Sonny Lallerstedt

God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.

Pray and worship through Philippians 4:4-8. May this be a great blessing for you as you journey through these verses!

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

“Come to me, all you 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.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Yesterday we talked about the first three words of this scripture, “Come to me”. Let’s settle into the rest of this passage. Jesus focuses on “I will give you rest.” We could stop right there! I’ll take it! I think we all would. We need to understand what we need rest from. And, how do we experience true rest? It’s great to get away to the beach, go to another part of our country, or the world. We get back home and wind up right where we started from. We just escaped. We never really found rest. We just enter back into the life that we left for a little bit.

So what is Jesus saying in this scripture? It’s not physical rest, although we need that too. Jesus is talking about a real condition inside of us. The root of unrest for all who are “weary and burdened”. It’s for everyone in the world! I think it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. You’ve heard about the fall of man in the garden… eating the fruit God said not to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Sin entered this world and we’ve been covering things up, and trying to fix things on our own ever since. If we do what we think is good, it makes us feel better. But, it really doesn’t and it won’t take care of the sin problem in us either. So God gave Commandments for us to live by. Not just the Ten, but many more, including the sacrifices necessary to live in the presence of a Holy God.

Enter the Pharisees living in Jesus’ time. The “yoke of the Pharisees” is the burdensome yoke of self-righteousness and legalistic law-keeping (from gotquestions.org). They were adding their own laws and burdens to what was written in the scriptures. I’ve read that there were over 600 additions! Just the things you weren’t allowed to do on the Sabbath were making folks “weary and burdened”. The people couldn’t live it out, much less keep up with all the new policies and procedures. I guess the extra burdens made the Pharisees feel like they were doing more for God.

The heart of Jesus is to heal, to set free, to give life to all who would ask. When He saw all the people he had great compassion for them. He said they were like sheep without a shepherd. I can see Jesus saying this scripture to them.

What if Jesus were standing in front of you right now? If He looked right at you, called your name, and said these words to you, would you take Him at His word? Remember who’s talking to you. The Ancient of Days! The First and the Last! The Creator or All! He is all authority, and yet He invites you into this in the kindest of ways. With all His Lovingkindness which is intended to lead you into repentance. Repentance from doing life on your own. Receive these words from Jesus Himself:

“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.”

Reflect on Romans 8:2,6 below.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

6 For the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace.

Reflection:

1. How was it to hear Jesus invite you into this truth?
2. What are you willing to learn from Him?

“…and you will find rest for your souls.”

Receive Jesus’ prayer for you in John 17:20-23.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

I just can’t get passed the first three words of Jesus in this passage, “Come to me…” He is always inviting us into life with Him!

A few years back, Becky and I got a cat. Bella stays outside during the day chasing all kinds of critters, but at night we always bring her into the house because of the coyotes that roam about. Around supper time, we call for her to come to us. Sometimes she’s out in the woods, sometimes up the driveway, or sometimes at the sidewalk right in front of the steps of the house. She’ll just stay where she is looking at us like we’re crazy, or that we’ve offended her… who knows what she’s thinking. We have food for her, shelter, and a place that’s prepared right next to Becky on the couch on a little blanket! But there’s great danger that she faces if she stays outside. Seems like she’s oblivious. Sometimes, she’ll come right in when we call. I’m always shocked!

How many times does Jesus invite us to come to Him, but it’s usually the last thing on our list. It seems many times we’ll go anywhere else and wait for a bad situation before we even think about coming to Him. There are many places we can find in scripture where Jesus gives the invitation to come.

Remember His invitation to the disciples? “Come, follow me…”

And there’s the invitation for His own people:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.” Luke 13:34 (NLT)

No wonder Jesus was known as a man of sorrows. He loves us with an everlasting love, yet many of us refuse His Lovingkindness. Why does He ask us to come to Him? I think one reason is we’re carrying things that were never intended for us to bear. Sin. Death. Things that others would want to put on us that are weighty. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.

Another big reason He calls us is to save us from ourselves. It’s the completed work of Jesus on the cross. Romans 10:13 says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD will be saved.” He has called us, and we can call upon His name. Here’s His Lovingkindness again!

I’m really looking forward to this next one. I believe this call will happen very soon.

“According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. (NKJV)

Jesus is saying to us, for so many reasons, “Come to me”.

Reflection:

1. Can you remember a time in your life when you heard the words from Jesus “Come to me”?
2. In what ways has He invited you to Himself?
3. How has coming to Jesus changed you?

Prayer:

Father, May we have spiritual ears to hear Your Spirit when You call us. Your sheep hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. May we recognize that voice when He says “Come to me”. May we have ears to hear what Your Spirit says to this church. In Jesus’ name!

God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.

Lovingkindness in us! Yesterday we mentioned changing from our own mind to having the mind of Christ. How do we know this is actually happening in us? The Father’s lovingkindness brings us to repentance, we turn from being the god of our life, we receive Jesus payment on the cross for our sin, and we receive Jesus as our very life, our Lord.

Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (KJV)

He lives in me! He lives in you!

The author of the Word – The Bible, the One who spoke and creation came into being, the One who spoke and the seas calmed, the One who speaks to the dead and they rise to life, the One who with one word will end the battle of Armageddon and the 7-year tribulation. He has all authority! He is King of King’s and Lord of Lords! He lives in us! He lives in us in the person of the Holy Spirit. When He comes in, things change!

Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (NKJV)

He changes us from the inside out! I used to go to Metro Bible Study and remember Dan DeHaan teaching about Paul. Dan would help us to think about Paul in prison. He would imagine Paul’s voice in a very dim cell being heard by other inmates, singing truth about Jesus… as it echoed down the halls of the jail late in the night.

It’s no longer I who live now, But Christ who liveth in me…
It’s no longer I who live now, But Christ who liveth in me!
In me, in me, it’s Christ who liveth in me,
It’s no longer I who live now, But Christ who liveth in me!

And through tears and probably through pain, but with great joy, Paul would sing it! Maybe over and over again…. and the other prisoners would hear the infectious song of lovingkindness…and some would come to repentance. The same Spirit that lives in Paul lives in us!

Paul says in Galatians 5:22-25 that kindness and goodness is from the one who IS lovingkindness. His Spirit gives to us not only to live in kindness and goodness, but as we live it out in the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember Agape Love that we mentioned earlier?

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39

The hesed, the very love that The Father loves us with is the same love that we’re to love Him with, as well as our neighbors. We can’t do this without the Spirit living in us! He has given His fruit to us to glorify the Father. May there be such lovingkindness in our lives that others will see, repent, and receive Jesus as their all in all!

Reflection:

1. How have you seen the mind of Christ changing you?
2. Do you see how His Spirit dwelling in you gives you the fruit of His Lovingkindness? Has it made a difference in how you love your neighbor?

Prayer:

Father, may we hear You ever so clearly in our heart, through Your word, and in Your Spirit. May we always live in the power of Your Spirit, and always be aware of Your presence. You never leave us or forsake us! Thank You that Your lovingkindness is better than life. May we glorify You as we love you completely and fully, and may we know more fully how we’re to love our neighbor in that very way. In Jesus’ name!