Christ's Free Servant Posted December 17, 2005 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 197 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 2,461 Content Per Day: 0.35 Reputation: 4 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/18/2005 Status: Offline Birthday: 12/31/1949 Share Posted December 17, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFaceInTheCrowd Posted December 17, 2005 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 134 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 1,138 Content Per Day: 0.34 Reputation: 9 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/26/2015 Status: Offline Birthday: 01/16/1969 Share Posted December 17, 2005 First look at what a yoke is.There are several definitions.....one def....that which binds or connects;a bond(the yoke of love).If one is yoked then they are joined,coupled or linked.It can also mean an oppressive force or an influence.Another is a frame fitted to one's shoulders and designed at each end to carry a burden. If we take upon ourselves the yoke of the LORD we take upon ourselves the tasks of a Christian.Where the yoke of the world is heavy,JESUS said HIS yoke is easy and the burdens we will carry will be lighter than the burdens we carry for this world.With HIS yoke comes PEACE.Also with HIS yoke comes direction or guidence(just like the farmer's oxen who would stay on the right track while plowing).We are also bound to HIM through HIS yoke.If we take a look at the definition of this simple word we can understand HIS meaning.I hope this helps some.Be blessed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shiloh357 Posted December 17, 2005 Share Posted December 17, 2005 This is one of my favorite quotes from Jesus out of the gospels. Look at the invitation: "Come unto me ALL ye who are heavy laden.." Everyone who is burdened, stressed out, poor, needy, everyone whose soul is sick with malady of sin. No one is too far gone, too much of a sinner to come to Jesus. There is more grace, mercy and forgiveness in Jesus, than there is sin in the world. He will accept all who will come to Him, and no one will be turned away. What I see here is an interesting paradox: A yoke, especially in those days represented anything but "rest." Yokes were for bearing burdens. Yet Jesus said that if we want to rest, if we want release from our burdens, we need to take His Yoke. when we take His yoke we will "rest." We rest in Him, in His finished work. When we take upon His yoke, we may lean upon Christ in quiet repose. This also is counters Ha-ool-ie mal-choot shamah-im "The yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven" which is a Rabbinic phrase. This yoke represented in Jewish thought, not only the commandments of the Torah, but all of the extra-biblical prescriptions imposed by the Rabbis. So, Jesus was contrasting HIS yoke with that of the religious leaders of the time. While they were placing upon the shoulders of the people a burden impossible to carry, Jesus says that His yoke is easy, his burden is light. All other religious systems place burdens and heavy yokes upon their adherants. All other religions are based upon a quest and search, a system of appeasement where they strive to please their deity with good deeds and in doing so, hope to garner favor. Religion says "do." The Gospel of Christ says "Done." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFaceInTheCrowd Posted December 17, 2005 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 134 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 1,138 Content Per Day: 0.34 Reputation: 9 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/26/2015 Status: Offline Birthday: 01/16/1969 Share Posted December 17, 2005 Amen and amen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
other one Posted December 17, 2005 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 29 Topic Count: 598 Topics Per Day: 0.08 Content Count: 56,129 Content Per Day: 7.56 Reputation: 27,858 Days Won: 271 Joined: 12/29/2003 Status: Offline Share Posted December 17, 2005 very good way to put it Shilo.... Done..... makes me feel lighter burdened just to read you say that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix Posted December 17, 2005 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 22 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 397 Content Per Day: 0.06 Reputation: 9 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/24/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted December 17, 2005 Hello Sue, This is a good leading from the Lord. I think Christians are being a little more concerned with the first part and not this latter part about taking the yoke. Christians seek to lighten their burden but don't consider taking the yoke of the Lord to learn from Him. I feel that the Lord is saying to not be self-centered. When we don't take the yoke of the Lord, we our under our own strength and our own yoke. This is what makes us weary and heavy laden. Most people take on the yokes of their career, family, etc. But if we take the yoke of the Lord we live for the Lord and are bound to the Lord. It is here where we find true rest. There have been many Christians who have not taken the yoke of the Lord and are very much a part of this world. These are ones who will only do something for the Lord out of their convenience, who only consider what THEY can get from the Lord. The Lord has called us to DENY ourselves and follow Him wherever He leads us. This has lead some faithful saints to persecution, torture, and prison...but they were all bearing the yoke of the Lord. And they truly knew what the Lords rest was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britani18 Posted December 17, 2005 Group: Members Followers: 1 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 10 Content Per Day: 0.00 Reputation: 0 Days Won: 0 Joined: 12/08/2005 Status: Offline Birthday: 08/17/1984 Share Posted December 17, 2005 I really feel that the yoke we take on is all the God hands us. Everything in life God gives us a way to shape and mold us. Every experience we have the Lord uses to mokd us into all that He wants us to become. God puts us through the fire so that we can come out on the other side closer to Him and more humbled to His teaching. THe Lord is always with us, and we should take all the He give us (good or bad things in our lives) with a smile. We will have hard times, we will have good times, but with trust and faith in our Lord, God all will be right. Have faith and trust in Him. God bless, Britani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldhe Posted December 17, 2005 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 66 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 274 Content Per Day: 0.04 Reputation: 4 Days Won: 0 Joined: 12/21/2004 Status: Offline Birthday: 07/03/1995 Share Posted December 17, 2005 Kinda like "taking up the cross", we are to serve him with ALL our love for him. God bless in His name, Brother Zachary A. Tepe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christ's Free Servant Posted December 18, 2005 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 197 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 2,461 Content Per Day: 0.35 Reputation: 4 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/18/2005 Status: Offline Birthday: 12/31/1949 Author Share Posted December 18, 2005 Thank you! I appreciate all your comments. They were all great. This is what I'm thinking. Tell me if you think it makes sense. I read in a commentary that "come to me," is basically a call to receive salvation through Jesus Christ, so it is not saying to everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike, "come and ask me for rest and you have it." It is a call of God to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, because it is in relationship with Christ that we truly find rest and hope and healing, etc. But, it doesn't leave it with just "come." That is where so many people leave it, and that is where the sermon I heard left it. We love the grace of God and so we tend to teach only his grace as though all anyone has to do is say, "sure I'll accept his grace," but it doesn't end there. That's only half the story. The other half is "take my yoke upon you and learn of me... and you will find rest for your souls." So, I got thinking about what Jesus' yoke was. What burden did he bear? And, how do we take that yoke upon us? And, if it is a yoke, then how is it that it is easy? How can a yoke be easy? Are there other scriptures that tell us to take something upon us? This is what I think it means and I'll explain why I think it is easy: To deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow him - Matthew 16:24-26To put on the full armor of God; take up the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, etc. - Ephesians 6:10-18To clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ & do not think about how to gratify sinful nature - Romans 13:14To clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, etc. - Col 3:12To put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness - Eph 4:24Basically, to take his yoke upon us and to learn from him, it means to put Christ on us - his grace, his forgiveness, his sufferings, his love, etc. When we accept Christ and we turn from our sin and turn to God we are reborn. We are new creations in Christ Jesus, so it is like putting on a new you. The reason the yoke is easy is because it is Christ working in us and through us as we yield to him and let go of our own selfish desires. When we let go and let God, then it becomes easy, because we are not trying to do it in our own flesh. Remember Paul said he was crucified with Christ and that he no longer lived, but Christ lived in him, and the life he now lived in the flesh he lived by faith in Jesus. I think so many people want God's grace in their lives, they want the rest that he promises, but they are not willing to take his yoke upon them and to learn of him and then they wonder why they don't have peace. It only comes when we shed our human yokes and we take on Christ that we truly find that rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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