March 8, 2015

The End of the Journey Series:

Rest for Your Soul

Matthew 11:28-30

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Eternal Life

So many people today tell me that they seek to know God, but still journey on towards knowing Him. I sense a certain spiritual restlessness within them. They listen to sermons, they read the Bible, and often they even hold positions in a local church. As I talk with these people, I see time and again a desire within them to know God, but they seek to know God on their own terms. They still want to be in charge of their lives, and control all the shots. They describe themselves as on a spiritual journey, but they are unwilling to confess their own sin, and accept the free gift of Jesus Christ, Who died to ransom people from the death penalty each sinner deserves. For every person still on a spiritual journey, truly seeking to know the truth, only Jesus Christ can help you. Jesus invites you today to come to Him.

Come to Me

Consider for a moment the personal invitation of Jesus Christ to come to Him. If you are truly on a spiritual journey, then move in the direction of Jesus Christ. Well, how do I know how to find Him? It all starts with listening to the voice of Jesus Christ calling you to Himself. How do I know He calls people to Himself? Because Jesus said so in the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. The men who wrote the Bible wrote down what God wanted them to write down, so that every word they wrote was inspired by God. ¹In 2 Peter 1:20-21,  we read: “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” According to this verse, men did not provide their own interpretations of events or history. No, on the contrary, the Holy Spirit moved particular men at particular times to convey the words of God to all people. Notice that Peter emphasized that no prophecy ever originated from the will of men. God wanted people to hear from Him, and so God inspired men to write down His revelations to people. Some of those words were recorded in the Bible, and the Bible contains all we need to know pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:2-3). Jesus commanded every person to come to Him, and He especially called the weary and heavy-laden.

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

Jesus focused upon the weary ²The Greek term for “weary” (“οἱ κοπιῶντες”–the weary ones) means those who work hard, and get tired from their labors; consider the farmer mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:6, and comes from the root word to work and the “heavy-laden.” ³The Greek term for “heavy-laden” (“πεφορτισμένοι”) means to bear a burden, to carry a load. Consider the root term (“φορτίζετε“) used in Luke 11:46 of the Pharisees who lay great burdens upon people to keep their false interpretations of the law.  Jesus knows your struggles, burdens, and weariness. He calls you to Himself. If you are seeking spiritual rest today, then accept the commanding invitation of Jesus Christ to come to Him today. Notice that if you come to Him, He promised to give you rest. If you are still seeking, then your journey will make you weary and the spiritual load you have been carrying will get heavier each day. Your spiritual journey seeking to know God will never end until you find the rest that only Jesus Christ offers. According to Jesus, you do not have to continue on your journey. When you come to Jesus, you will find the spiritual rest you have been seeking. Jesus also outlined His plan for your life once you come to Him.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

Matthew 11:29

Jesus commanded everyone to take His yoke upon them. Jesus described a voluntary act here. You must decide if you will take the yoke of Jesus upon you. Jesus spoke of a yoke, often made of wood, used to join two animals together for plowing or pulling. One loop of the yoke went around the neck of one animal and the other loop of the yoke went around the neck of the other animal. The two loops were joined by a straight, thick piece of wood. When the animals were yoked together, they became a team and produced greater strength together. ⁴In the New Testament, the word for “yoke” (“ζυγόν”) is often used metaphorically. For example, in Acts 15:10, the Jerusalem council determined not to put God to the test, by placing a yoke upon the new disciples which neither their fathers nor the current believers were able to carry. They meant that the requirements of the Old Testament law had been satisfied by Jesus, and, therefore, Jesus was the end of the law to all who believed (Romans 10:4). So, the new Gentile believers, and the older Jewish believers, were no longer bound by the Old Testament law. In some cases, a younger animal would be yoked to an older, more experienced animal and so be trained how to plow and how to follow the commands of the farmer. Jesus promised that He would always be gentle and humble in heart. When you consider what kind of yoke you would like to wear, many people would say they have never been yoked to anything and have no intention of being yoked to Jesus or anyone else. When you hear those words, consider that you are refusing to obey the command of Jesus Christ. He commands each one of us to take His yoke upon Him. Why take that yoke? Because of two reasons: (1) when we are yoked to Jesus, we learn from Him; ⁵The Greek term for “learn” (“μάθετε”) is a command for everyone (plural) to learn everything (aorist tense) from Him. The same root word is used to describe His disciples as learners, e.g., Matthew 11:29. and (2) when we are yoked to Jesus, we will find rest for our souls. ⁶As we saw in Hebrews 3, in our first study in this series, God did not allow the disobedient people of Israel to enter His rest, because of their hardness of heart and unbelief. Jesus promised rest to the weary and heavy-laden. If you have been on a spiritual journey in earnest, then you have grown tired and weary seeking the truth, being constantly disappointed with religions and teachings that never satisfy you, and feeling the burden of spiritual travel through parched ground. Jesus commands all of us to come to Him, and we will find the spiritual rest we all seek. We must then learn from Jesus how to enjoy His rest for all eternity. We will never be disappointed in Jesus. ⁷Romans 10:11: “For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.'”; Romans 5:5, “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Matthew 11:30

Jesus closes His commanding invitation with two simple promises. First, Jesus promised that His yoke is easy. ⁸The Greek term for “easy” (“χρηστὸς“) means kind, excellent, good, and pleasant. See Luke 6:35, where Jesus described Himself as kind to ungrateful and evil men; see also 1 Peter 2:3, where newborn babies in Christ long for the milk of the Word of God, because they have tasted of the kindness of the Lord. So, we must be yoked to Jesus to find rest, but He described His yoke as pleasant. Consider the yoke of slavery every unbeliever wears while they continue on the spiritual journey. You may think you are free, but the Word of God describes you as yoked to the slavery of sin. In Galatians 5:1, Paul reminded the Galatian believers that they should not return to a yoke of slavery to sin. Every person on earth has a yoke of one kind or another. Either you are yoked to Jesus Christ, learning from Him and enjoying His pleasant yoke, or you are yoked to the slavery of sin, and living under the dominion of satan and his evil ways (Galatians 1:4; Colossians 1:13-14; Romans 6:16). Second, Jesus promised that His burden was light. ⁹The Greek term for “light” (“ἐλαφρόν“).  The only other use of this exact term occurs in 2 Corinthians 4:17, to describe the momentary “light” (“ἐλαφρόν“) affliction which cannot be compared to the eternal weight of glory and the salvation we have in Jesus Christ. So, to summarize, Jesus promised that if you would take His yoke, you will end your spiritual journey seeking eternal life. Once yoked to Jesus, you will find life in Him pleasant and His burden light. I urge you to come to Jesus today.

So, we learn today that Jesus commands us to come to Him and find rest for our souls. We will learn from Him, and He will always be humble and gentle in heart. His yoke will be easy and His burden light, for all eternity. We will truly find rest for our souls when we end our spiritual journey by coming to Jesus.