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“THE MARKS OF A TRUE DISCIPLE: TRUSTFUL REST”

MATTHEW 6:25-34

I think the little girl prayed it just right: “Lord Jesus, make my heart sit down.” Have you ever needed to pray that prayer? Have you ever been so overwhelmed with the demands of life that it felt like your heart was doing jumping jacks?

I suspect we’ve all known that anxiety. There's an old Greek proverb that says, “The bow that is always bent will soon break.” Of course the proverb seems to be implying that if we are always under pressure, if we never have an opportunity to release or let go, our lives will soon break into a million pieces. The image fits us, doesn’t it? Perhaps there is no single word that we choose more often to describe our lives to each other than the word “busy.” I suppose I hear that word several times a day.

One of the most influential Christians of our time, the late Henri Nouwen, used to say “The great paradox of our time is that many of us are busy and bored at the same time.” Which tells us that there is a difference between a life fully devoted to what God has called and equipped you to do, and the mindless preoccupation that is so characteristic of life in our modern world. That kind of busyness is the enemy of genuine discipleship because when unmasked we find out that it is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own agenda and actions instead of paying attention to God's agenda for us. It is taking charge of our lives on our own terms instead of on God’s terms. Busy-ness can be an addictive drug, which is why its victims are often referred to as “workaholics.” Busyness acts to repress our inner fears and personal anxieties, as we scramble to achieve some enviable image to display to others.

So we become “outward” people, obsessed with how we appear, rather than “inward” people, reflecting on the meaning of our lives. And we find out regularly, if we’ll listen, that there is a price to pay for that kind of living. We hear people all around us talk about lost health, lost relationships, lost opportunity – all because busyness crept in and choked out real life. Someone said it quite simply: “The problem with living life in the fast lane is, you get to the toll booth quicker”

Jesus knew that. And that’s why as he talks to us here in the Sermon on the Mount about the core qualities that should be present in the life of true follower of his, “Trustful rest” finds it way prominently into that list.

The oft-repeated word in this passage that ties it all together is “worry” or “anxiety.” We can identify. Anxiety is the common denominator no matter the degree of wealth. Those who do not have enough to live on are naturally anxious about how they will live. Those who have opportunities to develop a better life than they now enjoy worry about how they will get ahead. Those who have all they need and more are anxious about maintaining and protecting their wealth. Truth is, having more is no solution to anxiety.
Maybe that’s why we are sometimes offended when Jesus starts talking like this because he calls us to a completely different way. He says to us, Kingdom people are not even concerned with same things the world is concerned with. Kingdom people give themselves to other things, other priorities that move them in a totally different direction. Worship and worry do not get along well in the same heart. They fight against each other.

So the simple, sane word of Jesus to us is “Don’t worry.” Yeah, right. Easy to say, but how? We’ll, how about if we just put it in the same terms that Jesus did? It’s a choice. Simple as that, really. You have a choice. I have a choice. It’s either pursue life on my terms, or pursue life on God’s terms.

Jesus makes it clear throughout his life and teaching that the alternative to anxiety over what we do not control is to release our grasp of that which we do control. That’s what he’s calling us to here.

I like the story about a rich industrialist who was walking along a pier one day and became disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat.
“Why aren't you out there fishing?” he asked.

“Because I've caught enough fish for today,” said the fisherman.
“Why don't you catch more fish than you need?” the rich man asked.
“What would I do with them?” the fisherman wondered.

“You could earn more money,” came the impatient reply, “and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you'd have a fleet of boats and be rich like me.”
The fisherman thought about this a moment and then asked, “Then what would i do?”
“Well,” said the rich man, “then you could sit down and enjoy life.”

To which the fisherman replied, “What do you think I'm doing now?”
In this part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that real disciples are:

-people who serve others

-people who pray

-people who are able to sacrifice their own desires and needs

-people who have straight priorities

And people who know how to “make their hearts sit down.”

This week is Holy Week. It can be one of two ways for us. It can either be another busy week where we rush from here to there and try to get everything done before Easter including coming to the church more than ever for services. Or, it can be a chance to make our hearts sit down.

There are some outward things we could do. Perhaps we have some things on our agenda for this week that are really not critical. Maybe we have some meetings that could really wait for another time. Maybe there are some commitments that if I just talked to the other person I could be released from. Maybe there are even some ways to simplify life on the home front. But more than all that, it really is a matter of the heart.

I think often of Jesus going to the home of Martha and Mary. I do sometimes think Martha has been inappropriately scandalized for her diligence. But, there’s no mistaking the meaning of Jesus’ words to her. They are words that apply squarely to me. I need to hear them. I need to hear Jesus’ voice and put my name in there where he spoke to Martha.

“Martha, Martha,” he said, “you are worried and upset about many things.” I think many are the days when Jesus would say the very same thing to me.

A little later in Matthew’s gospel Jesus will say, “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.” (Peterson, The Message)

Are you following Jesus like a true disciple?