BURN OUT, CAN’T HANDLE THE LOAD
Matthew 11:28-30
INTRODUCTION
Burnout is when you are overwhelmed with your activities.
It is an intense feeling of having too much to do and not enough
time to do it. It may be a feeling of being overworked, underpaid,
and unappreciated. Burnout may cause you to feel tired, emotionally
drained, or depressed. Burnout can cause you to ask the question,
what is my life all about?
According to Got Question.org/Biblical Answers;
Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, social, and spiritual exhaustion. It can lead to diminished health, social withdrawal, depression, and spiritual malaise. Many times, burnout is the result of an extended period of exertion at a particular task (generally with no obvious payoff or end in sight) or the carrying of too many burdens (such as borne by those in the helping professions or those in positions of authority, among others). Burnout can be common among those in high-stress jobs who feel forced to please an earthly master to maintain their job and continue to provide for their families. The god of money reigns in Western culture, and his demands often lead to burnout.
BURNOUT A LACK OF TRUST
For the Christian, burnout is a case of self-reliance and not trusting
God. It is one thing to know the Word of God, but it is another thing
to apply the Word to your situation. We know what God did in the
past, but will He do it for me now?
Burnout is caused by self-control and not God's control. When we are trying to
control everything, it is our limited strength. When God is in control it is
His unlimited strength. We can bring only limited resources to the table, but
God has unlimited resources. God wants to partner with us to bring
His glory.
Jesus was fully God and fully man. He understood being burned out. He gave up
His glory is to bring the world the gift of salvation. But most people wanted
more free stuff. They wanted free attention, free medical assistance, free food
, and free money. Others wanted to kill him for giving the freebies. In the end,
none of the ones who heard the gospel truth, and were healed by his grace
was a witness of His goodness at His trial.
A SOLUTION FROM JESUS
In Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus said this to all who were burned out.
Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
(1)Anything you do can be a burden and can make you weary. It goes with the job.
It is how you handle it. Jesus said, don’t hold on to it, bring it to me and I will
give you rest from it. The problem is trusting the Lord to handle your burdens.
The question is how will Jesus handle them? When will Jesus handle them?
Will He take care of my problems in time to satisfy me or who I report to?
These are questions that suggest a lack of trust in God. You can’t rest from your problem if you see a need to critique the Lord.
(2)The next thing Jesus said is to change your focus from what you want to what the Father
wants. Your problem is not bigger than Jesus. Your problem is not more important
than Jesus. Jesus would not refocus you if He had not taken care of the problem.
If Jesus tells you to take a rest, then the problem is not as immediate as you think.
(3)The next thing Jesus tells us is to learn from what He did when His stress
level was up. Jesus got away from the problem. He went to a place alone to
pray (Matthew 14:23). The night before His trial, Jesus told His disciples to
sit while He went to pray (Mark 14:32). Not my will but your will be done.
To Jesus, nothing was more important than the will of the Father.
If anything takes priority over the Father, stress and burnout will result.
(4)Next Jesus said, consider my personality. I am humble and gentle in my heart.
In the context when Jesus said I am humble, I believe He meant It's not about Me,
it’s about my Father’s Will. It’s not my agenda but the Father’s agenda.
I believe when Jesus said I am gentle, He meant I treat everyone with respect, the good and the bad. I have a love for people and I don’t judge them. I
am here to help no matter what it takes.
(5)Next Jesus gives you a promise. If you follow my advice, YOU WILL FIND
REST. It's your choice to make. Handle it yourself or back off
and trust Jesus. Handle your burdens yourself and worry or trust Jesus and
rest.
Watch this; If you trust Jesus, you have to take on His yoke which is easy and
the burden is light. You are trading a heavy burden for a light burden.
JESUS IS THE BALANCE
The word yoke is zugos which means a pair of balances. It is like a beam with two
weights. Jesus is one of the weights and you are the other.
Jesus _______________________________________You
Your Burdens Jesus Yoke
Guess who is carrying most of the load? Jesus wants to partner with you
in this life. Jesus will work out your problems while you work as unto the Lord.
You cannot have a partnership when the one incapable person wants
to carry the load by him/herself.
When Jesus said learn from ME. He may mean learn from the examples He has
given you.
Moses experienced burnout. He was trying to judge a nation of 2 million plus
people and it was wearing him out. But God sent him a counselor, his father-in-law.
Jethro, who said this is too much. Select leaders from each tribe and
let them handle the small stuff and only bring serious trouble to you
(Exodus 18:14-23).
Elijah experiences burnout. After killing all the prophets of Baal under
Ahab and Jezebel, his life was threatened by Jezebel. He became afraid and
ran away to a hiding place. But God came and counseled him (1 Kings 19).
God used a raven to feed him, then sent Elijah on another assignment.
If you try to handle everything by yourself, you will have physical burnout.
Not taking time to rest is the main reason for being tired physically.
The body was not designed to run for 24 hours. In Genesis, the Lord set a day
and a night to mark a full day. Sun in the daytime and the moon in the
nighttime. Even the Lord recognized the need for rest in the creation.
After six days of creation, He rested on the seventh day. To work
more than 12 hours is pushing the limit God set for man. If you take
your burdens to bed, you wake with them.
Jesus said take my yoke and you will find rest. You must rest mentally,
emotionally, and physically. If you trust Jesus, He can rearrange your time
so you will have more time. Jesus can provide help when you need help.
Jesus is your help. When Moses was stressed out about going to the Pharaoh
to get Israel released God said;
Exodus 4:11
Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."
The reason we can’t trust Jesus is because we are focused on the current
circumstances and not the race. The finish line is heaven.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God
The problem is we are running someone else race and not the race God set
for us. We live in the world, we work in the world, but the goal is spiritual
growth and development. We forget that our work is unto the Lord. In
other words, our purpose on earth is to give God Glory. If the focus is
to give glory to self or man you will burn out.
Dr Charles Stanley in his book The Source Of My Strength gives us FOUR
principles to recuperate from burnout.
Principle 1. Mental and emotional burnout cannot be remedied unless you deal with physical burnout.
Jesus after teaching and healing a crowd, often left them and His disciples
and went off by Himself to pray. Prayer time is a space with the Father to
communicate, reflect, and set priorities. It is a time to refocus on the Lord.
In Matthew chapter 8, we find Jesus sleeping on the ship after a day working
with the crowd. Perhaps He rested before dealing with the next storm.
Matthew 8:23-26
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
26 He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
Jesus had had a long day. He healed a man with leprosy.
He Healed the centurion servant. He healed Peter’s Mother in Law
In the evening He healed all the sick in a crowd.
Jesus was tired. When He got into the boat to go to the other side,
He went to sleep. Work all day, sleep at night.
Storms will come into your life unexpectedly. You have to be rested to
take care of the next day's storm. Sometimes the storm may involve
your own family.
You can get so busy working that you fail to consider the mental
conditions of your family. Jesus was in the boat with His disciples and
they were having faith issues. Maybe they were burned out.
According to Matthew 13:55-56, Jesus had four brothers and at least two
sisters and they were not showing up for Bible Study. Family problems
plus the storm affect you mentally.
The disciples were in Bible study with Jesus but could not apply the Word
to their situation.
You have to get sleep time to rest your mind and body to handle the new
storms that come into your life. You must lay yesterdays storms to rest
to handle the new storm of today.
Just because you have a relationship with Jesus does not mean you trust
Him. The disciples had some trust issues. The storm rocked the boat and
they were afraid. What is rocking your boat?
Principle 2. When feeling Burnout, return to the Basis of your life in Christ.
Is something else first in your life? Has Christ taken a back seat?
If you are considering cutting back on Church activities to have more
time for personal or job activities, God may not be your priority.
Taking care of your financial obligations and family is important. Many
times when people have problems, Church time is first to be cut.
Luke 12:30-31
For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
God will give you everything you need if you put Him first. It is one thing to know
the Word of God, but it is another thing to trust Him and live according to His
Word. Burnout results from not trusting God.
Trouble and pain are Satan’s tools to drive you away from God. Frustrations
and fear are mental signs of not trusting God.
James 1:2-5
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
I have not met anyone who says "I am so happy I got all these problems. I am
so happy to be frustrated.” That is not our character. We are not trained to
see punishment as a blessing. It takes a change of attitude to see God working
to strengthen us through our burdens.
Principle 3. Make a decision to do only what the Lord requires.
God will never call us to do something that He does not provide the
means to do it. Sometimes pride prevents us from saying no when we got
all God wants us to do at the moment.
After 70 years in Babylonian captivity, Israel was sent back to the promised
land to rebuild the temple and the walls around Jerusalem that had been
destroyed. They had nothing to do the job with, but God provided all they
needed
Jeremiah 29:11-14
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14
All you need to do is what God calls you to do and a willing heart to be obedient.
Look at the verse carefully. God got the plan, you just got ideas. His plan is to
make you a success and give you hope. Worrying about what you going to do is
not hope.
His solution is for you to come to Him with your prayers. Take time to listen to
what He has to say. Seek God for answers, not yourself or the world. You will
find God as your helper. He is a mighty good partner.
An excellent example of God providing when you have little is found in
1 Kings;
1 Kings 17:12-13
12 "As surely as the Lord your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread — only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it — and die."
13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first, make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
The poor widower was burned out. The famine had taken its toll on her. She had
given up and was ready to die.
Because the poor widower put God before the life of her son and herself,
God provided an endless supply of oil for her. In fact, God gave her enough oil
to supply all her needs and sell the rest for income.
Principle 4. Let God take control of your life and give Him the responsibility
God has unlimited resources for you and your family. You were chosen
by God for good works.
You don’t have the power or resources to be in control of your life.
You don’t know enough to be in control of your life.
You are connected to the divine unlimited power and all knowledge.
If you give your life over to the Lord, He will make a way out of no way.
He is a mighty good provider
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
It's in the verse, TRUST THE LORD, not yourself. You don't know enough.
LET GO AND LET THE LORD make away for you. God’s got a plan where
you don’t have to be stressed out and burned out.
Proverbs 3:9-10
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
If you want God to Handle your stressed-out, burned-out situation this is
a must.
The only reason you are burned out is because you have been blessed. You can
complain about what God has blessed you with or be grateful.
Being grateful is to honor the Lord with YOUR MONEY. Give
God the best of your time and efforts.
God doesn't want what you have left over after you pay your bills.
God wants a GRATEFUL HEART OFF THE TOP, FIRST
THE MINIMUM IS 10 PERCENT
Look at the promise, believe the promise, act on the promise,
don’t doubt the PROMISE.
GOD WILL GIVE YOU MORE THAN YOU NEED PLUS
SOME NEW STUFF.
NO NEED TO BE BURNED OUT, TRUST GOD
CLASS QUESTIONS
Have you ever felt burned out? If so what did you do?
Since you are not normal, what makes you different from
the world?
Rev M Mitchell
for more lessons see my blog revmmitchell.com
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