Risen Life Church
What does Jesus really think about you? Is he disappointed with you? Ambivalent about the things going on in your life? Or worse yet, mad at you? In this sermon series we will explore the very heart of Christ for us as believers in Jesus. What we will find is in the heart of Christ is a deep love for us that propels Christ to run in to our broken lives and constantly meet us right where we are. In this four part sermon series, will we take one week to look at God’s heart for us, two weeks to look at Christ’s heart towards us, and one last week to consider the heart of the Holy Spirit. This series is inspired by the book Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund and we are encouraging you to get 2021 started off right by reading the book devotionally with us for the next couple of weeks.
Scripture Reading
Matthew 11:25-30 ESV
The Heart of the Son
Exodus 34:6-7 ESV
John 14:9 ESV
Colossians 2:9 NLT
I. What Christ says about his own heart toward us – Matthew 11:28-30
II. The sympathy and compassion of Christ’s heart for us – Hebrews 4:14-16, Matthew 14:14
III. The joy that fills Christ’s heart as he saves us – Hebrews 12:1-2
I. What Christ says about his own heart toward us
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
1) Jesus describes his very heart for us – I am gentle and lowly in heart.
Isaiah 42:3 ESV
Isaiah 40:11 ESV
Philippians 2:1-8 ESV
2) Christ’s invitation to us in
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Matthew 11:28 ESV
Matthew 11:29-30 ESV
Matthew 21:12 ESV
Matthew 11:20-24 ESV
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Mark 2:17 ESV
John 6:37 ESV
II. The sympathy and compassion in Christ’s heart for us
Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV
Hebrews 5:2 ESV
Hebrews 4:14 ESV
Ephesians 6:10-20 ESV
Psalm 22:1-2 ESV
Matthew 14:14 ESV
Matthew 23:37 ESV
III. The joy that fills Christ’s heart as he saves us – Hebrews 12:1-2
Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV
Gentle and Lowly pp 36-37
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“For the joy.” What joy? What was waiting for Jesus on the other side of the cross?
The joy of seeing his people forgiven.
Remember the whole point of Hebrews—Jesus is the high priest to end all high priests, who has made the final atoning sacrifice to completely cover the sins of his people so that they are provided for “to the uttermost” (7:25). And remember what the writer means when he speaks of Jesus sitting down at God’s right hand, at the end of Hebrews 12:2. Elsewhere the writer to the Hebrews is explicit about what this signifies:
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (1:3)
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. (8:1)
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. (10:12)
In all these texts, Jesus’s seating at God’s right hand is associated with his priestly atoning work. The priest was the bridge between God and humanity. He reconnected heaven and earth. Jesus did this supremely through his climactic and final sacrifice of himself, purifying his people once and for all, cleansing them of their sins. It was the joyous anticipation of seeing his people made invincibly clean that sent him through his arrest, death, burial, and resurrection. When we today partake of that atoning work, coming to Christ for forgiveness, communing with him despite our sinfulness, we are laying hold of Christ’s own deepest longing and joy.
This connects with other texts in the New Testament, such as the joy in heaven over a sinner repenting (Luke 15:7) or Christ’s longing that his own joy would overlap with his disciples’ joy as they abide in his love (John 15:11; 17:13). He wants us to draw strength from his love, but the only ones qualified to do that are sinners in need of undeserved love. And he doesn’t just want us to be forgiven. He wants us. How does Jesus speak of his own deepest desires? Like this: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me” (John 17:24).
Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV
John 15:9 ESV
John 15:11 ESV