The Great Invitation (A Study of Matthew 11:28-30) Part 4

Friends: I consider it a great privilege to work on my blog every day. And for the next few posts I’ll be examining one of my favorite passages, Matthew 11:28-30. This is a text worthy of memorization (which I’m very bad at). I want to slowly go through these verses with you and see as much as we can, with the Holy Spirit’s help. Here’s that famous text once again:

In our first post we thought a bit about the context of this incredible invitation. Our second post on this text looked a bit at the Koiné Greek of this passage and we saw certain terms repeated with a variety of important implications. In our third post we began outlining the passage. And we noticed —

I. The Great Invitation (v. 28): “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened . . .”

Did you see that the great invitation is not given to all? What?! Not all are invited to come to Jesus?! Yes! Notice how the Lord Himself qualifies His invitation: “all you who are weary and burdened . . .” But let’s not be too hasty. He does use the term “all.” So the invitation is all-inclusive . . . for those who are described as “weary” and “burdened.” In our culture (which seems to worship inclusivism) Jesus’ invitation is exclusive to those who fit these two categories.

The term “weary” is the Greek word οἱ κοπιῶντες. This verb (whose root is κοπιάω) is in the present active participle form and includes both the idea of 1) the passive state of being weary from labor and 2) the activity of hard labor, sometimes to the point of exhaustion.

The verb means “to grow weary, to toil, to work with effort (of bodily and mental labor alike).” Its cognate κόπος refers to “exhausting labor, to labor until worn-out, depleted.”

Used 23 times in the New Testament, Matthew 6:28 speaks about the flowers of the field who “do not labor or spin.” In Luke 5:5 we learn of Simon’s complaint that “we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything . . .” Sometimes the word simply means “tired” as in John 4 where we read that “Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.” Forms of the verb are found later in John 4 where Jesus says, “38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

In Acts 20:35 Paul is addressing the elders of Ephesus and says, “35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Other uses of this verb include Romans 16:12 (“12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.

We read in Ephesians 4:28 that the one who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor . . . with his own hands.” In Philippians 2:16 Paul fears that he has toiled in vain. I Thessalonians 5:12 tells us we should appreciate those “who diligently labor among you . . .” Paul challenges ministers to discipline themselves and says, “it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers” (I Timothy 4:10). We read of hard working preachers in I Timothy 5:17 and hard working farmers in 2 Timothy 2:6. The church in Ephesus is commended in Revelation 2 for their deeds and their “toil.”

Today’s Challenge: Are you exhausted? Worn out from trying to work out your own salvation (in a wrong way)? Come to Jesus. Bring your weariness. And you will be glad you did!

 

Work! (A Study of I Corinthians 16)

Friends: If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that my friend Frank (in New Jersey) and I have been doing an email Bible study for over a year. We read the same chapter every day for a week — and then send a brief email of encouragement to each other. We’ve completed most of the epistles of the New Testament — and it’s been a great discipline for both of us.

We’re now in the book of I Corinthians. And we just started reading I Corinthians 15 on Easter Sunday! We are now concluding I Corinthians and I want to post a few outlines on the last chapter, chapter 16.

There may be a few of you who remember Maynard G. Krebbs from the “Dobie Gillis” show. He was a hippie kind of guy and whenever he heard the word “work” he would respond in great shock and terror “WORK?!”

Work! (A Study of I Corinthians 16)

In this chapter we have three references to the Christian’s work. Notice if you will —

I.  God Opens Doors for Effective Work (v. 9)

II. We Should Honor Those Who Carry on the Work of the Lord (v. 10)

III. Mutual Submission Should Mark Our Conduct with Others Who Join in the Work and Labor at It (v. 16)

Today’s Challenge: Who are those who are working hard for the Lord? Pray that God would give them — and yourself — open doors for effective work. Let those workers know of your respect for them and the work they do. And look for ways you can encourage and cooperate with their labor!

 

Not in Vain! (I Cor. 15:58)

Friends: If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that my friend Frank (in New Jersey) and I have been doing an email Bible study for over a year. We read the same chapter every day for a week — and then send a brief email of encouragement to each other. We’ve completed most of the epistles of the New Testament — and it’s been a great discipline for both of us.

We’re now in the book of I Corinthians. And we just started reading I Corinthians 15 on Easter Sunday! I want to occasionally post an outline of what I’m learning from my reading. Here’s my outline from I Corinthians 15:58:

Not in Vain! (I Cor. 15:58)

How good to know that because Christ has risen from the dead, and because He has conquered death, and because He will give us new resurrection bodies — our work now is not in vain!

Our Worthwhile Work —

I.   Assumes we’re part of God’s family (“my dear brothers and sisters”)
II.  Requires us to stand firm
III. Challenges us to let nothing move us
IV. Expects us to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord

Because we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain!

 

The Joy of Unit-Reading #31 (the Epistle of I Thessalonians)

We are continuing our unit-reading of the books of the Bible.  To unit-read is to read straight through a book without stopping.  This often helps to get the flow of the book, rather than following the piecemeal approach many of us practice.

Today’s book is I Thessalonians, a book filled with many practical injunctions about living out the Christian life! Here are some of my notes:

I was impressed with the challenge to work hard as a believer, to truly love God’s people, and to rejoice in salvation we have as we wait for Jesus to return for us.

Here’s a prayer for today: “Lord, Great God of my salvation, I praise You for saving me from the coming wrath.  Help me today to be a spiritual father to those who need one, to not live as the pagans do, but to live as a child of the LIGHT!  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.”