The Joshua Victor Theory

Sermon outline:  ·          Re-read: “ 28Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Beloved passage ·          Burdens and yokes. Farming, oxen. Trading Yokes with Jesus. Heavy for light ·          Our yokes and burdens: 1) the yoke of sin and guilt. 2) “wearisome changes”—the yoke of worries and cares in the world, 3) the yoke of labor ·          All my burdens. All my anxieties. Sin and guilt—heaviest and perhaps least understood. Invisible, but we feel its weight. Feel the dread of guilt, judgment, fear of hell. Denial doesn’t get rid of it. Anger can’t lift it. Passing the blame doesn’t lessen the weight. Doesn’t stop us...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. What do 6 th century Benedictine monks, the 19 th century inventor Cyrus McCormick, and the Apostle Paul, have in common? They were each driven to be productive and hard-working, by what is often called the Christian or Biblical “work ethic.” The Benedictine monks believed Paul’s admonition that “ if anyone would not work, neither should he eat” and that “idleness is the enemy of the soul.” So they were hard-working and diligent, and applied their God-given reason and creativity to invent technology that would make their work more productive and efficient. Similarly, Cyrus McCormick was saddened by the drudgery and purposelessness of seeing slaves harvesting grain by a sickle. He held strong beliefs that God had given dignity to mankind, and that work should be purposeful, and so he invented a mechanical harvester that revolutionized farming. These and many other Christians throughout history were positivel...