hi clearview
in a couple of weeks we're going to
gather in this space to worship on a
sunday morning at 10 a.m
it'll be september 13th and we know that
a lot of you are pretty excited about
that opportunity and been looking
forward to it
and we know that plenty of you will not
be able to join us at that time
and both are okay we're excited for this
opportunity
and we expect that the first time there
might be a few glitches a few things we
need to work out
but the opportunity to grow in our
worship and our worship presence both
here
and online is a great and exciting
opportunity for us
there will be a lot of different
protocols that we'll need to put into
place
you'll need to sign up you'll need to
wear a mask and so on those details will
come out
we just want to let you know that this
is on the horizon it's coming soon
and we're looking forward and making
preparations
look forward to seeing you then good
morning church
how are you doing during this pandemic
somebody's asked me what have you
learned
during this pandemic and i would have to
say a big thing that i've learned
is to be church instead of
going to church
and the other thing that i've really
learned is that i am a child of god
you're a child of god that god loves me
he loves you so much and
it's our prayer that during this service
today that you would be able to really
grab hold of that
and you would be able to rest
rest let's pray this
prayer together oh lord
you have examined my heart you know
everything about me
you know when i sit down or stand up you
know my thoughts
even when i'm far away you see me
when i travel and when i rest at home
you know everything i do you know
what i'm going to say even before i
say it lord you go before me
and follow me you place your hand of
blessing on my head
such knowledge is too wonderful for me
too great for me to understand
you made all the delicate inner parts of
my body
and knit me together in my mother's womb
thank you for making me so wonderfully
complex
your workmanship is marvelous how well
i know it you watched me as i was being
formed in
utter seclusion as i was woven together
in the dark of the womb
you saw me before i was born
every day of my life was recorded in
your book
every moment was laid out before a
single day had passed
how precious are your thoughts about
thee oh god
they cannot be numbered i can't even
count them
they outnumber the grains of sand and
when i wake up
you are still with me
good morning clearview my name is derek
maat and i'm a member of our
congregation here
and also a board member at john knox
christian school
this morning i've been asked to give
some background on john knox
as it is the organization that we are
partnering with this week they're
offering
as many of you know john knox is an
elementary school that's located just a
five minute walk from our church
building
the school is focused on providing an
education from a christian worldview
to children's grades junior kindergarten
to grading
the school does not receive government
funding and as a result
it charges tuition to families of
children that attend
one of the core values of the school is
to provide tuition assistance
through bursaries to families who desire
to send their children to the school
but are unable to pay full tuition rates
this year the need for bursaries is
especially great
due to the financial strain that the
cooperation has placed on many
in our community our clearview offering
today
is to support the bursary program at
john knox to assist families in need
thank you for your peripheral
consideration in supporting this need if
you feel led to give
there are a few different ways to do so
you can give online
by e-transfer by text or by using the
planning center app
may god bless your giving this morning
thank you
morning clearview looking forward to
praying with you
this morning as i was thinking about
this moment and what to share with you
i remembered this past week that i had
an opportunity to
share devotions with a group of
christian leaders
and i shared with them this idea of
desolation and consolation this is a
ignatius practice of
remembering daily but not necessarily
daily
when do we feel close to god and when do
we feel
further away from from god so desolation
further from god consolation when we
feel close to god
and i thought i would share this with
you as a as a way for
us to reflect on when is it that you
and perhaps even with your family as
you're gathered
when do you feel closest to god and when
do you
feel furthest from god it's important
for us right to reflect
on this because we want to increase
those moments
when we feel close to god and we want to
know more about well why is it that we
feel further
from god that that desolation
so that perhaps we can be more familiar
with with
an in tune with our relationship with
with jesus
so what i'd like us to do is i'm going
to to pray and i'm going to give you a
moment
to think about those moments when you
are
feeling closest to god this consolation
and when you are feeling further away
from god and just to bring that
to jesus right now and then i will
finish with
sharing a psalm psalm 37 not the whole
thing but
part of it when i believe uh david
when he was writing his psalms was
wrestling with consolation and
desolation as well
with with god so let's pray together
lord we yearn for moments when
we are our closest to you
and lord we need to acknowledge that
there are moments when we are
not close to you
but we want to bring those moments right
now when
we don't feel close to you
perhaps it's those it's it's triggered
by
reading some news article
about the racial injustice
that seems to be
so at the fore of our thoughts right now
lord
and we grieve with communities
that find it very difficult to find
justice in this moment
we grieve when we hear about human
trafficking
we grieve when we hear about the
increase
in the effects of climate change
we grieve lord when we just do not feel
close to you
and we wonder where are you lord
so lord we want to bring that to you
right now
and we're reflecting with you those
moments when we don't feel close to you
mr
and lord there are moments when we are
just filled with joy and we
we sense this flow that we are
inside your love and grace and care and
compassion for us
and we are close to you and we
experience
consolation and lord we yearn
for more and more of those moments when
we are close to you
and lord perhaps we are closest to you
when we stop and we are
still and we are praying
with you and we are bringing our praises
and our petitions
perhaps lord we experience consolation
when we are in nature
we are going for a hike or when we're
having an amazing conversation with
with a friend or when we are reading
scripture
or when we see what our children
meeting you or doing something so
important
and being in service
lord we want to bring to you
a grateful heart for those moments when
we
feel consolation when we are closest to
you
so
and now clearview church hear these
words from
psalm 37 as given to us an
interpretation
by eugene peterson in the message there
are some
important exhortations in here
encouragements for all of us as we
whether we're in a moment of consolation
or desolation
we can pray the psalms and we can pray
especially psalm 37
don't bother your head with braggarts or
wish you could succeed
like the wicked in no time they'll
shrivel like glass
grass clippings and wilts like cut
flowers in the sun
get insurance with god and do a good
deed
settle down and stick to your last keep
company with god
get in on the best open up before god
keep nothing back he'll do whatever
needs to be done
he'll validate your life in the clear
light of day
and stamp you with approval at high noon
quiet down before god be prayerful
before him
don't bother with those who climb the
ladder who elbow their way to the top
bridle your anger trash your wrath
cool your pipes it only makes things
worse
before long their crooks will be
bankrupt god investors
will soon own the store before you know
it the wicked will have had it
you'll stare at his once famous place
and nothing down to earth people
will move in and take over relishing
a huge bonanza may this be
our prayer have a wonderful day
amen good morning clearview
as we turn to the word of god today we
are continuing our apocalypse
now series and um it struck me that
i've been watching a netflix show and
before i even say what the show is
i always say i'm never recommending
things just because i say i've watched
them
all right and it's called the umbrella
academy
um it's not really that good of a show
actually my wife won't even watch it
with me it's that bad
um but the reason i bring it up is that
they talk about
the apocalypse and they use exactly as
we are saying it's not meant to always
be used which is
it's the end of the world when things
are totally blown up and destroyed and
life is is ended um and in the series
we've been recognizing again
and again and saying over and over that
the apocalypse means revelation it's the
revelation of god and of his truth and
the apocalypse is jesus and how he
reveals himself
and today we're going to talk about
apocalypse rest
which is really the um presence of jesus
christ that comes to give us
true rest in him and in who he is
so before we turn to god's word which
will be matthew chapter 11.
let us go to god in prayer
lord jesus christ we thank you for the
gift of yourself
of your truth we thank you lord jesus
that you are the word
and that you are reflected in the word
of god in the bible
and so we pray that as we open the word
that we meet you their lord jesus and
that by your holy spirit
your truth is brought deep into our
hearts and shapes the way we live
and we pray this all in your holy name
amen
so matthew chapter 11. um
in matthew chapter 11 i'll start verse
25 it's a parallel
to the luke 10 passage with which i
started this series
and i recommend i think i wrote that in
the e-news
i recommend that you do compare and
contrast yourself and look at these two
passages
matthew 11 verse 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 the learned
and revealed them to little children yes
father for this was your good pleasure
all things have been committed to me by
my father says jesus 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
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'll
find rest for your souls
for my yoke is easy and my burden
is light this is the word of the lord
thanks be to god so
the last part of that passage come to me
all you who are
weary and heavily burdened is is well
known
and i think for most of us when we hear
that and think about it we have a strong
connection with
you know we're tired we're busy we're
exhausted by some things we're carrying
burdens around
right whether it's relational things or
family members or
illnesses our anxieties we are carrying
those burdens and jesus is calling us to
come and lay all those things down
and that is true and that's certainly
part of this but i want to look at this
idea of
apocalypse rest the revelation of rest
rest in jesus christ
um in terms of its broader context both
the peace that i read before we will go
through that
and also um there's a whole piece on on
rest in the beginning of
chapter 12. um so we'll look at that a
little bit as well even though i didn't
read that
so the apocalyptic pattern
comes out again in this passage and it's
that revelation
apocalypse is a gift it's done
graciously it's given graciously at
god's
at his plan and his decision jesus says
you've hidden these things from the wise
and the learned and revealed them
to little children
you have god loves to show
his truth to the people whom we least
expect
to hold it children
are not expected to be the most
knowledgeable and mature people in the
crowd
no offense kids right yet
my experience of parenting is always
come back to
my job as a parent was to learn from my
children
how best to raise them
the wisdom of god was given to me
through my children in many in many
different ways the biblical theme of
course
continually points to god goes to
the last in the least and the lost it's
lepers who jesus reaches out to and has
compassion on
it's the pharisees with whom he fights
the religious leaders
it's the lost sheep that jesus goes
after
not the many who have already been found
and i want to suggest you that this
biblical pattern
of apocalypse of revelation of god's
gracious gift of
truth requires that we are willing
to look to the people in our world in
our lives
who are part of this group of last lost
least lepers
right so it's the persecuted
it's the marginalized it's the poor
it's the rejected it's the people we're
not sure
what to do with in our world right now
as we continue to see
racist acts and reactions to racism
right that's one place if we really want
to learn god's wisdom
and truth about what it means to be
a racialized person in our world at this
time
probably those who are on the receiving
end
of that would be the children
of this passage those to whom god has
chosen to reveal his truth and in so
many other circumstances
the same kind of dynamic takes place and
let's just be honest that's
really hard for us to grasp and hang on
to
i'm a trained educated person right and
so it's my job
to be here and to explain to you how
scripture works
and the idea that somebody
somebody with an inability
to learn as clearly as i do or to
articulate the way i do
that they would actually be our teacher
that's an upside down mindset which i
think we need to pay attention to
god speaks through children god speaks
through people with mental disabilities
he speaks powerfully through
those who are indeed those we might
consider
the least the children the smallest
and the weakest let's pay attention to
that because if we're going to find
rest if it's going to be revealed to us
it's going to be in that kind of a way
and then the next little paragraph jesus
talks about this amazing relationship
with his father he says all things have
been committed to me by my
father and no one knows the son except
the father no one knows the father
except the son and those who whom the
son chooses to reveal him
it sounds like well there's not much
chance of us really understanding and
knowing god
and i think there is real truth in the
simple fact that
we will never know god we'll never know
jesus the way jesus and the father know
each other that intimate relationship
is something that um
that's the high bar that's the thing
that we aspire to that's the thing that
stays ahead of us
that draws us into his presence um that
said i'd like to read
the same passage in eugene peterson's
the message
um in his his paraphrase
um because he says he says it this way
the father has given me all these things
to do and say this is a unique
father-son operation coming out of a
father's
father and son intimacies and knowledge
no one knows the son the way the father
does
nor the father the way the son does and
this line but i'm not keeping it to
myself
i'm ready to go over it line by line
with anyone
willing to listen right those to whom
jesus chooses to repeal it
all right the reason we
follow jesus the reason we read the word
the reason
um we are part of of faith communities
that
talk and pray around scripture is
because
not we want to be more educated in the
bible
but we want to be approaching this
intimacy
of father son in heaven kind of dynamic
all right and jesus says i am the path
to the father
i am the one who's going to invite you
into this
incredible sense of love if we are going
to love our neighbors
then we need to understand how much god
loves us and we're going to understand
how much god loves us we need to
see and understand and be drawn into his
incredible love relationship within the
trinity father son and holy spirit
right and so jesus invites us into this
deeper
and deeper knowledge of the great
commandment
love god with all your heart soul and
mind we learn that from his relationship
father and son right and love your
neighbor as yourself we learn that from
understanding
well how does god love me in the first
place and once i can accept
that he loves me fully and deeply as i
am and way too much to leave
leave me the way i am right then we can
begin to enter in
um to that kind of a truth and i will
suggest that when we understand
god's love for us and when we can enter
into what it means to love our neighbor
that's when we have rest revealed
to us in its deepest sense so that
brings us to then the
well-known piece of this passage and i'm
going to read this again
in the message version because i think
he does a a fabulous job of helping us
um
grasp what it talks about so john 11 the
verse 28 says in the message
are you tired worn out burned out on
religion
come to me get away with me and you'll
recover your life
i'll show you how to take a real rest
walk with me
and work with me watch how i do it learn
the unforced rhythms
of grace i love that line learn the
unforced rhythms of grace
i won't lay anything heavy or
ill-fitting on you keep company with me
and you'll learn to live freely and
lightly
because you see what what this come to
me and rest
image is really all about is what does
it mean
to live all of our lives not just a
sabbath day or a rest day or a day off
or a vacation
how's it what does it mean to live all
of our lives resting
in the power and the love of jesus
christ what does it mean
to even in the midst of the most
challenging
anxious stressful thing that we need to
do in our life no deep in our souls
that god's got us and god's got this
right and that we can have that inner
sense of
unexplainable peace even
as we're facing that which is
challenging and possibly makes us
nervous or anxious
or tired all right come to me into that
level of intimacy jesus is inviting us
so when we talk about rest we're really
talking about sabbath
right and the beginning of chapter 12 is
really jesus dealing with the sabbath
and i think it's instructive to how this
goes
because when jesus deals with the
sabbath he seems to have this knack for
messing with all the rules around
sabbath
right the history of our tradition has
has included a fair number of rules
around sabbath where we have this deep
sense that
the key to keeping sabbath is that we
stop doing what we normally do
and we do particularly religious things
we go to church
right we don't engage in in sports and
other activities we
just simply focus on religious things
right and when jesus dealt with the
sabbath
and he dealt with the pharisees around
the sabbath he seemed to regularly
choose to do things which would
upset them he healed on the sabbath and
he made a point of that
and the message he seemed to be bringing
across was
sabbath is about being in the presence
of god and
resting in him in ways that bring new
and healthy and
more vigorous life to people
and so to heal on the sabbath seem to
make the most sense
right and so jesus said about the
sabbath
have you not heard it said i desire
mercy
not sacrifice i desire
a way of being that is compassionate for
other people merciful
not based on did you go to church did
you tithe
are you doing the right christian things
to show that you are a good follower of
jesus christ who
deserves his grace his revelation his
rest
see again it's this upside down sort of
thing where god is saying to us
what i'm looking for is not can you do
enough things to prove to me
that you deserve my rest but can you
just simply receive the gift of my rest
as an act of my mercy of my love and to
show that then by
being a merciful loving gracious person
to whoever you meet in all the
circumstances that you bump into
and note that in the in the niv
in the new international version the
message is take
my yoke upon you so in peterson's
version
he clearly understands that the yoke
that we have
and if you don't know a yoke is a bar
with with rings on it basically that
goes one around your neck and one
around the neck beside you right and
it's usually use an ox and not on people
right but the image here is that we
would be yoked as peterson puts it
with jesus christ jesus says walk with
me learn
the rhythms of life that i lived right
the reason we study the gospels in
particular the reason
we follow and look at jesus is we want
to know things like
how did he interact with the father well
he got away by himself to pray he had
disciplines in his life
right he had regular patterns of
conversation with god that informed who
he was
jesus spoke about how he didn't do
anything unless the father
instructed him so jesus showed us the
discipline of being
yoked to god is about really saying
how do i listen every day in all my
decisions
to what's the spirit telling me is my
next step
how do i walk in sync with who jesus is
in my life
the unforced rhythms of grace
right so jesus was an incredibly
gracious person who
met those who were leased and lost and
last those whose lives are broken
and when you read those stories the
woman at the well the woman caught in
adultery
zacchaeus you see
jesus entering into their lives with
mercy
and then out of that giving them
challenges
and so it seems to me that the unfourth
rhythms of grace are recognizing that
we're not going to earn by being right
about everything and doing everything
right a place with jesus
but rather we're called to simply be in
tune with
this very simple powerful baseline truth
that we have received by grace as a free
gift
peace in jesus christ offered through
his sacrifice on the cross
and the power of his resurrection
and our calling is to be as gracious
with others
as christ was and is
with us and i want to suggest you that
this is
an ongoing journey that we need to lean
into and live into
over and over again what if we were a
community that when we met in smaller
groups and had our honest and vulnerable
conversations some of those
conversations were around
you know this is where i wasn't gracious
this is how i reacted in that
circumstance and
that was that was my stuff that was my
bad
and then as we say those things we
receive the grace from other people that
says
thanks for sharing that thanks for being
honest you know in the name of jesus
you're forgiven for that
right and if you want to use the jesus
line from from john 8
go and sin no more try and do that
better next time
right know that you've been re
graciously received
in your heirs
and so you can be gracious with yourself
and then likely be more gracious to the
next person the next time
that's i think the yoke of walking with
jesus
but then it struck me what if
what if the yoke that
jesus is offering to us take my yoke
upon you
isn't yoking us with jesus
but what if the yoke is yoking us with
each other
now this gets a little bit more messy
because now those
lost and last and strange people and
people i might not be particularly fond
of those
others are now my yoke fellows
we talk sometimes in church circles we
use the language of
unequally yoked and we usually talk
about that being two people are married
to each other who don't have the same
spiritual commitments right but what if
the fact is
jesus is always actually asking us
to be unevenly yoked if you will the
people who are part of our community
people who are different from us because
let's face it we're all different in
some way
what if god's call in jesus christ is
come to me and rest and here's my yoke
it's not only to walk with me but it's
to
link yourself up with somebody who is
other and different than you
which is pretty much everybody at least
to some degree
and in so doing let me be
the one who's actually riding the team
of oxen or riding in the cart behind him
let jesus be the one
that is guiding us and steering us and i
don't want to suggest you that there is
one right answer that no it's only with
jesus or it's only with another person
i think it's both of these things at the
same time because we are the body
of christ and so christ's invitation to
sabbath rest
to resting in him is one that says
that rest is actually being yoked
and being yoked as being ready to work
and so the rest is really
learning the rhythms of grace that allow
us not only to walk comfortably with
jesus and to imitate and
interact with him but the rhythms of
grace that allow us to live with each
other accepting of our differences
dealing with our challenges
being gracious and forgiving and
receiving
grace and forgiveness what if
sabbath rest is having such a peace in
christ
that we're willing to yoke up with other
people
and allowing jesus to lead us with those
people who might make us a little
anxious at first
to a place where we're at rest at peace
with them
just as christ is at peace with us
because of his sacrifice because of his
mercy because of his love
what if like our leader jesus
part of our task of being at rest
is being at peace with having to absorb
some of the anger and brokenness in this
world
because if you're paying any attention
to the news right now there's a lot of
things being said that are really
hate driven there's a lot of actions
that are being hate driven
and we're people of love we're called to
love our neighbor we're called to love
god
and god's way of loving us
was to enter into our world absorb our
anger
and our hatred and our brokenness and
pass out rest and peace in return
but if our calling is to come to jesus
and say
jesus i need to have you reveal
freely to me your incredible gift of
peace
and rest that you gave in your sacrifice
on the cross
your incredible mercy to me that gives
me forgiveness
when i don't even deserve it and what if
in having received that
we're then called to say i'm now going
to go into the world
instead of getting mad at the person who
cuts me off on the road
i'm gonna think and speak words of
forgiveness maybe even out loud right in
my car
instead of getting mad at the person
who's different from me and other than
me and speaks angry words to me
i'm to speak words of forgiveness and
healing and reconciliation
and what if the person who differs with
me and their opinion about things right
here in my own church community or even
right in my family
right in those closest to me what if i
learn to take the rhythm of grace
to be yoked with jesus in such a way
that no matter what they do i work hard
to forgive to understand to learn to
walk with a sense of peace
and rest just as jesus has offered
himself
to walk at peace and at rest with me
so our challenge is to think of
who is one person that comes to our mind
as we talk about
needing to enter into rest and
forgiveness
and restoration in relationship and are
you willing to take the first step
in restoring that relationship take my
yoke upon you says jesus
for my yoke my burden is easy and my
yoke
is light he will enable us and empower
us
to bring this rest or to receive this
rest from him
and to engage in this restful peaceful
way of living with others
may god bless you as you step deeply and
fully
slowly but surely into that truth
amen
and so this is God's blessing to us
may the words of your mouth
our mouths and the meditation of our
hearts
may they be pleasing in your sight o
lord
our rock and our redeemer
go in peace and live
according to his word
in wisdom for his world
amen
