CAN'T YOU TAKE A YOKE?

Sorry for the pun, but I had to.

This will be our last Summer Evening Service before summer holidays kick in seriously. I usually give a sermon on rest before summer - and since the morning services have been taken over by our annual theme, this is it.

Matthew 11:25-30 is a very interesting passage. In it Jesus invites us to rest by taking on a his yoke. If you are familiar with an agrarian culture, though, you know that a yoke is actually something that involves work. It is the cross member between two burden bearing animals that helps them to pull a heavy load. This is the scripture passage

Rest for the Weary

^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 easy and my burden is light.”

The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Mt 11:25). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

How would you understand the rest that Jesus is calling us to? What kind of work is he calling and to and what does the yoke have to do with it? Give you input, your thoughts, your struggles, it will all be appreciated.

Pastor Bill

Sunday June 17 PM Service - The Unreasonable Actions of a Faithful Father

The Story of Abraham being willing to sacrifice Isaac on the Altar puzzles many people. But this is a test, a test which needs a faithful father's response. Read
Genesis 22:1-19

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."
15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

As we read this passage, we discover a father who even in the context of family conflict over what he was doing, was willing to obey God. On this Father's day, a halmark Sunday, have you discovered that sometimes being a Father who obeys God causes conflict in your family, school, work life? If you have illustrations, please share them. It may be that this sermon also applies to the summer second service option which we are going to decide on after the service.