Liturgy:
Reading: Matthew 11, 16 – 30
Text : Matthew 11, 28 – 30
Ps. 131 : 1,2,3
Ps. 25 : 2,3
Ps. 84 : 3 (in response to the reading of God’s Word)
Ps. 62 : 4 ( in response to the preaching)
Hy. 61 : 1,5,6 (collection and closing song)
Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The text chosen for this morning’s sermon is well known. It is one of those texts, which at times are found at on one of the walls in our homes to give us comfort and encouragement in times of difficulties and unrest. Maybe some of you have written the words of this morning’s text even in your heart to hold on to them in life hard to cope with. Yes, the words we read in Matt. 11, 28 – 30 are full of comfort, indeed. There is no doubt about this. To find rest, the Lord Jesus says, “Come to Me!” Indeed, a wonderful and comforting invitation!
“Come to Me”, Jesus says. However, beloved, in actual terms haven’t we come already? We all believe Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of our life. We go to church, we read the Bible, we pray. I think I speak for all of you when I say that we all wholeheartedly believe that true rest can be found in Jesus alone, to whom we have come already, haven’t we?
Yet, beloved, if this indeed is true, how come then that at times there is still so much unrest in our life? How does this gel with having heeded the invitation of our text already?
This raises the question, have we truly come to Jesus to find indeed rest in Him alone and in no one else. Have we come to Him, willing also to bear His yoke? Moreover, have you come to Him also willing to follow Him, wherever He leads you; following Him as an obedient disciple in submitting your life to Him? For, beloved, only when you have done this, you will indeed find that true rest of which the Lord Jesus Christ speaks in the text chosen for this morning sermon; true rest in bending our neck under His yoke.
This brings us to letter ‘Y’ in the series of sermons on the ABC of faith: Y for bearing the yoke of Christ. Focussing on Matt. 11, 28 – 30, this morning I may preach you
THE GOSPEL ABOUT TRUE REST
WHICH WE WILL FIND ONLY
BY BENDING OUR NECK UNDER THE YOKE OF CHRIST
In connection with this theme, we will address the following two questions
1) What is this true rest which Christ offers
2) How does receiving this rest this fit in with bending our neck under His yoke
I The text chosen for this morning’s, Br. & Sr., starts with the following invitation extended by Christ Himself, vs. 28, “…” Whom is Christ addressing here? Who are these people, who labour and are heavy laden? Many commentaries refer to the heavy burden laid on the people by the interpretation of the Mosaic Law given by the Scribes and the Pharisees. You can read about this in Matthew 23. Israel’s leaders also watched carefully to see whether the people obeyed all the rules made by them. Hence, in Jesus’ day life had become burdensome for the children of God. The point now is, whether this burden is referred to also in Matthew 11. The context does not hint in this direction. Let us just have a closer look at this context in which Jesus spoke the words chosen as text for this morning’s sermon.
Matthew 11 informs us about a twofold response to Jesus’ preaching. Some had rejected His preaching, which resulted in a ‘woe’ of the Lord Jesus against those cities in which He had done many mighty works. This ‘woe’ is recorded in the verses 20 – 24 of this chapter. Others had responded positively. Jesus refers to this in vs. 19, when He says, “But wisdom is justified by her children.”
Next, in vs. 25 we read, “At that time…” So in the context of all this, also the following words were spoken, including the words of our text. This means we have to read the words of our text in close connection with words preceding our text, starting in vs. 25, where the Lord Jesus Christ thanks His father in heaven, “…” Again, many a commentary refers to the Scribes and the Pharisees being the wise and the prudent, whilst the babes are the people who according to these leaders did not know the law.[1] Yet this interpretation ignores that with His preaching Jesus sought also Israel’s leaders. As I read somewhere, “How can He who lamented about Jerusalem, since it was unwilling to listen,[2]at the same time thank God for hiding these things from the wise and prudent?”[3] – if indeed the reference would be here to Israel’s leaders. This leaves us with the question, who then are these wise and prudent from whom God has hidden this revelation, about which Jesus speaks in vs. 25?
The point is, Br. & Sr., something is either revealed or it is hidden. Well, this also applies to this specific revelation. Philosophy, science, technology, and you name it have brought to light numerous things. Yet no philosopher ever revealed the secret of the Father and His Son. Throughout the generations, God has given much wisdom to many wise and prudent men in this world, but the greatest secret He kept hidden from all these researchers and thinkers. Well, this secret is now revealed. The apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians writes, none of the rulers of this age knew about this wisdom.[4] This is what “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God prepared for those who love Him.”[5] God’s wisdom, a stumbling blocks to Jews and foolishness to Greeks.[6] This wisdom remained hidden to the great philosophers of the ancient times, yet God revealed it in simple villages like Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. For ages, God’s revelation in Jesus Christ had been kept secret to the mind of the deepest thinkers. However, now it is revealed to babes.
This is what the Lord Jesus thanks His Father for in this hour. No, then this revelation does not pass the prudent and the wise. It is revealed also to them in the same way as to the children. In other words, it is reachable for everyone, but also for everyone in the same way, wise and children alike, this miracle of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. In vs. 26 Jesus says, “Thus it seemed good in the sight of the Father.” Christ speaks in this verse about God’s ‘eudokia’, which is God’s good pleasure or will.
See, Br. & Sr., what people needed was not the wisdom of man, but a Mediator. Well, according to His sovereign good pleasure God now had brought this Mediator into the world, not just for a special group of people only, but for all who want to accept this gospel of redemption as a child, as a babe.
Well, it is in this context that we have to read also the invitation, extended by Christ, in the text chosen for this morning’s sermon. For it is only through Christ that we can share in this wonderful redemption. Therefore says Christ, vs. 28, “…”
All who labour and are heavy laden – the two verbs used here refer to hard work. They bring to mind the picture of an eastern porter transporting goods carrying them on his back. Sometimes you only see those goods with underneath two toiling legs. This picture comes to mind, when hearing the words: labouring and heavily laden. Well, says Christ, if you feel this way by whatever burdens you down, come to Me and I will give you rest, true rest in a world full of unrest.
This true rest, Br. & Sr., one will never find from within himself. As the Preacher says, man toils and labours in vain. Creation suffers under God’s curse and so do we. We all suffer under God’s curse because of sin. It is because of sin, that there often is still so much unrest also in our lives, unrest also in the lives of upright children of God. Unrest, in particular when one thinks of the fact how daily we fall short in the battle against sin, fall short in trusting God. What a mess our life sometimes is! We fight, but often with many weaknesses, to the extent that at times we might even feel giving up fighting. Tomorrow I will do better, but when tomorrow comes around so often life turns back in the same rut again. Will it ever go any better? Lord, I often feel so tired.
I think we can all identify with this, with this battle which is spoken about also by the apostle Paul in Romans 7, the battle raging within every Christian, this battle: our inability to do all that we know we should do according to God’s law. This on the one hand and then on the other hand the tendency and inclination to do things we know we ought not to do.
For a moment, let us just turn to Romans 7. In vs. 15 of this chapter, the apostle Paul says, I hate myself for it, “…” In vs. 19 he writes, “…” As I said before, I think we all can identify with this battle. Like the apostle Paul, we too keep falling into the ditch on either side: sins of commission, actively doing wrong things, and sins of omission, our failure to do the right things. This battle within us is the conflict between the new man who wants to obey God and the old man, repeatedly being inclined to sin. At times this battle can weigh on our conscience like a heavy burden; the burden that we have not loved God, as we ought nor our neighbour as we ought; the burden that we have not kept God’s commandments in all our thoughts, words, and deeds. We feel that the law of God condemns us. Burdened down by our sins, we cry out with the apostle Paul, Romans 7, 24, “…” However, this is not where we should stop. Instead, we should carry on reading also verse 25, where Paul joyfully declares, “…”
See there, beloved, how Jesus Christ came to deliver us from this burden. Come to Me, He says, and I will give you rest. Jesus Christ is the only one who can do this for us. He is the only one strong enough to carry this load, the weight of the law. Yes, that’s what Jesus did. He lived the life we do not live. He kept God’s law perfectly in our place. His love for God was total, His love for the neighbour complete. Nothing was left out or fell short of the mark. Thus, with His perfect obedience, Christ will cover our disobedience, cover all those times that we fall short.
Whilst I was writing this part of the sermon, John Bunyan’s book “Pilgrims Progress” came to my mind. John Bunyan tells the story of a Christian on a journey, carrying a large bundle on his shoulders. He arrives at a place somewhat elevated above the surrounding area. On that hill, there stands a cross, and below the hill, there is a grave. As the man comes to the top of the hill with his heavy burden, the load is suddenly released from his shoulders. It drops to the ground, rolls down the hill, and disappears into the empty grave.
With this story, John Bunyan pictures what Christ has done for us. We labour along, carrying a heavy load. The cross appears before our eyes. We lay our heavy load down there, and it is rolled away.
What a relief! What rest for our souls! As the church father Augustine once prayed to God, “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” This, beloved, is the rest we all need, the true rest in Jesus Christ. “Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee,” i.e. in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of our life.
Well, that’s how the invitation we read in the text chosen for this morning’s sermon comes also to us, “Come to Me,” says Christ, “and I will give you this wonderful rest.” Rest – as we sung it at the beginning of this service with the words of Psalm 131, rest like a weaned child with his mother. Let us just ponder once more upon the words we sung at the beginning of this worship service, Psalm 131 : 1 + 2 (rhymed), “…”
II From the first point of the sermon, we learned that the yoke of God’s law, the yoke of perfect obedience to God’s law is too heavy for us to carry. We fail every day again and if there were no other help, we would perish under it. However, Christ bore this yoke for us. That was the gospel, proclaimed in the first point of the sermon. Christ is our righteousness before God. He bore the yoke in our place.
However, next in the same breath we hear Jesus say, “Take my yoke upon you.” How do these two gel together: rest for our souls by accepting the invitation of Christ to come to Him and yet still having a yoke to bear? How does this work? The answer to this question I formulated in the theme of this morning’s sermon: true rest we will find only by bending our neck under the yoke of Christ. However, this still leaves us with the question how does this work. The answer is carrying this yoke will bring us closer to Christ and also closer to the rest Christ offers. Let me try to explain this.
In our culture, we aren’t as familiar with what a yoke is as those who lived in Jesus’ times. A yoke was a large wooden crossbar that was carefully carved to fit over the necks of beasts of burden – like oxen. They were made to hold two animals together, bound by leather straps, so that the animals could be made to carry a burden together or do some kind of work together. It was an instrument curbing the will of the animal to bring it under the master’s control.
So what is Jesus commanding us to do when He invites us to take up His yoke? First, He is inviting those who are weary and heavy laden under the unbearable burden of the law to put off one yoke and take up another. He is inviting those weary people to come out from under the burden of trying to find righteousness before God on the basis of their own perfect obedience of the law. Come out from under that yoke, Jesus says and take up another yoke, which is easier, and a burden much lighter.
So coming to Jesus, once again we have to bend our neck under a yoke. And make no mistake, beloved, also this yoke it’s a demanding yoke! In Matthew 10, 38 we read the following words spoken by Jesus, “And he who does not take up his cross (that is, the instrument to let our old nature die) and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” As I read it somewhere, the yoke that our Lord places us under is one that demands our all! Nevertheless, this yoke is far easier and lighter to carry than any yoke we could place ourselves under.