Matthew 11:28-30 3/8/26 A.M.
One of the most dangerous jobs to work here in the United States is farming. It’s #8 on the list Now I haven’t done a lot of farming but when I was a kid I did some hay hauling. Not a whole lot and probably not near as much as some of you all. But back then, the 70’s and early 80’s, it was all small square bales. If I remember right it cost about a quarter a bale to have it picked up from the field and stacked in your barn. The hauling crew divided that 25 cents up this way. The driver and owner of the truck got 10 cents a bale. The stacker and the two draggers got 5 cents a bale. Now that doesn’t sound like much but if you hauled 1500 bales a night or day that was $375. That was $75 a day for the draggers and stacker and $150 a day for the driver minus expenses. Hard work but pretty good money back in the day. Now-a-days there’s not many small square bales. They’re mostly round bales or big square bales. And the reason I bring this up, I was reading about a farmer who found himself under a BALE of HAY. One of those large bales had fallen on him.
The first police officer reaches under the one-ton bale of hay and attempts to lift it off of me. Of course, it doesn’t budge. He grabs his flashlight and shines it under the hay into my face. I blink. He yells over his shoulder to his partner, “He’s alive! He’s alive! Help me move the hay.”
Even working together the two officers can’t move it – not a fraction of an inch. A thousand pounds each? Of course they can’t move it.
“Cut the strings,” I whisper. My voice is weak. They can’t hear me.
I am not going to last much longer. If they will just cut the strings, the bale will break apart, and they can drag me out of here.
“Lift, Joe, lift!”
“Just cut the strings,” I mumble, “Please cut the strings.”
“C’mon harder.”
“It’s too heavy! We can’t lift it. We gotta go for help! Hang on Chad, we’ll be right back!”
I am alone again in the growing darkness. Wonderful painless, peaceful, irresistible sleep beckons. I struggle to remain conscious. One. Two. Three. Four… Where are they? How long does it take for police, fire, ambulance, to arrive? Where is the Coast Guard? Where are the Marines? Where is that one old farmer with enough COMMON SENSE to just cut the strings? I grow weaker. Dizziness overcomes me and I begin to drift off into that gray space somewhere between the living and the dead.
Help finally arrives. One of the police officers bends down so I can see his face. “Hold on! A fire engine is here. There are six men aboard.”
I do the math. Two big, strong cops and six burly firemen have to move a ton of dead weight off of me. That’s two 245 pounds each. No way can they possibly do that – but somehow, miraculously, they do.
But if the first one there would have just cut the strings it would have been a lot quicker and a lot easier.
This morning I want to start off by reading three Verses. Matthew 11, Verses 28-30.
“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.”
I have preached from this passage, quoted these Verses, broke them down but this morning I want to look at them in a different way.
Lately I’ve been really burdened for the church. Not this building but the people in this building and the people all around the world who are FOLLOWERS of JESUS. I know I’ve brought this up a lot lately but it’s time to get serious.
You see, when Jesus spoke these words here in Matthew 11, He was speaking to the people of that day. They were TIRED of being LOADED DOWN with HEAVY, LEGALISTIC, SELF RIGHTEOUS DEMANDS that these Jewish leaders were LOADING ON THEM. Jesus offered them REST from this.
You see, the Jewish leadership didn’t just “PREACH” from the Torah and the Prophets. They also taught ORAL LAW. Basically, any Rabbi could make up some silly rule and LOAD it onto the people. And so after a while all of these ORAL LAWS became a REAL BURDEN to bear.
And all of these laws had nothing to do with God’s Law.
Just a side note here. Between the 3rd and 8th centuries all of these laws were put into a book called the TALMUD. Rabbis still use it today and it contains thousands of rabbinic debates, opinions, and rulings. And I’m gonna tell you something. There are some SILLY, WEIRD, WICKED things contained in the TALMUD.
And so Jesus is talking to the people of that day who are exhausted by the heavy demands PUT UPON THEM by the PHARISEES and SADDUCCEES. And He’s offering them REST and a RELATIONSHIP with Him. A LIGHTER LOAD.
And today FOLLOWERS of JESUS are BURDENED DOWN with a load. All kinds of things are PUT upon us. All kinds of things WE ALLOW into our lives. And listen folks, we need to be free from them.
How heavy is hay? A piece of hay is about the weight of a feather. How many pieces of hay does it take to make two thousand pounds? A BUNCH. But when a BUNCH of hay is all packed together it gets heavy.
And so maybe it’s time for us to CUT THE STRINGS. Get free from some of the things that are loading us down. And that’s what I want to talk about today. But before we get into this message, let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.
Brother ____, would you lead us?
I. The first “WEIGHT” that needs to be removed from people’s lives is the “WEIGHT” of TRADITIONS.
Let’s turn in our Bibles to Mark 7 and we’ll read Verses 1-9.
“Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Reading this passage I think Jesus knew all about the “WEIGHT” of TRADITION.
He knew that the TRADITIONS of these Pharisees FAR OUTWEIGHED God’s commandments. Oh the IMPORTANCE of washing your hands before you eat is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than pleasing God!!!! RIGHT?!!!
Looking on down at the next few Verses, Jesus goes on to PEN these Pharisees down. They KNEW that Moses had commanded that PARENTS should be honored. Part of that is taking care of them in their OLD AGE. But these Pharisees would say “Sorry mom and dad, I can’t help you because I promised God this money.”
They DISOBEYED the Law of God by a SILLY TRADITION
And we would never do that today would we? We would never let TRADITION get in the way of obeying God’s Commandments or would we?
Look here, I know we have TRADITIONS here at this church. We do things a certain way. We have the children’s coin march. We have special songs. We take up offering BEFORE the message. We have church service on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. BUT none of those things has anything to do with our SALVATION. In fact, we could switch the order around. Preaching comes first!!!
But there are churches that have ELEVATED their TRADITIONS to be on the SAME LEVEL as GOD’S commandments. We talk about the Jewish Oral Law. The Talmud. How silly that is to OBEY the commandments of men.
But there are churches today that have ELEVATED what the PRIEST or PASTOR says to be on the SAME LEVEL as GOD’S Commandments.
The MORMON Church is a good example of that. They claim to be a Christian Church but the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price are placed on the same level as the Word of God.
You have other churches trying to teach all kinds of things about SALVATION that is NOTHING but TRADITION. It’s NOT in the BIBLE. You have to SPEAK in TONGUES to be saved. You have to be BAPTIZED to be saved. You have to WORK to be saved.
Do you know what I think? I think so many people today have been BURDENED DOWN with MAN MADE TRADITIONS and they need to CUT THE STRINGS!!! Get out from underneath that BONDAGE. It’s doing NOTHING but weighing them down. All of these things become nothing but a HINDRANCE to SALVATION.
II. The second “WEIGHT” that holds people down are the CARES of this WORLD.
Earlier in Mark, back in Chapter 4, Jesus gave the parable of the SOWER.
He cast out his seeds and some of the seeds fell by the wayside. They fell on ground that had not been TILLED and PREPARED for planting. These seeds were eaten by the birds.
And some of the seeds fell on STONY GROUND. There wasn’t much dirt for them to sink their roots into. As soon as the sun came up they withered away because there were no deep roots to provide moisture.
And then Jesus tells us that some of the seeds fell among the THORNS and the THORNS CHOKED the seeds out. They didn’t produce fruit.
And then some fell on good ground and they produced fruit.
And so later in the Chapter Jesus explains the parable. Let’s read what He says there in Mark 4 Verses 14-20,
“The sower soweth the word.
15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.”
And so Jesus explains how this parable of the sower relates to people. Some people here the Word but the DEVIL comes along and STEALS the WORD that was SOWN in their hearts.
Some HEAR the WORD and receive it. They are happy to get it but they aren’t grounded and when TRIALS and PERSECUTION come along they become OFFENDED and quit.
And then there are those who HEAR the WORD but the CARES of this world, the DECEITFULNESS of RICHES, and the LUST of WORLDLY THINGS choke them out and they become UNFRUITFUL.
This last one Jesus mentioned has to be one of the BIGGEST WEIGHTS that hold people down today.
It’s NOT the fact that people don’t hear because the DEVIL STEALS it away. Not here in the United States. There’s a church on every corner. Especially here in Oklahoma.
And it’s NOT persecution. Not yet at least. We’re free to worship God however we want.
No, it’s the CARES of this WORLD and those CARES are like ONE BIG BALE of HAY loading people down today.
You see, so many people HEAR the Word of God. They FEEL the Holy Spirit working on their hearts. They KNOW what they need to do.
But then, the CARES of this world hold them down.
Listen, I could give you a list of things that I SEE holding people down. Keeping people from FULLY COMMITTING their lives to Jesus. Pride, Money, Fame, Entertainment, Sports, Prestige and the list goes on. But NONE of these things will bring CONTENTMENT and PEACE. All of them are just pieces of HAY packed tight together holding you down.
As I was studying this my mind went to the Apostle Paul. He’s setting there in a Roman Jail, ready to face the executioner’s chopping block and this is what he says to Timothy. 2 Timothy 4:6-10,
“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
9 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:
10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.”
And I’m afraid there’s a lot of people like Demas who have let the CARES of this WORLD cause them to FORSAKE JESUS.
Man, that is so sad but it happens everyday. It’s time to CUT the STRINGS and be free from the CARES of this WORLD.
III. And the last WEIGHT. The last BALE of HAY that holds people down is the SIN that is in their LIVES.
Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
Some of you all here today may be LOADED DOWN, BURDENED, BARELY ABLE to BREATHE because of the SIN that has crept into your life. How do I know that? Because I used to be there.
Running from God while going to church.
Wanting to do my own thing while still going to church.
Hiding it very well. Saying the right things. Doing the right things and all the while BURDENED DOWN by SIN.
ILLUS: I remember getting on an airplane and flying out of Tulsa KNOWING I wasn’t in God’s will. It felt like a TON of HAY was on top of me. I was SCARED to death. Scared the airplane was gonna crash. But finally, I cut the strings. I told God that I would do what He wanted me to do. I would be a PREACHER if that’s what He wanted me to do. And so my journey began. Through the years I’ve been down a lot of roads. Worked several jobs. Got married and had a bunch of kids. And then God called me to be more than just a PREACHER, He called me to be a PASTOR. One of the GREATEST GIFTS that I could ever ask for. And to think I almost missed out on the GREAT BLESSINGS He had for me.
Like I said at the beginning of my message. I’m NOT concerned about THE church today. It will be here when Jesus comes back. The GATES of HELL have come against it, and will continue to come against it, BUT HELL WILL NOT PREVAIL.
No, the church will be fine but I’m concerned about the PEOPLE of the CHURCH. I think people are BURDENED DOWN with TRADITIONS. We’ve always done it this way.
It doesn’t matter if it’s RIGHT or WRONG we’re gonna continue to do it this way.
It doesn’t matter whether it pleases the Lord or not, we’re not gonna stop.
Jesus said in Mark 7:6, “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
Is your HEART right with God today. Maybe you DO and SAY the right things. You honor God with your LIPS but you’re HEART is far from Him.
Maybe the CARES of this world have become MORE IMPORTANT than your relationship with Jesus. We live in such a fast paced world. We’re so busy and there are so many things going on. You probably didn’t get up one morning and decide to move Jesus down to 2nd place in your life. Maybe even down to the BOTTOM of your list. But it just kind of happened.
Maybe ACTUAL SIN has gotten in. Hidden sin. No one else knows about it but it’s there. Maybe LUST, GREED or PRIDE.
Here’s something you need to know. God knows about it. But yet He will forgive you. And that’s how we cut the strings. We confess our sins and ask God to forgive us.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Listen, it’s not about getting the alters full. It’s not about seeing the numbers go up out there on the board.
It’s not about bringing in more TITHES and OFFERINGS.
It’s ALL ABOUT the LOAD being lifted off of folks today.
“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.”
And it’s all about being a LIGHT for JESUS and fulfilling the GREAT COMMISSION.
If the Holy Spirit is dealing with your heart today. If He’s whispering to you today, “Just Cut the Strings” I invite you to come. And if you don’t come today, I urge you to get alone with God today and let Him cut the STRINGS and lift the load from you today.
Let’s Pray
