Morning Worship for Sunday 5 July 2020

by Andy Cokayne 5 July 2020

Welcome - A call to worship from Psalm 145 v 1-8 read by Karen Cokayne

Our first hymn is ‘Great are you Lord’

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

Our second hymn is ‘I heard the voice of Jesus say’

The Adviser Alongside

Advisers are great, aren’t they? Proverbs reminds us ‘Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.’ (Provs 15v22). I can remember having a project at work that was a problem. The value was about £365K, and I knew things were not going well, when we had not finished, but the costs had hit £1M. We appeared to hit problem after problem, issue after issue. We had had various meetings with the client but their response was “Well it’s your job to finish, you knew all this when you started, it’s not our fault.” No help there I thought. We had monthly reviews of all projects within the business, and I began to dread these, month on month the situation got worse, little progress but mounting costs. Directors came and took an interest, but they were stumped too. Month on month I would explain the position, how I had implemented the previous month’s advice, the further problems encountered, and ask for further advice from the experts round the table. Until one month, when I thought things couldn’t get much worse, the advice I received was “Andy! This is sackable.” Thanks I thought! I was frantic! But what could I do? But then someone came alongside. The problems did not go away, I was still working as hard as ever, but somehow the project became manageable and got delivered.

One of the passages set for today, has these words in verses 28 to 30 “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” v 28-30. We often find great comfort in these words. It’s as though Jesus is saying to his hearers “Relax take a chill pill”, and that is sometimes what we want to hear. We may be stressed or panicking about the situation that we find ourselves in, and we need those words from Jesus that just say “calm down”. We may picture ourselves on the psychiatrist’s couch, and Jesus simply saying to us “Now come on, tell me all your troubles.” and once we have told him everything, hope that he will remove all these problems, and so make our lives a lot easier.

Jesus says firstly “Come to me”, these words are critical, we are not to look to ourselves or anyone, or anything, else. The writer of Hebrews put it this way ‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith’ (Hebs 12v2). At times we so easily get distracted by all that is going on around us, that we take our eyes off Jesus, look at all the problems we face, and panic. Secondly Jesus says he is the one we are to go to, if we “are weary and burdened”. How do you feel now that restrictions on ‘lockdown’ are being gradually eased? Does it give you a sense of calm, or just bring a different anxiety? Do you feel weary and burdened, that these challenging times continue, to the point where you wonder when and how all this is going to end? Jesus says “Come to me”. Thirdly “And I will give you rest.” Christ’s ‘rest’ is not a rest from work, but in work. He says “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,” A yoke was something that was placed on working animals to enable them to pull a load or plough, hence Jesus is saying that the rest he promises is not lack of activity, but of work where things are in harmony. Jesus’ final words are “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” In his life and his death, Jesus certainly did not have it easy. Neither does Jesus promise his followers an easy life. In fact Jesus promises that the path for his followers is narrow and difficult (Matt 7v13-14). But we do not have to carry a burden of sin, sorrow and worry, Jesus helps us, strengthens us, and gives us joy as we follow him. We are to learn from him, as he comes alongside.

Our final hymn is ‘My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness’

We are united with churches throughout the country as we share together in the ‘The UK Blessing’.