Teaching Text

matthew 11:25-30

“At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and 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 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.

“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.”

Sermon Recap

This Sunday, Pastor Jon concluded the “Come to Me” series by addressing the question, “why Jesus?”

Pastor Jon pointed to something worth noticing in the broader culture. The confident secularism of the last few decades has started to lose its footing, as a watered-down faith is becoming not worth the hassle. The Christianity that is quietly growing is not a therapeutic, accommodating one, it is the traditional, costly, and fully committed one. From Daddy Yankee to Harvard professors, people are finding their way to Jesus, and it is worth asking why. Pastor Jon offered three reasons to come.

The first is longing. When Pastor Jon first encountered Christianity, he experienced it as a moral framework he wasn't good at and had little interest in, however, he was someone who wanted the most out of life, and that turned out to be the actual entry point. We live in a culture constantly discipling our wants, promising satisfaction and then falling short. The phenomenon has a name: “miswanting,” the gap between what we think will make us happy and what actually does. Jesus doesn't shame us for our desires. He wants to save us from miswanting, to dethrone the lesser loves we've been chasing with the love we always actually wanted.

The second is forgiveness. Pastor Jon walked through a gallery of people Jesus forgave, and noted that Jesus specializes in this. He urged that there is no sin you have committed that Jesus will not forgive.

The third is rest. Not the kind that comes from a good night's sleep, but spiritual rest, the kind where you can finally exhale and live freely. Most people in New York are physically exhausted, but the deeper exhaustion is spiritual. Jesus’s invitation in Matthew 11 is not to a system or a philosophy. It is to a person. Jesus is not a framework you master. He is someone you come to, and keep coming to.

Resources

• Free to Thrive by Ben Bennett and Josh McDowell

• Sacred Rest by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith