And of course, with Jesus doing most of the pulling, it’s not that hard.  It’s merely a decision to be with Him in heart and purpose, and to trust that He knows where He’s leading the plow.

And let me give you an example of what that means.  At our camp, children from all kinds of backgrounds attend each summer. Some are from great Christian families, some are Catholic, some Protestant, some have nothing. They are affluent, impoverished, local, international, black, brown, white and mixed.  But in our eyes, they’re all God’s children.  We are not a perfect camp and we face a lot of challenges, but I believe that it is His yoke that is plowing here—-and I want to keep it that way. Other camps have “yokes” controlled by committees, the financial bottom line, denomination dictates, etc.  We don’t.  We accept and love kids of any background or belief.  As I understand the gospel, that’s “taking on the yoke of Jesus”, rather than taking on the yoke of Rome or Nashville or any other church, denomination or opinion.

Saturday I received a call from a former camper, as I often do nowadays, who wanted to re-connect after being gone from the camp for over 30 years!  The alumni was trying to re-connect, and when he knew it was me, his voice choked up.   He thanked and thanked me for what the camp had done for him, how it had encouraged him and gave him hope.  He admitted that he was a “weird” child, and that even as a staff he was not the best he could have been, and yet we never fired him or cut him off.  He talked about his personal struggles in his life and how a legalistic pastor had turned him away from Christianity, and how he was now an atheist.  The truth is, I knew this from others who had shared how he had turned his back on the Church and a belief in God years ago.  But his phone call touched my heart and encouraged me like none of my Christian brothers and sisters have for many, many months.  Through his sobbing, he thanked me for loving him even though I knew he was not like all the other campers and staff at the camp. He told me that if he ever wanted spiritual counsel, he would come to me, and no one else, because he knew that I loved him and accepted him as he was. I won’t go into all the other kind things he said, but I was humbled and awestruck, that my time playing football with him and his buddies, (30 years ago!) in  Tallahassee, Fl, had such an impact on his life. I was astounded that my small acts of kindness to him when he was a staff here, and when he lived here when camp was over for a few weeks, had such an impact upon his life!!!!

I am not bragging about what a great man of God I am, or about eloquent and successful I was in evangelizing a young man that was seeking truth 30 years ago—-I failed in that regard.  But I took the yoke of Christ upon me as I cared for and loved an awkward a teenager and young man when his self-absorbed hometown pastor,  and others that should have,  would not.  That’s part of “taking the yoke of Christ”.  It’s caring for, and loving those, that might not ever end up in heaven. I have no doubt that Jesus loved Judas——but neither do I doubt that Judas missed out in the most important choice in life—-that is, to choose life eternal.

I have to leave the eternal decisions and choices to God!  I cannot be 100% certain that Greg. Tommy or Tyler, my sons, will choose eternal, life, but I can be assured and completely certain that He has called me to join Him in loving them unconditionally.  That yoke is easy!!!  I don’t get caught up in trying to figure out who is going to be a sheep and who is a goat! I don’t have to fret about if I am wasting my time and energy of a soul that’s going to hell anyway! NO!!!  Wearing His yoke requires that I love, care, pray and have compassion on all souls, regardless of their eternal destination!   And that’s what is lacking I think in some of our preaching and teaching today.

God’s work is not like mans’s work.  God invests time in people that spit in His face and He blesses those that curse Him.  That’s the yoke we’re called to bear. And if we’re willing He will teach us the third point:

3. Let Him teach you about the joy, peace and strength that comes from being gentle and humble, in heart.  Again, this is totally contrary to what the world shouts at us with commercial advertisement, movies, sports events, and even in how we dress and live!  We’re encouraged to be arrogant, self-confident,  assertive and demanding in our society—-we’re told that that is the way to get respect!

But it won’t lead you God’s respect or approval.  Let Jesus teach you about kneeling in prayer, humbling yourself before those to whom in all regards, perhaps, you are  superior.  Let Him teach you—-and show you—-how He exalts and lifts up those that humble themselves—-and how He diminishes and embarrasses those that are prideful.

Now again, I am not here to suggest to you that I have made all the right choice over the past 42 years of my summer camping ministry.  But some things I have gotten right—-and one is to allow Him to love those that are desperate for love, regardless of what they can do for me and regardless of if they ever become a Christian or not!!!  And as I have done this, I have found that He is “happy” with me, irrespective of the final outcome of faith or infidelity of those that I love.

David said this: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Psalm 37:4 ESV.   For God to get “delight in me” requires that I trust Him with the outcome—-not the pressure or arguments or moral persuasion I attempt to place upon others.  And He is giving me the true delights of my heart as I humbly work for Him.

But like everyone in this room, some days are very hard. Sometimes it’s hard to see how I can get through the next day.  But that’s when His presence and power are the most obvious!  When I am alone, weeping for what I wish would come about that has not, or saddened by the death of someone I loved, or the loss of a friendship or a soul I once trusted, that is when He speaks to me the clearest!

Isaiah understood this.  He testified that. “God (He) gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”   Isaiah 40:29-31 ESV.  I believe this, and I think that this delights my Lord!

And what follows is peace. Again,  Isaiah said:  “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”   Isaiah 26:3 ESV

Now, that’s a great promise to conclude with.  Things happened this past week that were not to my liking.  Things are not progressing, even today, as I envisioned.  But I can proclaim that I am at peace, even though some around me might suggest that I should not be at peace. The peace I have comes not from my success, or wits, or accomplishments, but from the Creator, Sustainer and Giver of peace—-God Himself. And my peace defies explanation, justification or external evidence—-it’s within my soul. So may it be with you today and this week.