THE GREAT INVITATION

By

Shelby G. Floyd

Our subject is the great invitation of Jesus. How many of you have invited somebody to a gathering and they told you they were coming but they didn't show up? That really hurts when someone goes to a lot of trouble to fix a dinner or a gathering of some kind, and then to have that invitation rejected. I am sure that is the way the Lord feels after all he has done for us to be forgiven of our sins and then we turn down the great invitation.

I am wondering how many in our audience today are either a member of the church or you are a visitor today because someone invited you to be here. Let me see your hands. Quite a few of you are members of the Lord's church because somebody was interested enough in you to invite you either to a Bible study or to a worship service. That is a good thing. Many of you have received a business card this morning of the Heartland church of Christ. You can write your name and telephone number on that card and then give it to someone and invite them to worship next week. That is one way we can have publicity about the great family of God we have here in Heartland.

SEVEN PERSONAL INVITATIONS OF CHRIST

During his earthly ministry Jesus Christ gave out at least seven personal invitations for people to come to him. We will briefly review each one of these invitations:

1. Jesus invited people to come and see where he lived and what he was doing (John 1:39).

2. Jesus invited people to come and to drink the water of life freely if they were spiritually thirsty (John 7:37).

3. Jesus invites everyone to come to him and have dinner with him (John 21:12).

4. Jesus invites us to come apart from the crowd and to be a member of a special group—the Lord's people (Mark 6:31).

5. Jesus invites us to come and take up our cross and suffer what ever comes our way in order to be faithful and follow him (Mark 10:21).

6. Jesus invites everyone to come and minister to him by ministering to others and to be blessed of the father (Matthew 25:34).

7. And finally, Jesus invites everyone to come to him and to take upon ourselves his yoke which is easy and light (Matthew 11: 25-30). It is this invitation that shall be the subject of our discourse today. The context of Matthew 11 bears out that the Jews were determined to reject both Jesus and his cousin John the Baptist (Matthew 11:16-19). Also we observe that in this chapter the cities around the Galilean Lake where Jesus had done most of his preaching and had performed most of his miracles, the people were hardened and unrepentant. Therefore Jesus pronounced his woe upon these populations. But let us look at the context of the great invitation that was given over 2000 years ago and it has never been withdrawn. We can learn a lot how we ought to live by observing the words and conduct of our Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAISE GOD AT ALL TIMES

It is at this point that Jesus begins to make his great invitation to the entire world. Jesus demonstrated that all of us should praise God at all times in our lives. Worship and praise God at all times and in all places in your life. How did the Lord Jesus Christ worship his heavenly Father? He is our model of an intimate walk and talk with Almighty God. He was always filled with praise for his heavenly Father. “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do’” (Matthew 11:25-26). We noticed that Jesus was always in the habit of praising and worshiping his father.

So we want to use that text to learn that we must praise God at all times in our lives. Praise God every day and in all things. Praise God in all things and he will give you the oil of joy and blessedness. Praise him when you are sick. Praise him in your disappointments. Praise him when you have hurt feelings. Praise him when you take care of your aged parents. Praise him in death and in suffering. And Jesus is our example and our model. When he was hanging on the cross he said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." He was in the very act of praising God when the very breath of life was leaving his body! He said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." And so I want us to learn to praise God like Jesus Christ did at all times.

Jesus praised God the Father because he had hidden these sayings about the kingdom of heaven from the wise and intelligent. Who are they? The wise and intelligent are the worldly wise people who feel like they are self-sufficient. They do not need anything or anybody. They are arrogant and they are proud. They are not humble in heart. Jesus declared, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these sayings from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."

The heavenly Father had revealed these things about the kingdom of heaven to babes or little children. “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 18: 1-3). These are the people who humbly depend upon someone else to meet their needs as a child depends upon his parents. These are people who are conscious that they are lost and helpless and cannot save themselves. Jesus is describing humble people of all walks of life.

These people are like little children that become lost in a crowd. I remember when I was a little boy in grade school and Little Jimmy Dickens came from Nashville, Tennessee to the grade school Bluff Avenue Number Nine in Perry Township, Indianapolis. My mother and father took the whole family to the concert. After it was over since I was familiar with the school and a big boy, I decided to leave my mother and father and mingle in the crowd and perhaps shake hands with little Jimmy Dickens. But the crowd was large and I became lost and started crying and someone had to announce on the loudspeaker for the parents of little Shelby Floyd to come and pick up their son. There are people just as lost today in their sins and need Christ to rescue them. Many today can say I am lost, I am undone, I do not know where to go, and I need help. That is the kind of people that understand the message from the Father and the Son.

Arrogance and pride will alienate us from God and will hide the understanding of his will that we need. The apostle Paul in his letter to the church at Corinth emphasized that it was not the worldly wise that responded to the gospel message, but it was the humble of heart and spirit that basically obeyed the gospel and formed the New Testament congregations. The Grecian cities of Athens and Corinth were noted for their philosophy and knowledge. To the church at Corinth Paul declared, "Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:20-21). The world and its wisdom consider the preaching of the Gospel as foolishness. That is the reason that so many people do not attend worship or belong to the church. They believe that it is silly and a waste of time. But to those who humble themselves in the sight of God, the gospel is both the power and the wisdom of God to save us from the guilt and power of sin.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHRIST AND THE FATHER

“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). Christ always praised his heavenly Father because of the unique and intimate relationship that existed between them. He was criticized and put to death because he called God his Father thereby making himself equal with God: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God (John 5:17-18).

Jesus Christ has unique authority from the father. He said that the Father had committed all things unto him. “All things have been committed to me by my Father.” And therefore he has complete knowledge about God the Father. Christ has authority over the devil, demons, death, nature, sickness and even hades and hell. Before Jesus ascended back into heaven he declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). So Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth. If he were present here today he would not have any more authority than what he has had from the time the church was established till the present day. Christ has all authority which is a universal class. He has all executive, legislative and judicial authority. All three branches of authority are in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The relationship between Christ and his Father was unique and he proclaimed that divine relationship to the crowd that was present. Do you want to know the Father? Then you must know the Son! Do you want to know the Son? Then you must know the Father!

Jesus declared, “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). So, if you want to know the Father, then know the Son. If you want to know the Son, then know the Father! The Father and the Son know each other intimately. The original word that is translated knows (Matthew 11:27), is epiginosko, which means exact, complete and full knowledge. Ginosko is general knowledge, but epiginosko is comprehensive and complete and full knowledge. Jesus knows completely, accurately and fully everything about the Father and the Father knows the Son in the same way.

Jesus has revealed the Father to all of us by revealing Himself to us in the New Testament. In the book of John, Jesus declared, "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him" (John 1:18). Jesus has seen the Father, but no man has seen him at any time. Jesus who is the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father has declared him unto us. So the Lord was declaring the Father here because he had seen the Father and he knows the Father completely. The apostle Paul continues this idea of the fullness of the Godhead being in the bodily image and person of Jesus Christ: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority” (Colossians 2:9-10). Do you want to be a complete person? No one can be a complete person without the Lord Jesus Christ. We are complete in him not apart from him or outside of him. “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). The disciple Philip once challenged Jesus to show him the Father. Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’ (John 14:9)? So do not let anyone in our audience today say, show us the Father! I will show you the Son. If you know the Son, then you know the Father. Like Father like Son—Christ is the spitting image of his heavenly Father. Therefore since this is the case, let us look at the great invitation of Christ for everyone to come to him.

THE GREAT INVITATION

Now let us look at the great invitation of all who will come to Jesus Christ. This invitation is so familiar to all of us that we can probably quote it by heart. But in case you can't Jesus declared, "Come to Me, all you 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). This is one my favorite passages in all of the New Testament.

Christ’s invitation in one sense is unlimited and yet in another sense it is limited. When I say it is limited I am not endorsing the Calvinistic doctrine that a certain number of people have been foreordained and predetermined to be saved or lost. And according to Calvin, if you're in either one of these classifications, the number cannot be changed by even one person. This great invitation is unlimited in that Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden." That invitation is universal. It is extended to every body in the whole wide world. But this invitation is also limited in the sense that a person must come to Jesus Christ and all that is required to find rest for the soul. This demonstrates that in salvation God is not going to do it all. It is required that a person move and obey the Lord's word. A person cannot stay where they are and receive rest for their soul. A person cannot come to just anyone. You cannot come to Buddha, Mohammed, or any other religious leader to receive and find this rest. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

On another occasion Jesus also declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). So this invitation is for people who are hungry and thirsty. If you are not spiritually hungry and thirsty, you're probably not going to pay any attention to this invitation. It is for people who are exhausted, weary, burdened, depressed, down and dejected in the chaos of sin. And you cannot do anything about it by yourself. Those are the kind of people that Jesus is inviting to come to him so he can give you rest.

THE BLESSINGS OF CHRIST’S YOKE

In the next place, we point out the blessings of God that are promised to those who will exchange their yoke for the yoke of Christ. We all have a yoke around our neck that is a heavy burden. We can all exchange this yoke for the yoke promised by Christ. This is illustrated by the Jews who were trying to bind the heavy burden of the Law of Moses on the Gentiles who had become Christians. This caused a great controversy in the early Church. The apostle Peter stood up in the assembly and said,

“Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they” (Acts 15:7-11).

The Jewish people had not been able to bear the yoke of the Law of Moses and it was not right for them to try to bind that yoke upon the Gentile Christians.

Everyone has some kind of yoke around their neck that is hard to bear. Sometimes that yoke is because we are unequally yoked with unbelievers in our various relationships. One of my favorite stories involved my grandfather down in southeastern Kentucky when I was a boy. My grandfather Lige and I went up into the mountains to get some wood for my grandmother's cook stove. Grandfather hitched up the wagon with a horse and a mule. When we reached the edge of the woods I told my grandfather that I would open the gate. When I climbed back up on the seat beside my grandfather, he said, "I want you to watch the horse and the mule as we go up into the mountain. The horse will let the mule do all the work." And that is exactly what happened. I will never forget it as long as I live. But after having preached the gospel for 50 years, I now realize that my grandfather was unscriptural. The Old Testament commanded the people not to hitch an ox and a donkey together. They would be unequally yoked together.

Man was not made to be yoked together with Satan. He did not create us and we do not belong to him. We need to exchange our yoke for the yoke of Christ and the blessings that he promised us when we do. The blessings of God are for those who exchange their worldly yoke for the spiritual yoke of Jesus Christ.

Now we take notice of the blessings Christ promised us when we take upon ourselves his yoke. Let us look again at the words of Christ in our text:

“Come to Me, all you 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).

Jesus alone provides rest from our spiritual burdens. I don't know whether you caught it in the text or not, but there is a rest that is given to us—a rest provided to us by the Lord. And then there is a discovered rest for our souls. Soon there is an immediate rest given to us by the Lord when we become a Christian. And then there is also an ever increasing rest that we discover as we take his joke upon us and learn from him the way he wants us to live and serve God.

THE YOKE OF CHRIST

Now let us take a look at the yoke. We do not use such a yoke today. The yoke was made out of wood. A man would bring his oxen to the carpenter’s shop. The carpenter would measure them up and cut out the yoke and work on it until it was perfectly fit to the animals. Someone said there was a carpenter shop in Israel with the sign over it that read, "We make the smoothest yokes." The carpenter's work was done when the oxen could pull a heavy load without the yoke pinching or hurting their necks. There are other kinds of yokes that can be worn today.

The kind of yoke that many are wearing today is not a good thing. Many people are hurting and suffering because of their lifestyle, their rebellion against God and rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many will wear this yoke until their life is completely miserable. The Lord wants people to exchange that kind of yoke and wear his yoke which is easy compared to the worldly yoke.

A YOKE IS DESIGNED FOR TWO

A yoke is not for just one animal or one person. Can you imagine what would happen if you took a yoke with two openings and just put one animal on one side? It would not work at all. So when the Lord says you “come to me and take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your soul." What he is really saying to us is that I will be on the other side helping you to pull the load in your life. His promise means that he will put his neck in the other side and help us to bear all of our burdens that we cannot bear ourselves alone. That means we do not need to carry our heavy burdens alone. The yoke of Christ is for us and for him. And he has already taken that yoke on himself when Christ died upon the cross of Calvary. He had to bear his own cross to Golgotha. He did not call for 10,000 angels to deliver him from suffering and death. They would have done so but he did not ask for that to be done. He carried his own cross until he stumbled under the weight of it, and someone had to help him carry it the rest of the way. The Scripture tells us to do the same thing by taking up our cross and following him in all his ways. Now when we stumble under the weight of our cross he picks us up and helps us carry the load all the way. When you take up the yoke of Christ you will be on one side of it and the Lord will be over on the other side.

THE LAST INVITATION

I close today with the last words of our Lord Jesus Christ—the last invitation that he will ever make to lost mankind. It is found in the book of the Revelation of heaven to man, the last testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life" (Revelation 22:16-17). In these words the Lord has made his last and final great invitation for lost mankind to come to him for forgiveness, salvation and the hope of everlasting life.

At this point in our lesson we usually say we are going to extend an invitation for anyone who is subject to come forward and confess the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. We also invite those who were faithful Christians but have fallen away, to come back and confess their waywardness and have prayers that the Lord will restore them to their place in his family.

But in reality no one can extend an invitation that was made over 2000 years ago and it has never been withdrawn. That invitation stands at all times and in all places. What we can do is extend an opportunity for any and all to respond at this time to the gospel invitation. What you must do is respond to the great invitation that Jesus gave over 2000 years ago by making your wishes known while together we stand and sing.* Copyright © 2011 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved

*Shelby G. Floyd delivered this sermon February 20, 2011 at the Heartland Church of Christ, 1693 West Main Street, Greenwood, Indiana 46142