Rest for the Heavy Laden

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

Christ’s Invitation to the Weary in Matthew 11

The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 11th chapter. Jesus said, Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, Jesus says. Now, we're not talking about taking a nap here.

We're talking about something a lot different than that. Let me ask you this question, ask it to all of you. Are you tired? I know I am. Have you noticed that life is difficult? It is. Yeah, very tired.

Indeed. And you'll note that the reason why we're worn out, the reason why we're tired, the reason why we are heavy laden has everything to do with the fact that our first parents, Adam and Eve, yes, they were real people.

Jesus believed in them, by the way. And I'm going to go with his opinion regarding Adam and Eve because he rose from the dead. I don't think anyone else has better credentials than Jesus. I mean, when you guys want to disagree with Christ, go right ahead, but I'm not going to believe you until after you rise from the dead three days after you've been crucified, right?

He's got good credentials. He believed in Adam and Eve. And in the Scripture, we hear what happened to our first parents after they disobeyed the one command that God had given them. The one command was this.

Don't eat from that tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The one in the midst of the garden. What did Adam and Eve do? They ate. The serpent deceived them. Told them that if they ate of that tree that they would become like God, knowing good and evil.

And so rather than listening to the voice of God, the voice that said do not eat of that tree, they ate of that tree. And Adam, of course, listened to the voice of his wife, and he ate of that tree. And both of them realized at that moment that they were naked.

And God then showed up in the cool of the day and asked where Adam and Eve were. They were hiding. They'd covered themselves, their nakedness, with fig leaves. A lot of good that'll do. Sounds really itchy to me.

But when God shows up, out came the truth about what had happened. And then each of the participants, the serpent, Eve, and Adam, all received from God punishments for their transgression. And it says this in Genesis 3, verse 17, to Adam, God said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and you have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it.

Cursed is the ground because of you. And in pain shall you eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face.

You shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. You see, that's where all of this misery comes from. That's the reason why we have funerals.

We were never meant to die. That was not how God created us. And when anyone says, well, death is just a natural part of life, I beg to differ. Death is the consequence of sin. The wages of sin is death, Scripture says.

And so as a result of that, we all know that we have a payday coming. And if you look in the mirror, I've noticed this about myself, that every day when I look in the mirror, the image comes back a little bit worse.

You know, it's this horrible thing. You know, I've been at Kongsvinger for nine years now, and I look at the photos back when I was first, made the pastor of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, and I look pretty good in comparison to the way I look now.

And you'll note that this is what's happened to all of us. And so death comes and visits us all, and we all know that we have a date with death, and we also know that with that date comes a meeting with Jesus.

And for many people, that is an anxiety-producing thought. Have you ever had one of those times where you've woken up in the middle of the night, you know, and you wake up with a shortness of breath, and you go, I'm going to die someday.

And the reality is, is you don't know when that's going to be. I don't know when that's going to be. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, or let alone this afternoon. But Christ is not one who is determined to give us what we deserve.

And so the heaviness, the burden that we all care, the burden that we share together, the burden of death, the burden of losing loved ones, the burden of dealing with our own sin, the burden of conflict.

Have you noticed that we human beings don't get along well with each other? It's the most amazing thing ever. And then I would note here, if you don't believe me, just get married, right? You put two sinners in one house together and expect them to cohabitate peacefully, good luck on that, right?

And so you'll note, we don't get along well. And as a result of sin, there is conflict in our marriage. Because of sin, there is conflict in our family. Because of sin, there's conflict in the community.

Because of sin, your sin and mine, there's conflict among friends. And because of sin, there's conflict across the world. Have you noticed that they're fighting wars, even today, right? And I would note something here.

Nothing seems to stay the same in this life that we live. Somebody, I think it was Robert, had found Ruben's baptismal certificate. And it's rather fascinating. I actually, I have it here on my iPad because this is such a wonderful document.

And this document shows that yesterday, June 18th, was Ruben Kleven's baptismal birthday. He was baptized on June 18th, 1931. Now, I wasn't around back then. I've only heard of 1931 from people who were there.

But one of the things that's interesting, as I was scrolling through social media this morning, as I was trying to wake up to a cup of coffee, and I have to do that nowadays with decaf coffee because of hypertension.

Decaf coffee is not as fun as normal coffee. I just want to make that painfully clear to everybody here. But as I was scrolling through social media, I saw video footage that had been recently restored of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig taking batting practice at Yankee Stadium in April of 1931, the year that Ruben was born and baptized.

That's a long time ago. A lot has changed, has it not? Back in the day, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, they were the sultans of SWAT, and everybody worshipped them in New York because these guys were the towering figures of manlihood and of athletic prowess at the time.

And at that time, Ruben was just an infant. The Nazis hadn't even taken over Germany yet. World War II was still a few years off. And in his lifetime, Ruben saw World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the war against terrorism.

The world has changed dramatically, has it not? Now we fight the culture war, whatever that thing is. And so we note that the world changes. We change. The generation that gave birth to us, they haven't passed already.

They're ready to pass. And are we ready to fill in the spot, fill in the gap? Can any of us do that? Are you tired yet just thinking about all of this? But coming back to the words of Christ, Christ says, Come to Me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Christ promises for everyone who believes and trusts in Him the forgiveness of all of their sins and their transgressions. And this is a free gift. And this is because of the great love of God. If you think that God is some mean, angry old man with his arms crossed, looking through his eyebrows at you, really looking forward to seeing you when you get there so that He can toss you into the lake of fire, you don't understand who God is.

You don't understand at all. And here's the thing. Reuben right now is in the company of heaven. The Jesus he believed in by faith in this lifetime has now given way to sight. And here's the thing. Reuben, I'm sure, 100 sure, wants you to be with him.

And we as Christians, we do not mourn as the world mourns. You'll note that people on planet Earth, they all recognize you've got to die. So what do they do? They get busy doing the YOLO thing, right?

You only live once. So let's make sure we tick off all these things on the bucket list. But at the end of the bucket list, you know what? There's a casket. At the end of the bucket list, is there really anything except for a hollow life?

The answer is for all who are in Christ, there is forgiveness, pardon, mercy, grace, reconciliation. And what our first parents lost because of their rebellion and transgression against God, God promises to restore and to give to us on the day that he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.

He will remake the heavens and the earth. Christ says, behold, I make all things new, including you, including Reuben, including us all. So come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. Jesus says, I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. And in me you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. And how is it that Christ can offer something like that to us?

We who are worn out by our own sin and its consequences. We who have destroyed the earth and brought all kinds of conflict in it. How is it possible that we can have such a promise from Jesus? It's found in our Old Testament text.

The Suffering Servant and the Cross

Hear again the words of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was prophesying hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born and conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And he says this regarding Christ's death on the cross.

He, Jesus, was despised. He was rejected by men. Jesus was a man of sorrows, and he himself was acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

You can hear echoes of what would come later while Christ was on trial on that Good Friday when Pontius Pilate trooped out Barabbas and brought out Jesus and said, which of the two would you like me to give to you?

And they shouted out, give us Barabbas. Oddly enough, his name means son of the Father. There's some theological significance to that. But what should I do with Jesus? Crucify him. Why? What has he done?

Crucify him. They wouldn't even answer the question. But see, all of this was to accomplish your salvation and mine. Because Christ has borne our griefs. Jesus has carried our sorrows. We esteemed Jesus to be stricken and smitten by God and afflicted, and indeed he was.

But here's the good news. Jesus was pierced for our transgressions. Jesus was crushed for your iniquities and mine. And the punishment, the chastisement that brought us peace with God was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed of our sin sickness.

Each and every one of us, me included, all of you included, we all like sheep, we've gone astray. We've turned everyone to our own ways. But God has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. Why was Jesus on the cross?

He was bleeding and suffering and dying in order to placate the wrath of God for you. He was despised. He was rejected. He was killed. He suffered in your place so that you do not have to be rejected by God, but instead can be reconciled to him.

He was pierced for your transgressions. He took the punishment that you deserve upon himself so that you could, by faith, then become a child of God. And that he would then promise you as a gift because of his great love.

Something that none of us could ever earn. Not by our good works, not by our money, not by any efforts on our part. True salvation and the restoration of the earth. Eden, come back. All of us in the new earth as it was supposed to be.

Where we'll be reacquainted with, reunited with those who have gone before us. And we will have eternal life in a world without end. And never have to ever have a funeral ever again. That is how good the good news is.

How great our Lord is. And this is offered to every human being freely. And what does it call us to do then? To repent of our sins. To trust in the one who loved us so much that he laid down his life so that we could live.

There is salvation only in Jesus Christ. In no one else. The scripture is clear. There is no other name given on heaven or on earth by which men must be saved. So note this. As we consider the loss of Reuben, we know that we will join him someday.

And for all who trust in Christ, you will have a glorious reunion with him. I love the fact that one of his granddaughters refused to say goodbye to him. And that is appropriate. That is bold. Because for Christians, we never say goodbye.

We always say, I'll see you later. And so, it is true that I got a little choked up. I miss Reuben. He was a hard working man. For somebody who was retired, he sure did put in a lot of work. Right? And you note this about him.

He was selfless. Absolutely selfless. And I loved talking to him. He never understood the thing I was saying because I had to look at him in order for him to hear me. But we enjoyed our conversations together.

And I truly will miss the conversations that we've had. It was funny, Marla said, he never talked to me about his faith, but he did talk to me about it. And the one thing I can say about Reuben Cleven is that he trusted and believed in Jesus.

And it was wonderful preparing him for death. The last time I saw him, I brought him to Lord's Supper, and he was awake when I got there. The time I visited him before that, he was asleep and I didn't know what to do.

What do I do? He's asleep. But he kind of shook himself and woke up and he was so happy to see me. And so I enjoyed our time together. But remember what our epistle text said from Philippians. Something very important.

To Live Is Christ, and to Die Is Gain

And in the Philippians text, Paul is kind of musing, thinking about his life ahead of him, and what shall he choose? He's nearing the end of his own life and he says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

And that's true for all Christians. Every one of us who is still alive and a Christian, to live is Christ. To live selflessly in love towards neighbor and love towards God. Serving each other in our toil that we have to go through and easing each other's burdens, if you would.

And he says, if I am to live in the flesh, well that means fruitful labor for me. It means that for all of us by the way. Yet what shall I choose? I cannot tell, he says. I'm hard pressed between the two.

My desire is to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far better. So as I walked in today, I saw Ruben's body resting comfortably in his coffin. And as I watched the family gathered around when they closed the coffin for the last time.

Hard to watch. And yet, there's a joy in it. Because we can legitimately say of Ruben, he is in a better place. That's where he is, right now. He's with all the Norwegians in heaven. And I know that there's more than two.

Right? Big family reunion for him. But that's the point. Only a Christian can say that it is better to depart and to be with Christ. Because for everyone else, if you have not faith in Christ, this world is the closest thing to heaven that you'll ever experience.

For everybody who is in Christ, this world, this difficulty that we go through, is the closest thing to hell that we'll ever experience. And that's the dividing line. Christ is the dividing line. So brothers and sisters, hear the words of Jesus.

Take heed of them. And note that they are also for you. Are you tired? Are you heavy laden? Are you tired of even trying to save yourself? Why do you even work so hard? And try to be so good, after all?

Because at the end of it, this life is short. Jesus says that he will give you rest. And he has given Reuben his. And we look forward to when we can join him in that rest. In the eternal life that Christ gives us for free, because of his shed blood on the cross.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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