Sunday July 5th - Come Unto Me

On Sunday July 5th, Pastor Tommy preached a message titled, Come Unto Me. 

Transcript

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Thank you for joining us for another life-giving message at Generations United Church.

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Coming in hot this morning for Matthew chapter 11. Are you ready? Put your hand on your heart and pray with me. Dear Lord Jesus, speak to my heart. Change my life in your precious name. Amen. Listen to the word of the Lord. Jesus says, What am I going to compare this generation to? He's talking about his generation. He's talking about his people. To what am I going to compare this generation? How many of you know when Jesus says something like, What am I going to compare you guys to? It may be good, it may be not good. And in this case, it was pretty severe. He says, You're like children sitting in the marketplace calling to their playmates. We played the flute for you, but you didn't dance. We sang a dirge for you, but you didn't mourn. For John, remember his cousin John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he has a demon, the Son of Man, talking about himself, came eating and drinking, and they say, Look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. Now in verse 25, 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. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and to anyone whom the Son chose to reveal him. I had those backwards. Come to me, all you who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What can we learn from this? Have you ever been around a person that if you say this is up, they say it's actually down? You ever say that's blue? And they're like, eh, it's kind of purple. I grew up playing baseball in my front yard, and in my front yard we didn't have bases, so we made bases. And after a while, you didn't even need bases because we had worn the bases into the ground. Any of the rest of you play summertime baseball as a kid? I love playing baseball in my front yard so much. I would play it so long. I actually asked my mom at one point, I'm like, Mom, do they make pills that I can take so I don't have to waste time eating food? I loved playing sports. And we made up our own rules sometimes. We had to say, okay, this is the foul line right here. Everybody agree where the foul line is? We agree where the foul line is. And then some people love to hit home runs from our yard into our neighbor's yard. And the problem is every time they would hit those home runs into the neighbor's yard, we'd have to go get the ball. And if you've seen the sand lot or you've seen the movie Cujo, they had a dog named Smokey that was demonic. It was like a chow had a baby with a pit and a demon all in one. And so we were constantly trying to pickle the beast, hopping over the fence, getting the ball, hopping back over. Not everybody liked those rules. Well, I think it's stupid that it counts as an out if you hit it over the fence more than one time. We made up a rule so we wouldn't die. Some people don't like whatever you tell them to do. You say one thing, they say the opposite. And that's the sort of tension Jesus is speaking to in this analogy he's created. Now, watch this. He says, This generation, I compare you to a bunch of school-aged children who are playing grown-up games in the marketplace. Now, some of you say, Let's play wedding. And they go, Well, what songs do we know from weddings? So they start singing wedding songs. But the other half of the group is like, we don't want to play wedding songs. We don't like playing wedding. We don't want to do that. They can't go along and get along. And then another group, they're like, You don't like wedding songs? We'll play funeral songs then. Let's play funeral. What sick group of kids plays funeral? Okay, but they're doing grown-up stuff. They didn't have iPads, they had games like wedding and funeral. And so some of them would start singing funeral songs, singing the dirge, and then the other ones are like, We don't want to sing the dirge. It's too depressing. Well, you don't like playing wedding, and you don't like playing funeral. Whatever happens, you disagree with it. Why is he saying this to them? Because his cousin John, it's the same age as him, has been running around like a wild man telling people, you better get your life in order because the King of Kings is coming through. You should repent, you should clean up your act, you should stop playing stupid games so you don't win a stupid prize because he's here to hand out rewards. The king and his kingdom are breaking in. Y'all should probably stop the stupid stuff that you're doing. He's there, he's very severe. He comes out of the wilderness looking like a wild man. He's eating locusts and honey. And John has one message, and it's stop doing stupid stuff and get your life right with God. And they said John has a demon. They didn't like the funeral song that John was playing. John was like a song that's in a minor key. A little bit like, mm-hmm, well, why is he? Because they needed somebody to be like, you've got to clean up your act. John's singing a funeral tune and they don't like it. And then Jesus turns the tables. He says, You're also like kids who refuse to play wedding. Jesus is lively. Everywhere Jesus goes, he's partying all the time. He shows up with his mom. Now, I'm not partying like, you know, he needed to go into recovery, but more like partying, like everywhere Jesus goes, God starts breaking out. He shows up at a wedding. They run out of wine at the wedding. You know the story. He turns water to wine. That's pretty cool. That's pretty awesome. They're out in the in the wilderness one time and Jesus is preaching and they run out of food, and Jesus is like, I got this. And so he takes some Chick-fil-A and some Subway, mixes it up, and then everybody gets to eat. Everywhere Jesus goes, it's happy all the time, it seems like, for the people who want in on what God is doing. But the people who are going to oppose him are like, we don't like the song that Jesus is playing. We can't celebrate with Jesus. Look at him. All he does is hang out with tax collectors and hookers and sinners. Well, first of all, sir, how did you know she was a hooker? Second of all, just asking questions. Second of all, why do you care who he hangs out with if he's not doing the things that they're doing? What if it's actually the sick who need a physician and so Jesus is hanging out with them? But they didn't like John and the funeral song, they didn't like Jesus and the wedding song. And nobody wanted to join in the great dance of God's mercy and just enjoy the song. You've heard the story about the man that's trapped on an island, and God sends what is it, a rowboat? And they're like, I don't want a rowboat. So they stay stuck on the island. I want a helicopter. Well, it's not a helicopter. I'm not going to get in it because it's not a helicopter. And then another guy's trapped on the island and he sends a helicopter, and they don't want the helicopter. Like, I wanted a rowboat. Whatever God sends to rescue, it's not good enough for that generation. They don't want to stay where they are, but they refuse the rescue that they're offered. This generation, Jesus says, is like spoiled, opinionated, bossy, cranky children who reject whatever God sends their way. And my word, if that doesn't remind me a little bit of this generation who can't agree about anything. Now, allow me to be careful to save myself the emails. But when you live in a world where you can't figure out the most basic fundamental realities anymore, that's a generation that's like, well, I don't see it that way. It's not my truth. Who gives a rip what your truth is? If it walks like a duck, it's a duck. I want to be very careful here because I don't want to offend people who are very confused about very simple things about like what a boy is. And John comes in. And John's like, you should probably repent. And then he says it to the highest official in the land. You should stop having an affair with your brother's wife, bro. And what do they do to John? They cut his head off. Why do they cut his head off? Because they don't like to hear the word of God. We're part of a generation, not unlike Jesus' generation, to where if you don't like what another person says, we'll just cancel you. We'll just hashtag you're done. I worked in an environment like that one time. It was not fun. It was not fun at all. It was during the rise of the Me Too movement, which there were a lot of things that needed to be corrected during the Me Too movement. There were a lot of men abusing power during the MeToo movement. And that needed to have been rectified. But not every man was a hashtag MeTooMan. And so any basically, you know, moderate dude with a tie and a big office was public enemy number one. And you'd walk into meetings and you had to make sure you had enough women at the table and they were all seated at the right place at the table. You had to make sure you had enough white people and black people and Hispanic. You had to make sure that you met all of the things because if you didn't, then the Gestapo would call you into the HR gulag. And then HR would make it very difficult for you to do your job. And they lost a lot of good men and they lost a lot of good women of integrity who were like, I don't want to play this stupid game anymore. You need to wake up and not be so stinking woke. I'm not talking politics, I'm talking common dang sense. And so Jesus is part of this generation to where you say the wrong thing, they will string you up on a cross, bro. You say the wrong thing, they'll cut off your neck. And we're part of a generation where if you say the wrong thing, they're going to cancel you. And Jesus is like, cancel me. I don't care. They tried to silence John, and you got Jesus standing right behind him. They tried to silence Jesus. You got the 12 standing right behind him, the 70 behind them, and all the disciples right after. Jesus refuses to compromise his message because he is not interested in playing along with stupid games that win stupid prizes. And if we're going to be effective in our culture, we do not have to be rude. We do not have to be arrogant, but we cannot be confused and think we have to sing harmony whenever the culture is singing stupid songs that don't make any sense. And Jesus says to them, I'm not playing along with your games. Because wisdom is justified by her deeds. Or as another, women is wisdom is justified by her children. Why does he say this? Check this out. He's just criticized a bunch of grown adults for being like stubborn children who refuse any wisdom at all. And he says to them, Wisdom is justified by her deeds or her children as a way of saying, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, and we're going to see how my path turns out in the end. Or as my grandfather used to say, not in the words of Jesus, but in his own words, son, the proof of the puddin is in the eating. If you do the right thing long enough, you're going to get righteousness. If you do the wrong thing long enough, you're going to get wickedness. The long-term effects of playing stupid games is winning stupid prizes, but playing along with Jesus' way of life leads to real living. But thankfully, not all of the kids are like the immature, gripey, cranky little children who are in the marketplace. Remember, he's talking to adults and comparing them to school-age kids. Thankfully, not all of the kids are so rebellious that they can't go along with what God is doing. Because you can't make them happy if you do this, and you can't make them happy if you do that, because they're going to gripe about it either way. I don't like it. Well, listen, we call them cave dwellers. Not in the sense that Pastor Phil used to call them cave dwellers. The cave dwellers, when Pastor Phil talks about it, is a term of endearment. They're the people that came to David in the cave of Adulum and strengthened him, and they were with him and they support him. They're the anybodies and the nobodies, the outcasts and the outlaws, and they were God's people. I think that's one type of a cave dweller. But another type of a cave dweller stands for this acronym, certainly against virtually everything. You play like I want a minor key. You play wong and like I want a happy song. Same person. They can't get along with anything. And Jesus is like, you know what? That's what you're like. You can't receive anything that God sends you. But there's another group of people. Now these are a different group of kids. Watch what he says. He says, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and revealed them to little children. Now he's calling these grown adults that he's just compared to kids. He's calling them wise. And you've hidden them from them. For such was your gracious will, and 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 whom the Son chooses to reveal him to. You won't see it in English, but when you get down into the original language, when you play with the Greek a little bit, earlier in this analogy, Jesus, when he compares this generation to children playing in the marketplace who can't get along, he uses the word pideois. It's from the Greek word paidea. The word means little children, young children, boys and girls of play age. But here in the end, when Jesus is describing the people who get in on the truth as it's given to them, children who can get in on God's wisdom. He doesn't use paideous, he uses napiois. And it literally means infant or babe or one not yet speaking, a very small child. It comes from the negative participle, nay, and then epos word or speech. It originally meant one without speech. So check this out. Watch this. This is not exciting, but it's so good. Watch this. Verses 16 to 19. Jesus is comparing these kids who get their way and get what they want. These children are opinionated and demanding and impossible to satisfy. He calls them the paidia, which is not always a bad thing, but he's setting up one thing with paidia, and then he's going to use a different analogy in a minute. But back to them, he says, we played the flute. And they're like, No, we sang a funeral song. No. They criticize John, they criticized Jesus. Nothing pleases them. That's this generation, that's the Paidia group. Now, here in verse 25, he switches to another word for children, not paida, but napia. And these are the ones who receive the kingdom, and they aren't characterized by childish complaining, but humble dependence. The wise and intelligent miss it, but the napia receive it. So there's two words for kids here. And the one is and the other one is the group that they can't even speak for themselves. They just have to receive whatever it is that their parents give them. Now watch this. Jesus says that the people who are going to walk wisdom way with him and John are not the opinionated, powerful know-it-alls who always get what they want, the way they want it, when they want it, and they pitch a fit when it isn't like what they want. But the receptive, humble, infant-like little ones. They won't figure it all out because they're like infants who, whatever they're given, they drink it. They aren't disagreeable about everything. They just know good milk when they taste it and they lap it up. This past week we were in Arkansas and we couldn't show you the footage of the children for privacy issues. But a lot of these were teenagers. They weren't little kids, they were teenagers. And these weren't just any teenagers. These are teenagers that some of them have been put into and then removed from about three dozen different foster homes. These are kids that have some of them some serious, serious challenges. And frankly, I mean, you you could you could you could blame the kids if you were wrong. But you'd look at the parents, though, and you would say, what sort of environment produced this sort of behavior? There was one young man, and he walked around with a shirt that said Proud Christian on it. And I don't know if the young man had some special needs. I'm gonna, I don't know how old he was. He may have been 15, 16, something like that. It's hard to say. But he had these Coke Coke bottle glasses. You know the glasses that are so thick it made his eyes look small. And the young man just followed you around like a puppy. We're sitting in there in the workshop, and this young man walks in and he walks up and we'll call him, we'll call him Joseph. He walks up and he says, Hi sir, my name's Joseph. I'm here to help. He said, Joseph. I don't know what I'm doing in this workshop, but my dad does. Why should you go help my dad? And Kevin stepped up and gave him some work to do and had him vacuum in some stuff. But it wasn't just us. He went over to the flooring crew, he went over to the painting crew. I'm sure he was out there when they were playing water hitball. He was just looking to help. But you know what he was really looking for? He was just looking for someone when he reached out his hand to take his hand and look him in the eye and say, Hey Joseph, I see you. I want you to help me. You have something to offer. And Jesus is saying the first group of people are the ones who, when I reach out my hand, they won't take it. But the second group of people, the ones who get in on what I have for them, they're the people when I reach out my hand, they take my hand and they look me in the eyes and I see them for who they are. They're not opinionated, they're not bossy, they don't gripe when they don't get their way, they don't send all the emails to the pastor and everybody else. They just want to be in on what God's doing. The little kids, the infant kids, the ones who can't speak for themselves, the ones like Joseph, those are the humble, the innocent, the receptive, the open, the ones who, with their beaks open, when Mama Hen comes flying back in, they're the ones who say, I just want whatever you have for me. Why? Because all the people who should have been there for me, all of the grown-ups who were playing all of their games, all of the people who should have helped me out, none of them were there for me when I needed them. Jesus, are you the one that's here for me? Are you the one who's gonna give me what I need and what I want? And then Jesus comes back with one of the most beautiful passages in Scripture. And to this group, to the little Joseph group, he says this. He says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Everybody else has been putting a heavy burden on you, but I've got a burden for you that fits just right. It's one that I'm gonna bear with you. Or as the message so eloquently puts it. Friends, are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you'll recover life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Come into the workshop with me. I'll show you how to build a life worth having. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything ill-fitting or heavy on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. As Nathan and Brittany join me on the stage, Jesus is saying to one group, you're like a group of kids that anything that happens, you're not going to like it. But the kingdom people, the people that walk the way of Jesus, those are like the little infants. Those are the Joseph group who just say, Jesus, we'll do whatever you want. And Jesus says to them, Come on, come on. If you're tired, come on. If you're burned out, come on. If you're heavy laden, come on. If you've been chewed up by the system, come on. And he also says to the other group, if you're tired of playing stupid games, if you're tired of playing religion, if you're tired of rebelling against God, then why don't you come on too? Anybody can come to me if you're heavy laken up and I'll give you rest.

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