Come, Take, Rest: Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Battles

Dr. Laci Richardson: Ooh, man, it's kind of hard to get up here
after your daughter's singing in front of you.
So good.
So I am Dr. Lacey Richardson,
and I'm an accounting professor
here in the College of Business.
It has been a really difficult year
for the Richardson family.
For me, for my husband, Raymond,
for our daughter, Leah, for our son, Ryan, really hard.
We've had individual hardships,
we've had family hardships.
We have been in a battle.
We've been under attack.
And these are some of the things
we've experienced over the last year.
Maybe you can relate.
Bad decisions, confusion,
brokenness, lies, betrayal,
fear, shame, broken relationships,
consequences, sleepless nights,
heaviness, darkness, disrespect,
yelling, distrust, anxiety,
loss of identity, stress, depression,
anger, burnout, lack of focus,
tears, lots of those, feeling unworthy,
sadness, but as my sweet friend,
Tonia Boyer likes to say, but God.
Here are some of the blessings we've experienced this year.
I hope you can relate to some of these.
Redemption, victory, invitation,
trust, humility, rest,
love, relationships, healing,
grace, worth, friends, mentors,
laughter, a lot of that, comfort,
resilience, faith, strength,
joy, closeness, light,
more tears, but happy this time,
resurrection, presence, and peace, lots of peace.
Today's chapel is about the teachings of Jesus.
And one of my favorites is found in Matthew 11,
verses 28 through 30.
It says, "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.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
I wanna take just a couple of minutes,
or a minute, not very long,
to look at this just a little slower.
There's only two things in this verse
that you're supposed to do, that I'm supposed to do.
There's only two things that Jesus,
this is Jesus talking,
there's only two things he wants us to do,
and one of them is come.
That's the first word,
and the first thing that we're supposed to do is come.
I feel like this should be like,
"Hey Lacey, woo-hoo, woo-hoo, over here, over here, come."
Like, stop trying to figure it out,
stop trying to solve it, stop worrying,
stop trying to fix it,
stop trying to find the answer, just come,
woo-hoo, over here, come.
Like, I feel like it should start with all of that.
Just come, it seems simple,
but that's what I'm supposed to be doing, is come.
And then it says, "All you who are weary and burdened."
Weary in the dictionary means exhausted
in strength and endurance.
You've probably felt that way at some point in your life,
maybe you're there right now, weary.
And burdened, burden means heavy laden,
which means loaded, you just feel loaded down
or encumbered, weighed down.
So when you feel exhausted and when you feel weighed down,
come, he says.
And then it says, "And I will give you."
So this is Jesus saying he's gonna give us something,
it's free, he's giving you something, it's a gift,
it's free.
And what he's gonna give you is rest.
Doesn't that sound so good?
He's gonna give you rest, and not just rest as in sleep,
but rest for all of you, physical rest, mental rest,
emotional, spiritual rest.
And then here's the second thing you're supposed to do,
and I'm supposed to do, is take.
So come, take, that's it.
Come to Jesus, take his free gift.
This says, "Take my yoke."
I'm gonna talk about yoke in just a second.
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
"for I am gentle and humble in heart."
Gentle in the dictionary means tender.
Jesus is saying, "Come to me, I'm tender,
"I'm gonna be careful with you,
"I'm gonna be careful with all your hurts."
And he's humble, which means no arrogance
or feelings of superiority.
He has all the right to feel superior, but he doesn't.
He's humble.
And you will find, there's that word again, rest.
Man, that sounds so good.
And it continues to say, "Rest for your souls."
So he elaborates here, "Rest for your souls,
"not just your bodies, but all of you,
"physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, all of you."
So it says, "For my yoke is easy."
So a yoke is a wooden bar used to join oxen together
when they would work in the field.
So to join oxen together
so that they can carry the load together.
And so he wants us to take his yoke,
and he says, "His yoke is easy."
I've read a book recently,
maybe you have seen it or read it,
called "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry"
by John Mark Comer, really recommend it.
I wanna read a quote from him in this book.
It says, "Jesus's invitation is to take up his yoke,
"to travel through life at his side,
"learning from him how to shoulder
"the weight of life with ease,
"to step out of the burnout society to a life of soul rest."
Because when we're next to him,
his yoke is easy because he's shouldering it for us.
And then it says, "For my burden is light."
His burden, okay, his load is light.
One more quote from John Mark Comer in the book says,
"Jesus doesn't offer us an escape.
"He offers us something far better, equipment.
"He offers his apprentices a whole new way
"to bear the weight of our humanity,
"with ease at his side,
"like two oxen in a field tied shoulder to shoulder,
"with Jesus doing all the heavy lifting at his pace,
"slow, unhurried, present to the moment,
"full of love and joy and peace."
That's possible.
And all I have to do when I'm in the middle of a battle,
when I feel like I'm being attacked from all angles,
come, take, come, take.
That's all I have to do.
Emma read this verse for us at the beginning,
and this is what Isaiah said about Jesus
before he was even born.
"For to us, a child is born.
"To us, a son is given,
"and the government will be on his shoulders,
"and he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
"Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Today, I want to end chapel with a song,
and I'm gonna be really brave in front of you today
because I've been learning sign language.
For me, sign language is an act of worship,
and I had a dear friend,
one of the days when I was in the middle of this battle,
I texted a few friends and said, "I need some help today."
And one of these sweet friends sent me this song.
I'd never heard it before, and it has been so good for me,
and I loved it so much, I learned it in sign language.
And so today, I'm gonna do it for you in sign language.
And so I'm practicing overcoming my fear today
in front of you.
So the song's gonna play,
the words are gonna be on the screen,
and as soon as the song is over,
you're gonna be dismissed
'cause I'm not gonna come back up here and say, so.
All right, here we go.