Special

And if you would like to, take up your bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11, we're gonna read the 5 verses at the end of the chapter 25 to 30. At that time, Jesus said, I praise you, father, lords of heaven and earth because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children Yes, father for this is what you were pleased to do. All things have been committed to me by my father. No 1 knows the son except the father, and no 1 knows the father except the son.

And those to whom the son chooses to reveal him come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Thanks Tom for those who don't know me, my name's Rory Kened. I'm 1 of the members of staff here at Cornerstone and I may add my welcome to you, particularly if it is first time or you are visiting.

This is a this is a 1 off sermon. I just plucked it out of the air. And, but it's got some great things to say to us. No, I think that there's so much good about thinking through the rest that Jesus can give us, and that's why I've picked this. And, hopefully, as we look at Jesus' words, they will help us to live more for him.

So let's pray as we begin and then, and then we'll see what it has to say to his father. We thank you so much for your words, and we thank you so much for the lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that in these pages, we are confronted with your darling son, Jesus, and we thank you that his words are just so glorious. And so as we reflect on these last 3 verses of Matthew 11, and we pray that you'll help us help us to see our condition, our world, our culture, have allowed us to seal. So why Jesus is so much better.

And, with that in our minds and in our hearts, we pray that we will want to live for him, and we pray this in his name, our men. Now, I imagine you would all agree with me that, invitations are usually a pleasant thing to receive. When we get when we get invitations, I think that they're generally positive things, generally they're positive, aren't they? Unless of course it's like a an invitation to a court summons or something like that or an invitation to come down to the police station, you might be a bit scared. But usually, when we get an invitation, we're quite happy, aren't we?

Usually, when you you open the door, from from when you come in from work and there, amongst a pile of post, you've got the ones that talk about Tem's water that goes straight in the bin. Lires the lot of them. Yeah. You get that ones that talk about your election who cares about that, don't wanna vote for any of these people, but then you get 1 with handwriting on it. Oh, wow handwriting.

Lovely. And it's all swirly. Oh, makes your heart warm, doesn't it? You're fuzzy inside. There you open it, and it says, mister and missus, blah, blah, request your presence at this person, this person's wedding.

Fantastic. Oh, yes. Lovely. Yes. We we love that, don't we?

Especially if it's someone we like. If someone you don't like, you're like, oh, gosh, I'm gonna go to a wedding. Another 1. How many weddings have there been this year by the way? I'm constantly at weddings every other week, but anyway, none of the less of that.

We're very happy when we get invitations usually. Why are we so happy when we have these invitations? Because they show us that we're we're loved They show us that we're wanted. It tells us that we are gonna be going somewhere to share with other people and to share in someone's joy to share in the blessings of a of a celebration. So we love to be invited to things.

Yes, I think in this passage here is the sweetest of all invitations that you will ever have. Forget about the nice swirly writing and look at the writing in front of you. In verses 28 to 30. For here is a truly beautiful invitation from the lord Jesus Christ. See, those invitations that we get, they're usually quite exclusive, but with Jesus' invitation, it's all inclusive.

So let's have a look at this invitation. Firstly then, who is this invitation addressed to. It's addressed to you. Did you see that? So here's my first point.

All you who are weary and burdened. All you who are weary and burdened. Look down at verse 28. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All you who are weary and burdened.

I don't know when you look at the world and you look at the people around you maybe as you're on the on the train or as you're at work or wherever it may be. And as you look at those people, I wonder what you see Maybe in your mind, you think that they seem to be people that have it together. They seem to be people that are generally happy. They seem to be people that have everything that they want. But when Jesus looks at people, he sees something very different.

When Jesus looks at humanity, he sees weary and burdened people. In another passage, it talks about Jesus when he's confronted with a whole crowd of people and it says that he had compassion on them because they were sheep. They were like sheep. Without a shepherd. They were restless.

They were lost. They were in turmoil. That's the condition of humanity. The problem is is that is that's not how it's meant to be. That's not what was meant to happen.

See, the the the start of the Bible tells us that humanity was meant to be at rest for all eternity. That's why god on the seventh day creates rest so that when Adam and Eve live, they live in rest. They live imperfect harmony with God. They live under god in his world, under his word and they live to serve him alone. They're at rest at home.

At 1 with god, but it all goes wrong. Adam falls, Adam, fails to live out his purpose and he rejects God as king. And so the results in jealous chapter 3 verse 17 is that now there is painful toil all the days of Adam's life. There's painful toil all the days of his life, no longer at rest, cast out from the garden, wondering away from god and the rest that he was meant to live in in painful toil. Now why am I talking about the toil words?

Well, the words in chapter 11, and verse 20 says that it says weary is the same word for labor or for toil. Labour or toil. See, ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out the garden They have been toiling to get right with God. They have been toiling to find rest again. They've been working hard to get back to that rest.

And so as Jesus speaks into this culture that he he faces, He lives in a culture where people are toiling to get to rest. And what what makes things worse in this time is that the that the people who who are like the the gatekeepers of society, the pharisees or meat are causing people to toil even more than they might if they weren't there. That that they're loading them up that that the the putting burdens upon the people's back of of burdens of law you need to keep this law. I need to keep this law. I need to keep this law.

I need to keep this law. In fact, I was looking it up today. The pharisees in their tour have 613 laws, 365 which are negative. 248 that are positive for the people to try and follow. Law, after law, after law so that you can try and find rest.

I said, the burden, you can feel the weight hopefully as I try and keep a law, but not just as you try and keep a law because what happens when you break the law And now I have a burden not just of law, but of sin. And as I break the law and I sin What do I try and do? Oh, well, I better try and keep some more laws, laws, laws. I'll put oh my goodness. I've sinned again.

More sin. More sin. More law. More law. I don't know if you know what I'm doing here.

I'm pretending there's a burden on my badge on my shoulders. Yeah. Good. Thanks. And so the living under this kind of yolk, you see you might see that word yolk.

It's not an egg yolk. It's a yoke like it's it's it's something you put on your back to serve with. You serve as you you carry a weight for your master. And that's what the Faracies are causing the people to carry a weight that they cannot carry. Matthew chapter 23 verse 4 tells us a little bit about that, what the pharisees are doing, it says, about the pharisees, They tie up heavy cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move see this?

You have to follow law, after law, after law, rule after rule after rule another regulation here, another another regulation there, and you just can't do it. Oh, and by the way, as you try and do that, we're not helping you. That's the pharisees. But I wonder if you've seen this in our age I wonder if you've seen the weary the weariness and the burden and the exhaustion in our age. The laws that we put on people.

I don't know I don't know what you think about our culture. It seems to believe that they are more and more free. They've got away from Jesus. They've got away from the Bible, but act and they said we're gonna be free from all of that. But as they've got away from freedom, they seem to put more and more laws in place that actually cause burdens.

Have you seen that? So you think you think about young people Young people now have to try and save the planet. In schools in America, I think, Dhrucci was telling me about a podcast she was listening to, and there's this this woman was concerned that her child was having to go on marches to save the planet. A child. Who needs that sort of pressure?

You just want to think about, you know, what ice cream you want to eat. A viagra saved the jolly planet and 4 years of age. Can you feel the burden on the child? For women, By the way, I went to the cinema the other week. Do you know what I went to see?

Oh, I thought you might all say Oppenheimer, but okay. Do I look like that kind of guy? Yes. Oh, okay. Fine.

Bye hubby. Great movie, by the way. Fully recommend it. Barbi was it was great though. Because there's this, there's this scene where a woman is just so fed up with this culture, really.

And how women treated. She says that it's it's quite a long quote, but I'll I'll I'll try and cut it down. She says you have to be thin. But not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin.

You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass. You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas. You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time.

You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people. Have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is insane. But if you point that out, you're accused of complaining. You're supposed to stay pretty for men. But not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be part of the sisterhood.

She goes on. You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish. I'm falling down all these things. Never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never gets out of out of line. It's too hard.

It's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you and it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong but also everything is your fault. And then she says, I'm just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. See that? There's no rest. Can you feel it?

The list? Law. Law. Law. Law.

Wait, wait, breaking it, sin, sin, sin. It's the same for men. Men, Boys's demonized yet told to man up. Don't be a man but man up. What the dickens?

They're the ones to blame. Blaying the men, but we don't raise them up. They're meant to leave, but don't be too dominating. Do you see? Men, women, young people, all laws upon us, and get it wrong.

Say the wrong thing. Say something that could easily misinterpreted online and you're cancelled. That's the world we live in. That's the world we live in, the the burden, the weight on us. And this world is doing that and they're striving for rest, but they find no rest.

The world wants rest. We want rest, don't we? Isn't that our hearts? Is that that mean that's why we we like to work and after work. We like to go to bed.

Some of us love our bed more off more than others, Jerusalem. Tricia loves sleeping. Or we, or we like to work hard to get holiday. But these are signs that we want rest, but the problem is in this world is that you have that, you might have that sleep yet it doesn't refresh you at all. Because this weight is there.

You have to throw yourself into your work. You have to throw yourself into religion and try and prove yourself and never get it wrong. You have to try and live the approval of friends or family. You have to live the eyes of those around us. You have to live that people will love you.

You have to try and deal with your sin and sometimes you try and deal with your sin on your own efforts or you try and serve the lord Jesus on your own efforts. And all that happens or seems to happen is that I'm way down. And Jesus sees people like this and he says, they're harassed and they're harangued. They're like sheep without a shepherd. There's no rest here.

There's no rest in our heartache for rest. John Buneon's classic pilgrims progress Christian in that book feels this weight. He has this huge burden on his back. He feels the weight of the law. He feels the weight of his sin.

And when he tries to deal with this on his own as he tries to go up mount morality, he sees that he cannot do it on his own and there is no rest that way. And he is bitterly weeping about his burden. And Jesus sees us like that. And he sees you. He sees your your need for rest.

And what does he say? Verse 28. Come to me. What lovely words? I told you that's the sweetest invitation.

Come to me. Repent. Leave this world, leave the yoke of this world, leave the weight behind and come to Jesus. And I will give you rest. I will give you rest.

That's what he offers. So you won't find rest in this world. You'll find a great burden. You'll be heavy laden. You'll be exhausted trying to prove yourself, trying to find the rest, but you will never find it.

The great theologian Augustine said, about god, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you. They'll always be restless if you try and find your rest in this world, but go to Jesus' voice come to Jesus and you will find rest. Now why is that? How is it that Jesus can give us rest, well, because of who he is and what he came to do. Who he is and what he came to do.

So secondly, Jesus gentle and humble. Jesus gentle and humble. Look with me at verse 29. 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. See, Jesus is saying here, you see that old yoke and that huge burden that you carried beforehand, get rid of it and replace it with another yoke.

Put on a better yoke. Put on Jesus' yoke. Now what is this talking about? Put on my yoke and learn from me. Well, often what you would do, this is where I get into my farm chat because you know I'm a good farmer, you have oxen and oxen would come in pairs and what you would do is you would put a yoke, a bar that would tie them together, and then they would able to pull whatever mechanism you want to plow the ground behind them.

Yes. Now now this is really important though because usually what they what people did is that they would have a stronger oxen with a weaker oxen. Okay? Now why would you do that? Because you need to train the weaker ox the weaker rocks up so that they can perform like the stronger rocks.

So the stronger rocks would be able to listen to his master's words. Go left. Well, go left now. Go right. We go right.

I don't know if that's how it works, but they would do it and they would listen. And so as they listened, the stronger ox listens the weaker ox starts to follow and learns from the stronger rocks. Do you see? It's a bit like in school. You know, when you had that naughty kid in school, what what would the teacher do with the naughty kid?

Who would they sit him next to? The quiet 1. Yeah. Exactly. The quiet well behaved 1 or the thick kid who didn't know anything.

They put next to the really clever kid. Right? Poor clever quiet kid. Yeah? It was never me, the quiet kid, so I didn't mind.

So the not so why do you put the naughty kid next to the the the well behaved kid? Why do you put the thick kid next to the, sorry, thick kid? Not a real person. Why do you put next to the clever kid? Well, so that they learn the math equation better.

So they learn how to do math better so that they learn how to spell better. Even if they are dyslexic or that they learn to behave properly. Oh, that's what we're meant to do when the teacher tells us to be quiet. Oh, I'm not meant to chuck a chair across the room. Oh, brilliant.

I've learned that now. That's what's going on here. Jesus is saying, put my yoke on. Learn from me. Learn from the stronger 1.

Learn learn how to how to find this rest from Jesus and Jesus is the ideal teacher. He's so ideal. Why is he the ideal teacher because of his characteristics? He is gentle and humble in hearts. He's gentle and humble and hot, and that is mind blowing.

Because if you listen to the reading in verse 27, we were shown that Jesus has been eternally in relationship with the father. He is god himself. Yet god himself becomes man and is gentle and humble. What does it mean to be gentle? It's not just nice.

Jeez isn't saying, learn from me because I'm quite a nice guy. He's not saying that. Gentleness is strength under control. It's strength under in in reserve. So I'm I have power, but I don't have to use it.

I have the power to squash the spider. When Drew is scared of the spider, I have the power. To squash it. But because Drew doesn't allow me to kill spiders, I don't squash it. That's strength under control.

And instead, I put it in a glass, I walk it down to the bus stop. And I leave it on the seat waiting for the 71. Many of them have gone to Chesington World of Adventures. That strengthen the control. Jesus has strength.

He has power. His his All powerful, it is under control, though. He is patient. He is loving. And that's what we need in the teacher.

He doesn't tear us down, but actually has patience with us and teaches us lovingly. Who even though we get it wrong for the umpteenth time, stays with us. And he is humble. Amazing. He's humble.

The the god of the universe is humble. In other words, he's he's a he's lowly in position. Doesn't think too highly of himself. He's a servant. And as a servant, he is completely dependent on god.

He's so different to the Farris, he's, isn't he? The pharisees who are harsh, who are proud, who are self serving. Here is Jesus though, who is who is gentle, who is humble, who is selfless. He's so different to the pharisees. He's so different to our world, isn't he?

A world that is harsh, a world that's if you do get it wrong online and say the wrong thing online, cancel you straight away. He's so different to this world that, enforces so many rules that they can't even keep themselves. It's so different to our world that holds people up to be great people of society yet as soon as they get it wrong and are crushed. Did you see that this week with Lizzo? Lizzo, a champion.

She was so great. A champion for, I can't remember what that size is called, models, whatever. Champion for all these things. Did some great stuff. It removed the word because she cared so much yet now.

Public enemy number 1. That's all, that's all we'll get Jesus is totally different. Isn't that great? See, in the world, you won't have rest because you have to fear. You have to fear about the repercussions.

You have to fear about the consequences of just getting 1 little thing wrong. You could be accused of cultural appropriation by just getting 1 little thing wrong. But with Jesus, he's gentle. He restores. He forgives.

He loves. He's gentle and he's humble, and he practices what he preaches. See, he's an ideal teacher because he's gentle and humble and he acts on those 2 characteristics. See, as in gentleness and humility, that he gives us ultimate rest, not just physical rest, not just emotional rest, but rest for what, rest for our souls. It is in gentleness that he can hang on a cross.

And even though he had the power to call down a legion and a legion and a legion of angels to destroy those people who are persecuting him and mocking him and hurling insults at him and and nailing him to that cross even though he has that power he controls it, and he hangs on a cross so that he may deal with our sin. He is humble as he serves us right to the end. The son of man did not come to serve but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. That's our Jesus. The humble and gentle on the servant of all the 1 who says, listen, I know you have a burden.

I know you are heavy laden with the law and sin. I know that you can't carry it yourselves I know you have that guilt. I know you feel that blame. Yes, I will take it on my shoulders. I will become sin for you and I will hang upon the cross.

That is a humble and gentle man right there. He takes the burden and he takes the judgment of god upon himself. We heard this morning. So powerfully preached. He shouts at his abandoned, but after he's abandoned, what does he say?

It is finished. The work is done. Rest is here. You don't carry on working after it's finished. You rest after you finish your work.

And so he rises from the dead, our lord Jesus. He ascends to the right hand of the father, does he stay standing? No. He sits down. Because once we finish, we sit, it is finished.

Rest is here. No longer do you have to try and justify yourself? No longer do you have to try and live by the laws of this world. No longer do you have to try and prove yourself? No longer do you have to try and achieve the rest for yourself because Jesus himself goes to a cross and goes, I'll give you rest.

And so when pilgrims comes with this huge burden on his back and he comes and he sees the cross. What happens to his burden? It rolls off, falls off his back, rolls down the hill and into the tomb, done, finished. It is finished. That's what Jesus did.

Isn't that great news? He dies on a cross. He takes our burden to give us the rest that we were made for. To give us rest and to bring us back into restful service. See, we don't, by the way, rest does not mean you you doing anything.

That's not rest. You're thinking, oh, I just thought it was putting your feet up and having to sleep. It's not what rest is. Rest is living for god in god's world under god's word, just like Adam and Eve were. And so, we must listen to Jesus' voice here take my yoke upon you and learn from me, look at Jesus, learn from him, learn about this perfect rest that last forever and ever and ever.

Hebrews 4 talks about this eternal sabbath rest that that Christ has achieved for us. Learn more about that rest. Learn what it means to be at peace with the living god of the universe, and then live in that rest. As you serve him, put his yoke on. Put his yoke on.

Because compared to the world's yoke, Can you see what his yoke is like? Well, look, fairly with me. Jesus' yoke, easy. His burden, light. Jesus is yoke, easy, his burden, light.

Book with me at verse 30, for my yoke is easy, my burden is light. See, the word easy there, but the yoke of Christ means gentle or pleasant or kind or it's eternally useful. It actually was looking up the original, and it says we haven't got an adjective to describe this word. It kind of combines kind and good together. It's a it's a pleasant yoke.

It's it's manageable. We can act before the pharisees wasn't manageable. Was it? You couldn't you couldn't really carry it. You couldn't really deal with it.

But Christ yoke, you can you can deal with it. It's not hard. It's not harsh. It's not bitter. It's not sharp.

Like, the pharisees 1. When you're trying to carry something and it's very uncomfortable. It's but but this is not. This is an easy carry. And the burden is light.

It's easy to bear. It's it's not hard to live for Jesus. It's an easy weight. Now, I'm hoping that some of you might have an objection to that, or you may be thinking, well, hold on, Rory. Didn't Jesus say that the road to living for him was narrow and difficult.

Didn't we just this morning in Hebrews 11 here that there are storms in this world that will batter us and you're here saying that it'll be an easy life. Don't think so. You're having a laugh rory. Didn't Jesus himself take up your cross and follow me? But I wanna say that his yoke is easy.

And his burden is light, and here are some reasons why. Number 1, no longer do you have to justify yourself? See, his yoke and his burden doesn't say that you have to try and do something to get yourself right with god and find You don't have to do that. He's done it for you. It is finished.

Number 2, you don't have to live to please anyone else. How good is that? I'm constantly trying to please people. Want people to laugh at me. I wanna I wanna please everyone else.

I don't want people to like me. I don't have to do that anymore because I have Jesus himself smiling on at me. That's the most important person. He's the only 1 who can give me a turn or rest. Why do I care about anybody else?

Number 3, as we live and we learn, we will grow in gentleness and humility, and we will become more like Christ. And do you know what? The great news of the gospel is that Jesus doesn't just die to save us and give us rest and then go, right, have another go at it. Have another crack at the whip. See if you can try and get it right this time.

No. He gives us everything that we need to obey him. He gives us his holy spirit himself. So that we have the power to obey him so that we can learn to be more gentle, that we can be more patient with 1 another, that we can forgive 1 another, that we can love 1 another. That we can serve 1 another.

How good is that? That's easy because we have the Holy Spirit. And lastly, compared to the eternal rest that Jesus has secured, Then the difficulties in this life are incomparable. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 17 to 18 says this. For our light and momentary troubles, are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen. But on what is unseen since what is seen as temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. The reason why We can live as if the yoke in this life is easy that the burden is light because the eternal rewards an eternal rest, eternal blessedness, eternal happiness has been wonderful as already. A place where we will be there forever and ever and ever where death can no longer harm us, where pain can no longer get us, where disease can no longer harm us. Where sin can no longer touch us.

So this life, although it can be hard, it's only fleeting. But that life will last forever. Yes, it may be hard, and we may have to serve, and that might be hard but we compare that to what Jesus has done on a cross and what Jesus has done to win us an an eternal reward. We can say with the great missionaries David Livingston and Hudson Taylor. I never made a sacrifice.

And they gave their lives to mission work, but I never made a sacrifice. Compare to what is on offer. Compared to what has been done. Doesn't matter because he's worth it. So how are you doing with this?

Maybe you feel that weight. Maybe you feel that burden. Maybe you feel that exhaustion of trying to prove yourself. Maybe you feel the weight of the law and of sin. Maybe you've maybe you've been trying to deal with it all your life.

Well, let me say, can you hear the invitation tonight that Jesus says, come to me or you who are weary and verdant and I will give you rest and rest for your souls. Here the invitation and find rest. If you've never done that before, come, come to Jesus, come Don't hate any longer. Why bother why are you carrying this huge weight on your back? Get rid of it and come to Jesus and know his rest.

And Christian. Maybe you started to feel this weight again, and you can feel that burden. And you feel like you've gone away from Christ and that you've tried to follow laws and you're trying to do it your own way and you're starting to feel exhausted again, hear the invitation all over again. Come to me. Take his yoke, repent of your sin, Sorry father.

I've done it again. Get rid of your pride and come and rest in Christ. And as you rest in Christ, rejoice in him forever. Will you come and will you know his rest You know his relief, you know his refreshment. He has it on offer for you.

Come, take it. Learn from him. And no rest for your souls. Jesus says this, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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.

For my yoke is easy and my badness lights. Father, we thank you that you are the lord god almighty. We thank you that you have befriended us We thank you that you are our health and you are our salvation. And gladly, we praise you together this evening. Help us to go into this week, not just knowing that Jesus can in theory offer us rest.

But that we would live within this promise that we would come to Jesus every day and experience the rest and the peace and the salvation that only he can bring. We thank you for Rory, for preaching to us this evening. We thank you for the bands who've lifted our hearts to you with these songs. We thank you for those who set this room up for those at the back who've served us, with the PA and the PowerPoint and we thank you for all who are here. Just the encouragement of being together, listening together, praying together, singing together is so good for us to be here, and we bless you for this evening in Jesus' name.