Acts 15:22-35 “Our Burdens Lifted”
When I was a young boy, once our family went camping on the beach down in Mexico. It was not really a very nice camp. There was absolutely no shade. The water at the ocean did not smell quite right. Every afternoon just when you could not stand the heat anymore and you want to risk going into the water, a bunch of sharks would come in to feed. The neat thing about the trip was that this was the first time that we had camped in the middle of a bazaar. Or, at least it seemed that way to me in my younger years. There were people hocking everything on that beach. Every morning the camp would be awakened by the mamasitas carrying pots, crying out “Tortillas!” There were then those who came by to sell bread. Several men pushed carts around with large jars of fruit drinks. Always in the afternoon there came the helados man—the ice cream vendor.
Not too far from the beach there were others who were selling touristic trinkets. There were some people selling clothes, woodcarvings, really fine Oaxacan pottery, and of course the onyx stone figurines and complete chess sets in fact. On one end of the blanket with the onyx on it, I saw some little round flat stones. Above them were the words “Worry Stones.” Obviously they would be sold to English speaking folks like our family. I decided to take what little money I had to purchase one of those stones. The fellow who sold them said that all I had to do was rub my worry stone with my thumb and everything would be good in my life. I wasn’t sure that hunk of rock could really do that, but I gave it a try.
Soon after buying the “worry stone” and rubbing it with my thumb, I got horribly sunburned, dehydrated, and got a stomach ailment that in Mexico has been nicknamed “las turistas.” It is what the tourist gets from drinking the water. I think I probably got mine from the ice cream vendor as everyone in the family got sick after eating ice cream. We had to cut the trip short. Actually my mother always claimed that she never fully recovered from that trip.
In the end, my new worry stone did not do much. It seems my worries only increased afterwards.
As followers of Christ, what do we do with our worries? What do we do with our burdens? In our scripture for today, we hear of the council of elders in Jerusalem sending a letter out to the new converts in the churches in Asia saying that they do not wish to “burden them further.” When these words came to the new believers, the Bible tells us that they rejoiced! They felt that they had been unburdened.
I like to think that when you become a Christian, your burdens are lifted! In fact, I know they are! I will tell you how I know this later on in the sermon, but first I want to talk about with you the idea that some people think that when one becomes a Christian that that means just taking on more burdens. Let me tell you straight up that it does not mean taking on MORE burdens at all. Actually what it means is that in your life, you are going to be letting go of all of your burdens and turning them over to the Lord. Then, in response you are going to pick up just one new burden. That is all. You trade in all of your old burdens and you pick up just one new one. And, without first letting go of all of your old burdens and worries, you won’t be able to pick up that one new one. What that is I will also share with you at the end of the message. Although, I bet most of you have already figured it out since you are already carrying this one burden.
So, why does the world think that becoming a Christian means that you will be more burdened then before? You know, there is this great story in the Hebrew Scriptures about a man named Balaam, who is a prophet, and his donkey. You can read this for yourselves in Numbers 22. Let me just tell you the short version: Balaam is riding his donkey when an angel of the Lord appears in the middle of the road with a sword. The donkey sees the angel; Balaam does not. The donkey swerves off into a field to avoid hitting the angel. Balaam struck the donkey to turn it back onto the road.
Next on a small path between a vineyard and a wall, the angel appears again. The donkey sees it, and Balaam does not. The donkey presses against the wall to avoid the angel’s sword. Balaam’s foot scrapes against the wall. He gets angry and strikes the donkey once more.
Then, the angel with the sword blocks a narrow passage on the path so that there is simply no way to turn or avoid the angel. The donkey simply lays down then before the angel. Still, Balaam does not understand what is happening and strikes the donkey with his staff.
Amazingly at this point the Bible says that Lord opened the mouth of donkey and spoke through it. Only after hearing his donkey talking to him does Balaam finally realize that an angel is standing in front of him. He finally bows down to the angel. The angel then asks Balaam why he struck his donkey three times? It is not so much a question as an accusation. The donkey saw the angel; Balaam did not!
You know what? We Christians are a bunch of donkeys! And yes, feel free to translate that word “donkey” into more of the vernacular if you see fit (Shakespeare did in a Midsummer Night’s Dream.) We see the angels! We let the Lord speak through us! And yet, at the same time we let people ride us and strike us. Like that donkey, we need to just lay down to let the guy off our back. As long as they are riding us, they will not see the angels or hear the Lord. We are doing them no favors by letting them burden us. Amen to that?!
Please open your Bibles to 1 John 9. This is the Truth proclaimed in your hearing this morning: “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” There it is. When we confess that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, he takes all of our sins and transgressions away from us. There is not greater unburdening. Everything we have ever done that was unrighteous is lifted from us.
In the Gospel of John, Chapter 8, we see the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. A crowd is about to stone her. Jesus says, “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.” Everyone turns away. He then tells the woman to stand up as she has been forgiven. She is told to go on her way and sin no more.
Jesus has come to do that same act of mercy for us. We have already been condemned by this world. WE are all going to die. Jesus steps in, unburdens us of sin and death, giving us eternal life with him! We can read here from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25 and on: “. . . .Do not worry about your life. . .can any of you by worrying even add a single hour to the span of your life?” Yet, Jesus can give us the life eternal that never ends. Yes, we have nothing to worry about.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this message, there is however one burden that we must pick up. Now that Jesus has unburdened us of the worries of this life, lifting sin and death from our persons, we have the ability to take up this one burden for Him. Open now to Luke 9:23, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Wow, we get rid of all of the other burdens of this world, but we have to carry the Cross of Christ.
The great theologian John Stott wrote about the Cross that the early Christians were ridiculed for choosing the symbol of the Cross to represent the new religion. It is a Cross of crucifixion, of horrible death and savagery. Not so today, but in the early church this symbol for Christianity repulsed people. It was a cruel and bloody instrument of death. And this is the burden that we bear?!
Our burden, our Cross, is knowing that somebody else died for us. Because of our sins, Jesus, the Son of God, suffered and died. As Christians, when we are unburdened by the rest of this world’s worries, we are still burdened by this one very heavy Cross that we bear. Yet, we do it gladly, knowing that it unburdens us from the cares and worries of this life and leads us into the promise of everlasting life.
In this place, before the Cross, this is where your earthly burdens are lifted, yet the burden of the sacrifice of Jesus falls upon you. Praise God. Amen.