Hope For The Heavy Hearted

“Hope for the Heavy Hearted”

Matthew 11:28-30

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Introduction:

I. The Call

a. Invitation – Come

There are many invitations in the Bible. Two of my favorites are:

(Isaiah 1:18) Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

(Revelation 22:17) And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

b. The Individual - Unto me

First, there is the invitation: “Come unto me.” It would strike the Jewish mind that Jesus is not, here, sending sinners to God. Neither is He sending sinners to the Law or to Moses. He is bidding them to come to Him. And, truly, you must come to Jesus for salvation and forgiveness of sins and cleansing, because the Law cannot save, and Moses cannot save, and your sins prevent you from approaching God.

11. The night before His crucifixion Jesus would say, in John 14.6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” And some time after His glorious resurrection from the dead and ascension to His Father’s right hand, Peter would thunder forth in Jerusalem with these words: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” Acts 4.12.

12. So, it was only right and proper and good for Jesus to invite sinners to come to Him, since there is nowhere else to go to find salvation from your sins.

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c. It’s Inclusiveness - all

YOU COME TO ME

Jimmy, and his son, Davey, were playing in the ocean down in Mexico, while his family -- his wife, daughters, parents, and a cousin -- were on the beach. Suddenly, a rogue riptide swept Davey out to the sea. Immediately Jimmy started to do whatever he could to help Davey get back to the shore, but he, too, was soon swept away in the tide. He knew that in a few minutes, both he and Davey would drown. He tried to scream, but his family couldn't hear him.

Jimmy's a strong guy--an Olympic decathlete--but he was powerless in this situation. As he was carried along by the water, he had a single, chilling thought: My wife and my daughters are going to have to have a double funeral.

Meanwhile, his cousin, who understood something about the ocean, saw what was happening. He walked out into the water where he knew there was a sandbar. He had learned that if you try to fight a riptide, you will die. So, he walked to the sandbar, stood as close as he could get to Jimmy and Davey, and then he just lifted his hand up and said, "You come to me. You come to me." (John Ortberg, in the sermon, The Way of Wisdom)

That's Christ's invitation to us: "Come to me and you will live!" If we go the way our gut tells us, we will die, but if we trust the one who died for us and rose again, we will live forever with Him in Heaven. Accept God's gift to you, and accept life instead of death.

(From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Father's Gift, 12/16/2010)

II. The Conflict (… all ye that labour and are heavy laden…)

The metaphor here appears to be taken from a man who has a great load laid upon him, which he must carry to a certain place: every step he takes reduces his strength, and renders his load the more oppressive. We all have burdens. One old time preacher stated that there are broken hearts in every pew! What kind of load are you carrying today? Is it:

a. Hurts – Pain

Can I teach you an important truth? You and I were never promised a pain free life. Life is filled with trouble, much of it our own making. You know this from your own experience. But God never promised that we would not have a wounded life, His focus is that you and I would not have a wasted life. I found a unique perspective on pain:

PAIN AND REGRET: A GIFT?

In 1999, Dr Paul Brand and Philip Yancey co-wrote a book called Pain: the Gift Nobody Wants. Dr Brand was born in India to missionary parents, and has spent most of his life caring for people with leprosy. One of Dr Brand’s greatest discoveries was that people with leprosy do not have "bad flesh" that just rots away. Actually, their flesh is as healthy as yours, or mine. The problem is that blood flow is restricted to certain parts of their body, and their nerve endings die.