Learning to Carry a Burden

Intro:

Isaiah 10:27

Today, as we continue to study prayer throughout Scripture, the title of my message is, [Learning to Carry a Burden].

Burden is defined, a load, typically a heavy one Another word for burden is weight.

When I read our text, I thought of lifting weights. It would be a lie to stand before you and declare that I have extensive experience with lifting weights, I do not.

But I can say that at different times in life I have attempted weight lifting. In fact, my dad and brother both love lifting weight. I can remember trying to move my dads weights when I was little, but they were too heavy.

When my brother was twelve or thirteen, he got a workout station for Christmas. Christmas. Imagine getting whatever you wanted, and it was weights?

The workout station eventually broke. Stephen and his friends took off the weights and started standing on the back to see if they could lift the heaviest friends.

Dad quickly let us know that was against the rules. In fact, I have always noticed how many rules come with lifting weights.

Don’t lift too much weight by yourself, or you could hurt yourself.

Don’t lift with your back, but lift with your legs.

Don’t forget to put the weight back where they go

Don’t forget to clean them off by wiping them down.

As a textbook rule follower, I was more focused on breaking one of the weightlifting rules that I rarely got to actually lifting weights. But these rules are there for a reason.

When someone begins lifting weight, the sheer heaviness can hurt someone if they do not do it properly. I am thankful to say that today, I am free, the WEIGHT has been lifted, mostly because I have not lifted weights in years!

When I think of weights, heaviness, or burdens, I can’t help but wonder:

Who has ever felt burdened?

Who has dealt with a sense of heaviness?

Who has gone through a season where we felt weighed down with the busyness and cares of life?

If we were to be honest for a moment, sometimes life can feel burdensome. There are moments when we face weighty decisions. There are times when a sort of heaviness seems to consume us.

How do we handle this as followers of Christ?

I would love to stand here and say, today, you can enter a new realm of Christian living where you will NEVER feel burdened again.

But that would not be true. Therefore, I want us to see how we can learn to carry the burdens of life.

The burden of parenthood.

The burden of relationships.

The burden of work.

The burden of a calendar that seems to get fuller and fuller.

The burden of activities that seem to control our lives.

The burden of an ever-changing world.

The burden of stress.

The burden of feeling burnout.

There are many burdens we carry. I will be upfront and explain, this is not a message on how to get rid of burdens. Instead, I want us to leave learning how to carry our burdens.

We read a promise from the prophet Isaiah of how God will handle burdens. I defined burden, but I want to explain the concept of a yoke.

Truthfully, as a child, I always thought it was a YOLK, you know the yellow part of the egg. I thought, NO GOD, don’t remove the best part.

Instead, reading it, we see it is a YOKE. In a natural sense, a yoke is used to pull animals in unison. When the two animals are joined together, they have greater strength to pull.

But yokes are binding. Once the oxen are in the yoke, they cannot get free on their own.

In Scripture, God used yokes to describe bondage or slavery. It denotes a heaviness that will not leave until the individual is free.

When something was yoked, it is under a heavy burden that controlled its every move. But there is a promise, God will deal with the yoke and the burden.

How then do we learn to carry a burden? I have three points, [Yoked by Sin], [Yoked by Salvation], and [Yielded to the Spirit].

Let’s begin

1. Yoked by Sin

Isaiah 10:24–25 NKJV

24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O My people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of Egypt. 25 For yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction.”

Before we see the hope of Isaiah’s promise to destroy the yoke, we need to see what yoke needed destroyed. God laid out a simple promise to His people in the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

If His people were willing to follow His Word, they would enjoy the blessings of God. However, should they opt out of faithfulness and follow the ways of the world, they will endure judgment.

Israel opted out of by sinning against the Lord. They worshipped other gods. They built altars and made sacrifices to other gods. They ignored His prophets who called on them to return and repent of their sins.

Eventually, Judah, the Southern Kingdom, followed Israel’s example. They too did not keep God’s commandments. They rejected Him and eventually the Lord removed His protection and all of God’s people ended up in captivity.

Think of the burden that must have been. They were once the greatest nation on the planet, and because of their willful disobedience they ended up in captivity.

But Isaiah began to prophesy, eventually He will deal with Assyria. He will judge the nations of the earth who came against His people.

What we see here is God showing the penalty of disobedience. We cannot live the way we want to live or do what we want to do and expect God to continue to bless us.

What is it then that causes people to go their own way?

What is the pull that tempts people to turn from God and disobey His word?

It all boils down to a three letter word— SIN.

Sin is a perpetual problem for humanity. We were born into sin. The wages of our sin is death. Our sin separates us from God.

Therefore, at one point or another, EVERY person lived under the yoke of sin. Just as Israel lived under the yoke, the bondage, and burden of their adversaries, humanity has to identify there is yoke called sin.

Remember, a yoke joins two animals together. In a spiritual sense, a yoke joins people together. At the start of life, we are yoked by sin. Bound by sin. Burdened with the problems that come with sin.

But what did Isaiah promise?

There will come a day where God will remove the burden from our shoulders and the yoke from our necks.

God never intended us to remain perpetually yoked by sin. Therefore, let us look at...

2. The Yoke of Salvation

John 8:36 NKJV

36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Eventually He was to take on the penalty of our sin and the judgement we deserved by dying in our place. But death could not contain Him, for He arose again.

We get that, we can look back on Scripture and read salvation history. But those who were alive at the time of Christ did not fully comprehend His message.

Why?

They were still under the yoke of sin. Except now it was not the Assyrians who controlled God’s people, it was the Roman Empire.

The people of God had to walk a tightrope. They were given some freedoms, but they were never allowed to rock the boat with the Romans.

The Roman Empire was THE kingdom and the people had to follow their rules and customs. But Jesus came preaching a new kind of Kingdom.

He introduced the Kingdom of God. He came to overthrow the yoke of sin and bring salvation.

The idea of freedom enticed the people. Freedom from bondage and foreign powers controlling them. Finally, they would have their own king ruling and reigning.

Therefore, imagine their surprise when Jesus shared:

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.”

God’s people were tired by this point. They were exhausted from enduring the pain and hardships of life. Jesus then promised them REST.

He asked them, are you weary? Have you carried a burden for too long?

If so, He invited them, COME TO ME. I will refresh your life. Join with me. I am meek, gentle, and lowly. In me you will find refreshment and rest.

He then explains people can take HIS yoke, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

What about Isaiah’s promise that God will DESTROY the yoke? Now Jesus explains they will still be yoked to something or someone?

Here is the deal, when we come to Jesus, the yoke and bondage of sin comes off of our lives. But history proved, people have a natural bend toward sin.

No matter how hard they try, they just cannot seem to knock the things they shouldn’t do.

Because God knows this, would it be fair for Him to say, come to Jesus, receive forgiveness of sin, then leave and you are on your own?

Of course not. Proverbs explains it this way:

Proverbs 26:11 NKJV

11 As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly.

No matter how hard we try, temptation always lurks around the corner, ready to get us. The enemy will always want to steal, kill, and destroy us.

Therefore, Jesus has a solution, IF you are weary and tired of the yoke, the burden, and the weight of sin, COME TO ME.

I will remove the yoke of sin and you can take on the YOKE of salvation. IF we’re joined with Jesus by this yoke of salvation, He will walk with us, lead us, and guide us.

My point is this, we will always have a yoke on us. However, we get to choose, sin or salvation. If we choose salvation, we have to...

3. Yield to the Spirit

Isaiah 10:27

How does the yoke of sin get removed from us? How does God take off the burden of sin from our live?

The YOKE is destroyed because of the anointing oil.

In the Bible, oil represented the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when we read that the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil, we see that the Holy Spirit will have a vital role in removing the yoke of sin and replacing it with a yoke of salvation.

At some point in our lives, we began to dissatisfied with our life of sin. Then we got to the place where we felt the convicting power of the Spirit.

Once we submitted to the conviction, we invited Jesus into our lives. When this happened, the Holy Spirit took residence within us.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NKJV

19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Paul explained it clearly, when we take on the yoke of salvation, having yielded to the Holy Spirit, we become the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Our lives no longer belong to us, instead, the Spirit lives inside of us. Making our lives God’s dwelling place.

This is what Jesus had in mind when He issued the invitation, COME TO ME, I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Why do we have rest in God?

Because God rests in us! The God of the universe lives RIGHT HERE through the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Thank God we do not have to walk through this life alone. No, God is with us. And every time we pray, we’re inviting the Holy Spirit to help us draw closer to God.

No wonder His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The Spirit is not putting undue pressure on us. Instead, He rests on us, giving us righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit, for THAT is the Kingdom of God.

I believe today, God is calling us to yield to the Spirit. Let God have His way in and through us, for then, He will teach us to carry the burdens of life.

Close:

Learning to Carry a Burden.

When farmers put the yoke on the oxen, they do so to help the oxen pull and shoulder the burden in unison. Instead of one animal doing all the word alone, they do it all together.

Isn’t it interesting Jesus compared the gift of salvation with a YOKE?

He places a yoke on us to help us shoulder the burdens of life. Therefore, when we have yielded to the Holy Spirit, we take on the yoke of salvation, we have connected ourselves to Jesus, who helps carry the burdens of this life.

Why then, as Christians, do we face times we feel burdened?

Why do we deal with a sense of heaviness?

Why do we go through a season where we felt weighed down with the busyness and cares of life?

Does feeling the weight of the burdens of life mean that God has abandoned us?

Let’s read what Paul had to say about yokes.

2 Corinthians 6:14–16 NKJV

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”

Notice those two words, unequally yoked. What happens when an animal is unequally yoked?

Suddenly, all of the weight gets shifted to one of the animals and they begin to get overwhelmed by the burden.

What happens when we as followers of Christ become unequally yoked? The weight begins to shift and it starts to feel real heavy. We think we might even bend under the stress of the burden.

That is why we MUST stay close to Jesus through prayer.

Receiving salvation DOES NOT mean that we live in another world separate from society.

Saved people still:

go to work

deal with relatives

have bad days

get busy

clean house

endure stress

Do how do we learn to carry the burdens of life?

We see that even as followers of Christ, we still have burdens, what do we do with them?

We come to Jesus, who HELPS us shoulder the burdens and HE makes them light.

I want to give a real word example to this truth. And I feel prompted to share this because someone here needs to hear this.

Sometimes life is really busy and then it gets really slow. For the past few months, my life has been really busy.

I have prayed, but at times it felt rushed.

I have fasted, but at times my heart was not really there.

I have got things done, but at times I felt distracted.

I read my bible, but I didn’t meditate on the Word real long.

And I noticed I started to feel the weight of the burdens of life. Situations began to consume me. My to-do list began to control me. Life began to feel really heavy.

Bekah can tell you, I acted burdened, I seemed weighed down, and I wasn’t as happy as I normally am.

It all came to a head two Saturdays ago. I had a few more things I needed to get done. Bekah and Davis went to someone’s home to eat and I told her, I just don’t have time to go.

When she left, I kept thinking about EVERYTHING I needed to do. Some things I could get done, but others were situations beyond my control.

I began to pray. Sitting at the kitchen table, I lifted my hands, called on God, and I began to weep. For over twenty minutes, I prayed in the Spirit, and poured out all of my burdens to God.

And it hit me, I was trying to carry the burdens, WHICH ARE ALWAYS THERE, but I started to try and carry them by myself.

Once I turned them over to Jesus, the weight I felt became light. The burdens I have didn’t feel as heavy anymore.

Now, over two weeks later, I still have the burdens. Nothing has really changed. I still have a lot to do. But I can feel Jesus carrying the burden with me.

Now, as I pray, I feel Him so close.

When I fast, my heart is all in.

As I go through my to-do list, I can sense Jesus is there.

When I read the Word, Scripture has become so alive.

I wonder, how often do people blame God when life begins to weigh them down?

How quickly do people rush deeper and deeper into a busy schedule, getting everything else done and neglecting time with God?

And I am not talking about church on Sundays. Commitment to God’s house is an indication of our closeness with the Lord Monday through Saturday.

How often does God get our leftovers?

The burdens of life will always be there, but when we pursue everything else first and put God last, before we know it, we will find that we are unequally yoked.

And the whole time, Jesus is calling, COME TO ME.

I can remove the yoke of sin and give the yoke of salvation. Then, as people yield to the Holy Spirit, I will walk close with them.

Today, I will not promise that EVERY burden will go away. But I can say with 100% assurance, if we will come to Him, placing Him first, spending time in prayer EVERY DAY, He will carry the burdens with us.

And before too long, we will discover, the burdens that seemed so heavy are still there, but Jesus has lightened the load, for He carries it with us.