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"The Greatest Invitation Ever Made"
I want to bring to you today some of the most appealing words that Jesus of Nazareth ever uttered. It is no wonder that the common people heard him gladly. They marveled at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. Here they are and as I read them to you, you will notice they contain two invitations. Matthew 11:28: "Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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."

These words have been immortalized by Handel in the "Messiah" and by that famous religious artist, Harold Copping. In one of his pictures, he depicted Jesus standing on a hillside with the crowds milling beneath him and his arms are outstretched as if to invite and to welcome the crowds and the caption underneath, "Come unto Him." The words so universally loved.

About a couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the island of South Georgia, eight hundred miles east of the Falkland Islands. We landed at Grytyiken, which is an old abandoned Norwegian whaling station, the place where Ernest Shackleton, the famous Antarctic explorer, is buried. Here behind the disused and rusty buildings is a lovely little Lutheran church that has recently been restored. When I approached it, it was surrounded by elephant seals and king penguins. What do you think I found on the east wall of this lovely church inscribed in Norwegian? "Come unto me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."

Let's take that first invitation. Jesus likens the human race to a lot of oxen who are laboring under a yoke that chafes and rubs on their back and are heavily laden or burdened. It is not a very complimentary picture, but I want to suggest to you that it is an accurate one. Jesus implied that all humankind are in some way burdened. There is the burden of our anxieties and of our fears. There is the burden of our temptations and our responsibilities. I think of the burden of our loneliness, maybe after bereavement, and the burden people have when they sense that life has no meaning, and above all, there is the burden of our failures and of our guilt. What a burden they can be! Does our conscience never feel its guilt? Is our heart never bowed down with a sense of shame? It is such persons that Jesus invites to come to Him. He promises to ease our yoke, to lift our burden, to give us rest, and to set us free. Moreover, He can do it, because Jesus is depicted in the New Testament as the world's supreme burden bearer.

Listen to these words that I am sure you will know very well. "Behold, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world." Again, He was once offered to bear the sins of many, or again, He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Then, after that, because this is the essence of the Good News, we say that Almighty God, through His Son Jesus, because of His great love with which He loved us, came after us, took our humanity to himself when He was born, and took our sin and guilt to himself when He died.

I do not know anybody who has expressed this better than John Bunyan in his famous allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress. It is one of the most eloquent passages in the whole of English literature. Here it is:

"Up this way then did burdened Christian run, and not without some difficulty because of the load on his back. He ran thus until he came to a place somewhat ascending, and upon that place, stood a cross and below a sepulcher. So I saw in my dream, the justice Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders and fell from his back and began to tumble and continued to do until it reached the sepulcher where it fell in and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and lightsome and said with a merry heart, `He has given me rest by His sorrow and life by His death.'"

So Jesus Christ bore our sins when He died on the cross and if we come to Him today, He will lift the burden and take it away. What must we do?  Well, He tells us, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest."

Some of us, I know, get preoccupied with what might be called the externals of religion, whether in church or chapel, or synagogue or temple, but the externals of religion are no substitute for a personal coming to Jesus Christ, to put our trust in Him. He promises if we do come, he will lift the burden and ease the yoke. So, I beg you not to be put off by the simplicity of His invitation.

I wonder if you have ever heard of a former professor of Hebrew in the University of Edinburgh a good many years ago now. His name was John Duncan. Because he was professor of Hebrew, it is not surprising that his students knew him as Rabbi Duncan. Such were his attainments in the Semitic languages that his students were convinced that he said his prayers in Hebrew. One day two of them determined to find out. In the dead of night, they crept along the corridor outside the great man's bedroom and they listened. They expected to find great flights of Hebrew rhetoric and mysticism. Instead, this is what they heard, "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon a little child, pity my simplicity, suffer me to come to thee." If a professor of Hebrew can do it, I guess that you and I could do it as well.

That brings me to the second invitation which goes like this, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest unto your souls." How beautifully balanced the bible is. The Christian life is not just taking it easy and enjoying our rest. No, when we come to Christ, a marvelous exchange takes place. That is to say, He lifts our burden which is heavy and places upon us instead a light burden, or again, He eases the yoke that is a misfit on our shoulders and places upon us instead, what He calls His "easy yoke."

What is the yoke of Jesus Christ? You know, of course, that a yoke is a horizontal wooden bar that is laid on the necks of oxen in developing countries and rural situations when they are harnessed to the plow or maybe to a cart. Jewish people used to speak of the yoke of Torah when they submitted to the authority of the Lord. Again and again in the Old Testament, the yoke is a symbol of authority and taking a yoke upon us, a symbol of submitting to that authority. Now Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me." In other words, He invites us to enter His school and to become His pupils or His disciples. He invites us to regard Him as our teacher and to submit to Him as our Lord. If we do, He promises to give us rest. Moreover, He describes himself as gentle and humble in heart so that we have nothing whatever to be afraid of.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer will be a name known to many listeners and viewers. He was imprisoned during the Nazi regime, executed by direct orders of Himmler shortly before the Flossenbuerg Concentration Camp was liberated by the allies in 1945. In his famous book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer writes this: "Only the person who follows the command of Jesus without reserve and submits unresistingly to his yoke, finds his burden easy." The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard for those who try to resist it, but for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light.

In conclusion, I wonder if you have noticed that although Jesus issues two invitations, He makes only one promise for the very same promise is attached to both His invitations. "Come unto me, all you who are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest unto your souls."

Multitudes of people today are seeking rest, seeking peace, freedom, joy. How can we find it? The answer is clear in the greatest invitation ever made. First, by coming to Jesus in order to lose our burden of sin and guilt, and then by taking upon us instead, the light burden of a daily discipleship. True rest is found first, in losing our burden, and then in taking upon us His. May Jesus Christ truly set us free.

Interview with John R. W. Stott
Interviewed by Orley Herrron

Herron:  John, I know it from my field of higher education that if you were not a university president, you should be a university distinguished professor. You are a profound speaker; you are a marvelous writer. In fact, I think I counted thirty-five books that you have written, and your latest book is on contemporary Christianity. How can one be a contemporary Christian, yet still tied to the historic spiritual roots?

Stott: Well, Orley, you have asked exactly the right question, because you know one of the most marvelous things about Christianity is that Jesus of Nazareth is both historic and contemporary. He lived and He lives. I believe that the greatest task of the Christian communicator is to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of Jesus Christ, because there is no doubt He does speak to our need in every situation at the end of the twentieth century.

Herron:  John, as you look back over your writings, is there still one thing you still want to write about that you haven't written about?

Stott:  I have written so much that I think that is difficult. I am still anxious to go along this same track of showing ways in which the historic Jesus of Nazareth can speak to our situations today.

Let me tell you a story. A few years ago, I was talking to a couple of young men who were brothers. They had been brought up in a conservative religious home; they had imbibed the faith of their parents with their mother's milk. Now they were students. One was at Oxford University; one was at Edinburgh University. They told me that one was an agnostic; the other was an atheist. They had rejected the faith of their parents. I said, "Why is it you no longer believe that Christianity is true?" I was surprised by their answer. They said, "No. That's not our problem. If you could persuade us Christianity is true, we are not at all sure we would embrace it" I said, "What is it then?" "Well," they said, "our question is whether Christianity is relevant. It is a primitive, Palestinian religion. How can it speak to us in the modern world in which we have men on the moon, etc., etc." This is what I want to continue to do, to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of Jesus Christ.

Herron:  As you look into the Third World, what do you see occurring spiritually?

Stott:  The most amazing thing that has happened this century is that the number of non-western, non-white Christians, has exceeded the number of Christians in the west. God is raising up, not only large churches and hundreds of thousands of people are pouring into the churches in many parts of the Third World, but God is also raising up quality leadership, men and women of caliber. It is marvelous to behold.

Herron: John, what does it mean to be a Chaplain to the Queen?

Stott:  It sounds much grander than it is, Orley. I really need to take myself down a peg or two. It is not as important as it sounds. It is a great privilege. One is invited to preach in one or other of the royal chapels and the Queen and the royal family may, or may not, be there. I have had the privilege of preaching before the Queen and the royal family on several occasions. That is about all it means. It is an ancient tradition in England.

Herron: John, as you look at the church today, what are you encouraged about and what are you disappointed about?

Stott:  Oh, my. Well, I am encouraged that the church is still struggling to live in the modern age. It is struggling to be relevant. What I am discouraged about? I think that the church doesn't live up to the expectation of its Founder. If we Christians lived like Jesus Christ, people would be much more attracted to Him. If only they could see Him in us.

Herron: Thank you, John.

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