Jesus Habits

Does our journey into 2026 discipleship seem like a pile of things to do? Don’t add to your plate, look at your plate differently. Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light. In order to "live the life of Jesus" we must live the lifestyle of Jesus.  How did Jesus live? How did his disciple live with him when they followed in his footsteps? Can that possibly translate to 21st century America? Jesus was slow (un-hurried), he Sabbath-ed, he found hidden places, and he kept life simple. 

Just Do All the Things

Review of 2026 Disciples, things we have done.

Being and making disciples, hearing Commissions, going on purpose, discipling by name, proclaiming the gospel, teaching Jesus’ commands, following, loving, abiding and obeying, carrying crossing, believing in resurrection, Spirit-Filled, Spirit-Gifted cultivators of Spirit-Fruit.

We here at Next Step Christian Church are disciples of Jesus who love God and love others. Inside and outside the church.

We are being disciples of Jesus and making disciples of Jesus. That means hear Jesus’ Great Commisions and we Go on Purpose, as the Holy Spirit leads us, where the Holy Spirit leads us.

We prayerfully consider and call disciples by name to follow us as we follow Christ.

We are ready to proclaim the gospel - the good news of life in Jesus Kingdom now and forever… and we practice so we are prepared to proclaim.

We are ready to Teach everything Jesus commanded, and we learn his commands, and we practice teaching so we are ready.

As disciples of Jesus, We Follow, we Love, we Abide and Obey, we Carry Crosses, we Believe in the Resurrected Jesus…

and we are Spirit-Filled, Spirit-Gifted, cultivators of Spirit-Fruit.

Does that sound like a lot?

Does our journey into 2026 discipleship seem like a pile of things to do?

Just do all the things!

That’s real, and that’s not a crazy take. Especially for those who already have a full life, a full plate, this may sound just piling more TODOs on, more thing, more on the plate, which leads to more stress and more anxiety… and realistically just more guilt about more things that I am not getting done.

Add that to taking kids to games and meets, cooking another meal, doing at least enough at work to not get fired, mowing the lawn to avoid a fine from the HOA, sending that email you said you were going to send last week… and that list of books to read… and Netflix watchlist isn’t going to watch itself!

It’s a lot.

Jesus has an answer. Just what we were hoping to hear:

Yoked

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all 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.”

Rest sounds great. What is this great and powerful symbol of “rest”? A… yoke.

One of these.

Over the years, we have talked about some different ways Jesus could be using this language.

Maybe Jesus is talk about being yoked side by side, pulling together. This is the most common one I hear preached, but I think it is the least likely association Jesus’ hearers would have.

Because this is a yoke too. One oxen, one animal. And given the price of animals, this was a more common occurrence. But more than that...

This is a yoke too. A slave yoke, or collar. And prominently in biblical literature, this is used metaphorically to refer to the responsibilities of slaves.

God laid his yoke on the people of Israel.

Just last year as we walked through this passage we took this focus. And there is a deep truth here. There is “non-slavery” option. That’s hard for the modern hearer to believe.

There is no non-slavery option for human beings. We trade one master for another. In your “freedom” you simply choose a different master to serve. Money, pleasure, addiction… and every yoke has its own burden.

We choose our Master. Jesus.

Now, that remains true, but I want to dig into some additional historical context here. Another immediate association Jesus’ hearers would have when he said “my yoke.”

Yoke of the Kingdom Yoke of the Law Yoke of the Rabbi

The rabbis of Jesus’ day spoke lovingly of the “yoke of the law.” Or even the “yoke of the Kingdom” and the “yoke of the Law.”

The “yoke of the Kingdom” is the beginning of the Shema, and begins with what Jesus calls and quotes as the first and greatest commandement.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

The 2nd reading of the Shema brings in the “yoke of commands” and starts with “You love God AND keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.”

Deuteronomy 11:1 ESV

1 “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.

… and the rest goes into obeying all the commands.

And that’s a big part of a barmitzvah, becoming a man, traditionally women and children were just under the yoke of the Kingdom but a MAN takes on the yoke of commands.

And each rabbi didn’t necessarily think of their “yoke” as being different than another rabbis, I don’t see any evidence for that… but necessarily they are interpreting and applying all of those statutes, rules and commands…

And even how to “love God”… and so each rabbi is effectively teaching their yoke, because they know how to do it. And, famously, they adding to God’s 613 commands a “hedge” of protection with sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds, or even thousands of additional commands, guards, to be sure.

Talk about adding more to the plate!

While intentionally invoking all the images of effort and even of slavery, we could also understand Jesus to be speaking of his Way, his life and his lifestyle. Or even, his gospel, the good news of the way things will be under His rule, in His Kingdom.

His way, his rule… it is easy and good and even light compared to every other possible rule/way/life/yoke.

Jesus teaches one yoke, not two. Jesus puts forward 2 commandments, that if done well and right, fulfill the dead-center heart of all the others. And much more, Jesus gives the freedom and power to actually do it.

His yoke is easy and burden light.

Lest that sound like pure and distant theology or philosophy, Jesus actually lived it out, and led his disciples in living it out. And this is the piece I want to focus in on .

We have paid a LOT of attention to the teachings of Jesus, and I never want to stop doing that. Jesus’ words are the way of life. He is teaching his yoke, his Way.

AND, he is living it. And amidst all the teaching with His words, we can miss the teaching with His actions. With his life, his lifestyle, his daily actions, Jesus is teaching His way: His Yoke.

Matthew 11:30 ESV

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

How many yokes does Jesus have? One. He unites it all Kingdom fulfills Law fulfills Righteousness… and he does it right, in a way that brings life and rest and peace instead of burden.

And if we want the life of Jesus, we need to embrace the lifestyle of Jesus.

WWJD

Anyone remember the WWJD bracelets? I love it.

This was the heart of it:

As disciples of Jesus, we are committing to doing things Jesus’ Way. Submitting to his “yoke”, he is not only King, he is Master, he is also the prototype, the trail blazer, of how to do this rightly.

And he was a single builder-turned-rabbi male in 1st century Israel under Roman occupation who we mostly only see in his early 30s. That’s pretty specific.

And so there is translation involved, and we don’t do that alone, we do that inhabited, led and empowered by the very same Spirit that inhabited, led and empowered Jesus. We translate: how would Jesus live my life? How would we do my job, raise my kids, live in my apartment, go to my school…

Occasionally, the answer may come back “Jesus WOULDN’T do my job” and then the right and only response as a disciple of Jesus is… get a new job. Find a new thing.

But in the roles and places God has called you, is there a way that Jesus would walk through it, talk through it… that’s His way. That’s his yoke. That’s a piece, a part, of His gospel - good news.

As disciples of Jesus we are committed to discovering and walking in His way. Doing life as Jesus would do it if Jesus were scheduled with my calendar, getting my texts and phone calls, “burdened” with my responsibilities.

What are the habits and ways of doing things Jesus would use?

Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Inspired recently at Camille’s passing to reread a couple books that were powerfully meaningful to her. “Emotionally Healthy Discipleship” (which I have shared from before) and this one: Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.

John Ortberg (a pastor in California, famous author) asks Dallas Willard (a Christian philosopher and one of my absolute favorites, also was a professor in California).

John Ortberg asks: “What do I need to do to be spiritually healthy?”

After a long pause, Dallas says, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

John writes those words down and waits for more wise insights from Dallas. “That’s a good one. Now what else is there?” Dallas’s answer? “There is nothing else.”

In this books, John Mark Comer highlights 4 spiritual disciples that Jesus practices, that are in a sense all aimed at this one goal “the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.”

Why? Because hurry is death to discipleship. Death to love. Death to rest and peace.

We live in a culture of “hurry” and “instant”… and it continues to accelerate. Whatever the AI revolution will mean for the economy or humanity, at the very least right now it means I can “hurry up” and write a 20 page paper in 5 minutes with a 1 sentence prompt. Is that good? Is that valuable?

Imagine this, how many pastors could use AI to generate a 20 minute sermon? Would that be good and valuable for their souls? For the church? God save us.

Eugene Peterson called discipleship “Long obedience in the same direction.”

Does that sound like hurry?

In particular antidote to hurry, Jesus’ lifestyle, his intentional practice of life, his habits, his “spiritual disciplines”, his way, his yoke includes these:

Jesus was slow

Jesus kept Sabbath

Jesus found hidden places

Jesus was simple

These, and all the spiritual disciples, are like a trellis under the vine that holds it up, helps us “abide”. These are things we can do on purpose to to train up, to “discipline” ourselves to be able to do tomorrow what we cannot yet do today.

Jesus did not hurry. He did not rush. He did not panic. He did not speed. He was right on time, right where he needs to be, doing exactly what the Spirit led him to next.

Jesus kept the Sabbath. Perfectly, intentionally, yes in obedience to command, but rightly as a gift from God to man for our good. For His good. God invented the week end and Jesus rested in it perfectly.

Jesus prioritized getting away alone to pray, to spend time in silence and solitude with His Father. If Jesus needed that, how much more do we?

Jesus was simple. Not just as an outcome of being a 1st century human with no WiFi… it turns out we didn’t invent business in the 21st or even the 20th century. Humans have always been fully capable of filling every moment of their life with frantic activity. Jesus refused that life and lifestyle and practiced and taught active simplicity.

It comes down to this: I want to walk in the Way of the Master. I want to wear the yoke of Jesus - a slave of Christ because I don’t want to be a slave to anyone or anything else.

And I believe this is the bestest and goodest life possible. Life and life abundant.

So I don’t want to “add Jesus” or “add discipleship” to my plate.

I want to see my plate differently. Everything on it, the plate itself, is Jesus’ Way or it’s not on there.

Don’t add to your plate, look at your plate differently. Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light. In order to "live the life of Jesus" we must live the lifestyle of Jesus. 

Matthew 11:28–30 MSG

28 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 29 Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30 Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”