Standing Invitation

Matthew 11: Taking the Kingdom by Force (6)

Pray Psalm 84.8-12.
O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
O God, behold our shield,
And look upon the face of Your anointed.
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
O LORD of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!

Sing Psalm 84.8-12.
Holy Manna: Brethren, We Have Met to Worship
LORD of hosts, my prayer receiving, hear me, help me by Your grace! 
In Your courts I stand believing; turn to me Your glorious face! 
LORD, our sun, our shield, our glory, no good thing will You deny 
to those who proclaim Your story, and who on Your grace rely.

Read Matthew 11.1-30; meditate on verses 25-30.
What does Jesus imply by the idea of taking His “yoke” upon you?

Prepare.
1. How can someone come to the Father?

2. How can we have our burdens lifted and know peace and rest?

Meditate.
Jesus offers a prayer of thanksgiving to His Father (vv. 25, 26). He doesn’t withdraw to pray; instead, He simply gives thanks before all the people around Him. It seems to me as if Jesus’ running conversation with His Father, which must have been continuous, broke through here for a moment, giving us a glimpse into His prayer life which points back to “these things” He talked about in this chapter: Is He the Messiah? How does one enter the Kingdom? How do we avoid the judgment of God? We’re reminded that such “hidden things” are revealed to those who receive them like babes, trusting, without having to figure everything out.

Jesus explains that God has given “all things” into His care and authority, and He reveals them to whomever He will (v. 27), to those who are humble in faith and obedience. 

Jesus is with us as we take up the work of the Kingdom, walking and directing and sharing in every step (vv. 28-30). We must join with Him in the “easy” yoke of obedience to God’s Word, keeping our eyes on every next step and sowing the good seed of the Kingdom. Gentle and lowly like Him, we will do our work faithfully, bearing our burdens with joy, and laboring to prepare our Personal Mission Field for His Kingdom. The rest we seek, and the relief from all tedium, trouble, and tumult, comes from joining Jesus in His work of restoring the world for the Kingdom of God.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Jesus not only revealed “all things” that the Father delivered to Him; 
but He also said that He would reveal God to us, as well.
“…no one knows the Son except the Father. 
Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, 
and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matt. 11.27).

It seems Solomon also had a “running conversation” with God. 
When he had finished leading the assembly of Israel in prayer, “he stood and blessed all the assembly.” 
His desire was to reveal the Father to the people—as was Jesus’ desire. So, with a loud voice, he said:
Blessed be the LORD, Who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. 
There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses. 
May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. 
May He not leave us nor forsake us, 
that He may incline our hearts to Himself, 
to walk in all His ways, and 
to keep His commandments and statutes and His judgments, 
which He commanded our fathers. And 
may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, 
be near the LORD our God day and night, 
that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, 
as each day may require, 
that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; 
there is no other. 
Let your heart therefore be loyal to the LORD our God, 
to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day” (1 Kgs. 8.56-61).

Our job, then, is to keep His Law, and to do His will, 
by which we proclaim the goodness of God, and His sovereign rule in His Kingdom. Over us.

Jesus has willed to reveal the “Hallowed Father, LORD of heaven and earth” to us (Matt. 6.9; 11.25).

Making sure that we, like Solomon’s assembly, understand what the will of the Father is for us.
His will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6.10). Always. And to follow Jesus to the end.

It’s very cut and dried. Very clear. Not at all obtuse, or hard to fathom. 
And why ever would we not want to follow this One Who says to us: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11.28)?

“I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them” (Hos. 11.4). 

This is the One we can confidently invite those in our Personal Mission Field to follow: 
through repentance, forgiveness, and newness of life (2 Cor. 5.17).

It is a standing invitation from the LORD JESUS.
RSVP.
And bring a gift.

Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.
(Isaac Watts, 1707)

Reflect.
1. In your Personal Mission Field, are you “in the yoke” with Jesus? Explain.

2. Why must we go through Jesus to improve our knowledge of God the Father?

3. What, in one sentence, is the Gospel?

You are to “take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me.” You are not learning from Me how to refashion the fabric of the world, nor to create all things visible and invisible, nor to work miracles and raise the dead. Rather, you are simply learning of Me: “that I am meek and lowly in heart.” If you wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level. If you are trying to construct some mighty edifice in height, you will begin with the lowest foundation. This is humility. Augustine (354-430), Sermon 69.2

Pray Psalm 84.1-7.
Pray for strength, that you may be a living sacrifice for the Lord today in your Personal Mission Field.

Sing Psalm 84.1-7.
Holy Manna: Brethren, We Have Met to Worship
LORD of hosts, how sweet Your dwelling; how my soul longs for Your courts! 
Let my soul with joy keep telling of Your grace forevermore. 
Like a bird upon the altar, let my life to You belong. 
Blessed are they who never falter as they praise Your grace with song! 

Blessed are they whose strength is founded in Your strength, O LORD above. 
All whose hearts in You are grounded journey in Your strength and love. 
Though they weep with tears of sadness, grace shall all their way sustain. 
In Your Presence, filled with gladness, they shall conquer all their pain.

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

We invite you to join us in ReThinking Church. We explain further at our ReThinking Church page, here.

Other columns of interest: This week: The Read Moore podcast continues readings from our book, The Kingdom Turn. Our Crosfigell teaching letter presses ahead in a series on the state of the Church in Europe at the time of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column begins to examine the hope for the church, especially struggling churches. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.