Praise Chapel Of Anaheim
“Rest From Your Labor”
A LABOR DAY SERMON
Pastor Albert Garcia
Sunday, September 6, 2009

TEXT: Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

INTRODUCTION: Tomorrow we celebrate “Labor Day”.

Ø This holiday began with a man named “Peter McGuire” in the nineteenth century.

Ø Many immigrants had settled in New York City

Ø They soon found out that living conditions were not as wonderful as they had dreamed

Ø Often there were six families crowded into a house made for one family.

Ø Thousands of children had to go to work.

Ø Working conditions were even worse.

Ø Immigrant men, women and children worked in factories for ten to twelve hours a day, stopping only for a short time to eat. They came to work even if they were tired or sick because if they didn't, they might be fired. Thousands of people were waiting to take their jobs.

Ø Peter McGuire became very concerned with the burden the people carried.

Ø He began to organized marches through the streets in protest of the working conditions.

Ø On September 5, 1882 the first Labor Day parade was held in New York City. Twenty thousand workers marched in a parade up Broadway. They carried banners that read "LABOR CREATES ALL WEALTH," and "EIGHT HOURS FOR WORK, EIGHT HOURS FOR REST, EIGHT HOURS FOR RECREATION!"

Ø They began to call him “The disturber of public peace” but In 1894, Congress voted Labor day an official federal holiday.

Ø In our text Jesus is speaking to believers who are burdened and wearied by the rites of the Mosaic institution.

Ø They were wearied because the Pharisees and teachers of the law were placing heavy religious loads upon them.

o Matthew 23:4 “They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Ø Today I want to speak about rest from your labor.

Ø I will cover three areas.

o A promise to the weary.

o How not to find rest from your burden.

o How to find rest from your burden.

I. A PROMISE TO THE WEARY.

a. Christ will give you rest.

(V 28) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”

KJV “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

b. There are three Greek words I would like to look at. (Labor – Laden – Rest)

1. “Labor” is “Kopiao”

a. Means – “Fatigue”, “To be worn out”, “Weary”, Faint”.

Application: Have you ever felt Fatigue, worn out weary or faint?

Ø In marriage?

Ø At work?

Ø In ministry?

2. “Heavy laden” is “Phortizo”

a. Means – “To overload”, “Heavily burdened”

b. NOTE: This word comes from a root Greek word that is used to describe “The freight of a ship”

3. “Rest” is “Anapausis”

a. Means - “To be refreshed”

c. In our text Jesus promises to refresh anyone who comes to Him.

1. (V 28) KJV “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

II. HOW NOT TO FIND REST FROM BURDEN.

a. Not by ceasing from one’s labor and going on vacation.

1. When you return from vacation you’re problems and pressures are still present.

2. Most of the time one comes from vacation more tired and weary than before.

ILLUSTRATE: Dr Leo Marvin from the movie “What about Bob” (Ends up in a nut house)

b. Not by running or abandoning life’s responsibilities.

1. Divorcing your spouse. (Divorce creates more problems)

2. Abandoning your children.

3. Quitting the church.

4. Quitting the ministry.

c. Not by backslidding and going back to the world.

1. Getting drunk.

2. Going to parties.

3. Doing drugs.

4. Jesus says this opens the door to seven times worse trouble.

Matthew 12:43-45 “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. ⁴⁴Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. ⁴⁵Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

d. It is not going to a spiritist for a cleansing.

1. Illustrate: My conversation with Ida’s friend.

III. HOW TO FIND REST FROM YOUR BURDEN. (2 Keys)

a. Come to Christ.

(V -28 )“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest

1. Here Jesus is speaking to Jews who were trying to find God by their own efforts.

2. These Jews had become exhausted by the rules and regulations of religion imposed on them by the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

William Barclay

“To the Jew religion was a thing of endless rules. A man lived his life in a forest of regulations which dictated every action of his life. He must listen for ever to a voice which said, “Thou shalt not.”

A parable written of the continuous demands that the Law made upon men.

“There was a poor widow in my neighborhood who had two daughters and a field. When she began to plough, Moses (The mosaic law) said, ‘Thou shalt not plough with an ox and a donkey together.” When she began to sow he said, ‘Thou shalt not sow your field with mingled seed. ‘When she began to reap and to make stacks of corn, he said, ‘When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it’. She began to thresh, and he said, ‘Give me the heave offering, and the first and second tithe.’ She accepted the ordinance and gave them all to him. What did the poor woman then do? She sold her field, and bought two sheep, to clothe herself from their fleece, and to have profit from their young. When they bore their young, Aaron (the priest) came and said, ‘Give me the first-born. ‘So she accepted the decision, and gave them to him. When the shearing time came, and she sheared them, Aaron came and said, ‘Give me the first of the fleece of the sheep’. Then she thought: ‘I cannot stand up against this man. I will slaughter the sheep and eat them. ‘ Then Aaron came and said, ‘Give me the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach’ (Deut 18:3). Then she said, ‘Even when I have killed them I am not safe from you. Behold they shall be devoted,. ‘ then Aaron said, ‘In that case they belong entirely to me’ (num 18 14). He took them and went away and left here weeping with her two daughters.

3. Here Jesus was offering rest to those who would abandon their own efforts and come and surrender to Him.

Application: Have you become exhausted by trying to do things in your own strength?

Ø Fix your marriage by your own strength?

Ø Get a financial breakthrough by your own strength?

Ø Do your ministry by your own strength?

1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

b. Put on the yoke of Christ.

(V 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.

1. Here Jesus was teaching that in order for us to find rest from the heavy burdens of life we must put on His yoke.

a. A yoke was an instrument of labor.

b. A yoke was and instrument used to bind two oxen together in order to plow a field.

c. This was a strange paradox.

d. Jesus was teaching that if you are wearied and overloaded you must take on a new weight.

2. What was He trying to teach? (He was teaching 2 principles)

a. (1) Regardless of how wearied we feel we must continue to plow through life and not give up.

b. (2) If we yoke ourselves to Him He will do most of the work while we rest on Him.

1. (V 30) “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Footsteps In The Sand

One night a man had a dream.

He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.

For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:

one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him

he looked back, at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of his life

there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it:

"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you,

you'd walk with me all the way.

But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life

there is only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied:

"My son, My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you,

During your times of trial and suffering,

when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

Application: Are you wearied and burdened with the trials of life?

Ø Maybe you ought to yoke yourself to Him.

Ø Allow Him to do all the work.

Ø Rest in Him.

IN CLOSING: Today Christ offers you rest from your burden.