WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:26.480 Your Bibles to our scripture reading this morning, which is found in the New Testament, Book of Matthew, chapter 11. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:32.000 Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 to 30. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:46.320 There we read, Jesus speaking, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:51.359 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:59.359 For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:04.319 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:07.519 The word of the Lord. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.439 Well, welcome here on this uh Labor Day weekend. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:29.519 And as Pastor Jason mentioned, this is a uh holiday that I was a little unaware of the background of it, but I was intrigued by the name, Labor Day, and uh on a day in which we uh take a holiday. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:42.959 But there's actually a day in which Americans uh were intended to recognize and celebrate the achievements and value that labor and work have created in our country. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:49.280 Our country was indeed built by great movements of labor. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:56.560 So labor and work certainly have, and they bring great value. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:02.560 And we Americans certainly love to celebrate labor and work. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:12.400 But ironically enough, we're going to be looking at a passage today that speaks about rest. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:29.199 In fact, in our passage today, Jesus is going to be inviting us into a kind of rest that will bring to our lives a value and blessing infinitely greater than work. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:39.039 So maybe I'd like to begin by just kind of asking you a question how tired are you today? 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:43.840 I'm not sure why we have chuckling there. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:45.840 Well, actually, I am. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.159 How tired are you? 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:59.840 And think of the kinds of layers of tiredness and weariness that we bear in this fallen world. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:06.639 Oh, you know that physical tiredness is only the tip of the iceberg. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:19.360 The real weariness and tiredness go deep below the surface, and they involve us at some of the deepest levels of our life. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:30.400 Well, today in our passage, I want you to know right at the beginning that Jesus is not merely dealing with people who are tired physically. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:45.680 He's going to be addressing people who are tired to their very bone, tired spiritually, who are wearied and worn out and needy in deep and desperate need. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:49.840 And there's no way out for them. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:59.280 They've tried every path there is, and there's just no way out for them in all of the offerings and the solutions of this world. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:01.599 But Jesus has a word for them. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:03.439 He has a word for us. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:14.639 Because I hope you'll see that this isn't just some passage that happened a couple of thousand years ago. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:25.839 Scripture is such that the Holy Spirit who speaks in Scripture when it was written still speaks today. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:43.680 So today God is speaking to us through his word in Scripture, through the words on this page, and through the Spirit of God moving in our midst and in our heart the truths that he wants us to hear. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:52.079 As we come to this passage, you'll notice if you had your Bible that, wow, this is kind of at the end of a paragraph. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:54.959 It's not like set off by itself. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:07.839 You know, we like to memorize passages kind of in isolation, and it's not a bad idea, but sometimes it's helpful to kind of see it in its context, in which it happened. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:14.879 Well, the context is quite complex and long and would take a while to really unpack all of that. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:20.879 So I really just want to kind of summarize a few things that you need to bring to this passage. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:25.040 Like, what was the occasion in which Jesus said these words? 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:35.360 And um, the occasion was that his ministry was beginning to make a turn. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:44.079 And things were not going well for Jesus in terms of how he was being received. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:47.759 There was a lot of confusion about him. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:51.680 There was a lot of people who doubted him. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:57.199 There was an awful lot of active resisting and criticizing of him. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:10.800 There was a lot of outright rejection of him, appalling rejection in the light of the kinds of miracles and the kinds of things that he did to validate who he was and his message. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:26.240 And then, of course, there were all these people, these especially authority people, who were lying in wait to snare him, listening to his words and waiting to move in and catch him on something. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:37.040 Surprisingly, Jesus is not absorbed in all of this and in somehow defending himself. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:46.399 He continues to minister and he continues to have his focus on places where it will be fruitful. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:07:00.720 And there ends up being in this passage, there ends up being a place, in fact, where his ministry will be fruitful. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:07.680 And this is where he turns his attention with great compassion and with a great invitation. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:09.680 A great invitation. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:18.800 So I'd like to look at our passage this morning by kind of asking three questions of it. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:24.879 What kind of people get an invitation from Jesus? 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:28.160 What kind of people get an invitation from him? 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:32.800 Secondly, uh, what is it that Jesus is inviting us to? 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:35.920 What's he inviting us to in this passage? 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:44.639 And finally, a third question is how do you know if you have the kind of rest that Jesus promises? 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:56.879 So let's begin by kind of looking at our text and dealing, first of all, with the kind of people that get an invitation from Jesus. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:20.160 Well, in everyday life, um, invitations go out through the mail, and they go to worthy people who meet the criteria of either friendship or family to attend some kind of event or participate in something, right? 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:25.519 I received an invitation this week to a wedding. 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:29.199 And in a sense, I was a worthy recipient. 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:34.000 I'm a friend of the family, and actually participating in the wedding. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:40.720 And so there's it was it was appropriate that I should have an invitation that comes. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:49.759 In this passage, though, we are looking at Jesus, the Son of God, who's giving an invitation. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:53.600 And so we might want to ask, who's this invitation to? 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:59.120 And if we were to think of, well, what kind of people would be worthy of his invitation? 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:20.559 Maybe you might think of, well, people who were very scrupulous about their walk with God, and maybe people who were very religious people, people who were disciplined in their lives and did what they were called to do in the law of God. 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:30.720 They would be the people who would receive the kind of invitation maybe that Jesus is giving here. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:39.039 But in fact, this passage is kind of a surprising passage. 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:47.519 Because the people that Jesus invites here are described as weary and burdened. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:57.360 Some of the translations have it to be who labor in our burden, but the idea here seems to be that of the result of labor. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.039 They were weary and burdened. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.799 They were weary and burdened about what? 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.600 Well, the text doesn't exactly tell us. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:11.679 It's pretty open-ended. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:31.360 But the more you read about Jesus and the more you see what he's saying here and know about the New Testament, you know that he's talking about a broad kind of weariness and burdens that is far deeper than a physical weariness and burdenness. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:37.440 These are the people who life is just not working out for. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:49.600 Some of these people in this passage have actually had attraction to God and have tried some religious solution. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:11:13.440 They have gone to the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the day, and they've listened to them, and they've done what they have said to do as a way to get right with God and find worthiness with God and find rest with God, but in the end it has led to a deep, wearying and burdened way. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:16.799 There has been no rest for them. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:27.279 It's interesting, there's a similar kind of Old Testament invitation that we find in the book of Isaiah. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:32.399 Another one of the great invitational passages. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.320 Listen to the terms of this passage. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:43.919 Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:48.720 He who has no money, come and buy and eat. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:54.240 Come and buy wine and milk without money and without price. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:02.879 Why do you spend your money for that which isn't bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:10.720 Listen diligent to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in rich food. 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:18.399 Incline your ear, and come to me here that your soul may live. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:31.759 In that day, Isaiah, speaking on behalf of God, had issued an imitation to people who were thirsty. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:41.519 They were so thirsty and famished, and they were figuratively buying bread that would never satisfy them. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:54.399 And he tells them that there is a kind, there's a kind of wine and bread that they could have without money. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:56.960 It was counterintuitive. 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:02.240 They needed to come to God empty-handed, and they would find it. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:08.879 And so Jesus is giving a similar kind of imitation here. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:14.720 He's calling out for people who are near the end of their rope. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:28.000 There's some other interesting overlaps of description to who these people might be or who might be contained in this kind of group of people who are weary and heavy laden. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:45.519 A little earlier in the passage, Jesus talks, he issues a prayer to God, and he says, I thank you, Father, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:48.399 Revealed them to little children. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:55.200 God was at work opening the heart and mind of people he called little children. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:14:05.840 And in Scripture, this is often a kind of metaphorical way or symbolic way of describing people who were insignificant in the eyes of the world, but teachable. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:09.440 Insignificant, but teachable and open. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:20.799 They were in contrast to the wise and learned, those who really were arrogant and not curious about Jesus. 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:23.600 They really felt like they didn't have a need. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:27.519 They knew the way to have their need satisfied. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:33.039 And what Jesus was offering them, they just weren't interested in. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:39.360 There's even another way that these people who get this imitation are described. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:41.200 And it's even more surprising. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:45.679 It's a little bit earlier, it's in the beginning of the chapter, chapter 11. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.320 I've always been struck by this. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:15:00.320 The way that Jesus describes his miracles and the kind of people that he spent a lot of time with. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:09.440 It turns out that at this time John the Baptist was in prison, and John the Baptist was a forerunner of Jesus. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:14.559 It was his ministry to point people to Jesus as the coming one. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:21.679 And he was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets because he was the closest to Jesus. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:27.039 And he's in prison and he begins to doubt. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:29.200 He begins to question. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:39.360 What Jesus is doing doesn't fit the kind of patterns and categories that he has in his mind as to what the Messiah would be doing. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:52.960 And so he sends some ambassadors, some disciples to go and ask Jesus if he really was the one, or if he was just another forerunner of some kind. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:58.080 Would there be someone after him who would fit his categories better? 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:07.600 And if you have your Bibles open in verse 11, look what Jesus says in verses four and following. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:13.759 Jesus says, Go and tell John what you hear and see. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:20.240 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:51.840 But really the thing that has always amazed me is that these works that he does are bigger than just healing. 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:53.840 There is something we're to see. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:58.639 You know, we talked last week in the baptism that God loves symbols. 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:21.519 Here's this Messiah going around healing blind people, deaf people, dead people, incurably sick people who are contagious with everyone else around them, and poor people with no money. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:22.960 Do you see it? 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:28.160 Do you see the picture that's being presented there? 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:33.119 That's the kind of people the Savior has come to save. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:50.079 Not just those who had that physically, the physical components of that were meant partly, partly to trigger some lights in our minds that we are among those people. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:53.839 We don't have sight. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:55.759 We don't have hearing. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:56.960 We're lame. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:04.240 We can't move and walk in the Christian life or in life with God in a way we're on our own. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:13.440 We are dead in our trespasses and sins, and we have nothing to buy what God alone can give us. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:43.920 And so what good news! That Jesus, who often hung out with sinners and tax collectors, and in this passage speaking to people who get his imitation, they are in fact the people who have the greatest need and are aware of their need and are sinking under their need. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:49.279 And Jesus sends out this invitation to all of them. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:57.359 Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:22.000 I love artwork in not an artist, but I have some appreciation of art, and I especially love artwork where the artist has intended for us to kind of enter the narrative of the picture she has painted. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:34.480 The artist wants us to get into that picture and to kind of see where we are in there and to see things going on in this maybe complex picture. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:36.799 They want us to look at their faces. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:38.400 They want us to look at the lighting. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:43.039 There's a lot to see in really good artwork. 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:50.960 There's a story being told in good artwork, or at least in a certain kind of artwork. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:20:00.640 As you come to this passage of Scripture, can you see this as a kind of snapshot, as a kind of picture? 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:05.920 Can you put yourself in the crowd around Jesus? 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.359 Can you enter the narrative of this passage? 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:15.200 Where do you see yourself in this scene? 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:20.240 That's the first thing this passage is beckoning us to deal with. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:24.160 Where do you see yourself in this passage? 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:29.759 Are you, in fact, one of those? 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:39.759 As those ladies on the screen, burdened down, and weary in this life. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:46.640 Because life doesn't work for you in a fallen world. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:21:07.200 And the brokenness of your body and your even your soul and mind are so deep and so discouraging at times in your own self that there's just no hope if you had to be your own savior. 00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:14.240 There are people in this scene who aren't going to come to Christ. 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:16.640 They don't feel they really have a need. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:19.279 Maybe some of you here are in that place. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:22.079 You don't really see your need. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:23.440 You've got a good job. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:25.119 You've got good health. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:28.319 You've got a good family structure. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:33.519 You've got a lot going for you. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:35.039 You're secure. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:36.960 You feel secure. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:55.200 If we could talk at length, I'm fairly certain that that security that you have would be seen and even felt by you as being a really frail thing. 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.680 But some of these people who were in that place. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:01.599 Didn't come to Christ. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:05.279 They hesitated. 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:10.799 Maybe they knew that what he was saying rang true in their soul, but they hesitated. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:16.000 Where do you see yourself in this passage? 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:30.720 I love one author who made this famous saying, he said, God's address is at the end of your rope. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:34.400 You want to know where God lives? 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:38.240 God's address is at the end of your rope. 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:59.920 Let me just invite you today that if you are here today and you have some sense of your own neediness and your weariness of soul and heart, and you are discovering that any other kind of way you try to make it to God is not working out for you. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:06.400 But you've never come to Jesus, you've never really considered who he is and what he's offering. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:18.640 Let me encourage you to look at Jesus today and to hear his imitation that's still speaking today, a word of tremendous soul rest for you. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:26.559 Well, I want to move on now to our second question. 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:30.000 What is Jesus inviting us to? 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:32.960 What's he inviting us to? 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:37.119 Gives this invitation to a certain class of people. 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:39.200 Well, what's he inviting them to? 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:48.400 You know, it's always good to know the terms of an invitation before you accept it. 00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:54.400 In fact, it's more than good, it's actually vital. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:14.480 There is no shortage of unscrupulous people who love to invite vulnerable people, like the kindness in our text today, into opportunities that really aren't what they appear. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:24.319 They're actually opportunities for you to be exploited and taken advantage of, and perhaps to lose everything. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:31.039 We have a name for these kinds of people in certain aspects of society. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:33.119 We call them groomers. 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:35.519 Groomers. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:44.880 The entire sex trade that is out of control in our world functions on this principle. 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:49.759 Invitations are made to vulnerable young ladies. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:25:04.240 Promises are made of rest and life and money and prosperity for your family and to get out of that poverty that you can't get out of for generations. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:07.519 You can be the one to deliver your family. 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:10.000 Just come with us, trust us. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:20.240 And so, what is Jesus offering here? 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:27.039 What makes him different from the voices of people who prey on vulnerable people? 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:34.880 Opening up to them the hope of a path of success. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:43.200 Well, what he offers to them is three things. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:45.599 Three things. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:50.960 And again, he's not just offering it to them, he's offering it to us. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:56.319 The first thing he offers in this passage is himself. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:02.240 He offers himself, come to me. 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:07.519 Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:09.599 He's not offering them a program. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:17.440 He's not offering them a path, a degree, of something they can go somewhere and do and have. 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:31.359 He is offering them to come and to be with him, to be in his presence, to walk with him, to follow him, to keep company with him. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:36.880 He's offering a kind of personal relating here. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:47.599 Well, you know, this might be a fine offer if Jesus wasn't who he said he was. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:50.400 He said he's the very Son of God. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:56.799 The very Son of God who came down from heaven and became one of us. 00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:05.359 The one who sees us and knows us to our very core, all the way to the bottom. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:21.519 And you see, one of the things Jesus is offering for us here is to come to him as we are and with an authenticity about us. 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:26.079 He's not asking us to come anonymously. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:42.640 You know, if I invite you to church, you might come in, you might come in that door over there five minutes after the service starts, and you might make your way to the back, and then you might three minutes before the service leaves, you might just kind of go out that way, and that would be okay if that's where you were. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:45.759 That would be just fine, but it's not just fine for Jesus. 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:48.960 You know, he is inviting us to come to him. 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:51.920 He's gonna look you in the eye. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:56.000 You're gonna be held by him. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:00.559 He wants you. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:04.079 In all that you are. 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:08.160 He doesn't want any mask on. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:12.799 He doesn't need you to get cleaned up or anything like that. 00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:16.079 He wants you to come as you are. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:18.400 Come out of hiding. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:22.960 Come out of hiding and meet your creator. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:26.720 You've been hiding all your life from your creator. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:31.599 Come out of hiding and meet your creator face to face. 00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:38.160 Well, he goes on from there. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:40.720 He offers something else. 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:44.319 He offers to lighten our load. 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:47.279 To lighten our load. 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:50.960 Jesus didn't come to weigh us down. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:29:01.599 Maybe if you've been in the church and you've been around the Bible, maybe you've read the Sermon on the Mount recently, right? 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:05.680 Wow, that's a high standard. 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:16.160 Jesus goes, Jesus looks at the law and then he even applies it into the heart, into the inside of who we are. 00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:23.200 You might think, wow, Jesus really gives us a heavy load here to be a follower of his. 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:25.519 That's not what he says. 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.319 He says, I have come to lighten your load. 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:36.400 I want you to swap your yokes. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:39.200 You already have a yoke. 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:42.000 That's why you're weary and heavy laden. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.440 The idea of a yoke in Scripture, it's just a symbolic idea. 00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:52.480 It has to do with some kind of bondage or very often a kind of authority that you're submitting to. 00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:57.279 Everybody has a yoke in life. 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:03.920 These people had a yoke, but it was a yoke that they couldn't bear. 00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:08.640 And Jesus says, I want you to swap. 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:10.960 I want you to swap yokes. 00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:17.039 I want you to come and submit yourself willingly to my authority. 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:21.599 I'm not going to force this on you. 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:24.079 There's no exploiting going on here. 00:30:24.400 --> 00:30:29.680 You come and you step into what I have to offer you. 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:36.240 What does his yoke look like? 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:40.640 It sounds scary to go from one yoke to another. 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:42.640 Are you really any better off? 00:30:43.519 --> 00:30:45.279 With another yoke. 00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:49.359 Jesus says you are. 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:53.200 Because of the nature of who he is. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:31:00.240 He is gentle in lowly in heart. 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:16.799 Again, in the Old Testament book of Isaiah, there was a number of songs that were written to foretell hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus came what the Savior would look like. 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:21.200 And listen to this part of this song. 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:31.279 Behold, my servant, this is the Savior coming, whom I uphold, God says, my chosen in whom my soul delights. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:36.720 I have put my spirit on him, and he will bring forth justice to the nations. 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:42.880 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. 00:31:43.119 --> 00:31:50.720 A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:55.759 He will faithfully bring forth justice. 00:31:56.079 --> 00:32:01.039 Can you imagine a Savior who's going to right all of the wrongs? 00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:16.880 And yet, amid all of that, people who are contributing to the wrongs and who are sinful and rebellious and who are at the end of their rope and weary and burdened and like a candle that's barely flickering. 00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:20.079 And Jesus said, I'm not going to snuff that out. 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:30.000 People who are like a bruised reed, who are just barely hanging on by a thread, I'm not going to snap it off. 00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:33.839 That's the way the authorities in this world work. 00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:36.880 That's the authorities of other religions. 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:44.960 There are plenty of other faiths in the world that are harsh taskmasters. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:47.359 You come to them. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:51.759 You come to them as a bruised reed. 00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:55.519 And you'll lose the top of your reed. 00:32:56.960 --> 00:32:57.759 You know that. 00:32:57.920 --> 00:32:59.279 Some of you know that. 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:05.519 But you come to Jesus, and he is gentle. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:08.160 He is gentle. 00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:15.200 Yes, he brings justice, and yes, he has a fierceness about him of holiness. 00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:26.240 But he is gentle to those who are wearied and burdened in their deepest places, whom he sees to the core of who they are. 00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:31.839 That makes me want to come to him. 00:33:32.720 --> 00:33:37.599 I feel safe coming to a Savior like that. 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:42.559 I'm not going to be hit and blindsided by a surprise. 00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:44.720 This Savior knows me. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:50.720 And not only that, he's inviting me into something really great. 00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:59.839 Finally, the final part of the offer here is that Jesus is offering to refresh our soul. 00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:10.800 The whole invitation here isn't into something that's going to be exploiting for him in a negative kind of way. 00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:14.960 Jesus is offering us a refreshment. 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:21.760 Not just kind of stopping from work for a while, but being refreshed. 00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:26.320 Many of you do. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:29.440 If you don't have one, try to get one. 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:38.639 You need time off, but you know that mere time off won't bring you rest alone. 00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:41.280 It's not the same thing. 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:42.800 You're just stopping working. 00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:45.840 It's different from being refreshed. 00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:54.000 Jesus is offering a refreshing of your soul at the very deepest places. 00:34:56.320 --> 00:35:00.480 How is Jesus able to offer this level of ultimate rest? 00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:03.360 How is he able to do that? 00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:06.960 You know, in this passage, he's not laying all of that out. 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:26.800 He's really using these images that were familiar to these people for their sake and for ours to teach us that he is the one who has come to weary and tired people who are tired of trying to be worthy before God and earn their righteousness before him. 00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:32.320 Then in fact, he has come to do a work on our behalf. 00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:36.320 He has come to earn a righteousness. 00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:39.519 He has come as the worthy one. 00:35:39.679 --> 00:35:45.360 And he has come to give us his status of worthiness before God. 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:53.679 And so we can have that in a kind of imputed way if we're in him and if we come to him. 00:35:55.760 --> 00:35:59.679 Empty-handed in faith, trusting in him. 00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:13.599 Jesus says that he knows the Father alone, and he reveals the Father to these little children who come to him in this kind of way. 00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:28.559 I want us to end with this question of how do you know if you have this kind of rest? 00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:31.840 When do you get this rest? 00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:35.039 And what does this rest look like? 00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:51.679 This is a complicated subject, and I think if you've lived the Christian life for very long, you'll know that depending on where you are in this life, you may read Jesus' words with a kind of second look. 00:36:54.719 --> 00:37:02.880 Because as we enter the Christian life, we come to him with this kind of burden and this kind of emptiness. 00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:12.400 And if we really come to him in faith, looking to him alone, there is a rest that we experience right away. 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:23.679 God gives us his own spirit, he'll tell us later in the New Testament, to dwell in us, and who testifies in our own heart that we're adopted children with him. 00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:29.599 We have peace with God that surpasses understanding. 00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:33.280 We've been born from above and born again. 00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:42.480 There's a million ways that the Bible declares this, and that as God's children, those of you who are, we have experienced this. 00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:51.199 There is a beautiful rest that's here and now, today, for the children of God. 00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:57.920 We also know in Scripture that there is the fullness of rest that's yet to come. 00:37:58.159 --> 00:37:59.280 It's future. 00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:10.880 It's going to be a glorious rest because then every ounce of burden that you have in this life and weariness is going to be removed. 00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:14.239 Can you imagine a day? 00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:23.199 Can you imagine a day when you won't desire one thing contrary to what God Himself desires? 00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:46.559 Can you imagine a day that when you encounter a brother or sister, and you will encounter brothers or sisters in glory, that you will have nothing, not a single thought or desire that will be anything contrary than love and giving and celebrating and affirming and blessing? 00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:52.559 You know, it's more than we can really get our minds around. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:59.199 There is coming an ultimate rest when all is going to be restored that was lost. 00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:02.639 But what about now in the gap? 00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:13.599 What about now between the already, what we already have in part, and the not yet, what we in fact will have in its fullness? 00:39:15.280 --> 00:39:52.880 Well, as we labor on in the Christian life over the years, you know, it could be that what you have in your mind, or maybe what you've been brought in into training with in some kind of way, depending on your religious background, maybe our idea was that this rest that we began with was going to just keep on mounting in such a way that we were going to be knocking down progress in the Christian life where we're conquering one sin after the other. 00:39:53.599 --> 00:39:59.360 We're putting to death, we're just going down this list and we're knocking them off. 00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:04.400 You struggle with jealousy, work at it long enough. 00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:06.559 Boom, it's off your list. 00:40:07.679 --> 00:40:15.199 You struggle with anger, you struggle with desire, run adrift. 00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:23.519 Maybe in your heart you're thinking that, wow, I'm going to get a handle on all of these things someday. 00:40:24.480 --> 00:40:40.320 So that my life in this world is really going to be a kind of rest from all of the burden of these sins that are within me. 00:40:42.960 --> 00:40:45.519 But it turns out that it's not that way. 00:40:48.320 --> 00:40:53.360 It turns out that God doesn't reveal that to us all at once either. 00:40:53.920 --> 00:40:56.480 I think if he did, it would be a crushing blow. 00:40:58.079 --> 00:41:03.920 He begins to show us ourself, little by little. 00:41:06.079 --> 00:41:17.440 And it takes an entire lifetime for the kind of rest, the deepest kind of rest that Jesus is talking about in this passage, to sink down into us. 00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:33.119 Because the kind of rest that we're ultimately getting in this life is a kind of rest where we begin to see that it really is all of God. 00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:38.800 All of our worthiness is in Him. 00:41:40.400 --> 00:41:43.679 Without me, you can do nothing, Jesus said. 00:41:43.920 --> 00:41:48.400 That will take you a lifetime to get your soul around that. 00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:53.920 In the meantime, there is something in our hearts that scrambles. 00:41:54.159 --> 00:41:57.440 I picked this word up from another author on this passage. 00:41:57.679 --> 00:41:58.719 I love the word. 00:41:58.880 --> 00:42:00.400 It's the opposite of rest. 00:42:00.800 --> 00:42:02.000 Scrambling. 00:42:04.400 --> 00:42:06.320 Man, I am a scrambling man. 00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:07.599 Can I tell you that? 00:42:07.920 --> 00:42:09.679 There's a song about that, isn't it? 00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:13.039 I'm a scrambling man. 00:42:14.400 --> 00:42:17.119 And here's how my scrambling looks like. 00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:21.280 My scrambling happens every day. 00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:31.360 Because my heart is rebellious, and yes, I have the Spirit of God, and there are good desires, and God's at work in me. 00:42:31.599 --> 00:42:36.000 He is putting to death sins, but it's so much slower than I thought. 00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:41.679 And the rebellion arises in me, and I'm deceived by it. 00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:43.440 I'm led astray by it. 00:42:44.159 --> 00:42:45.199 I hide from it. 00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:46.719 I hide from seeing it. 00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:48.159 I don't want to know about it. 00:42:48.320 --> 00:42:50.320 I don't want to explore it. 00:42:51.119 --> 00:42:53.440 I feel shame and guilt. 00:42:54.079 --> 00:42:56.639 And I immediately want to run from God. 00:42:56.880 --> 00:42:58.000 I want to hide from Him. 00:42:58.159 --> 00:43:01.679 I want to put fig leaves on and be in the bush. 00:43:02.079 --> 00:43:03.760 That's where I want to hang out. 00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:05.119 That's scrambling. 00:43:05.199 --> 00:43:08.239 And there's a million ways that I can do that. 00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:21.280 And where the scrambling leads to, besides hiding, it leads to positive trying to do things that actually would reinvest me in the favor of God. 00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:28.559 I've learned some of this from bad, unhealthy relationships in life with parents and with families. 00:43:28.800 --> 00:43:42.320 You know, when you go out of favor with your spouse, maybe your spouse is the kind of person that kind of requires you, this kind of unspoken rule there, that you're going to earn back their favor. 00:43:43.199 --> 00:43:44.480 You do enough. 00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:47.760 Then you'll get their smile again. 00:43:48.880 --> 00:43:50.880 We learned that as kids. 00:43:51.679 --> 00:43:54.400 Parents, we we don't do well. 00:43:54.719 --> 00:43:59.760 Parenting often, we often teach kids this kind of thing that our love is conditional. 00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:00.719 For them. 00:44:03.360 --> 00:44:24.639 If they want to, if they break a rule, if they rebel against us, if they do, don't do what we ask them to do, then maybe we can make them feel bad, and maybe we can, if they're good enough, if they do that chore and come back and say, Dad, Dad, I mowed the yard for you. 00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:29.519 And really, really the ask is, Dad, can I be in your favor now? 00:44:29.840 --> 00:44:31.679 Can we make it right again? 00:44:33.119 --> 00:44:34.719 That's scrambling. 00:44:35.119 --> 00:44:37.119 I hate it when my kids scramble. 00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:38.320 I hate it. 00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:43.599 It shows me that my parenting isn't where it needs to be. 00:44:43.760 --> 00:44:45.280 They're hearing the wrong message. 00:44:45.440 --> 00:44:48.079 I'm sending the wrong message to them. 00:44:48.639 --> 00:44:51.599 And I hate it when I scramble with the Lord. 00:44:53.840 --> 00:45:01.119 Whether it's trying to read more in Scripture, whether it's trying to take on more disciplines, whether it's time to do this or do that. 00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:05.920 Those are all important things, and this subject can get really delicate, can't it? 00:45:06.079 --> 00:45:09.119 You know, not going too far here, not going too far here. 00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:13.760 I hope you're not hearing me as kind of over in the heresy lane. 00:45:14.239 --> 00:45:18.719 But I'm telling you from real experience, from real Christians. 00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:25.199 Scrambling is what we do by nature. 00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:35.119 And God wants us to put that scrambling down because that is the biggest burden in my life right now is scrambling to gain his favor. 00:45:36.719 --> 00:45:47.280 The biggest burden in my life is the own disappointment of how far short I fall of him and thinking, hmm, am I going to be used by him anymore? 00:45:49.599 --> 00:45:54.559 Wow, the unrest that comes from that is heavy. 00:45:54.880 --> 00:45:56.400 So heavy. 00:45:59.840 --> 00:46:08.239 But I'm learning, I'm learning, I'm learning in new ways that I can come to Jesus face to face. 00:46:09.599 --> 00:46:13.679 I can come and name my rebellion right before him. 00:46:14.159 --> 00:46:19.360