25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
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.
This passage of scripture is probably one of the greatest passages of scripture, which is a quotation of Jesus. Sometimes, we refer to this as the “Great Invitation”. In this passage, Jesus is inviting people to come to Him. In this study, I want to give you a few short thoughts about this invitation to come to Christ.
Up to this point, in the Gospels, the command had always been “repent and be baptized for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” This was a call for nations to come under the authority of Jesus Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In this passage of chapter 11, John the Baptist was being rejected because of his call to repentance. Jesus own generation was rejecting Him. In verses 20 through 24, there is the rejection of the Nations. There were three lands, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernum. They were rejecting the message of Christ. All through chapter 11, to this point, the command has been “repent and be baptized for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” God was dealing with lands and nations. Now, Jesus extends an invitation. He makes this an invitation for people and individuals to come to Him.
In verses 25 through 27, Jesus is praying a prayer to God the Father. In this prayer, He thanks the Father because he is the Lord of Heaven and of earth. You see there is nothing that goes on in this world without the consent and the knowledge of God the Father because He is Lord over it.
Yesterday at the nursing home, I shared with them from the “Model Prayer”. You will remember that in this prayer, Jesus taught us to pray “Thine will be done in earth as it is in Heaven.” Why? Because God the Father is the Lord over Heaven and earth. His will that is going to be accomplished here in earth begins in Heaven. So, Jesus here praying to the Father once again acknowledges that God the Father is the Lord over Heaven and earth. Notice He says, “You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes.” May I remind you that the Gospel message is so simple that many times the wisest man has the hardest time understanding it. Because they feel that there must be something more than just faith. There must be something more than just believing and trusting in Christ because of His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.
Jesus acknowledges in His prayer that God has hidden this from the wise and prudent and revealed it to babes, that is those of simple understanding. Those of a simple mind. God has revealed this unto them. In verse 26, an interesting verse because it is such a simple statement. “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.” Jesus Christ was now placing himself into the will of the Father. What He was saying to God is “Father if that is the way that you want it to be, and it is good in your sight to do it that way, even so. Let it be.
In verse 27, this prayer reveals to us that there is an intimate relationship between God, the Father and Jesus Christ the son. There are things that God the Father gave to the Son that no man knows except the Son because the Son knows the Father. There are things that people did not know about the Son except the Father. Look at the end of verse 27, “save (or except) the Son, and whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” There were some things that God was going to reveal to selected people through Jesus Christ. Then follows the “Great Invitation.” “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” When we talk about those who are labouring, we are not talking about going to work and labouring at work, or labouring at home as a homemaker, or at the church. We are talking about those who are under the guilt and weight of sin in their lives.
Earlier this week, I was having some problems with my shoulder and my neck. It had become sore and stiff. I had blamed it on the way that I had slept on Sunday night. We had spent the night at my sister’s house on Sunday night. We slept on an air mattress on the floor. Obviously we had placed too much weight on the mattress. During the night it lost air, even though, it was guaranteed not to lose air. We ended up on the floor. Monday, I was having problems with my shoulder and neck. I blamed it on Sunday night! I thought that it would work its way out when I got into a real bed.
Then later in the week, I realized that I was still having problems. I should have been over it by Wednesday or Thursday, but it was still hurting. I realized on Thursday morning as I got out of the car at work that my book bag weighed heavier than I do. My right shoulder is the shoulder that I always carry my book bag. That night, I began to empty my bag. There were papers and work from two months. I had some medicines from a few weeks ago that were still in there. My day planner had three magazines that I had finished reading several weeks ago. There were at least five computer disks that I did not need any longer. In that bag, there were all kinds of load in that bag. No wonder my shoulder was hurting.
When I unloaded that bag, all of the papers that I shredded filled my trash can so much that I could not fit any more in there if I wanted to. The point is this, all those papers, disk, medicines, and books had become a load on my shoulder and causing me problems. Can I tell you that when we carry the weight of sin in our lives, it is just like that book bag that causes us to be weighted down. Making us feel that we can’t go on.
Jesus understood that this was the greatest need of the human race. After all, that is why he left Heaven to begin with. To come to fulfill the will of the Father in this world and to become the sacrifice for the cause of sin. So the great invitation is issued first of all to those who are labouring and are heavy laden under the load of sin. When there is unrepentant, unconfessed sin in our lives, it will take a toll on us and weight us down.
Please note the great promise of this invitation. The invitation is to come and the promise is “I (Jesus Christ) will give you rest.” That is, that burden of sin that you are carrying in your life, “I will forgive you, I will cleanse you, I will lift it from you, I will cast it into the sea of forgetfulness, never to be remembered again.” “I will lift from you so that you can rest from that burden of sin in your life. “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
Look at verse 29. “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.” The “yoke” is speaking of the gospel. “Learn of me” could also be translated “learn from me.” When we take the yoke of the gospel upon our lives there is a knowledge that comes to us from Jesus Christ, the knowledge of our sin, the knowledge of forgiveness. So the simple invitation is not only that He would give us rest, but that we would take the yoke of the gospel upon us to learn from Him. “For I am meek and lowly in heart.” In other words, “You are weighted down by the burden of sin, but if you come to me I will forgive, cleanse you, and I will do it in a loving, humble, gentle manner.”
Remember John 3:17. “For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world.” When we come to Christ in repentance of sin in our lives, he does not stand there and look at us with an eye, you know the type of look that only mom (and sometimes dad) can give? You know you are in trouble when you get that look. Christ does not stand there and have that look on Him. He stands there brokenhearted with compassion flowing toward those who would come because He is meek and lowly in heart. He is gentle, compassionate, and humble. Again, the great promise of verse 29 is reiterated, “Ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The greatest need in this world is not physical rest rather it is spiritual rest. Jesus Christ gives us that rest.
“For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” In other words, when you take the yoke of the gospel into your life, you will see that there is nothing hard about it. It is a simple faith in Christ that brings forgiveness of sins. “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” In the Christian life, we are not called just to come to salvation, we are called to servant hood. Jesus is telling us that when we come to him, no matter where he may send you or what his will is for your life, it is lighter than the burden of sin.
Many times in the church, we complain because we do not want to do what we feel that God is calling us to do. May I remind you that when we become obedient to His yoke, His word to us, it is much lighter; it is much easier than the burden of sin.
This invitation is extended to unsaved people to come to Christ. May I remind you, however, that even as Christians, there are times that we become burdened and weighted down by sin. The writer of Hebrews addresses this.
Hebrews 12:1-2
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,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
This passage speaks of those, even in the Old Testament, who were people of faith. They have become an example to us. We must lay aside the weight and the sin which so easily besets us. As a Christian, you ask “What have I done? What sin do I need to lay aside?” May I remind you that it could be the simple things such as pride, or a bad attitude, or the sin of not giving a full days work to your employer. It could be the sin of ignoring God or His word. It does not have to be a great sin such as abortion, murder, or homosexuality that “easily besets us”.
In verse 1, the writer uses an illustration of a race. Have you ever seen a race where the runners did not know where the finish line was? It may have been on a track or cross-country, yet, the runner seems always to know where the finish line is. It amazes me that many times the winner of the race is the one who stayed toward the back in the beginning of the race. You see they ran with patience and in the end they were the winner!
Our lives are just like that spiritually. We are to run patiently. We must take the sin and weight that is upon us and set them off of us. According to verse two, the same Jesus who issued the “Great Invitation” in the gospel of Matthew is the same Jesus who endured the cross for the purpose of extending forgiveness to those who would believe!
Jesus now sits at the right hand of the throne of God interceding for us! May I ask you what it is that weights you down today? Perhaps you have professed faith in Christ, but there are some things that have set you off course. It is time to take it off! There is no runner that could run a race with weights on his wrists and ankles. But, if he were to take them off and run, he could run with greater patience because of the lightness that he feels without the weights!
As Christians, we are to continually take the weight of sin and set it off in our lives. We can only do that through confession. We must bow before Him and agree with Him that this is sin and it has taken me off course. The wonderful promise comes to us from 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.” That is not just the sins of murder, immorality and dishonesty. It is the sins of knowing what to do and not doing it. James 4:17 says, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” It is that thing that you know you are to do and have not done it, it is that sin that you must take off and set it aside?
Have you accepted Christ today? If so, are there sins in your life that are still weighting you down? Would you confess it today?
