Message Notes for this Sunday Romans 7:15-25a Matthew 11:25-26, 28-30 Bondage to Busyness vs. Freedom in Christ Have You Ever Thought Being Over-busied as a Sin? We Become So Busy We Forget What Matters. We’re so Busy…we lose track & become enslaved to our Busyness. Though Living in a Free Land, we are Shackled by Busyness—and don’t feel our lives or our time is free at all! We’re So Busy and Bound by What we need to do next, that we lack the Freedom or the Time to Hear God. We’re So Busy that Our Tiredness turns into Weariness and we find no rest. We Know We Need to Pray but fail to remember that “prayer” makes a busy life easier. Busyness Keeps Us From Hearing Jesus’ Bidding Why Do We Bear our Burden Alone, When Jesus said, “Come.”? 28Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Why? Because Busyness is in all Reality, is Sin Recent headline articles from this past week speak of the trends in our culture that can be very well connected to our increasing compulsion towards busyness: • Time Magazine o The U.S. leads the world in unused vacation days. o Referencing the biggest time robber, the TV: “Step away from the remote: too much TV increases risk for early death.” • Wall Street Journal: o 48% of Americans skipped meals at least 3 times a week….the rise of the snack culture. o Doritos stuffed with melted cheese hit a market where 56% of people snack 3 or more times a day, up from 10% in 1970s. o Americans are becoming serial snackers—roiling the food industry in the process. These all are signs that we are too busy to fix a meal. o Moms spend more hours working than in 1965, but also more hours caring for kids. On the Today Show Matt Lauer opened up a can of worms in interviewing the CEO of GM when he asked her if she thinks she’s keeping her career in balance with her home, marriage and children. This touched the nerves of many who are overstrained as it is by the busyness required to keep that balance. The question by the end of the week was whether women can have it all…some said yes, others said no, and still others said “yes, but not all at the same time.” The struggle parents, whether the mom or the dad, is working hard to keep employed…which often means bringing work home with them on their laptops or portable devices, having time to recharge personally, having time to reconnect with the spouse, plus, shuttling kids to school, events, and appointments all while maintaining a regular walk with God. This struggle can find a parallel in Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 7. 14So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. When we get caught up in the cycle of “busyness” we too become at war with ourselves and for that matter, with God. On the one hand we want to do all the good we can, yet on the other hand, at what point in doing all the good I can isn’t good for me? Paul found that the more he attempted to do the good he wanted to do, it ended up becoming sabotaged by his sinful nature. He made a conclusion for himself: “21I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.” Can we say the same thing for “busyness?” The busier we become the more that is left undone and the satisfaction we seek from being busy is never achieved? I can see Paul lifting up his hands in deep resignation in what he says next in verse 24, “Oh, what a miserable person I am!” On his own strength, Paul finds he’s powerless to break the command his sinful nature has over him. He’s in bondage to himself, and he continues making this inquiry, “Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” Of which he answers himself, “25Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” And what does Jesus say to those who are weary, whether it is with guilt, hurt, despair, or from being overbusied? “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 10:58:38 +0000
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