Matthew 11:25-30 (My Yoke is Easy)

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Amen. Thank you, man. [00:00:05] Speaker B: Good morning, church. [00:00:07] Speaker A: What a joy to be together today, by the way. Good morning, online folk. I feel like we forget about you sometimes, but hi, we're glad you're here. We're glad you're worshiping with us today. [00:00:19] Speaker B: We're going to jump straight into it because it's just good guys and I want to get into it. We're continuing our series in Matthew today. If you want to go ahead and turn in your bibles over to Matthew eleven. If you don't have a bible with you today, there are house bibles around the room. Just look on the chairs in front of you. [00:00:37] Speaker A: I'm sure there's one relatively close to you. [00:00:41] Speaker B: We really believe in the importance of. [00:00:43] Speaker A: Access to God's word here at Emmanuel. [00:00:45] Speaker B: And so I would encourage you, if you don't own a physical copy of God's word, to snag one of those. [00:00:50] Speaker A: And take it home. Or, and I can finally say this, we have nice ones in the back. [00:00:56] Speaker B: So if you don't own a Bible. [00:00:58] Speaker A: We can give you a nice one. [00:01:00] Speaker B: So, yeah, we're going to be in Matthew eleven today, guys. Next week. By the way, we start advent. That's exciting, right? Getting into Christmas season. We're going to go through, as we've done the last couple of years, going to go through the themes of the. [00:01:13] Speaker A: Advent candle and all those different things. Going to be beautiful. I'm excited for it. [00:01:17] Speaker B: But today we're continuing our time in Matthew and I think we're going to really just beautifully kind of tie a bow on this section of Matthew that we've called the missional discourse. We've been talking about Jesus's specific teaching on evangelism and mission, right. What it means to go out and preach the gospel. And even though we've transitioned back into the narrative chunks of Matthew, remember Matthew moves back and forth between these chunks of narrative and stories and these discourses. [00:01:51] Speaker A: These teachings from Jesus. [00:01:52] Speaker B: Even though we've transitioned back to the narrative chunk of Matthew, I really think Jesus'teaching today is meant to be the kind of bow that ties together everything we've read in Matthew ten and eleven. So let's remind ourselves of what's going on, and then we'll jump into the text. So essentially this all started at the end of chapter nine. And if you guys remember what was going on is that Jesus was traveling around Galilee doing his ministry. He's preaching the gospel, he's healing the sick, and he just sees how the need outpaces his ability to travel and preach. And there's this moment where we just man. It says that his compassion was aroused. [00:02:37] Speaker A: Out of this, right? [00:02:38] Speaker B: He feels sorry for the people, his compassion on their harassed and helpless, like. [00:02:43] Speaker A: Sheep without a shepherd. [00:02:44] Speaker B: And he says to his followers, the harvest is plentiful. It is the workers that are few. So pray to the Lord of harvest to send more workers into the field. There's so much need, and there's not. [00:02:56] Speaker A: Enough people meeting the need with the gospel. [00:03:00] Speaker B: And then immediately after that, he jumps into sending the twelve, right? He commissions and sends the twelve to join him in the work. And that's how we kind of transitioned into this teaching on mission. What we're going to see in our text today is that in spite of the difficulty of the call, in spite of the promise of persecution, in spite of the opposition, in spite of the cost of discipleship, in spite of the very real possibility of suffering and loss, even though men as godly as John the Baptist doubted, even though Jesus his own ministry was largely ineffective, in spite. [00:03:43] Speaker A: Of all of this, beloved, a life given to the kingdom is still worth it. [00:03:50] Speaker B: What we're going to see in our. [00:03:51] Speaker A: Text today is that Jesus is worth it. [00:03:54] Speaker B: Because when you give yourself over to. [00:03:56] Speaker A: The kingdom, you get Jesus. When you give yourself over to Christ, you get Christ. However much the trials and the cost may beat you down and cause you to doubt, you can come to Jesus, and Jesus will connect you to God the Father through Christ. Beloved, we are connected to God himself. This wonderful, amazing gift makes all the cost of discipleship worth. It makes all the work of the kingdom approachable. Beloved, I want you to hear this today before we jump into this, however your heart finds you today. Our text reminds us that Christ offers you himself. He offers you himself. He longs to be with you. He longs to be your reward, the reward that drives you to the work. Whether you walked into this space today hyped, doing super well at the height of spiritual maturity, seeing God move in powerful ways, whether you walked into this space deep in the trenches of hurt and exhaustion, spent and wondering how you're going to take a next step or anywhere in between, whether you're full of joy or full of apathy, whether you're full of energy or you've spent your last ounce, beloved, Christ longs to give you rest in the burdens of life in this cursed world. Jesus is so good to us. [00:05:29] Speaker B: He's so very good to meet you. [00:05:31] Speaker A: And to meet me. Beloved, he is good to the human soul. He is worth the cost of seeking the kingdom. It's why, by the way, we seek the kingdom in the first place, right? [00:05:46] Speaker B: That's the whole point. He's so good that when we get. [00:05:50] Speaker A: Him, we can't help but give him. It's that good. Amen. [00:05:56] Speaker B: So let's jump into Matthew eleven, see. [00:06:00] Speaker A: What God has for us today. [00:06:01] Speaker B: We're going to start in verse 25. [00:06:03] Speaker A: And we read this. [00:06:05] Speaker B: At that time, Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure. All things have been entrusted to me by my father. No one knows the son except the father, and no one knows the father except the son. And anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him. Verse 28. Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from. [00:06:38] Speaker A: Me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This is the word of the Lord for us today. Beloved, pray with me, Father, as we take a few moments to dig into your word, I ask, holy spirit, that you would be our discipler today. Illuminate your text to us, Father. Speak to us in the way our heart needs today. God, for those of us who have walked into this room very weary and very burdened, regardless of how well we were able to put our church face over it today, Father, I pray that you would be the balm to our soul today. Be the rest in our weariness, be the place where we lay our head and find safety in life. God, for those of us who are doing better than that, right, who are full of life and joy, God, remind us that you are the reward. You are the reward. You are who drives us to the work. And you are what we receive for the work. God, for those of us who are trapped in our apathy today, who are just content with the goods this world has to offer, Lord, remind us. Remind us of the reward our heart longs for, drive us back to the labor of the kingdom. God, we need you today. So we pray these things in your name, Jesus. Amen. [00:08:07] Speaker B: So this is how I think Jesus. [00:08:12] Speaker A: Intends to cap off this discussion. [00:08:14] Speaker B: He's set the whole thing up, right? Look at all the need. He's commissioned his own twelve apostles to go and do the work. And then he steps into, in chapter ten, this teaching on what it looks like to be on mission. And what I think is most striking about the missional discourse is how little Jesus talks about mission, like, really quickly into his teaching on evangelism. He switches from talking about evangelism to talking about opposition and persecution. I don't know if you guys noticed that over the last four weeks while I was just beating you up from the pulpit, right? Like, Jesus goes really hard on suffering in his missional discourse. He takes a deep dive on the cost of following him on mission. And almost kind of the way he ends it almost is like a counter. [00:09:06] Speaker A: To how heavy the teaching is. [00:09:08] Speaker B: He ends the teaching by reminding folk that there is a reward for following him and that all who follow him receive the reward. But, man, he's gone. Like, it's essentially the worst sales pitch possible on evangelism. And it actually gets worse. After he finishes the teaching. He says, hey, listen, there's so much need. Pray to God to send people into the need. I'm going to send you. You should go and preach. Go and preach the word. Do it faithfully. Just know no one will listen to you. You will suffer. People will beat you up, hurt you. Your family will betray you. Heck, you might die. It's going to be really rough, but don't worry about it. Everyone gets their reward for seeking the kingdom. And at this point, as the reader, you're going, Jesus, you need to take a sales class. [00:09:57] Speaker A: Like, I love you and you are lord of my life and my savior. [00:10:00] Speaker B: But this is not a good motivator. [00:10:03] Speaker A: Right? [00:10:04] Speaker B: And it actually gets worse, because as soon as he's done teaching, we step into these two narratives that show us, show us in detail how brutal this work is. We're reminded that John the Baptist, who Jesus says is the greatest man to live, coming in the spirit of the prophet Elijah, who has given himself faithfully to the work and experienced the opposition and persecution Christ is talking about, that he is rotting in prison and doubting. [00:10:30] Speaker A: Whether or not Christ is actually the messiah. So here you have someone who is the prime example of faithfulness, obedience, boldness, to go and proclaim the gospel. And his reward is rotting in prison in doubt. [00:10:45] Speaker B: And then it transitions to that. We're talking about Jesus'ministry around Galilee and how the cities don't even actually repent. Christ goes and serves them and performs miracles and preaches, and they have hard hearts, and they don't even listen. [00:11:01] Speaker A: And Jesus says, dang. [00:11:02] Speaker B: I mean, if Sodom and Gomorrah hurt. [00:11:03] Speaker A: Got the minister you guys got, they would listen. You guys have a hard heart. [00:11:07] Speaker B: And so, as the reader, you're sitting here going, so wait a minute. The harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. I should pray the Lord a harvest. [00:11:14] Speaker A: I should go. [00:11:15] Speaker B: But when I go, I'm going to get hurt. I'm going to be opposed. I'm going to suffer. The people I love will betray me. I may end up in prison, and if I'm really good at it, it probably still won't work, and I'll still have doubts. This sounds terrible. What's the upshot to this? [00:11:38] Speaker A: And this is how you get to our text where Jesus brings this all together, because I am excited for what God has for us today. I think this whole thing, the whole. [00:11:53] Speaker B: Missional discourse, serves to challenge the very. [00:11:56] Speaker A: Idea of a shallow commitment to Christ. [00:12:01] Speaker B: Why would you follow Jesus? Why would you give yourself over to his kingdom and his mission if what it promises, what it guarantees, is suffering and opposition that leads even folk like John the Baptist to doubt. And on top of that, it doesn't work. People don't actually listen or repent. Why would you follow Jesus with all this stacked against obedience? [00:12:30] Speaker A: Let's look, because I think Jesus gives us the answer. [00:12:34] Speaker B: Our text opens with this line. [00:12:35] Speaker A: At that time, Jesus said, we're about. [00:12:37] Speaker B: To hear this short little prayer from Jesus. [00:12:40] Speaker A: And this opening line tells us that. [00:12:42] Speaker B: This is something that Jesus said during this time, generally in this time when he's traveling Galilee, ministering, and it's not. [00:12:49] Speaker A: Working like that stuff we just read. Jesus prays this prayer, and on the other side of it, he gives this encouragement to his followers. [00:12:59] Speaker B: So let's look at these two pieces. Let's look at Jesus'prayer, and then let's look at the encouragement and see what. [00:13:04] Speaker A: We learn about the life of mission and why one might pursue it. [00:13:09] Speaker B: So in the prayer, Jesus basically has two main thoughts. First, Jesus praises the father and thanks him. The kingdom is hidden from the wise and intelligent, but understood by children. Do you notice that piece? I praise you, Father, that you have hidden these things from the wise, make. [00:13:24] Speaker A: Them known to infants. [00:13:26] Speaker B: Now, in English, this kind of reads like it's intentional, right? Like God is actively hiding knowledge of the kingdom from the smart people and then not hiding it from kids. What's closer, I think, to the intended meaning here is that Jesus is saying. [00:13:40] Speaker A: The kingdom of God is accessible even to children. [00:13:44] Speaker B: Remember the little ones, the infants. This is Jesus's most common nickname for his followers, right? This emphasizes the reality that Jesus'movement was a common man's movement. [00:13:57] Speaker A: It was amongst the normal people, the poor and the busy and the hurting. It wasn't the educated, elite theologians who followed Christ. [00:14:06] Speaker B: It was very rare for the educated. [00:14:09] Speaker A: Elite theologians to follow Christ. But the very, very normal, boring folk who the world considered quaint and simple were the ones who followed after Christ. [00:14:20] Speaker B: You guys have to understand, in this world, in ancient Palestine, the assumption was. [00:14:26] Speaker A: That God was understood intellectually. [00:14:29] Speaker B: The assumption was that the smarter you were, the greater a theologian you were, the closer you were to God. If you wanted to understand God in this day, first off, if you were going to engage his word, you had to be able to read and have access to his word, right? Not as common as we might assume. [00:14:45] Speaker A: It as modern westerners. [00:14:47] Speaker B: But on top of that, you had to be a scholar who gave your life to studying that word. And the intricacies of law, because they built their whole understanding of God around this covenantal law from Mount Sinai. And all the extra commentaries that existed from generations of rabbis teaching were all about the intricacies and the interactions of law. If you want to really know God, you got to know that stuff. I think what Jesus is saying here. [00:15:14] Speaker A: Is that this intellectual path is not the path that reveals the Father. [00:15:20] Speaker B: Rather, to trust in one's intellect alone will actually blind one from the father. Instead. [00:15:30] Speaker A: You approach Jesus like a child, like a child with trust and with obedience. It is trust and obedience, faith, that moves folk toward God the Father, that moves them toward the kingdom. So Jesus opens his prayer by saying, lord, I praise you, I praise you. It's faith that brings people to you. It's hidden. I get to reveal you. I get to show people you. [00:16:02] Speaker B: Second, in the prayer, Jesus speaks of. [00:16:04] Speaker A: His divine connection to the Father and his role in that revelation. [00:16:09] Speaker B: Jesus states in no uncertain terms, here, he is the only way that one can know and relate to the Father. [00:16:14] Speaker A: Right? [00:16:14] Speaker B: God is unknowable apart from revelation. And this would have been a really. [00:16:19] Speaker A: Offensive idea to the theologians of the day. [00:16:23] Speaker B: The God is very easily knowable. [00:16:25] Speaker A: All you have to do is study the law. But guys, the reality is Jesus is much more, God is much more complex than that, because we're too simple and. [00:16:37] Speaker B: Too sinful, both too simple and too sinful to know God on our own. Now, it wasn't just true for theologians. [00:16:46] Speaker A: Of the first century in Palestine, that. [00:16:48] Speaker B: Is true of us. [00:16:50] Speaker A: We are human beings compared to the grandeur, the glory, the infinite nature of God. I just got news for you guys. You're unable to comprehend him. He is too grand and you are too simple. He is too holy and you are too sinful. [00:17:06] Speaker B: You can't get there on your own. [00:17:10] Speaker A: Apart from revelation, God must make himself known for you to know him. And beloved, praise be to God that Jesus does exactly that. Jesus God the son, God in human flesh, who reveals the heart of God to a sinful and broken creation. Jesus would say later, if you know me, you know my father, reminds me of in John. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my father. And from now on, you do know him. In fact, you have seen him. To see Christ is to see the father, God incarnate, God with flesh and bones, who talks and walks and spends time with you. He makes the invisible God visible, the unknowable God knowable. It is Christ who reveals God, not our intellect, not our labor, not our grand theology. It is Jesus himself who makes the father known, which shows, by the way, why the wise can so easily miss the Father. [00:18:17] Speaker B: How easy it is to trust your own wisdom, to trust your own intellect, to trust your own intuition, your own study, your own ability. But it is only through the kindness and the presence of Jesus that you and I know God, period. Go read the introduction to Romans. Paul lays out the situation in blunt terms. On your own, you can figure out a couple things about God, that he's there and that he's really powerful. That's about as far as you'll get. And by the way, look at natural philosophy and natural science. You can get there. How do you get from theism. [00:19:02] Speaker A: To Yahweh? [00:19:04] Speaker B: How do you get from someone probably. [00:19:07] Speaker A: Made all this to, hey, Christ died for your sins. You can have a relationship with the Father. I'm telling you guys, you don't get there unless Christ intervenes on your behalf, unless Christ makes himself known to you, unless Christ takes the glorious, eternal intricacies of the Father and makes them approachable for small minds like ours. Praise be to God that our Lord is kind. Amen. That Christ delights to make the father. [00:19:40] Speaker B: Known to us, that he delights to draw us from death and isolation to life and connection. [00:19:46] Speaker A: Amen. [00:19:48] Speaker B: Which I think just beautifully moves us from the prayer into Jesus's encouragement here. Jesus speaks almost directly to the weighty. [00:19:58] Speaker A: Reality he has commanded of his followers. [00:20:00] Speaker B: To seek his kingdom, to follow Jesus will cost a lot. These little ones, these infants, these simple folk who through their faith and their obedience, have come to know the Father, have come to see life. The little ones, you and I, those who on our own could not obtain connection to the Father, but through the. [00:20:19] Speaker A: Grace of Jesus, know him to seek his kingdom to follow Jesus for us in this sinful and broken world. Beloved, it will beat us down. It will beat down the little ones who have trusted and given Jesus their yes. [00:20:36] Speaker B: And can we all, I mean, even in our setting, even in our point in history, even in our context, with all our religious freedom and our cultural protections, can we not affirm this truth? Following Jesus in a sinful, broken world can really hurt, can really cost you to say yes to Christ, to choose the kingdom, to choose obedience, to choose faithfulness, versus chasing after the pleasures and comforts of this world. There are times when it just hurts, when it seems like it costs too much, when it beats you up and wears you out. [00:21:18] Speaker A: Amen. Beloved, look to Jesus'encouragement. Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Are there any more encouraging words in scripture? Think of the scene we just read. Think of John the Baptist sitting in prison. And by the way, his end there is death. He will be beheaded for some petty bet that happened at rich people's party. Think of faithful John the Baptist sitting in prison. In the words of the Lord, come to me, you who are weary and burdened. I will give you rest. Beloved, there is compassion in the words of Jesus. We see the shepherd's heart in our sweet Jesus. In this invitation, Jesus invites his followers to bring their exhaustion to him because he gives rest. [00:22:24] Speaker B: But look how he follows us up. He tells his followers to take on his yoke. Now pause for just a second. That doesn't make sense. A yoke is what's used by animals, a burden to pull carts and plows. Right? [00:22:39] Speaker A: You guys know what I'm talking about? [00:22:40] Speaker B: The big wooden thing, you put them on the ox's neck, you hook the ropes to it. A yoke is about hard work. And beyond this, if you've read the Old Testament, the word yoke was used almost exclusively in the Old Testament as a negative term, as, like, an image to refer to oppression and enslavement. An enemy king comes and conquers God's people, and they bear the yoke of slavery. [00:23:08] Speaker A: This is a negative term in almost all of the Old Testament. [00:23:12] Speaker B: So what is Jesus saying here? Come to me, all you are weary. [00:23:16] Speaker A: And burdened, and I will give you rest. [00:23:18] Speaker B: Here, put on this yoke. Well, there are actually two historical, kind. [00:23:22] Speaker A: Of contextual points here that I think we need to fully engage this text. [00:23:27] Speaker B: So walk with these with me real. [00:23:29] Speaker A: Quick, and then we'll see how this illuminates what Jesus is saying. [00:23:31] Speaker B: So even though the term yoke is actually used almost exclusively in a negative. [00:23:36] Speaker A: Way in the Old Testament. [00:23:37] Speaker B: This wasn't true culturally. [00:23:39] Speaker A: By Jesus'day, you see, it was actually. [00:23:41] Speaker B: A common word picture used by the phariseeical rabbis to encourage folk to follow the law. You have to remember the fundamental theology of the Pharisees. [00:23:52] Speaker A: This was the group of religious teachers who Jesus most often criticized. [00:23:56] Speaker B: The fundamental theology of the Pharisees was that Israel was not FrEE. They were under Roman Oppression because of. [00:24:02] Speaker A: Breaking the COVenANT at Sinai. [00:24:04] Speaker B: They were experiencing the wrath of God. [00:24:06] Speaker A: The curses of the covenant, as laid out in Deuteronomy 28. [00:24:10] Speaker B: And if they wanted to be relieved of those curses and receive the blessings of the land again, then they had to repent and turn to Yahweh, just like Deuteronomy 28 says. And so they had to get enough of God's people to live godly lives, to repent, to follow the law that God said, okay, yeah, my people have returned to me. I will relent from my curses, and I will restore to them the blessings of the covenant. And so phariseeical theology was really this very socially active thEology, where they were discipling and challenging and encouraging the COmmon people through the SyNagogue system and through spiritual educatioN, to follow the law, to obey the law. And when that didn't work, they said, we need to take this a step further. They must be sinning and not realize it. There must be little ways that we're breaking the law. And so they created what were called hedge laws, where they said, if God says, don't cross this line, let's set the line over here so that if they don't cross this line, they won't even get near this one. And so they begin to add on and add on to the law and all these intricacies and details to try and protect and keep Israel from breaking the real law so that they could be repent and return to God and receive their blessing. [00:25:25] Speaker A: This mindset that really was a mindset. [00:25:28] Speaker B: That said, let's encourage God's people to live holy lives, led to them kind of recapturing this word Yoke ANd saying, look, yeah, it's hard to follow the law. It's Complex, it's difficult, but it spells out for you in no uncertain terms how you can please God. So, yeah, put the yoke of the law on, work the system, follow the laws, live the way God described in Deuteronomy and Leviticus and numbers and exodus. Live that WAy. And then you can know you're GlOrIfyInG God. So take on the yoke of the law and live. And so by the time Jesus comes onto the scene, yoke was actually used, generally speaking, as a positive term to refer to following God, seeking to obey what the scripture teaches. I think it's interesting. Now, don't get me wrong, right? Like a yoke means work. A yoke is a yoke. [00:26:27] Speaker A: And anybody would be glad to cast it off at the end of a hard day's work. [00:26:32] Speaker B: But the reason this term was used in a positive sense is because a yoke was a tool that helped you. [00:26:37] Speaker A: Get the work done. The work was brutal regardless, but it was way easier if you had a yoke. [00:26:43] Speaker B: The second idea we have to remember. [00:26:45] Speaker A: Here is that there were two kinds of yolks common to the palestinian, to the galilean people in the first century. [00:26:52] Speaker B: There were animal yolks and there were people yolks. The animal yoke is probably the one we most readily consider and picture in. [00:26:59] Speaker A: A text like this. [00:26:59] Speaker B: It's the big, long piece of wood and you set it on with these harnesses and you set it on the shoulders of two different animals, right? For these people, it would have been like oxen or donkeys. [00:27:08] Speaker A: And you hook them up and then. [00:27:09] Speaker B: There'S a plow behind it and together they put their shoulders into it and they pull the plow or they pull the cart, right? That's what most of us picture and. [00:27:16] Speaker A: Think of in this day. [00:27:17] Speaker B: But you have to remember, under roman rule, or shall we say, roman oppression, Galilee was incredibly impoverished. And oftentimes caretaking for animals was just cost prohibitive. But people still had land. They still had to plow. They still had to grow food so they didn't starve to death. And so they had people yolks. One for you. You're the farmer. It's your land. Put this yoke on your shoulder and pull your own plow. Now let's think about that for a moment, right? That is back breaking labor. That is brutal. [00:27:56] Speaker A: But I'll tell you what, if you've. [00:27:58] Speaker B: Ever gone out and gardened in your. [00:27:59] Speaker A: Backyard and just used the hand hoe to cut a row, the plow is easier. [00:28:05] Speaker B: It's still brutal. You don't want that. When that day's over and you're covered in sweat, you're going to throw it. [00:28:10] Speaker A: Off and probably say a whole bunch. [00:28:12] Speaker B: Of curses in your head about the thing and go inside, right? But it's still a tool that helps. [00:28:17] Speaker A: You accomplish the work. [00:28:20] Speaker B: And what's really interesting is in the. [00:28:22] Speaker A: Impoverished places where Jesus is ministering these people yokes would have been much more common. This probably would have been what people were envisioning. When Jesus says, know to consider these farmers putting on yolks and pulling their own plows, pulling their own carts with. [00:28:37] Speaker B: Their own strength, that's kind of, like. [00:28:39] Speaker A: Unimaginable for us, right? [00:28:41] Speaker B: We're like, oh, my gosh. Sounds really hard, but it was really normative. [00:28:46] Speaker A: In this day, it's likely the imagery that Jesus is grabbing ahold of here. [00:28:51] Speaker B: So if the Pharisees were teaching that their version of strict adherence to the law was hard, but ultimately good, right? A yoke that really was a weighty yoke. It's like pulling your own plow. [00:29:07] Speaker A: So Jesus then tells these weary folk. [00:29:11] Speaker B: These folk who have spent their energy. [00:29:14] Speaker A: Trying to be good enough for God. [00:29:16] Speaker B: Who by this point in salvific history. [00:29:19] Speaker A: Have probably been under the teaching of the Pharisees and synagogue system their whole life, their entire experience of church and discipleship has been, do more. [00:29:29] Speaker B: Do better. It's you mad at Israel. Be better people. This has been the sermon they've heard their entire life for those people. [00:29:45] Speaker A: Jesus says, how about instead of trying to earn your righteousness, instead of trying to be good enough for God, instead take on my yoke. Learn from me. And Jesus says his yoke is easy. His burden is light. [00:30:06] Speaker B: Now, wait just a second, Jesus, how can you say your yoke is easy? How can you say your burden is light? We just learned how hard it is to follow Jesus. We've seen the difficulty and the pain and the cost of giving Jesus your. Yes. How can he possibly say, come to me, you who are weary and burdened. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Don't worry. All your family and friends will betray you, and you'll suffer and die. That doesn't seem like it goes together. How can that burden be light? [00:30:46] Speaker A: I think ultimately what we see in this text is that Jesus'response to the difficulty of following him is the gospel itself. Yes, he says it will be hard. Yes, he says you will suffer. Yes, he says you will doubt when the suffering and the hardship beats you down. [00:31:09] Speaker B: Yes, he says, people often just won't listen. [00:31:12] Speaker A: It will feel like the labor was completely and totally wasted. But it is worth it. It's worth it because you get Jesus and Jesus connects you to God. Jesus reveals the father. This is why the yoke of Jesus is easy. I mean, guys, can we be honest for a second? [00:31:36] Speaker B: We live in a cursed and broken world. [00:31:38] Speaker A: All of life is hard. All of life is hard. [00:31:44] Speaker B: But look at the yoke of works. Look at the other yoke. You have the other option. You have. Look at the weight of righteousness. Can you bear that yoke? Can you pull that plow? Do you have the strength in your shoulders, beloved, to bear that load, to live a perfect life, to earn, through your holiness, the favor of God? [00:32:13] Speaker A: That's a heavy burden. I'm here to tell you guys, it is unobtainable. [00:32:19] Speaker B: Honestly, to consider our own works and say, through this, through the sweat of my brow, I will earn God's favor. You know the hebrew word for glory that's used in reference to God literally. [00:32:32] Speaker A: Means weight, heaviness, hugeness. Beloved, can you lift the weight of the glory of God and pull that yoke? Of course not. Of course not. [00:32:47] Speaker B: That is crushing. To be built for eternity, to be built for life and intimacy with God, but to have so much sin that ruins you so that all you can do is labor and fail, that is a crushing weight. It's a crushing weight to realize, to. [00:33:09] Speaker A: Experience what you were made for and see the way sin has made it impossible. You labor and labor, and labor and labor and labor and labor and labor and labor and labor and labor. And the best that you have isn't enough to get you to what you were built for. It is crushing. It is despair incarnate. Guys, you can't handle that weight, and neither can I. [00:33:37] Speaker B: And yet, this was the very cry of the religious leaders of Jesus'day. Work harder, do better, make God happy. [00:33:46] Speaker A: And beloved, let's not deceive ourselves. [00:33:49] Speaker B: This is the cry of our culture. [00:33:51] Speaker A: Just as well we just dress it up different. [00:33:55] Speaker B: The Pharisees told Israel to live holy. [00:33:57] Speaker A: Lives so perfectly that God would turn from his wrath and restore Israel. [00:34:01] Speaker B: They were, in essence, saying, our oppression by Rome is your fault for not being holy enough. Reminds me of dastardly prosperity teachers of our day who tell people their sickness. [00:34:13] Speaker A: And suffering is because they lack faith to restore themselves. An evil thing to tell people. [00:34:19] Speaker B: And do not be deceived. Beloved, this lie lives in our culture in all sorts of ways. I mean, spend some time rummaging through the self help, mental health and self care sections of your social media platform of choice and look at what you find a whole lot of. Figure out how to fix yourself. If you just eat the right food, set the right boundaries, learn the right habits, get in the right workout routine, make the right financial decisions, and don't forget to grind on that side. [00:34:50] Speaker A: Hustle. [00:34:51] Speaker B: You'll save yourself, you'll find fulfillment. You'll find comfort. [00:34:55] Speaker A: You'll find happiness. You'll find joy, beloved. [00:34:58] Speaker B: Can I just be if no one. [00:34:59] Speaker A: Else does, can I be the one who tells you today you cannot fix yourself? You can't do it. I don't care how many things you retweet, you can't call them tweets anymore. I don't care how many self help cool instagram posts you find about setting aside you time and making sure you get what you need to be comfortable and happy and fulfilled and self actualized. You can't do it. You can't fix yourself, beloved. You are unable to carry that weight. At best. At best you will fail and be exhausted and spent. At worst, it will crush you. You can't do it. You cannot repair yourself. You cannot bring yourself to the life you were built for, no matter how wise or conscientious or disciplined you are. But you can. You can fall at the feet of Christ. You can come to Jesus, beloved. Jesus gives you what you were built for. He gives it to you freely. He gives you connection to your creator and as a result, a life lived. [00:36:21] Speaker B: Doing the work you were made to. [00:36:23] Speaker A: Do and the relationship you were built for. [00:36:25] Speaker B: Guys, it's still work, right? [00:36:28] Speaker A: Man, that is easy compared to the empty pursuits of comfort that this cursed and broken world offers you. Amen. Christ gives you what you were built for. [00:36:44] Speaker B: So why is this yoke easy? Why is this burden light? Because although in this world you will. [00:36:52] Speaker A: Face many trials, you get Jesus. You get Christ. And Christ loves you and cares for you and freely gives you life. Freely gives you forgiveness, freely gives you righteousness, freely gives you forever. Look what Jesus says about himself here. Because I am lowly and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Guys, this is one of the only times in all four gospels where Jesus self describes this is Christ sharing his own heart for you and for me. He's gentle. He's humble. Jesus, the God of the universe, the one whose word brought reality into being, is gentle and humble and welcomes the likes of you and I with open arms. Beloved, the gospel doesn't just get you movement from sin to righteousness, although it does that, and that is amazing, the gospel gets you Christ himself. The gospel gets you Jesus. So what do we do with a text like this? I think the application today is the exact same whether you've been following Jesus for years or you're still considering whether or not you want to follow him. If you're in this room, regardless of what the current state of your soul looks like, regardless of what you brought in with you today, if you're exploring faith, if you're considering the claims of Christ, you've been following Christ for years. If you're finding lots of joy and victory and health and growth, if you're struggling with sin patterns and apathy, regardless of where you are today, the call is the same. Beloved, turn to Jesus. Beloved, come to Christ. Come to him today. Come to him right now. Don't wait. Don't tarry. He has rest for you. He has life for you. Are you in this place feeling beat up and drained by your life? Does the weight of trying to pull your own plow destroy you, resonate with you today? Beloved, come to him. He is gentle. He's kind. Christ doesn't lord his lordship over you. Instead, he receives you. He gives you rest. He gives you life, gives you grace. You get him. Chris, if you want to come back up, I'm going to invite us, as. [00:39:39] Speaker B: We always do, to end our time. [00:39:41] Speaker A: With a few minutes of reflection and prayer. And I want to encourage each and every one of you to consider what it looks like for you today to turn to Christ. [00:39:52] Speaker B: Regardless of where you are at in. [00:39:54] Speaker A: Your faith journey, consider what it means right here, right now, to turn to face Jesus. What does a step of greater obedience, greater dependence, greater connection, greater intimacy, what does that look like for you today? And that may very well mean taking that first step. I know in a room like this, there are those of us who are still considering whether or not we want to follow Christ. And if that's you today, I would urge you to consider his call to you. I would urge you to look very honestly at your efforts to fix your own problems and answer honestly how much fruit they've borne. Beloved, Christ has life for you. He has forgiveness for you. He has restoration for you. If you're in this space and you know Christ, but your faith feels just a deadness, whether it's through your own apathy, through your own sin patterns, through your own abandonment of him, I would consider you to remember him who is faithful when you are faithless, whose invitation is for you to return to him. Prodigal sons can go off and squander every bit of inheritance they've been given. And when they return to Christ, he receives them with arms wiped. You can do that today. Christ is awaiting you, awaiting you with grace, awaiting you with joy, awaiting you with rest. Beloved, if you are finding your deepest love and joy in Christ today, I promise you, you have not found the bottom of the well. There is more joy and life and freedom in Christ to be found. You can turn to him today and say, lover of my soul, friend, Lord, savior, draw me closer to you. Each and every one of us can turn to Christ today. So I'm going to invite you to consider that in your prayer, and I'm. [00:41:54] Speaker B: Going to open our prayer with the. [00:41:57] Speaker A: Christ hymn from Philippians two. I'd invite you to do what you need to do to connect with Christ in this moment. If you can do that by bowing your head and closing your eyes, that's awesome. If you want to get on your knees somewhere or get out of your seat, you're welcome to do that. I want to encourage you to join me in prayer as I pray the Christ hymn from Philippians two over us, and then take just a minute to consider your own next step toward Christ, and then we'll continue on. Beloved, pray with me. Adopt the same attitude that is that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something he should exploit. [00:42:38] Speaker B: Instead, he emptied himself and assumed the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even a death on a cross. [00:42:53] Speaker A: For this reason, God has highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that the. [00:42:59] Speaker B: Name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is lord to the. [00:43:09] Speaker A: Glory of God the Father. [00:43:10] Speaker B: Beloved, meet with your Jesus and do. [00:43:13] Speaker A: The work you need to do.