SERMON STRUCTURE: Do You Get It?

Matthew 11:11-19, 25-30

CIT (Central Idea of the Text): In summarizing His ministry, Jesus invited all people into a personal relationship with Himself. (14 words).

SERMON FOCUS: Entrance into the Kingdom of God comes only by way of a relationship with Jesus Christ. (16 words).

Major Objective: Evangelistic

Specific Objective: Embrace God’s invitation to enter into relationship with God through Christ Jesus!

TITLE: Do You Get It?

Then … the completed sermon should be evaluated in terms of how well it adheres to the CIT and SF, and accomplishes its SO.

INVOCATION

OUTLINE OF Matthew 11:11-19, 25-30

1. The Imminent Arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven (11:11-15).

1. Praise for John the Baptist (11:11).

   1. “Among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater” (11:11a).

   2. “yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (11:11b).

2. The dramatic arrival and forceful advance of the Kingdom (11:12).

3. John as fulfillment of prophecies about the return of Elijah (11:13-14).

4. An admonition to pay attention (11:15).

2. The indecisiveness of public opinion (11:16-19).

1. Like children playing games (11:16-17).

2. With differing opinions (but the same dislike) for both John and Jesus (11:18-19).

   1. “¹⁸For John came neither eating or drinking, and they say, ‘he has a demon.’” (11:18).

   2. “^19aThe Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’” (11:19a).

   3. “^19bBut wisdom is proved right by her actions.” (11:19b).

3. Rest for the weary (11:25-30).

1. The failure of human intellect (11:25-26).

2. The necessity of a relationship with God through Christ (11:27).

3. An invitation to discipleship (11:28-30).

SERMON DEVELOPMENT

Do You Get It?

Matthew 11:11-19, 25-30

Introduction

1. Do you like the television quiz show Jeopardy?

1. It’s been on television for quite a long time.

2. And it’s one of my favorites.

3. And of course I like trying to answer the questions along with the contestants.

4. But have you noticed that sometimes the answers are really kind of obvious?

5. And the contestants sometimes “get it,” and give the simple (but correct) answer, but sometimes they don’t.

6. And when they don’t, they try to make up something that sounds “smart,” but it’s wrong.

2. Life is sometimes like that too!

1. I remember a little skit from the popular television show “Hee-Haw” from many years ago.

   1. One of the characters goes to see a physician, who inquires about what’s wrong.

   2. The patient says something like, “Well, Doc, it hurts when I do this.”

   3. And the doctor replies, “Well, don’t do that.”

2. Sometimes we try to make life a lot more difficult than it needs to be.

3. And that is especially true I think in our relationship with God.

3. In Jesus’ day, some of the followers of John the Baptist were trying to make up their mind about who Jesus was, and they sent a delegation to him to ask, “³Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3).

1. In some ways that was a question whose answer should have been obvious.

2. And Jesus inasmuch told them so:

“⁴Go back and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. ⁶Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” (Matthew 11:4-6).

Scripture

1. Our Scripture for today is a continuation of Jesus’ remarks about the question that John’s disciples asked.

2. The passage is Matthew 11:11-19, 25-30. Today I am reading from The New International Version.

[Read here Matthew 11:11-19, 25-30 (New International Version).]

3. In summarizing His ministry, Jesus invited all people into personal relationship with Himself.

4. For us also, entrance into the Kingdom of God comes only by way of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Exposition

1. In the verses that we’ve read, Jesus talks about the imminent coming of the Kingdom of Heaven in the lives of His hearers, the indecisiveness of public opinion about who He is, and the necessity of entering into a personal relationship with God through Him.

2. In response to questions from John’s disciples about His identity as the promised Messiah, Jesus pointed to what His ministry was accomplishing.

3. Jesus singles out John the Baptist for particular praise, even though John’s questions indicate that John really doesn’t “get” what Jesus’ ministry implies about the arrival of God’s kingdom on earth.

1. He gives high praise to John the Baptist, saying, “Among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater” (11:11a).

   1. But He goes on to point out that the Kingdom of Heaven, which Jesus kicks off in His earthly ministry, is a whole new ball game, saying, “yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than [John].” (11:11b).

   2. And this comment has much less to do with who John is than with how different the Kingdom of Heaven is from all that has come before.

2. Jesus emphasizes how forcefully and dramatically the Kingdom of Heaven is arriving with His ministry.

   1. Verse 12 is difficult to understand in most translations.

      1. The New Revised Standard Version, which we usually read, says, “¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and violent men take it by force.”

      2. I specifically chose the New International Version for today’s Scripture, because that translation seems to make a little more sense. It says, “¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”

      3. But Eugene Peterson’s modern translation, called The Message, seems to capture the idea even more clearly. It says, “¹²For a long time now, people have tried to force themselves into God’s kingdom.”

   2. I think in our own day the tendency of many people is to believe, and indeed, to insist, that simply being a “good person,” and living within the Ten Commandments — more or less —is sufficient to get you into heaven.

   3. But unfortunately, the Scriptures tell us otherwise.

3. Jesus also affirms John’s role as a reincarnation of the prophet Elijah, whose appearance was thought to herald the coming of the Messiah.

4. But then Jesus goes on to point out those who just “don’t get it”: those who seemed to have no clue about who Jesus really is, and what His ministry means.

1. There were those who had their own games to play, like quarreling children, who had already decided that neither John the Baptist or Jesus meet their own predetermined ideas about who Christ might be.

2. In verses that we did not read (11:20-24), Jesus denounced the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, “in whose presence Jesus had lived out the mighty acts of the dawning kingdom”¹ because they too just didn’t “get it.”

3. The scholars and the wise (11:25a), who could explain a great deal, but missed the incarnation of God who stood before them, likewise didn’t “get it.”

5. “Those who did ‘get it’ were the ‘babies,’ the unpretentious ‘little ones,’ who made no claims, but could be given the gift of revelation, which comes from God alone. (11:25b-27).”²

6. If that is true, how are we, as grown adults, supposed to “get it”?

1. The last three verses in our passage for today have always seemed a bit out of place to me, because I assumed they spoke of being “weary and burdened” with the cares of everyday life.

2. But what I have learned from studying this passage is that Christ’s invitation here is to those who know that their relationship with God is not what they want it to be.

7. There is a very real sense in which Christianity doesn’t make any sense until you come to the point that you realize — and admit to yourself — that there’s something broken about your life — and especially broken in your relationship with God — and that you can’t fix it on your own.

8. That moment can come in one of many different ways.

1. There may be pressing personal problems — health issues, marital or financial problems, difficulties at work, family issues, or other matters that make getting through the day a real burden.

2. But there may also a deeper, more spiritual longing — a sense of being burdened and in need of a personal relationship with God.

3. And is exactly that need to which Jesus appeals here.

9. Jesus’ invitation stresses the need for a personal relationship with God.

1. Jesus says that we can know God only as God is revealed to us in Jesus. (11:27).

2. Apart from God’s revelation of His nature to us, we can know nothing of God.

10. But Jesus’ invitation to us is also an invitation to discipleship — an invitation to grow in Christlikeness.

1. “²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” Christ says.

2. And it is specifically that kind of meekness and humility that we were talking about last week in the quotation from First Peter.

Reflections and Conclusions

1. C. S. Lewis was the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English Literature at Cambridge University in England for many years until his death in 1963.

2. He is also the author of several popular books on Christianity for laypeople, including The Screwtape Letters, The Four Loves, and most famously, Mere Christianity, as well as the known series of children’s books called The Chronicles of Narnia.

3. What many people do not know about him is that he was a Christian in his early years, but later became an atheist. After a long spiritual journey, however, as an adult he returned to Christianity, and became perhaps the best known advocate (or, to use a technical term, apologist) for the faith in the last century.

4. In one of his less-well-known volumes, Surprised By Joy, he recounts the moment at which he re-embraced the faith of his youth. He writes of how God pursued him, just as Christ invites us in the verses we’ve read today to come to Him

5. Here’s how Lewis describes his experience:

The odd thing was that before God closed in on me, I was in fact offered what now appears a moment of wholly free choice. I was going up Heddington Hill on the top of a bus. Without words and (I think) almost without images, a fact about myself was somehow presented to me. I became aware that I was holding something at bay, or shutting something out. Or, if you like, that I was wearing some stiff clothing, like corsets, or even a suit of armor, as if I were a lobster. I felt myself being, there and then, given a free choice. I could open the door or keep it shut; I could unbuckle the armor or keep it on. Neither choice was presented as a duty; no threat or promise attached to either, though I knew that to open the door or take off the corset meant the incalculable. The choice appeared to be momentous but it was also strangely unemotional. I was moved by no desires or fears. In a sense I was not moved by anything. I chose to unbuckle, to loosen the rein. I say, “I chose,” yet it really did not seem possible to do the opposite. On the other hand, I was aware of no motives. You could argue that I was not a free agent, but I am more inclined to think that this came nearer to being a perfectly free act than anything I have ever done.³

6. Lewis’ experience was one of “letting go,” of surrendering to God’s persuasion and calling in his life.

7. So, do you “get it”?

1. Do you know who Jesus is?

2. Do you know what Jesus has done for you?

3. Do you hear His invitation to a relationship with God through Him?

4. Do you “get it”?

8. To what is God calling you today?

1. What’s broken in your life that you cannot fix today?

2. Has God been calling you to let Him embrace you and take you into His family?

3. What do you need to let go of today, so that that you “get” what He’s doing in your life?

9. Will you embrace God’s invitation to enter into relationship with God through Christ Jesus?