Finding Rest For Your Souls // Rev Edmund Chan

[Music] hi everyone it's such a joy to be back with you in skyline again regrettably because of travel restrictions during this pandemic i'm unable to be with you all in person but i'm thankful for the opportunity to address you today i want to share with you a word in season it's a word on restedness in matthew chapter 11 verse 28 to 30 jesus said come to me all 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 verse 30 for my yoke is easy and my burden is light about nine years ago i transited in leadership as senior pastor of covenant efc i serve as a leadership mentor and here's what i discovered about leadership over the years the higher up you go in the chain of command the greater the complexity in other words the higher the position the bigger the problem in the terrain of leadership there are rested leaders and they are restless leaders how then do we cope with tough times we must not ignore the fundamentals we can be busy and miss the reason for our busyness so as we examine this text let's pause and pray together and ask the lord to bless our time together lord open our eyes to behold wonderful truth out of your word that we might not just be hearers of your word but do us also and that we might grow thereby we thank you in jesus name amen in matthew 11 28-30 jesus gave his apostles in training a precious gift he revealed to them the secret of restedness now there are five truths of restedness to consider in the words of jesus the first rest is promised by christ jesus says come to me all meaning everyone who are weary and heavy-laden it's an open invitation it's not just for a select few it's for everyone everyone who is weary anxious or tired whoever you are or whatever your circumstance or whenever trials and anxieties come your way jesus promised that those who come to him would have a sublime rest in him second truth rest is promised in christ jesus said come to me and i i myself will give you rest true restedness is being rested in jesus the rest that jesus offers is absolutely unmatched while there may be other things that would seemingly give us rest there is no depth of sustainability to that rest apart from christ beware of false substitutes that can lead to fatal attractions or addictions that can distract defile or destroy life and legacy the third truth rest is possible under christ jesus say come to me take my yoke this rest in christ is not passive for automatic it requires a participative action on our part take my yoke upon you it was common in agricultural palestine to see a double yolk a wooden plowing instrument whereby an experienced base of burden is yoked to a younger one to help the younger one with the burden the yoke of jesus is to do the father's will so he says come to me take my burden in other words take my course come under my yoke and i will help you get this the worst yolk is heavy conversely jesus said my yoke is easy my burden is like whose yoke do you have the yoke of the world or the yoke of christ fourth truth rest is profound in christ jesus says i will give you rest for your soul this is not an ordinary kind of rest rather it's a certain kind of rest the word rest in the greek and a power is a compound word pow is literally to pause and ana is an intensifier to really pause to be really rested the idea is not just about taking a break or chilling out rather it denotes the restedness inside within the rest for the soul which is as significant as it is profound and the fifth truth rest is perfected in christ jesus says learn of me now in the context this learning is a specific learning jesus say for i am gentle and lowly in heart in other words don't let your ego get in the way don't let your preoccupations get in the way don't let your worries get into the way or your anxieties don't let your temper get into the way learn of me jesus say for i am gentle and humble in spirit in other words to learn of his character his ways that our soul and his restedness might be perfected in him i'm reminded of eugene peterson's inspiring paraphrase of matthew 11 28-30 in the message bible let me read it for you are you tired worn out burn out on religion come to me get away with me and you'll recover your life i'll show you how to take a real rest walk with me and work with me watch how i do it learn the unforced rhythms of grace i won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly all set to be truly rested we must be anchored in christ and in his kingdom purpose let me pause a moment and speak to those with the sacred trust of leadership to us who are church leaders or pastors we must keep sight of our mission especially in a crisis we must not suffer a mission drift as leaders especially leading in a crisis we must be mission clear get mission ready and stay mission true very often we enter into the leadership terrain being not very sure where we are actually heading and i want you to know it's all right to live without all the answers one of the great myths of leadership is that we must have all the answers we must have everything map out for us and then we enter into the leadership terrain and realize we don't always have all the answers it is a myth to think that good leaders are those who have all the answers they know everything i think sometimes the best leaders are those who are able to adjust along the way decide stick to the fundamentals and call the shots independence upon god and his leading now i'm not talking about irresponsible leadership what i'm saying is sometimes god leads us into new terrain especially in times of crisis don't lose that restedness don't panic you don't may not have all the answers it's all right anger in god and be rested in him you see leadership is not a diy project it's not a do-it-yourself project it's not meant to be done in our own strength with our own resources in our own wisdom rather it's a deep transformational work of god it is okay that we don't have all the answers but it is not okay if we are unclear about our mission we must live and lead with a clear sense of calling that's our compass especially in uncertain times we must never lose sight of why we do what we do years ago there was a grand opening of a multi-million dollar post office in pittsburgh the bands played the governor delivered a speech the cheering crowd was proud of his completion however the builders had committed an unthinkable oversight so when the first customer entered the post office to mail a letter there was no letter drop so here was an impressive new post office but there was no place to mail a letter this negated the very reason for its existence it compromised its essential mission we must not ignore the fundamentals we can be busy but don't miss the reason for our busyness let me bring this to an applicational focus for us i want to share with you seven principles of restedness i have curated principle one there is a difference between rest and restedness rest concerns the body and restedness the soul rest deals with the tiredness without while restedness deals with the emptiness within so we can go on vacations or staycations but restedness might still elude us because we have not dealt with the emptiness inside that is why jesus said i will give you rest for your souls in fact jesus is saying i will deal with this emptiness inside principle 2 doing nothing doesn't necessarily lead to restedness you see we assume that rest comes from doing little and misguidedly conclude that total rest comes from totally doing nothing it doesn't work that way doing nothing may give temporary relief but it doesn't necessarily lead to restedness in fact doing nothing eventually leads to boredom and all we do is become more and more restless which compromises our desire for restedness the third restedness is not just about resting from work rather it is working from rest resting from work is important is part of the sabbath principle but get this the separate principle is not basically a principle of cessation from work but of the contemplation of life in the adoration of god in other words the sabbath principle was given to us to learn dependence upon god so that in that dependence we learn to rest in the lord in his divine appointment in his divine enabling and in his divine wisdom fourth restedness is not about having a full stop it is about having a full soul we must distinguish the things that impoverish the soul and the things that nourish the soul there are certain activities there are stress reducing activities but they are not growth enhancing activities there's a difference between stress reducing activities and growth enhancing activities find growth enhancing activity such as solitude and silence or reading a good book or having a deep conversation or meditating on the scriptures and journaling they contribute to our restedness within five restedness doesn't come from the pause button it comes from the purpose button the etiology of restlessness the cause of it is rooted in the virus of purposelessness the key is not merely in the pause but in the purpose they are leaders who are busy but empty for in the busyness of a crowded schedule they have drifted from their god intended purpose a sign of such a mission drift is when leaders are too quick to please with a yes and they don't know how to say no or conversely being too quick to say no without consulting god whether it aligns to god's intended purpose for us number six restedness is not just about having a good purpose but it comes from having a god purpose you see having purpose alone is not enough jesus says come to me take my yoke upon you his yoke is god's purpose the will of god matthew 6 33 says seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness so each step of the way we ask lord what would you have me to do what's your purpose for me number seven restedness is all about relatedness you see communion leads to compulsion we can only be truly rested in god when we are closely related to god so for the unconverted it means to be born again to believe in jesus as your personal lord and savior and for the believer it means to abide in christ as we journey on in life don't just take time to rest instead rediscover the sacred source of the soul's restedness in god for at the heart of dynamic kingdom life is a profound restedness in jesus christ the king we thus learn the art of waiting upon the lord of renewing our strength even through tough times anchor in jesus now in this final part i want to take you to the paths of restedness in other words i want to offer to you seven practical applications as a road map to restedness and these are seven applicational uh road maps of the paths to restedness that i've personally found helpful number one begin by acknowledging our addiction to activities acknowledgement begins with awareness i didn't realize my own addiction to activities until a personal solitude and silence retreat up in fraser seal about 21 years ago in that week of solitude and silence my awareness guru you see there are four types of people in relation to restedness the first those who can't rest there are too many worries the second those who won't rest they are too much of a workaholic the third those who ignore rest they want to rest they can rest but they postpone it or the fourth those who abuse rest they excuse laziness as rest now here's the thing all four types are addicted to activities yes even the lazy ones they simply substitute work for other activities other pastimes so here's where we all must begin by acknowledging our addiction to activities second understand why we are addicted to activities a simplistic answer is oh i'm addicted because i'm a workaholic oh because i'm a social animal i party here and there that may be true but that's just a surface narrative the ubiquitous reason why many are addicted to activities is because of the inner emptiness subconsciously we are attempting to use outward activities to fill the void the emptiness within so the third roadmap evaluate our default coping mechanism different ones of us have different coping strategies some eat when they are stressed others sleep when they are stressed whatever our coping strategies are we must realize that there is a difference between stress reducing activities and growth enhancing activities indulging in online gaming is stress reducing while reading a good book is growth enhancing evaluate your default coping mechanism is it primarily stress reducing or growth enhancing the first give relief the other offers revitalization permit me to offer a pastoral counsel beware of the darkness of addictive coping mechanism example online gaming alcohol photography etc which creates a dysfunctionality that will us spiritually and compromise our weakness and our testimony the fourth practical step practice the remove and replace principle to remove there are some things we are to stop doing today stop procrastinating stop over committing stop trust striving through self-effort stop worrying stop work stop living with a defeatist attitude you cannot live a positive life with a negative mind and to replace let's present ourselves afresh to the lord and bring all our negativity to him yes realign your compass make time for the important things in life and for vital relationships prioritize the important over the urgent the fifth step be re-empowered by a god-given purpose you see a lack of purpose leads to emptiness and emptiness leads to restlessness rather get missional there's an old story of rabbi akiva who walks seven miles into the village to gather supplies on his way home he was deep in taut pondering his life's purpose when he turned into the wrong path landing him in front of a roman garrison gate a voice boom down jolting the rabbi from his deep thoughts who are you and why are you here akiva being the good rabbi answered the question with a question he asked how much do you get paid to stand there and ask those two questions the guard replied five duchma a week to which a kiva offered i will pay you twice the amount to come and stand outside my home and ask me these two questions each day as i leave my house who are you and why are you here oh we must never lose sight of who we are and why we do what we do focus on being a part of god's redemptive community committed to god's redemptive purpose for with every privilege comes a responsibility freely we have received freely give and get involved and be committed as god leads you the sixth step be re-engaged in a god-connected intimacy the essential question is who or what do you go to when you are stressed worried or weary jesus extends an open invitation come to me all who are weary and heavy laden why because the soul's restedness is solely premised on christ the theology of restedness is rooted in the presence of god our soul longs for intimacy with god and is hopelessly restless and empty inside apart from him the seven practical step be re-energized to engage life with a passion cultivate a passion for god and for the deep things of god now this passion for god is not passive it engages us in the three dimensions of our spiritual life to anchor in divine truths to walk by divine appointments and to serve by divine empowering beyond our own capacity there is a divine enabling that gives a renewed zeal a refreshed spirit a rekinded passion in summary who or what we turn to when we are restless will determine whether we find the secret to restedness or a mere placebo come to me jesus said our road maps our steps must lead us to jesus for however good our road maps might be drawn out they are eventually worthless unless they lead us to him true restedness pivots entirely on this one singular source of restedness jesus himself abide in him for our soul is restless until we find our rest in god restedness is not a commodity of convenience ultimately true restedness is found in surrender to god our surrender to god is the whole in the soul that we must mend you see the contemporary church must be redisciple unto this for true success is not from the razzle dazzle of size and accomplishment true success is restedness in the empowering the presence and the will of the father let me close with this poem the poet is unknown it speaks of the shallowness of contemporary justice of success that drives us and in the drivenness we don't find the restedness and this poem leads us to the simplicity of true faith it contrasts between faith faith that is false and faith that is true success that is real and success that is false and the poem goes like this blow the trumpet and ring the bell dress it up and make it sell fill it with the rich and well count the hates we are doing well but where's the faith read the creed and make it right hold it fast with all your might close the door and broke it tight we have no need for further light but where's the faith build the church and make it grow cushion peels in classic row make for comfort we love so come in relax enjoy the show but where's the faith in the sick room on the bed invalid helpless but not dead hear her praying through the pain may my suffering be your gain that's the faith here a loving mother gives with all the reason that she lives to strive against unnumbered odds to bring her children to know god that's the fate surprising isn't it where the faith is found not where reigns the world renown but in the din of work and strife where the cross meets daily life that's the faith where the cross meets daily life my friends it is all bound up with christ and his cross-centered gospel brilliantly addresses the compulsions of our spirit and decisively answers the confusions of our lives it's all about jesus and his cross very nice our restedness and that's the unchanging message in our changing world be anchored in christ abide in christ jesus say come to me and this day i encourage you in this word of season come to jesus would you bow with me and pray eternal god and heavenly father bring us to the presence of jesus forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness [Music] and lord i pray in particular for those who are not yet believers in christ that today they will make a decision to answer this open invitation jesus said come to me and i'll give you rest for your souls i will deal with the emptiness inside i'll deal with the worries and anxieties inside o heavenly father anchor us in the fullness of joy the fullness of life from the inside out today draw those who have not yet known christ to come into his holy presence and to receive jesus as a person the lord and savior and lord i pray for those who are in christ for the believers and the disciples that we will abide in christ and and anchor in his words come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest for your souls teach us this blessed pilgrimage of restedness especially in stressful times like this we thank you in jesus name amen god bless you [Music] wow amen thank you so much reverend edmund for that word of the season that i myself personally is much needed you know what like reverend edmund said it is ultimately okay to always not have the answers in life but which is precisely as we are here right in god's presence we want to acknowledge that we need god in our life to give us purpose not just good purpose but god purpose to chant so friends can i invite if any of you in our midst that have not made jesus as your personal lord and savior and i ask that you pray this prayer together with all of us right here in skyline to give our heart and our life in surrender unto jesus let's pray lord i give my life to you today i leave behind my old way of living and ask you to forgive my sins i receive your grace and ask that you fill me with my life with love and hope and meaning and purpose in jesus name amen and amen hallelujah amen so if that's you that you have prayed that prayer for the first time today we want to say congratulations and welcome to the family can i invite you to just take some time to scan that qr code that is appearing on your screen right now a member of our team will be connecting with you to help you to grow and to integrate into the life of the church or you can simply log on to skylinessib.com next step

Channel: Skyline SIB

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Length: 31min 40sec (1900 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 31 2021