Matthew 11: Faith Is Trust, Not a Burden

Introduction

A week or two ago, Reto Kaltbrunner had what he calls a "no joke" moment. A friend posted a flying car on an Instagram story. He first thought it was a joke, then realized it was serious: we are entering the age of flying cars. For him, that car became a picture of faith.

This message is part of the "What if we believe?" series from ICF St. Gallen. Reto Kaltbrunner asks a simple question: why does faith so often turn into pressure when Jesus has already accomplished everything? He takes apart three widespread convictions, goes back to the biblical meaning of the word "believe," and ends with Jesus' words about his gentle yoke and light burden.

His common thread fits in one sentence: "The gospel is simple, and the gospel stays simple."

Outline of the Message

1. The Flying Car: Someone Else Did the Work

Behind a flying car are very smart people who worked hard, put in overtime, argued, and gave up parts of their private lives to make the vision real. Once the car is finished, someone simply climbs in and takes off.
That is how the preacher understands faith: you climb into something that someone else paid a great price to build. That someone is Jesus. He stands behind faith, he made it possible, and he paid for it with his life.
When he talks about faith, he means the moment the car is finished, not the earlier stretch of straining, improving, and trying to get everything right just to be able to believe. Faith has been brought to its completion by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:2).
Faith is still tied to an action: climbing in and taking off is something you have to do yourself. "Nobody can do it for you."

2. The Logs We Drag Along

Why, in spite of all this, does faith so often put us under pressure? The preacher speaks of a latent spiritual pressure, a load we carry like logs dragged along everywhere we go.
First log: "God, even more." If there is a God, faith can't be just an everyday feeling. So we start working hard, sometimes without realizing it, to finally experience more of God.
Second log: praying more and reading the Bible more. It goes without saying, but it can become an enormous weight.
Third log: finding your calling. A voice in your head tells you that you absolutely must find the plan God prepared for you alone. And faith stops being a joy, because you keep thinking you haven't found it yet.
Fourth log: spiritual principles and holiness. "Oh no, I failed again, I finally have to master this area." A strict faith that chases the image of a believer who no longer has any sin. "That is not what Jesus had in mind for us."
Last log: "more faith," whatever that means. You find yourself on the building side of the car, toiling and producing so that your faith looks like the pastor's, like a certain reading of the Bible, or like what you demand of yourself.

3. Three Convictions to Examine

Behind this pressure often hides an inverted conclusion: if we truly believed, nobody would be sick, nobody would have debts, everyone would have their dream job, their dream partner, and no relationship problems. So if we are sick, in debt, or alone, it must be because we don't believe enough. "That is an absurd inverted conclusion."
First conviction: "If I believe hard enough, I can get anything." Behind it is the idea that faith is a power: more faith equals more miracles and more results.
Second conviction: "With strong faith, I can work miracles." This is the idea that we could call things into existence in Jesus' name if we believe enough: the concept of manifestation.
Third conviction: "What I can believe, I will also be able to do." Its origin is positive thinking.
The preacher urges us to be careful not to mix ideas from other teachings with what Jesus taught. The apostle repeated it often in the New Testament: hold on to what was laid down from the beginning. "If you haven't yet experienced that it is simple, try to live it, but please, don't make it complicated."

4. Three Truths in Response

Against the first conviction: whoever believes in him is not condemned (John 3:18). To believe is to know that you are not condemned for your failures. Faith is not a huge feat you have to produce: Jesus has acquitted you.
Against the second: during the temptation, the devil suggests that Jesus command stones to become bread. Jesus refuses, because it is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:3-4).
Against the third: even if you believe in Jesus, firmly and in the right way, you won't necessarily get the best of everything. Whoever holds on to God is not spared pain and suffering, but the Lord delivers him out of them all (Psalm 34:19). Jesus is always with you, and the last word has not yet been spoken.
So faith is not a tour de force. It doesn't depend on imagination, as if those with the most fantasy had the greatest faith. And it is not simply a doorway to prosperity and health.

5. Three Levels of Faith, According to Luther

The first level is faith as mere knowledge: "There is a God," or a higher power. It is intellectual and theoretical. You can know the Bible very well at this level, but it doesn't transform you and you have no relationship with God.
The second level is faith as agreement. Maybe you live in a believing environment and say, "I believe there is a God and that he can help you." But it still has nothing to do with you. You stay at a distance, on the outside. You don't dispute that God is powerful, but you stop at approval.
The third level is faith as trust: you put all your trust in God and tell him, "I trust you." Faith slides from the head to the heart, and you leave theory behind to enter a living relationship with Jesus.
The preacher's question: which level are you at? And which level would you like to be at?

6. What the Bible Means by Believing

"Believing" is a hard word to pin down. In the Old Testament, the original text offers several ways to translate it. In Isaiah 43, believing can mean clinging to God, like a stamp stuck on a letter.
Believing also means trusting: you can replace the word "believe" with the word "trust." It means fearing God in his almighty power, knowing that we, small human beings, depend on him, and that he loves us infinitely anyway.
It also means hoping and waiting: "I wait for Yahweh. My soul waits. I hope in his word" (Psalm 130:5). "I wait, I don't let go." And it means knowing God.
In the New Testament, the Greek word pistis speaks of trust, faithfulness, self-giving, and reliability.
John 6:47 says: "He who believes in me has eternal life." It can also be translated: whoever gives himself to me, or whoever relies on me, has eternal life.
In John 20:27, Thomas, the doubter, refuses to believe until he has seen the wounds. Jesus doesn't reject him. He tells him to put his finger in his hands and his hand into his side: "Don't be unbelieving, but believing." In other words: stop doubting, trust me, lean on me.
Set side by side, these words contrast sharply with all the weight described at the start. So what do we do with those logs? "We set them on fire and let them go up in flames." Faith has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and we can simply come to him.

7. The Gentle Yoke and the Two Commandments

Jesus preached to people of Jewish culture who knew they had to keep the ten commandments, plus more than 600 secondary commandments, the mitzvot, so as not to break the ten. Many struggled and bent under this weight that they dragged along day after day.
It is to them that he says: "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily 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" (Matthew 11:28-30).
His listeners knew Hosea 11:4, where God compares himself to a farmer who lifts the yoke off his ox so it can eat more easily, and who bends down to feed it. God lifts what crushes you so that you can grow stronger.
The preacher adds another image: a young ox was often yoked with an old one. The young one wanted to go fast and wasted its energy, while the work around the millstone was long. The old one knew the right pace, and the young one adapted to it.
"My yoke" also means "my teaching": my teaching is gentle and light. Everything in your faith that feels heavy and puts you under pressure deserves to be examined, and maybe burned. Everything Jesus has already prepared and accomplished so that you can climb in and take off deserves your attention.
Jesus made the load light by bringing everything down to two commandments (Matthew 22:36-40). The person who asks him which commandment is the greatest is probably someone who is wearing himself out and finally wants to know what is essential.
The first: love God with all your mind, all your self-giving, all your strength. "I want your attention to belong to me." The second: love your neighbor as yourself, "not more than yourself, but at least as yourself." The whole law and the prophets are summed up in them.
"If you want to believe better, believe more, believe more rightly, focus on these two commandments." And even these two show that we need God's grace, his strength, and his work.

Key Takeaways

Faith begins where Jesus finished the work: he accomplished everything, and it is up to you to climb in and take off.
"If I truly believed, I wouldn't be sick or struggling" is an inverted conclusion. Faith is not a power, not positive thinking, and not a guarantee of prosperity.
To believe is to trust, to cling to God, to give yourself to him and rely on him. Faith moves down from the head to the heart.
What crushes you in your faith deserves to be examined: Jesus' yoke is easy and his burden is light.
The essential comes down to two commandments: give your attention to God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Personal Application

Which "log" are you dragging right now: experiencing God more, praying and reading more, finding your calling, being holier, having more faith?
Do you ever think your difficulties come from a lack of faith? What does this message change in that reasoning?
At which level of faith are you today: knowledge, agreement, or trust?
Which spiritual load do you want to put down, and maybe burn, to be free from this pressure?
Concretely, how will you give your attention to Jesus this week, and how will you love your neighbor as yourself?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Reto Kaltbrunner compare faith to a flying car?

Behind a flying car are people who worked overtime and gave up certain things. Whoever uses it only has to climb in and take off. For the preacher, this is the picture of faith: Jesus accomplished everything and paid for it with his life. Faith begins when the car is finished, not before. Climbing in and taking off is still your part.

If I truly believed, would I be healed and free of problems?

No. The preacher calls this an absurd inverted conclusion. Faith is not a tour de force, not a matter of imagination, and not a doorway to wealth and health. Whoever holds on to God is not spared pain and suffering, but the Lord is always with him and the last word has not yet been spoken.

What does Jesus mean when he says his yoke is easy?

Facing the ten commandments and the 600-plus secondary commandments his listeners carried, Jesus brings everything down to two commandments: love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself. Like the farmer in Hosea 11:4 who lifts the yoke off his ox, he lightens the load. His teaching is gentle and light.