[The following transcript has been auto-generated from the recording with only light editing.]

So Matthew chapter 11, reading verses 28 to 30. These are words of Jesus:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I wonder how you’d explain to someone what a Christian is. What does being a Christian mean to you? Whether or not you are a Christian, you probably have some idea of what it means. At the very basic level, someone might think, well, a Christian is someone who doesn’t do certain things. You know, they don’t swear, they don’t sleep around, they don’t get drunk, and there could be a whole list of things Christians don’t do. Others might emphasise things that you do do. You go to church, you read your Bible, you pray, you show kindness to people, you do good. And actually, all those things are kind of part of it, but they’re not the heart of it.

At its very heart, being a Christian is about a relationship with God. It’s about knowing God our Creator. It’s about relating to him as our Father. Good behaviour, attending church, praying, reading your Bible, showing kindness, all of those things flow out of your relationship with God. If you just try to do those things in your own strength, for yourself, for your own reputation, well, it becomes a burden. Just trying to be good, just trying to go to something that you naturally find boring. Why would you do it? But when you have a relationship with God, everything is different. And you learn to walk with God. You learn to spend your life with him, thinking about him, relating to him, singing to him, praying to him, trusting him, relying on him. That is completely different from just doing those outward things. It’s the difference between a journey on your own where you’re carrying a huge load, far more more than you really need, a difference between that and walking with a friend and together carrying the things that you do need.

And that really is the picture that Jesus gives to us in these words that we read:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I’m gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

As Jesus looked around him and saw people around him, just as he would do today, he saw so many people way down, with all kind kinds of burdens, some of them completely unnecessary, and others impossible to bear. ‘Come to me,’ he said to them. ‘Take my yoke upon you. You will find rest for your souls.’

So I want to make three points from these words. There’s loads that could be said. These are wonderful words. So we can’t focus on everything, but we will this evening, God willing, discuss more and hopefully learn more, some of the practical implications of Jesus’ words.

1. Leave your wrong burdens

My first heading is this. Leave your wrong burdens. You see, there are good burdens and bad burdens. There are good yokes and bad yokes. Maybe I should just explain what a yoke is, because I can’t imagine any of us have yoked two oxen or two horses together. This is not talking about a single yoke that you might carry years gone by to carry the two pails of milk. I’m looking at Irene, maybe she did that years ago. I don’t know. She grew up on a farm. There you go. This is talking about yoking two animals together. bringing two together. And the yoke has to fit snugly on those two oxen or horses. Not only that, but the two animals need to be matched. It’s no good having a huge one here and a tiny Shetland pony there. It’s just not going to work. A bad yoke is ill fitting. The oxen are mismatched, and the burden is too heavy. That’s the sort of yoke we need to leave. But the yoke that Jesus offers, it fits well. The burden is not too heavy. In fact, the burden is light. When you are working together, when two oxen are used to each other and walking together, they can get so much done. The burden seems light. They’re rearing to go. You know, we sometimes think all those poor beasts of burden, they love it. They don’t want to be cooped up in a stable all day. They don’t want to stay in a field all the time. They love walking along and pulling that load because it’s not too heavy for them. If they’re well suited to the yoke.

If you are to take the yoke that Jesus offers, the first thing you have to do is leave your your own bad yoke. Let’s think for a moment what some of those bad yokes and bad burdens actually are. Let’s start with some of those that are unnecessary and harmful. There’s the burden of salvation by works. And this is what the experts of the law are laid on people. Jesus saw it. He saw around him people who were trying to follow all the minute detailed rules and laws that the teachers of the law laid on them. He said at one point, don’t need to turn to it, but in Luke 11 and verse 46 Jesus replied, ‘You experts in the law, woe to you because you load people down with burns they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.’ Jesus saw people weighed down with a whole long list of rules and burdens that they had to follow. If you really want to be saved, if you really want to please God, these experts in the law said, ‘Well, you have to follow, follow, every last law in every last detail.’ And instead of the emphasis being on God’s grace, it was all about your effort to try and please God.

At best, such an approach will leave you unsure of whether you’ve been good enough. Have I been good enough for God? In reality, you know that your failure and the scenes of your heart only condemn you. Leave that burden, the burden of trying to save yourself by doing good. That’s not the yoke that Jesus gives. He gives one of grace, of forgiveness. But you have to leave that burden of trying to win God’s favour by your own good works.

Then there’s the burden of guilt. Guilt is when you know that you’ve done wrong. You’ve not been forgiven, and it’s there, gnawing away at you. You tried to hide it. I was reminded, I can’t remember the conversation we were having as a family last week, and at one point, I reminded them of a story I heard of Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of Sherlock Holmes’ detective novels. And just as a prank, one day, he sent 12 telegrams to well known, respected men in Britain. And the words on the telegram simply said, it was just a prank. ‘Flee, all has been discovered.’ And the shocking thing was, within 24 hours, all 12 have left the country. What a heavy load guilt is. It removes the joy, it fills you with foreboding. You don’t want to be discovered. And trying to smother guilt with activity or entertainment or psychological tricks simply does not work. Here is a burden that you can never shake off. Jesus says, ‘Take my yoke. My burden is easy.’ He offers true forgiveness. Get rid of that burden of guilt.

Then there’s the burden of what others think about you. and it weighs you down every day. You dare not say anything or do anything that might not be approved by other people. And it becomes a burden, so that everything you do, you’re always thinking, well, what will others think about me? If I do this, if I wear that, what will they think about me? And from what you wear to the way you serve, what dominates your life is trying to please people. Paul found a different way. He was determined to please God alone. Let me just read to you. Again, there’s no need to term to it, but from Galatians chapter 1 and verse 10, he says this, ‘Am I now trying to win the approval of of human beings or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.’ Now, it’s not that we shouldn’t do things to make others happy. It’s not that we shouldn’t serve others and be aware of what they want. He’s not talking about that at all, but to have a life dominated by what others think of you is a burden too great to bear.

And there’s the burden of pride, which of all sins, is the heaviest, the most enslaving. You see, pride is that thing in our hearts where we have to defend ourselves. If someone criticises you, your heart feels that you have to fiercely defend yourself. Or if you are overlooked, you feel bruised and you cannot stop yourself mulling over it. Why was I overlooked? Or if someone does well, your response is guarded. in case they get praised more than you do. Or if someone has more than you, you feel you have to work until you have at least as much as they do. And I could go on. The burden of pride shows itself in so many ways, humble yourself before God. Leave that burden. Look at God and see that he alone should have glory. He alone is worthy of praise and glory. His glory is the one that we should lift up, not our own. The burden of pride is the one that we need to let go of. We’ve been looking at unnecessary burdens.

Actually, there are some burdens that cannot be avoided. These are the burdens of pain and disappointment. It might come in the form of illness, or struggles with work or struggles with finance. It might be difficult people in your life, or simply your own innerability to cope. These are burdens that we have to bear. But sometimes you can’t bear the weight and the wounds that you feel feel. So what do you do? You might want to end it all. But you know that’s wrong. You might want to walk away. But you can’t walk away from everything. You might do that with a job and try and find another job if that job is too burdensome. You might even do it with a house. This last week, Abigail, my daughter who loves interior design, she was show me a programme she’ downloaded, and so we watched it together. And it was about, I can’t remember the name of the series, but anyway, this poor couple, they had this fantastic big country house. From the outside, it looked beautiful. Inside, it was a bit plain and with interest rates going up, their monthly mortgage was £4,000. No one here offering to help them? No. Okay. The Trouble was, they realised they had to sell it. They just couldn’t afford, and they were losing sleep. How can they raise £4,000 every month? So they put the house on the market. No one wanting to buy. They lowered the price. Still no interest. And so they brought in these people in, well, that’s. Outside’s fine, but inside this is so bland. No one ever is going to pay £1.3 million or whatever it was for this house. And so they did it out, and Abi was absolutely thrilled with how it looked afterwards, and you can get rid of a house. but you can’t get rid of people in your life. You can get rid of your job and try and find another one, but there are some burdens you have to carry. And when it gets too much, what do people do? They become bitter or filled with self pity. And that simply becomes another burden that they’re carrying, the burden of bitterness, the burden of self pity.

How can we get get rid of these burdens? Leave your burdens. That’s implied when Jesus says, ‘Come, take my yoke.’ It implies you’ve got to leave those other yokes, those other burdens. Well, let’s look, our second heading.

2. Take Jesus’s yoke.

Take Jesus’s yoke. We’ve seen the first thing. We have to get rid of our burdens. Leave your wrong burdens. Secondly, take Jesus’ yoke. People hold on to their burdens because they believe those things will help them. Like a child holding onto its comfort blanket, that child will not easily let go of it.

Or it might be their dummy. You know? We used to use dummies, you know, pacifier, maybe that little rubber thing, they stick in their mouth and they go around all day and So we developed this thing. On your second birthday, they had to throw it in the bin themselves. And it became almost like a rite of passage. I did it. And I can still picture them. Their chubby little hands over the bin. And that was it. They let go.

But why do they want to hold on to it? Because it gives them some comfort. After all, if I don’t try and save myself by my good work, who will? If I don’t defend my pride, who will? If I don’t look out for my myself, who will? As for my bitterness and self pity, at least they give me some kind of comfort. Only when you see that the yoke Jesus offers is better, will you drop those bad burdens? ‘Come to me,’ says Jesus. ‘Take my yoke. See that that yoke is better. I have something that actually is easy and a burden that is light.’

Picture the oxen again. There’s the mismatched oxen. There are the two oxen that that are wanting to go different ways. It’s a disaster. It’s painful. But picture the two walking together calmly, effectively. Gladly. Jesus says it’s my yoke that you need. You need to walk with me. Any other yoke will be able. burden. And isn’t this the tragic thing? You walk down the street and you see people around you, and they’re so burdened? And only one yoke will relieve that burden. It’s being yoked to Jesus Christ. Jesus says, ‘Instead of trying to be good enough to save yourself, trust in me. I will save you. Instead of trying to hide your guilt, put your faith in me, I’ve paid for your sins. You need feel no more guilt.’ If someone says to you, ‘Flee, all has been discovered,’ you say, ‘Sure, but it’s also been paid for.’ I can be free from the burden of seeking to please people all the time. Because now I live to please God. And Jesus says, ‘When you’re yoked to me, you won’t need to hold unto your pride.’ After all, what could be more honouring than walking with the Lord of Lords? As for, yourself, pity and bitterness, there really is no need for them. when I am with you. You see, to take on Jesus’ yoke really means to trust Him. You trust Him for the direction and the way in which you will walk, the more experienced horse yoked to the less experienced horse, while that less experienced horse needs to go the way that the experienced horse is going. Not down this way or too fast, or they need to walk together. Jesus says, ‘Go my way.’ That’s what it means to take his yoke. ‘Trust me. Don’t walk the way of sin, don’t walk the way of pride, don’t walk the way of bitterness, walk my way. Trust me for the direction. Trust me for the forgiveness and the love that I offer.’ You know, the boy who’s been bullied at school doesn’t feel so bad bad at the end of the day when his older siblings say, ‘Come, we’re going off camping this weekend’, and he has a wonderful time. The overwhelmed parent has a heavenly Father, who knows what children are like.

‘Come to me,’ says Jesus. ‘Take my yoke, trust me. Start going my way with me.’

3. Learn to walk with Jesus

Thirdly, and more briefly. Learn to walk with Jesus. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart. and so you will find rest for your souls. Now, I have absolutely no experience of training two oxen or two horses to become a pair, a good pair, yoked together. But I imagine it takes a lot of time, I imagine it takes a lot of patience, I imagine it takes a lot of effort. It certainly takes a lifetime for us to learn to walk with Jesus. but He is patient, and He is kind. He says, ‘I am gentle and humble in heart.’ He is gentle with us, isn’t he? If you’re a Christian, you know that’s your experience of Jesus. He has been so gentle with you. as he’s been so gentle with me. Learn from me, as you see His gentleness, if you see His patience, we want to become like that. That’s how we’re to walk when we’re yoked with him. Gentle and humble. Too often we want to go our own way, too often, we want to pick up the old yoke and the old burdens. Instead of relying on his grace, we go back to thinking that it’s it’s our efforts that will win God’s favour. Instead of walking in his way of forgiveness and being patient and gracious with others, we return to self survival mode of pride, defending ourselves or feeling self pity. And so again and again, throughout our lives, Jesus says to us, come to me, ‘Take my yoke’. Every day, he invites us. every day, we take up that yoke again where we forgive those who hurt us. Where we’re patient, we’re those who maybe ought to do know better. Where we realise that the heavy burden of work that we have to do every day is something that we can do with him alongside us. You will find rest for your souls. This is the only way to find rest for our souls when we take his yoke. Then it’s not too difficult. Jesus said, ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ He is the friend who invites us to walk with him.

And I don’t want to say much on this last point. I’d rather we spend five minutes in quiet to reflect on this. That’s quite a long time. So don’t feel worried, but equallyally, there’s plenty of time for us to think. Jesus says, ‘Learn of me.’ Maybe you want to think about wrong burdens that you have taken on, that you can never bear. Maybe you want to think about the yoke that Jesus offers, how you need to trust Him for that forgiveness. Maybe you need to learn more how to walk with Jesus. I’m going to read His words again, and then I’ll sit down for five minutes as we quietly reflect.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.