Several years ago, I was asked to preach for a local congregation. The following sermon came about when God changed my topic. I was working on a sermon on worship, but Matthew 11 had lodged in my mind and heart for a couple of weeks, and I kept hearing "Come to me all who are weary, and I will give you rest." I needed that rest, so I went back to Psalm 46 and tried to connect it to Matthew 11. My notes are below, but they aren't exactly like the sermon. I hope it blesses you!
"Going Sane in a Crazy World"
Psalm 46 Matthew 11:28-30
Introduction
The Tick and Arthur--During a particular time of battle, Arthur cries out "I think I'm going crazy!" The Tick replies: “You aren’t going crazy chum, you’re going sane in a crazy world!”
We live in a crazy world, to say the least
Economic issues
Crazy political situations
Disease and other crises
Wars and rumors of wars
Stress is everywhere! And it shows. It shows in our bodies — in our relationships — including our relationship with God.
It's hard to find time for intimacy, because intimacy takes time.
Time is a commodity we wish we could buy, and if we could, we would probably use it simply to buy peace, quiet, leisure—to do some things we long to do and not have to do them in such a rush. Just having time to think and to have the right atmosphere for thinking would be nice, wouldn't it?
There will always be tension to life. But it needs to be a healthy, creative tension, not life-sapping stress. Marriages, families, and personal lives are falling apart as stressed-out people run away, withdraw, explode, crash, burn out—and eventually find themselves very much alone.
A major cause for our stress is that we often react rather than act. We're all moving so quickly that we don't stop and consider our future. What will it demand of us? What will it cost? Are we willing to pay the price?
We simply move. We react to the immediate.
I know it's an area where I really battle. I want to do everything. So I react in the moment. I say yes when I should say no — forgetting that my time is already allotted to other things. We react in a response of the flesh instead of acting under the Holy Spirit's control.
God knows our pressures and our conflicts, he knows the issues with which we are dealing. And He has made provision for each and every one of them. And that provision is Himself. He is our Refuge and our Rest.
Psalm 46 offers one perspective on Rest. The information in the Psalm, however, is framed by two ideas: The Frame is God’s Presence (v. 1) and our Position (v. 10). The information between these verses can be summarized in three basic points:
1) When God seems silent, be still and know his presence (Jesus says "Come to me")
2) When the world turns against us, be still and know his power (Jesus says, "Take my yoke, learn from me")
3) When things get hectic, be still and know God (his yoke is easy and his burden is light)
In sum, the Psalmist reminds us that "Going Sane means to Rest" (Matthew 11:28-30)
When God Seems Silent: Come to Jesus
Psalm 46:1-3
When life goes crazy, where is sanity? Where is rest? Where is God?
In what way is God a refuge when life is in tatters?
C. S. Lewis—A Grief Observed
“Where is God? When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be--or so it feels--welcomed with open arms. But to go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. . . . What can this mean? Why is God so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in times of trouble?”
God’s presence has not changed, yet in times of trouble we often seem to be unable to access it. In those times, God seems distant, or at least a bit unconcerned (in our minds). When our world is shattered, where is the glue to hold us together?
The Psalmist admonishes us to "Be still and know God's presence."
In Matthew 11:28, Jesus commands us to come to him. Who should come?
All who are weary or heavy burdened;
All who think that their lives are over;
All who think God has turned his back on them;
All who face the awful silence of others (and perhaps even God).
If we come, Jesus offers a promise, and that promise is to give us rest.
He doesn’t promise results.
He doesn’t even promise a “word from God.”
He promises “rest”--Rest is a relief from hardship, pain, distress, and turmoil. Rest is the presence of Christ in hard times.
Come to him and find rest.
Col. 1:15-17: Jesus is the glue that holds reality together.
The Psalmist calls us to put our trust in God who holds all things together. The words “refuge” and “strength” speak of God’s security and power.
Our security is not in the ground beneath our feet, it can easily be removed by an earthquake, storm, or disaster. God is our ultimate unshakeable reality and the greatest power of all. Just because I don’t see the sun that doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. In fact, sometimes the shadow proves the sunshine. Where there is shadow, there is bound to be light!
When life gets hard, we need to stand still, to desist, to stop striving and to dwell on his presence. We need to enter into Jesus’ rest.
Remember, if God is omnipresent, he has gone nowhere. Since he is already here, we need to learn to be quiet, and listen.
Psalm 91:7 Be still and know his presence
When the World Turns Against Us: We Take His Yoke
Psalm 46:4-7: God is with his beloved.
2 Corinthians 4:7-10—Jars of Clay
We are not exempt from hardships, difficulties, and bad emotions, but we are more than survivors (Romans 8:31-39; especially v. 37). We may be shaken, but we cannot be destroyed.
The power by which we live and by which Jerusalem is sustained is the power of God.
When things go south, we must learn NOT to rely on our abilities
Our power MUST come from a higher source.
God is There, and He is Able.
Be still and know his power
In Matthew 11:29-30, Jesus gives two more commands: “Take my yoke” and “learn from me.”
Jesus doesn’t think that rest is necessarily sitting still. This is a work in progress, it is still work. Yoke is what oxen wore. You often put an untrained ox with an older ox in order to help it learn. The yokes were specifically fit to the oxen.
So it is with us, Jesus prepares us for the work he has in this world by fitting our yoke just to us, joining us in the yoke, and teaching us how to work—That is Rest! Rest is doing what Jesus asks us to do in the situation Jesus has placed us.
Jesus’ humility and gentleness in teaching us gives us rest.
As we learn to rely on the humble Christ, we find rest. We can rest in his yoke and rely on his power.
When Things Get Hectic: His Yoke is Easy
Psalm 46:8-11
God's Word to us when we're on the ragged edge of reality: Be Still, Desist, Cease striving, Stop Struggling, Rest.
Psalm 46:10 says to "Be still," which may mean “rest.” It means to "let your arms down to your side"—to be vulnerable to God.
God also says to "know that I am God." He calls for a cognitive and a personal response.
We cease striving not because we know how it's going to work out, but because we know the God who will work it out.
C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (continued)
"I have gradually been coming to feel that the door is no longer shut and bolted. Was it my own frantic need that slammed it in my face? The time when nothing at all in your soul except a cry for help may be just the time when God can’t give it; you are like the drowning man who can’t be helped because he clutches and grabs. Perhaps your own reiterated cries deafen you to the voice you hoped to hear."
Come to the Jesus, whose humility led him to die for you. Wear his yoke, do only his work. Find your rest in obedience to his call.
Do not look around at what everyone else is doing (This is Peter’s reaction at the end of John's Gospel).
Keep his easy yoke and light burden as your protection.
Only do those things God has placed on the yoke you share with Jesus. Remember, he gives rest while he helps bear our load.
All kinds of things may be going wrong, but God remains stable, strong, and constant.
He is constant, he is there, he is not silent, he has not moved, he is not caught off guard.
To know him is to know security even in the most hectic crisis; to know him requires time and stillness.
We must sit with him, spend time with him, learn from him.
We need time with our Father.
We need to unravel, to experience Selah.
His presence is ours, our position is to be still with him.
Be still and know him
Now What?
So, life is going crazy. How do we go sane in a crazy world?
How can we find firmness when things seem unsound?
We must begin with a proper focus: Whatever consumes our attention soon overwhelms our senses and colors our perspective. Instead of being consumed by the problem, we should turn our face to the Lord. We must schedule time with God.
We must stand still on God’s firmness and stability. We must learn to quit striving, to cease kicking, to be still and to be vulnerable to what God may be doing. We must embrace God as our sole refuge, as our primary source of satisfaction. We must find ways to create a space of peace in our hectic schedule--take time to sit still.
When the bottom falls out, when God seems silent, when the world turns against you, when things get hectic:
Be still, and know God’s power, presence, and person. And you’ll find that he is a genuine refuge in time of trouble.
Thanks for reading!
