Latest / HBCWestminster / 5.23.21 Matthew 11:16-30 Doug Stoner

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5.23.21 Matthew 11:16-30 Doug Stoner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  It's great to be with you all this morning and to be able to give you greetings from our church in Vienna, Austria. For those of you who don't know me, as Nathan said, I'm Doug Stoner, my wife Tricia. We have two children, Ryan and Megan. Both of them are, Ryan's 27, Megan's 24. Ryan is a student finishing his PhD in geology at University of California in Santa Barbara. Megan is 24.
• 0:27
  She finished her graduate degree in University of Edinburgh and is going to be starting work. This is new news that we just heard yesterday. She was accepted a position as a children's pastor of a church in southwest London. We're really glad to hear how the Lord's providing for our kids. Both Tricia and I, we were in Slovakia. We arrived in Slovakia in 1994. We worked there for about 20 years, working with the churches there.
• 0:55
  many of the different evangelical denominations and helping them as they started new churches, working in areas of research and networking and training and doing whatever we can to help the churches there grow. And then about eight years ago or so, with our daughter Megan needing to get more in an international school setting and also seeing our work in Slovakia was kind of wrapping up, we moved to Vienna. Change. Vienna is not like Slovakia. Not only...
• 1:23
  Do you have a different language, German versus Slovak? In Slovak, we learn German. As we say, we kind of learn shop German, which means enough to be able to get yourself into stores, ask for things, say thank you. But Vienna is a very international city, so English has actually served us well. We're going to be concentrating more on our work in Vienna when we go back. I've been working with Pioneers, our organization, working in a number of different areas, helping different teams throughout Europe and Iberia, Portugal, Spain, and then Italy, Slovenia.
• 1:52
  and before that in Czech Republic as well, and Austria. And so, yeah, we're going to be concentrated on our work in Vienna. International city, fastest growing German-speaking city in the world, about 10% growth.
• 2:05
  We're seeing construction cranes everywhere, and it's a great opportunity there to see the gospel spread and through Vienna to see it go out even further. So we're excited to do that. So thank you for your support as a church. You guys have been faithfully, faithfully praying for us and giving for our work there.
• 2:22
  And as a result, you have been working there because you have been working through us and through your prayers and through all of your efforts. So again, we really appreciate all that you've done. And so afterwards, in the fellowship time, we also have some of our pictures of our families, some more information if you want to take it. You're welcome to hear more and sign up for more information if you want to get it, either our newsletter or prayer update. So let me pray as we start. Lord, again, thank you that it is so sweet to trust in you. Lord, thank you that you're the Lord.
• 2:52
  and King of all, as we sang. Lord, that you're the one who's provided for our salvation through your blood, that we can be cleansed. And Lord, I thank you for your word. Thank you for your power of your word through your spirit, that Lord, you speak to us. It's your word that's a hammer that shatters the rock, and it's a powerful force, Lord, that we can understand and know you better. Lord, I pray that you would help me as I speak, help us each as we listen to your word.
• 3:20
  Lord, submit to it, listen to it, and as we sang, trust in you even more. Thank you, Lord, again for all that you've done and how good you are. In your name, Lord Jesus, amen. I want to talk about a passage that has been quite, I'll say revolutionary, maybe that's an overused term, but something that's really been impacting me in Matthew chapter 11. Responding to rest is what I called it, and it's really going to be talking about how Jesus offers rest and how we should respond to it.
• 3:54
  And it's a message both for those who don't yet know the Lord, but also for those of us who do, because Jesus promises his rest to all of us, and all of us need to take advantage of that. I remember in your times maybe being in a doctor in a hospital, one of the things that we've learned to appreciate is how a doctor can make a good diagnosis.
• 4:17
  And if he really, if he or she, the doctor, makes a good diagnosis, it makes things so much simpler because they narrow in on the problem, think of a solution, prescribe something, and you're much better off. And I remember a situation when we were in Slovakia. Tricia had constant stomach pains, and we couldn't figure out what it was. Was it an ulcer or something else? We didn't know. And so we had talked to a number of different doctors. And finally, actually, our Slovak doctor, our kid Slovak doctor,
• 4:45
  We just mentioned to her, the doctor, that this has really been an ongoing problem. And so she said, well, let me ask you a couple questions. And she asked a few simple questions, said, well, this is what it is. And she just said what it was. And then we got the confirmation, and we got it all taken care of, and it was done. And it was amazing. We just said, wow, all the people that we talked to, finally you get someone who can really know what's going on, and the solution is solved.
• 5:11
  And in many ways, Jesus is the great, as he's called, the great physician. He's the one who gives the right diagnosis for our lives, what we really need and how to do it and what it means for our lives. But like with any kind of doctor or a physician, it's not just that you get a prescription that will make you well. You have to actually take it.
• 5:32
  You actually have to use it. And so it's a call not only to hear what the solution is and as he diagnoses our lives, but actually how to put that into practice in what we do so that we can have the rest that he promises. And so we're going to look at a passage where Jesus is going to talk about responding to rest. And let's see if I get this right. Yes. And so we're going to talk about three different areas in responding to rest. Ingrained unresponsiveness.
• 6:01
  Insider realities, in the final I-N, invitation to the inside. So three different areas we're going to talk about as we go through this. In the background of the Matthew 11, again, 16 to 30, we're well into Jesus' ministry at this point. He's been doing lots of different preaching, healings, miracles.
• 6:22
  And he has this opportunity. At this point, John the Baptist has been put into prison. If you remember, John the Baptist was his forerunner who announced that Jesus was coming. He's now in prison. John the Baptist was having problems like with a lot of the people in Israel at that time of just, who is this Jesus and why isn't he doing what we think he should be doing? Their expectations of who Jesus would be if he was the Messiah were not being fulfilled. And so John had problems, sent his disciples to try to figure out what was going on.
• 6:50
  Jesus talked then about the crowds around him about who John was and saying John is a great man and he has fulfilled many different things. But then Jesus shifts the emphasis and then starts talking about the crowds themselves and starts talking about their reaction to John and to Jesus and how that goes in. And then he talks again, he goes through these different points that we're going to talk about.
• 7:14
  We're going to read this passage. From what I understand is that you all like to actually read along. So I'm going to read it out loud. You're welcome to read it along with me. And so we're going to read it together. We're going to read the whole passage out together. And so Jesus is speaking. He's speaking to the crowds. To what can I compare this generation? It is like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends. We played wedding songs and you didn't dance. So we played funeral songs and you didn't mourn.
• 7:42
  for john didn't spend his time eating and drinking and you say he's possessed by a demon the son of man on the other hand feasts and drinks and you say he's a glutton and a drunkard a friend of tax collectors and other sinners but wisdom is shown to be right by its results then jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles because they hadn't repented of their sins and turned to god what sorrow awaits you chorazin and bethsaida for if the miracles i did in you had been done in the wicked tyre and sidon
• 8:13
  their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you. And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today. I tell you, even Sodom will be better off on the day of judgment than you.
• 8:42
  At that time Jesus prayed this prayer, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way. My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Then Jesus said, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
• 9:14
  take my yoke upon you let me teach you because i'm humble and gentle at heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy to bear and the burden i give you is light so we're going to look again at our three points and you'll probably be able to see how they're again come apart come into this as we talk through these ingrained unresponsiveness here's a situation where jesus is talking now
• 9:40
  about the people who have heard and seen him and all of his miracles. And he starts talking about their reaction or actually lack of reaction to all that he had said and done, even to John the Baptist ahead of that, how they just didn't do anything. And so it talks about, and he uses his own, he in a sense gives his own illustration. He talks about this children's game. So children are in the marketplace and they say, okay, we want to have some reaction. So we're going to do
• 10:06
  a feisty song, a wedding song, and we're going to have you dance. And they didn't dance. Okay, well, maybe you're not feeling like it, so we're going to do a real mournful song, or one of those real flat type of songs, and we're going to see what you do there. No reaction. And so they don't have reaction going either way, either extreme for the crowds, nothing happens in the process. They should respond, but they choose not to respond.
• 10:33
  They actually have ingrained this unresponsiveness. In other words, you'd expect this to happen, but it doesn't happen. And Jesus is saying, think about what's going on. You're not reacting, and there's a reason behind it, and you need to think about this. And so again, the diagnosis is starting to come through. Jesus is saying, look at what's happening. Think of what's going on now in your heart as a result of that. And Jesus says, even though what John the Baptist has said is true, and what I've shown you and told you is true,
• 11:03
  Wisdom is shown to be true by its results, not necessarily how you respond. Which is actually important for us to remember is that as we talk to people about the Lord, if they don't respond, it doesn't necessarily mean that the message is wrong. It might be because their hearts are not right. So if we keep to God's word, we know that the message is right in the process. Then Jesus goes on and talks about the different cities. He talks about Tyre and Sidon, and then he talks about Sodom.
• 11:30
  Three very wicked cities. If you were to see, talk to the people of Israel at that time and say, what are the wicked cities around you? Those would be like their top three. Maybe Gomorrah would be added with Sodom and they're kind of paired as well. And so he talks about how if Jesus had done these miracles in those cities, their situation would have actually been changed. It wouldn't be like what it was now where they're actually were judged for their sins, especially Sodom was wiped out.
• 11:56
  and that they actually would have a different reaction than what these people had. Now you have to think of the people, when they heard this, that would be a shock for them because they think these guys are the bad guys. We're the good guys. We should have the commendation. And those guys deservedly got their condemnation like they should have. Jesus is turning the tables and say, basically, if they would have gotten what you have gotten, they would have changed. But the implication is, of course, you haven't changed.
• 12:27
  You still are like what you have been. So what is the deal? What is going on? And so Jesus is pained by the reaction of these people who are not responsive. And see, again, this shows the Lord's heart for people who don't know him and have chosen not to know him at this point, who have been stubborn. It breaks his heart. And he's saying, think about this. What's going on? You're not responding. Think about what's happening in your lives as a result of this.
• 12:58
  But it gives us a hope because these wicked cities, had they had this kind of preaching and miracles going on, they would have turned. And so there's a hope that even the most wicked people on the outside can actually turn to the Lord. We don't want to consider them, well, they can never turn. There's nothing that's going to change them. But they could have changed had they had this same kind of preaching, but they chose not to.
• 13:22
  But there's a very sobering element that those who think themselves as religious and the ones you think should respond have a hard enough heart that they won't respond. That's also a very sobering element of what we see here because they're judged by the response to the degrees of revelation that they've received. If you've ever heard the term secular, that's one of those terms, it's one of those buzzwords that you probably hear all the time. It's used a lot but probably not well understood.
• 13:49
  Secular in the basic idea means that you can live your life without God being a factor in it, or you think you can. In other words, God isn't a part of the equation of my life. And I have a quote from Tim Keller who wrote a book called Preaching, which is very good, one of the books that we've used for a lot of training, both in Spain as well as in Italy.
• 14:11
  And this is what he said. He said, today, and so again, I think what we're seeing in the reactions of these cities in Israel is very similar to what we're seeing today. Listen to what it says for a person who is secular, what secular means. Today we're seeing growing numbers of people who don't exhibit hostility to religion as much as indifference. They see no need to explore possible religious solutions to any of their problems. They do not believe people need God in order to have a basis for meaning or purpose, to have a strong moral framework,
• 14:40
  to aspire for and achieve greatness, or simply to have a full and happy life. And see, that's what a secular life means. In other words, I don't need God. I don't have to have that part in my life. And that's what you're seeing in these cities that Jesus was preaching to. They didn't see that they really needed the Lord. They could carry on just as what they had been doing before, and so they had the same indifference. The problem is that whenever you have that kind of attitude, you still have something in your life that you see,
• 15:10
  that does provide that meaning and significance in your life. You might not see it as God, but you're going to put something else there. Something in our lives, because of who we are as people, we worship. We worship something in our lives. Whether it's not God, then we'll substitute something else in there. And this is, again, another quote from Tim Kelly. He talks about another man. It says, David Foster Wallace, the late postmodern novelist,
• 15:33
  had written this in his kenyan college commencement speech he argues eloquently and forcefully that quote everyone worships the only choice we get is what to worship he goes on to say everyone has to tap real meaning in life and whatever you use to do that whether it is money beauty power intellect or something else it will drive your life because it is essentially a form of worship he enumerates why each form of worship does not merely make you fragile and exhausted but can quote
• 16:02
  eat you alive. You see, everybody worships something in our lives. Because of who we are as human beings, we have to find our significance outside of ourselves. Or if we say it's in ourselves, then it has to be validated by something outside of us. And so the problem is that the people in Israel at this time, in our current society, are getting that value and meaning from something. And so that's making many of us indifferent to what the Lord says. And that's what being secular is. And so the question is,
• 16:33
  What do we worship? And so when we have the ingrained unresponsiveness, what we're seeing today, like what Jesus saw then, is that there's another place that people are putting their affections and it's not in the Lord. And the result of that is that they're not responding to what they should respond to. In other words, what Jesus is saying and doing should make them think that maybe what I've put my hope in is not the right place to put my hope in.
• 16:58
  But they've chosen not to, in a sense, follow the logic, follow what they should be thinking, and decide, I'm not going to take that. It's not because the message is not right. It's because their hearts are not right and they're not responding. And so there's an application to us is that how are we listening to the Lord? Is there that same responsiveness to all the Lord has done to be able to respond to him? And in one sense, that idea of being secular, it's not just an on and off switch.
• 17:27
  It's not, well, those people are secular. I'm not. We all have things in our own lives as believers where we see that God does not need to be a part of that part of my life to have meaning. Every one of us are in that process of conforming to the Lord where we see, and myself included, where I do something like maybe my time with family or maybe how I handle my job. I can do it myself, Lord. Thank you. I'll do this myself.
• 17:50
  We may not say that actually outright, but we think that. I'm going to do this my own, and then I'll call on God when I have trouble. Instead of integrating God in all parts of our life, that he's the one that really does that. We have that secularness in all that we do, and so the Lord is conforming our lives to say, no, we need him in everything. Not just some things, but in everything. And that's a lifelong process. And so Jesus is saying, don't be unresponsive in this area. Turn to him.
• 18:20
  And so then we go on to the next area, insider realities. You know, especially think about when you were back in school. You know, you had areas where people had different cliques and different groups. You know, you had the insiders and you had the outsiders. And usually there was someone and there was something about you or the people who were on the inside that made you qualified to be on the inside. You had to be beautiful. You had to be sports.
• 18:46
  You know, you had to be good at sports or whatever. Something made you go in there. And then there was usually someone who was called like a gatekeeper who decided if you were going to be in or not. They were the leader of the group and they said, okay, you can come in. You can't come in. You don't qualify. And so you have this whole thing of being an insider versus an outsider. And if you have kids, you suffer with them because sometimes you suffer if they're an insider. Sometimes you suffer if they're an outsider. And we certainly had that.
• 19:12
  in Vienna as well. Megan was an outsider in her class. She was a new person coming into Vienna and she was definitely an outsider. And it was hard, you know, and so we all understand that. But the realities of being an insider with God are completely different than how we think of it. Because an insider in the world means you have certain qualifications and someone decides based on those qualifications or who you are if you're going to be in or not. Well, in the Lord's...
• 19:38
  of being an insider, it actually has nothing to do with what your qualifications are that you yourself have done. And it is all determined on who Jesus is and what he says goes. So he's the one who lets us in by his grace, but because it's not on who we are. And we're going to see that as we go through, that he's the one who is our qualification to become on the inside. We're not qualified on ourselves. Jesus makes us qualified, and he offers that to everyone.
• 20:06
  And so we have this prayer that Jesus prayed. So he had all these people who are ingrained in their unresponsiveness. So how does Jesus respond? First of all, he prays, and he actually praises God, and he talks to him, and he talks to the Father about all the things that have been happening. And it's interesting that prayer to the Father, he mentions the word Father five times. So he's talking about the relationship
• 20:32
  that the father has with Jesus and also how the father can have that relationship with people as well. And so it's a matter of this relationship that he's talking about. And he praises the father that he's hidden these things from those who consider themselves wise and clever. All of a sudden now we understand a little bit more of why they're unresponsive. Because they think themselves within their pride, I'm smart enough. I can figure this out. I don't need God. Why do I need him? I can get in on my own. I can do it by myself.
• 21:01
  You know how kids are. Again, thinking of our own kids, you either with having kids or seeing other parents with kids. It's one of those things that kids, you know, you try to help them. I can do it myself. You know, you get it all the time, right? And so there's this thing, even though you know they can't, it's interesting the father in a sense responds. He shows a little bit of the wisdom that we and parents can have. Sometimes when our kids say that, you say, okay, go ahead.
• 21:28
  See if you can figure this one out. And in a sense, that's what the father is responding to the people who have that unresponsiveness. They're not reacting. Okay, I'm going to hide this from you. You don't think you need me? You think that I'm hidden? So I'm going to hide it from you. What you have, in a sense, judged, I'm going to allow that to be your judgment. And so he hides it from them. So their cleverness and their wisdom, because if God allowed that to happen, that would only encourage them.
• 21:57
  thinking they could do it on their own. So he says, okay, you can try it. You're not going to get there. And so they keep trying, they keep trying, they keep trying, they don't get there. And so God's work is shown in that the right response didn't happen because of their own pride. Their own pride was keeping them away. They should have responded with receptivity and a willingness, but their pride was keeping them away. You know, sometimes the hardest thing to make small is ourselves.
• 22:26
  We think ourselves are big. We think ourselves are capable. But the hardest thing is to realize that we're not. And that's what we're seeing in this, is that when we see that we're not, that's when we're actually on the right path. But so often we let ourselves, we trip ourselves up. We're our own worst enemy, as it says, in these areas. And so then Jesus goes on and talks about that the Father has entrusted all things to him. And this is an amazing passage when you think of what Jesus says. The Father has entrusted everything to Jesus.
• 22:56
  Everything about who God is, he's entrusted to Jesus. Which means that to show the Father, to reveal him, to talk about him, everything that Jesus has been given, he does it perfectly. Which points right away to that Jesus is God himself. Because he can't show God, he can't be entrusted with everything that God is and who he is, except if Jesus could represent him perfectly. And so you have this claim that's coming through of who Jesus is.
• 23:25
  And then he actually increases it more. He says, no one knows the Son except the Father. And knowing means to know fully, to experience him, everything that would be a part of that knowledge. No one knows the Son like the Father. And then he flips it around, which would be amazing for them people to hear. No one knows the Father except the Son. Now that's an amazing claim because it's not just that I know about him, but that I know him fully. Like he knows me, I know him.
• 23:56
  Jesus is saying that he's now that gateway to be able to come to the Father. In other words, if you want to know the Father, you have to come through me. Because then he says, the only people that can know the Father are those who the Son chooses to reveal. And so Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, John 14, 6. We know that verse, very common verse that we see. But you see it really clearly here as well, that no one can know the Father except if Jesus reveals that. Which actually is an amazing promise too, because there's a possibility.
• 24:26
  there through Jesus that we can actually know the Father. He's not saying that it's impossible, but it's only through Jesus that does it. You see, he's the qualification that allows it to happen. It's not based on who we are. It's based on who he is. And so the insider realities that we're seeing is that to be on the inside, you have to see that, first of all, that you're needy and that Jesus is the one that fulfills that need. So that's the insider realities. If you want to be on the inside,
• 24:54
  Not to have that unresponsiveness, you need to understand what it's going to take to be on the inside in the sense of the qualifications, and that's Jesus, not ourselves. But then the next question is, okay, if Jesus is the one who allows people in, is he going to do it? What about me? Is he going to allow me to come in? Well, this is where our third section comes in. Invitation to the inside, which is an amazing section. It's absolutely an amazing section.
• 25:24
  That, as I would say, it's going to take a lifetime for us to really be able to fully apply it and to really comprehend it because there's so much here. There's so, so much here. And I can only touch the beginnings of it. So I really encourage you to think through this whole passage, but especially these last ones as how it applies to you and also, obviously, as I think about it for myself. And so let's read that passage again because we don't want to miss it. It says,
• 25:48
  Then Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. So much here. What does it say as we say this? First of all, the command right at the beginning, Come to me. So Jesus is the gateway. But he's saying, You come to me.
• 26:22
  So now he's the gateway, but he's asking us to respond. Come to me. And so it's, first of all, a call to a personal relationship. It's not come to do something, come to be something, but come to me. You see, Jesus calls us first and foremost as believers, as unbelievers, to a relationship with him. That is priority number one, is a relationship with the Lord. Come to me.
• 26:50
  And you realize the me now, when he's talked about who he is, when Jesus has come to me, it's not just to Jesus as the man, but Jesus as God himself. Jesus as the gateway to the Father. And obedience is the response. Because when you obey, all of a sudden inherent in that becomes humility. Because again, like I said, you can be stubborn. I'm not coming. Right? But if you come and if you obey, all of a sudden now the first step of obedience is the first step of the humility needed.
• 27:20
  to have that relationship with the Lord. If you come because he tells you to come, now you're not being unresponsive. You see how that goes? The response to rest starts with us saying, okay, I'm going to come. That's that first step that we need to do is to come to the Lord. But then think of the qualifications. Who can come to Jesus? The people that have their lives together, the people that are the religious ones, the people that are perfect. But look what he says, come to me all.
• 27:51
  all, of you, you, again, personalness, who are weary and carry heavy burdens. Now that is a low bar of entry requirements. The way to be able to get in, to come to Jesus, is not to have your life perfect. In fact, it's just the opposite, to realize your life is not perfect, that you're weary, that you're tired, that you carry these heavy burdens. And the weariness comes from, especially the idea of weariness here, is weariness from your own efforts.
• 28:19
  You know, you've been working hard at something and you're just tired. Man, I need a break. Jesus is saying, that's your qualification. Do you need a break? Are you realizing even in your own spiritual walk, whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, that you can't make it on your own, that you are tired? Your own efforts just don't get you there?
• 28:39
  And you've been relying on maybe your own good works or how, you know, you're doing good things so that God will be pleased with you because if he's not, then he's going to be mad at you. If you do things wrong, then boy, he's going to get me, right? And so there's just this working, this weariness that comes in that just starts making us tired.
• 28:59
  And then it has the other one, carry heavy burdens. When the idea of carry heavy burdens is usually what other people put on top of you. So you think of like in this idea like an animal that's put stuff on top of them. And so oftentimes in our lives we're wearied and we carry heavy burdens because of expectations or obligations from other people. So it's not just necessarily from ourselves, but maybe family or your job or something else has put something on you and you're tired from that.
• 29:24
  You see, there's no limit on the source of where this weariness comes from, either from the inside or the outside, from sinfulness or from expectations or from whatever is causing us to weary. It doesn't say weary because you're perfect. It just says you're weary. You carry heavy burdens. It doesn't matter what the source is. This is what the product is. And so this is what Jesus says. This is your entrance requirement. Wow, it's amazing. It's amazing. We can come just because of that.
• 29:51
  And then he talks about that our burdens qualify us, and it's so freeing because our need is actually our ticket to be able to come to Jesus. Our need is. And it's so open. He invites everyone to come. Not just some, but everybody. All of you to come. And only those that think they have their lives together are the ones that won't come. Only the ones who think that they're wise and clever, the ones who see they don't need Jesus, are the ones that are not going to come.
• 30:19
  Even though they need him more than they realize, obviously will more than they realize, but they're keeping themselves away. So all you have to do is just realize that he's the one who does that. And then look at the promise. I will give you rest. Every word is important. I, Jesus, personal, God himself. I will, certainly, it's a guarantee, will, give something that's a gift. Not something you earned, it's a gift. Give you, personally, again.
• 30:46
  Not just all of you, but you. I will give you rest. Rest. The relieving of that burden. The relieving, that soul refreshment that he talks about. And the rest that he gives is not necessarily a change of circumstance. He doesn't say I will give you less burdens or that somehow your circumstances will change. I'm not going to necessarily make your life easier, but I'm going to make you easier.
• 31:13
  Okay? I'm not going to change your circumstances necessarily that I'm going to make them easier, but I'm going to change you so that you're easier in those circumstances. Okay? Because we can have that true inner rest from the Lord no matter what the circumstances are. Think of Jesus himself. Think of the early apostles. They did not have an easy life, yet they had this inner rest. If anybody deserved to have an easy life, it was Jesus. But he did not have an easy life.
• 31:41
  But he had that rest from the Father because he knew where that source was. And so we see that that rest is there. And then he goes on and then he uses his own illustration about the yoke. Now normally a yoke, again you think of this big wooden heavy implement you put on an oxen as a heavy implement that helps steer them and guide them and then they pull the plow and take care of the fields.
• 32:07
  But you see how Jesus' yoke is different. There's some similarities, but there's certainly differences to the typical yoke that you think of. And Jesus says, take my yoke upon you. Again, he's asking you to take his yoke upon you. It's a personal application of what Jesus is asking. And that yoke is the whole idea of submitting to him. The oxen had to submit themselves to put the yoke on. We do the same thing as well. So again, that's their obedience there.
• 32:34
  that he'll come to me, that taking that yoke, they're really talking about the same thing. They're parallel ideas. And Jesus says, take my yoke upon you, let me teach you. What's he going to teach you? Well, what did he just talk about in the previous verses? That no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. So he's going to teach you about himself and about the Father. Everything you need to have life and eternal life, he will teach you. Let me teach you. I will teach you, but let me do it.
• 33:03
  Be receptive. Let me listen. Let you listen to me. But then you think of, how is he as a teacher? You know, you've had good teachers, you've had not good teachers as you've grown up, right? But one of the things you hear about Jesus is, let me teach you. Because why? Why should I teach you? Because I'm humble and gentle at heart. Two characteristics that are marvelous about the Lord. First of all, it says, at his heart. When you think of someone that does it from his heart, it means that he's from the innermost part of who he is.
• 33:32
  So you say, boy, you know, in my heart of hearts, we use that phrase. So that Jesus is humble and gentle of heart is who he is. That is who he is. So often we don't treat him that way. We think of Jesus as stern, disciplined. If I come to him, he's going to whack me. He's going to make me feel bad. He's going to do, you know, the coming to him, I'm going to get the hand. Wham, something. We think of that all the time. I do. And I bet I'm not the only one.
• 34:01
  And it's just something ingrained in us that we don't see the Lord as who he says he is. And so he's emphasizing at heart, I'm humble and gentle. So what does that mean? Humble means that when you humble yourself, that means you make yourself lower. You make yourself, you put yourself down. And so again, you think of Jesus as God, what is he doing? He's humbling himself. And we've been saying about this, when Jesus humbled himself to become obedient to the form of death, even death on a cross. And so you see this idea and you think of a parent.
• 34:32
  or a child or a person, if you're going to talk to a child, you can talk to him this way, but the way to really relate to a child, you come down to here, right? You're looking right into the eye. You've humbled yourself to be able to relate to that person. That person can relate to you. And so Jesus said, humble at heart means that he's getting down on our level. He's getting down because he knows us and he understands us and he's showing us, hey, I'm not going to be high-handed with you, right? That's not humble. I'm going to be right with you. You can come to me.
• 35:02
  And that's what that gentle also means. Gentle means, or meekness is another, the older term that's called, that means that he's not concerned from himself and how it affects him. He's actually concerned about how it affects you. If a person is gentle, that means he's not provoked. It's not a matter of pride. You know, I'm going to teach you, but it's really for my own sake.
• 35:21
  No, it's really for your sake that I'm doing this. And so Jesus' being gentle means that he's actually, he's on your level and he's concerned about you. He's caring about you. He wants to teach you, right? He says, let me teach you. Let me help you. I'm not going to be a high-handed teacher. I'm going to be the best teacher you've ever had. But you've got to let me do it. You've got to let me do it. And so he says, let me do that. Jesus is ultimately approachable, understanding, and loving. That's how he teaches us.
• 35:49
  And it melts our fears. We have fears of Jesus so often, so often, I do, because we don't see him rightly. And he's saying, just come to me. This is who I am at heart. It's not just maybe a passing whim that I'm going to be humble and gentle. It's who I am. This is my heart. You can come to me. You have burdens. You have problems. I'm the one you come to. You need to come to me. And so why is this true? He says, for my yoke is easy to bear. My burden I give you is light. Again, the yoke, the opposite.
• 36:20
  The idea of the yoke is easy actually means the word means there is kind. It means it's best for you. His yoke is best for you. And your burden I give you is light. You know, every one of us here is bearing a burden. It's our clothes. Do you think your clothes is being a burden for you? You're bearing it, right? I don't see any of you without a shirt on, so that's probably a good thing. It's not that warm yet. You're all bearing this burden of a shirt or a dress or something, right? A blouse, whatever you have on.
• 36:46
  You don't really think about it that way, but it's because it's light, right? You're not weighed down. And so it's the same idea is that Jesus gives you something, but actually it's for our best. It's always for our best, always for good, for us. And so he gives us this. James talks about God's word as the law of liberty. When we obey him, it actually frees us. It doesn't burden us. It actually frees us because it's the true diagnosis. It's the true way of us being able to know the Lord.
• 37:15
  That's the invitation to the inside. Amazing invitation. The bar is so low. The bar is there for everyone to come. And really there's two applications here. There's two applications because each one is important. Jesus says this word to come. Come to you, come to Jesus for those of you who don't know him. We think of all these reasons of why we don't come to the Lord. And we have family that still hasn't come to know the Lord. And my question for them is why?
• 37:44
  Why? What is it about the Lord that is wrong in your thinking that you're still not responding when he gives such a great invitation? Why is it? And that's the question to ask is, why haven't I made a decision to follow the Lord? What's keeping me back? What is it that I'm thinking that probably isn't true because of who Jesus is that should actually melt my fears and, boy, I'm the first one to be in line to come to him. It's an open invitation. He's not harsh. He's not a joy killer. He actually knows what's best for us. He gives us true rest if we come to him.
• 38:15
  Only our own pride would stop us. And again, don't delay. His command to come to me is not come to me tomorrow, but come to me now. Make that decision for the Lord. But then my other application as well is for all of us who have come to know the Lord. You know that command to come to him is for us as well. Come to him because of who he is to let him teach us, to let him change us, to have us...
• 38:41
  see him more clearly and to be able to take those burdens to him so that he will give us the rest of our souls. If you're weary in your Christian life because you feel like you're just not living up to what the Lord has for you, then you're qualified to come to him. But come to him, not necessarily to all the things that you've been doing because he's the one that gives you rest. He's the one that does these things for you. We have wrong views and so we carry those burdens. And one of the books that I would, again, has really helped me,
• 39:10
  Maybe some of you have had it. Dane Ortlund has written a book called Gentle and Lowly, dealing with this passage in Matthew 11 and a number of other passages addressed to Christians who feel tired in life because really, in a sense, their view of who the Lord is is not adequate. And he goes through a number of different passages of how the Lord views us. And so if you feel like you're on edge with the Lord, like you're kind of on eggshells, this is a great book. So I would encourage you to read this. So I'm going to pray as we close.
• 39:40
  Pray for, again, both groups. You may be in one group or the other, but let me pray. Lord, again, thank you very much that you are, you've given us this invitation to the inside. Lord, as one who knows us fully, has given us the right diagnosis. Lord, I pray that you would bring anyone in this auditorium or anyone who hears this message, Lord, to you. That they would see that there's no reason not to come to you. That you're the one who provides real rest. That the bar is so low just of having burdens.
• 40:09
  I pray that no one here would feel that life is so together that they don't need you, and that you would be the one who would show them that you're the one who does that, that you died for them, that you rose again, and that you offer this forgiveness, this rest to all who come. Lord, I ask that they would come. And Lord, for those of us who know you, I pray that we also would come.
• 40:29
  Lord, you know each heart here. You have the full diagnosis. You know what each one needs. I pray, Lord, that each one would come to you as the one who gives that rest, that gives that burden that's light and the yoke that's easy and kind, that we would see you clearly as who you are, not who we think you are, but who your words are.