A sermon based on Matthew 11:25-30, Rev. J. Orlando Flahn
INTRO: Are you weary of carrying life’s burdens alone? Many believers, though they profess faith in Christ, still live each day weighed down by stress, carrying burdens that Jesus has already taken upon Himself through His death, burial, and resurrection. Instead of embracing the rest and freedom Christ offers, they place those same burdens back on their own shoulders.
They carry the burden of trying to be good enough, striving to impress and please others, and becoming trapped in religious legalism. As a result, they are left restless, unhappy, and in bondage.
ILL: This reminds me of a familiar story that highlights how many of us remain restless under our heavy burdens, even though Christ has given us rest. A wagon driver, on his way to market, saw an old man carrying a heavy load. Moved by compassion, he invited the old man to ride in the wagon. Gratefully, the old man accepted. But after a while, the driver noticed the man was still straining under his load—he had not set it down. The old man said, “I knew you would carry me, but I did not know you would also carry my burden.”
Listen! When life feels overwhelming, remember that the rest which redeems, renews, and restores our souls is not an idea, a concept, or a religion—it is a Person: Jesus is our Rest, and He invites to trade our stress and restlessness with His rest……He says, “My yoke is easy, my burden is light” (v. 29).
That is Jesus’ invitation in today’s gospel lesson. He says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (v. 28, NLT)…..Come and experience the true rest and freedom that only I can give to you.
In the context of this passage, we see an adamant rejection and a deep level of unbelief from a generation to whom the mystery of God in Christ Jesus has been revealed.
The text tells us why. He prays, ‘O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank You for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way!’” (NLT)
APP: Worldly wisdom and pride in our own knowledge are the main reasons for unbelief in Christ Jesus, and tragically, they are why many may die in their sins without receiving eternal life in Him.
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.”
Two examples Jesus gives us of the level of unbelief of the people: The first points to the ministry of John the Baptist….John at this point struggled with doubt—unable to grasp the immediate reality of Jesus’ messianic reign because of his imprisonment—Jesus pointed out to His audience that John was a true prophet sent from heaven with God’s message, calling people to genuine repentance….In fact, John was more than a prophet; he was the very messenger and forerunner of the Messiah foretold by the prophets.
Jesus also said that, of all the men who had ever lived, none was greater than John the Baptist. Yet, even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.
However, Jesus says that while John was God’s final prophetic voice to call the nation back to God through genuine repentance, the people, especially the religious leaders, failed to accept his message. They wanted a kingdom, but not the kind Jesus was offering. Determined to maintain their own authority, and so they rejected and resisted John’s message…..Since they refused to accept John’s message as true, they also could not accept Jesus’ messianic message.
And Jesus compares that generation’s unbelief to a group of children sitting in the marketplaces who could not be pleased by anything. They were dissatisfied with John the Baptist and accused him of being demon-possessed because he came neither eating nor drinking. Then, when Jesus came eating and drinking with sinners, they also rejected Him, calling Him a glutton, a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”
Secondly, in verses 20–24, Jesus pronounces judgment and specifically denounces the sin of three cities—Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum—for their unbelief, even though His most significant miracles had taken place there. By contrast, Jesus says that three notoriously wicked Gentile cities—Tyre and Sidon (v. 22) and Sodom (v. 23)—would have repented if they had witnessed the miracles performed by Jesus. Although their judgment was severe, Jesus says it is less than what awaits these three Jewish cities that saw His mighty works and yet rejected Him as God’s Messiah. In spite of God’s greater “light” revealed to them through His Son, they rejected the Messiah and, as a result, are in ruin today (Barbieri, pp. 43–45).
It is against this backdrop, of divine condemnation upon those who had rejected God’s Messianic reign, that Jesus, in verses 25–30, invites us: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (v 28 NLT).
For Jesus, true freedom and rest can be experienced and life in His Spirit can be enjoyed only by those who come to Him with childlike faith. For God, Jesus says, in His good pleasure (Eph. 1:5), has hidden the great mysteries in Christ Jesus from those who consider themselves “wise” and “learned,” but has instead revealed them to little children—or to all who approach Him with simple, trusting faith.
What Jesus says next is astounding: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (v. 27, NIV).
Do you get this? Jesus is boldly declaring that God the Son and God the Father know each other so perfectly in the intimacy of the Trinity (Matt. 11:27)……and that only those whom the Son chooses can truly know the Father and understand what He has revealed (cf. John 6:37).
No wonder He boldly issues a call to all: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (v. 28). Come to Me, you who are weary, tired from hard toil, and loaded down with sin.”
Jesus concludes, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (vv. 29–30, NLT)……You see, it is by placing ourselves under His yoke and learning from Him, we will find true freedom from the burden of sins and genuine rest for our souls.
In Jesus’ days, the “yoke of the Pharisees” was the burdensome yoke of self-righteousness and legalistic law-keeping…..Biblical scholars said that the Pharisees added “over 600 regulations regarding what qualified as “working” on the Sabbath.”
That is a heavy burden! Jesus saying that religious law-keeping is burdensome and amounts to a “heavy yoke” of oppression……and no matter how hard we try, no amount of law-keeping can bridge the gap between our sinfulness and God’s holiness.
The Apostle points out that “no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law” (Romans 3:20)…….But the good news is……Jesus has promised that he that would come to Him He will give them rest from the heavy burden of trying to earn their way into heaven…..He will give them rest from the oppressive yoke of self-righteousness and legalism.
Listen! “The life lived by faith is a much lighter yoke and a much easier burden to carry than the heavy burden of sin and self-righteousness. The life of faith in Christ is not absent from challenges, but it is far restful and peaceful than the burdensome yoke of self-righteousness under which some continually strive to make themselves acceptable to God through works.”
Paul says in Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Conclusion:
ILL: Common Advice in Scotland (Source unknown)
When you worry, which do you worry about, what might happen or what might not happen? Whichever, turn it around, to relieve anxiety. That’s common advice in Scotland. For worriers, the Scots have a proverb: “What may be, may not be.”
ILL: A Restless Heart: Men’s Life, Spring, 1998
Warren Wiersbe, the Great Bible Teacher, makes this observation, “The ability to calm your soul and wait before God is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life. Our old nature is restless…the world around us is frantically in a hurry. But a restless heart usually leads to a reckless life.”
Come today and exchange your stress and restlessness with the gift of Christ’s peace and joy that He alone can give.
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