"The Heart of Christ"

This year one of the things that I am most excited about is to help our church grow in our love for God. I want to help men and women and our students and children know what deep discipleship is all about. We want to have a passion for God and His Word because without it we won’t know how to function in this life especially when things get difficult. How should we think and respond? How should we act and speak? How do we treat our wife, our children, our employer? How do we act when no one is watching. What kind of words come out of our mouth? How our we to respond to the government when they tell us things contrary to the word of God? In Matthew 22:37 we see a wonderful verse which tells us this.

Matthew 22:37 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

In order for us to truly love the Lord and grow in our relationship with Him we have to know not only what he has done for us, but we also need to know who He is. We need to know about the heart of Christ. That is why over the next several weeks I want to lead us deeper into the heart of who Jesus is. As we have began a new year some of you may have began this year weary, discouraged, frustrated, cynical or even empty. This series is for you. What I mean by that statement, is that some of you feel like God is disappointed with you or you have done something so bad he cannot forgive you. As Dane Ortund says, you may know about his death and resurrection but you have forgotten his longing heart amid your sinfulness. Clearly in God’s Word we know that the Lord will return to show his wrath to the ungodly, clearly we see in Scripture that we will all give an account for how we lived our lives, so I want to handle this topic with care today and the way that we do that is to go directly to Scripture and see what God’s Word tells us about Christ. So, what I want to do is ask what the Bible says about the heart of Christ.

What do we see here about who Jesus is? What is His nature???

Matthew 11:28 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

What this passage teaches us and actually points us back too, is the first beatitude in Matthew 5:3. It invites all who hear what Jesus has to say, but it is phrased in such a way that only those who see they are spiritually bankrupt and can’t save themselves and keep the whole law will come. We as humans are a sinful and rebellious people. We can be very stubborn people who know the right thing to do, and yet do not do what is right. No one person will acknowledge his or her own problems and sin in this life unless God shows us the error of our ways. This is why Jesus says back in verse 27, salvation is the sovereign work of God.

1. So, the first thing that we need to see here is that there is an invitation to come to Christ.

This issue here or call to come is only for those who recognize their need for help, and are willing to accept the Lord’s yoke and learn from Him.

What we need to understand here from Scripture is that we don’t have to be perfect or have it all together to come to Jesus. In fact, His desire for us is just to come through faith, and then He alone is the one who changes us and cleanses us from our unrighteousness. When we come to Jesus and lay our burdens and struggles down we find the solution to life’s problems. What is it today that you are struggling with?

-A certain habit or addiction?

-A difficult relationship?

-Financial crisis?

-Health issues?

So clearly, this does not mean we won’t have problems in this life, but what it does help us to understand is that the way we get through them is with Christ.

So, we will face difficulties here in this life. In fact, Matthew the author here is describing some of those problems to us. Those who labor and are heavy laden. The exact explanation of these problems we are not for sure of, but they could be several things.

First of all these difficulties may be metaphors for the pressures of life in general. But we also see another set of problems. In Matthew 23:4 the author explains it this way.

Matthew 23:4 ESV

They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

This would be a metaphor for the legal and ethical demands made by the scribes and Pharisees. The metaphor of a yoke, which in the Old Testament was a yoke that was extremely burdensome for the people and it often denoted social and political oppression.

Exodus 6:6-7. The burdens of slavery that Egypt put on Israel.

Also in 1 Kings 12 we see the foolishness of King Rehoboam.

1 Kings 12:4 ESV

“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”

Now come full circle to the time of Christ. The religious leaders have put an obligation on the people to bear the weight of the yoke of the Torah or laws. So, we should understand this passage here to mean the heavy burdens of the law. These were unreasonable demands of the scribes with excessive concern to change people’s behavior. In Acts chapter 15 Peter is addressing the apostles and elders gathered at the Jerusalem Council after Jesus had died and here is how Peter explained it.

Acts 15:10 ESV

Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

This yoke was an unreasonable legal demand. There were many things that the religious leaders added on for the people to do. Things to do with food customs, washing of hands, circumcision, and on and on the list could go.

My point in telling you all this today is that the people became weary, tired, and even burdened about all this. These tired workers needed refreshed and renewed. And this is why Jesus came. He came to give us rest. He came to renew us and change our lives. As disciples of Christ we will put in days of long hard work, but with Christ those days are manageable. Jesus calls us as His people not to the law, but to himself. Jesus desires that we love Him more than anything else and pursue Him and grow in our relationship with Him and because of that we will have a desire to be obedient to His words. Jesus invites us to come to Him, would you do that today? For some of you this means coming back to Him. The invitation is there to all who realize just how desperate we truly do need the Lord.

Matthew 11:29 ESV

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.

2. The second thing I want us to understand today is what we need to learn about the nature of Jesus.

In the Old Testament a typical animal yoke would join two animals together, and was different than a human yoke. Even though a human yoke made it easier to carry or pull a load. Both of these type of yokes were unwelcome restrictions. The focus here is not so much on the yoke itself, but the unwanted burdens and service that it brought. Jesus is offering to those of us who are his disciples a new yoke. If you are finding your load too hard to carry, Jesus offers a new yoke which can ease the burden and can bring about some rest.

The Yoke here that Jesus comes to offer us is one of learning. Notice here that Jesus wants us to learn from Him. This would be discipleship which is a lifelong process of learning to live as God requires us to live. Here in the church we see this in several ways.

-Mens Bible Study on Monday Nights. A little holy sweat and somewhat of getting in a spiritual workout.

-Women’s Bible Studies on Tuesday Morning’s and Wednesday nights.

-Life groups and Children and Student Ministries on Wednesday nights.

But in all of these type of learnings, unlike that of the scribes and Pharisees it does not bring with it a type of burden or weariness, but actually a rest for our souls because we are learning about Christ and growing in our relationship with him, and we see what all he does for us. As we are growing and learning about Christ we see that the rest Jesus offers us is not a relaxation of the demands to be righteous or live in a right and pleasing way. If you are a believer today than you have been given a new relationship with God, and because He is with us He makes it possible to fulfill the commandments He has given to us.

One of the biggest benefits of learning about Jesus and the yoke he offers us is the learning about His character. Matthew the author here tells us that Jesus is gentle and lowly but what exactly does this mean?

-First we know that Gentle here means that Jesus is meek. Matthew 5:5

Matthew 5:5 ESV

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Yes, there are many times throughout Scripture that we know Christ will come with authority and judgment toward those who are unresponsive or even hostile toward the message of Christ. These folks have been unrepentant over and over again. But we also see here that toward the little children or those people who have turned from their sin and have ran to God, the Lord is gentle and considerate. He is lowly, not in the sense of being unaware of his holiness and exalted position but also not using it in such a way to browbeat those under his authority. King Jesus is humble and when he came into Jerusalem before his death He was riding on a donkey. (Matthew 21:5)

Dane Ortlund, explains it this way when he tells us in his book. Jesus was lowly, the point in saying this is because we need to understand that Jesus is accessible. In fact, no one is more approachable than Jesus. Christ is the most understanding person in the whole world and he desires for us to come to Him and walk with Him all of our days.

Jesus is tender and open, He is welcoming, understanding and comes to offer us rest. The rest Jesus offers us as his disciples enables us to overcome a certain measure of fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and with that also being able to experience a joy and peace of God’s very presence in Jesus Christ.

When we try and live in such a way to save ourselves (the works of the law) we will never have rest. Rest speaks of a permanent respite in the grace of God. So let me ask you this morning, have you experienced the Grace of God today? God offers you and I grace today in that He gave us His son Jesus who lived a perfect and sinless life and then died for our sins so that we may have a new life, a life free from the bondage of sin. This is what grace is all about. This is the rest for our weary souls.

Matthew 11:30 ESV

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

3. That last thing we need to see here is the importance of the Lord’s Yoke.

When we see the yoke that the religious leaders were trying to shove down people’s throats, that yoke that was heavy, cumbersome and very overwhelming. The yoke Christ was offering was different. The lightness of Jesus’ yoke depends not only on his personal character that we have seen from verse 29, that he is gentle and lowly, but also a new and different interpretation of the law. What Jesus comes to offer us is beyond the surface level of all the do’s and don’ts of the purpose of God. He comes to offer us rest which the Sabbath was meant to provide. In Matthew chapter 12 we read the Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. It’s not about what we should not eat or that we can’t do good things like healing on the Sabbath (all the rules and regulations) it’s all about are love for Christ and following Him. Do you have a desire to follow God today? When is the last time you opened up your Bible or had a conversation with God?

The invitation for us to come to Christ is still available just like it was for the early church. The invitation to come to Christ remains for all today, but it requires a recognition that we are all sinners who can’t make ourselves better by obeying every law and rule perfectly. We must completely depend and trust in Jesus. Jesus has a heart for those who have wondered away, for the sinners and those who are suffering. His desire is that we come to him and live the rest of our days following Him.