Highlands Fellowship You Can't Handle It All Transcript
Well, hey everybody and welcome to Highlands Fellowship. It's amazing to see what God is doing all around the world as we try to help people experience life with Jesus. And so, thank you for your generosity. Thank you for praying for the people in Ukraine because we're going to stand with them and we're going to see the gospel continue to spread throughout all the nations of the world together as we change the world and we follow after the vision that God has for us. Today, we're going to be continuing our series called Hard Truths. And what we're doing is we're wrestling with four different truths throughout the course of this series. And these are truths that God intends to use to give us freedom in our lives. But these same truths, when they get distorted, are oftentimes weaponized by our spiritual enemy to bring shame, to bring fear, and to bring paralysis into our lives.
In week one, we talked about the truth that you will never be good enough. You can't earn salvation on your own, but it's through faith in Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ alone. Last week we talked about the truth that you can't please everyone, but you can please God as you have a proper fear of God that breaks the power of human approval in your life. And so if you have your Bible today, go ahead and open it up, or maybe even a Bible app, open it up to Matthew 11. And the truth that we're going to be talking about today is this: you can't handle it all. You can't handle it all. But the reality is many of us, we're trying to do way more than we probably should. And because of that, most of us feel overwhelmed. We're in a hurry. We're rushed. We're late all the time.
In fact, how many of you, you're so often in a rush that slow people just really annoy you? Any of you have any of you ever gone to the store and you go and you get your stuff and then you walk up to the line and then you start analyzing which line that it's going to go into so you can get through it the fastest, and then you're in line and you're racing the other lines? And so many of us, we're so busy that we're struggling in all aspects of our lives. The physical, the emotional, the relational, the spiritual aspects, they're all suffering. So let's look at each of these and see why we might be struggling because we're so busy.
First of all, many of us, we're so busy that we're physically depleted, just running on empty all the time. And you might say, "Well, I don't really have time to exercise, and I can't really eat right." A lot of us, we're emotionally scattered, anxious, irritable, overwhelmed all the time. We are so overwhelmed that emotionally we are just an absolute mess. Some of us, we are relationally distant. And this is where we may be present, but we're still unavailable for the people around us. There may be people that we love, but we don't have anything left for them. And the fourth thing, and this is really big to me, many of you, you're so busy that you are spiritually misaligned. You're connected to activity, but you're missing out on the intimacy that you could have with God.
You believe in God, but you just don't really have time for him. We see this in studies done about church attendance, even when over half of those who attend church do so once a month or less. And why is that? Well, it's not because you're a bad person. It's just because you're busy. Your kids are involved in activities and you've got all sorts of commitments with school, and depending upon what season it is, the demands of sports may pull you away. Just all kinds of different things that are going on that get in the way. And what happens is by the time that you can come, even if you don't have anything else going on on Sunday, you're just so worn down by the week that you're like, "Listen, I just need some time to chill out. We don't have time to pray. We definitely couldn't serve at church. We surely don't have time for small group. We just don't have time because we're so busy."
And so we think, "Well, we can handle it. God won't give us more than we can bear." Scripture says God will never give us more than we can handle. The problem is scripture doesn't say that. Now, the Bible does say that God won't let you be tempted beyond what you can bear or beyond what you can handle. But scripture never says that God won't give us more than what we can handle. In fact, God often does allow us to have more than what we can handle so that we will learn to depend upon him and that we'll learn to depend upon his people.
So, here's what I would like to do, and I need all of you to participate. So, how many of you would honestly say that you are at least occasionally overwhelmed? You're often stressed out. You feel like there's not enough time in the day to get everything done. Like you feel like there's simply too much to do, right? And here's what I want you to do. I want you to look around and acknowledge how many hands are raised. Something is wrong with this picture. Do you really think that God's intention for us is to be constantly overwhelmed, overburdened, and stressed out? And what culture calls normal is far from what God has intended. And we need to be set free from the burdens that we carry.
Some of you today, you need an encounter with Jesus. And I'll be honest with you, I don't have a whole lot of faith that many of you are going to change. I really don't, because I think many of you, you're going to shake this message off. I think you'll consider it for just a minute, but in no time, you'll justify why you need to be involved in all the things that cause you to be overwhelmed. But a few of you, a few of you, you will have an encounter with Jesus Christ today, and you will be different after you have experienced his presence. I do believe that.
So, let's look at Matthew 11, starting in verse 28. Here's what Jesus said. And the first three words, they are an invitation to us. Jesus said, "Come to me. Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, worn out and stressed and tired, too much to do. Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." You know, some of you, you don't even know how to rest. You don't even know what rest is. Because when you do rest, you feel guilty, don't you? I mean, because you're not doing something productive. And if you're not doing something productive, then it couldn't be good. We live in a culture that doesn't have any respect for the Sabbath or a day of rest, which God created for us. We feel guilty when we do it. We feel guilty when we're obeying God by resting.
Jesus said, "Come to me. Come to me all you who are weary and worn out and burdened and I will give you rest." He says in verse 29, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and humble in heart." He says, "And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Now, what is a yoke? Well, if you've ever seen two oxen plowing a field, you maybe seen a picture of that. Well, they have a wooden yolk around their necks and it's there to join them together so that they can go at the same pace and the same rhythm as they plow, just works better. And we should be yolked or joined to Jesus Christ. Why? Because many of us we are going much faster and doing far more than what Christ would have us to do.
Now, if any of you would say today, "Okay, okay, Tim, I mean, you're getting a little too passionate about this whole thing." Well, the reason I am is because I have struggled with this. I've had major struggles with this in my life. In fact, it was about 14 years ago or so that I really started having issues with this in a big way. And I saw it affecting my life because I was just always overwhelmed. My mind wouldn't shut off. I mean, I was always going. My mind was always racing all the time. And I could be with my family, but I really wouldn't be with my family, if you know what I mean. I was there physically, but I couldn't engage emotionally with them. And I was just going, going, going, and so we started working on this very intentionally together in our family.
And I'll share some of the things that I've learned kind of on my journey throughout the course of this message. And one of the things that you'll see when we study Jesus is that he had things going on. He did quite a few things, right? He was what we would call maybe even busy, but he wasn't hurried. And there's a difference there. And we can be busy and productive without being hurried, because when we're busy, it's something that we see on the outside, but when we're hurried, that's something that we see on the inside. Hurriedness is a sickness of the soul. It's really a sickness of the soul. And what I had to do in my life was to acknowledge that in almost everything that I did, I was in a hurry. I was pushing like, come on, come on, come on. It's the sickness of the soul.
And have you ever thought about your life and the conversations that you have with people? Maybe somebody will come up to you and they'll ask you how life is going. And you'll say, "Well, it's really busy right now, but in a month or so it'll slow down." Next month, somebody comes up to you and says, "Well, how you doing?" "Well, it's a busy season right now, but in a few weeks things will slow down." Next month you're talking to somebody else and they say, "Well, how's things going these days?" "Well, it's busy this time of year, but hopefully in six or seven weeks it'll slow down." And the reality is you don't even know how to slow down. Like every time there is some margin there, you absorb it with something else. You don't know how to do life according to the rhythms of Jesus. So if I'm passionate about this, it's because I am learning to do this too. And I pray that we can learn together as we go.
So what do you do when you have too many things to do? Well, I want to show you three ways to think about this as we're working our way through it. The first thing is this: we need to recognize that there are some things that need to be shared. You think, well, I can handle it all. Well, you weren't designed to handle it all. And God will often give you some things that you need to share with other people. In fact, I love the story of Moses in Exodus 18:17-18 when he was overwhelmed. His father-in-law gave him some good advice and he said to Moses, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you and you cannot handle it alone." So let me say to many of you, what you are doing is not good. It's not good. What people consider to be normal today is not good. You're only going to wear yourselves out. You can't handle it all alone.
Now, chances are the problem with many of you is similar to the struggles that I have. I'm very willing to help other people, but I don't do a very good job of receiving help from others. Like, I rarely ask for help. Why? Because I don't want to ask for help. And I'm not talking about just physically. I'm talking about emotionally and relationally and spiritually. And if I don't intentionally plan to share in biblical community, I wouldn't stop to do it. And many of you wouldn't either. My schedule, just like many of yours, it's become pretty intense, right? And here's the deal: I believe that getting together with other believers who desire to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ and care for each other, it's lifegiving to me. And I believe it's lifegiving to the church as a whole. Our family, we make spiritual formation and we make small group a priority in our lives. And if we're not at the church doing something, we have small group in our home most weeks. Not because we have time to do it, but because we choose to make time to do it. And the reason we do is because if we don't make it a priority, we won't do it.
And like I said, it is absolutely lifegiving to open up to those close friends, to pray together, to read scripture together and say, "You know what? I need you to pray for me." And a lot of weeks there are tears and we just go for it in prayer, because there are some things that need to be shared. And many of you, you are carrying the burdens on yourself and you need to start sharing them with other people. You're not sharing them with anybody. You think, "I can handle it. I can handle it." No, you can't handle it all. We're not designed to. You want to fulfill the law of Christ. Here's what scripture says in Galatians 6:2: we are told to carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Do you have too many things to do? Well, some things need to be shared.
The second thing is this: some things need to be stopped. Could it be that you are doing way too much? You know, I really relate to the story in Luke chapter 10 about Mary and Martha. They had Jesus over to their home, and Mary took advantage of this situation and she said, "You know what? Jesus is here. Guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to be hanging out with Jesus. I just want to spend some time with him." Well, Martha, on the other hand, she was doing what I would do and what many of you would do as well. She was in the kitchen going, "Well, you know, it's just got to be just right and Jesus is here and so we've got to make his favorite cookies and we got to make sure that the candle's lit so that the place smells nice, right?" And she's in there going crazy. And so she looks out and Mary's just sitting there like a lazy bum. And so she screams out from the kitchen, "Hey Mary, get in here in the kitchen right now. We've got stuff to do. Help me out. Do something productive." Right?
And Jesus responds this way. His response really ministers to me and I hope it does to you as well. In Luke 10:41-42, "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things." And doesn't that verse just really speak to where a lot of us are right now, you are worried and upset about all sorts of things. Verse 42: "But few things are needed, or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her." Mary made a choice. There were some things that she could have done that she didn't do so that she could actually do something better.
I want you to think about something for just a moment. Ask yourself, "How would I fill in the blank?" So, if I had more time, I would what? If I had more time, you fill in the blank. And I don't know what that would be for you. Like if I had more time, how would I spend it? If I had more time, I would spend time with my children. If I had more time, I would be in a small group because I can see how that would be important. If I had more time, I would serve in the church. If I had more time, I might even journal some. I'd write a book. If I had more time, I would go and help coach some kids so that I could pour my life into theirs. And I'm going to tell you right now, that is a copout. It's a copout because you do have time. You are choosing to put other things in that time. You are choosing what is lesser rather than what is better. And you make the choice. You have time for what you choose to have time for. You do.
The challenge is so many of us are doing what is expected out of a very sick culture instead of doing what is right and what is better. What our culture calls normal is not healthy. And so let me ask you this: what do your actions communicate you value? Like what are your actions, the things that you give your time to? The things that you give your energy to, what do your actions communicate that you value? What our culture's actions communicate that we value today are things and money, possessions, achievement, success. What it does not communicate is that family time and relationships with other people are important to us because we don't have them, right? Because we've surrendered to a very sick culture. I mean, there are all kinds of activities on Sundays that keep us from spending time corporately with other believers. And so, what does being involved in activities on Sunday communicate? Because let me just tell you, there are people who will totally abandon the church for months because of activities that take place on Sundays. So, what does that communicate to our kids? We value whatever it is above God. We put it above God.
But here's what scripture says in Psalm 46:10. The Bible says, "Be still." It's awkward, isn't it? It's awkward to be still. It's hard. We're like, "Say something. Do something. Don't just be still. Don't be quiet." That's awkward. We've got to fill the space. But he says, "Be still and know that I am God." And the reason many of you, you are a believer but you have not had a fresh encounter with God in a long time, and the reason you haven't experienced the presence of God and the power of God in your life in a long time is because you just do not have time for him. You say he's important, but your actions communicate otherwise. Be still. Be still and know that I am God. There are some things that need to be stopped. So stop doing some things and invest your life in places that will last, in places that matter.
In fact, here's what happens. Most of us, we have these little to-do lists, don't we? And over time, your to-do list accumulates things. Your responsibilities accumulate. They increase. Your commitments, they accumulate. And we add and we add and we add and we rarely take away. And I would argue all day long that instead of adding to your to-do list, you need to make a new list. And it's a list of things that you don't need to do. And these are things that you're not going to do with your life. What do you need to add to that list? Because some things need to be shared. Some things need to be stopped.
And number three is this: everything needs to be surrendered. Everything needs to be surrendered to God. Psalm chapter 62 verse 1 says, "Truly my soul finds rest in God, not on vacation or in a newer house or in a newer car." My soul, it finds rest in God and in God alone. My salvation comes from him. It comes from him and him alone. Psalm 55:22 tells us this: "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you." We need to take what burdens us and we need to throw it onto God, but most of us don't.
So, what I want to do is I want to share with you a little bit of a story. It's a very silly story, but it's got a good lesson. It's about a guy who was carrying around a sack of taters. And if you're not from the South, it's a bag of potatoes. But we like to call it a sack of taters. And he was carrying this big sack of taters with him. It was very heavy. And so a guy pulls up beside him in a truck and he says, "Hey, man, why don't you hop in the back and I'll drive you to the next town." And the guy says, "Oh, okay, thank you." And he climbs up in the back of the truck and he sat down in the back of the pickup truck and he left his sack of taters on his shoulder and he's just sitting there holding the sack of taters while the guy's driving down the road, and it seems a bit strange, right? And about midway down the road, the guy who's driving the truck, he looks back and he says, "Hey, old buddy, why don't you put down that sack of taters?" And the guy in the back of the truck, he says, "No, no, no, no, no. You have been so kind to take me and to carry me to the next town. I wouldn't dare let you carry my taters." I told you it was silly, right? But isn't that exactly what we do with God? God, I'll let you save me, but I'm not going to let you carry my taters. You see, I've got these burdens and I'm going to keep carrying them myself because I can handle it. No, you can't. You weren't designed to. You're not that good.
Well, "God won't give you more than I can handle." Scripture never says that. In fact, some of you, God may allow you to have more than what you can handle so that you can come to a breaking point where you cry out and you depend upon him so much, or you cry out and you depend upon his people as well. So here's the big question that I want to ask you, and it's a big question. What radical change do you need to make? What radical change do you need to make? Like if you're going to be yoked with Jesus Christ, what radical change do you need to make in your life? Now, you may say, "Well, you know, Tim, I don't need to make a radical change in my life." No, no, no, no. You do. Because you're a very bright person. And if a small change, if a minor tweak would have worked, you would have done that years and years ago. If something small would have made it happen, you would have figured that out a long long long time ago.
So what radical change do you need to make? And for some of you it may be that you need to move into a smaller home so that you can go to a one-income family so that you can care for your kids. Maybe for you it's that you need to go to be a one-car family so that you don't have the financial pressure and you don't have to work two jobs to keep everything going. Maybe for you it's the way that you talk to your kids. You're going to do that differently. Maybe it's that you need to put your hobby on hold, heaven forbid, for three years before your kids are grown and out of the house because they need you there. I don't know what it would be for you, but in our family, we made some radical changes because we had to, because the way that we did life was destroying us.
And Jesus says, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened." That's the majority of us. Come to Jesus. Not a cultural Christianity. You know, hey, we went to church or we did the Jesus thing, but come to Jesus and say, "Jesus, we belong to you." And when you say that, you got to say, "You lead us. You lead us in the way that you desire for us to go. We're not following what's expected in our culture today, but we are following what you demand biblically." And what most people call Christianity today, honestly, it's a joke. It's a cultural Christianity, and it's not even real. We will not surrender to the values of this culture, but we are going to surrender to the values of Jesus Christ. And anything less, we're just kidding ourselves.
As God's word teaches us in Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good and pleasing and perfect will." It's time for you to come to Jesus, guys. You can't handle it all. That's why you need to be joined to Jesus. That's why you need to be joined to his people. And you need to ask yourself, what radical change am I going to make in my life as I follow after him?
Would you pray with me today? Lord, we thank you for the love that you have for us. We thank you for what you've given us in your word to help us understand what it is you're asking us to do. But I believe with everything in me that we weren't designed to handle all the things that this life throws at us. That's why you teach us to cast all of our cares and to throw our burdens on you, because you care for us, to yoke up with you, to walk in lockstep with you so that you can help us carry those burdens, carry the stress, carry those things that overwhelm us each and every day. So my prayer is that you would do a work in us that only you can do, that we cannot do on our own, and that you would begin to transform our minds. Help us not to conform to the patterns of this world but transform our minds so that we can understand what your will for us truly is, your good, your pleasing, and perfect will. And we know it's not going to look anything like what this world offers. It is countercultural. So God, help us to understand that it is better to live life at the rhythms and at the pace that you desire for us to live them, to not live up to the expectations of other people, but to live for an audience of one, but to understand that we can't handle it all. And there are certain things that we can do in this life that make us busy and hurried. But maybe it's time to stop some of those things, to share some of those things. But in all the things that we do, help us to surrender them to you, to figure out is this the best use of our time, because I'd rather invest my time than spend it. So God, help us to make wise decisions as we seek you, follow after you. And God, if there's somebody here today who recognizes that, you know what, I've never given my heart and life over to Jesus Christ and I do recognize today that I cannot handle it all on my own, and I want to give everything I've got to the Lord, to put it all on him, to take on my sins and the burdens of my life because he died for that, and I want to experience the freedom in Christ. If that's you, you want to give your heart and life over to Jesus. You can say, "God, I believe that you sent your son Jesus Christ to this earth to live a perfect life, to be the sacrifice for my sin and the sin of the world. Today I admit to you that I'm a sinner and I've fallen short of your glorious standard. But I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I have faith in you that you did what you said you would do and that you can save me from my sins and I want to follow you with my life."
If you've prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of God. Get involved. Take that next step in baptism. Let somebody know that you've accepted Jesus Christ and continue to take step after step after step in following him. And I believe you will continue to grow and you will impact people for the cause of Jesus Christ. And it will be the most significant thing that you've ever done. So God, we thank you for the challenge today. Thank you for the truth that we see in your word and help us to receive it and allow it to change us radically. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, "Amen."