CHRIST CALLS US TO REST
Notes
Transcript
CHRIST CALLS US TO REST
Matthew 11:28-30
INTRODUCTION
Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King Charles I of England, lies buried in Newport Church, in the Isle of Wight. During the time of her father’s trouble, she was a prisoner in Carisbrook Castle, in the same beautiful island. While there she had a long period of illness. She was found one day dead in her bed with her Bible open before her ad her finger resting on these words, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
I. JESUS OFFERS REST IN HIM
The Lord Jesus is the inexhaustible person. Only He can stand
before all times and places with an offer to give everyone who
comes to Him rest.
We can hardly sustain ourselves and those who need us. For us
the weariness of sustaining one other in deep need depletes.
A. Jesus is a river of rest
Unlike us, Jesus offers a river of rest that runs ever fresh from its highland sources.
His offer never gets smaller, and never stops running.
The more He gives rest the more He seems to have to give.
B. Jesus gives rest from our sin burden
Jesus offers us the initial rest of salvation. We can never rest
until we know for certain the guilt and alienation from God has
been removed.
There is deeper rest beyond the initial rest.
That is the rest of wearing His yoke.
Jesus offers initial and continual rest to all who come to Him.
II. JESUS OFFERS REST IN SALVATION
Every religious movement and each spiritual leaders offers rest.
Even philosophical schools claim to give satisfaction from the
tensions of life.
Towering over them all, Jesus PROMISES rest to everyone weary of
the struggle for meaningful existence.
A. Jesus Offers His Rest in a Great Invitation
"Come to me..." His word is both a command that pushes us and an
invitation that draws us. This is an invitation from Jesus'
sovereignty. Only Jesus has the royal authority to command us to
approach Him. Consider how absurd these words would sound from
anyone else. His words ring with an urgency. It could be
translated "Hither to me, now." Life traps us in a bog of quick
sand, unless Christ calls us up and out, we sink. Our Lord's
invitation is to a personality, not just a theology. He does not
call us to an institution, organization, ceremony, or ritual. He
calls us to Himself. 2 verses reverberate with the personal
pronouns ME, I, MY. Rest comes ONLY from the person of Christ.
B. Jesus Offers Rest Specifically to Those Invited
Those who are actively toiling and those passively loaded down in
life. Besides those who live on the merely animal level, most
experience the toil and weight of life. In our toil we seek
fulfillment in human work. But work becomes labor and labor
becomes toil. Beyond our jobs, there is a lacerating toil to
find meaning in human existence. On top of this, we passively
bear the loads of life. The loads include the religious
expectations placed on us by others. Religion can place burden on
our relief (Matt. 23:4), while others command from you what they
themselves cannot perform (ACTS 15:10). Jesus invites those who
are exhausted in the rat race of religion and bent over with the
dead weight of impossible expectations.
C. Jesus Offers Spiritual Rest
The source of this rest is personal, "I [myself] will give you
rest" (v.28) Spiritual rest does not come from reflection,
ritual, or religious activity. Rest comes from the PERSON of
JESUS CHRIST. In that regard His rest is contrasted with the
promises of others. Unlike the Pharisees, He can give the power
to be and to do what He requires. Christians experience
REST-IN-RELATIONSHIP. The significance of His rest is that of
pause, recovery, refreshment. Christ gives rest from guilt,
disfavor with God, and bondage to our own lusts. His cross rests
us from guilt. His righteousness attributed to us rests us from
disfavor with God. His life in us releases us from bondage to
desire.
III. JESUS OFFERS REST IN SUBMISSION
Beyond the initial rest of salvation, there is a deeper rest in
submission. At the beginning of the Christian life we experience
recovery. Under the continuing lordship of Christ, we enter into
deep rest. We discover the paradox...Christ places a yoke on us
that lifts us up.
A. We Should Face the Necessity of a Yoke
Absolute freedom is absolute illusion. To be "free" in such a
way is to experience the bondage of self-absorption, live life on
the level of mere self-satisfaction. That is a yoke that chafes
and drags down. You will wear a yoke...your own, someone else's,
or the yoke of Christ.
B. We May Experience the Superiority of Jesus' Yoke
By Jesus' time, the word "yoke" was already a common term for
discipline, obligation, instruction. To wear Jesus' yoke means
to learn from Him, to become His disciple. This learning has to
do with His Person, learning about Him from the Gospels and
experiencing Him in the circumstances of daily life.
Self-satifaction and self-delusion harness us with a yoke that
exhausts. Jesus places on us a yoke that lifts us up.
ILL: It is like harnessing yourself in a hang glider...a moment
of weight and then the strange UNSEEN UPLIFT.
C. There is a Simplicity in Jesus' Yoke
That simplicity is one of method and manner. He is gentle and
mild. Compared to the unapproachable, hard, and haughty teachers
that sometimes represent God, Jesus receives us with meekness.
He is not proud, impulsive, ambitious, or desiring dominion over
the minds of people. This is not merely true of the external
demeanor of Jesus, but pierces to His very heart. Some may
assume an attitude of humility. He is the very essence of it.
D. The Significance of the rest Resides in its Quality
His easy yoke and light burden gives rest to the soul. The cry
of the Old Testament was, "Ask where the good way is, and ...you
will find rest for your souls" (Jer.6:16). This great invitation
to rest preceded the cross. Jesus does not tell us how He will
provide the rest. We see that in His death, resurrection, and
presence (Ro.5:1;8:1). It is enough that He promises. When we
know the who, we need not wonder about the how.