Jesus Revealing Us

Intro

There’s two types of people - Snooze or No Snooze

You know who doesn’t snooze - toddlers. You know you else doesn’t snooze - retired people. A lot in common maybe.

What is Lent?

Why do we celebrate it?

Lent is a journey of spiritual awakening that calls us to consider the sin, the darkness, and the ugliness of our lives in the context of Jesus’ march to Calvary to make an atonement for that sin, that darkness, and the ugliness of our lives.

In this series titled Lenten Awakening, we are inviting you to let Jesus work in your life. To let His power wake you up daily.

Our ultimate sense of discipleship can be enjoyed only by those who come to Him with childlike faith.

Immediate context

Chapter 10 he commissions the disciples, gives them their orders and a vision for what is to come on their journey. He uses different pictures of relationships. He uses farming, family, hospitality, and a cup of cold water.

chapter 11 begins with a call to missions. Jesus went and taught and He uses the Old Testament to reveal Himself as the Messiah. In verses 16-24, he calls the people an unresponsive generation. They heard the Word of God speaking, yet they denied Him. They didn’t repent, they didn’t weep or mourn for their sinful disobedience. That’s how we ended up here, at verse 25.

So, if our ultimate sense of discipleship can be enjoyed only by those who come to Him with childlike faith, then we have some questions to answer.

What does this reveal about us? About Jesus the Son? About God the Father? About our relationship to them?

Jesus Breaks Discouragement with Praise.

God is the ultimate alarm clock! His timing is perfect, whether our bodies, minds, and spirits are is another story.

Matthew 11:25 HCSB

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to infants.

Jesus is quietly claiming to the be center of all revelation.

So, while Jesus is calling for people to see His for who He is, they’re not. They’ve hit snooze repeatedly.

For Him, there had to be a sense of discouragement. All of these leaders, all of these people who had the intellectual capacity to understand, didn’t. Why? Because they thought they knew better.

Arrogant pride always alienates us from God.

The wise and intelligent, taught, self-sufficient, self-made person who thinks they can save themself, the Pharisees and Sadducees, Scribe and Lawyers taught a doctrine of salvation by meritorious good works.

Who did the Father choose to reveal these things to? Infants. Now, we need to clarify that revelations shared with an infant who’s unable to talk would be foolish. It’s much more likely that Jesus is using a metaphor for those who are totally dependent upon someone else for everything, and probably referred to those who were young at heart in their faith journey.

What are these things that have been hidden? They are the things of the Kingdom of God as seen in the Sermon on the Mount, or in Matthew 11:15.

You’ve heard it said - "God helps those who help themselves." However, God is a God of grace and He only helps those who cannot help themselves. Humility of heart opens the door to God’s revelation to us.

God's delight is in communicating His grace to the humble in heart who have a childlike simple faith in Him.

Only those who are willing to receive it can understand the good news of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Has Unique Authority

Verse 27 is not so much a prayer, like verses 25-26 might be understood. This is a claim to authority.

Matthew 11:27 HCSB

All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal Him.

One of the Pharisees favorite questions was based on authority.

By what authority, under who’s authority,

Jesus’ authority extends to cover all things and He didn’t divide His authority with anyone else. He is the ultimate representative of the Father.

We’ve all heard the phrase - It takes one to know one - and it is largely never positive. Something that kids throw around at recess right before there’s a fight.

Here’s it’s perfect. It takes God to know God and only the Father knows the Son. Theologians and Christians have tried for centuries to reconcile Jesus’ human and divine natures. It is like trying to square the circle. In our finite minds and hearts, it just can’t be done.

See, all of these teachers of the Law, all of these Pharisees, all of the leaders in Chorazin, Bethsaida, Tyre and Sidon, and Capernaum, they all thought they knew how best to teach the people about God. Lots of people have discovered and taught many true and great things about God.

This relationship between Jesus and the Father reveals something about us.

The Son knows God the Father intimately and absolutely, not just about Him.

If it’s what Jesus did, then doesn’t it reveal something about us? Yes. Jesus has what the sinner needs, an intimate and absolute relationship with the Father. He also knows and He alone can provide for the sinner’s needs.

Jesus Makes a Universal Invitation

This is a staggering claim when taken in the context of what Jesus revealed in verses 25-27.

Matthew 11:28 HCSB

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

That’s impossible!

The revelation and the rescue belong together.

How easy was it for the teachers to say ‘Go find God.’

Come to me - I’ve come to seek you. This is grace - that God should come and seek his rebel subjects not with a word of condemnation, but of invitation.

Think of the kings who ‘off with their subjects.’

COME! The one word shows the heart of God.

And not just anybody, but a specific group - those who are weary and burdened.

The Greeks were exhausted in their search for the truth without resolution.

The Jews exhausted with the endless regulations and duties.

What exactly is rest? Is it a state of being? Is it the result of our work and triumphs? No.

Rest is our assurance in the strength of Christ to take our burdens, troubles, and worries without reluctance.

Jesus says to take up his yoke, which means to be joined with him, so that when the time comes, we find that the yoke isn’t oppressive or binding, rather it fits well and it frees us.

The Message of Matthew What Essentially Is Jesus’ Claim? (11:25–30)

He offers ‘rest’, not cessation from toil, but peace and fulfilment and a sense of being put right.

This means that there will be times when the yoke is heavy, and that is the very time in which the gracious strength of Christ carries us in the yoke.

Ultimately, this means that the only source of rest is found at the lowly position at the foot of the cross.

The yoke of the world is burdensome, troublesome, comparative, and self-interested, it is prideful, and it is a never-ending wheel of performance. We call ourselves rested based on our position relative to our circumstances not on our nearness and closeness to God.

Who are you is a question often asked as a starting point for many spiritual conversations. In Eden, God didn’t ask Adam who are you, He asked Him “Where are you?” God asked Adam to be transparent, to reveal himself to God.

Nearness to God, where we are, reveals our greatest needs. As we begin this journey of Lent, I want to challenge you with a question about searching and revealing.

Where are you turning for revelation about who you are?

Are you comfortably in the yoke of Jesus?

Do you feel His presence close to you?

If you’ve never committed your life,

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus closing