Come all who are weary - Matt 11:28

Come all who are weary!

January 8, 2012

Matt 11:28

Introduction

• Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.
• Chippie's owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She'd barely said "hello" when "ssssopp!" Chippie got sucked in.
• The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie -- still alive, but stunned.
• Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.
• Poor Chippie never knew what hit him. . . Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . That's the way he felt (adapted from Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 11)

• Do we sometimes feel like that? Perhaps that is where we are at right now!
• Dianne and I enjoy driving in the hills around us.
• Often we see stretches of forest that have been blitzed by a forest fire
• Blackened tree trunks, no undergrowth, a scene of devastation
• And yet, here and there you will see a shoot working its way out of the soil
• Years later, the forest will have recovered, the blackened trunks will have been overwhelmed by fresh new trees growing towards the sunlight
• We are told that the forest actually needs these periodic fires, to germinate seeds and clean the forest, and to bring new life!
• How many of us feel as though our life has gone through a firestorm?
• Today we are going to talk about the role of trials in our life

What is a trial?

• I’m sure we all have our own definition.
• My personal definition, is “hard times”
• I picture it like a place where the soil is hardened like rock! There’s no getting through it
• It’s a place where the mountain seems immoveable
• It’s like a fire that threatens to burn us up
• It is painful, it hurts
• There are problems and there are trials
• A problem is like in math class when we are presented with a problem and have to calculate the answer. We know the answer is there, at the back of the book
• A trial is when the problem does not seem to have an answer
• A trial is intense, not like a problem in a math book
• 1 Pet 4:12 KJV “Beloved , do not think it strange considering the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you”
• Trials are painful, they hurt
• Maybe our trial is being out of work, and fearing the future
• Perhaps our trial is a relationship problem with someone close to us
• Perhaps our kids are going the wrong way, or we have lost our home, or we are struggling with stuff deep inside
• Trials hurt

Why do trials happen?

• 1 Pet 1:6-7 – there is a reason for trials
• When we go through a trial, we learn things we may not have learned other ways
• The trial focuses our attention in a way that we are forced to examine our issues
• The previous verses (3-5) show that the person’s faith or salvation is not in question
• What happens is that through the trials our faith is tested and purified, and becomes stronger
• 1 Cor 3:10-13 – gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay stubble
• The trial shows what we are made of
• Others in the Bible went through hard times too
• How about Abraham who was asked to sacrifice his only son!
• But it is through that trial and Abraham’s faithful response, that God knew Abraham was obedient, and prepared to become the physical father of the nation of Israel, and became known to God as the father of the faithful
• Why is God allowing the trial in your life?
• Because he is wanting to improve you, help you change for the better, prepare you for his purpose for you
• Don’t be discouraged, God is intimately involved in what you are going through
• He assures us it is for a good purpose
• 1 Cor 10:13 – God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it

How do we react to trials?

• 1. Recognize God is in charge of the situation
• Rom 8:28 – we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose
• Expect that there will be a good outcome, in God’s terms
• Try to see what God is doing
• 2. Have your eyes open
• Tell him you submit to what He is trying to show you
• Trust that God will provide the answer, even if we do not see it
• Submit to the answer even if it is not what you would have wanted
• Maybe God is waiting to see us respond in thankfulness
• Maybe what he is wanting to develop in us is faith
• Keep your eyes open
• 3. Be obedient
• God will show you how to deal with the problem.
• Be obedient
• Maybe it will require humbling ourselves before another person and asking forgiveness
• Maybe it will mean repenting of some attitude we have had which we have held dear
• It’s all about living closely with God, not at arm’s length

Conclusion

• If we are weary of the trials we are going through recognize that God has a purpose in it
• Ask God to reveal what he is wanting you to learn
• Be obedient to it
• When we are faithful in little, it shows we can be faithful in much
• Use the trial to grow in character and relationship with Jesus
• Jesus tells us in Math 11:28 – 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.
• When we turn to Jesus and trust him with our trial, he takes care of it
• Believe him!