Matthew 11:28, 29 - The Invitation Of All Invitations.
Matthew 11:28, 29 (NIV) "Come to me, all you
who are weary and burdened, and I will give you
rest. 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. 30 For my yoke is
easy and my burden is light."
COMMENTARY PEARL
Rest For The Weary
Few people know how to rest these days.
Even on vacation, many people rush to cram in as
much as they can before returning to their jobs,
where they spend twice as much energy catching up
on the work and mail that has piled up in their
absence. Many of us need vacations just to rest from
our vacations! Perhaps we have been looking for
rest in the wrong places.
Jesus said "Come to me ... and I will
give you rest." Like peace, rest and contentment
can be found only in one place, from one source,
and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus gives us the ultimate rest, the
confidence we need, to escape the frustration and chaos
of the world around us. Rest in Him, and don't
worry about what lies ahead. Jesus Christ has
already taken care of tomorrow.
How do you handle weariness: a cup of
coffee, a power nap, or a weekend away? These
things, at best, offered temporary rest for our
bodies. What Christ offers is rest for our souls;
we just need to come to Him. [Hope for Each Day
by Billy Graham]
COMMENTARY
Whenever you receive invitations, you
probably find yourself asking the same sorts of
questions: Who is it from? Who is It for? Why does It
matter? This verse presents one of the loveliest
invitations in the whole of the New Testament - but to
understand it best, we must ask those same questions.
First, this is a personal invitation. It
is not an invitation to a program, nor is it an
invitation to a religion or philosophy to be included
alongside Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, New
Age-ism, humanism, or any other "ism" that may be
found among today's worldviews. It is an
invitation from Jesus Himself. He is bidding each of
us, "Come to me."
The significance of the invitation lies
in who is issuing it. In the Gospels, Jesus
declares who He is: the Messiah, the Savior of the
world, the Son of God (see John 4:25-26; 1 John
4:14). By virtue of this identity Jesus could
command a response - but instead, He extends an
invitation.
And who does He invite to come? "All who
labor and are heavy laden." This invitation is
all-inclusive. It doesn't single out a certain group among
a larger group but describes all of humanity.
Each of us needs to hear these words, because
there's not one person who isn't figuratively
pushing around a wheelbarrow filled with all the
cares, responsibilities, fears, and failures that
make up his or her life.
Why does all this matter? Jesus invites
us to find "rest for your souls." He's speaking
in eternal terms of a rest that never fails.
He's beckoning us towards a banquet, and He
doesn't even ask us to provide the clothes. We show
up for the banquet just the way we are. God
takes all the "Here are my good deeds" clothes
that so many of us like to dress up in, calls
them rags, and tosses them aside. He takes all
the "I'm so bad and messed up that there's no
hope" clothes and tosses them aside too. In their
place, He covers us over with "the robe of
righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10), which is provided by Jesus
Christ Himself. We can rest from our striving to
make something of ourselves or to earn heaven for
ourselves when we come to Jesus and receive all we
need, and could ever need, from Him.
This is the invitation of all
invitations. Today, for the first or the thousandth time,
bring your burdens to Him. Receive His rest.
Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee-
O Lamb of God, I come, I come. [Truth
for Life by Alistair Begg]
Jesus Wants to Share Your Burden
I dont know what burden youre
carrying. I dont know whats weighing you down.
But I do know the answer to your trouble.
Jesus said, Come to me, all who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I
am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30 RSV).
For many years, I never understood what
Jesus meant when he said, Take my yoke upon
you. It made me think, Lord, do you want to
give me something else to deal with? My burden is
heavy enough already! I dont need to take your
problems on me!
Then I learned that a yoke is a board
with two arches, and its placed over two
cattle so they can pull a cart.
The value of a yoke is that it cuts the
load in half. Without a yoke, one cow has to pull
the entire load by itself. But if you yoke up
the cow with another cow, then the two animals
pull the load together, making it half as heavy.
So, when Jesus tells you to take on his
yoke, hes not saying hes going to give you
his problems. Jesus doesnt have any problems!
Hes saying hes going to share your problems.
Hes going to share your load. Hes going to
take your stress on himself and bear it with
you.
Wow!
Jesus uses three notable verbs in this
Scripture: come, learn, and take. Its like Jesus
said, Come team up with me so you can learn how
I do it. Take on a lighter load that will
reduce your stress and make your problems easier to
navigate.
When youre yoked with Christ, you move
together with him. You move in the same direction and
at the same speed. You move in the right
direction and at the right speed. And you move with a
lighter burden. [Daily Devotional by Rick Warren:
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
An Opportunity To Learn
What does a parent ask their children
after they come home from school?
Some will ask, "Did you learn anything
today?" But many more will say something like, "Did
you have fun today?"
With regard to schooling, perhaps it does
not matter much which question is asked and
which priority is therefore being revealed. But
the same question is often asked about church:
Did we have fun at church today? Did we enjoy
church?
Instead, we should be asking, "What are
we learning of and from Jesus?"
Jesus gives us the great privilege of
having the opportunity to learn from Him.
Throughout the Gospels, He speaks in a way that
addresses life's big questions: Who am I? Where did I
come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? Does
life even matter?
Knowing Christ as personal Lord and
Savior changes the way someone thinks about these
big topics. It transforms their perspective on
time, on resources, on career, on the kind of
person they want to marry or the kind of spouse
they want to be. It does this because to know
Jesus truly is to invite Him to be the authority
in life. Everything changes as we learn from
Him.
Coming to Jesus begins with learning that
Christ died for sins once and for all, the
righteous (that's Him) for the unrighteous (that's
us), to reconcile us to God (1 Peter 3:18) - and
responding to that. Simply having a head knowledge of
this is not equal to believing it, trusting it,
and being happily yoked to the one who offers us
all this.
We all know people who are trying to
unscramble the riddle of their lives, putting the
pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together as best they
can, and we've all been in the same position. But
until we are willing to learn from God, the pieces
will not fit. But now we can truly know God, not
because of our intellectual prowess but because God
chooses to make Himself known through the truth of
His word.
Are you willing to learn from Jesus in
every area of your life? Do you see it as a
privilege, and not a burden, to follow His teaching and
place yourself under His authority? Be sure to
seize every opportunity to learn gospel truth, and
may it satisfy your heart's longings and
transform your life day by day. [Truth for Life by
Alistair Begg]
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Human nature is ever struggling for
expression, ready for contest; but he who learns of
Christ is emptied of self, of pride, of love of
supremacy, and there is silence in the soul. Self is
yielded to the disposal of the Holy Spirit. Then we
are not anxious to have the highest place. We
have no ambition to crowd and elbow ourselves
into notice; but we feel that our highest place
is at the feet of our Saviour. We look to
Jesus, waiting for His hand to lead, listening for
His voice to guide.... MB14-16
There are many whose hearts are aching under
a load of care because they seek to reach the
world's standard. They have chosen its service,
accepted its perplexities, adopted its customs. Thus
their character is marred, and their life made a
weariness.... He bids them seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness, and His promise is that
all things needful to them for this life shall
be added.... Our heavenly Father has a thousand
ways to provide for us, of which we know nothing.
Those who accept the one principle of making the
service and honor of God supreme will find
perplexities vanish, and a plain path before their
feet.... DA328-332
LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS PASSAGE
Matthew 11:28-30 - Come to Christ and Find
Real Rest!
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2020/20201121-0955.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
Most Important Decision in Life:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/WGnEuGwvXqU?rel=0
A Man without Equal by Bill Bright:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVa7UoruIo
Steps to Peace by Billy Graham:
https://stepstopeace.org/
Seeking God Made Real:
http://vimeo.com/31489782
Prayer Made Real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8VdMV26VE
LINKS FOR BIBLE STUDIES
Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies:
http://www.liftingupjesus.net/
Amazing Facts Bible Studies:
http://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/bible-study-guides.aspx
Voice of Prophecy Discover Bible Study
Guides:
https://www.voiceofprophecy.com/study/discover
Glow Tract Video Bible Studies:
http://www.bibleresearch.info/
LINKS FOR BIBLE PROPHECY SEMINARS
Unlocking Bible Prophecies by Cami Oetman of
Adventist World Radio: https://www.awr.org/bible
Panorama of Prophecy with Pastor Doug
Batchelor: https://www.panoramaofprophecy.com/
Hope Awakens by John Bradshaw of IIW:
https://itiswritten.tv/programs/hope-awakens
Prophecies Decoded by Pastor Ron Clouzet:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A435C5373550657
Islam and Christianity in Prophecy, The
Third and Final Conflict by Tim Roosenberg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHSJB-fuHLU&list=PLWhQIHGTHlkaGg5Cwe3NDzWtFX8vNSpsE
