Come To Me

Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. -Matthew 11:28

Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." -John 7:37

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger." -John 6:35

You refuse to come to Me that you may have life. -John 5:40

When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The man who had died came out. -John 11:43-44

Demand #3. "Come to Me." Like repentance and rebirth this is an essential command, not just because it is necessary but because it is a wonderful promise. At this point, the awakened sinner discovers what is truly important, that being Jesus. At one point it was the pleasures of life, clothes, food, family, jobs, retirement, sex, and on and on. "But when God gives the radical change of new birth and repentance, Jesus Himself becomes our supreme treasure" (Piper, pg. 44).

John Piper begins by stating as the Bible does, that "His yoke is easy, and His burden is light" (Matthew 11:30). When we come to Jesus it is not burdensome,

"Jesus did not come into the world mainly to bring a new religion or a new law. He came to offer Himself for our eternal enjoyment and to do whatever He had to do-- including death-- to remove every obstacle to this everlasting joy in Him" (Piper, pg. 44,45).

Piper continues to make a very good point here, by contrasting what Christ brings to the world as opposed to every other world religion. This is in fact what separates Christianity from all other religions, and proves its validity, that this religion is one based on faith alone in Christ Jesus. We look all over the world and look at religions such as Hinduism, Islam and even Judaism, and see people laboring under "heavy loads" to earn favor with their god or gods. "[Jesus] did not come to replace that God-appeasing load with another one. He came to carry that load and call us to Himself for rest" (Piper, pg. 45). Amen and Amen. That is why Christianity offers hope to a world full of hopelessness.

"Come to me, all 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 you souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

The next thing point out is that there is a yoke and there is a burden, "there would be no demands if this were not true" (Piper, pg. 45), but it is a light one.

His next subtitle is "There is a Burden, but it's not Jesus." While Jesus offers a light load, He also says this, "The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life" (Matthew 7:14). This is what Piper says to this,

"The reason it is hard is not because Jesus is a hard taskmaster. It's hard because the world is a hard place to enjoy Jesus above all...besides our sin, many people are angered that we do not love what they love" (Piper, pg. 45).

But Jesus is that load-lifter and an our help in these situations, He offers us food and drink (John 6:35, 7:37), and the promise that He will be our help, that He will satisfy us when we go through these times, if we will obey His demands to come to Him.

"You refuse to come to Me that you may have life" (John 5:40). The fact is many will not come, and while many say this is simply the man acting upon his free-will, it is a little more than just that. We cannot say that man has the free-will in the sense that he has the ability (apart from God) to actually come to Jesus, but must say that man's free-will is enslaved to his nature, which is one of sin. "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). "The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light...everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light" (John 3:19-20). "[You] were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Ephesians 2:3). And so on the Bible proclaims that man is bent toward sin, and is not able apart from God's regenerating grace to actually come to Jesus.

"How then has anyone ever come, since we are all enslaved to sin and spiritually dead? Jesus' answer was that God, in His great mercy, overcomes our resistance and draws us: 'No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him' (John 6:44). 'No once can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father' (John 6:65)" (Piper, pg. 47).

When we are freed from slavery we come to Christ, not by works but by Him who calls (Romans 9:11).

Citation:
Piper, John. "What Jesus Demands from the World" Crossway Books Copyright © 2006. DG. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.com.
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