“The Good Pleasure of the Father in Jesus”
(Matthew 11:25-30)
Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]
Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD
First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida
June 30, 2019
The Passage
Matthew 11:25-30
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure. 27 All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Introductory Comments:
(prayer at end of Lord’s Supper)
Several years ago I started running in order to get in shape. I got kind of bored with running alone and I heard about this organization called, GORUCK. It’s a company that sells military inspired backpacks and created events to demonstrate how tough the backpacks are. I got into it and really started to enjoy it because of the variety of challenges and the unpredictability of the events, which kept me on my toes and stretched me in my fitness life. At one particular event, while wearing our backpacks filled with weight the instructors were also putting contractor bags filled with sand on each one of our shoulders and having us walk a fifty yard path. I looked ahead and saw the two sandbags that were coming towards me. I’m not a very big guy so I was hoping since the contractor bags were not all the same size that I would get some of the smaller ones. That did not happen. The two largest bags came up for me, and I was probably the smallest guy or one of the smallest guys there. I wasn’t a quitter, so I let them load me up and I set off. About half-way through I could feel one slipping off and there was nothing that I could do to stop it. It fell to the ground, so I started dragging it. The instructor saw it and yelled for some people to go help me. You see, GORUCK is all about teamwork, so these two guys came over and put it back on my shoulder and then helped balance it the rest of the way.
For me, the burden of carrying that sandbag was more than I could handle on my own. I needed someone to intervene.
In today’s message, we will see that God intervened in our lives. He did not leave us to ourselves. Those who are humble and seeking help from God will find it through Jesus. Jesus will come alongside us and help us with our burden
Be sure that you’ve turned in your Bibles to Matthew 11:25-30.
Let’s see what Jesus is saying to us in this passage.
Last week was a heavy passage. We saw where Jesus pronounced that there would be difficult judgment pronounced against those who did not believe and repent. Last week was a message of warning.
This week’s passage is a message of hope.
We’re going to discover three aspects of God the Father and Jesus the Son.
In seeing these three aspects, we’re also going to learn something of our salvation in Jesus Christ.
Let’s see first . . .
I. The pleasure of the Father (25-26) [on screen]
In Matthew’s record of these events, Jesus moves immediately from the condemnation of the towns who did not believe to a moment of prayer spent speaking to God the Father.
Look at verses 25-26.
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure.
Jesus is praising the Father. He is praising Him for something specific. Look again at verse 25.
Jesus is praising the Father for hiding the deep truths of the faith from the wise and intelligent of the world.
AND
Jesus is praising the Father for revealing the deep truths of the faith to infants.
Now, this takes some explaining.
First of all, this is not to say that if you are a follower of Jesus that you are not wise and intelligent. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. To be a follower of Jesus is to be truly wise and intelligent.
There is a self-proclaimed worldly wisdom and intelligence which can lead to arrogance, self-dependence, and false confidence. This type of wisdom and intelligence can lead people to think that they don’t need God, it can lead them to believe that the things of Jesus are foolish, and it can lead them straight to Hell.
For those who may not know what I’m saying, this basically means that there are people who think they’re smart, but they’re not really smart in God’s eyes.
Then, Jesus speaks of infants, or little children.
When Jesus speaks of infants, He speaks of those who are helpless on their own and are dependent on someone else. I have two children in my family who are pretty dependent. I have one who is becoming independent and is able to do a lot on his own. I even had him mowing the yard yesterday. However, he is still dependent on me and his mother quite a bit. Jesus speaks here of little children. Those who are utterly dependent upon someone else.
In contrast to the “wise and intelligent” of the world, who think they have it all figured out and don’t need God; Jesus says that the Father has revealed the truths of the kingdom of God to those who are like little children, who are like infants, who know that they need someone to help them.
Are you like the wise and the intelligent, or are you like the lowly infant? Do you think you have things figured out? Do you think that you’re good? Or, do you know that you need Jesus and His grace? Do you know that you’re only good through the blessings of Jesus?
Finally, we see in verse 26, that it was God’s will to do it this way. Jesus says, “This was your good pleasure.”
Part of the reason that Jesus is praising the Father is because this was His good pleasure. God wanted it this way, and His will is being accomplished. Jesus praises God that His good pleasure is being worked out.
Listen, church: it is the good pleasure of the Father that the kingdom of God would be revealed and manifested to those who are needy and dependent like little children; like infants.
The pleasure of God can be displayed in you, by you taking the mentality of a helpless person who desperately needs someone to come alongside you and pick you up, provide for you, and care for you.
No matter if you are a toddler, a ten-year-old, a teenager, a twenty-something, a toward-the-end-of-lifer, or anywhere in between, there is something within us that stems from our sin nature that makes us feel like we don’t need help, we’ve got it figured out, we are wise and intelligent all on our own. Don’t live that way!
Listen, the pleasure of the Father is that you would come to Him and say, “I need you! Help me!” When you do so, He will reveal the kingdom of God to you.
That is the good pleasure of the Father.
Second, we see . . .
II. The knowledge of the Father and the Son (27) [on screen]
Do you want to know God?
Here’s how. Look at verse 27. Listen to the words of Jesus:
27 All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
Jesus says this: God the Father has entrusted all things to me. Jesus is saying, “I hold the power and authority of the kingdom of God.”
This verse is very much like John 14:6 where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
He further says no one truly knows me except the Father. You see, the Father and the Son have a unique relationship and know each other in a way that we could never know either of them. They are bound together in their deity (their Godness) and in their nature.
Jesus goes on to say, no one truly knows the Father except the Son. However, He doesn’t stop there. This is the beautiful part of the Gospel: that we might know God. Jesus says, “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.”
There it is! There is the good news! Not merely that we could be saved from our sins, which is glorious in and of itself, but that through Jesus we might know God the Father!
If Jesus reveals the Father to us, then we can truly know God!
The knowledge of the Father and the Son can both be revealed to us, through Jesus Christ. If He opens our eyes, we can respond, we have the secrets of the kingdom of God revealed to us, and we can have God Himself revealed to us so that we might know Him.
God loves us so that we might love Him. As the song says, “Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me.”
Do you know Jesus? Do you know God the Father, through Jesus?
When Jesus reveals Himself and the Father to us, it changes our lives. We no longer have to carry the burden of sin and this world on our own.
That brings us to our final point, . . .
III. The yoke of the Son (28-30) [on screen]
First of all, what is a yoke? Some of you think you know. It’s the yellow part in the middle of an egg, right? [show image of egg yolk WITHOUT X on screen] Well, that’s a yolk, but not the kind we’re talking about. [show image of egg yolk WITH X on screen]
The kind of yoke that Jesus was referring to was a wooden device used to link two oxen together to help them pull a load or a burden. Here’s what that device looked like. [show image of yoke WITHOUT oxen on screen] Here’s what it looked like on a pair of oxen. [show image of yoke WITH oxen on screen]
You see, by using a yoke and linking the oxen together, the two were much stronger than the one. Pulling a heavy load was much easier with help.
Listen to what Jesus says in verses 28-30.
28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
First of all, Jesus says to come to Him and He will give us rest.
How many of you need rest from the troubles of the world and the curse of sin in your life? I know I do! I need the gift of rest from Jesus and He has said, “Come to me . . . and I will give you rest.”
Jesus says in last week’s passage that there is condemnation for those who do not repent, but He says in this week’s passage that there is rest for those who come to Him. There is hope for all of us who are weary and burdened.
Jesus then says, “Take up my yoke and learn from me.”
Jesus is essentially saying, “Join yourself to me. Let me carry some of the burden of life for you. Let me teach you the ways of God.”
Jesus says He will help us, He will give us rest, He will help us with the burden of living this life.
Remember, Jesus said only He can show us the Father. Well, Jesus says in verse 29, “Learn from me.” He wants to teach us about Himself and the Father. We must come to Him and learn from Him.
Jesus says He is lowly and humble.
Even though He could, He did not come proclaiming Himself to be wise and special. He came humbly and lowly. He came as a servant. He came offering blessing to others, rather than asking to be served and to have others bless Him.
Come to Jesus, because He is low and humble. He wants to give to you, He wants to bless you.
In Jesus, we will find rest for our souls.
We need rest from the curse of sin. We need rest from trying to be moral enough to be accepted by God. We need rest from the falsehoods of this world. We need rest from trying to impress other people. We need rest from the bitterness in our hearts. We need rest from the abuse from which we’ve suffered. We need rest from hurt we’ve suffered from others. We need rest from the hurt we’ve dealt to others. We need rest from false religion. We need rest from broken homes, broken churches, broken hearts, broken governments, broken relationships, broken minds, broken lives. We need rest for our souls.
Why will we find rest for our souls? Because Jesus’ yoke is easy and His burden is light.
It’s not to say that a life as a Christian is simple or easy, but it is to say that when you have Jesus, everything else doesn’t seem as heavy or burdensome in your life.
The blessings of being yoked to Jesus creates a new reality in us, which changes everything about us. We finally see true wisdom, we finally understand God the Father, we finally receive the rest we so desperately need, and we finally realize that the troubles of this world are light and easy compared to the glories of Jesus.
Concluding Thoughts:
Folks, we need to know God!
God wants to know us and He’s made it possible through Jesus.
That takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: God chose to reveal Himself to us and to bless us through Jesus. [on screen]
(repeat)
It’s through Jesus that we can know God. It’s through Jesus that we’re blessed by God. It’s through Jesus that we receive new life and rest for our souls.
Challenge yourself this week in the following ways:
Weekly Challenge: [on screen]
- Ask God to make you like an infant. [on screen]
Come to God needy and dependent.
Never try to be independent from God.
- Ask Jesus to reveal the Father to you. [on screen]
Jesus only reveals the Father to those whom He chooses to do so.
Ask Jesus to reveal more of God to you.
- Ask Jesus to give you His yoke. [on screen]
The yoke of Jesus is not lighter because it is less important or because He demands less from us. Jesus wants all of us! Jesus’ yoke is lighter because He helps us carry the burden!
His yoke is better and He carries the burden of sin. He carries the burden of fulfilling the law of God. He helps us carry the burden of this life.
Closing:
Look to Jesus, church!
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
Invitation Song – Speak to My Heart
Benediction:
If you have any sort of spiritual decision that you would like to make, you can contact me or our staff and we would be glad to talk to you anytime.
We have church promotional material for purchase in the hallway out to my right. We have t-shirts, coffee mugs, car magnets, and bumper stickers. We’re not making any money on this, but simply covering our costs so you all can represent our church in style.
Don’t forget about VBS! Register, invite, pray. It will be here soon!
Join us this Wednesday, July 3rd for a special service as we celebrate Independence Day as a country.
We will have a special guest speaker tonight. Jonathan Elwing pastors down in the Florida keys. He’s originally from Lakeland and will be joining us tonight to bring God’s Word. I hope you’ll join us at 5:30 PM for evening worship.
Let’s dismiss by singing the Doxology.
(Sing Doxology)
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