Rest in Christ (Matthew 11:28–30)

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
– Matthew 11:28–30

Oh, there is so much to just soak in these verses that we don’t have time for. But I just want to summarize, how is this possible? How is following Jesus with all the costs of following Jesus? How is it easy, and how is the burden of following Jesus in this fallen world? How is that light? And I just want to give you two truths to hopefully encourage you today and lead us to pray based on what Jesus is saying here.

Matthew 11:28–30 pictures Jesus as the source of our sustaining power.

Here’s the first truth. Jesus’ yoke is easy for you because you have Jesus’ supernatural power in you. The whole picture here of a yoke is basically a stronger ox helping a weaker ox along, doing the work. The reality is you’re in the yoke with Jesus, the image of the invisible God, the infinite source of peace, and wisdom, and love, and strength. And he’s not just beside you, he is inside you.

So you’ve been filled with the Spirit of God with supernatural comfort, John 14. With supernatural strength, Philippians 4. With supernatural wisdom, James 1. With supernatural victory over temptation, Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 10. You have in you the power of Jesus in this fallen world. And I just want to encourage you with that today, to rest in who he is and all of his resources that are available to you today. You are not on your own in this fallen world.

You have Jesus’ supernatural power inside you.

Matthew 11:28–30 points to obedience as a delight.

And, so here’s the second truth: his burden is light. When you realize how lovely Jesus is and how much he loves you, which means obeying him and walking with him is not a burden, it’s a delight. Just like I think about my wife, I think she’s lovely and I love sharing life with her. That doesn’t feel like a burden to me. Didn’t feel like a burden when I was dating her, when I was flirting with her. It was just what my heart wanted to do. And 25 plus years of marriage later, it’s all the more true.

And if that’s the case with my wife, who is not perfect, how much more so with Jesus, who is perfectly lovely and who loves me perfectly, who loves you perfectly? So walk in love relationship with him today, and obeying Jesus doesn’t become a burden. It becomes a blessing.

Yes, it’s not a heavy burden to pray; no, we get to pray. We get to talk with God about everything going on in our lives. And he hears us and he answers our prayers according to his wisdom, and his power, and his love. And it’s not like reading the Bible is a burden. We want to hear what he says. We want to hear his word that leads us to life, and we want to obey his word, trusting that it leads us to life.

This verse teaches us to rest in Christ’s love.

So God, I just pray these verses over every single one of our lives, that we would rest in your love for us. That we would rest in your resources in us amidst whatever we’re facing today, oh God. Whatever we’re walking through in our lives all day long, help us to just walk in the yoke with you, your Spirit inside of us, your strength in us, your help in us, your wisdom leading and guiding us, your peace guarding our hearts and minds, your joy superseding whatever circumstances we face.

And God, we pray that you would help us to see the blessing that comes in being in the yoke with you, to enjoy the full, abundant life that you have made possible for us, to not be pulled in by the temptations of this world that pull us away from the life we have in you.

And God help us to lead others to life in you. Help us to encourage others who are following you, and help us to point people who don’t know you to the life, and the rest, for the freedom from sin and abundance of life that they can have in you. We pray that you would give us boldness to share the gospel around us today. And we pray God for the spread of the gospel, the good news of your rest, of your salvation, of your yoke that’s easy and your burden that’s light, to the ends of the earth.

Prayer for the Tai Laing People

God, we pray specifically for the Tai Laing people of Myanmar, for 115,000 of them in this Buddhist people group. Lord, for our brothers and sisters among the Tai Laing people. I think about being in Myanmar not that long ago. God, please bless your church there. Please bless those brothers and sisters there as they’re walking through such challenging days in their country.

And God, we pray, we pray that the Tai Laing people would be reached, I just think about it in the middle of war, God, to be reached with the good news of rest for their souls in Jesus. May it be so, we pray, oh God, all this according to your word in Matthew 11:28–30, which we love. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.