Matthew 11:16-30

Did you know that most of us see what we are looking for until something or someone intervenes.

For instance, let look at the Fed Ex Logo.

FedEx Logo 1

This is one of the most recognizable logos in our region, in fact it’s one of the most recognizable logos in the country if not the world. It’s a logo you may have seen in your neighborhood more and more due to the pandemic. But, if you haven’t seen what I am about to show you before, then you will never look at the logo again.

The Fed Ex logo is really creative. Hidden in plain sight is a symbol in the logo that perfectly illustrates what the company is all about. Look at this next slide:

FedEx Logo 2

Whether you saw this for the first time today, or if you had someone show you before, the point is the same. You didn’t go to the FedEx log to see an arrow, you were just reading the words. But, once you see the arrow in the words, you can’t unsee it.

You may have argued with me about the arrow before you saw it. Most people don’t see it because it’s not what they are looking for when the truck ride by or the package comes in the mail. But, the arrow has been there the whole time, whether you were looking for it or not.

But, what you cannot do after you have seen the arrow is ignore it. It’s there. Whether you wanted it there or not you can’t make it go away. But, you can reject it. Once you see the arrow in the FedEx Logo you have a choice to make. You can reject it, which is crazy because it’s there; or you can accept it and enjoy the secret that has been shared with you. In fact, you can take it a step further and be the first person to introduce another person to the hidden symbol in the logo!

Matthew’s gospel brings to light the truth of who Jesus is. Jesus performed miracle after miracle and taught the truth over and over again about the Kingdom of God. When you read through Matthew’s gospel it is so clear that Jesus is the Messiah that God promised. And yet many, including the Jewish leaders, rejected Jesus as the Messiah.

Not only is it clear that Jesus is the Messiah, but as we saw last week in our sermon, we see that John the Baptist is the one that God promised would come like Elijah as the forerunner of the Messiah. John the Baptist dressed like Elijah, preached the message of Elijah, and was rejected by many like Elijah.

Look with me at Matthew 11:16–19 (CSB), Jesus said:

16 “To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children: 17 We played the flute for you, but you didn’t dance; we sang a lament, but you didn’t mourn! 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

John the Baptist and Jesus the Messiah carried out their ministries in public. With every teaching, miracle, and fulfilled prophecy it became harder and harder to miss the truth about who they were. Like the arrow in the FedEx Logo the crowds couldn’t unsee what was unfolding in front of their eyes.

But, the pharisees and sadducees did not accept the fact that Jesus was the Messiah nor that John the Baptist was the promised Elijah. How could they miss this? Why would they reject this?

The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus because He didn’t fit their narrative.

This is one of the greatest mistakes anyone can make. It’s the mistake of trying to fit God into your story (narrative), rather than seeing where you fit in God’s story.

They rejected John because he was too conservative. They thought he took things too far with his self denial and wilderness lifestyle. The Pharisees and Sadducees had developed a strict way of living that went beyond what God’s law required. But, they cringed at the degree of sacrifice and discipline that John the Baptist followed. They declared that John the Baptist was the product of Satan.

But isn’t this exactly how the devil works? He takes what God is doing, and makes you think its bad for you, when in fact it’s the very best thing for you.

They rejected Jesus because He was too liberal. Jesus didn’t follow enough rules. Jesus stuck to the actual law of God, and as a result He broke most of the laws the Pharisees and Sadducees had added to the law. Because Jesus broke their laws they accused Him of being dangerous because He lived his life on the slippery slope. Jesus spent time with all the wrong people in all the wrong places, and yet Jesus never broke the actual law of God. Did you know that? Jesus never sinned, and that means that He didn’t go against the law of God at any point in his life. But, He sure did go against the laws of men, and as such they branded him a lover of wrong, a “friend of tax collectors and sinners.”

The Pharisees and Sadducees rejected the truth about Jesus and John the Baptist. They rejected the plans of God. They chose to be the main actors in their own story, rather than be one of the extras in the story of God.

And you know what, the same thing happens all the time today. In fact, we live in a world that is overrun with competing story-lines. In fact, our entire news cycle is more about a story than it is the actual truth. Our country is mesmerized by the story, and worse than that, people are more and more committed to keeping the story going than they are the truth.

What do I mean by that? I mean…

People are so in love with a story or narrative that they look for confirmation of their beliefs more than they look for truth to believe in.

This is what happened to the Jews. They loved the story of a conquering Messiah who would come and overthrow the Romans and restore Israel to her former glory. They were so committed to looking for the Messiah to take back the throne of Israel by overthrowing the evil Empire, that they missed the Messiah who came to overthrow the throne of death and sin and save them from Adam’s curse. They missed the truth and rejected the truth because it didn’t fit what they wanted.

Today we call this confirmation bias. You may not be familiar with the term…

Confirmation Bias is the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories.

Let me give you two examples of how this works.

First. Early in my ministry here I asked us to take a minute in a worship service and pray about the situation at the Southern border of the United States.

At the time there were reports of children being separated from their parents after they crossed the border. As a parent I can’t imagine what that would be like. Our country has a long-standing policy as a place of refuge for asylum seekers. At the time it was getting hard to know who was trying to seek asylum and who was seeking to immigrate illegally. But, regardless of how or why they got here, my heart broke for the kids. The kids were along for the ride and in a country where they didn’t speak the language and separated from the families.

I asked for us to pray for the kids and their families because it was a mess, still is a mess, and as Christians we should care about every person/child in need. I wasn’t advocating for a policy. I even made sure to clarify that I believed people should seek asylum and seek immigration through the laws that we have in place. But, there were some weird rumors when I moved to town that I was liberal in my theology and maybe even liberal in my politics.

So, when I mentioned that we should pray for the children and their families at the border crisis, a number emails began circulating that I was an open borders advocate, who worse that was a socialist. For some people at that time they had found the evidence they were looking for. I don’t know why they were looking for a narrative where I was a liberal who would lead the church to go against the Bible and ignore the authority of Christ in the church, but they were. And, there have been many other times where someone has found what they were looking for in one line, sentence, or decision.

This is how confirmation bias works. People interpret each new piece of evidence as confirmation of an existing belief or theory, rather than as a truth to build a belief on.

CB happens because people don’t want their beliefs to be discredited.

CB happens when people are looking for support to prove that they have been right all along.

Confirmation Bias leads people to look for evidence that isn’t there to support existing beliefs.

CB leads people to reject contradicting evidence because it doesn’t fit the narrative.

CB leads to the manipulation of the truth

CB leads to seeking out people who only hold the same beliefs

CB leads to claiming that an opposing view equals ulterior motives.

Second. Another example of the role of CB in our culture can be found in the way that some people talk about the Southern Baptist Convention.

I was made aware of a recent morning show on a radio station based out of Tupelo last week. In the show the host made some comments about a well known Southern Baptist leader that I found concerning. I found them concerning because they were derogatory and I’m afraid the result of confirmation bias. I went and listened to the show and was shocked to hear Dr. Al Mohler, the President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary mentioned as a liberal and a danger to the denomination.

It was surprising because when Dr. Mohler became the president of the seminary he spent his first few years restoring the school to its conservative theological roots. In fact, he was chosen as the president because of his unwavering commitment to the gospel and the authority of Scripture.

I was surprised to hear that Dr. Mohler was a danger to the convention because he was one of 14 Southern Baptists who served with the chairman, Adrian Rogers, to revise our current statement of faith in 2000.

But, Dr. Mohler is being nominated, along with 3 other men, for president of the SBC. The rest of the radio segment I mentioned was a campaign for another candidate who needs the other guys to fit his narrative. You see we have been so impacted by the world we live in, that we now have groups of Christians creating narratives where one of the men who helped to review and revise one of the most conservative documents in denominational life is labeled a liberal. The same man who took the most liberal baptist seminary we had in the 90’s and put the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ back at the center of its life and mission.

I don’t mention Dr. Mohler because I am overly concerned about the convention vote. Like I wrote in our most recent newsletter I have been charged with the souls of Harrisburg and that’s enough for me. But, I mention it because I want you to see how pervasive this way of thinking has become. Confirmation bias is the philosophy of the day and it’s the fuel that media runs on. Media outlets of all kinds (politics, social ideas, philosophies, and religions) run on a narrative that they want you to believe and find yourself in. But, the narrative that you are to find yourself is the one of the Bible, it’s the story that God is unfolding in history with Christ and His kingdom at the center.

Confirmation bias is dangerous because it elevates bias or desire over the truth. It is a natural outflow of our sin nature.

But, like Jesus said in Matthew 11:19, “Wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” (By their fruits you will know)

This statement is like another statement Jesus made in Matthew 7:20. Concerning false prophets Jesus said, “You’ll recognize them by their fruit.”

After Jesus calls out those who are rejecting Him because He doesn’t fit their narrative, He states the truth that...

Every story has an ending; and in the end you will see what was true.

Jesus is vindicated by the fruit of those who follow Him versus the fruit of those who reject Him. There is fruit in life and in death. Those who follow Jesus are saved to live according to the Way of Jesus, and in the end when they die they also go the way of Jesus. They receive eternal life and will live Him for ever. Those who reject Him will bear the fruit of sin and condemnation in their lives, and in the end they will receive the fruit of judgment and spend eternity in hell experiencing the wrath of God for all eternity.

There are only…

Two options once you know the truth about Jesus.

Like the arrow in the FedEx Logo, once you see the truth you have to do something with it. You can reject it, or you can accept it. And for those who accept it, it’s difficult to not share the secret that you now know.

Reject Jesus and face a judgment worse than you can imagine

Jesus said in Matthew 11:24 that, “It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

This isn’t the first time that Jesus has brought this up. To make sure we all understand the significance of this statement let me recap what happened at Sodom (and Gomorah) in the Old Testament.

Sodom and Gomorah were godless and filthy cities. The sin of these cities was so great that God told Abraham He was going to erase them from the planet. But, Abraham begged God to spare the cities. He had a relative named Lot who was there with his family. So, God agreed to spare the cities if they could find 10 righteous men in them. But, they could not, and God spared Lot and his family by sending angels to tell them to run because God was destroying the cities. When Lot and his family were a safe distance from the towns God destroyed them. And as they were leaving the angels told them not to look back but to keep their faces forward and not to yearn for what they left… but Lot’s wife looked back when the cities were destroyed and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

According to Jesus it will be better for those who were in the cities of Sodom and Gomorah at the day of judgment than for those who saw the ministry and miracles of Jesus.

It’s not that Jesus is saying there won’t be a judgment for those who rejected God in Sodom. He is simply saying that there is a greater judgment on those who saw the truth and rejected it in favor of their own prideful and preferred narrative.

Accept Jesus and find peace with God and rest for your soul that is greater than you can imagine.

Matthew 11:25-27 (CSB)

25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure. 27 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.”

The truth about Jesus is a mystery that has been revealed through the Gospel, the Word of God.

Colossians 1:25–27 (CSB) says, “25 I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

If you know the truth, then you only have God to praise for the truth! The gospel of Jesus Christ has come to you and you have either rejected it, or you have accepted it. And, accepting it means that you come to Jesus as He is, to follow Him like He says, and to receive what He gives.

Matthew 11:28–30 (CSB)

28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus is gentle and humble in heart, this means He is willing to save

When Jesus says that his heart is lowly and humble, He reveals to us that the motivating factor behind everything that He has done for us, is the truth that He is gentle and gracious.

Jesus says “I am lowly and humble at heart”

This means that He is gentle, meek, humble, not arrogant or prideful, and that He is accessible.

“Jesus is not harsh, reactionary, or easily exasperated. He is the most understanding person in the universe.” - D. Ortlund

Jesus stands with open arms, not with a pointed finger.

“You don’t need to unburden yourself or collect yourself and then come to Jesus.” - D. Ortlund

There is no payment required… in fact it is your burden that qualifies you to come.

Jesus stands with open arms, not with a pointed finger.

Jesus did not come for those who are well, He came for those who are sick

Mark 2:17 (CSB)

17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus is tender, loving, open, and ready for you. And we can trust with the same certainty that we believe He is the only way to be saved. And yet, too many who believe that Jesus is the only way struggle to see Jesus the way He actually He is. And here is the confusion that I hope we can find clarity on today in the coming weeks.

For those who come to Jesus burdened and yet believing, he promises rest for your soul. But, for those who don’t come to Him, those who reject the truth that He is the Way, the truth, and the life; they will find the judgment that they fear to be true in Christ.

To follow Jesus like He says you surrender and submit yourself completely to God.

Surrender to Him daily in prayer

Don’t just tell Him what you need or want, take time each day to willingly and verbally yield yourself to Him. This serves as a declaration to Him and reminder to you.

Take the things that come your way as divine interruptions, while at the same time making sure they are not enemy distractions from the work God has for you to do.

Surrender isn’t passive. It’s the daily putting off of the world and putting on of Christ. This is why Paul writes and instructs the Colossian church to put on the characteristics of Christ. In the same way that you must clothe yourself each day, you surrender yourself to the Lord daily and clothe yourself with the way of Christ.

Colossians 3:12–17 (CSB)

“12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Submit to Him daily by obeying His Word

You cannot obey Him if you haven’t heard Him. I have said this many times before, but one of the greatest issues we face here in MS and other Southern states is the number of people claim Jesus as Lord, but yet don’t know much of anything that He is said. Lordship is not claimed, it is demonstrated.

You cannot live surrendered if you don’t live in submission. Jesus calls us to take on His yoke and live according to Him rather than according to the world and our sin.

Submission follows surrender as our way of striving to live for Him in the way we have claimed to need Him. We learn His ways, and we live according to His ways, and we do that through our understanding of who He is through the Word.

Every story has an ending, what will yours be?