Gospel Quest Thru Matthew 2: Christ’s Call
Text: Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Audio Link
Introduction:
JI Packer
in his book Knowing God. “I walked in the sunshine with a scholar who had
effectively forfeited his prospects of academic advancement by clashing with
church dignitaries over the gospel of grace. “But it doesn’t matter he said at
length, for I’ve know God and they haven’t. Not many of
us, I think, would ever naturally say that we have known God. The words imply a
definiteness and matter-of-factness of experience to which most of us, if we
are honest, have to admit that we are still strangers. We claim, perhaps, to
have testimony, and can rattle off our
conversion story with the best of them; we say that we know God - this, after
all, is what evangelical are expected to say; but would it occur to us to say,
without hesitation, and with reference to particular events in our personal
history, that we have known God? I doubt it, for I suspect that with most of us
experience of God has never become so vivid as that.”
That quote is quite convicting to me every time I read or
think about it. Have I know God vividly? /di
I know Jesus as intimately as that? And yet I believe that that is
exactly what Jesus wants. I think in our passage today it is what Jesus is
inviting us to do. Last week we looked at the commands of Christs from Matthew
7 and if they showed us that Jesus came not to enable us to keep the law and be
made righteous through that law, but he came to keep the law himself and then
offer as a gift his own righteousness to those who repent and believe in Him. In
order for that to be true, we must come to Christ and in Him find salvation.
Matthew 7 give us the clearest call Jesus ever makes in scripture. It is hard
to imagine that anyone could walk away from such an personal invitation and yet
many do, some even today in this auditorium may walk away. I don’t understand
how they could do it, but I know they will.
Others may be here today who believe they have answered the
call of Christ but in truth have only answered the call of a parent, a pastor
or a Sunday School teacher. Unless you have heard the call of Christ within the
chambers of your heart, carried there by the power of the Holy Spirit then you
have not answered His call, you have not answered this call.
And for those of us who have truly heard and answered His
call, I would challenge you this morning to listen once again because with the
call to come to Jesus is the call to take up His yoke and learn of Him. Today
would be a good day to hear and once again fully and completely answer the Call
of Christ. Let’s go to Matthew 11:28 In this passage Jesus, in a sense, gives
three invitations; come, take and learn. And I can will only fully answer His
call when I take those three steps.
His Call, Come - Matthew 11:28
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
The Invitation to Come
The call of Jesus in Matthew 11:28 is part of a long
discourse that begins when the disciples of John the Baptist, are sent by him to
ask Jesus if He truly is the Messiah. Matthew 11:3 “Art thou he that
should come, or do we look for another?” Jesus answers them by telling them to
report back to John of the signs and miracles that have been done and that the
gospel, the good news that has been preached to the poor. He also tells John
vs. 6 “blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” Now you might think Jesus would be upset by
John’s question, some would even say John’s failure of faith, but Jesus,
instead of being upset, lifts up John and says he was more than a prophet, that
he was the forerunner foretold in scripture and that there is no man born of
woman greater.
Then he tells the crowd that John the Baptist’s ministry was
a line that changed everything that was understand about the kingdom. Matthew
11:12-13 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For
all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.”
So John the Baptist, the forerunner to Jesus, the Messiah
marked the transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from the
prophets who told of a coming Messiah to The Prophet who now told the people
that the Messiah is here.
Jesus then shows Himself, absolutely as the Messiah.
Matthew 11:21-24 Woe
unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which
were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented
long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And
thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell:
for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it
shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for
thee.
Then Jesus thanks His Father for showing these things to
those who are willing to hear it and then with Himself now as the focus, He
gives his invitation in Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
We must come to Jesus
His call is to all that labor and are heavy laden. Jesus
calls to those who are struggling with the burdens of the law, the burdens of
our own man-made obligation, struggling in our own strength to achieve
righteousness. Struggling with sin and guilt, pain and sorrow. To those who are
bearing these great, unbearable burdens, he says, “Come”.
And If we come to Him we do not find even greater burdens to
bear but instead Jesus promises us that we find rest in Him.
It is hard for us to understand this, hard for us to accept
this. To us there should be something that I must do, in order to earn this
rest, earn this salvation. Jesus early in Matthew 11:12 said,
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” We somehow believe that
by our good works, or good intention we will storm the wall of Heaven and
conquer it with our own self righteousness.
In John 6:28
when once again Jesus was being challenged by the disbelief of the Gospel, by
the simple plan of salvation that means trusting and believing is the Son of
God. The people there challenging him said,” What shall we do, that we might work
the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and
said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath
sent.”
To fully answer the call of Jesus, you must respond to His
invitation on His terms, not yours.
You must let him take your burden of your sin. It is a burn
you cannot bear and will drag you down into hell itself. No matter how hard you
try you cannot fix even one sin of the past and each day you live adds to that
unbearable burden you carry.
Jesus offers rest, but to find this rest we must come to
Him. We cannot exchange one philosophy for another, nor new obligations for old
obligations. We must come to find a
Savior the only one who can give full restoration.
Let me go further, If you are struggling aa Christian, then it
could be that you have begun to try and carry your own burden again. We may have forgotten that Jesus’ invitation
is to Himself. When I come to Him, he
makes me a Christian. He makes me a child of God. He saves me. He makes me what I can’t be in
my own ability or self-righteousness. He bore my burden at Calvary and He must
bear my burden every day, else it will crush me.
This never changes. It
is the same at salvation and the same with every work I try to do or sin I try
to overcome. I must hear His call, I must come to Him, believe in Him and He will
be true to his word and take that unbearable burden upon Himself.
Christian’s Burden is lifted
Now I saw in my dream, that the highway up which Christian
was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall was called
Salvation (Isaiah 26:1). Up this way, therefore, did burdened Christian run,
but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back.
He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and
upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre.
So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden
loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble,
and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it
fell in, and I saw it no more.
Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry
heart, “He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death.” Then he
stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him that
the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked,
therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent
the waters down his cheeks
Transition: The second thing I saw to make me realize that I
don’t really know Jesus is His yoke.
His Yoke, Take - Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you,
The Invitation to the Yoke
The next part of the call of Christ is to take His yoke. He
did not offer the yoke before He offered his invitation to come. He did not
place his yoke upon them until after he had lifted their burden.
What is the yoke that Jesus offers in place of man’s burden?
We know that a yoke is a harness placed upon an ox that puts it under the
control of the its master. Also, in Jesus day, the rabbis called a school, a
way of teaching or a disciple, a yoke.
But thank God the yoke that Jesus offers is different.
Instead of being a yoke, like that of the Pharisees, that would only add to the
burden they already could not carry, this yoke took away the burden. In this
yoke the master did not just pile on more impossible weight but took it away
and in its place gave us his own strength and power to carry His yoke. In this
yoke they were joined with Him, the burden now carried is carried by the power that
comes from our master, Jesus Christ.
We must be under the yoke of Jesus
Many want eternal life, many want to escape hell, but few
want to be a disciple of Christ. Few of
us want to be in a yoke, because being in that yoke means going where He wants
me to go, walking beside Him every step of my life and doing the work He wants
me to do.
Is it any wonder that we struggle as Christians? Instead of submitting to the yoke of Jesus, we
pull against it. Instead of going where he directs, we try to go our own
way. Instead of putting my shoulder to
the work He wants me to do, I look for another field to plow, that is more to
my choice and preferences. So as Christians, we struggle in Christian life. We
pull our own way until we chafe at the yoke and complain about our master.
Surprise trip to Six Flags.
I remember a time when we lived in Dallas. My children were
quite young and one Saturday morning LeeOra and I decided to take the kids on a
surprise trip to Six Flags. But it was Saturday morning and the kids are busy
watching TV, still in their pajamas and comfortable doing their own Saturday
morning thing. They don’t want to go anywhere. So they complained and whined
and ignored us until we almost had to punish them just to get them to go. Finally, after getting them into the car and
listening to them grumble and mumble all the way, they see the roller-coasters
and towers of Six Flags, their designated destination, designed by their dear
parents. Oh yes, now the kids jump out
of the car, screaming laughing, excited. Now they can’t wait to go where their Dad
was trying to take them all along.
Sometimes we Christians are just like that chafing against
the yoke of Jesus. We all want to do our own thing, while all the time Jesus is
directing us where He wants us to go. And you know what, Jesus is leading us to
a place a lot more exciting than Six Flags. Go where He wants you to go, go
what He wants you to do. Take His yoke it will be a blessing everyday you wear
it.
His Person, Learn – Matthew 11:29-30
…learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall
find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Invitation To Himself
The final part of Jesus’ invitation is that we learn of him.
This is not the same as saying, learn from me. No what Jesus is offering, what
He is inviting us to do is learn who He is. This is another contrast with the
rabbis and teachers of Jesus day. Another contrast with those trying seize the
kingdom instead of being invited into the kingdom by the Messiah, its rightful
ruler.
Jesus’ yoke was different because Jesus was different. Jesus
said, “I am meek and lowly.” He didn’t
brag or put on an act. He did not lift Himself in pretension or give Himself
“airs.” His demeanor was humble and lowly,
not proud nor and haughty. This is what he said of himself, “I am meek and
lowly.”
These people gathered that day, the first ones to ever hear
this invitation from Jesus, were required to take a very personal step. They
had to submit themselves to Jesus, sit at His feet and learn who He truly was. They
had to learn about the one who said he was meek and lowly. Only when they did
this would they also come to know that His yoke was easy and his burden light.
We must learn of Jesus
I know that this will take all my life and all of eternity
to fulfill completely, but I want take these last few minutes to just consider
the characteristic Jesus himself claimed, lowliness, meakness, humility. I
think one of the most important things we can learn of our master should be
humility, because it is the quality He claimed for himself here.
Paul said something about the humility of Christ in Philippians
2:3-8 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
What then is humility? What would show that we have learned
of Christ more than having the mind of Christ? What is it then? Paul says very
plainly, it is putting others before ourselves. And isn’t that exactly what
Jesus did?
Paul in Philippians 2 gives tells us of the “Kenosis” of
Christ. How he emptied Himself of the glories of heaven, set aside his rightful
place as Creator of the Universe and made himself a servant and then humbled
himself even to painful and ignoble death by crucifixion upon a torturous
wooden cross. Paul is telling us that Jesus did that for us. His humbleness was
in putting us before his own rights as the Son of God. He loved us that much.
If I take the final step in answering Christ’s call then it
means learning that true humility, the humility that Christ showed means
putting others before ourselves and loving others more than ourselves. This is
what Christ did and if we know Him it is what we will do.
If you should think that this is too much to ask, I will
agree with you. It is. If you put this step as the first step rather than the
last step of Jesus’ invitation, then you will fail. It is too much unless we
come to Jesus, take his yoke, learn of him and then he promises us, “We will
find rest for your souls.” Only by truly knowing Jesus can we know that his
yoke is easy and his burden is light.
When I answer the call of Jesus to come to Him, when I take
his yoke and I learn of him, listen, He gives me rest. A rest that begins right
now. I am no longer struggling with my burdern of sin and self-righteousness. A
rest that grow most blessed and peaceful with each step I take following the
Savior. A rest that deepens as my knowledge of Jesus deepens and a rest that
will one day bring me to heaven, where that rest will be eternal.
Conclusion: Have you answered the call?
Have you taken his yoke? Are you willing to learn of Christ?
Have you found His rest?
Take the first step today. Just come to Jesus. Doesn’t that
sound so sweet? Just come to the one who loved you enough to lay aside the
glories of heaven and come and take your place on the cross of Calvary.
If you’ve taken the first step than don’t stop, take up the
yoke, put yourself fully under the care and loving instruction of your Lord and
Savior. He’ll walk right along side you, If you tells you to go somewhere, He’ll
go there with you. Find rest to your
soul this morning. Come to Jesus.
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