Sermon25-34 Mt11 Guide

Mt 11:25-30 theme verse Mt 11:29-30

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this twenty nineth Sunday of 2025, on Pentecost Sunday, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, we looked at who the church is, yet this week, we would like to look at what the obligation of the Saints is together.

1)    First, to look at the context of today's text, after he explains Jesus’ birth and growth in chapters 1-2, in chapter 3, Matthew introduces John the Baptist's testimony about the Messiah, and then in chapters 4-10, he introduces the public ministry of Jesus Christ. In these seven chapters, he says that Jesus declared that he is the Messiah, the Christ that Israel was waiting for, and he records that he demonstrated his authority and revealed his personality while teaching as the new teacher of the law. Then in the chapter 11 and 12, he introduces the response of the leaders of Israel to Jesus, and Matthew testifies that they rebelled against Christ. First, when John the Baptist was imprisoned, he misunderstood Jesus’ teaching, I mean, when Jesus read Isaiah 61:1-2, yet in verse 2, instead of reading “To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,” John did not catch Jesus only read “the year of the Lord’s favor” which is about the graceful salvation in His first coming, and did not read “the day of vengeance of our God” which represents His final judgment in His second coming. So, when he was imprisoned, he thought that Jesus would not only grant the grace of salvation but also judgment. But as He did not rescue him, his faith wavered. However, our Lord reminded him of the Old Testament prophecies about the ministry of the Messiah to recover his faith. And then in the following verses 11:20-24, he rebuked those who did not repent, even though He had shown His power. And then, in today’s text of 11:25-30, He invited them into the salvation once again.

2)    I mean, after our Lord rebuked three cities, Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum, which is called the Gospel Triangle where He performed the most miracles, for not repenting, He said that it was the Father's will to hide the truth of salvation from those who think themselves wise and intelligent, yet to reveal it to little children, and then He proclaim the Gospel invitation that, "Come to me, all 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."

3)    By the say, through three imperative sentences in the invitation to the gospel of the Lord, we can find three duties as His disciples. I mean, first, we have to come to the Lord first in response to the Lord’s calling. And then secondly, we have to learn from the Lord, as our Lord tells us to learn meekness and humility from Him. Yet, the reason why our Lord did not tell us to study the Bible more or to bear the fruit of the Spirit, but said to learn the meekness and humility as His characters is because even though we have been born again, truth does not exist within us, rather the flesh, that is, sinfulness, still remains within us. Here, the humility refers to the mind that realizes there is nothing to rely on in oneself, so relies totally onto God. Therefore, since true truth is in the Lord, we have to have the attitude to learn from the Lord. And also, the character of the Holy Spirit is not something that is achieved by changing or uplifting of our virtues, rather, as we die every day and live under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the character of the Holy Spirit is actually revealed in our lives so that it becomes our character gradually. And also the meekness refers to the attitude ready to obey the Lord’s commands, so that when we obey the Lord’s words and guidance, we can bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we can say that humility and meekness are the goals of Christian growth. That’s why Romans 8:29 says, “He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son.” And finally, the Lord tells us to take up His yoke with the humility of relying entirely on God and the meekness of being ready to obey God.

4)    And the Lord's yoke in today's text, among many things, means, the yoke that the Lord has given us is to build His church. In detail, first, as in Ephesians 4:3, I believe that we have to diligently keep the unity of the Spirit. Secondly, as in Ephesians 4:16, I believe that we have to build His church in love. And lastly, as in Ephesians 4:12, I believe that we have to diligently equip up the saints.

5)    And then the second is about the responsibility for God's creation world. I mean, the first is regarding the Great Commission which our Lord commanded His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 that "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” As such, we Christians have the responsibility to make disciples of all nations, baptize them, and teach them to obey everything the Lord has commanded us. And the second is regarding the cultural mandate as God commanded in Genesis 1:28, after God created man and woman, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” As such 2e have the responsibility to help all people and nature in the world achieve God's purpose for them, and the ministry of mercy is one of them.

6)    As such, regarding the obligations of the Saints who became to belong to church, Belgic confession article 28 confesses that “We believe that since this holy assembly and congregation is the gathering of those who are saved and there is no salvation apart from it, people ought not to withdraw from it, content to be by themselves, regardless of their status or condition. But all people are obliged to join and unite with it, keeping the unity of the church by submitting to its instruction and discipline, by bending their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ, and by serving to build up one another, according to the gifts God has given them as members of each other in the same body. And to preserve this unity more effectively, it is the duty of all believers, according to God's Word, to separate themselves from those who do not belong to the church, in order to join this assembly wherever God has established it, even if civil authorities and royal decrees forbid and death and physical punishment result. And so, all who withdraw from the church or do not join it act contrary to God's ordinance.”

7)    However, since the Belgic Confession exhorted that “You must not separate from the congregation” or “It is the duty of all faithful believers to join the congregation that God has created, even if the king or the government opposes it or if death or physical punishment is imposed,” or “Anyone who retreats from the church violates God’s commandment,” so these exhortation may cause some discomfort to modern people who value freedom a lot. However, I think that if we might know what the amazing is to become a member of His church, we may accept the responsibility we bear as church members more joyfully. I mean, firstly, if we become a member of the church, it means we can experience a mystic union with Christ through the Word and the Holy Spirit, and secondly, if we participate in His worship, we can enjoy and receive the glory of God which is reflected in that worship, and thirdly, the Bible, the Word of God, allows us to experience the Word of righteousness, and praying makes us enjoy the intimacy with God through prayer, and finally, in the church, we can enjoy the fellowship with the Triune God and the saints, so if we understand all these amazing benefits, we will be able to see that the responsibility is rather an invitation to His amazing grace.

8)    That’s why our Lord says in verses 29 and 30 that “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and light.” The reason why He said His yoke is easy and light is because, first, there is prepared an amazing grace that surpasses our labor, dedication, and suffering. Secondly, if we have a humble and gentle heart, we cannot do it with our own ability, rather with His power as we rely on the Lord’s grace, and also when the Lord leads us, we completely obey to Him. So that as Galatians 2:20 says that “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me,” it is not I who work with my own strength, but the Lord who works with His power. Therefore, He said that His yoke is light and easy. And also that’s why 2 Corinthians 12:10 says that “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, I am strong.

9)    Therefore, we hope that when the Lord calls us, we can come to Him, learn from Him, and bear His yoke, uniting with Him in complete grace, and enjoy the glory of worship, the righteousness of the Word, the intimacy of prayer, and the joy of fellowship. As it is written in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” we hope that we can all endure all these things with the grace of the Lord. So I pray that this year, we all learn the humility and meekness of Christ, are filled with the power of the Lord, and enjoy the joy of the Lord by fulfilling the mission of the Lord.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that we have responsibility in church that we have to grow and proclaim the Gospel to the world and participate in the mission of God to recover His creation. So, meditating on these responsibilities and whether we are bearing them well, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And, also our Lord said that when we rely on the Lord totally and obey to Him, then His yoke is easy and light. So after reviewing if we rely on God and obey to God in humility and meekness, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.