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Matthew 11:28, 29 - The Invitation Of All Invitations.

Matthew 11:28, 29 (NIV) "Come to me, all you 
who are weary and burdened, and I will give you 
rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is 
easy and my burden is light." 

COMMENTARY PEARL

Rest For The Weary
   Few people know how to rest these days. 
Even on vacation, many people rush to cram in as 
much as they can before returning to their jobs, 
where they spend twice as much energy catching up 
on the work and mail that has piled up in their 
absence. Many of us need vacations just to rest from 
our vacations! Perhaps we have been looking for 
rest in the wrong places. 
   Jesus said "Come to me ... and I will 
give you rest." Like peace, rest and contentment 
can be found only in one place, from one source, 
and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. 
   Jesus gives us the ultimate rest, the 
confidence we need, to escape the frustration and chaos 
of the world around us. Rest in Him, and don't 
worry about what lies ahead. Jesus Christ has 
already taken care of tomorrow. 
   How do you handle weariness: a cup of 
coffee, a power nap, or a weekend away?  These 
things, at best, offered temporary rest for our 
bodies.  What Christ offers is rest for our souls; 
we just need to come to Him. [Hope for Each Day 
by Billy Graham] 

COMMENTARY

   Whenever you receive invitations, you 
probably find yourself asking the same sorts of 
questions: Who is it from? Who is It for? Why does It 
matter? This verse presents one of the loveliest 
invitations in the whole of the New Testament - but to 
understand it best, we must ask those same questions. 
   First, this is a personal invitation. It 
is not an invitation to a program, nor is it an 
invitation to a religion or philosophy to be included 
alongside Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, New 
Age-ism, humanism, or any other "ism" that may be 
found among today's worldviews. It is an 
invitation from Jesus Himself. He is bidding each of 
us, "Come to me." 
   The significance of the invitation lies 
in who is issuing it. In the Gospels, Jesus 
declares who He is: the Messiah, the Savior of the 
world, the Son of God (see John 4:25-26; 1 John 
4:14). By virtue of this identity Jesus could 
command a response - but instead, He extends an 
invitation. 
   And who does He invite to come? "All who 
labor and are heavy laden." This invitation is 
all-inclusive. It doesn't single out a certain group among 
a larger group but describes all of humanity. 
Each of us needs to hear these words, because 
there's not one person who isn't figuratively 
pushing around a wheelbarrow filled with all the 
cares, responsibilities, fears, and failures that 
make up his or her life. 
   Why does all this matter? Jesus invites 
us to find "rest for your souls." He's speaking 
in eternal terms of a rest that never fails. 
He's beckoning us towards a banquet, and He 
doesn't even ask us to provide the clothes. We show 
up for the banquet just the way we are. God 
takes all the "Here are my good deeds" clothes 
that so many of us like to dress up in, calls 
them rags, and tosses them aside. He takes all 
the "I'm so bad and messed up that there's no 
hope" clothes and tosses them aside too. In their 
place, He covers us over with "the robe of 
righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10), which is provided by Jesus 
Christ Himself. We can rest from our striving to 
make something of ourselves or to earn heaven for 
ourselves when we come to Jesus and receive all we 
need, and could ever need, from Him. 
   This is the invitation of all 
invitations. Today, for the first or the thousandth time, 
bring your burdens to Him. Receive His rest. 
      Just as I am, without one plea 
      But that Thy blood was shed for me 
      And that Thou bidst me come to Thee-
      O Lamb of God, I come, I come. [Truth 
for Life by Alistair Begg] 

Jesus Wants to Share Your Burden
   I dont know what burden youre 
carrying. I dont know whats weighing you down. 
But I do know the answer to your trouble. 
   Jesus said, 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 RSV). 
   For many years, I never understood what 
Jesus meant when he said, Take my yoke upon 
you. It made me think, Lord, do you want to 
give me something else to deal with? My burden is 
heavy enough already! I dont need to take your 
problems on me! 
   Then I learned that a yoke is a board 
with two arches, and its placed over two 
cattle so they can pull a cart. 
   The value of a yoke is that it cuts the 
load in half. Without a yoke, one cow has to pull 
the entire load by itself. But if you yoke up 
the cow with another cow, then the two animals 
pull the load together, making it half as heavy. 
   So, when Jesus tells you to take on his 
yoke, hes not saying hes going to give you 
his problems. Jesus doesnt have any problems! 
Hes saying hes going to share your problems. 
Hes going to share your load. Hes going to 
take your stress on himself and bear it with 
you. 
   Wow!
   Jesus uses three notable verbs in this 
Scripture: come, learn, and take. Its like Jesus 
said, Come team up with me so you can learn how 
I do it. Take on a lighter load that will 
reduce your stress and make your problems easier to 
navigate. 
   When youre yoked with Christ, you move 
together with him. You move in the same direction and 
at the same speed. You move in the right 
direction and at the right speed. And you move with a 
lighter burden. [Daily Devotional by Rick Warren: 
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/] 

An Opportunity To Learn
   What does a parent ask their children 
after they come home from school? 
   Some will ask, "Did you learn anything 
today?" But many more will say something like, "Did 
you have fun today?" 
   With regard to schooling, perhaps it does 
not matter much which question is asked and 
which priority is therefore being revealed. But 
the same question is often asked about church: 
Did we have fun at church today? Did we enjoy 
church? 
   Instead, we should be asking, "What are 
we learning of and from Jesus?" 
   Jesus gives us the great privilege of 
having the opportunity to learn from Him. 
Throughout the Gospels, He speaks in a way that 
addresses life's big questions: Who am I? Where did I 
come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? Does 
life even matter? 
   Knowing Christ as personal Lord and 
Savior changes the way someone thinks about these 
big topics. It transforms their perspective on 
time, on resources, on career, on the kind of 
person they want to marry or the kind of spouse 
they want to be. It does this because to know 
Jesus truly is to invite Him to be the authority 
in life. Everything changes as we learn from 
Him. 
   Coming to Jesus begins with learning that 
Christ died for sins once and for all, the 
righteous (that's Him) for the unrighteous (that's 
us), to reconcile us to God (1 Peter 3:18) - and 
responding to that. Simply having a head knowledge of 
this is not equal to believing it, trusting it, 
and being happily yoked to the one who offers us 
all this. 
   We all know people who are trying to 
unscramble the riddle of their lives, putting the 
pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together as best they 
can, and we've all been in the same position. But 
until we are willing to learn from God, the pieces 
will not fit. But now we can truly know God, not 
because of our intellectual prowess but because God 
chooses to make Himself known through the truth of 
His word. 
   Are you willing to learn from Jesus in 
every area of your life? Do you see it as a 
privilege, and not a burden, to follow His teaching and 
place yourself under His authority? Be sure to 
seize every opportunity to learn gospel truth, and 
may it satisfy your heart's longings and 
transform your life day by day. [Truth for Life by 
Alistair Begg] 

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Human nature is ever struggling for 
expression, ready for contest; but he who learns of 
Christ is emptied of self, of pride, of love of 
supremacy, and there is silence in the soul. Self is 
yielded to the disposal of the Holy Spirit. Then we 
are not anxious to have the highest place. We 
have no ambition to crowd and elbow ourselves 
into notice; but we feel that our highest place 
is at the feet of our Saviour. We look to 
Jesus, waiting for His hand to lead, listening for 
His voice to guide.... MB14-16 

There are many whose hearts are aching under 
a load of care because they seek to reach the 
world's standard. They have chosen its service, 
accepted its perplexities, adopted its customs. Thus 
their character is marred, and their life made a 
weariness.... He bids them seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, and His promise is that 
all things needful to them for this life shall 
be added.... Our heavenly Father has a thousand 
ways to provide for us, of which we know nothing. 
Those who accept the one principle of making the 
service and honor of God supreme will find 
perplexities vanish, and a plain path before their 
feet.... DA328-332 

LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS PASSAGE

Matthew 11:28-30 - Come to Christ and Find 
Real Rest! 

http://www.abible.com/devotions/2020/20201121-0955.html 

YOUR COMMENTS

If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or 
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either 
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in 
hearing from you.  Thanks in advance and let's keep 
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred 
Gibbs  

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT

Most Important Decision in Life: 
http://www.youtube.com/embed/WGnEuGwvXqU?rel=0 

A Man without Equal by Bill Bright: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVa7UoruIo 

Steps to Peace by Billy Graham: 
https://stepstopeace.org/ 

Seeking God Made Real: 
http://vimeo.com/31489782 

Prayer Made Real: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8VdMV26VE 

LINKS FOR BIBLE STUDIES 

Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies: 
http://www.liftingupjesus.net/ 

Amazing Facts Bible Studies: 
http://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/bible-study-guides.aspx  

Voice of Prophecy Discover Bible Study 
Guides: 
https://www.voiceofprophecy.com/study/discover 

Glow Tract Video Bible Studies: 
http://www.bibleresearch.info/ 

LINKS FOR BIBLE PROPHECY SEMINARS

Unlocking Bible Prophecies by Cami Oetman of 
Adventist World Radio: https://www.awr.org/bible 

Panorama of Prophecy with Pastor Doug 
Batchelor: https://www.panoramaofprophecy.com/  

Hope Awakens by John Bradshaw of IIW: 
https://itiswritten.tv/programs/hope-awakens 

Prophecies Decoded by Pastor Ron Clouzet: 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A435C5373550657  

Islam and Christianity in Prophecy, The 
Third and Final Conflict by Tim Roosenberg: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHSJB-fuHLU&list=PLWhQIHGTHlkaGg5Cwe3NDzWtFX8vNSpsE