Park Street Message

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Park Street Message June 14, 2009

Title: Spiritual REM (REM for the Soul).

Big Idea: Through Jesus Christ’s yoke of love we can experience spiritual REM.

Text: Matthew 11:25-30

OPENING WORDS:

When I was a student at Gordon-Conwell Seminary one of the reputedly most intimidating classes was Hebrew.

There was one Hebrew professor nicked-named by the students “the velvet hammer.” His style, as I understand it, was to ask a student for a Hebrew translation, and if you got it right, he would ask another question, if you got it right he would ask again…. and until you got an answer wrong. Then he would move on to the next victim.

I chose the other Hebrew professor, Dr. Gordon Hugenberger! Dr. Hugenberger’s approach was to ask a question and whether a student got it right or wrong, he would move on to someone else. The moment wasn’t charged with the fear of humiliation in the class room, allowing us to focus on the Word without our delicate egos getting in way.

Of course that didn’t preclude me as student from trying to impress Dr. Hugenberger. So I made sure in class I raised my hand often. Not only that, I made sure my answers were always almost always right. Of course, the way I achieved that was by only volunteering for the easiest translations!

I’d raise my hand. “Yes, Ken.” “Well, Dr. Hugenberger, given my formidable mastery of ancient Hebrew, and given the gist of the passage, I would venture to say that text would say, this says something to effect of (pause) ‘Jesus… (pause) wept’.”

Then Dr. Hugenberger would gently remind me, this was an exercise in Hebrew translation which of course would mean we’re focusing on the Old Testament, not the NT. The Greek N.T.

So thank you Dr. Hugenberger for your patience, even though I volunteered for the easiest questions.

I learned a lot in class, but even more through Dr. Hugenberger’s example as a person who exudes the love and integrity and wisdom that springs from a person who has genuine connection to God.

Park Street is blessed to have him as their pastor.

INTRODUCTION TO MESSAGE:

Have you ever slept in?

Neil Rudenstine, the former Harvard President, overslept some years ago.

He was in the midst of a million-a-day fundraising campaign for the university. After years of intensive non-stop toil in an atmosphere that rewarded busyness and overwork, and facing an endless series of never-finished tasks, President Rudenstine collapsed.

That week his picture appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine beside a one-word headline: EXHAUSTED.

Have you ever felt exhausted because of a seemingly endless set of deadlines?

(Alternate intro: possibility for the Boston Common message:

My name is Ken Shigematsu. I was born in Japan. I still have friends there. Many of them are salary-men--corporate soldiers, and, boy, I know a lot of them would love to be out here in the park, relaxing.

When I was working for Sony in Tokyo, Japan (teaching English and helping to prepare salary-men to do business in places like Boston), I would sometimes ask my students, “What did you do last weekend?” A young salary man might say, “Well, I worked really late on Friday, I didn’t know what time it was when I was woke up, and I realized it was sometime in the afternoon and I decided to go back to sleep, and slept almost all day Sunday.”

Now, if you were to tell this story to your co-workers in Boston around the water cooler, people would look at you kind of funny. Your best friend might take you aside and say, “What’s wrong with you? Are you angling for a demotion? Are you putting yourself forward for the next round of cuts?”

But not the way Hiroshi’s colleagues reacted. They so found Hiroshi’s story so riveting, they found their sentiments beyond words. They had to resort to pre-linguistic guttural moans of approval that are unique to the Japanese language. (deep breath low to high) “hee”, (sucking wind), nodding vigorously.

To me Hiroshi’s story was boring. But it was clear that Hiroshi’s colleagues felt differently. That’s because the Japanese are so sleep deprived that they fantasize about sleep in the same way hostages fantasize about food…

Some of you here are already there—or almost there.

Reach into your pockets. What do you have your in pockets: I-phone, Blackberry?

With our capacity to take our electronic devices and work wherever we go—we have the potential to work non-stop like never before. Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist, says, “With our time saving electronic devices we are never ‘out’ anymore. We are always ‘in’. And if we are always ‘in’, we are always ‘on’. And if we are always ‘on’, what are we most like?—a computer server.”

We have more time-saving devices and less time than ever before.

Thomas Merton, the deeply perceptive writer on the spiritual life, has said that perhaps the most pervasive form of violence in the modern world is busyness… not drugs, not guns, but busyness… (and he was writing before the internet)

The Chinese character for busy--combines the pictographs for kill and heart.

A question that I want to raise today is: “Is possible for us to find rest--not just rest for our body, but rest for our soul? If it is possible, how can we experience REM on the level of our soul?”

There may be one person who knows if it is possible, and he knows how to experience it:

I want to read from Matthew 11 vs. 25-30

Text: Matthew 11:25-30:

25 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, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

27 "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.

28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is and my burden is light."

Jesus says in verse 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, 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.”

In vs. 28 Jesus says “Come.” Someone has said, “Jesus’ favorite word is ‘Come’.”

Jesus says “go,” “serve,” but his favorite word is “come.”

Jesus says come and issues you an invitation.

We all appreciate being invited, whether we are invited to a home for a meal, or to go to the movies, or a Red Sox game. Some of you may be here at Park Street (or this Party in the Park here in the Boston Common) because someone invited you. And Jesus here is inviting us to come to him.

Some people think that when Jesus invites us, he is making some kind of demand—perhaps like our elementary school principal summoning us to his office, but Jesus is really making us an offer.

In the 1920s Harvey Penick, the golf coach, bought a red spiral notebook and began jotting down his observations about golf. He never showed the book to anyone (except his son) until he was in his late eighties when he shared it with a local writer and asked him, “Is it worth publishing?” The writer read it and said yes. He left word a message with Penick’s wife the next evening and said Simon and Schuster has agreed to an advance of $90,000.

When the writer later, saw Penick, Penick seemed troubled. Penick said, “With all my medical bills, there is no way I could pay Simon and Schuster that much money.” The writer went on to explain that Penick would be the one to receive the $90,000. Penick thought Simon and Schuster was making a demand, when they were really making an offer.

We can think that when Jesus says “Come” he’s not making a demand, but he is making you an offer.

Jesus says, “Come to me all ye who are weary and are burdened, and I will give you rest—(literally, ‘I will rest you’) and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus’ offer is to those of us who feel weary and burdened in some way, and he invites us to come to him for rest.

Here’s how: “Take my yoke upon you; and learn from me.”

When Jesus spoke about a yoke, he, of course, was not referring to the yolk of an egg, but rather to a wooden bar that would be placed over an ox’s back to help the ox to pull a heavy load. And so Jesus here is comparing us to an ox. Most of us probably don’t enjoy being compared to an ox. It’s not a flattering image. In America perhaps we prefer to be referred to as a soaring eagle. I am from Canada, where our national animal is the beaver--not as cool as an eagle--but beavers are industrious. We may not want to be compared to an ox--it is not a complimentary image. But it may be an apt one because we, too, are burdened down by our work, our school, anxieties about the market, our relationships, and family issues.

Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Now we may think that we don’t need a yoke to experience refreshment--we need a hammock or a vacation in the Caribbean, or a massage at the spa (Bruner).

But Jesus paradoxically says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Why does Jesus say we will find rest for our souls if we will bear his yoke?

It’s because Jesus knows, as my friend Darrell Johnson point outs, that we are weary because we are wearing the wrong yokes, yokes that don’t fit us very well.

We are wearing the yoke of our own expectations (or the yoke given to us by our parents, our teachers, our bosses, our co-workers, our friends, our spouses--even those people who we'll be meeting at our next school reunion, and we can't even remember their names!)

The question is not “Will I wear a yoke?” but “Whose yoke will I wear?”(Some of you are saying I'll take the option of C, none of the above--but that's not an option. There are no yokeless people.)

Part of the reason why we are so busy and burdened is because we are wearing a heavy yoke that we (or someone) have placed around our neck.

If you’re a student, perhaps you are wearing a yoke of needing to get good grades--or distinguishing yourself academically among your peers.

When I came here a couple of years ago to speak to one of the fellowships at Harvard, my host, a graduate of the college, said that when you are at Harvard, it is hard to feel special because everyone around you is so talented.

Some of us wear the heavy yoke of being defined by whether we are in a relationship with Ms. or Mr. Right.

When I was in Grade 6, I remember going roller-skating at a local Stardust Rink (this was actually pre-roller blades!). There was this beautiful girl--the roller-skating goddess. She was probably in Grade 7 or 8—long blonde hair--was a figure-skater-roller-skater. My friends were all too nervous to ask her if she would couples skate with them. I said, “I don’t mind asking her. I’ll go ask her.” So I skated up to her. I remember looking up at her because she was taller than I was, and asking her if she would to go couples. She said “No!” and my little Grade 6 heart was broken.

Some of us only feel validated--if we’re with Ms. or Mr. Right.

Or maybe we are wearing the yoke of feeling that we can validate our existence if we can accomplish something great in our work.

We define ourselves by how well we’re doing in our work, by how we are doing compared to our peers. Are we making enough money, to live in the right neighborhoods with right schools, are we making enough to pay down the mortgage, making enough to feel successful?

If we’re a mom or dad, we can wear the yoke of defining ourselves by how our kids are turning out.

There is nothing wrong with accomplishment, but when we begin to define our worth by what we do, or have, or by what others think of us… we will find ourselves running with a heavy yoke around our neck and we’ll feel the tension there.

And we’ll be far busier than we need to be.

As Henri Nouwen in his book, The Beloved, says, we tend to be so busy because we want to prove something. Perhaps we want to be successful or popular or have some influence. If we want to be successful, we have to do a lot of things; if we want to be popular we have to meet a lot of people; if we want to have influence, we have to make a lot of connections…

If we define ourselves by what we do, what we have, by what others think of us—we’ll find ourselves wearing a tiring yoke… being busy more than we need….

The question is not “Will I wear a yoke?” (because we all wear a yoke. There are no yokeless people.) but “Whose yoke will I wear?”

Jesus tells us that if we are weary and burdened, it is because we are wearing the wrong yoke—a yoke that we have (or someone else has) made for us.

Jesus says, if you want to rest, switch yokes: “Take up my yoke—because my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

We will experience refreshment when we take off our yoke of self-expectation and wear Jesus’ yoke.

What does Jesus mean when he says “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”?

The word “easy” in the original means “well-fitting.”

If you take on the yoke of Jesus, it will mean that his yoke for you be perfectly suited to you.

It will not be burdensome; it will be uniquely matched for you; it will fit you perfectly.

So often we are tired because we are trying to wear a heavy yoke of self-expectation that doesn’t quite fit us.

If a yoke does not fit an ox well, it will rub against the ox’s neck, irritating it and preventing it from working well. If the yoke fits an ox’s neck well, it will help it in its work.

Most of us have never worn a yoke, but all of us have worn shoes.

Have you ever had a pair of shoes that you really loved? They fitted you well and made you want to walk, or run if you are a runner.

The Seattle Mariners baseball player Ichiro has these pair of baseball cleats designed specially by Asics. They’re super light (260 grams) and super expensive ($25,000) and they fit Ichiro feet perfectly, and enable him to move with grace and speed as a base runner, or as an outfielder.

Shoes that fit us well (in one sense confine us) but they enable us to go places we couldn’t in bare feet, they maximize our movement and make more freely; and Jesus says, “I have a yoke (or a pair of shoes) perfectly fitted for you.”

How can a yoke set us free? Most of us can only imagine that a yoke would drag us down. It is counter-intuitive to think that a yoke might give us rest.

But what if the yoke that God gave us did not drag us down, but instead lifted us up? What if the yoke that God placed on us was not a yoke of obligation, but a caring arm around us, a yoke of love?

If we knew that the yoke Jesus wanted to place on us was not a yoke of obligation, but a yoke of love, that yoke could bring us rest and set us free.

What if you knew you are deeply loved by one person in the universe that matters most? What if you so rest in the love that you no longer needed to be successful?

I heard a story recent about a father who had taken in number of foster children.

Over the years, the father had seen a wide variety of foster kids. He figured he had seen it all in terms of the range of behaviors.

Until, Scottie a ten year old came into their lives. Scottie engaged in behavior that he had never seen before.

The other kids behaved like typical teens: cocky, rebellious, sullen.

Scottie acted more like a little butler. He would wait on his new foster father hand and foot. He would ask things? “Would you care for a beverage? Would you like a coffee—two creams one sugar. May I bring you your newspaper? Would you like the TV remote control?”

There was a part of the father that didn’t mind this level of pampering, but the foster dad, he understood that there was a deeper question to be answered. So when no one else was around, he took Scottie aside and said, “You live here now. When I decided to take you in Scottie, it wasn’t based on how you behave. You could mouth off, you could be disrespectful, you could even try to hit me, but no matter what you do I would not send you away. I want to you know, I love you; you’re my son; this is your home you’re part of this family.”

That is what God says to us—he says, “I love you and want you to always be my son (my daughter).”

He wants to place his yoke of love upon us.

God’s love for us has been has been powerfully demonstrated by what God went through to adopt us as his child.

The Bible teaches that God in his love for us became one of us, became a human being in Jesus Christ and died on the cross, taking our sin and shame upon himself so that we might be forgiven and freed—and so that we can stand in the living room of God without shame and without any sense of deficit.

That is how much God loves us.

The test of a true friend is whether they are willing to sacrifice for us.

You may have hundred friends on Facebook, but how many of them would pick you up at Logan Airport, or if you updated your Facebook status saying, “I’m moving this weekend. Who wants to help? How many would show up?”

Someone who be willing to pick you up at the airport or help you move is a real friend.

A person proves their friendship by what they are willing to do for you.

God proved his love for us by becoming a human being and giving his life--sacrificing his life on the cross for us.

When we can understand in our heart how deeply we are loved by the one who matters most in the universe, that our sins are forgiven and that we are seen as perfect in God’s eyes, then, and perhaps only then, can we experience true spiritual rest, REM of the soul.

It is possible to physically sleep, but if we don’t experience REMs, rapid eye movement, we won’t feel deeply rested. We won’t feel emotionally rested and we won’t learn as well.

It is not just sleep, but the quality of the sleep that matters.

In order to really deeply rest, we need more than simply the absence of work, but we need something more than that—we need to experience deep internal rest.

And so it is with our lives. We need not only rest—we need deep inner rest, rest from the inner murmur that says we are defined by what we do or have, or what others think of us.

We need rest from the inner murmur, the voice of self-condemnation.

We receive rest, REM for our soul from knowing--really knowing--that we are loved by our Maker.

One of my all-time favorite movies is Chariots of Fire.

The movie, Chariots of Fire, is based on a true story of Eric Liddell. Liddell was a devoted follower of Christ who represented Great Britain in the Olympic Games in Paris 1924. Liddell lived in a time and place where people believed that the Sabbath was to be observed on a Sunday. As a committed Christian, Eric Liddell decided to withdraw from the 100-meter race, his best event and the one for which he was expected to win the gold medal, because the qualifying heats were on a Sunday. No doubt Liddell was disappointed that he was not able to compete in that race because he wanted to represent his country and because he loved to run. But he was at peace with that, because his life was not defined by winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games, but by the fact that he was beloved by God.

(Although Eric Liddell was not able to run in the 100-meter race, he was able to run in the 400-meter race. Someone withdrew from the race so Liddell could run in it. Now the 400-meter race was not Liddell’s forte. It was not his strongest suit, but he wanted to run it anyway. As Liddell went to the starting blocks, an American slipped into his hand a piece of paper with a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30 where God says through his prophet, “Those who honour me, I will honour.” Liddell ran with that piece of paper in his hand, and his head characteristically back, his arms flailing, not only won the race, but broke the existing world record.)

But Liddell was not the kind of person who needed the gold medal to validate his worth, because he knew that he was loved by God. His life was filled with such great peace and joy and because as he ran--and as he lived--he experienced God’s pleasure.

In stark contrast to Eric Liddell was another person competing in those Olympic Games, Harold Abrams. Harold Abrams did not have Eric Liddell’s faith. He was intense and driven. At one point in the movie, when asked by his girlfriend Cybil why was it was so important for him to win the Olympic 100-meters, Abrams says, “I have ten seconds to justify my existence.”

For many of us here, we relate more to Harold Abrams because we feel we have to do something to justify our existence.

(we feel like in our school, in our work, we need to out-run our peers to validate your existence…)

So even when we are “resting,” we are not really resting.

We’re lying out at the pool and within a few minutes we’re thinking of things we ought to be doing.

We are not experiencing REM of the soul.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28…. “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, 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.”

If we come to Jesus with the openness and humility of a child, we will be yoked into God’s love for us (vs. 25).

By experiencing God’s love we can be set free from the burden of our sins and shame and liberated from the need to do something to justify our existence.

When Jesus says, “Come,” he isn’t issuing a demand, but making us an offer… an offer to experience forgiveness, freedom, and rest, and spiritual REM, through an experience of God’s love.

Prayer:

I can hear God’s whispering to some of you:

“You are worthy, not because what you do, but because I love you…

I am inviting you to a different way of life.”

If so, perhaps you would like to pray:

“Lord Jesus,

I thank you for your invitation for me to come to you

I accept.

I don’t understand it all, but I receive it.

You have shown your love to me by dying on the cross for my sins and rising again.

Forgive and make me new.

I receive your love and rest in it.”

Amen.