Jesus Changes His Accent – Part 2
Four Calls Of Christ – Part 2
Matthew 11:25-30
Some of you know the names of the men to whom I turn for my teaching and guiding, the men to whom I turn for understanding and insight into pastoral ministry and being a man of God. I wish I knew them personally. I only know them from a distance – men whose teaching ministries I listen to, whose web sites I visit, whose email lists I am on. Once in a while, I get a personal response to an email question I send. Usually, I get fed from a distance, so to speak.
There I times when I wish I could eavesdrop on their conversations with their staff, their families, their friends, but especially on their prayer and study time. In the past I have been allowed to peek at the prayer and study habits of men who were mentoring me (well, trying to, at least). I always gained a great deal of insight and instruction from those times.
Have you ever had someone you looked up to spend that little extra personal time with you, letting you peek into their world and get a better understanding of what made them a person you admired?
Years ago, when I was new to ministry, I was involved with a couple of fellowships that had a great number of old-time preachers around. Man, those guys could pray and preach! There was one very old, very little Italian fellow named Tony Tosti. Tony was a retired evangelist in his eighties when I met him. He has since gone home to be with the Lord he knew so well.
The first time I met Tony, I was struck by his easy-going and gentle manner. He was a nice man. He joked easily and laughed a lot – very unpretentious and humble.
Not long after I met Tony, I was at a local event for the denomination we were all a part of. Tony was asked to pray. It was an experience I will never forget. Even after almost twenty years, I can still hear Tony’s voice, deep and resonant, ushering us into the Throne Room of God.
Tony closed his eyes, bowed his head, and then I heard this little man’s voice boom out with, “Oh, God…we Your servants bow before You today, humbled and in awe, overcome by Your majesty and grace.”
I had an experience that day that I had never had before – I felt like I was truly standing in the very presence of Almighty God – real, alive, magnificent. It shook me up. And, it changed me. It changed the way I approached God and how I saw Him.
Over the next few years, being around Tony and being allowed to witness the overflow of His relationship with God into everyday life helped me to see and understand the gracious power of Almighty God – the Sovereign King of all of Creation, the One who has all power and glory and honor, the One who is not ever to be approached flippantly or superficially – and to see the tender heart He has for those who He allows to call Him “Father”.
Jesus does that for us in our passage today. We get a glimpse into the personal prayer life of Jesus and at the relationship He has with the God Father. We get a closer look at their intimacy and their unity. We get to learn just a little better how to approach our Heavenly Father.
We need to take just a moment to put this all in context within the Gospel of Matthew and within the larger context of Scripture itself.
I’m sure you recall that Matthew 11 picks up the narrative just after Jesus has sent His disciples out by twos to preach the coming of the kingdom. We covered this in-depth when we studied Matthew 10. This section of Scripture seems to come at a time when Jesus is without His disciples, for Matthew never tells us of their retuning.
We need to look at the parallel account of this passage in Luke 10:2-24. Luke’s account has Jesus sending out the seventy (or seventy-two, depending on your translation), not just the Twelve. How do we resolve this? Both accounts are of the same event.
Some say they are two separate events, but the two accounts mesh so well together that they seem certainly to be one single occurrence. The reason this is significant is so that we can see how multi-faceted the Scriptures are and how, like a set of binoculars, additional views of the same image gives a much clearer picture to the viewer. This is just one of the reasons we use Scripture to study Scripture.
In this case, we have Jesus’ commissioning of His disciples for ministry in Matthew 9:37-10:42 and Luke 10:2-16. Note that the warnings to the cities that reject His message are in both Matthew 10:15 and Matthew 11:21-24, as well as Luke 10:13-15. Then we have Jesus going off on His own and His encounter with the followers of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:1-6).
The other “lens” brings part of the report into clearer focus when it tells us in Luke 10:17, “The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." Luke goes on to give us a an account of part of the personal conversation that Jesus has with His disciples upon receiving their report about what happened while they were on their mission.
At that point, both Matthew and Luke come back together with our passage for today that opens with Jesus’ prayer to His Father. Let’s look at this prayer.
Matthew 11:25-26 reads, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.”
Jesus begins with praise, with being in agreement with God about His doings, with recognition of their intimate relationship, and with the acknowledgement that, although he is Father, He is also Sovereign Lord. “I recognize the justice and wisdom of Your decisions, and I am in full and total agreement with You on all of them.”
Jesus then goes on to thank the Father for showing the magnificence of the truth of who Jesus really was, not to those who supposed themselves to be the wisest and the smartest and the most deserving, but to those who were the least likely to be considered any of those things. They had the faith of children, and God loves the little children.
In Matthew 18, Jesus has an incident with His disciples that holds a very strong lesson for anyone who would claim to be one of His. The disciples were arguing about who was to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They turned to Jesus, just like the squabbling children they were, and asked Him to settle it.
They asked, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
Jesus knew their hearts and His response was quite pointed. He called a little boy, a toddler, over to Him and put that little guy right in the middle of those great big disciples and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (18:3-4).”
In other words, “unless you change your whole attitude and become humble and trusting like this little guy here, you won’t even see the kingdom of heaven!”
Back in our passage for today, Jesus goes on to make one of the greatest claims about His unity with the Father when He says, "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
The administration of the entire kingdom of God had been turned over to Jesus Christ and that only those to whom He chose to reveal God would be able to know God.
There is much we could say about this part of our passage for today, but I would like to focus on one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture, one that flows immediately from this.
One of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture is Matthew 11:28-30. In it, the Lord summarizes the invitation to discipleship that characterized His earthly ministry. This is the Fourth Call of Christ – the call to rest.
To understand the invitation of this passage, we need to understand the background a little better.
In this passage the Lord was addressing the people of Israel who were burdened and weighed down with the externalism and the legal do’s and don’ts of the Pharisees, and with the consequences—the guilt, frustration, and dissatisfaction that always goes along with legalism.
For instance, in Matthew 23:2, Christ referred to the Scribes and the Pharisees as men who “sit in Moses’ seat.” What was His point? The Pharisees claimed the authority of Moses as interpreters and teachers of the Law, which meant they also demanded that all in Israel who submitted to Moses should also submit to them.
Then, in Matthew 23:4, the Lord warned the people of the oppressive and legalistic ways of the Pharisees. He said, “And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders.” He was speaking about the way they had hidden the true meaning of the Old Testament Law with all the religious rules and regulations that these religious externalists had instituted as the way to God, to true spirituality, and as a way to receive God’s blessing in life. They had codified the Mosaic Law into 365 prohibitions and 250 commandments.
But even though the Old Testament Law was good, holy, and righteous, it did not bring liberty because it was weak in that it depended on man. It did not provide the means of fulfilling the law and thus it left man under the guilt and load of sin. Rather than freedom, it brought oppression. Paul called it an administration of death. Instead of a sense of release, it brought a sense of guilt and failure.
Those who were under the Mosaic Law were said to be yoked to Moses. Those who were under the authority of the Pharisees were said to be yoked to the Pharisees. As an illustration, see Acts 15:7-11.
It is in the midst of this religious setting that the Lord makes a very gracious invitation to all who would want to experience the relief, joy, and the blessings of His life through a grace/faith relationship with Him. This is an invitation aimed at all, at the curious and at the convinced to bring them to a place of a deeper level of commitment in which they are to take His yoke and learn from Him as committed disciples.
But what does all this mean? Let‘s break it down.
The Invitation
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden”
(11:28a)
“Come” is deute, an imperative particle of exhortation and encouragement with the force of an imperative, a strong appeal to the will of another. It expresses the desire and compassionate heart of the Savior and is His appeal for people to come to Him as a relief from their oppression. It is a call to turn from whatever they are presently depending on to Him.
For those without the Savior, it is equivalent to a call to believe in Him. Compare the context of the preceding unbelief in the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida (Matthew 11:20-24).
For those who are already believers, it is a call to follow Him as a committed disciple; it is a call to completely turn their lives over to Him.
“To” is the preposition pros, a preposition expressing close proximity and intimate fellowship. It is used of the fellowship of the Son with the Father. We have here a call to an intimacy of fellowship.
“Me” is a personal pronoun, me. Note that the Pharisees basically said, “do as we say, obey our system,” but the Lord Jesus said, “come to me.” What’s His Point?
Application: This drives home one of the great concepts of Christianity that must be taught and grasped. Christianity is a relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. This is not a call to a program, nor to a system of religion, nor to a church, and certainly not to the discipler, or some human leader.
Too often disciple makers end up cloning subordinates rather than developing Christ-like people. They draw people to themselves and reproduce graven images. In essence, they say, “agree with me, think like me, dress like me, teach like I do, act like me, and you will have success, or have a successful ministry.”
While God uses churches, people, and theological systems, Christianity is an intimate, personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
“All” points to the universal significance of this offer. We are never to be partial to one group, or class, or nationality. In Christ, God reaches out to the whole world.
“Who are weary and heavy laden” points us to the objects of the appeal. Let’s note several things here:
Please bear with me while I get a little bit technical and grammatical. We have two adjectival participles here which are very descriptive. Though aimed at those under the Pharisaic system, they really describe the condition of all that are either without Christ as their Savior, or who, as believers, are not submitted to Him in intimate fellowship as learning disciples. Such are “the weary and heavy laden ones.” These participles are grammatically closely connected together (one article with both participles connected by kai) as cause and effect. The first word, “weary,” is the effect, and the other word, “heavy-laden,” gives us the cause. Let’s take the cause first.
“Heavy-laden” is phortizo, “to place a burden upon; to load as when placing a load upon the back of an ox.” Then, it came to means “oppress by legal burdens.” Compare the following verse from Luke.
Luke 11:46 But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”
The tense is perfect which draws our attention to the abiding results, the overbearing burden on the backs of men. The Savior obviously has in mind the Pharisees, but it would include the burden of sin as demonstrated so clearly by the Old Testament Law which shows us all under sin, its guilt, and its death, and thus also, the burden and frustration of any solution by which men seek to deal with their sin and emptiness without Jesus Christ.
“Weary” is kopiao, “to labor, toil, expend great effort in hard and disagreeable work,” “to grow weary, tired; labor to the point of exhaustion.” It is in the present continuous tense, and undoubtedly describes man’s fruitless efforts to deal with sin, its guilt, and personal misery whether by some form of religious legalism, or by whatever method or human strategy he seeks to deal with the emptiness and frustrations of his soul (Colossians. 2:16-23).
The Insurance and Pledge
“And I will give you rest”
(11:28b)
“I” is the first person singular personal pronoun which again reminds us that our need is the person of Christ, and a personal relationship with Him.
“Rest” is anapauo, which means “to refresh, rest up,” but also “to cease from labor.” But how could Christ give rest? His solution seems no solution at all. After all, a yoke is a yoke. Right? No!
The Injunction
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me”
(11:29a)
This is a call to discipleship and the means by which men find rest.
“Take” is airo and means “to take up, lift up.” Here it is used in the sense of “to take on oneself what has been lifted in order to carry it.” It is an aorist imperative and represents a decision, sometimes in a crisis, to submit to the Lord. It is undoubtedly equivalent to “take up one’s cross.”
“My yoke” is of course the key phrase. The Lord did not say, “come to me and I will remove all yokes.” So what does this mean? How is this not just another yoke and not a contradiction?
“And learn.” This verb is in the continuous present tense and describes a process of discipleship, of the journey in growth and Christ-like change.
“Learn” is manthano, the verb form from which mathetes, “disciple,” comes from. It means “to learn by inquiry, but also by use and practice, to acquire the habit of, be accustomed to.” It means “to learn, appropriate to oneself less through instruction than through experience or practice.” (See also Hebrews 5:8; 1 Timothy 5:4, 13; Titus 3:14.)
The key idea is to acquire a custom or habit through practice. Do you get it? The Lord is talking about more than the simple acquisition of information. He has in mind a change of life, a transformed life-style through intimate relationship with Him. Let’s compare a number of passages—Deuteronomy 17:19; Ezra 7:10; Psalm 119:11; James 1:22; Luke 6:47-49; 8:21; 11:28. We are talking about having the attitude of a learner, someone who takes in and seeks to apply the information that comes from God.
The Incentives
“For I am gentle … you shall find rest … and My load is light”
(11:29b-30)
This, as far as I know, is the only place where the Lord tells us what His person is really like, but this description tells us why taking His yoke is not just taking up another yoke. What is His point? “For I am gentle … Do not fear my yoke for I am not like your previous masters. I am gentle and humble. You suffer now because your present masters (the world system, Satan, and your own sinful nature) are haughty, proud, and dominating.”
“Easy” is chrestos. It is from a verb which means “useful, manageable, serviceable, that which fills a need and is well fitting.” In other words, it is designed to fit our needs; it is tailor-made.
“Light” is elaphros, “light in weight, agile, not burdensome or overbearing.”
So what does it mean to take Christ’s yoke? To take Christ’s yoke means to submit to His person as the one who is gentle and meek, as one who is gentle and caring and concerned for us. It means to put yourself under His leading, to join yourself together with Him, but the difference is, He is the yoke mate and this is how He can give rest.
Note the following illustration of two oxen, one huge, and one very small.
When I was young, my grandfather was plowing with a team of oxen. One was a huge ox and the other a very small bullock. That ox towered over the little bullock that was sharing the work with him. It seemed such a silly picture, and I asked my dad about it. He said, "I want you to notice something. See the way those traces are hooked to the yoke? Now notice that the large ox is pulling all the weight. That little bullock is being broken into the yoke but he is not actually pulling any weight." This picture comes to my mind whenever I come to this passage of Scripture where our Lord said, “Take my yoke upon you, learn of me …” In the normal yoking the load is equally distributed between the two that are yoked together, but when we are yoked with Jesus Christ, He bears the load and we who are yoked to Him share in the joy and the accomplishment of the labor but without the burden of the yoke.
How can we submit to the Savior’s yoke? The answer is found in the command “to learn from me.”
He is calling us to serve, but we work and serve in the strength that He gives. He is always there beside us pulling the weight for us, if we will only yield our lives to Him. The only time the load becomes overbearing is when we try to take over and do the pulling, or handle the load ourselves.
Many of us call ourselves “disciples”, but do we have the right? We have responded to Him as our Savior, we have come to Him, but when He seeks to slip the yoke around our necks to join Him, do we resist, do we back off, do we refuse to truly listen and submit to His Word and acknowledge His authority?
Too often we refuse to really trust in His gentleness and goodness. We look at the yoke and think it does not fit, when in reality it is constructed perfectly for us because it is designed to make us like Him, yet it is also-tailor made for each one of us individually.
Back on the ranch where I spent my summers when I was young, my Dad and some of the other men used to break horses to ride and then would train them for various tasks according to their abilities and breeding.
The first thing they always did was to gain the animal’s trust. They would then trained them to reign, to turn and to stop on a dime, back up, follow a calf, and stand quietly and poised in a shoot ready to launch after a calf, etc. Some they trained as cutting horses, and some as roping horses. But first, there was the process of gently caring for them. This is where they brought in us younger “men” and started to train us to do what they did.
We brushed them, trimmed their hoofs, fed them, and halter broke them so we could lead them from one place to another. We would often tie a younger horse to an older and stronger horse and lead them around the corral. When the younger horse was large enough to carry a rider, we would step up and into the saddle while the young horse was tied close to the saddle horn of the larger horse. Sometimes, because the young horse so trusted us, this last step was not even necessary. Then came the process or teaching the horse to respond to the reigns and other cues.
These young horses didn’t like the new conditions at first. It scared them and they liked their freedom, but in time, through the gentleness of the trainer who showed gentleness and kindness for the horse, and through the example of the older horse, they became trained and learned to love what they did. It was not burdensome. They often had to work hard and would work up a sweat, but they loved it. It was a yoke fitted for their abilities and their natural instincts.
So the Savior promised, “For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.” It is tailor made for each of us and furthermore, He is always there with us to bear the burden.
What is your burden today? What is it that is weighing heavily on you? What is it that you need to lay down and replace with the yoke that Jesus has designed and created for you to partner with Him with?
