The Disciple's Identity - Part 1: You in Christ

Abiding in Christ

What does it mean to abide in Christ? We are going to look at what it means to be in Christ, walk with Christ, to be a disciple of Christ, follower of Christ.

We give up all we have to Jesus

What does it mean to abide in Christ? We are going to look at what it means to be in Christ, walk with Christ, to be a disciple of Christ, follower of Christ.

Christianity is not to be lived for self consumption. The goal is not for us to look at some truths in so that we can walk away and say I am glad that I learned that. The goal is for us to walk away from our time together this morning and be able to teach the truths of so at the end of this series after walking through eight weeks in this series, the whole faith family will be equipped not just to know what it means to abide in Christ, but to lead others to abide in Christ.

David Platt, “The Disciple’s Identity: You in Christ,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 908.

We shouldn’t be simply receivers. We are to be reproducers.

Matthew 11:25–30 NKJV

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:25-30

Those last 3 verses, verse 28, 29, 30, I am convinced give one of the clearest, most powerful, most compelling, most beautiful pictures of Christianity the way Jesus designed it to be. And at the same time those verses give one of the most clearest, most powerful, most forceful rebukes of what we have created Christianity to be today.

We are no longer living Christianity for self consumption. The goal is not for us to look at some truths in so that we can walk away and say I am glad that I learned that. The goal is for us to walk away from our time together this morning and be able to teach the truths of so at the end of this series after walking through eight weeks in this series, the whole faith family will be equipped not just to know what it means to abide in Christ, but to lead others to abide in Christ.We give up all we have to Jesus

We give up all we have to Jesus

We give up all we have to Jesus

Those last 3 verses, verse 28, 29, 30, I am convinced give one of the clearest, most powerful, most compelling, most beautiful pictures of Christianity the way Jesus designed it to be. And at the same time those verses give one of the most clearest, most powerful, most forceful rebukes of what we have created Christianity to be today.

We give up all we have to Jesus

And I want for us to see two simple life changing truths that I am convinced that we have a dangerous tendency to completely miss out on their meaning in the church today.

We give up all we have to Jesus

We give up all we have to Jesus

That is Christianity explained. We give up all we have to Jesus. Now the imagery that dominates this passage is the picture of a yoke.

We give Him the full weight of our sin

Then you come into the context here. And Jesus is speaking in the middle of the first century to a group of Jewish people who had been living under a very strict religious system, rigid religious system.

And so you had a people whose religion was dominated by all the things that they were supposed to do. And that is what He is talking about with this burden that is heavy that has made them weary.

We give Him the full weight of our sin

Let’s go over to and see how Jesus uses the same word down in verse 4.

And so you had a people whose religion was dominated by all the things that they were supposed to do. And that is what He is talking about with this burden that is heavy that has made them weary.

Matthew 23:1–4 NKJV

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

Matthew 23:1-4

Now Jesus comes on the scene and offers rest from all these rules and regulations. He says, “Take my yoke upon you.”

What does that mean? We give up all we have to Jesus. What does it mean to come under His yoke? First of all...

We give Him the full weight of our sin

The first Century Jews were feeling the full weight of their guilt. They knew they couldn’t measure up to what the religious leaders expected.

I want to remind you that if you have placed your faith, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ, you do not bear the weight of your sin any more. He has borne that for you completely. He took the full weight of your sin and He nailed it to a cross for all of eternity.

We give Him our complete and utter inability to obey God

Psalm 103:12 NKJV

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Psalm 103:12

Isaiah 43:25 NKJV

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.

I want to remind you that if you have placed your faith, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ, you do not bear the weight of your sin any more. He has bore that for you completely. He took the full weight of your sin and He nailed it to a cross for all of eternity.

Isaiah

This is what it means to come into the yoke. We give Him the full weight of our sin. But this is not where Christianity ends. It’s where it begins.

We give Him our complete and utter inability to obey God

We can’t please God on our own. We will never be able to please God with what we do. Some Christians are trying to keep all the plates in the air at the same time. It was the curse of first century Judaism, and for many it has become the curse of 21st century Christianity.

Even the best we can bring to Christ is not good enough. One Puritan preacher said, “Even the tears of our repentance need to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.” Listen to the words of Ian Thomas:

I am talking about some Sunday School teachers. I am talking about some pastor in his pulpit. I am talking about some missionary on the field. I am talking about many ordinary, earnest Christians. They are wonderful people. You would love to meet them. They talk all the language of salvation and they mean every word they say. They are not hypocrites, but they are tired. Many of them desperately tired. They are overwhelmed inwardly with a sense of defeat and frustration and futility and barrenness. Story after story could be told of these men and women who bravely, doggedly out of a sense of duty, love and devotion go on and on and on yet deep down in their hearts they are tired. Again and again they have got down by their bedside and cried out to God with tears in their eyes, ‘God you know how barren I am, you know how empty I am and you know how stale I am and you know it,’ and yet they do not know the answer … This is the curse of Christendom. This is what paralyzes the activity of the church of Jesus Christ on earth today. In defiance of God’s Word, God’s mind, God’s will, and God judgment, men and women everywhere are prepared to dedicate to God what God condemns. The energy of the flesh. There is nothing quite so nauseating or pathetic as the flesh trying to be holy.

Jesus gives up all He has to us

This is what Jesus is saying. He is saying, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I give you rest.” It is not about what we bring to the table. It is about what He brings to the table. We give up all we have to Jesus. We can’t do it

I am talking about some Sunday School teachers. I am talking about some pastor in his pulpit. I am talking about some missionary on the field. I am talking about many ordinary, earnest Christians. They are wonderful people. You would love to meet them. They talk all the language of salvation and they mean every word they say. They are not hypocrites, but they are tired. Many of them desperately tired. They are overwhelmed inwardly with a sense of defeat and frustration and futility and barrenness. Story after story could be told of these men and women who bravely, doggedly out of a sense of duty, love and devotion go on and on and on yet deep down in their hearts they are tired. Again and again they have got down by their bedside and cried out to God with tears in their eyes, ‘God you know how barren I am, you know how empty I am and you know how stale I am and you know it,’ and yet they do not know the answer … This is the curse of Christendom. This is what paralyzes the activity of the church of Jesus Christ on earth today. In defiance of God’s Word, God’s mind, God’s will, and God judgment, men and women everywhere are prepared to dedicate to God what God condemns. The energy of the flesh. There is nothing quite so nauseating or pathetic as the flesh trying to be holy.

This is what Jesus is saying. He is saying, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I give you rest.” It is not about what we bring to the table. It is about what He brings to the table. We give up all we have to Jesus. We can’t do it

Jesus gives up all He has to us

Jesus gives up all He has to us

Matthew 11:29 NKJV

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.

Matthew 11:29

We replace the yoke of the law upon us with the yoke of Jesus. Jesus gives up all that He has to us. What does He have for us? Number one goes back to the full weight of our sin.

He gives us full pardon for our sin

The standard of God is perfection. God’s standards are higher than the religious leaders’ were.

Matthew 5:48 NKJV

Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

God’s standard is perfection. No one person will ever enter the gates of heaven who does not live up to that standard.

Since we’re in the yoke with Jesus, we get in based on the perfect standard of Jesus Christ. He gives us full pardon for our sin, and that leads to...

Results in peace with God

What’s interesting is that He uses the word rest twice.

Matthew 11:28 NKJV

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

The first time He uses that word it literally means “relief”. It’s the same picture in :

Romans 5:1–2 NKJV

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

But we still have our inability to obey the law. So He gives us the power to obey. Now this is where it gets really awesome. Let’s look again.

Matthew 11:29 NKJV

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.

That word “learn” there is the same word that is translated disciple in later in the book in the Great Commission. So it’s basically, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, learn to be My disciple.” And He says, “I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.”

Here’s the beauty. The reason Jesus can give us rest is not because He is giving us the rules and says now follow them. Instead the beauty and what makes Christianity not just another religion is we live our lives, and it is Christ living through us, enabling us to follow the law, enabling us to be pleasing to God, enabling us to obey God.

He gives us complete power to obey God

It doesn’t mean we sit back and do nothing. We’re learning to rest from the work of trying to please God, and let Jesus do it through us.

The second time He uses the word rest, He says, “You will find rest for your souls”.

Results in the peace of God

It is the picture of the Hebrew word, “Shalom”. It is existential peace. That comes when we let go of ourselves and we let Christ do what only He can do through us.

Matthew 11:

Matthew 11:28–29 NKJV

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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.

Do you want that? Then give Him the full weight of your sin and give Him your complete and utter absolute inability to obey God and please Him and let Him give you all that He has got, full pardon for all your sin and His very own ability to please and obey God. And then we will be on the way to experiencing what it means to be in Christ.

Do you want that? Then give Him the full weight of your sin and give Him your complete and utter absolute inability to obey God and please Him and let Him give you all that He has got, full pardon for all your sin and His very own ability to please and obey God. And then we will be on the way to experiencing what it means to be in Christ.