Matthew 11:28-29  " Come unto me all ye that labor 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."

THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF ALL BIBLE STUDY

Lesson Three

As we learned in Lesson One, Jesus Christ makes an invitation to people who labor and are heavy laden.  They are bidden to come to Him and be given rest.  We noted that this sort of invitation from Christ fits all kinds of people with alll kinds of burdens and labors. We then noted that the second part of Christs invitation seemed to speak specifically to believers.   They are invited to take His yoke upon themselves and learn of Him to gain yet even greater rest.  We then noted that it is the natural response of humans not to come to Christ when they are not born-again believers.  The fact of this counter-productive behavior in the children of Adam was then discussed and we posed the hypothetical question as to why Christ bothers to invite people to come to Him if they won't respond.  We asked another question related to that which was; "why are there people who have confessed belief in Christ and admitted that they have gone to Him and are following Him if, as you say, none will come to Him when invited?"  We answered those questions in the latter part of Lesson One; "Why Humans Cannot and Will Not Come to Christ," and pointed out that God has provided a means for humans to be reunited with Him.  

In Lesson Two we looked at the fact that people can come to Christ and serve him although, in their natural state they "will not" to come to Him.  The way that this occurs is that  God intervenes To come, appear, or lie between two things: You can't see the lake from there because the house intervenes. 2. To come or occur between two periods or points of time: A year intervened between the two dynasties. 3. To occur as an extraneous or unplanned circumstance: He would have his degree by now if his laziness hadn't intervened. to change their will by sending the Holy Spirit to give them a new birth John 3:7-8 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.   by which they become spiritually able and willing to trust Christ as Savior.  When  a human's will is changed by the quickeningTo make alive; to vitalize power of the Holy Spirit, that person becomes a new creature.  That new creature is a willing citizen of the kingdom of God and acknowledges Christ as King.  We pointed out that the invitation from Christ, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" is a particularly precious invitation to the born-ones of God for a number of reasons, both because of their unique position in the world, because of temptations, and because of the treasure of solace that resides in Jesus Christ and is available through our Comforter, the Holy Spirit.  

In Lesson Three we will look at the expansion of the invitation of Christ as it appears in our text.  In it, he not only invites us to come to Him and He will give us rest, but He also invites us to another benefit.  He says, "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."  This is a specific charge and promise on to believers.  It is also an invitation to discipleship.  We first want to examine the charge in this statement of our Lord, "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me...".  

In explaining this instructive message, our Lord used terms that could be understood by His audience of the day.  In those days, different kinds of animals were used to do farming operations and  to provide transportation.  Many of those jobs required that the animals be put into a harness in order to pull a plow or other farming tool, or a wagon or cart.  To put these animals in a harness, the owner would first put a type of collar , or yoke on their necks.  This yoke rested against the shoulders of the animal and the owner could then attach a harness to the collar or yoke.  This harness could be made of rope, rawhide, chain or other strong material to which a tool could be connected so that the animal could pull it.  The owner would then control the animal with a set of reins usually made of rawhide. In this way, the animal would be controlled to do work.  Some people still use animals to farm and pull buggies, wagons, etc.  .

The imagery that the Lord built into this instruction was such that we can get a mental picture of the believer getting into harness with the Lord Jesus Christ as a service animal is in harness controlled by its owner.  In order for us to fully appreciate what our Lord is conveying to us, we truly need to see this idea in our minds.  If we can grasp this imagery, we are ready to be instructed by the Lord in the many implicationsAn indirect indication; a suggestion; an implied meaning; an inference of that idea.  What we may notice first is that staying true to the imagery, the harness that our Lord would use to guide and direct us cannot be attached until the yoke is on us.  So, it becomes very important for us to first of all discover what He means by the instruction, "Take my yoke upon you...."

The yoke is first and foremost the LORD's YOKE.  He takes possession of it for a reason.  As with a farmer who dresses his work animal with a yoke owned by himself, so Christ wants the yoke attached to us to be HIS yoke.  So, let us truly understand that we are seeking to take Christ's yoke upon us.   Understanding that, we must understand what that yoke is that He points to.  

Christ's yoke is as the yoke owned by a farmer of old.  In order to help us understand how that is true, we want to observe a few things about the farmers yoke from the perspective of the work animal.  First, the work animal cannot comprehend the exact physical construction of the yoke he wears for his master.  The fact tthat it may be leather and fiber, or wood and metal is meaningless to the animal who wears it.  Some of you believers may have felt as though you too were incapable of understanding what this yoke might actually be that Jesus was talking about.  Bible scholars have tried to explain what the yoke means and some have provided some valuable insights, but astute men have struggled with providing it a shape and structure.  However, we can define its purpose, and by that render a conceptual image of what Christ wanted us to understand.  Having understood what it is in that framework, we can take it upon us as He has instructed.  First, we can discern that it represents the intent of Christ to direct us in working.  Then, it represents a spiritual control agent by which Christ can and will define our comings and  goings. In sum, it represents a volunteer servitude to the Lord Christ.  In fact the Greek wordGreek - zugos: To join, especially by a yoke; a coupling, that is (figuratively) servitude. used for yoke in our text carries the idea of coupling in servitude.  

We want to notice next that Christ uses the word "Take" in His instructions.  This means that in order for us to participate as He has outlined, we must voluntarily enter into this relationship of servitude with him.  To help clarify this important matter, let's look again at the relationship between the farmer and his service animal. Here is the farmer with a yoke in his hand and here is his work animal standing nearby.  At the point that the farmer places the yoke around the animals neck, it has within its power the ability and opportunity to break and run, rejecting the collar.  We are only talking about what is within the power and choice of the service animal at this point, not about consequences of running away.  In this invitation from Christ we have the opportunity and freedom to run away from the yoke.  But, Christ says "Take my yoke..." and by that lays on us both an invitation and a responsibility.  I don't think any believer would everr want to shirk a responsibility of the Lord while thinking and trying to live in a spiritual way.  Nevertheless, we have to note that when it comes to doing something with the yoke Christ has spoken to us about, we are standing at a crossroads where a conscious choice is to be made. Yet we know that in reality, children of God sometimes do the wrong thing at such a junction as this.  Peter did the wrong thingLuke 22:59-61 And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean. And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. when confronted by folks at Jesus' trial.  All the disciples forsook ChristMat 26:56 But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled. and fled when the heat was on.  Peter appeared to make a wrong choiceGalatians 2:11-12 - But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. in the matter of legalism when in a mixed crowd of Jewish and Gentile believers.  MarkAct 15:37-38 - And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. perhaps made a misstep in his commitment to the work.  Believers do not always make the right, nor always the best, choices.  So, let us be reminded that, like the farmer's service animal, we have the power and choice to run away from the yoke.  But, in the natural world, we would notice that an obedient work animal does not run away, but stands patiently and accepts the yoke and harness.  

As we continue to follow the analogy, if we do a little history search, we will discover that work animals were not originally in a natural state to be under the yoke of humans.  Horses, oxen, etc. were domesticated by man and bred and trained to labor under a yoke.  Humans, likewise are not naturally in a state to put on a yoke for Christ.  As we noted in Lesson One, humans have no spiritual inclination since the fall of Adam.   They are dead in trespasses and sins in their natural state.  But, the gracious work of the Holy Spirit is such that the child of God influenced by it will grow in responsiveness to the truth and be a willing and submissive recipient of Christ's careful and loving supervision.  The Lord is able to suubdue our wild spirit and bring us into a surrendered spiritual frame, by which we become a suitable subject for bearing His yoke.  

As we look even further at the symbolism that Christ's language suggests, we cannot help but notice that in the relationship that exists between the farmer and his service animal, the tasks, tools used, the location where work is done, and the productivity is chosen, directed, and influenced by the farmer.  Work animals do not  decide that they want to just pull a plow, but not a wagon or buggy.  They do not decide of themselves to work in  the south field or travel to the town that is north of home. Further, they do not decide how many acres they will plow today, nor how many miles they might pull a wagon.  When I was a boy, my Dad had a horse that tried to do that occasionally, but the strong influence and persuasion from Dad soon settled the issue.  Work animals are at their master's bidding.  The yoke and attached harness helps decide that. A horse can tell when His master wants him to start moving, turn left or right, stop, etc. by the message  sent through the reins. In just the same way, as we are coupled with Christ in a yoke that is His, harnessed as He sees fit, and tasked for certain things, we must remember that He will determine all the aspects of our servitude.  We must not try to make decisions about how we shall serve our Lord, nor where, nor when.  Rather, we must feel after the gentle pull on the reins to guide us to the proper responses.  We can be certain that He will direct us unerringly into the wonderful work that He purposes!  More than that, we need not worry about the extent or productivity of that work as long as we let Him move us by His own contorl through the harness attached to the yoke. It is important for us to learn to submit to His divine guidance, to be patient and satisfied in the harness and in doing the things that He directs.  When we do that, we become the tool of God.  We then begin to truly "act out" our new roleEphesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. in Christ.  When we have taken His yoke upon us and submitted ourselves to His direction we find that He then truly begins to work His will and pleasurePhilippians 2:13 - For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. within and through us.       

In Lesson Four we will look further at submission to Christ and evaluate some of the pitfalls of the human condition that hinder or obstruct our total yielding to Him.