Learning to Rest in Stress

Matthew 11:28-30 MSG
“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 won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep
company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Three Most Common Areas of Stress:

1. Financial stress
2. Family stress
3. Physical stress

Roots of Stress:

1. Worry
2. Fear
   Matthew 6:25-34 NKJ
   “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or
   what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more
   than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for
   they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father
   feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying
   can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing?
   Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and
   yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
   these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and
   tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of
   little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What
   shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the
   Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these
   things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
   these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
   for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own
   trouble.”

Why People Stress Out:

1. Trying to survive
   Matthew 6:25 NKJ
   “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or
   what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more
   than food and the body more than clothing?”
   Luke 9:24 NKJ
   “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
   My sake will save it.”
2. Don’t understand their value
   Matthew 6:26 NKJ
   “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into
   barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than
   they?”
3. Don’t know God
   Matthew 6:30 NKJ
   “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is
   thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
4. Don’t know God knows them
   Matthew 6:31-32 NKJ
   “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we
   drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek.
   For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
5. Don’t trust God
   Matthew 6:33 NKJ
   But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
   things shall be added to you.
   Matthew 11:28-30 NKJ
   “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.”

Principles to Resting in Stress:

1. Believe God created you to live in a state of rest.
   Genesis 2:1-3 NKJ
   Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And
   on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested
   on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed
   the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work
   which God had created and made.

Four Simple Instructions:

1. Live in dominion.
2. Be a good steward.
3. Fellowship with Him.
4. Rest in Him.
   Genesis 3:17-19 NKJ
   Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife,
   and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall
   not eat of it’: Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all
   the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and
   you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat
   bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you
   are, and to dust you shall return.”

2. Exchange what you’re yoked to.
   Matthew 11:29 NKJ
   “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…”
   Psalm 23 NKJ
   The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in
   green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He
   leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I
   walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are
   with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table
   before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my
   cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
   life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
   Matthew 11:30 NKJ
   “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
3. Learn from Jesus.
   Matthew 11;29-30 MSG
   “Walk with Me and work with Me – watch how I do it. 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.”
   Matthew 6:33 NKJ
   “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
   things shall be added to you.”
   Philippians 4:6-7 MSG
   Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape
   your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know
   it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will
   come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ
   displaces worry at the center of your life.