Theme: Don’t Fear Certainty in Your Savior
1. It’s okay to let go of your influence
2. The gospel liberates and leads
Matthew 11:25-30 At that time, Jesus continued, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from clever and learned people and have revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, because this was pleasing to you. 27 Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him.
28 “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, because 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.”
I had the opportunity this week to watch the movie, “Zero Dark Thirty.” You may have seen it before, it’s the story of the CIA operatives who tracked down Osama Bin Laden – the Taliban leader responsible for several terrorist attacks on Western nations, including the Twin tower attacks of 9/11.
There’s a scene in the movie when top CIA operatives are sitting around a table trying to decide if they should go ahead with an assault on this unknown compound, where they think bin Laden might be hiding. They go around the table, giving the percentage they think he might actually be there. One says there’s a 60% chance. Another thinks it’s about 80% likely. The main protagonist, who has actually done most of the work of tracking bin Laden says confidently – 100%. She then adjusts it, saying, “Well, 95%, since I know how certainty freaks you out.”
If you’re a CIA analyst, you have to be careful about certainty. Putting all your proverbial eggs in one basket could backfire on you if you end up being wrong. There’s a certain amount of personal safety in staying away from absolute certainty. But, it’s a dangerous game to play in all matters of life. Some things require certainty, and without it, there’s no hope.
Our faith in Jesus is one such thing. Everything we believe in as Christians comes down to certainty that Jesus has done what He promised and that what God has given to us in His Word is accurate. Today, our thoughts center on a moment in Jesus’ ministry where God the Father placed His seal of approval on the chosen Messiah, His own Son, so that people would know and believe that He is the Savior of the whole world. As soon as you doubt that, you immediately enter dangerous territory for your life and your soul. Certainty is necessary when it comes to faith.
But why then, does certainty freak us out so much? One reason could be that we equate certainty with having everything figured out. Being sure of what God has done in Christ, and in what God tells us throughout His Word in a variety of other areas of life, does not mean you have to have all questions answered. It doesn’t mean you will never be puzzled by aspects of God or that you have to be brimming with complete confidence in all areas of life. Certainty is like the lifeboat that saves you from shipwreck. You may not know every detail about it, you may not be able to construct one in your garage at home, but in the hour of need your personal knowledge doesn’t matter. All you need is something to save you and hold your life in that moment – at certainty is being sure of that.
But there’s another more personal reason why we don’t like certainty. This is a deep matter of the heart, an inward attachment to your sinful flesh and the world around you. And therefore, it’s difficult to break free from. We don’t like certainty because we want to account for something in our spiritual lives. Think about it. The most certain things in life still all contain an element of human error. We know that airline travel is safer than driving an automobile. We trust our bridges and overpasses to engineers, concrete, and re-bar, never stopping to worry about collapse. We enact safety measures, disaster protocols, and fire escape routes in times of crisis and peril but nothing is guaranteed. Every element of life contains a certain measure of human error. Nothing is absolutely certain; and that prospect alone, though not comforting of itself, is usually what we want to hear. Because, it means we have a say in some way and we can understand what we’re up against. We know the odds and we play the odds.
But the only true path to absolute certainty is through God. Theoretically and theologically, that sounds good, but we resist it because that means we do not have the say and we do not have the understanding. Absolute certainty robs us of our ability to dictate terms in life, and by nature we hate that.
If that sounds like a paradox, that means you’re listening, because it is. Even a child can sense that the more God is in control, the less we are. Recognize the other paradoxes in Jesus’ words.
· you have hidden these things from clever and learned people and have revealed them to little children.
· No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son.
· Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
· My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
These are some of the most comforting passages of all Scripture. But have you considered the paradox? To be comforted by Christ means you are burdened first. To receive the promise of God means you are a fool in the ways of the world. To know God the Father, you must first know God the Son. The yoke of Christ is easy and light.
What we see in these verses is the personification of the opening verse of our text. Jesus tells us that faith puts human reason and effort on the back shelf and submits and listens to God as a little child would. And so, we find the eternal, Almighty God of all creation through the humanity and humility of Jesus. We have comfort, not in how we feel about ourselves, or what we’ve done for God, or the relevancy of our current Christian community – but solely through what Jesus freely gives as our loving Redeemer. We are liberated and set free by the one of a kind good news in Jesus, easy and light; yet, a yoke it still is. Even the gospel ties us to Jesus, faith makes the connection between your life and His. You are bound to Jesus, and that is not a personal or self-chosen freedom but obedience of the highest virtue and submission to His every Word. Through the gospel you are completely set free from the strongest vice and from the heaviest chain, but you are still bound to Jesus and therefore you walk in His path, according to His will and word, and in the one ordained way of total righteousness. The gospel makes you freer than you’ve ever been, yet at the very same time it constrains you to the deepest commitment that you’ve ever had.
This blessing is only given through Christ and the certainty of such is a product of His faithfulness. But if we had the say, we’d settle for a much lesser brand of good news. We like to boast of the certainty of our faith, but often only in the things we’re sure of ourselves, not based on what God says definitively. We like to say, “Yes, that is important – that part of the Bible, but not that part – that’s not necessary to the gospel.” As foolish as it is to allow the Word of God to be chipped away at, we do it because we’re scared of absolute certainty. Because in order for us to be completely certain, God has to mean what He says and has to say what He means. And that includes all things He says – no matter how we feel about them today.
Notice how important that last word is – today. If your struggle with certainty, remember that there was a time when you didn’t. There was a time for you when you took God at His Word and you believed with 100% certainty. Not because you knew it all; certainly not – you know more now don’t you? Certainly not because you were so experienced. In fact, for almost all of this, we are most certain in our faith when it’s new and fresh – at the very beginning. Just like Jesus said, “I have revealed them to little children.”
It works that way because certainty does not come from experience. It isn’t generated by hours accrued in the pew. It’s not a product of higher learning, even if it’s in Biblical fields of study. You can achieve certainty with your intuition or powerful will. God’s Word is scattered with passages that implore you to be wary of human wisdom and philosophy – you will not find certainty there. There is one way to certainty and that is through faith in Jesus. Every aspect of our lives should have in mind the building up and sustaining of our faith. Everything you do in God’s Word, for His name, under the label of “Christian,” should have a positive bearing on your faith. That is the only way. And it’s perhaps the greatest paradox of all, that complete sureness of the biggest obstacles to life and immortality is achieved by trusting God and holding dear to every Word He speaks.
The certainty of faith is as real as Jesus Himself was on the mount of Transfiguration. He was purposely bright so that He could be seen. It was unavoidable, right there for Peter, James, and John to witness is full glory and majesty. But the glory of Jesus was not shown for their own personal use. They were not to make a tent of security that day – whether by hand or by heart. The glory of Jesus was given to make them certain of salvation in the day of need. In the moment when the personal ship of self-righteousness and human effort and will went sinking to the bottom of life’s sea.
And in that certainty – there is nothing to fear. So Jesus gently reminds you “Come to me…I will give … you will find “rest.” “Take My yoke – easy and light and let it be your strength and guide.” The peace we have in Jesus is not just about what He gives, but also what He helps us leave behind - personal desire, self-power, individual control, dictating all matters.
1. Jesus lives! The victory's won!
Death no longer can appall me;
Jesus lives! Death's reign is done!
From the grave Christ will recall me.
Brighter scenes will then commence;
This shall be my confidence.
4. Jesus lives! I know full well
Nothing me from Him shall sever;
Neither death nor powers of hell
Part me now from Christ forever.
God will be my sure Defense;
This shall be my confidence.
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