Discipled Week 2

Take my Yoke: Learning from jesus

Introduction

Welcome back church, I’m so glad you’re here today as we continue on in our series, Discipled… And if that’s a new word to you, or one you’ve heard tossed around in church it simply means to be a follower, a student or a learner. If you want to take it a step further, “Christian discipleship connotes a relationship with a master teacher, following them, and adhering to their way of life.”

For those who follow Jesus, the call to discipleship is two-fold. It's about leaving behind what you know, and it's also about embracing the incredible rewards that come from following Jesus. It’s about leaving everything behind, walking away from your proverbial fishing nets, and embracing a new purpose and call.

This can be an overwhelming prospect for folks, but as we heard last week, “The demands of following Christ will cost you everything. But you gain far more than you give up.

The truth of the matter is that you gain far more than diamonds in this exchange, you get Jesus. And as we’ll see today, His yoke is easy and His burden is light; He’s the good shepherd.

Matthew 11:28–30 NKJV

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Our passage begins with a familiar invitation from Jesus. He invites those listening to come, just as He did when He called Peter, Andrew, James, and John in Matthew 4 last week. And this one fact is so important that we need to stop and recognize that the call to discipleship is an invitational one. The response was immediate and complete, to follow Jesus as savior and Lord… to walk in His ways empowered and changed by His Spirit and Word of Truth. To live it out as we seek to make disciples of others and fulfill our new purpose and new life in Christ.

The Invitation to Discipleship

What does it mean that Jesus invites us to follow Him as opposed to demanding it? What does it say about Him that He is not a King of coercion but one of invitation? This aspect of discipleship is a central theme in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. When Jesus says, "Come to me," He's extending a hand. He’s offering an invitation to discipleship, to a life of following Him, learning from Him, and finding rest in Him.

In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Christ, but an invitation Christ makes to us. We are called to walk with Him, to learn from Him, to share in His mission and purpose." This is the nature of Jesus' yoke. He welcomes others to walk with Him, to learn from Him, and to share in His mission and purpose.

As seen in the gospels, this invitation is open to everyone. Jesus doesn't specify a particular group of people. He doesn't say, "Come to me, all you who are righteous and holy." He doesn’t say, “Come to me, all who volunteer in the children's ministry and tithe regularly.”

In fact, in the parable of the wedding banquet (Matthew 22) Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused… THEN he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.” Invite anyone you find… That’s the heart of the kingdom.

The invitation is also a personal one. Jesus says, "Come to me." He doesn't say, "Come to a set of rules," or "Come to a religious system," or "Come to a church." He says, "Come to me."

This underscores the relational nature of discipleship. It's not about adhering to a set of doctrines or performing a set of rituals. It's about coming to Jesus, knowing Him, loving Him, and following Him. Discipleship is about relationship… And it’s one where you’re known, seen, and loved.

Finally, we read that His invitation is to "all you who are weary and burdened." This is significant.

It means that no matter who we are, no matter what we've done, no matter how weary or burdened we are, we're invited. We're welcomed. We're wanted. This is the radical inclusivity of Jesus' invitation to discipleship.

Are You Weary?

Maybe the question isn’t Are you weary, but should be, how weary are you?

How beat up and tired are you from all the striving and seeking? How nice does a little rest sound?

Jesus knows, He sees, and He understands. In fact, just before our passage in Matthew 11:28-30, we read in verse 27, “All things have been committed to me (Jesus) by the Father”

In our context today this means that all the weary followers, all of us have been committed to Jesus. And as we just discussed, what does HE do with them? What does He do with us? He invites us into a relationship of discipleship with Him…

He is gracious and says, "I will give you rest." He doesn't say, "Earn your rest," or "Work for your rest." He says, "I will give you rest."

This is grace; It's unmerited favor. It's a gift. And it's at the heart of Jesus' invitation to discipleship. We don't come to Jesus to earn anything. We come to receive. We come to receive His grace, His love, His mercy, His rest. We come to HIM.

In all these ways, Jesus' invitation to discipleship is a beautiful and profound call to a life of faith, hope, love, and rest. It's a call to come to Him, to learn from Him, to find rest in Him. It's a call to surrender our heavy loads and take on His yoke, which, as He promised, is easy and light. It’s not another heavy burden that we need to saddle onto an already overloaded pack…

Turn over our expectations, our concern with what other’s think, our worries about health, finances, tomorrow and trust in Jesus as our provision, our strength, our health, our everything.

The Nature of Jesus' Yoke

When Jesus speaks of His yoke being easy and His burden being light, He is using a metaphor that His audience would have readily understood.

In the agricultural society of His time, a yoke was a wooden beam normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs. In this context, Jesus is inviting us to join Him in His work, to walk alongside Him, sharing in His mission and purpose.

The life He calls us to may not be free of challenges or hardship, but it is a life where burdens are shared and therefore, lighter.

We are not alone in our struggles. Jesus is with us, sharing our burdens, giving us the strength to overcome. This is the nature of partnering with Jesus and being part of a community where we, “carry one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

His yoke is not one of oppression or coercion, but rather one of grace, love, and freedom.

It is a yoke that brings us into a relationship with Him, where we learn from Him and grow in our understanding and love for God.

It is a yoke that aligns our hearts with His, that guides our steps according to His will, and that empowers us to live a life of purpose and meaning.

Ultimately, as we take on His yoke, we are not left unchanged.

We are molded, shaped, and transformed into His likeness. (team of oxen, usually a leader that trains the younger/newer oxen- see the master/follower discipleship model???)

That’s what happens when you journey so close to another. That’s what happens in close proximity and relationship. You begin to see the world through His eyes, to love as He loves, to serve as He serves. His yoke is not a burden, but a tool of transformation AS THE HOLY SPIRIT CHANGES IN US WHAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED.

As we walk with Him, we find that His yoke fits us perfectly, enabling us to fulfill our God-given purpose with joy and ease. He is a good shepherd and He knows His flock.

Conclusion- The Good Shepherd

Read John 10:11; “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Jesus has traded His life for ours and He’s invited us to Come… His invitation is one of relationship, transformation, and purpose. It is a yoke that is easy and light, not because the work is easy, but because we are doing it in partnership with HIM, empowered by HIS grace and love. As Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).”

His invitation goes out to all of us, every weary and burdened soul here today. Come, He says, and find rest. Come, and learn… He is gentle and lowly, kind and full of grace.

Learning from Jesus is a multi-step process;

First we respond to the invitation Second we admit that we’re over-burdened and needy Third, we accept His “yoke.” We hitch our lives to His, and we live in tandem with the savior of mankind.