WEBVTT 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:01.600 Hello, friends. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:02.799 This is Pastor Creighton. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:06.000 Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:13.279 At Newsong Church, we want to see Jesus lifted high in Port Perry, Ontario, as we worship, grow, and serve. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:18.800 You can learn more about us and find contact info at newsongportperry.ca. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.280 This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Matthew. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:29.920 Glory to you, Lord Christ. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:43.840 At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:47.920 Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:01:02.960 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:11.040 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:25.200 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:31.040 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:33.840 This is the gospel of the Lord. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:36.879 Praise to you, Lord Christ. 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:42.879 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:44.239 Let's pray. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:59.359 Generous Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:08.400 So, Lord, would you let the perfect peace of Christ dwell with us richly? 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:15.280 So the working of your word and your Holy Spirit, give us grace to put on the new self. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:18.319 This new work that you're doing within us. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:21.520 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:22.479 Amen. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:24.240 You can be seated. 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:30.080 I love this line, by the way. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:32.400 Colossians chapter 3. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:43.439 He's describing the kind of activities that we should expect to see amongst those that God is giving grace to put on the new self. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:47.919 It's almost a throwaway line, verse 13, bearing with one another. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:55.599 That's a wonderful thing about being brothers and sisters in Christ is I have people to bear with me. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:04.319 And you are not without people to bear with you at your best and yes, at your worst. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:07.520 That wasn't in my sermon notes, that was just improvised. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:08.319 You're welcome. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.159 So let me ask you a question. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:16.639 Have you ever felt allured? 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:18.319 I don't know why I said it that way. 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:19.520 Have you ever felt allured? 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:20.240 Allured? 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:20.879 Allured? 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:22.639 Now I'm thinking about it. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:28.080 Have you ever seen a mountain and something deep inside you goes, I gotta climb that? 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:30.159 I've never had that feeling. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:31.039 Thank you, Gail. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:32.479 I've never had that feeling. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:38.879 Um have you have you walked through a nature trail and been so enticed to see what's around the next bend? 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:44.719 Or have you heard that distant beat and you go, I gotta know where that music's coming from? 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:47.120 Have you ever felt allured? 00:03:48.159 --> 00:04:02.560 Reformation scholar Ashley Null says that one of the reformers' favorite words with the gospel, words with reference to the gospel, was this word allure. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:20.720 And he cites uh an example from Martin Luther, who's one of my heroes of the faith, and um, you know, perhaps the figurehead for what we know as the reformation, this renewal and rediscovery of the gospel within the life of the church, you know, 500 years ago. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.759 Here's one passage from Luther. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:28.160 He's describing the activity of God towards the Christian. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:40.000 He says, when the shepherd finds the lost sheep again, he has no intention of putting it away in anger once more or throwing it to a hungry wolf. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:42.240 I mean, after this is a sheep that's gone astray. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:43.439 Who are you, right? 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:46.240 No, he's got no intention to throw that sheep away. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:05:01.120 Rather, all his care and concern is directed to alluring it with every possible kindness, treating it with the utmost tenderness. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:10.319 He takes that lamb upon his own back, lifting it up and carrying it until he brings the animal all the way home again. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:12.879 Did you catch that word allure? 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:22.959 He allures wayward sheep back into the fold with every possible kindness. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:31.279 Is that how we would expect a holy and perfect God to act towards wayward sheep? 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:34.560 That's the generosity and grace of God. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:38.560 That's what entices us and draws us. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:46.399 It allures us back to Himself. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:52.240 And it's this understanding the gospel that was caught by the English reformers taking after Luther. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:06:00.879 English reformers like Thomas Cranmer, who compiled our Anglican prayer book and it still forms our liturgy that we use today. 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:23.040 As Cranmer was reflecting on this alluring work that God does through his word to draw wayward sheep back to himself with every possible kindness, Cranmer decided to bear witness to this alluring gospel through what came to be known as four comfortable words. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:29.519 When I think of comfortable, I think of um there was like an ad campaign for TD Bank a while ago. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:31.279 Banking can be this comfortable. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:34.480 And I always had that picture of that green lazy boy chair. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:41.199 For some reason, that's the only thing I comes to mind in all this sermon preparation I do when I think of comfortable. 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:47.439 But we probably shouldn't, we probably do well not to think of comfortable in terms of put your feet up and relax. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:52.399 It's not exactly what's meant, what Kramer was intending here. 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:56.639 Comfortable might might be it's a useful word. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:01.040 We might want to think in our own modern English, comforting. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:07.199 These are comforting words for a wayward sheep and wounded sinners. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:11.600 These are words of relief, of consolation. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:18.720 These are words that remind us that God's heart is always towards the sinner. 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:29.360 And therefore, these comfortable words, comforting words, I think, ought to be regularly attended to. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:36.480 We ought to regularly meditate on them and let them seep into our bones and into our marrow. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:50.000 Because these four words, these four comfortable words, bear witness to the beauty and goodness of God and what makes his good news towards us just so good. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:57.680 By the way, if you're confused what I mean by comfortable words, you can turn in your little bulletin today. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:00.800 You can find them on page 12. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:06.639 They happen just after the confession of sins and the absolution, and we'll say them today. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:12.160 These are four verses of Scripture that bear witness to the goodness of the gospel. 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:20.399 And at our worst moments, when we are our most wayward, they allure us back to our generous Heavenly Father. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.879 Here's the first alluring, comforting word for us this morning. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:30.079 This is our gospel text that I selected for us. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.399 Matthew 11, verse 28. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:40.320 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:48.080 God's comforting word to you and I this morning is this. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:55.679 Jesus wants to meet you at the place of your deepest longing. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:06.320 Jesus wants to meet you in the place of deepest longing, buried deep down in your heart. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:15.039 So Matthew chapter 11, you can turn in your bulletin, page 8, or if you've got your Bible, please do pull that out. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:21.919 Jesus is at this point in his ministry beginning to experience opposition. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:29.679 Scribes and Pharisees and the religious experts of his day are calling into question some of his message, some of his methods. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:33.120 He's experiencing loaded questions. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:51.360 And in the midst of pronouncing woes against cities that have rejected him in the verses that precede these, Jesus stops where he is, so it seems, and he offers this spontaneous act of prayer and praise. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:52.240 You ever do that? 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:56.480 You ever just feel overwhelmed in a moment, and you just turn to God and just give thanks? 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:00.159 Jesus is doing that too, to his very own heavenly Father. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.799 In this moment, he offers prayer and praise. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:05.600 He thanks God the Father. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:18.879 He says, You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, these things being the message and the activities of the kingdom that is breaking into life through Jesus. 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:29.759 You've hidden these things, you've obscured them from the wise and the understanding, which should probably strike us as odd, because usually it's the wise and understanding who are tuned in to these kind of things. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:35.759 Now, what we shouldn't read into that is a sort of anti-intellectualism, like Jesus has something against smart people. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:37.200 That's not true. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:45.759 But the wise and understanding in Jesus' context have a diabolical inclination towards pride. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:50.720 I understand so well for myself that I don't need any outside help. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:52.879 I can make this on my own. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:55.519 No, this isn't anti-intellectualism. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:00.159 This speaks to the pride of someone who feels self-sufficient. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:06.000 You've obscured the kingdom from people who feel self-satisfied. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:10.480 But Father, you've revealed these things to little children. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:13.440 And little children is an inclusive word, right? 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:19.440 It includes folks of all ages who come with a simple trust in Jesus. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.360 And they discover the kingdom breaking in in him. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:36.399 So the way to God, Jesus is saying, is not through self-inflating achievement or ascent, but rather through humility. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:39.600 The way up is the way down, so to speak. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:43.759 And then in verse 27, Jesus goes on to acknowledge his own uniqueness. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:48.320 All things, he says, have been handed over to me by the Father. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:53.600 It acknowledges his sovereign authority over all creation, over the kingdom, over everything. 00:11:53.840 --> 00:12:00.960 And he goes on to say that he is fully known by the Father, just as he fully knows the Father. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:08.240 Paul in Colossians chapter 2 will say that all the fullness of God dwells in Christ. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:12.480 When we look at the face of Christ, we behold who Jesus is. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:15.200 We behold who God is. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:19.840 There isn't a God hiding behind Jesus with ulterior motives. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:24.720 We know who God is by going to Jesus Himself. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:35.200 So the way to God is through humble trust in Jesus, the Son who alone reveals the Father. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:41.440 All this being the case, the way up is the, or the way down is the way up through Jesus. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:43.679 Jesus offers an invitation. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:46.399 This is why I want us to catch this morning. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:49.360 Come to me, Jesus says. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:22.879 Have we ever truly gone? 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:26.480 I've reached my cap for pleasure. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:27.440 I'm good. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:29.519 No more happiness for me, thanks. 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:31.840 Those are wonderful things. 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:40.799 Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with those kind of successes or those kind of pleasures and privileges. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:47.120 But if we turn those into ultimate things, we find they never truly deliver on the promise, do they? 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:58.080 If we turn that into the ultimate pursuit of our life, over which there's nothing greater, we find ourselves just so restless. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:01.759 Like the preacher. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:14.240 Perhaps this invitation to those who labor and are heavy laden, or for those who know this feeling of being on the treadmill. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:25.360 But maybe it's especially for those who have gone after success in all these areas and wisdom and wealth and pleasure and toil, found them lacking, and decided to try religion. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:27.919 Because maybe that's the next step. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:35.919 We're going to apply ourselves to moral perfectionism and we're going to achieve everything that God expects of us. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:43.840 So was the philosophy of the Pharisees and the scribes that Jesus is so often sparring with. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:55.600 These were perfectionists, rigorists, calling people to absolute adherence to every jot and tittle of the law. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:17:03.279 This was the way you were going to achieve satisfaction, fulfillment with God. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:23.039 And this word that Jesus goes on to use in verse 30, the burden, this heavy-laden burden, describes the kind of teaching that these Pharisees and scribes and religious experts of the day applied to the people who came to them for consolation. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:32.720 He says in Luke 11, woe to you, lawyers, which isn't our sense of lawyer, it's experts in God's law or perfectionist preachers. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:47.279 Woe to you, for you load people with burdens hard to bear that you yourselves do not touch with your fingers, which is to say, you don't even lift your finger to give a hand to those you counsel. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:51.440 What burdens are hard to bear? 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:58.160 Maybe it's the burden of the moralistic religious treadmill. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:01.039 The striving to be good enough. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:03.440 The striving to be accepted. 00:18:04.319 --> 00:18:06.880 The striving to be perfect. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:18.319 And all that these perfectionist preachers can offer is not consolation or mercy for the wayward and the wounded, but rather more rules to follow. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:21.440 Rules that make up for the rules that you broke. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:29.440 And Jesus instead wants to invite us to a way of rest. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:34.640 A rest from burdens, a rest from weariness. 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:39.359 He wants to meet us in the deepest longing of our soul. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:45.440 A longing for fulfillment and satisfaction and peace. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:47.039 Rest. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:49.039 That's the promise. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:56.240 I will give you rest, relief, consolation, comfort. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:01.200 Could this be the most alluring thing about Jesus? 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:18.160 That he meets the wayward and the wounded, not with rules to follow, but with rest in his person, in his friendship, in being for us and not against us. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:22.000 This is consolation for the desolate sinner. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:25.359 This is the greatest need of a weary soul. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:28.960 And we might want to ask, well, what does it look like to rest in Jesus? 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:33.680 I don't think it's a passive thing like putting your feet up on the green couch at TD Bank. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:37.920 There's an active participation in that rest. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:41.920 Jesus goes on to say, verse 29, take my yoke upon you. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:46.480 And a yoke was the wooden beam you'd put on oxen as they were plowing the field. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:52.160 Join yourself to me and go in my direction, Jesus is saying. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:20:00.240 But in doing so, you'll discover that my yoke is not heavy like perfectionist preachers lay it on you heavy. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:05.039 You'll discover that it's easy and my burden is light. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:15.599 Because unlike perfectionist preachers, which expect you to do the hard work for God, the gospel of Jesus tells us that God has done the hard work for us. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:18.799 And the cross is proof of that. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:21.039 Learn from me. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:25.839 This is where wisdom and understanding enter into the Christian life, isn't it? 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:36.400 We study God's word, we meditate upon it, we gather with other Christians to share our hearts and to discover God's word together. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:49.279 And we discover a God who is gentle and lowly in heart towards us, not harsh or reactionary, not proud and dismissive, but gentle and lowly. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:55.200 And so we find rest for our souls. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:17.599 A rest in the perfect and complete forgiveness and freedom in Christ, not another round on the treadmill, not another attempt to appease God, but a gift, God's rest for you, having accomplished for you what we cannot do for ourselves. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:28.960 So meditating on these verses, one of my favorite reformers, John Calvin, says, Let our miseries drive us to seek Christ. 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:40.000 When we feel desolate and when we feel weary and wayward, so often I can feel like that's exactly the opposite type of person Jesus wants to spend time with. 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:43.200 I can only go to him when I'm at my best. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:48.960 But John Calvin seems to conclude the opposite based on what Jesus is saying here. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:52.160 The offer is for those who are weary and heavy laden. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:57.920 The offer is those who are weak and wounded and wayward to come and discover rest. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:08.480 So our desolation is exactly where Jesus wants to meet us, and it can drive us to seek after his gentle and lowly heart towards us. 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:16.559 Because, friends, God's comfortable word today for us is rest in Christ. 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:19.759 Let's rest with him. 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:27.839 Thank you for listening today. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:33.440 We worship a generous God who calls us to follow him in giving willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially. 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:40.160 Newsong Church's mission and ministry is 100% funded by the generous gifts of those worshiping and journeying with us. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:47.920 If you'd like to offer a gift towards Newsong's ministry, please visit Newsongportperry.ca slash giving for more information on how to do that. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:51.200 May God bless you and keep you today and every day.