Today we’re going to be talking about the Bible’s mention of a farming implement. Jesus tells us what it means to take up his yoke in Matthew 11:28-30.
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“His Yoke”
Matthew 11:28-30
- Today we’re going to be talking about the Bible’s mention of a farming implement
- Something that was often “fitted on the neck of oxen for the purpose of binding to them the traces by which they might draw the plough”
- It’s a tool not many of us would have experience with
- “In the New Testament…” the word is “used to denote servitude”
- We’ll read three verses today and hear this word twice
- His “yoke” our theme today, from Matthew 11
- When Jesus describes taking His yoke upon you, He could mean a number of things
- Certainly He means having faith and trust in Him
- And having a commitment to following Him
- Obeying His commands
- Entering into a relationship (and a daily fellowship) with Him
- Loving Him
- And using our lives to reflect Him properly – to glorify Him
- You could put all of this into the category of becoming His disciple
- But these three verses don’t simply read like a command to follow
- They are more of an invitation
- One that gives great comfort and hope and relief
- Particularly to those of who have – by faith – experienced the rest He provides
- Let’s begin in verse 28 of Matthew 11, when Jesus says…
Matthew 11:28
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
- Life is labour
- So every one of us can understand this invitation
- The burdens that we carry could be countless in number
- But for every man the chief burden is sin
- It is the weight that eventually kills us, destroys us
- And all our lives it weighs us down
- So, Jesus says, if you’re labouring with life, weighed down by sin
- He and (we find in many other passages) He alone
- Can give rest
- Now He is talking to a big audience – every one of us (to be precise)
- And whether we feel at this moment that we are bearing a weight or not, the Bible says we are!
- Because it says in Romans 3…
“There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
- As sinners by birth and by choice, we have a penalty weighing on us
- Stated this way in Romans 6…
“For the wages of sin is death”
- Thankfully, verse 23 goes on…
“But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
- That sounds like rest, to me
- Eternal rest
- Jesus goes on to say…
Matthew 11:29
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
- To learn is to increase in one’s knowledge
- It is to hear and to be informed
- And it can mean to learn by practice
- By experience
- And what we find when we learn of Him is that He is all-powerful, but gentle
- He is One that humbled Himself and came to die in our place on the cross
- He full of grace and truth
- Abundant in mercy and longsuffering
- We find these things about Him (and many more) in His word
- As He said in John 5:39…
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
- It certainly must be everyone’s desire to have “rest” unto their “souls”
- But He reminds us of the yoke we must bear at the beginning of the verse
- For coming to Him means submission
- It means service to Him
- It means forsaking all to follow
- As Jesus said in Luke 14:33…
“Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
- But those who will, those who do, have a promise
- It is not only the promise of eternal life
- Not only the certainty of no regret
- But also His promise here…
Matthew 11:30
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
- How can it be that absolute surrender to Him and to His service can be burden-less?
- There are some theological realities that we need to remember…
- He sends a Comforter to dwell within us
John 14: 16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”
- He gives us power to do everything He asks
II Peter 1:3 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”
- He walks with us every step of the way
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
- And He is preparing an eternal place for us
John 14:2-3 “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
- Jesus says…
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”