The Greates Call Matthew 11:28
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Intro
Intro
A question you all dread hearing I’m sure
What are you going to be when you grow up?
What will you major in?
I dont know....
Well what do you fell called to do??????
For most of you in here those are some of the most anxiety inducing questions
Because apparently you are supposed to know right now what you will do for the rest of your life
You are supposed to have some sort of calling
Well I have good news and bad news for you
bad news I don’t know what vocation you are called to
good news I do know you are called to something and that is to follow christ
a calling more important than any other calling you have
It’s a calling that we will look at in this passage today
Read Matthew 11:25-28
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
When we look at a text we must first ask ourselves what is going on
Why is this story/teaching right here?
Why not somewhere else?
What is the writer trying to convey?
The verse for this week is Matthew 11:28
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
But for us and for our understanding we must understand
Why this sentence?
Why here?
What is being said?
So we look at whats going on here we look at the context
At this point Jesus has preformed miracles
Preached amazing sermons
Sent people out with his power and authority and they did amazing things
At this point in the gospel of Matthew Jesus has proven who he is
now the question is did people accept that
Obviously not
look at this
Ream Matthew 11:20-24
20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
This is the backdrop in which we are to understand our passage
This backdrop of disbelief and rejection of Jesus
Is the backdrop we view this great call of Jesus
Against this back drop we will see in our passage today
a mysterious beginning
a mysterious beginning
the loving son
the loving son
the great call
the great call
A Mysterious beginning
A Mysterious beginning
Read Matthew 11:25-27
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
Jesus denounces these cities because of their disbelief then continues on
Begins to pray
He looks up at the heavens
Picture this with me
Jesus prays
“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth...”
Jesus the one who has performed these miracles who has done such mighty things
Prays to his father
his abba
his dad
Who is his Dad
The Lord of heaven and earth
The one who has created all things
The one who was there before the foundations of the earth were laid
The one who is the fount of all knowledge
The one who reveals
and the one who conceals
So Jesus prays
“I thank you, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth,....”
“… That you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children”
Jesus prays
Thank you that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding but revealed them to the little children
This is a mysterious beginning to this prayer of Jesus
Why is it that some will have “these things” revealed to them while some will not?
what is it about the wise and understanding that God the father, the soverign Lord chooses to keep things hidden from them?
well the wise and understanding here it’s not actually about how much they know
Being Smart isnt bad
But being puffed up with knowledge is
Being prideful about their knowledge is
Refusing to acknowledge that messiah the Son of God is the one speaking the one who is their midst
IS SIN
But more mysterious is what we read as we continue
Yes, Father for such was your gracious will
It seems this is God’s will
To keep these mysteries hidden
This is the great mystery indeed
That God would reveal to some and not to others
There is a two fold reason to this
one is God is sovereign as Jesus is acknowledging here
the other is that these people have been confronted over and over with the fact that Jesus is the son of God yet refuse to believe it
There is a reminder of what our posture as we approach Jesus should look like
We can come before him saying look I’ve known about you all my life
I’ve heard the stories
I’ve read the book
Here is what I’m looking for from you in this relationship
You are supposed to do x, y, and z and I will do a, b, and c
We come before him thinking we have the answers
Dont you enjoy those people who always think they know what youre going to say
You really want to talk with them dont you.
OR we come before him like a child
I dont know much, but I know you are different
I’ve seen what you have done in the lives of some people around me
I’ve seen the way they talk about you they way they submit to you
I;ve seen them walk through far worse than I’m going through and they continue to serve you
There is something special here and I want to know what it is
I have nothing to bring and nothing to give I know nothing but I need you.
Let us not be like Choazin, Bethsaida, and Capernium
Who saw the great things this man named Jesus did and reject him
Let us be like little children
Who have nothing
Who know nothing
who just know they need to follow this man Jesus
Let us endevor to know the Son in order that we may know the father
Which brings us to this Son who is he?
The Loving Son
The Loving Son
Read Matthew 11:27-28
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Jesus is talking about a closeness between the Father and Son that unmatched
No one knows the Son except the Father
And no one knows the Father except the Son
How tragic would it be if the period was placed here?
If we could never know the father?
If we could never have a relationship with him?
How tragic indeed?
We would be lost with no sense of purpose or reason for being
We wouldnt understand why we exsist
We would chase after all the things of this world only to find them hollow and lacking
BUT how gracious is the will of the father that the period isnt placed there
The is an and on there
The son can know the father AND anyone whom the son chooses to reveal him to
The son is given the ability to make his father known
And he does just that
Through his word
Through this book
John 1.
The Son makes the father know to all those he calls to himself
And he calls them with the greatest of calls
A Great Call
A Great Call
Read Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Come to me...
This is the call of the loving Son
To those children who are completly dependent
Who know nothing
Who need everything explained to them
Come to me
Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden
All of you who look at your life and say I’m not good enough
All you who cant escape the feeling somethign is missing in your life
All of you who sneak around hoping you wont get found out
All of you with multiple instagrams or snapchats who just want to feel loved
All of you who stay up all night to study to get a good grade so you can get into a good college so you can get a good job so you can finally maybe hear I’m proud of you from your parents
All of you who are lost in this sinful and broken world
COME TO ME....
in me you will find rest
in me there is freedom from those heavy burdens you carry
Pilgrims progress
When the burden falls of christians back
Jesus calls us to bring the yoke this world has placed on us and lay it at the cross and pick up his yoke
At the foot of the cross are many yokes left there and new ones are given out
They are light and not burdensome
There is a sense of freedom when we put on that yoke
16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Jesus makes this point
We will serve one master
We will serve SIN or God
I love that Jesus doesnt say come to me and you will have no yoke
We would then have no purpose
As humans we strive to golrify God or glorify ourselves
The harder we try to glorify ourselves the heavier the burden because we realize it is futile
So Jesus says take my yoke
Learn from me
learn my ways
I’ll give you the road map
be obedient to me and you will find that rest you have been searching for
My yoke is easy, and my burden light why
Because guess what
You do nothing to receive it
except to put your faith in him
When we put our faith in Jesus
When we come to him and we fall down at the foot of the cross
Beaten down weary and tired from trying to make much of ourselves in this life
Exhausted from always searching for that missing peice
Broken because we feel like we have searched the world for love and acceptance but have never found it
When we come to Jesus like a child completely dependent on him
He will take the yoke of this world off of us and he will place his yoke on us and say
Watch me
Learn from me
Be obedient to me
And your soul will find rest
This doesn't mean everything will be better but your hope will be in something else
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
your perspective changes
You realize its not a work you do, but because of the work Christ has done on the cross we are made righteous
Make no mistake when pastor Jesse said following Jesus will cost you everything he wasnt contradicting the Bible
No it will cost you everything to follow Jesus
But it will be worth it
To answer the call to come to me…
Would be to answer the best call you will ever receive
To answer the call to take off the shackles of a broken and sinful world where death and destruction reign
And Bind ourselves to Jesus Christ is the greatest act we could ever do
Let us not be like Choarzin, Bethsada, and Capernium
Knowing so much about Jesus that we become complacent in our knowledge of him and we never come to him as a helpless child in need of a savior