Yokes - Mathew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28-30 probably records the most familiar invitation our Lord ever gave. We're talking about pictures and parables and he uses in this invitation, the picture of a yoke. Come to me, all you 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 your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Our Lord spoke these words in the marketplace at Capernaum, but he could just as well have spoken them in downtown Cincinnati, or New York, or Chicago, or anywhere else in the world, because the basic problem around the world is restlessness. People are restless. And they're trying to find peace in their hearts in so many different ways: entertainment and money and activity, and nothing wrong with a delightful time with your friends, nothing wrong with travel, nothing wrong with shopping. But in the long run, in the final analysis, the things on the outside will not give us peace on the inside. The heart of every problem is the problem in the heart. And when you and I have our hearts fixed on the things of the world and the flesh, we're going to be restless. When we fix our hearts upon the Lord, we're going to find the peace that only he can give. The trouble's on the inside, it's not on the outside.

You see, we look back at our Lord's day and we say, "Oh, if I had just lived back in those days. If I could have just walked with Jesus." The life was so simple, so quiet. They didn't know about international tumult and war. And yet, those people back there were restless. They were having the same problems we're having. They would look ahead to our day. If the people that heard Jesus could see our world, they'd say, "What are you people worrying about? You've got telephones and jet planes. You can talk to each other, you can get a hold of a doctor. You have miracle drugs. Why are you worrying? Why are you so restless?" We want to be back in their day and they would like to be in our day and the answer is not in what era you live, what town you live in. The answer is, "Do you know God?" "Thou hast made us for thyself," said Saint Augustine, "and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee."

Now, our Lord is not talking about rest from life. He's not calling us to a perpetual vacation. No, no. He's talking about rest in life. He's talking to busy people who have children to take care of, jobs to perform, people who have farms to take care of and and work to do. And he's saying, "I'm not offering you a vacation. I'm saying to you, you can be enjoying my peace in your heart in the midst of trials, in the midst of challenges, yes, even in the midst of problems." He's talking here about a yoke of responsibility. A yoke.

Now we don't see many yokes today. Oh, if you went to the Holy Land or to some other part of this world where they still do farming as they did in ancient days, you'd see yokes. We use harnesses of course to keep our animals working together where we use animals. But back in our Lord's day, they had to yoke the oxen together. And this was so they could work together. A yoke is a symbol of submission, isn't it? A yoke says, "I am learning to live within limits." Now, we don't like limits. We we like to have the whole universe for our home. And we like to do what we want to do, when we want to do it, where we want to do it, and if somebody doesn't like it, that's too bad. And that's what creates all the restlessness. There never is peace until you learn to live within limits. And that yoke is talking about limitation.

Look at our Lord Jesus Christ. You never see him rushing around. You never notice that Jesus is restless and and anxious. Oh, no, always perfect control, perfect calm. Whether it's a storm on the sea or being attacked by his enemy, they came to arrest him. Our Lord is always in perfect control. You know why? He'd taken his Father's yoke. He'd learned to live within limits. Philippians 2, our Lord had limited himself. He said, "I'm going to come as a servant." And I know the limitations of a servant.

Now, he can give you rest today. You're restless, you're worried, you're anxious. He can give you rest today if you'll just follow his threefold instructions and obey them. Now, what are they? Come, take, learn. Isn't that simple? I didn't say it was easy. It's simple. Come, take, learn. Oh, there are many people today who are going through complicated stages and steps of uh rehabilitation and therapy. All they need to know is come, take, and learn. Now, it's not wrong to get professional help. It's not wrong to be a part of rehabilitation or therapy. But our Lord is saying, "Whatever it is you're doing, I've got the basic thing that you need. And then we'll work together about these other things. Come, take, and learn."

Let's take that first instruction: come. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now, this is his invitation to salvation. He's inviting us to come to him and surrender to him, trust him, and he gives to us a gift. What is that gift? It's the gift of rest. Now, his invitation is just the opposite of what people are saying today, even religious people. "Go! Go here, go there, or buy, or do!" But our Lord is saying, "No, I want you to come to me." Now he's implying here that we're on the wrong path, going in the wrong direction. He had talked about that in the Sermon on the Mount, "Broad is the road that leads to destruction, narrow is the road that leads to life." You're going in one direction or the other. You cannot be neutral. You cannot stand still. You cannot go in two directions at one time. Come to me. You're on the wrong path. To repent means to change your mind and change your direction. You're going in the wrong direction, you turn around, you change your mind, and you start going in the right direction. You come to the Lord Jesus. We come to a person.

Isn't that wonderful? We come to a person. Not to a book. The book tells us about the person, but we come to the person. When I have an automobile accident, I don't want a law book, I want a lawyer. When I'm sick, I don't want a medical book, I want a doctor. When I'm confused, I I don't want uh somebody's advice in an old newspaper, I want a counselor who can talk to me and pray with me. And Jesus says, "Come to me." The way is open. He died on the cross, he arose again, he's alive today, and he still says, as he said in Capernaum centuries ago, "Come to me." Who can respond to this invitation? All. All who are laboring, all who are heavy laden, all who are restless. And he says, "I will give you rest." That word heavy laden is the picture of a ship's cargo. You know why some of you folks are restless? You're carrying too much luggage, carrying too much baggage. Time to get rid of all those things. Just leave them behind, enter into that narrow road through the narrow gate. Don't drag all that luggage with you. Oh, you think you need this and you think you need that. No, you don't. All you need is the Lord Jesus. And after you've um met him and he's given you the rest in your soul, he'll teach you which luggage to pick up and carry. I think the older we get, the less luggage we need to be carrying. Oh, you think you've got to have this and you've got to have that, and you don't. All you need is the Lord Jesus. Come. Now, there's the first instruction. Have you done that? Come to me all! Anyone can come. "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."

Now the second instruction is take. After we've come and received rest, there is a deeper rest. The rest in Matthew 11:28 is the rest of salvation. Now we have the rest of submission. Uh the peace of God in our hearts. Salvation, that means peace with God. And your conscience is washed clean and you're given a new heart and you're right with God. Oh, that gives you rest down inside. But now he says take. Take what? Take my yoke. This is a deeper experience now. The gift of rest is different from the goal of rest in verse 29. He says you'll find rest. Come, he gives us rest, peace with God, that's forgiveness. Take, we find rest. That's the peace of God as we fellowship with him. Take what? Take my yoke.

Now, a yoke speaks of submission. Back in Jesus' day, soldiers knew the meaning of a yoke. When an army conquered the enemy, they put them under the yoke. They said, "You will now submit to us." By the way, you and I are the enemy. We are our own worst enemy. D.L. Moody said, "I have more trouble with D.L. Moody than with any other man." Now he says, "You take my yoke because I want you to submit to me. I've conquered you." But I've conquered you with your willingness. He does not defeat us. No, no. He calls us. He says, "Now, would you take my yoke?" The farmers knew the meaning of a yoke because it was necessary for the controlling of animals. You'd get no work out of an animal unless it was controlled by the yoke. The teachers knew the meaning of yokes. The rabbis used this term frequently, because when you followed a rabbi, you took his yoke. A rabbi would say to a potential pupil, "Take my yoke," which means, "Learn from me." The yoke is a symbol of submission. Somebody says, "I'm not going to submit. I'm not going to wear a yoke." My friend, you are already wearing some kind of yoke. You're carrying some kind of burden. Listen to Psalm 38:4. "For my iniquities have gone over my head, like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me." Would you rather carry the burden of sin, rebellion, disobedience? How about the burden of religion? A lot of people are religious, but it's a burden to them. Matthew 23, our Lord describes this. He says that the Pharisees bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, lay them on men's shoulders. Are you following some religious teacher who's burdening you with a yoke you cannot carry? You say, "Well, I'm going to keep the Ten Commandments." Well, God bless you. In Acts 15:10, we're told by Peter that it's a yoke. "Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" You want to go back under law instead of God's grace? It's a yoke you cannot bear. The worst burden of all is described in Job. The book of Job 7:20. Job is speaking and he says, "Have I sinned? What have I done to you, oh watcher of man? Why have you set me as your target so that I am a burden to myself?" A burden to myself. Are you a burden to yourself? Now Jesus says, "You want to get rid of all these burdens? I'll give you one yoke for the many yokes you're trying to bear. I'll give you a light yoke for the heavy yokes. I'll give you one that fits you and won't gall you and bruise you. And I'll give you a yoke that instead of being a burden, will bring rest to your soul." "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest." Come. That's the rest of salvation. "Take my yoke upon you, and you will find rest for your souls." The yoke of submission.

Now there is a third instruction he gives us. He tells us to come and to take and to learn. "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." His commandments, says John, are not grievous. When you love someone and you're yoked to that person, the very desires of their heart become the joy of your life. I think of that incident in the cave when David was hiding with his mighty men. And he said under his breath, "Oh, I wish I had a drink of that water from the well at Bethlehem!" And some of his mighty men broke through the enemy lines and got a cup of cold water for David and brought it back. He didn't command them. His desire was their desire. That's what Jesus is saying here, "Learn of me." We've gone from a crisis to a process. Come, take. That's the crisis. You do that once. Learn. Ah, that's the daily process. But notice that he doesn't teach us until we've taken the yoke. That's important. I meet a lot of people who say, "Oh, I wish I understood the Bible better." I'll tell you how to understand the Bible better: obey it. Just obey what you know and God'll teach you more. John 7:17, "If anyone is willing to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." So our Lord doesn't say, "Come and learn." Oh, you'd like it that way. That's easy. No, he says, "Come, take my yoke, join yourself to me, put yourself under my divine limitations, and then I'll be able to teach you." You can't teach somebody who wants to run his own life. From a crisis to a process, daily learning from him. From ignorance to knowledge. Oh, how ignorant we are of the Lord. "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

People have such strange views about God. In Matthew 11:25, Jesus says, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth." That's beautiful. Father. The one name for God that Jesus tried to teach to his disciples: Father. You're not afraid of a father, you respect a father, you listen to a father, but you love a father. Lord of heaven and earth. Isn't that marvelous? To wake up in the morning and say, "My Father is the Lord of heaven and earth." My Father takes care of everything. Imagine if you will, a prince, a little boy who wakes up in the palace. Does he worry? No. His father's in control. His father has wealth, his father has power, his father has authority. So the little prince is not at all afraid. Why? Because his father is in control. The Lord says, "Would you learn of me that God is not a tyrant, God is not a bully, God is not a distant creator, God is not dead." God loves you. He is your father. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. Now, learn of me. How do we learn of him? By listening and by obeying. We open the Word of God and we are yoked to the Lord, and we submit to him, and we learn of him. And then we obey. And as we obey, he teaches us more. And if we want to go our own way, that yoke pulls us back. We are not yoked to one another. We are yoked to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ says, "You don't have to worry. I know where I'm going. I know what I'm doing. I want you to submit." Someone says, "But meekness is weakness." No, it isn't. When he says, "I am meek, I am gentle and lowly in heart," he is expressing strength. It's the weak people who are violent. It's the weak people who have to lie and scheme. Those who are submitted to the Lord and yoked to him become like him. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is power under control. You yoke a couple of strong horses together, you've got power and it's under control. And that's what meekness really is. Our Lord has power. He shares that power with us and our hearts are at rest. You and I cannot control the circumstances and the people around us. The more we try to manipulate and control other people and circumstances, the more dependent we become. No, the solution is simply come, take, and learn. And the result, you shall find rest unto your souls.