Feb 16 - It Isn't About Eggs

Feb 16

Not About Eggs

 

Mt 11:29… and learn of me…

Did you know that the word yoke has nothing to do with eggs?  Yolk and yoke sound alike but they are very different things. With that explanation we will concern ourselves today about Matthew 11:29.  There we find the familiar words of Christ. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me…”  I used to think that should have said “lean on me”, like in the song Leaning on Jesus.  Today we will look at what it means to learn of Jesus.

In chapter 11 we have the account of John the Baptist sending 2 of his disciples to inquire if Christ was the Messiah. Christ then spends several verses praising John the Baptist.  Christ then admonishes the cities where he had done miracles and they had not believed.  After a prayer we have those three familiar verses that end chapter 11 “Come unto me…”

The word “yoke” is used in the Bible as a metaphor for a heavy burden. 

 

Le 26:13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke… 

When God was to restore the people from their exile in Babylon the word yoke is used  

Jer 28:2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

In acts 15 we have the record of the first church council debating if circumcision was still required after salvation. When Peter spoke he refers to the yoke of the law as a heavy burden.

Ac 15:10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

Finally, in Galatians Paul also uses yoke as a metaphor for heavy burdens.

Ga 5:1 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

 The yoke of bondage Paul refers to was the idea that after salvation people had to follow the law to stay saved.  Paul describes some of the wrong thinking of the day in Gal 4. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. The mingling of grace and law, which Paul says cannot happen for a person either believes one or the other.

Christ was continually fighting the Pharisees with their hyper-legalistic man made rules.  Paul had to fight against it as well.  That yoke of bondage still exists in some churches today. Some days are special religious days when you must do or must not do some religious thing.  There are 40 days during which you must give up something.  Some churches require or forbid some types of clothing or head covering.  Human nature is not content to just rest in the saving grace of our great savior. They must figure out a way to add something and secure some means of labeling other Christians. “Oh they do or they don’t do something ...and isn’t that awful”

Mt 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The lesson for us is to lay aside the heavy yoke of legalism and religious traditions and man made rules and “take my yoke upon you, and learn of me”

Trying to add anything to salvation will be a frustration, a discouragement, and a heavy burden. That is why Christ uses the metaphor of a yoke, which was usually used as a heavy burden, and says “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light”  When you trust Christ, and leave home made religion behind, you will find freedom. Paul calls it liberty. If the son shall make you free you shall be free indeed.  

The thing we need to learn is Jesus paid it all, All to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.