July 6, 2008 Message

Romans 7:24-27a; Matthew 11:28-30
“That Would Be Good”

Today we are presented with a statement, a question, and an answer.

In Romans 7:24, Paul makes the statement, “What a miserable person I am.” I think of Paul being miserable and I think of Charlie Brown, the hapless young man in Peanuts. There were the times playing baseball, when you knew he was not having a good day – whether he was pitching, or running the bases, about to catch the ball – or not – even sitting on the bench could be painful for Charlie Brown. Would he be the hero or the goat? Would life be fair for a change? Charlie Brown life was a miserable one for sure.

Most people just keep their hurt and pain to themselves. They don’t really let others know how they are hurting. They say, “I’m okay, I’ll get by. Others need help more than I do.” But if they would really share how they felt, we would know just how tired they were from carrying their heavy burden. We would know they needed some rest. We would know they would welcome a lighter load and less weight on their shoulders. We would know they were hoping for a little help from someone.

At times like this, when there is too much water for some, too much wind and rain for others, and the loss of everything for so many, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone present in our life that has been turned upside down? For the worker who now must commute to an un-flooded Minnesota plant and be separated from family for a week at a time… someone to hear us, that would be good.

For the farmer this past week who has planted fifteen acres of beans and had to mud them in, while leaving the rest of his field untouched because of standing water, someone to listen would be good. When high corn prices don’t help because your crop is ruined and it’s too late to replant and now you have sell livestock because you can’t afford to feed them, someone to tell your troubles to… that would be good, as well.

For the grandmother whose cherished pictures of her children were ruined by water, or the newlyweds whose first home was totally destroyed, and all those in this country everywhere experiencing loss of place, despair is the norm. Their burden is heavy and it is weighing them down, perhaps about to destroy them. Someone who might really understand… that would be good, too.

When you are miserable, it isn’t so much you need someone to fix things, although sometimes that might be okay – you just need to know someone is there, with you. When everything seems to be going against you, you need someone on your side. That’s what miserable people like us need and that is what miserable people like us look for.

We look outside ourselves for help, beyond what we can do for ourselves, only when we discover we can’t help ourselves. That is when all that is left is our hope that someone will rescue us.

Paul asks for everyone who has ever been miserable – those who has been unhappy or sad, down or depressed, or just fed up about everything, “Who will rescue me?”

Perhaps we have found ourselves asking the same question? But where do you go for help and to be rescued - a friend, a neighbor; the Legion and its Auxiliary or the Lions or the Lodge; local, state or federal government agencies; our church? Those are all good places to go because I know they all have all provided help to a lot of people whenever there has been a need. Yesterday, two men from FEMA stopped by the parsonage gathering information about people in the church or community who might need help because of the flooding. That is all part of our federal government’s response to people who have experienced a devastating loss because of natural disaster and now need help. And that’s all good.

Ours is a great country, to be sure. On the 4th of July we celebrated another anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of this great nation. Over the course of its 232 years I imagine our country has helped or rescued countless people, whether citizens or not. But before you place all your hope in this country’s hands, consider that this is a country where:
- people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.
- we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage.
- we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and hot dog buns in packages of eight.

Is this really where we want to place our hope? Or might we look elsewhere? Perhaps these words from Pastor W. Gregory Pope, Crescent Hill Baptist in Louisville, KY (The Inner Struggle) would be helpful. He wrote:
On a holiday weekend like this one, we are reminded of the inner struggle of allegiance. We want to celebrate this land that we love, and rightly so, and yet we want to be careful that our allegiance to country never supersedes nor is ever equivalent to our allegiance to God. We sing "God Bless America," and yet we know that our faith will not allow us to ask God's favoritism toward us over other nations. We know there are no national boundary lines with God.
We struggle to love our country when our government acts in ways we feel are contrary to God's ways of justice and peace. But we love our country by calling it to God's ways of justice and peace. We must not let our fear and struggle render us silent and still. Our first allegiance is to the God whose truth still marches on.

There are a lot of places to get help. We can look to our government, our church, our organizations, or the people around us for help, but none of these are the real answer.

Jesus responds to both the statement and the question this way, he says, “If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28) What he is saying is, “If you’re feeling overwhelmed or crushed by what’s going on in your life, come to me. If you need a break, I’m “the man.” My yoke is easy. “Bank on it.” Learn from me. I’m gentle. I’m humble. “I’m smooth.” Picture him in the commercials for Dr. Scholl’s messaging gel insole, asking, “Are you gel’n’ yet?”

The message today is not about what we should do in response to misery. The good news is what God’s response to misery has always been and always will be, sometimes even through us. The crop is lost. The pictures are ruined. The dream is destroyed. And yet ours is a God who we believe is present – and a God who makes it possible for us to be present as well. What a great time it is to be present. What a great time it is to share the Good News – ours is a God of presence in the lives of miserable people like you and I.

Paul knows ‘the answer’ when he says, “Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.” (Romans 7: 25a) And Jesus gives every last miserable person here today ‘the answer’ when he says, “Come to me.” (Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30)

So, now we all have the answer. And we don’t have to go very far at all because he’s here in this place. He has provided a meal for all of us today. Come.

“Come to me all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest...” (Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30)