Sin weary souls find rest in Jesus!

You give your parents the gift of rest when you help carry in the groceries. As you carry in the bags, some will be light and some heavy. There might even be some bags that are too heavy for you to carry. You might also be tempted to carry in so many bags that you get tired before you reach the counter and you have to set them on the floor. After helping with groceries and other chores, activities and fun you need rest.

You need rest. After a full day of chores, you find rest in a cozy bed. After leg day at the gym, you find rest by switching to arm or core exercises. After a long visit with family or friends, you find rest in some alone time. After being at work or school, you find rest in a vacation away from busy schedules.

After you sin, you need to find rest for your soul. Jesus addressed the rest you need in our Gospel reading from Matthew 11, but before he taught what rest for your soul is, he taught who gives rest,

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 is what you were pleased to do.”

We do not have faith because we are the wise and learned, nor does anyone come to faith based on their intellect. Instead, we are all given the gift of faith. We all depend on God like a little child depends on his or her parents. Like when children are little, they need to be taught that they are tired and need rest. You as an adult see the signs that they are tired in the yawning and eye rubbing, also in tears and screaming, and teach them what it means. We need God to show us our need for spiritual rest. Our need for spiritual rest is not something we learn or grow to be experts in on our own. It is not something we are able to assess and treat based on life experience or intellect. We need spiritual rest for our souls because of sin, and God alone teaches us the truth about our sinfulness. Jesus explained this in our Gospel reading from Matthew 11, 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.” Your knowledge of sin, along with your knowledge of God and our Savior Jesus was a gift.

When God chose to give you the gift of faith it brought understanding of sin. God shows us how extensive sins damage is to us in our New Testament reading from Romans 7, 15 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” All believers repeat what Paul expressed in these words. All of us as believers have been given the gift of faith in God and our Savior Jesus. We know God as our Father and Creator. We know Jesus has set us free from sin and given us his righteousness. We know the Holy Spirit lives in us and we have the desire to turn from sin to live a life of love and service to God and others, but then we sin. God has given us so much and we know what is good, but then we do what we hate. We do not understand our own sinful thoughts plotting evil or the hurtful words we just spoke or the terrible things we have done repeatedly. Again, we hear from Romans 7,

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.

As we battle against sin, we grow tired. When our souls are tired, they are vulnerable to temptation. We are tempted to find rest by denying how sinful we have been coming up with explanations for moving in together before marriage, passionately defending our political views and top picks of candidates for office and those from the past we wish were still in office while forgetting our calling to share the law and gospel and teach our children about Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Miriam and Aaron, David and Bathsheba, Mary and Joseph, Peter, James and John, Lydia, Stephen or Priscilla and Aquila. We also deprive our souls of rest when we constantly spend money on relaxation, entertainment, vacations and other amenities trusting them to bring us the highest form of lasting peace, calm, healing and rejuvenation. Sin makes your soul tired whether it is sin in general or the narrow sin of looking for rest for your soul apart from Jesus. Apart from Jesus there is no rest for our souls, only the crushing burden of sin that leads to death and endless suffering in hell.

Exhausted from sin, Paul shared the only source of rest for his soul. In our New Testament reading from Romans 7, Paul wrote, 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! When you are tired, Jesus rescues you. Jesus delivers you when you are struck by the seriousness of your sin, when you are frustrated by your return to a sin you thought was over, when you carry guilt from the past and when you worry about your relationship with God. Jesus calls to you in our Gospel reading from Matthew 11,

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.”

Jesus lifted the burden of your sin onto his shoulders, carried them to the cross and laid them to rest forever in the tomb. Jesus worked alone to give you rest from all your sin. There is nothing for you to do to be sure you will have rest for your soul. Through Jesus, God is not angry with you. Through Jesus, you are forgiven. Through Jesus, God is pleased with you. You are yoked or connected to Jesus, and you learn from him as one of his disciples. Jesus has made sure these words survived for you to hear them, so that you would hear the description of his heart as gentle and humble. These words explain Jesus did not come with his own selfish interests in mind working for himself desiring prestige and rest while we carry the burden of our sins, but to work for others serving with their needs in mind. His purpose was specific, rest for your soul; he did not come to solve the world’s problems, but to save you from the troubled world. You will have rest from temptation, sin and guilt in heaven. There you will have rest for your body and soul with perfect health, joy and peace as God takes care of all your needs.

When your soul is tired go to Jesus. Your weariness and burdens continue while you live in this sinful world. When you feel like you are wondering through life without help from God find your rest in the Bible. Throughout Scripture your brothers and sisters in faith felt the same weariness and burden of sin. Tired souls experienced spiritual highs and lows, but God was consistent with his faithful love to them. In our Old Testament reading, we hear Moses wrestling with how God would give him the strength to continue leading his people. Moses had seen God’s power on display when he spoke to him from in the burning bush that did not burn up, the ten plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and his thunderous presence on the top of Mount Sinai, but here Moses was tired. We hear Moses’ prayer and God’s response in our Old Testament reading from Exodus 33,

12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” 14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

The Lord gave Moses spiritual rest by promising that his Presence would go with Israel. After this, God also gave Moses a glimpse of his glory. We know that God went on to be with Moses and Israel for the next forty years in the wilderness. There were many moments when Israel fell into sin and even one of Moses’ sins meant he would not enter the promised land of Israel after the forty years of wondering, but God was faithful and brought him to eternal rest in heaven.

When your soul is weary and burdened there is only one place to go. Go to God like Paul and Moses and as Jesus said. You give your parents the gift of rest when you help carry in the groceries. After the chores, activities, school, work and many other things in life you need rest. After you sin, you need to find rest for your soul. Jesus carried your sin to the cross and through his resurrection opened the way to heaven. You will have eternal rest with Jesus in heaven. And you are not alone in the trials you go through before heaven. God is your strength to get you through. By God’s grace, he has yoked you to Jesus by faith, and you serve him while battling sin. By God’s grace, you continue to learn that sin weary souls find rest in Jesus. Amen.