Opening illustration: On November 19, 1863, two well-known men gave speeches at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The featured speaker, Edward Everett, was a former congressman, governor, and president of Harvard University. Considered one of the greatest orators of his day, Mr. Everett delivered a formal address lasting 2 hours. He was followed by President Abraham Lincoln, whose speech lasted 2 minutes.
Today, Lincoln’s speech, the Gettysburg Address, is widely known and quoted, while Everett’s words have almost been forgotten. It is not just Lincoln’s eloquent brevity that accounts for this. On that occasion, his words touched the wounded spirit of a nation fractured by civil war, offering hope for the days to come.
Words do not have to be many to be meaningful. Here Jesus addresses not only His personal and private relationship with the Father but also that we can have that rest which God intended for us through Jesus Christ. This rest is exclusively found in Christ alone. Our souls cannot find that rest in anyone or anything other than Christ Himself. These words of Jesus will encourage and strengthen us. (David C. McCasland, ODB)
Let us turn to Matthew 11 and dwell on the life-giving words of Christ as we wind up this year.
Introduction (vs. 25-27): Jesus is making a profound point, "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Why are they blessed? Jesus is not implying that little children are innocent. The youngest child learns selfishness without the least instruction. Why are the "wise and learned" deprived of the insight granted the children? One reason is their willful unbelief. Another is that God responds to their pride by deliberately withholding understanding from them. Only when the "wise and learned" become like children - i.e. stop depending on their unaided reason – do they begin to be truly wise (1 Corinthians 3:18).
The passage alludes to God resting on the 7th Day the first day of man's existence on earth was experiencing God's rest. Man was created in the finished work of God's rest. Adam and Eve lived totally dependent on God … that is rest. No anxiety, no fear, etc., but from Genesis 3 on you see a restless man after he sinned. When you see a sinful man apart from God, he is restless. We also see in Scripture that when the Israelites entered and resided in the Promised Land, they had temporarily entered God’s rest and now Christ is inviting us for a more permanent rest in Him from and for all things.
There are few passages in the four Gospels more important than this. There are few which contain, in so short a compass, so many precious truths. May God give us an eye to see, and a heart to feel their value!
How are these words of Christ life-giving?
1. A Saving Invitation (v. 28)
(a) Getting There: Do I want to get there? I can now. The questions that matter in life is remarkably few, and they are all answered by the words - "Come unto Me." Not - Do this, or don't do that; but - "Come unto Me." If I will come to Jesus my actual life will be brought into accordance with my real desires; I will actually cease from sin, and actually find the song of the Lord begins.
Have you ever come to Jesus? Watch the stubbornness of your heart, you will do anything rather than the one simple childlike thing - "Come unto Me." If you want the actual experience of ceasing from sin, you must come to Jesus.
(b) Exclusiveness Of Christ: Is it not humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things we will not come to Jesus Christ about. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words - "Come unto Me." In every degree in which you are not real, you will dispute rather than come, you will quibble rather than come, you will go through sorrow rather than come, you will do anything rather than come the last lap of unutterable foolishness - "Just as I am." As long as you have the tiniest bit of spiritual impertinence, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do a big thing, and all He is telling you to do is to "come."
© Completeness: Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once and ask Him to establish rest. Never allow anything to remain which is making the dis-peace. Take every element of disintegration as something to wrestle against, and not to suffer. Say - Lord, prove Thy consciousness in me, and self-consciousness will go and He will be all in all. Beware of allowing self-consciousness to continue because by slow degrees it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is Satanic. Well, I am not understood; this is a thing they ought to apologize for; that is a point I really must have cleared up. Leave others alone and ask the Lord to give you Christ-consciousness, and He will poise you until the completeness is absolute.
Application: “All you who Labor (weary)” - What Labor? Are you laboring in the service of Formal Religion? In the attempt to keep the law, or in any other way of self-justification? Are you laboring in the service of self? To get gain, honor, ease, etc.? Are you laboring in the service of Satan, lust, drink, infidelity, etc.?
Illustration: A band of explorers in Africa hired some villagers to help them on their journey through the jungle. The group set out and pushed on relentlessly for several days. Finally the tribesmen sat down and would go no farther. When asked the reason, their leader answered, "We've been going too fast. We must pause and wait for our souls to catch up with our bodies!"
Many Christians who have overextended themselves in a flurry of church activities or other worthwhile pursuits have experienced a similar feeling. Being so preoccupied with helping others, they suddenly feel as if they have left behind the most important part of themselves—their soul. They have lost intimate contact with the Lord.
If our schedule leaves no time for rest and nurturing our spiritual life, we are just too busy! God does not ask us to be constantly on the go, rushing here and there. Sometimes He wants us to "rest a while" so that our souls can "catch up" and be refreshed for the challenges that lie ahead.
2. A Sanctifying Command (v. 29a)
The exchange of yokes - A yoke for two. Jesus summarizes this wonderful call with this. The yoke is light and the burden is easy because He bears it with us. When training a new animal (such as an ox) to plow, ancient farmers would often yoke it to an older, stronger, more experienced animal who would bear the burden and guide the young animal through his learning.
(a) Our yoke and the way Christ takes it: Our sins, our cares, our sorrows. Estimate what these are to Christ by what they are to us. Never think they become lighter because our Lord takes them on himself. But what a relief to us that shifting of our yoke is! Christ takes it all.
(b) Christ’s yoke and the way we take it: Jesus Christ also tells us, "Take My yoke upon you." A "yoke" was used for oxen in pulling wagons or plows. Two oxen would be joined together in one yoke. The term came to imply submission or obligation to the master. The call of Jesus Christ in the gospel is never so that we can chart the course of our lives or so that we can follow our own will. The yoke means that we are joined to Christ. He is the strong one pulling the load, but we go with Him every step of the way.
"And learn from Me," Jesus adds. The word means to learn through instruction, and carries with it the idea of being a disciple or follower of Christ regularly learning from Him. It reminds us that the Christian life is a journey that does not end until we reach the Celestial City. All along the way, Jesus Christ is instructing us through His Word. He is taking the circumstances of life - the good and the bad, the success and suffering, the joys and trials - and applying truth to each. He continues to reveal Himself to us and to expose to us the depth of our weakness and need for His constant supply of grace.
So in the invitation and sanctifying command of Jesus Christ, what does it mean to be a Christian? It means that you have come to Christ, recognizing Him alone as your Savior and Lord. It affirms that you have taken up the yoke of submission to Him as Lord of all in your life, so that your delight is to do His will. And it means that you are learning from Him, being regularly instructed out of His Word. That is a Christian - one that has come to Christ, been yoked in submission to Christ, and regularly learns from Christ.
Application: Are we obedient to His command? Are we willing to be conformed to Christ in service and burden bearing and submissive to the afflictions which He may lay upon us?
Illustration: On August 15, 1930 day, a 45-year-old New York State Supreme Court Justice named Joseph Crater, after spending an evening eating out with friends, hailed a taxi and was never seen or heard from again. It remains one of the most mystifying Missing Person cases in FBI files.
The FBI immediately suspected a kidnapping by someone who held a judicial grudge against Justice Crater. But that didn’t seem to pan out. They then suspected Mafia activity because Justice Crater was an enemy of the Mafia. But, again, that led nowhere.
There is only one clue which remains to this day. When Mrs. Crater returned to their apartment the evening her husband disappeared, there on the table was a large check made out to her and a note attached to the check in her husband’s handwriting which simply said, “I am very, very tired. Love, Joe”
3. A Satisfying Promise (vs. 29b-30)
Matchless paradox, even among the paradoxically couched maxims in which our Lord delights! That rest which the soul experiences when once safe under Christ‘s wing makes all yokes easy, all burdens light. If your yoke is hard and your burden is heavy, then it isn’t His yoke or burden, and you aren’t letting Him bear it with you. Jesus said it plainly: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
And so therefore, Christ promises "rest." "Come to Me, ... and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, ... and you will find rest for your souls." The rest is certain because Jesus Christ has secured it. "Rest" implies rest from the self-striving for forgiveness since Jesus Christ declared, "It is finished!" at the cross (John 19:30). It is rest for those troubled over sin. Until you feel the reality of your sinfulness then this "rest" makes no sense. But when you know that you are a sinner deserving God's judgment, then "rest" from the anxiety of judgment is what you long for.
This is where those of you without Christ probably struggle. You hear the invitation to come to Christ but you think that to do so would spoil your life and plans and ambitions. You think that Christ will "rain on your parade," life will become morose and boring. Listen to His words, "You will find rest for your souls." In other words, there is the satisfaction of rest through Christ. He calls you to His yoke and His burden, and guarantees by all the power of the Creator and Sovereign that you will find rest for your souls. "This burden is not the weight upon one that is laden but the wing of one that is about to fly," wrote Augustine. Broadus added, "And if it ever feels like a weight and an encumbrance, that is when the soul has soiled this heavenly plumage with the mire of the earth". I remember talking with a fellow student when I was a college freshman, exhorting him to come to Christ. He repulsed my gospel plea by saying that he was not interested in Christianity, that he wanted something with a challenge to it. He could not see what would be the most fitting challenge for all of life until the Lord opened his eyes. And that is what happened the next year as I saw him again, and he grinned widely, thanking me for telling him about Christ.
How does this rest satisfy? Jesus tells us, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Does that mean that being a Christian is a "piece of cake"? No, certainly not, but by "easy" He does not mean something that has no demands but rather the word implies a "comfortable fit." In other words, if you are outside Christ today you probably cannot imagine the gospel and Christian discipleship "fitting" in your life. But Jesus Christ assures you that it is a perfect fit! You may be looking and wondering how you will bear up under the demands of Scripture. But see what Christ has promised. "My burden is light," and it is light because Jesus Christ is capable of carrying the full weight of our burden. "What can be lighter than a burden which unburdens us and a yoke which bears its bearer?"
Illustration: As Sarah Smiley was preparing to descend a 5,000 foot Rigi Mountain peak in central Switzerland, her guide told her that she should let him carry her load. She agreed to give some of it to him, but she kept a few items. As they made their way down the mountainside, Sarah felt hindered by her load. Soon she had to stop and rest. When she did, her guide demanded that she give him everything except her Alpine walking stick. This time she agreed and transferred the load to his strong shoulders. Without the extra weight, she made the rest of the trip with ease. It was as if her Lord was trying to say to her, "O foolish, willful heart, have you indeed given up your last burden? You have no need to carry them, or even the right."
How often we are just like Sarah Smiley! When we face a difficulty, we carry the burden by ourselves. God invites us to cast all of our cares on Him, and He is strong enough to shoulder the burden. Let's take Him up on the offer. Our pathway will be easier and our steps lighter.
Application: How will you respond to Christ's invitation this morning? He calls on each of us to come unto Him and we will find rest for our souls. Jesus can give you rest. Are you heavy laden with the affairs of this life? Come to Him today. Whatever your need, whatever burden you may be carrying, Jesus beckons you to come.
