Sermon Tone Analysis

Matthew 11:25-30

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.

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.”

Introductory Comments:

(prayer at end of Lord’s Supper)

Several years ago I used to train like crazy when I was in College.

For those that don’t know I played college football for 4 years.

And I would be running and training a lot in order to get in shape for the season.

I got kind of bored with running alone and I heard about this organization called “U can Crossfit”.

It’s a crossfit company that creates training events to demonstrate how tough people get with their program.

I got into it and really started to enjoy it because of the variety of challenges and the unpredictability of the events, which kept me on my toes and stretched me in my fitness life.

At one particular event, while wearing backpacks filled with weight the instructors were also putting giant heavy bags filled with sand on each one of our shoulders and having us walk a fifty yard path.

I looked ahead and saw the two sandbags that were coming towards me.

I’m a big guy but I still was hoping since the giant bags were not all the same size that I would get some of the smaller ones.

That did not happen.

The two largest bags came up for me, and I was probably the most out of shape guy compared to these guys that have had more years of crossfit training.

But I wasn’t a quitter, so I let them load me up and I set off.

About half-way through I could feel one slipping off and there was nothing that I could do to stop it.

It fell to the ground, so I started dragging it.

The instructor saw it and yelled for some people to go help me.

You see, “U can Crossfit” is all about teamwork, so these two guys came over and put it back on my shoulder and then helped balance it the rest of the way.

For me, the burden of carrying that sandbag was more than I could handle on my own.

I needed someone to intervene.

In today’s message, we will see that God intervened in our lives.

He did not leave us to ourselves.

And that those who are humble and seeking help from God will find it through Jesus.

Jesus will come alongside us and help us with our burden

Flip with me in your Bibles to Matthew 11:25-30.

Let’s see what Jesus is saying to us in this passage.

This week’s passage is a message of hope.

We’re going to discover three aspects of God the Father and Jesus the Son.

In seeing these three aspects, we’re also going to learn something of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

Let’s see first . . .

I. The pleasure of the Father (25-26)

In Matthew’s record of these events, Jesus moves immediately from the condemnation of the towns who did not believe to a moment of prayer spent speaking to God the Father.

Look at verses 25-26.

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.

Jesus is praising the Father.

He is praising Him for something specific.

Look again at verse 25.

Jesus is praising the Father for hiding the deep truths of the faith from the wise and intelligent of the world.

AND

Jesus is praising the Father for revealing the deep truths of the faith to infants.

Now, this takes some explaining.

First of all, this is not to say that if you are a follower of Jesus that you are not wise and intelligent.

Actually, it’s quite the opposite.

To be a follower of Jesus is to be truly wise and intelligent.

There is a self-proclaimed worldly wisdom and intelligence which can lead to arrogance, self-dependence, and false confidence.

This type of wisdom and intelligence can lead people to think that they don’t need God, it can lead them to believe that the things of Jesus are foolish, and it can lead them to a life without rest and love.

For those who may not know what I’m saying, this basically means that there are people who think they’re smart, but they’re not really smart in God’s eyes.

Then, Jesus speaks of infants, or little children.

When Jesus speaks of infants, He speaks of those who are helpless on their own and are dependent on someone else.

I have a child on way coming this October.

And I know one day he is going to start becoming independent and will be able to do a lot on his own.

He will probably be able to do the chorus or house work as he gets older.

However, if you have kids, even then, he will still be dependent on me and his mother quite a bit.

Jesus speaks here of little children.

Those who are utterly dependent upon someone else.

In contrast to the “wise and intelligent” of the world, who think they have it all figured out and don’t need God; Jesus says that the Father has revealed the truths of the kingdom of God to those who are like little children, who are like infants, who know that they need someone to help them.

Are you like the wise and the intelligent, or are you like the lowly infant?

Do you think you have things figured out in your life?

Do you think that you’re good enough?

Or, do you know that you need Jesus and His grace?

Or Do you know that you’re only good through the blessings of Jesus?

(Pause)

Finally, we see in verse 26, that it was God’s will to do it this way.

Jesus says, “This was your good pleasure.”

Part of the reason that Jesus is praising the Father is because this was His good pleasure.

God wanted it this way, and His will is being accomplished.

Jesus praises God that His good pleasure is being worked out.

Listen,: it is the good pleasure of the Father that the kingdom of God would be revealed and manifested to those who are needy and dependent like little children; like infants.

The pleasure of God can be displayed in you, by you taking the mentality of a lowly person who desperately needs someone to come alongside you and pick you up, provide for you, and care for you.

This is what makes christianity so different from the world.

Because while the world tells us that we are the hero’s in our lives.

If we make the best decisions.

We will get the best jobs.

Make the most money.

and that is the whole answer of life!

And while, yes, these things are good.

Christianity says, no, you are not the hero.

Jesus is the hero in this story.

He is the only decision and choice that we need to make today.

No matter if you are a toddler, a ten-year-old, a teenager, a twenty-something, a toward-the-end-of-lifer, or anywhere in between, there is something within us that stems from our sin nature that makes us feel like we don’t need help, that we’ve got it figured out, we are wise and intelligent all on our own.

This is why we need the Gospel!

This is why we need Jesus.

Listen, the pleasure of the Father is that you would come to Him and say, “I need you!

Help me!”

When you do so, He will reveal the kingdom of God to you.

That is the good pleasure of the Father.

Second, we see . . .

II.

The knowledge of the Father and the Son (27)

Do you want to know God?

Here’s how.