Come to Me and I Will Give You Rest

In one paragraph

This message followed Jesus and John the Baptist through a stretch of Matthew 11 and its parallel in Luke 7, landing finally on Jesus' invitation to the weary to take His yoke and find rest. The thread running through it was the question of expectation: what we think God is supposed to do, and what we do when He does something different. Pastor Carl closed with the plain offer Jesus makes to...

Read together

1. Matthew 11:2-19 primary passage on John the Baptist's relationship to the kingdom
2. Luke 7:18-35 parallel account of John's disciples questioning Jesus
3. Matthew 4 Jesus withdrawing to Galilee after hearing John was imprisoned, settling in Capernaum
4. Luke 3 John the Baptist's message about the coming one, the winnowing fork, and baptism
5. Psalm 118 blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, applied to the coming one
6. Zechariah Yahweh himself identified as the coming one
7. Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses foretelling God raising up a prophet whose words God would put in his mouth
8. John 6 crowd identifying Jesus as the prophet, the tacheb, who is to come into the world
9. Malachi 4:5 promise to send Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord
10. Habakkuk 2 the vision is for the appointed time, though it delays wait for it
11. Malachi 3:1 the Lord sending his messenger to clear the way before him
12. Daniel 7:13 one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven to the ancient of days
13. Luke 4 Jesus reading Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth and declaring it fulfilled
14. Isaiah 61 the Spirit of the Lord anointing Jesus to bring good news to the poor and recovery of sight to the blind
15. Matthew 17 disciples asking why scribes say Elijah must come first, Jesus saying Elijah has already come as John the Baptist
16. Malachi 4 promise to send Elijah, his message turning hearts of fathers to children
17. John 15-16 upper room discourse on the Holy Spirit convicting of sin and illuminating scripture
18. Galatians if we walk by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit
19. Jeremiah 6 stand by the ways, ask for the ancient paths, walk in the good way and find rest for your souls
20. 1 John 1:9 confessing sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness
21. 1 John 5 his commandments are not burdensome
22. Philippians 2 Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped

Talk about it

1. John the Baptist had been faithfully preaching and pointing people to Jesus, yet sitting in prison he sent word asking, 'Are you the coming one, or should we look for someone else?' Have you ever reached a point where, despite knowing what you believed to be true, circumstances pushed you toward doubt? What did that feel like, and what did you do with it?
2. Jesus responded to John's disciples by saying, 'Go and report to John what you hear and what you see,' pointing to what was actually happening rather than to what John may have expected. The sermon noted that those who had preconceived ideas about what the Messiah would do missed the blessing entirely. Are there ways our own expectations of how God should work cause us to miss what He is actually doing?
3. Jesus read from Isaiah 61 in his first public sermon and then sat down before reaching the verse about the day of vengeance. The sermon asked whether we are living like people who want to share God's grace with those still outside, or like people who are simply glad we made it in and want God to be done with everyone else. How does that land with you honestly?
4. Jesus warned the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum that having seen his miracles and not repenting put them in a worse position than Tyre, Sidon, and even Sodom. The sermon applied this to church people who have grown up around God's Word and seen Him work. What do you think it looks like in everyday life when someone knows better but is not doing better?
5. The sermon closed on Jesus' invitation in Matthew 11: 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.' It was pointed out that for Christians, one of the hardest things is actually accepting that his burden is light, and that if we are still carrying our sin debt, we may not have truly handed it over. What makes it hard to let go of that weight, and what does it practically look like to stay yoked to Jesus rather than pulling ahead or dragging behind?