By Brother R. Michel Lankford
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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, NASB95
A dear and precious brother and friend, brought this YouTube video to my attention, and it illustrates very well how Scripture can be misused to create perverted theology if we allow it. It makes a very important point. I request your attention:
This is the perfect example of HOW NOT TO USE YOUR Bible. Brought to you courtesy of YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Q32xIyoeo&feature=channel_video_title
How to Apply the Bible INCORRECTLY
One of the easiest ways to incorrectly apply Scripture is
to take bits and pieces that you like and put them together. If one completely abandons and ignores the context in which Scripture is actually placed, then honestly one can adapt Scripture to say anything they want. This is a practice that I wholeheartedly DO NOT RECOMMEND, such a practice is destructive to both preacher and their listeners, but people still do it. Today's focal passage is one that often gets abused in this way. People especially love Matthew 11:28: "Come to me all who labor in our heavy laden and I will give you rest." Look at some of the FALSE statements that have been made using this verse as justification. I'm not going to name names, but how many of you have actually heard statements like these preached in your lifetime? See if any of these sound familiar when considering Matthew 11:28 without its context: 'It doesn't matter who you are, what you believe or how you're living, just come to Jesus, and He will give you rest.' Really? Is that what Scripture correctly says?
OR,
'I know how some of you are out There. Your sick and tired of your family. You're sick and tired of your job, your wife, your kids and your in-laws. Some of you are so angry and uptight you practically come home and bite the dog. Just come to Jesus and He will give you rest.
Those are just two examples, but whenever this passage is misrepresented, it is usually misrepresented in much the same way. Normally the minister will highlight a scenario where a person is weary, exhausted, frustrated and angry about their situation in life, and then using or rather misusing Matthew 11:28
as their justification, they will very often issue a blanket invitation that no matter how a person is living, all they need to do is just come to Jesus and He will fix everything. So what happens when this person goes to the front of the church, makes a commitment to Jesus Christ, they experience the joy and forgiveness for a short while, but their life is still very hard. Their bad habits still dominate them. Their relationships are not improving very quickly. Their boss is still a pain. What happens to a person's faith at that point? Well, speaking in the most general terms, what usually happens is that the person becomes heartsick because their hope and expectation was deferred. They were taught to believe and expect for a particular result because of what the preacher said, that result didn't happen (because that is not really what God actually promised in the first place), but now there are seeds of doubt and unbelief planted in a new believer's heart which make it harder for them to believe and obey God the next time. Beloved, that is the biggest problem with incorrect preaching. It creates beliefs and expectations which God did not actually promise, and when God does not fulfill those incorrect expectations, hope is deferred, and people's faith suffers damage. That's not good.
Remembering the Context
In as much as this is one of the most important promises in all of Scripture, It's easy to take some of these powerful Scriptures which we like and indeed need so much, and to use them as though they were stand-alone versus. The problem is that when we do this we can very often take things out of context and sometimes we can even neglect the meaning of what was actually said. So, let's refresh our memory as to what led up to this command:In Matthew 10:1-15
, Messiah is giving ministry instructions to His small group of 12 followers. First, by the Holy Spirit, Matthew describes exactly who these followers were (Matthew 10:1-5). Messiah then goes on to give instructions concerning how this small group is to carry out ministry. Please remember that these specific instructions were given prior to Messiah's death and resurrection (Matthew 10:6-15). In most cases, the instructions of God have A universal meaning, but in this case the instructions that were given were time sensitive. We know this because prior to Messiah becoming the atoning Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Messiah's followers were told not to go into the places of the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5-6), but after His earthly ministry was completed, after He was resurrected, and just prior to His ascension, Messiah then enlarged their ministry to include the entire world (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; cf. Ephesians 2). Even though the instructions of Matthew 10:6-15
do not precisely apply to us anymore since Matthew 28:18-20 is now in effect, there are still some principles that we can and should learn from Messiah's instructions (Romans 15:4), in this case, concerning the first harvest: 1. Genuine revival will always begin among God's people first. In our postmodern mass-market culture we are taught to think of success in terms of how many new people, how many new customers are we getting. However, in God's economy, revival is all about getting God's house in order before reaching to the rest of the world. That's why in any genuine and authentic revival you will first see the heart of believers returning to God and obeying His precepts before you ever see a mass arrival of new converts (Matthew 10:5-6
) 2. In a genuine revival the message will be constant: "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." Why does God ask His ministers to stick to that message? Quite frankly, because that's the one we always need, and the one we are most likely to forget. God's kingdom is a theocracy. Yahweh is in charge, not us. It's His kingdom, not ours. Remember that to repent literally means to change one's mind, to change one's purpose or intent, to change one's desires, and to change one's way of life away from sin and toward what is pleasing to God. As believers, we stand in constant need of repentance throughout our lives, so that message is never obsolete (Matthew 10:7
). 3. In a genuine revival and move of God, there will be signs and wonders. At the same time, it's critical to note that the signs and wonders will always coincide with, and will always address the real and concrete needs of the people. God does indeed do miracles, but almost without exception, His miracles will always point back to God, and they will always meet the concrete real needs of people. The legitimate gifts of the Spirit never point back to the Minister. They always focus on who God is, who Jesus is, and meeting the needs of the one who is receiving ministry (Matthew 10:8
cf. 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14). 4. In a genuine move of God, the ministers will operate on faith. That is to say, you don't take out a loan to raise an influx of cash so that you can do what God called you to do. Why do I make such a point of this? God does not entirely bless such a backward practice, because it violates Scripture. It's also an oxymoron. Think about it. The Bible is very clear that the one who borrows becomes a slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7
). So how can you affectively preach freedom, deliverance and salvation in Jesus Christ, but you are going to go into the slavery of debt in order to do ministry? No, you gather your support as you go, you build as you can afford to within your means, and you trust God to meet the needs as you go, but you don't put yourself in other people in bondage so you can preach freedom (Matthew 10:9-10). 5. In a genuine move of God, faithful ministers will not be jumping from pillar to post. It will stay where God sends them, and where the people are receptive. Faithful ministers are not constantly looking for where the grass is greener and opportunities seem greater. At the same time, if the people are not receptive, faithful ministers are not required to endlessly plead and try to force people into a blessing. There does come a time when faithful ministers must move on if the people are not receptive to the message after due diligence and effort has been employed (Matthew 10:11-13
). 6. Remember that ministers are called to be obedient to the Lord. The results are strictly between God and the individual, after the Minister has been faithful and obedient.
Our jobs as ministers is to be as faithful and obedient to the Lord as we can, and we should always be striving to improve. At the same time, we must remember that no matter how effectual we seek to be in ministry and service to the Lord, not everyone will accept the truth. The results after this are in God's hands, not ours.
In Matthew 10:16-39
, Messiah detailed some of the difficulties that genuine God followers would face. The apostles reminded us of the same principles in their writings (2 Timothy 3:12). We have been warned to expect it and not be surprised by it (1 Peter 4:12). In Matthew 10:40-42
, Messiah reminded his first followers of the rewards for faithful and obedient service. In Matthew 11:1-6
, we see all these principles exemplified through John the baptizer, who has just been arrested. In Matthew 11:7-19
, Messiah affirms John the baptizer's ministry, and He declares that if the people had been willing to believe it and receive it, John was in fact the one operating in the spirit and power of Elijah who was to come and prepare the way for Messiah. In Matthew 11:20-24
Messiah then pronounces woeful judgments, specifically on the cities that had heard his preaching, who had seen God miraculously working through Yeshua the Messiah, and then rejected Him. In Matthew 11:25-27
Messiah then goes on to a prayer of thanksgiving to Yahweh. He first gives thanks to Almighty God His Father that the true concepts of the kingdom, about who John the Baptizer was, and about who He is; these things are not revealed to the wise, to the overly educated academics, or to the veterans in ministry. No, instead these things are revealed to infants. They are revealed to those who are like infants, who understand their absolute dependence upon God. Viewing This Command in Its True Context
It's critical to remember that it is within the context of everything Messiah just said in the last 69 verses that the command and promise we are now studying actually applies. Remember that in this combined command and promise, He is addressing believers who know and understand who John the Baptist really was, they understand that Jesus truly is the Messiah. They understand at least on a basic childlike rudimentary level how the kingdom of God is supposed to function, and that the religious and political establishment isn't functioning as God designed them to work. They are choosing to remain true to what God says regardless of what the traditional religious and political establishments say. The people Messiah is addressing in this command and promise are facing hardship and persecution because of their faithful stand for God and The Messiah. It was in this context that Jesus said these words:"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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, NASB
95) Yes, Almighty God and Messiah does desire for every individual to come to Him. Yes, the Almighty desires for every person to come to Him, and that no one would perish. There are other verses that speak to this throughout the Testament. At the same time, this particular verse cannot correctly be applied that way. Entering into the Lord's rest is not a free-for-all, as some would suggest. Both the first and second writings of the Whole Testament, apply the same restrictions concerning entering the Lord's rest or Sabbath.
1. Entering into God's rest requires that we be in covenant and in right relationship with Almighty God and the Messiah. This requires that we believe Him and continually come to Him.
2. Just because we are intended to make it and enter into God's rest, this does not magically guarantee that we will get to experience it. I give you this example. Didn't every single person who came out of Egypt with Moses, did they not all start out obeying God? Think about it. Everyone who came out with Moses had put the blood of the Passover lamb on their door posts so that the death angel would Passover and not kill their firstborn. According to the Scriptures, every one of those people had passed through the Red Sea on dry land and had seen the Lord's salvation. Everyone of those people were intended to live in a land full of promise and rest, but did they all enter the rest that God intended them to have? No they did not. In fact, among that first generation, only Joshua and Caleb actually lived to enter the Lord's rest, because they obeyed God, while the rest of their generation rebelled against God.
3. In both the first and second writings of the Whole Testament we are told the same thing. Entering into the Lord's rest requires that we believe God. It requires that we come to God. It requires that we start out obeying God. Entering into the Lord's ultimate Sabbath rest requires that we follow through and persevere in obeying God until we are all the way home and reach our ultimate destination.
Before you say, "Hey brother, that's Old Testament. We are under New Testament now. We are under Grace. Please, let me stop you there before you use such flawed theology to delude and comfort yourself right into hell. Yes, the example I used regarding Joshua Caleb and the children of Israel are in the first writing of the Testament, that's true. However, the exact same principle is restated again in the Second Writing of the Testament, or the New Testament (Romans 15:4
; 1 Corinthians 10:1-33; Hebrews 4:1-16. Again and again we are warned throughout the Second Writings (AKA the New Testament) that we should diligently learn from the so-called Old Testament. We should hold on to the good examples (i.e. Hebrews chapters 11-12), all the while making sure that we not to repeat Israel's mistakes and failures. Please do not be deceived. Thank you for joining me. See you next time. Brother Michel Lankford
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