Come

Come and Go Part 1.

Jesus says: Come

Matt 11:28,29

Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

And Go

Matt 28:18-20

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Come and Go.

Coming and Going is a theme that Jesus uses with his disciples and those who follow him. He calls his disciples to himself and then he sends them out. He calls us to himself, and then he sends us out.

He calls the disciples to "Come follow Me"

Mark 1:16-17

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net out into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, Come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people.

And then a little while later he tells them to "Go". He sends them out on a mission to heal and to tell about the Kingdom of God.

Luke 9:1-2

One day Jesus called together his disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Luke 10:1

The Lord now chose 72 other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.

Over the next few weeks we will investigate what it means to come to Jesus and how we go out into all the world. Today we look at "Come". Jesus says "Come to me". What does Jesus mean when he says "come to me"? In Jesus, we find the answer to life's greatest need. In Jesus we find love, grace, mercy, acceptance, and a place to lay down the sorrow and the burdens we carry.

Jesus promises to give us rest if we will come to him.

A couple of thoughts 

1. Choose to come

So often we run around trying to resolve the issues we face when Jesus simply says to come. We talk about giving our cares and our worries to him, but it only happens when we actually do that. When we stop the merry-go-round and we choose - a deliberate action - to come to Jesus.

We can reel off all the scriptures, all the platitudes, but unless we actually stop, and choose to come to Jesus, nothing changes. Jesus wants us to get off the merry-go-round of running in circles and to choose his presence, his peace, his hope. He simply says, come, and be still.

Psal 37:7

Be still in the presence of the Lord.

Psalm 46:10

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still. Stop the worry, stop the anxious running around.

1 Peter 5:7

Give all your worries and cares to God for he cares for you.

Jesus cares for us, and he knows that the burdens that we carry are too big for us. He says to offload our burden with him, and to take on his yoke because his burden is light, and his yoke is easy. When we come to Jesus, and trust him, he removes our burden of guilt and shame and he brings peace to our anxious thoughts. He gives us a place to come, and a place to experience his peace, and his righteousness.

When we yoke ourselves with him, following his pattern and his purpose, we begin to allow his life to flow through ours. We take on his yoke, his purpose for our lives, which lives is be a light yoke, because we are in a place of rest in him and living a purposeful life. 

Let go of the burdens. Jesus offers rest, peace and hope. He offers an opportunity to come to him, no matter what life throws at us, no matter the circumstances we face, and he gives us grace to go and live the way he has purposed for us. 

Choose to come to Jesus. Choose his rest and his presence.

John 1:16-17

From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ

When we are intentional we can let go of worry and rest in God. This does not mean we do nothing, but we first come to Jesus, we give the worry to him and we wait for his direction.  

Don't just react to everything - we can choose our response. When stuff happens, when people say or do dumb stuff, (and they will), when circumstances aren't great, lets be women who choose to respond in a sensible way, and come to Jesus.

2. Ready to listen

God speaks to us in many ways. When we choose to come, when we deliberately take the time, we find that God is there, waiting. If we will listen, we will hear his voice.

Elijah heard God, not in the fire, or the earthquake or the storm, but in the still small voice. The old hymn - O Lord and Father of Mankind by John Greenleaf Whittier, says it perfectly: "speak through the earthquake, wind and fire, o still small voice of calm". This encapsulates the understanding that it is in the still small voice that God speaks.

1 Kings 19 tells the story.

Elijah had reacted and gone into panic mode. He literally runs and yet God finds him and says "what are you doing here?" How often do we find ourselves away from God and his purpose because we react, go into worry mode and run around aimlessly?

But how can we hear God's voice when we are like that? Are we prepared to stop, listen for the voice of God, the voice of calm? God came to Elijah and he basically says "what are you doing". "How about you stop running and panicking. How about you get on my agenda, and he isnt too keen on Elijahs response.

Elijah tried to justify himself, and God says - stop running, draw close - listen to what I have to say. God spoke in a gentle whisper, and again says "what are you doing here?" He then tells Elijah to go back. And he gives him directions for the next phase of his ministry. We can only hear God properly when we stop running and we start listening for God's still small voice.

Lets make sure we are listenning. Sometimes we want the miracle, the loud audible voice, but God speaks in a still, small voice.  God speaks to us by his Spirit. This is his prefered mode of communication. God is waiting for us to come, he is wanting us to come, to take the time to sit/stand/walk in his presence - to hear his voice.

1 Cor 2:9-12

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."

But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets. No-one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spiirt, an no-one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit. And we have received God's Spirit (not the world's spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

We come to Jesus. We find refuge in him, we draw to him, and are still. We wait, and know that God will speak to us. He will speak, in his still small voice, and through his Spirit.

Will we take the time to respond instead of react and sit quietly before God?

Concluding Thoughts

Jesus tells us to come to him, to give him all to him, to take on his plan and purpose for our lives. Then, when we have come to him, we are in a place where we can be still, and listen to him, learning to recognise his still small voice.

Will we come?

Will we be still?

Will we listen?

 

What is your response to God today?