In chapter 6 of the ancient book of Jeremiah, the prophet was calling out warning and harsh judgment on the sinful, rebellious city of Jerusalem. Recognizing a pivotal, crossroads moment of Hebrew history, Jeremiah called the people to stop for a moment and look closely at the path they were following. His words sound very similar to the passage we began studying last week. I like the vivid way the New Living Translation handles the passage…
This is what the LORD says: "Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, 'No, that's not the road we want!' I posted watchmen over you who said, 'Listen for the sound of the alarm.' But you replied, 'No! We won't pay attention!'
What road do you want? What alarm are you paying attention to?
Last week we began a simple conversation about what it means to truly be and become Elim Church: An Oasis In The City. I shared my deeply held belief that being oasis means this must be a place where we, and anyone else coming here, find rest, refreshment and sweet release. We focused our attention last week primarily on just one verse, Matthew 11:28, where we were reminded that we must come only to Jesus, come humble (humbly willing to admit our dripping wet, broken down and sitting on the floor neediness) and come fully expecting Jesus to give us the rest we need. The degree to which we come only to Jesus, the degree to which we offer only Jesus is the degree to which Elim Church will become a genuine place of oasis rest.
But what does coming to Jesus look like? Did you ask yourself that last week? How do we move from moments of good rest into genuine refreshment? I don’t need just a nice, cool glass of water once a week. I can’t survive on that. I need more than that. I need clean pipes and good plumbing; a constant, flowing, fresh water supply not only for myself, but for all the thirsty people around me. We need more than just the offer of salvation rest, we need the refreshment of sanctification. What exactly did Jesus mean when he said come to Him? Let’s read the very next verse in the passage (page 889) and see if that clarifies anything…
At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things [the enormous oasis value and true power of the kingdom] from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me [and only to me], all you who are weary and burdened [humble enough to admit your need], and I will give you rest [expect it!]. 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.
This is a weird metaphor. I’m coming here to the oasis looking for rest, refreshment and release and you tell me to “take your yoke” on my neck? That’s a really pretty picture! That’s an image I’m sure will really appeal to my already exhausted friends! What a mixed up metaphor…
Don’t feel bad if you’re confused. In the Old Testament and first century life prior to this, a yoke was almost always a very negative idea. The ancients used a yoke as an illustration of bondage and foreign oppression. It was a vivid, painful picture of the terrible weight of sin. Eventually, a yoke even became a powerful metaphor for the heavy burdens and bondage of the Law, with its countless traditions, interpretations and oral additions. A yoke is a lousy illustration of refreshment. Don’t you think?
Or maybe it isn’t. Maybe it’s the perfect illustration. While there might be no rest or meaningful refreshment found in the word “yoke,” when we place that heavy word on the lips of Jesus, when Jesus calls us to take up His yoke…well, that changes everything, doesn’t it?
Take my yoke upon you. Make no mistake; it is a hard yoke we are offered here, folks. This yoke is a bloody, cruel cross before a mocking crowd of Roman soldiers. It is the very most disciplined, demanding and difficult challenge we could ever possibly embrace in this lifetime. It is the pursuit of perfection as Jesus Himself is perfect. It is pressing on toward the highest calling. It is dying to ourselves and living for Christ. It is supernaturally offering the world love beyond anything we could ever manufacture. It is stunning righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. It is absolutely the very costliest grace. This is a yoke.
But this is Jesus’ yoke. One side of this yoke is born by our gentle and humble Jesus Himself. This is not a gruesome load we’re ordered to carry alone; this is not supposed to be a life in which we do the heavy lifting! We are not the strong partner in this enterprise! Do you see? This is Jesus’ yoke we are called to take up and that makes all the difference in the world.
Think deeply about these things…
Do you see what Jesus is saying here? Jesus is saying the same thing Jeremiah cried out to the people of Jerusalem all those years before. Find and follow the ancient way, walk in God’s way, do what I do, live as I live and you will finally and fully find the rest and refreshment you seek. Only in taking this Christian yoke upon ourselves can we discover the refreshment we’re looking for in this life and the next. As Matthew Henry put it so wonderfully in his very old commentary years ago, “Jesus offers us a yoke only because He longs to offer us a crown!”
If you want to move past mere moments of salvation rest into a fully, more wonderfully sanctified lifestyle of refreshment and renewal, pressed down, shaken together and overflowing to the restless world around you, then take up this Jesus yoke. Drink deeply of Jesus at every opportunity. Allow the LORD Jesus to teach you in prayer, Bible study and fellowship with other similarly yoked people. Embrace all the classic spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith. Find and follow the ancient way. Do whatever Jesus does. Don’t fight the gentle and humble yoke of Jesus; embrace it. Allow Him to lead you and “learn you good!” Listen to the warnings of the watchmen and women He places into your life. Realize this road, this yoke is you want.
But most folks today don’t want to do that, do they? Just like the ancient audience of Jeremiah, most people today shout no to this yoke. Most people ignore the shouted, loving warnings…and because of that, we live in an exhausted, tragically restless, increasingly dying, unrefreshed world. We live in a world of very little rest and even less refreshment.
Sadly, this world doesn’t realize we are all playing the ultimate zero sum rest and refreshment game. We are constantly, every moment of every day, in the process of either embracing or rejecting the yoke of Jesus. We are either moving along the road with Jesus or we are pulling against Him. But we are all bearing some sort of yoke. We always do.
And so as we quietly move toward communion together this morning, there are three simple, reflective questions I believe the LORD would have us ask of ourselves and pray about.
What Yoke Are You Bearing?
First of all, what yoke are you bearing? Are you still burdened down, bound up in your exhausting, painful, cancerous sins and broken habits? Or are you bogged down in some very well-intended, but completely hopeless, legalistic attempt to earn your own way into God’s favor and grace? Are you exhausted by some heavy, depressing yoke of rules and religion? Are you trying to do this Jesus thing on your own? Many of us embrace the idea of Jesus, instead of embracing Jesus. We have a polite, religious form of godliness, but lack its power because we’re trying to carry the yoke ourselves. We are trying to carry everything ourselves.
Larry Chell, in an old issue of Leadership, told the story of how once, “In the Philippines I heard a local pastor use a parable to illustrate Christ's offer of rest and the response of people who won't trust Jesus completely: The driver of a carabao wagon was on his way to market when he overtook an old man carrying a heavy load. Taking compassion on him, the driver invited the old man to ride in the wagon. Gratefully the old man accepted. But after a few minutes, the driver turned to see how the man was doing. To his surprise, he found him still straining under the heavy weight, for he had not taken the burden off his shoulders.” The man was on the truck, but he still hadn’t put his burdens down. He was still carrying the weight. He was still bearing the burden alone. He found some rest, but he had not found refreshment. We can’t properly take up the yoke of Jesus until we lay our burdens at His feet.
It is truly great that we’re all here this morning, but being here isn’t enough. There is rest here, but we need more than just a few moments of rest. We need the full refreshment only taking up the yoke of Jesus can bring us. We will still be thirsty and restless without that.
What yoke are you bearing?
What Are You Learning?
Jesus called us not only to take up His yoke, but as we do so, allow Him to teach us. Jesus called us to learn from Him. Are we doing that? What are we learning? We are always learning something. And while Almighty God has slobbered His glorious truth all over this wonderful world and we can learn all sorts of things from all sorts of people, places and things, are we filtering everything through our gentle, humble Yokefellow Jesus? Are we learning all we know from gentle, humble Jesus or are we ignoring Jesus? Are we allowing Jesus to lead us into rest and sanctified refreshment or are we settling for what is neither rest nor refreshment?
What are you learning?
Susan Moser told a great story years ago of how, “several weeks into the school year, I asked my first grader what he thought of school now that he was a seasoned pro. "Oh, I love school, Mommy" he said. "It's great!" But then, after a brief hesitation, he added, "Well, except for one thing ... I don't really like it when Mrs. Decker tries to teach us stuff.’”
But learning is a big part of what we’re here for!
Last Saturday, the Minnesota portion of my family gathered in Willmar to celebrate my father’s 83rd birthday. While I was there, we were down in my father’s woodshop looking at one his latest projects. As we were there, my dad gave me a nice, new Leatherman tool he was given as a prize for something. My father gave it to me because he’s a nice guy and, as a truly master craftsman, he really doesn’t have much need of it. But I also suspect he gave it to me because he still remembers the summer of 1976. In 1976, my friend Larus Maxwell and I decided we would build some speaker cabinets for some old console television speakers we found in a dump. My parents were away that afternoon and the project went fine until I drilled a hole in my stomach with my dad’s power drill. Concerned that my parents would come home from their outing, find the blood and sawdust, but no happy teenaged boys, we politely left a blood-smeared, sawdust covered note on the dining room table. It read, “Dear Mom and Dad, drilled small hole in my stomach, went up to the hospital to get it looked at a little. Don’t worry!” My dad might be 83 now, but I don’t think my father has ever forgotten that note.
Elim Church must be an organization fully aware that it doesn’t know how to use all the tools in our father’s workshop. An oasis like this is a place where even the master craftspeople among us fully understand there is always room for improvement. Just before my parents left for their outing in the summer of 1976, my worried father poked his head into the wood shop and said, “You be careful now!” Arrogantly, I responded, “Dad, I’m sixteen years old…I know what I’m doing.” Elim Church must be a place where nobody ever says that! We are always in the process of learning and relearning what we’re doing. We never know what we’re doing! And that’s why this place ought to be such a fun, exciting place to be!
Dear ones, learning is an enormous part of what we’re here for! Learning is a huge part of the oasis refreshment for which we gather.
What are you learning?
What Refreshment Are You Finding?
Then third and finally, the most relevant, rubber meets the road question; beyond a moment of rest here and there, what true refreshment are you finding in life? Please notice that, once again this week, Jesus wonderfully closes with a promise of 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. Jesus promises us true rest and truly sanctifying refreshment that will sustain and endure through this life and the next. Jesus promises us not just salvation but gloriously full sanctification! Are you experiencing that sort of increasingly, further in and further up sort of sanctified lifestyle of refreshment? Or are you just as exhausted, broken and burdened down as the next person? Are you trying to find rest and refreshment in what gives neither?
What rivers of refreshment sustain you; are you experiencing Jesus’ promise?
This little oasis in the city we call Elim Church must be a place where we come single-mindedly to Jesus. This oasis in the city must be a place where we come to help each other truly take up, truly embrace the yoke of Jesus and learn refreshment from Him together. This oasis must be a place where people slowly but surely begin to joyously, ironically discover that the more fully we take up the often-challenging yoke of Jesus, the more restful and wonderfully refreshing that yoke becomes. As a matter of fact, the more time we spend under the humble yoke of Jesus, the more that glorious yoke begins to feel like something else entirely.
Do you see?
This is what Jesus wants for you!
This is what the yoke of Jesus, the sanctified, growing, further in and further up lifestyle of refreshment for which we were born, is supposed to feel like, even in the worst storms of life.
It is my deepest prayer that this place, this Elim Church family of believers, would move far past nice moments of salvation rest into powerful lifestyles of sanctified refreshment. May we help each other truly take up the yoke and learn all the refreshing stuff we need to know!
Amen.
