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Jesus is… Week 2 – Jesus is the Point
Series Big Idea: Jesus is unlike anyone you’ve ever known. In Jesus, you’ll discover a new way of living.
Message Big Idea: Jesus is the point. In Jesus, you can truly rest.
Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30
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Host Moment: Series Introduction (Pre-Message)
Today we continue our series “Jesus is…” Jesus is the most important figure in human history, and
whether you are curious about him, skeptical about him, entering into a relationship with him for the first
time, or you’ve known him for decades; there is always more to discover about the depth of his character
and the impact of his life.
During each week of this series, we’re completing that sentence; “Jesus is…” in five different ways. Our
hope is that all of us will come to know Jesus better and, because of him, discover a new way of living.
So let’s get started with Week 2 of “Jesus is…”
Video: Series Bumper
Introduction: Missing the Point
Let me begin today with a question: how good are you at paying attention? Don’t worry, there isn’t going
to be a quiz at the end, but I think a lot of us would have to admit that there are times we are physically
present but mentally somewhere else. For example, I’m only two sentences into this talk; raise your hand
if you’re already distracted. It’s okay – no judgment. 
So let’s try something this morning… a little awareness test. Take a look at this video and see if you can
pay attention:
Video: Awareness Test
OK, admit it…how many of you missed the dancing bear the first time through? I did too!
Doesn’t it make you wonder… Could this be happening to us in our lives? Could it be that we are so caught
up in a flurry of activity that we are actually missing the point of life?
My guess is your days might look something like mine. I always set my alarm earlier than needed in the
hopes that I can have some sort of mythical, relaxing morning; but most of the time, when I’m jolted out
of sleep by that torture device we call an alarm clock, my mind instantly begins to race with all of the
tasks that are before me that day.
And it doesn’t stop there! After a day of work, my evenings are filled with activities too! I run from thing
to thing, fixing dinner on the fly or grabbing fast food. It becomes this never-ending cycle of jam-packed
weeks, which lead me to exhausted weekends that are also jam-packed because I was so optimistic two
weeks ago when I made plans for coffee, lunch, and 17 other things.
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It often feels like I’m going, going, going. Can you relate? But every now and then I have these moments of
awareness when I wonder… In this flurry of activity, could I be missing the point?
The Importance of Rest
What if there is a better way to live? A way that invites us to step back from the frantic pace and lean into
something good, something right. A way that makes it possible for us to fully pay attention.
And its into the craziness of our lives that Jesus speaks in Matthew 11:28:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” –Matthew 11:28
Did you hear that? Come to me…and I will give you what? Rest.
Rest. Not burdens. Not to do lists. Rest. Now, some of us are thinking, “Rest? What is that?” And this may
surprise you, but rest has always been part of God’s dream for us.
In fact, back in Genesis 2, after God creates the universe, the oceans, the heavens and the earth, the birds
and animals, and finally human beings; God does something very intentional. (Onscreen: Genesis 2:2) He
rests. Central to God’s character is creating and producing…but also rest. And he made us in his image, so
central to what it means to be human is to live into a rhythm of work and rest. God calls this rest
“Sabbath.”
The word Sabbath...shabbat ...simply means “to stop.” Really, that’s it.
It’s a very important word because Sabbath is essential for human flourishing. In Exodus 31, God says to
Moses:
“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths…for in six days the Lord made the
heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” –Exodus
31:14,17
The word for “refresh” is the word “Nephesh.” Nephesh is the Hebrew word for “soul.” It is often used as
a noun; only 3 times is it used as a verb. And every time it appears as a verb, it is connected to this idea of
Sabbath. If you were to translate it directly, it would read something like “to be re-souled” or “to be put
back together.” Does that resonate with anyone? Many of us are tired, stressed, burnt out. Our busy lives
leave us feeling disconnected from God, from each other, even from ourselves. We desperately need to be
put back together.
There is something about rest that puts us back together – that keeps us connected and full. That’s what
Sabbath is all about! It’s about connecting us to the parts of us that need to be re-souled in order for us to
be fully human. God knew from the beginning that we’d have a tendency to overwork, overcommit, and
overschedule - crowding out rest. So in Genesis 2 he establishes a rhythm of rest because we need it.
Crowded Out Margin
Jesus is reminding us of this need thousands of years later when he says:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” –Matthew 11:28
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Realize, when Jesus spoke these words to his 1st century Jewish audience, they were revolutionary. His
invitation to rest blew people’s minds because in Jesus’ day, religion had become a system of neverending obligations, rules and guidelines. There was constant pressure to “measure up.” Let me explain
how this had happened.
(Picture with wide margins) Here is a picture of a page in the Old Testament written in Hebrew. Let’s
imagine this is the page with the story of creation occupying the center of the page, including that very
important precedent of Sabbath. It’s in Hebrew; you can’t prove to me that
it’s not. In the pages of Scripture, God gave us a clear view of who we are
called to be and what we are called to do. And look at all the margin on the
page!
Yet, as time went on, the rabbis felt the need to further clarify and interpret
the text adding additional commands and instructions. Now, please note, it
was likely with the best intentions that they did this. They wanted to fulfill
God’s law and make sure everyone was in line with his commands. But over
time, more and more was added until the pages looked like this. (Picture
with margins filled) There were so many more things to do and not do, to
be and to not be. The bar kept getting higher and higher. The religious
leaders had started with God’s instructions for life, but they filled in all the
margins putting more and more restrictions and requirements on what
people had to do to “measure up,” and it left everyone weary and burdened.
Doesn’t this illustrate what our lives often feel like? We have a tendency to fill up the margins of our lives
with more and more and more until we find ourselves exhausted and overwhelmed.
In my own life, I tend to fill my time with tasks. I take on more and more because I like being busy. But if
I’m honest with myself, I know that what is driving my busyness is my desire to be valued. I constantly
evaluate what I’m bringing to the table…what I’m contributing. So in an effort to prove my worth, I end up
taking on more and more. Maybe you can relate?
Or maybe you just want the very best for your children so you schedule lessons and games and play dates
in an attempt to fight off the fear that somehow you aren’t enough for them. After all, we want to give our
kids every advantage possible, right? I think that’s a perfectly normal parenting impulse. But because it’s
normal, is it good?
We even do this in our spiritual life. We take on so many “good” things that we end up more frazzled than
before. Make no mistake, there’s goodness and worth in helping and contributing, but what happens
when all the “good” we’re doing fills up the margins in our lives and actually keeps us from experiencing
true intimacy with Jesus?
Whether it’s our drive to be successful, a pursuit of status or wealth, our dreams for our kids, or even our
sincere desire to be the best Christ-follower we can be; we fill our lives up with more and more and more
crowding out the margin and often leaving ourselves weary and burdened. But what if all of this activity
is distracting us from the really important stuff on the page? What if it is causing us to miss the point?
Jesus’ Yoke
This is where Jesus not only invites us to come to him to find rest, but he goes on to say:
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“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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” –Matthew 11:29-30
Jesus isn’t only offering rest – he’s offering us a better way to live, a
way where we take on his yoke by discarding our own. Now, you
may be asking, “What the heck is a yoke?” I’m so glad you asked, city
slicker. (Picture) A yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over
the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they
are to pull. It is designed to spread a burden across an animal’s
shoulders so that one part is not overly strained.
Think of the yoke as a symbol of all that you have to pull in life. All the responsibilities you have or have
taken on. We all have a yoke.
(Onscreen: Matthew 11:29-30) Now, I want you to see something here. Note that Jesus is not removing the
yoke. He is not some pie in the sky God who ignores the realities of our lives. He knows that we carry
weight and responsibilities. We all carry things that have to get done. What Jesus is offering is a change of
yokes. Jesus is offering his yoke in place of the one we carry. He says his yoke is lighter and easier. His
yoke isn’t like the impossible yokes so many of us carry. His yoke is a yoke that fits.
And why is his yoke so different? Because it is a yoke shared with Jesus. In essence, Jesus is offering
himself.
Jesus is the Point
Time and time again Jesus does this. Instead of merely offering a mandate, an ideal, or a philosophy, he
offers himself.
When Jesus says, “Come to me” he’s not saying:
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I will teach you about rest
I will point you in the right direction of rest.
I will give you 7 strategic steps to achieve rest.
What does he say?
He says, “I will give you rest.” He doesn’t merely offer some new outlook, a new structure for obtaining
rest, or a life hack for creating better margin in our lives. He offers himself because, simply put, Jesus is
the point.
Think about it like this.
Every room, whether you like it or not – has a focal point, and everything in that room is oriented around
that focal point. It could be a fireplace, a TV, or that framed Top Gun poster that you just can’t seem to let
go of. Now, when the focal point is chosen carefully, everything in the room is arranged carefully around
it – and it works. When the focal point is strategic, some furniture may stay, but other furniture may have
to go because it actually distracts from the focal point.
Jesus is the point. When we orient everything in our lives around him, life works.
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This is precisely what the religious elites in Jesus’ day had missed. In their mind, good people were selfmade people, people who knew how to suck it up and work harder. But being a Christ-follower isn’t at all
about pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. It’s not about being good enough, smart enough, or holy
enough. It’s about a life-altering, life-giving relationship with Jesus who saved us when we couldn’t and
can’t save ourselves.
Here’s what I really hope you don’t miss today – Jesus himself, the creator of the universe, wants to be the
focal point in your life and my life. He wants to be the thing by which everything else in our lives is
oriented and arranged. And I will tell you from experience, when we decide to fully surrender and make
Jesus central, not just on Sundays but every day of the week, we begin to better understand how to
arrange the rest of our lives around him. Why? Because Jesus is the point. When we orient everything in
our lives around him, life works.
Practical Takeaways
So, in light of that, here are a few invitations I want to leave you with. Because Jesus is the point, we can:
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STOP
With confidence we can prayerfully say no to the things that are keeping us from growing in
closeness with God. We can choose to remove things from our lives that are distracting us or don’t
fit with the focal point of our lives. When many of us feel buried by our “to-do” lists, we can have
the confidence to create a “stop doing” list. Maybe we need to ask, “What do I need to say no to in
order to say yes to God?” What things, even good things, are keeping me from the Best thing?
And, because Jesus is the point, we can also:
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SLEEP
Can I get an amen? For some of us, the most holy thing we could do today is to take a nap. We can
choose to rest. We can stop living as if everything depends on us because we can trust Jesus is in
control. I think a lot of us would start to look a lot more like Jesus if we simply learned to sleep.
English preacher Charles Spurgeon put it this way:
“The bow cannot be always bent without fear of breaking. Repose is as needful to the mind
as sleep to the body… Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength. It
is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes
doing less.” - C.H. Spurgeon
Rest and sleep may feel like you’re wasting time, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Lastly, because Jesus is the point, we can truly;
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SABBATH
The appeal of busyness is that it gives us a sense of importance. When my schedule is full, I feel
like I’m in demand. Without me, we think, all of this would fall apart. Sabbath reminds us that we
are not the center of the universe, we are not ultimately the point – Jesus is. Now, Sabbath isn’t
only about ceasing to work, it’s about reigniting our hearts as well. Sabbath means that we can
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feed our souls with the things that renew and refresh us because Jesus invites us to live in the
fullness of life. We can live into the life-giving rest God designed us for.
Conclusion
So I invite you this morning to not miss the point. Let’s not allow distractions and even the good things in
life to take our focus off of the source of all life, meaning, and identity. Let’s remind each other that,
amidst the tasks, schedules, and responsibilities, we are not hamsters on a wheel, cogs in a machine, but
dearly beloved children of God.
Jesus is the point, friends. He is the one who is in all, through all, and by him all things are held together.
He calls us to himself and in him we can find true rest.
(Great opportunity to lead into a time of quiet and reflection. See Catalyst flow for a suggested moment.)
Communion Idea
Part of where the religious leaders of Jesus day missed the point was that they were so busy trying to do
good in order to be good that they couldn’t see how good life was. In their hurry to be good, they had
redefined holiness so they could fulfill the law on their own. They had moved the goalposts. They had
found ways to justify themselves in their own eyes.
When we come to the communion table, however – we remember once again, that we cannot justify
ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. We remember, first and foremost, that the point is not in doing
good or being good. The point is Jesus. And when we eat this bread and drink this cup, we remember
together, not only the sacrifice of Jesus, but the newness of life and rest that he calls us into - that while
we were yet sinners – Jesus gave his very life for ours.
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