1 May 2011
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 11:28-30
28 “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.”
-- in Brennan Manning’s devotional, “Souvenirs of Solitude,” he tells the story of Peter Saraceno and how Peter’s fiance literally brought him back from the dead
-- Peter had been out with a friend and was driving home when he was involved in a horrific traffic accident -- when they finally pulled his body from the wreckage and got him to the hospital, he was pronounced dead on arrival -- but the doctor did one final check before calling his death and found a weak and faint pulse and began doing what they could to save Peter’s life
-- several times that night they came out and told his family to prepare for his death -- that Peter only had hours to live -- but, remarkably, Peter survived, but just barely -- he lapsed into a coma, and the doctors warned the family that he probably never would come out of it -- and if he did, he would probably never move again -- at best, he might be able to move just a finger or a toe -- but his life was functionally over and he would never really recover
-- but Linda, Peter’s fiance, never gave up hope -- she stayed by his side throughout the days he was in a coma -- “talking to him just as if it were any other night -- just as if nothing had happened”
-- for three and a half months, she never left his side even though Peter never moved or responded or even flickered an eyelash -- but one day, Peter’s eyes opened -- and he watched Linda wherever she went in the room
-- Linda continued to act as if nothing was wrong and to prepare for Peter’s full recovery -- she decorated his room for Halloween and then Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years -- and, to the amazement of the doctors, Peter started to recover
-- he began to be able to move again --first a finger -- then an arm -- and then a leg -- he tried to talk, and even though his words could not be understood by anyone in the room, Linda knew what he meant and told the others what he needed
-- after a year of Linda’s patient nursing, Peter gained the ability to talk again -- and one day he asked the question that he’d been waiting so long to ask, “Mr. Fraschalla, I’d like permission to marry your daughter”
-- Linda’s father replied, “Peter, when you can walk down the aisle, she’s all yours”
-- “Peter couldn’t walk then -- He had to be carried -- but slowly, cautiously, with the help of a walker, he began to walk again -- and then one day, he walked down the aisle with Linda” and made her his wife
-- this true story illustrates so well the call and the promise of God that we see in this passage in Matthew -- when we are burdened down with life to the point that we just can’t move -- that we just can’t take another step -- we look beside us and we find Jesus there -- caring for us and carrying our burdens -- meeting our needs -- until finally we find rest in His arms
-- this passage is a wonderful promise to reflect on as we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus -- it’s a reminder that cross was not the end of the story -- that because of the empty tomb, we can know that Jesus is always with us -- that He will never leave us or forsake us -- and that He came to bring us life and love and to give us the strength and power we need to move forward with Him
-- let’s look again at these verses and see what we might learn from this passage
II. Scripture Lesson (Matthew 11:28-30)
A. Invitation
-- verse 28
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
-- the first thing we see here is the invitation of Christ -- this is the same invitation that Jesus had been giving out to people from the very moment that He rose from the waters of the Jordan River after His baptism -- “Come and follow Me”
-- it didn’t matter who Jesus was talking to -- whether it was a rich young ruler or a poor fisherman on the banks of the Sea of Galilee -- it didn’t matter how many people Jesus was talking to -- a crowd of 5,000 on a hillside or just one lonely Pharisee who came at night -- His message was the same -- and, as Matthew points out here, His message was for all -- “Come, follow Me -- all of you -- and I will give you rest”
-- with these few words Jesus said so much -- with these words Jesus said, “I have the answers that you have been looking for -- I can meet the needs that no one else can -- I can give you the life that you dream of -- but you must come and follow Me”
-- this invitation of Jesus that we find here in Matthew 11 comes in the middle of His ministry -- Jesus has been preaching and teaching throughout Judea and Galilee for some time, pleading with people to come and follow -- He has just sent out His disciples to carry the good news to others in the region and to issue the same invitation
-- in the church we call this prevenient grace -- the grace that comes before the cross -- the grace that reaches out to all those who are weary and heavy ladened -- who have struggled long in their own strength -- who are suffering in a life filled with sin with no hope on the horizon -- to all of these Jesus cries out, “Come and follow Me and I will give you rest”
-- but, still, many don’t respond -- many don’t come -- and Jesus’ heart breaks here for those who have heard the call -- who have seen the miracles and signs -- but who choose to continue to do life on their own
-- Rob Bell’s new book, “Love Wins,” has brought into the forefront of our culture the question that a lot of people have asked me from time to time -- how can a loving God send someone to Hell?
-- we find the answer here in this verse -- God doesn’t send anyone to Hell -- Hell is a choice that we make when we refuse to respond to Jesus’ call to come -- I tell people that there is no one in Hell who didn’t choose to be there
-- the simple fact is that despite the persecution -- despite the rejection and the mocking and the jeers of the people in His day, Jesus continued to go throughout Israel calling people to come and follow Him because He wanted them to have life and to have it to the full
-- as it says in 1 Timothy 2:3-4, “God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”
B. Expectation
-- verse 29
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart
-- the next thing we see in this passage is the expectation of Christ -- after we respond to Christ’s invitation to come and follow Him -- we are told to take His yoke upon us and to learn from Him
-- in our modern day of tractors and mechanized agricultural, a lot of people don’t really understand what Jesus is telling us to do here in this verse
-- what is a yoke -- what does it mean to take Jesus’ yoke upon us?
-- a yoke was a wooden beam that fit over the neck of two farm animals -- usually oxen but occasionally horses -- that joined them together and that harnessed their strength to pull farm implements
-- and it’s important for us to know that in order to understand what Jesus is asking us to do here in this passage
-- first, by taking up Jesus’ yoke, we are told to submit ourselves to Him -- when an animal was yoked to another animal by the farmer, it had to submit its strength and its will to the farmer -- no longer could it go off on its own direction and do what it wanted -- it was under the control and direction of the farmer -- the farmer guided it and controlled where the team of oxen went
-- it’s the same way with Jesus -- when we take His yoke upon us, we are submitting to the command of Jesus -- we willingly sacrifice our wants and our wishes and our desires and follow Jesus and let Him direct our paths and guide us where we need to go
-- secondly, by taking up Jesus’ yoke, we are joining ourselves to Him -- when animals are yoked together, one animal is not in front and the other in the back -- they are side by side and they walk and work together
-- that’s why when farmers had to train a new animal to plow, they would often yoke it to an older, stronger, more experienced animal who would bear the burden and guide the young animal through his learning.
-- it’s the same way with Jesus -- when Jesus calls us to come and follow Him, He doesn’t mean to just walk in His path in our own strength and try to live a Christian life in our own power -- no, He means to be yoked to Him and to let Him carry the burden -- to let Him lead us as we go -- to let Him lend us His power and strength to do what we could not do alone
-- and, finally, by taking up Jesus’ yoke we are taking up His very nature -- Jesus tells us here that He is gentle and lowly of heart -- this is an expression of Jesus’ servant nature -- and a call to us to do the same
-- just as Jesus offers to bear our burdens and to lessen our load -- we are called to be servants of those around us -- that is exactly what Linda did for her fiance when he was in a unable to walk or talk or move on his own -- she served him by bearing his burdens and she lessened his load by being there for him
-- remember what Jesus said when his disciples argued over who was the greatest in the Kingdom of God? -- Jesus said that if you wanted to be first, you had to be last -- that the greatest in the kingdom had to be the slave of all
-- when we take up Jesus’ yoke, we take up His nature and serve those around us
C. Affirmation
-- look at the end of verse 29
29b “and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
-- the last thing we see in this passage is the affirmation of Christ -- the promise that He gives to those who come and follow Him and who take their yoke upon them
-- Jesus says that we will find rest for our souls -- that word “rest” that is used here in this passage has a double meaning -- it can “rest” in the traditional sense -- in the sense of a time of relaxation -- of recreation -- after a long time of labor
-- this is the essence of the Sabbath -- this is why God gave us one day a week to pause from our labors -- to rest after the work of a week
-- and, certainly, when we follow Jesus and take His yoke upon us, we find rest in this sense -- but, there is another meaning, as well -- in the Book of Hebrews we read of the “rest of God,” which is another way of referring to heaven -- that is why Jesus speaks here of “rest for our souls”
-- God promises us that if we follow Him and believe in faith for our salvation, that we will enter His rest at the end of our life -- we will go the place that we read about in the Book of Revelation -- a place flowing with milk and honey -- a place with no sin where all our tears are wiped away and we live with God forever
-- if you look back at verse 30, you see that Jesus’ yoke is easy -- the word, “easy,” here means that it “fits well” -- William Barclay said that when a farmer was preparing a yoke for an animal, he would carry it to the carpenter and have it made to the animal’s own specifications -- it was made to fit that that animal alone -- it was crafted to fit just right -- otherwise, the yoke would chafe and cause discomfort
-- that’s what Jesus is saying here -- the yoke that He puts on us has been designed for us -- it fits us perfectly -- it is easy to carry -- and it is easy to wear
-- this saying here is a reminder that the call of Jesus and His offer of grace is not just for the world in general, but for each one of us individually -- the promises that He offers are for us -- He promises to meet our needs -- to satisfy our heart’s desire -- and to bear the burdens that we carry
-- finally, Jesus tells us that His burden is light -- the Bible says that we are all slaves -- we are all yoked -- either we are slaves to sin or we are slaves to righteousness -- either we bear the burden for what we have done -- or we let Jesus bear it for us
-- the Israelites in Jesus’ day were slaves to the law and to the yoke of the Pharisees and -- they were burdened beyond belief with no way out and no hope for salvation -- the same is true for all of the other religions in the world today
-- we had a discussion at work not long ago about religion -- one girl said that she thought all religions were the same -- but I told her later that she was wrong -- I said the difference between Christianity and all the other religions could be summed up in one word -- “grace”
-- all other religions put burdens on their people -- they put them under the yoke of legalism -- in order to be saved you have to live a perfect life -- you have to follow certain laws -- you have to do certain rituals -- you have to fulfill certain requirements -- and, even then, you never know if you have done enough
-- all other religions say “do” -- Christianity says “done”
-- Jesus’ burden is light because He bore the weight of our sins and our wickedness and our unrighteousness on the cross of Calvary -- He took upon Himself the yoke of legalism and became the servant of sin so that we might not have to bear that burden any longer
-- and then, after suffering in our place -- after going to hell for us -- He rose on the third day in victory -- having broken the shackles and destroying the yoke of sin
III. Closing
-- now, I know Christmas is past us, but I want to leave you with just one more illustration that I think really underlines the words of Jesus in this passage
-- I read about a woman was doing her last-minute Christmas shopping at a crowded mall -- She was tired of fighting the crowds -- She was tired of standing in lines -- She was tired of fighting her way down long aisles looking for a gift that had sold out days before.
-- finally, she was ready to go home and made her way to the elevator with her arms filled with packages -- when the doors opened, the elevator was completely full -- but the people moved closer to make room for her
-- As the doors closed, she blurted out, "Whoever is responsible for this whole Christmas thing ought to be arrested, strung up, and shot!" -- A few others nodded their heads or grunted in agreement.
-- Then, from somewhere in the back of the elevator, came a single voice that said: "Don't worry. They already crucified him."
-- the message of this passage is very simple -- we can continue to go through life burdened down by the weight of this world -- we can continue to do life in our own strength -- in our own way -- in our own power -- we can continue to be frustrated and irritated and grumble our way through life
-- or, we can respond to the invitation -- the expectation -- and the affirmation of Christ that we find in this passage
28 “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.”
-- Jesus already paid the price for the burdens of this world -- He broke the yoke of sin and He shattered the shackles of legalism -- and He offers us a different way -- a better way -- He offers us life with Him
-- the question, then, is what are you going to do about it?
-- let us pray
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