Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I want to start a new sermon series looking at.
[00:00:04] Looking at the good news in a particular way. The good news of Jesus. It's kind of Jesus talks all the time about the disciples talked about Jesus coming to share good news, coming to share news that was going to be good for the people he was sharing it with.
[00:00:21] And there were a lot of different. A lot of different languages, a lot of different ways to kind of view that.
[00:00:27] That good news one is like, he came to give eternal life, that sin and death wouldn't.
[00:00:36] Aren't a lid for us anymore. We aren't captured by that. We are free. That's another way to think of salvation is freedom, abundant life. That the life that we have is one of exploration and possibility. That there's a. There's a joyful hopefulness to what can come and a curiosity about it and an abundance that happens in a life when you're sharing it with God.
[00:01:02] But there's another way that I want to look at it this morning, look at it for the next few weeks.
[00:01:07] A verse that means a lot to me out of Matthew, chapter 11. Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I'll give you rest.
[00:01:19] And I want to talk about the good news of Christ through the lens of this sentence.
[00:01:27] An invitation, an offer to come to me, all you who are weary, tired and burdened, and I will give you rest.
[00:01:45] I want to look at each of three of those in part. Slow down and look at each of them today. I want to look. I want to actually start with the last part. We're going to build up to looking at who Christ is. Who Christ is not theoretically, not on his own, but who Christ is in relation to you.
[00:02:05] Like, you are someone to me, and you are someone different to someone else. Like there are attributes that you have and they're all true about you. But I might say, like, oh, man, you are so funny. And somebody else would say, oh, they're so kind.
[00:02:21] And someone else might say, oh, they're very. Like, they're strong and I feel safe with them. And all those things might be true of that individual, but because of something that maybe I lack or that is helpful for me. I. I see that thing in you and I notice that thing in you, and I'm changed as a result of being with you in that aspect or that attribute of you. We see this all throughout the Bible where people describe God different ways, not because God is different, but because the thing that we need salvation from. The thing that we need is Slightly different than the other person. And so one person will say, God is my mighty fortress. Or God will say that God, he is the God that sees me.
[00:03:07] We see all throughout the Bible people describing God different ways. So we come to Him. Who is this one that we come to?
[00:03:17] And what does it mean to be weary and to carry lots of burdens?
[00:03:23] You know, I wonder if the reason this verse attracts me. I'm just getting older and like, different experiences are like, yeah, boy, that wears me out. You know, like sometimes things that were choices like several years ago, or like things that happened several years ago are still burdens that you carry today. And sometimes they just become normal. It's just a part of life. But then another thing happens and it stacks on top and another thing stacks on top and you get stronger. You can carry it, but man, you're carrying lots of stuff, you know, and you're just like, yeah, that whole, like, weary and heavy laden. I get it now. When I was 15, I was like, whatever. Now I'm like, oh, yeah, weary and heavy laden. I'm interested in this and this idea of rest.
[00:04:09] That's really what I want to focus on today.
[00:04:13] If I'm going to go to God, if I'm going to go to Jesus Christ specifically because, or to help bear this weariness, this heavy ladenness, what does it mean for him to give me rest?
[00:04:29] How exactly does he intend to give me rest from all that? I think sometimes if we think of rest, our first thought is like, the absence of productivity and there is room for that. Like, Sabbath is a massive part of following Christ, something that we often neglect. We don't, we don't. We don't see the value in Sabbath. The absence of productivity and trusting on God to provide is a part of following God. But I don't think that's primarily what Jesus has in mind when he says that he gives us rest.
[00:05:04] The salvation that God gives us is far more valuable than the absence of productivity.
[00:05:14] And that's what I want to look at today.
[00:05:16] First of all, in order to kind of get at this, we have to understand he's got.
[00:05:22] This sentence is a part of a full paragraph. I don't want to read the whole thing. Jesus says, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and carry heavy burdens, and I'll give you rest.
[00:05:33] Then he says, take my yoke upon you, Let me teach you. Because I am humble and gentle of heart, taking my yoke upon you. That was a. For a teacher to say that, saying, let me teach you come under my instruction. Let me be the one that guides you. A yoke is just something that you put over, like a harness that you put over an animal that you can help lead that animal, that. That animal goes where you direct it. As a result of the yoke that you put on them, they're able to be productive. Directed by the. By the conductor, by the person who has the reins, because they have that yoke. Jesus says, look, let me place my yoke upon you. Let me be the one that directs you. Remember, his whole goal here isn't that he gets something out of you, but that he offers you the good news of rest.
[00:06:26] You have a life that is burdensome currently, but if you'll just let me direct you, if you'll let me place my yoke upon you and direct you to productivity, I. I will give you rest.
[00:06:39] My direction brings rest to people who are carrying heavy burdens. So he says, take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you.
[00:06:50] Because I am humble and gentle of heart.
[00:06:55] Now, specifically, the first thing I think of about being humble and gentle of heart is the fact that Jesus doesn't force his good news on us.
[00:07:08] The fact that we have the option to go our own way, to make our own choices, to decide for our own selves what productivity is going to look like, the life that we want to live, the kind of man or woman that we want to be, that he allows us to voluntarily come to him. There's no coercion. He simply lays out what's true. And then he says, you have the right and the freedom to do whatever you'd like.
[00:07:38] You may let me direct you or you cannot.
[00:07:43] That's your choice. If you've decided that you have a better salvation, you have a better means to a good life, by all means, you have the freedom to do that.
[00:07:53] I'm not taking that from you.
[00:07:56] Now, I want you to think about the humility that it takes to do that. When you love someone, when you truly love someone and you see them killing themselves, you see them making choices that you know are just damaging them, the impulse to take away their choice for their own benefit is very strong.
[00:08:19] Like if I had the capacity to keep you from doing this thing that you can't. You can't look around the corner for whatever reason.
[00:08:27] I don't know how you can't see it, but I can see it, and I can see where your choices are leading you. And I know what's coming for your benefit. I would take away your freedom of choice and say you Must do this.
[00:08:42] If you're not smart enough to make the right choice, I will make that choice for you.
[00:08:48] You can see the impulse there, especially when it's somebody that you care about.
[00:08:57] God must respect our freedom of choice more than I do.
[00:09:05] Because I don't think I would have the humility not to force the good on you if I saw you killing yourself.
[00:09:13] If I had the capacity that Jesus has to generate the good, I don't know that I could let you continue in the bad.
[00:09:26] The humility that he has is evident in that he gives us that choice.
[00:09:33] So he says, let me. Let me teach you.
[00:09:37] Because I am gentle of heart, because I am humble and gentle of heart. And listen, if you. If you will let me do that, you will find rest for your souls.
[00:09:49] If you stop thinking that you are your own salvation.
[00:09:54] You are the one with the problem.
[00:09:57] I have the capacity to help you with your problem.
[00:10:01] If you'll just quit and let me do that, you will find rest for your soul.
[00:10:08] What a.
[00:10:10] What a gentle and loving invitation to salvation.
[00:10:14] This sentence is for my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.
[00:10:23] Now, when I hear that, I think again the way that I could think of a easy and light burden must be. I think I must be thinking of that wrong sometimes. Because when I look at the stories of the early Christians, I think, well, Paul didn't have it easy. Paul was in prison several times.
[00:10:47] He was killed for his faith. He was tortured for his. Like all of these early Christians, these people Jesus is talking to, several people. A lot of them said, no, thank you. Some of them said, thank you, I will do that. And most of them, their life was damaged, was hurt. Their life was made worse by the people around them as a result of them following Christ. They were. There were several martyrs among them. People who literally died for their faith because they followed Christ. So it's not like, hey, look, if you follow Christ, you will have an easy life. It's not like you will have a life free from difficulties.
[00:11:23] He must not be saying that, because that's not what they experienced.
[00:11:30] The people that capture these words, Matthew, Matthew, who says, yes, that was so beautiful. I wanted to write this down and make sure everyone else read it. He died for his faith. He was imprisoned. He suffered greatly because of his faith. And he wrote this saying, yes, because I humbly submitted to the gentle master. I had an easy yoke put upon me. He said that about himself.
[00:11:57] And I look at his life and I think, okay, he must have this particular way of thinking about a. About an easy burden, an easy burden to bear.
[00:12:08] I want to get into that. I want to get what exactly does the saved life look like? I have come if you will come to me. All you are weary, heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What does rest exactly look like look like? What does this easy burden, this light burden look like?
[00:12:28] First of all, this paragraph just before this.
[00:12:33] Jesus has gone from town to town and several of these towns everywhere that he went.
[00:12:39] Most people looked at what Jesus had to say and they said, no, thank you.
[00:12:44] I think about this all the time.
[00:12:47] Jesus himself, in all of his glory, stands like presenting himself, stands before people, delivers the Sermon on the Mount, teaches, parables, heals people.
[00:12:59] Jesus is in all of his glory showing out. People looked at him and they said, nope, not for me.
[00:13:07] This happens over and over and over again.
[00:13:10] And just before this, just before Matthew, chapter 11, verse 28, in verse 25, Jesus prays this prayer. Oh Father, Lord in heaven and earth.
[00:13:21] Thank you for hiding the things that I've been teaching from people who think of themselves wise and clever and for revealing them to the childlike.
[00:13:35] For the people who are confident that they know right from wrong, that they understand how things should work, that they know the choices that they should make, that they're confident that they know what peace and comfort and the good life looks like, that they know what it means to be an impressive man and they know how to pursue being that impressive person. That for all of them that are so clever that they think that they have it all worked out, I thank you that I am not in a position that I have to force them to do anything.
[00:14:03] If they are so clever that they hear all of this and they don't want it, I am grateful that you keep it hidden from them.
[00:14:11] They are not the ones for the ones who think that they are not sick. I'm not for them, the ones who are sick. I'm for them, the people who are. Who are childlike, the people who listen to me and to reach out to what I have to say and accept that with a childlike faith. I am glad that those are the people that I have this relationship with.
[00:14:33] I'm not struggling to fight to force people to obey me.
[00:14:38] I'm laying out what's true. And for those that hear it and say, that's good, that's what I want. I'm willing to submit and to be a part of that. Those are the ones for me. Thank you Father, that this is my life with these people who humbly allow me to lay this light burden on them and to direct them into a good life.
[00:14:57] Thank you, God.
[00:15:02] Being a Christian means there's a lot of time, like working out your faith in fear, trembling, like understanding how his good news works out in my life. Like, how do I take what he has to say and to apply it in my context, in my family and with my friends and my culture.
[00:15:22] How do I work this out? What does it mean to look at what he has to say about loving your neighbor or about being a good husband, about all those things, how do I lay that out in my life?
[00:15:35] What I don't have to do is to figure out. I don't have to decide what's right and wrong. I just have to work out the application of right and wrong.
[00:15:48] It is a heavy burden to put on yourself that you caught up in yourself, you know right from wrong.
[00:15:58] I have the conscience that allows me to. To decide for myself when a thing is good and when a thing is bad. And when my conscience tells me that it's right, I will operate based on that and I will work that out.
[00:16:12] It's a trap. Because in the moment it does feel light. Because I don't have to think about anything, what feels right, I just do it. Like the thing that I've worked out for myself. But gosh, the times that I've been involved, the times that I've let myself be guided by my own thoughts about what's right or wrong in the moment, it seems so right. But it's like I can't see around the corners. I can't figure out how this choice seemed okay, but it actually created these ramifications down the road that were damaging or hurtful that I never saw coming.
[00:16:50] I am not the kind of being that has the capacity to see so many potential futures, to know if my choice now is the right or the wrong choice.
[00:17:03] I am the kind of being that can submit to God, who has looked down all the all potential, potential features and he has said, this is the way you need to treat your enemy. I know. I know that you think you have every right to treat your enemy this way. It makes sense. And your brain, and in that moment it totally makes sense. I get that.
[00:17:26] But you have to trust me. You're not looking down all the potential futures that I know that I see.
[00:17:31] You are not seeing all potential outcomes in all the ways that that will come back. Not just to hurt other people around you, but to hurt yourself. And so I'm telling you, quit thinking that you're the one that gets to put your own yoke on you. You're the one that gets to decide right and wrong.
[00:17:45] Instead, I just want you to work out with fear and trembling, how to apply what I have told you about right and wrong.
[00:17:53] Now let me tell you that by itself, for a limited being is salvation.
[00:18:03] To simply submit to one who has the capacity to know what I can't possibly know, and for that person to love me and to generate the best possible right and wrong precepts, however you want to put it, and to offer that to me and to say, look, Clay, try this. And I know in the moment it won't seem it's going to work against your nature in that moment, but that's going to work out for your good and generationally, for the good of your children and your grandchildren.
[00:18:36] I promise you this is the way it's going to work out for you. That alone is. Is a light burden.
[00:18:43] He has taken you.
[00:18:45] He has allowed you to work with him what you can do.
[00:18:49] And you no longer have to work out things that you can't do.
[00:18:53] He has given you a light burden.
[00:18:56] Simply trust me, work out your salvation. Taking on my light yoke.
[00:19:02] Okay, that in itself, I think.
[00:19:09] But in Romans chapter six, I think Paul describes something that's even more.
[00:19:18] I don't know. Again, these things that stack as you get older, it's not just pains, it's not just choices, it's regrets that can step up and stack up on you as you get older.
[00:19:32] Romans, chapter six. He says, when you are slaves to sin, you are free from the obligation to do right. I want to stop there and just think about how I love the way Paul thinks sometimes. When you were a slave to sin, when you were one who didn't think that you needed to consult with God about right and wrong when you were at war with God, God has a way that he says things should happen. And you said, no, no, I have a better way.
[00:20:01] I have put myself at odds with God. That's sin. When you think that you've got a different idea about what's right, you've missed the mark. You've rejected the target that God's given you. And you said, no, this is gonna be my target over there. He says, you are free from the obligation to do right. This is exactly how it feels. It's not just that, like, you're never the okay.
[00:20:24] When you make a choice that seems right in the moment. That dude did something awful to me and my family and he will pay for it. Right? And you figure out some way to make him pay. Oh, that feels so good. And maybe that's not your thing. I'm revealing a lot about myself here. But you've got some other. You've got some other mark you missed in some different way. Okay, I can reveal some stuff because I know you're bad like me. Different, right? So. But there's some way that you. You feel free from the obligation to do right. Because that other choice just so. It was so free. It was just so obviously the right thing to do.
[00:20:58] When you liberate yourself from a God who you believe to be right and wrong, and instead, that way that you feel is your standard, your mark for what's right from wrong, it is. You are free. It really does feel like you're freeing yourself from the obligation to do right.
[00:21:17] And then he says, what was the result?
[00:21:20] Now you are ashamed of the things that you used to do. Now, let me tell you, if you haven't yet gotten to the point that you're ashamed, I think you probably haven't yet felt the weight of your choices that you made.
[00:21:37] Choices that you've made.
[00:21:38] Maybe you have made choices apart from God. Let's offer that one up. You know, that would be awesome.
[00:21:45] Assuming that you've made choices that were.
[00:21:49] That felt right to you in the moment because you decided that you were the arbiter of right and wrong. You were the one that got to decide right and wrong, and you made that choice.
[00:21:57] And then at some point in the future, you had to live with that choice.
[00:22:05] And it comes back to.
[00:22:07] Maybe it comes back to really cause some damage in a relationship, or maybe it's just the weight of knowing, like, man, why did I do. It's just the pain of knowing that I did that thing over time. I don't know what it is.
[00:22:28] I think if you haven't felt the regret or the shame yet, it's because you either haven't, it hasn't been long enough for you, or you just. There's something in you where you just refuse to pay attention to what you've done.
[00:22:42] You won't look at it.
[00:22:45] You will just. You'll constantly occupy yourself with the next thing you'll do something to like.
[00:22:53] Basically, maybe it's. I think there's a reason why drugs and alcohol are such a prevalent thing in our society. Anything that you can do to keep yourself from thinking or remembering the choices that you made and the people that you've hurt, the ways that you've caused problems, assuming that that doesn't work all the time that when you're asleep at night or when you're going to bed at night, those things come back to you and you remember them and it brings shame.
[00:23:29] That was the result of you choosing to be free of the obligation of doing right.
[00:23:34] He says, but now you have a different type of freedom. You are free from the power of sin and have become, he says, slaves to God.
[00:23:45] This is language that Paul uses a lot, and I personally love it. I love the fact that he doesn't pull any punches. Like, he doesn't say, like, you're free. And now you get to.
[00:23:57] Jesus says, I no longer call you my servants. I call you my brother. Right. And that's good. Like, I love the fact that God sees us as his children.
[00:24:06] But for Paul, he recognized that in order for him to, like, really put to rest his slave, his slavery to sin, his sin nature, he needed to not view God, not view the Father simply as his heavenly Father that he was enjoying. He needed to look to him and his adjustment, his adjusting to this new character. He needed to slavishly. Whatever you say, dad. Yes. Whatever you say, yes.
[00:24:36] Like, I am not in a position that I can disagree with you or argue with you about it, yet. My answer to you is yes.
[00:24:44] Do you think this is a good idea? Yes.
[00:24:47] That's what he means by being in a slavish relationship with. I don't. I don't have that with any of you. Like, we. You have a thing that you want, I have a thing that I want, and I love you. So we kind of, like, figure out how, oh, well, we can go there this time, we can go there that time. Or maybe there's some other thing that we could do that we would like. You know, God says, like, I think this would be good. Yes, like, great, let's do that thing. Because I'm confident that any thought that I had different than what you have will, will not turn out as well. Paul has this mindset towards his heavenly Father that he knows loves him like a son.
[00:25:25] He knows that the relationship that Jesus offered up between us and the Father was not one of slavery, but for Paul, Paul himself, he needed to say, I look at this relationship as the gap between your capacity to know what's good for your children and your children's capacity to know what's good for themselves and is so wide. The only answer I have for you is yes, just like a servant would to their master.
[00:25:53] So we have become slaves to God. That light burden that Jesus talked about, that easy yoke means That I don't need to figure out if what God has to say is best for I don't.
[00:26:08] I need to work out how to do it, but I don't need to work out what should be done.
[00:26:15] He says, now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
[00:26:21] Look for the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:26:27] Once you looked to Jesus and everything he had to say and everything that he did, everything that he did and you say, yep, that's what it really means to be human. And that's my model. That's the path I want to take. I want to follow him. I want him to be the model for my life that dictates my future. I want all of him to be in me. I want him to be me to the best of my ability.
[00:26:51] You have this light burden and this free gift of God leads to a light life.
[00:27:01] This is the salvation that Jesus has to offer.
[00:27:05] Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
[00:27:11] Not a rest from doing anything, but a rest from me doing things that cause damage.
[00:27:19] And I get instead do things that are good and holy.
[00:27:25] Even though I'm not smart enough to figure out the holy thing right now, I can trust him and believe in Him.
[00:27:32] Now.
[00:27:36] The reason that I can trust Jesus for this isn't just that he's smart, isn't just that he's like he has the ability to perceive into future things that I can't perceive. It's because of his very nature, his character. The Bible says that God is love.
[00:27:57] This one that is offered are an ability offered us the freedom. He hasn't forced it on us, but he has offered us the freedom to have this light life. That person is one who loves.
[00:28:12] And Paul has a beautiful description of what this love looks like in First Corinthians, chapter 13. And I'm going to just kind of read it slowly for you.
[00:28:25] This is what it means to rest. We are resting in this person, in a relationship with a person that this is their basic character. So just think about what it means to go from struggling and fighting with the world on your own, figuring out what's the right thing, figuring out how I should parent, figuring out what I should do with my spouse, with my work, like figuring all those things out, just saying like, wait a second, this thing that's bringing me anxiety. What could it possibly mean to be restful instead by trusting in a person with this nature and character, God is Love.
[00:29:03] And love is patient and kind, not envious. He's not boastful.
[00:29:12] He doesn't seek his own superiority.
[00:29:15] He is respectful of you and the people around you.
[00:29:20] He's not self seeking. He isn't easily angered.
[00:29:25] He's not looking to be angry with you.
[00:29:29] He isn't one to hold grudges against you when you do things wrong.
[00:29:34] He celebrates.
[00:29:36] He celebrates honesty and integrity. He loves the truth. And he celebrates it every time he sees it in you.
[00:29:44] He provides safety, support.
[00:29:47] This when we take his yoke upon it, when we stop trusting ourselves in whatever nature and character we have and we instead trust him.
[00:30:00] This is the life, this is the kingdom that we're entering into.
[00:30:05] It's a world where these attributes are normal.
[00:30:08] Because this is the very nature of God.
[00:30:11] God is love.
[00:30:13] And when I take his yoke upon me, I get to live in this kind of world where this is normal.
[00:30:22] I compare this to any other life possible.
[00:30:25] And I have to say, even if it does lead to hard choices, difficulties, all kinds of struggle or strife with the world, being able to go to bed at night and to know that I have been a part of this, that this has become my nature because I have, because I've yoked myself to this kind of character, that I'll be able to die when I die, that they'll be able to write on my tombstone, here was a person who yoked himself to God.
[00:31:00] There's a peace that comes with that, knowing that I made the best possible choice for me and for my children and my grandchildren to be this kind of person.
[00:31:13] So as we look at this sermon on salvation, this is where I wanted to start.
[00:31:18] When we come to God, we are coming to him because we need a savior. If you don't need a savior, you wouldn't be going to Him.
[00:31:28] You need a salvation from weariness, from difficulties.
[00:31:34] And he has promised to give you rest.
[00:31:38] This is the rest that he has to give you.
[00:31:42] You will be able to go to bed at night and to know that you are a good man, that you are a good woman, that you. That you coupled yourself with the one who is love.
[00:31:54] Let's pray.
[00:31:59] Father God, we submit to you now, Lord. Even now, when we think about our life, we think about all of the stress and anxiety and things that do pop up, all the choices that we have to make. School, popping, coming back up, work, the change that happens in the fall. Lord, whatever excitement or anxieties that come, Lord, we have so many choices to make. And in those choices, Lord, we can either take the reins for ourselves and we can say, what do I want best in this moment? Or Lord, we can trust you and God, we right now, in this moment, we have hearts.
[00:32:29] We desire to trust you.
[00:32:32] God, you already know that we are sometimes going to do what we don't want to do.
[00:32:37] Lord, we thank you for being gentle with us, for forgiving us, and Lord, for showing us again what it means to be a loving person, to be a person that's submissive to you.
[00:32:50] We love you, Lord. Thank you for your salvation.
[00:32:52] In Jesus name, amen.
