Stressed Out!

Matthew 11: 28-30

Most of us come to the end of a week exhausted and stressed out.
On the average, we get about three and a half fewer weeks of sleep each year than our grandparents did.
We go to our jobs on weekends.
We overcommit ourselves to friends, family and church activities, and ignore the little voice in our head
that says that the highest priority in our life is God, and we must stop being distracted by our businesses.
If you have come to worship today and you have had a stressed out week,
then this message is for you.

Are you stressed? Are you overloaded?
Rollo May once said, "It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster
when we have lost our way."
Three words describe our times: hurry, worry, and bury.

Many of us seem to believe that stress is some temporary phrase like potty training or braces.
We have some false hope that the rat race will slow down "as soon as we..."
get into high school... get out of high school... get a car... get out of college... get a job...
get a better job... get a raise... get married... get a bigger house... get finished with this project...
get this load off... get well... get children... get a vacation... get something to do now that we are retired.

I believe that every "as soon as" opens the door to another "as soon as."
Stress will follow us from the cradle to the grave.

Let's look at some stress.

Look at some symptoms of being overstressed. We become stressed when we allow external stress to stress us internally.
Internal stress is something we can and should control.
Feeling stressed does not come from outside.
It originates inside of us.
No one can put you under pressure.
You are the only one who can do that to yourself.
Stress is an inside job.

Jesus is an example of this.
When Jesus was on trial for His life, He had complete peace within.
While others were out of control, Jesus was in complete control.
External stress did not cause Him internal stress.

When Paul and Silas were falsely accused, imprisoned, and beaten brutally,
they had total peace -- they were singing at midnight.
When Peter was imprisoned and was probably going to be executed, he is sound asleep
when the angel comes to rescue him -- the angel had to wake him up.

External stress does not have to cause internal stress.
This means that husbands and wives should stop blaming each other for the pressure that they feel. Do you really want to know who makes you feel stressed?
Then, look in the mirror.

Feeling stressed is a choice that we make.
It is an inappropriate response to an external circumstance.

Stress can be caused by having too much to do.
How many times have we said, "If I just didn't have so many demands upon my time,
or if I didn't have so much to do... I wouldn't be so stressed."
This is, as if to say, that if we didn't have any demands on us that we could rest and relax.
Remember, that feeling stressed does not come from having too much to do,
but comes from our response to our obligations.

Being free from stress comes from knowing our capabilities and limitations.
We must ask God for wisdom so that we can know our limits.
Feeling stressed is the result of being overloaded.
When we exceed our load limit, we can expect a breakdown. Stress can come from sociological changes and from economic changes.
Stress can come from increased complexity of multiple options.

Can you remember when there was only one movie theater?
Now you might have 24 movies to choose from.
You should be in line behind me when I go to a fast food place with my wife, daughter, and two granddaughters.
You know how many options we are presented...

Back in the 1960s it was predicted that by the turn-of-the-century we would have
many new time-saving devices.
It was predicted that the workweek would be cut to 30 hours.

Now we have fax machines, cell phones, e-mails, laptops, pay at the pump, and microwaves.
Now it is rare to go home from work and to be away from work.
There is a new term in our vocabulary -- it is "multitasking."
We are often doing many things at the same time.
Young people can listen to music on their earphones, watch a TV program,
and do their homework at the same time.
And we don't even want to think about all the things that people do when they're driving...

Stress is caused by not knowing our boundaries and not understanding what is normal,
and so, many parents over-compensate and try to be super parents.
Many have grown up in single parent homes, broken homes or substance abuse homes,
and do not have good boundaries.

Today most mothers work, but their family has not adjusted to this change.
There has been no redistribution of responsibilities in the home.
A mother comes home from work and tries to keep her house as neat as her mother did.
The husband may expect the same kind of home and meals in which that he grew up,
although his mother didn't work outside the home.
We often expect too little from our children.
We fail to teach them how to work and to be responsible, because we feel guilty that we are away
from them so much.

Stress is also caused by our transient culture.
Twenty percent of Americans will move during this year. Most of us don't even know the people who sit beside us at church.
Our desire for privacy and protection has produced a sense of aloneness.

Stress is often produced by sinful attitudes.
Ecclesiastes 5:3 says that too many cares can cause nightmares.
Our sin nature often contributes to our being stressed out.

Pride produces stress.
Many of us have changed Philippians 4:13 from "I can do all things through Christ..."
to "I can do everything."
It takes humility to admit that we cannot do everything, and there are times that we have to ask for help.

Some of us would rather have our arm cut off than admit that we need help.
How often do you share a personal prayer request?
Have many times have you got lost in a strange city and refuse to ask for directions?

Pride can also cause us to be stressed when we do not get the attention or service
that we feel that we deserve.

Discontent produces stress.
Many live in a continual state of stress because their spouses, children, friends, job,
or even their church doesn't measure up to their expectations.

Can you remember when the baby was on its way?
Someone probably asked you what you wanted -- a boy or a girl?
You probably answered, "It doesn't matter as long as it is healthy."
But then from birth on we want a super child.
We want our child have all that we didn't have or replay the life that we did have.
And their grades, their friends, and... are never good enough.
We focus on what they need to improve, and seldom on what they achieve.

Our marriages become battlefields because our spouses constantly disappoint us.
We magnify their weaknesses and forget their strengths.
And they get tired of never measuring up.
There is always a better house, a better job, a better church, etc.
Discontent produces stress.

Greed produces stress.
Have you ever considered that overwork could be a byproduct of our greed for more.
We've come to the place that we will never be happy until we have certain things.
We become stressed out only to find out that things never bring happiness or peace.

Greed deprives us of our intimacy with God and with our families.
Hebrews 13:5 says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content
with what you have..."
1 Timothy 6:9 warns: "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap
into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction."

Plato said, "Poverty consists not in the decrease of one's possessions
but in the increase of one's greed."
Is there always "one other thing" that you don't have and think you need?

Can you remember when you look forward to owning just one TV?
Now we need one for every room in the house, and maybe the garage, the patio, and the van.
Can you remember when you were so thrilled to have your little apartment?
Soon the thrill would be replaced with the desire to have a little house of your own.
And then, of course, you needed a house with more rooms, more bathrooms, and a two-car garage.
And of course, you needed that boat and then that mobile home.
Yesterday's luxury has become today's necessity.

God allows stress to come into our lives. (James 1:2-4)

I read about a farmer who had three sons -- Jim, John, and Sam.
No one in the family ever attended church or ever had time for God.
The pastor and many others in the church had tried for years to get the family interested in church
and in the things of God.
But they were too busy with other things!

Then one day. Sam was bitten by a rattlesnake.
A doctor was called and did all he could to help Sam.
The doctor told the family that he wasn't sure that Sam would recover.

So the pastor was called and told about the situation.
The pastor came to the house and saw how serious Sam was.
Then the pastor began to pray:
"O wise and righteous Father, we thank Thee that in Thine wisdom that Thou did send
this rattlesnake to bite Sam.
He has never been inside the church, and it is doubtful that he has ever in his life prayed
or even acknowledged Thine existence.
Now we trust that this experience will be a valuable lesson to him and will lead to his genuine repentance.

And now, O Father I pray that Thou will send another rattlesnake to bite Jim,
and another to bite John, and another really big one to bite the old man.

For years we have done everything we know to get them to turn to Thee, but all in vain.
It seems, therefore, that what our combined efforts could not do, this rattlesnake has done.
We thus conclude that the only thing that will do this family any real good is rattlesnakes;
so, Lord, send us bigger and better rattlesnakes.
Amen."

Now I'm not suggesting that we pray that way.
But stress often turns us to God for help.
If we were always in our comfort zone, we would settle for spiritual mediocrity.
God often uses stress for our good and His glory.

Stress will not be stressful when we acknowledge that God is in complete control.
Nothing can come into our lives without His permission.

God doesn't want us to be stressed out or exhausted.
More than 2000 years ago, Jesus gave us the solution to stress.
Look, as I read that great passage of Scripture in Matthew 11: 28-30:
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

These are some of the most beautiful words in the English language.
You almost hear music as you hear those words.
The language is beautiful, the cadence is perfect, and the truth is blessed beyond words.
"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Have you ever come to Jesus? You answer, "Yes!"
Do you have the rest that Jesus has promised in your heart and life day by day?
If not, why not?

You are a true believer in Christ, then why do you not have this rest?
Many of you would honestly acknowledge that you have unrest, fear, anxiety, depression,
despair, doubt, frustration, but no rest.
The Lord has not run out of blessings and rest.
Then, why do you not have the rest that our Lord has promised?

We will find the answer as we study these verses.
In verse 28 the Lord says, "I will give you rest. "
The fact that He offers rest and the fact that we enjoy the rest are two different things.
We have a tendency to take a verse out of context, and try to build our faith on that one verse.
The truth spoken by Christ is in three verses (28-30).

When you look at the three verses, you'll find that Jesus gave a series of instructions,
which ended with the words, "Ye shall find rest unto your souls."
There are four words to be obeyed, not just one.
Jesus said: "Come... take... learn... find."

This is so simple, and yet, is so profound.
If I fulfill only one of the conditions, I can never hope to have the rest that Jesus provides.
So let us look at these words, one by one, and then find "the rest" that Jesus promises.

The first word is "come."
We are familiar with this word.
Most of us have already received Christ as our Saviour.
We understand the terms and conditions of the gospel.

The second word is where the challenge begins -- "take."
"Take my yoke upon you."
Many of us neglect this command, and truthfully, probably don't understand all its implications.
Many have no idea what Jesus meant.
But the people to whom He first spoke these great verses knew exactly what He meant.

The words, "Take my yoke upon you," described a situation that was commonly seen in that country.
They saw oxen being used in pairs.
The yoke was a long sturdy wooden bar that was long enough to go over the necks
of two oxen and they had a wooden harness that went around their necks.
Sometime, when the yoke was new it would be rough and would scrape the neck of the oxen.
But, as the years go by, it would become smooth and adapt more easily around the neck.

There was a legend about Jesus as a carpenter.
This legend stated that Jesus made the best ox-yokes in all of Galilee.
It said that people would come from all over the country to buy the best yokes that could be made.
It was said that Jesus had a sign above the door of His carpenter shop in Nazareth
that read: "My yokes fit well."

Here Jesus says, "My yoke is easy."
The Greek word could mean, "well-fitting."
Jesus made each yoke a custom fit for the neck of a particular ox.
He made a yoke so that it wouldn't harm or rub raw the neck of the animals. Jesus frees us from our burdens.
The rest that He promises is love, mercy, healing, wholeness, and a peace with God
that passes all understanding. Picture this scene.
An ox is at work with its calf running alongside.
The mother is pulling a cart while the young animal trots at her side.
She is available to satisfy his thirst whenever necessary.
The calf is free.
There are no ropes restraining it or yokes around its neck.
His need of his mother is his restraint.

But then the day comes when this calf is too big to run around doing nothing.
The farmer has been waiting for this day for now he has another source of power.
It is a happy day for the farmer, but not for the animal.

For the first time in his life he has to take the yoke.
Up to now he has been free -- now everything changes.
He has come to a time when an experienced adult ox patiently stands with a yoke on his neck.
But this young ox refuses to bow his head and submit to the yoke.

So, the farmer with his helpers forcibly persuades the rebel to humble himself,
and now his life is no longer his own.
He belongs to the farmer who can do with him exactly as he pleases. The Lord says, "Come unto me," and you will find freedom from sin.
Then He says, "Take my yoke upon you," and we do nothing about it!
We continue to run around and do our own thing -- just like the young ox did.
So few are willing to submit to the yoke.

What we fail to realize is that this is the way it goes.
Animals must submit. That is why the farmer raised them.

We must take the yoke.
That is God's plan for us.
God didn't save us so that we could run around and do our own thing.
God saved us so that we would serve Him.
We have been bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:20)
We are not our own.

We must understand that in a yoke of oxen, one is always the leader.
It is his yoke, and he leads while the other follows.
The leader is older, more experienced, and has learned the simple techniques of pulling.

Now, see what the Lord Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you."
Notice to whom the yoke belongs.
It is His yoke, not yours or mine.

"Take my yoke upon you."
Jesus is saying to us, "Come, join me in the greatest task of all."

The tragedy is that many of us are eager to work and witness for Jesus, but in our own way and time.
We have our own plans, ideas, and techniques, and so we work at these for a good cause,
but as a result, we have no rest.

Even the best of us can be driven on by a restless urgency.
It may look good and sound better, but it is not what the Lord planned.
He said, "Come and submit your whole life to me, your will, your hopes, and your ambitions.
Take my yoke upon you."

Jesus is saying to you and me, "Come, take my yoke, learn of me."
When we come and take the yoke -- His yoke, we will find it restricts us in many areas.
The flesh always wants its own way at all times.
But if we can see the truth of the teaching and fit ourselves into the pattern,
then His blessings are inevitable.

As we learn of Him, and from Him, submitting to Him as both our Leader and our Teacher,
then the promise of the Lord will come true in our daily lives.
"Ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Oh, that is what I need -- that is what you need!
But we do not find the rest until we come, take, and learn.
And when we do, we find that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

If I see myself in the picture, under the yoke, alongside the Lord, my Leader and Teacher,
pulling together with Him, then it is obvious that my share in the work is light.
It is His power, His peace, His plan, and I make myself available to Him.
I abide in Christ, and in doing so, I find rest and the peace of God which passes all understanding
and will fill my heart and life with all His blessings.

"I heard the voice of Jesus say,
'Come unto Me, and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast.'
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad:
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad."

Sermon by Dr. Harold L. White

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