The Yoke of Christ

“Hpake My yoke upon you.” Have Matt. xi. 29.

you noticed where this direction* comes? It comes after the invitation — that most gracious of all His invitations — “Come unto Me.” It comes after the promise, “I will give you rest” — the promise that so peculiarly fits into the special need of our nature. Every one who listens to this call must feel conscious that it speaks to the very deepest want of his being.

In the invitation, the Lord Jesus ap- )eals to those who are in any kind of sorrow; who are weighed down with care or anxiety — oppressed with any trouble. But He speaks more especially to those who are weary and heavy-laden with sin.

Matt.xi.3o-When Christ says, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light,” He is showing us the contrast between His yoke and the sinner’s — between His burden and that of the heavy-laden. He saw men burdened with the guilt of sin, and labouring under the tyranny of its yoke. He had come to remove the one, and to destroy the other. He had come to take away the load off the conscience, and to break every fetter, and set the captive free.

It is to such, therefore, that He spoke those gracious words, “Come unto Me;” it is in this way He gives us rest.

If the sinner’s burden points to the load of sins committed — a load that goes on increasing the longer he refuses to return — the yoke points to the power of sin’s dominion — a power that gains in strength the longer we continue under it.

Rest comes with a sense of deliverance from these. Such is the blessing Christ bestows on those who come to Him. This is salvation — a present salvation.

But it is not everything. It is not all that He has to bestow. It meets the sinner’s first great need.

Now, when the Lord Jesus says, “Take My yoke upon you,” He supposes that the invitation has been accepted, and the “rest” has been received. The question is not now, How may the past be forgiven? How may the conscience be at rest? — all that is settled — but, How may I glorify Him in my walk and conversation? How may I live to His praise? What will He have me to do in that path of obedience into which He has called me?

In these words that follow the invitation, the answer to the pardoned soul’s inquiry is found. This is what He would have you to do, “Take My yoke upon you.”

But do we understand what the Master means by His yoke? There was His Father’s yoke to which He had submitted. And in His voluntary and cheerful submission to that yoke, He gives us an example for us to follow.

I. Christ’s yoke is His will. Salvation may be looked at as a series of acceptances. We accept His pardon, His righteousness, His rest. And let us not forget we accept also His will. His pardon takes the place of our guilt; His righteousness, of our supposed merits; His rest, of our misery; and His will, of our self-seeking.

Our study now is, not what we shall choose, but — What is it that He has Col. 1. 9. chosen for me? “To be filled with a knowledge of His will.” It is quite possible for the child of God sadly to fail in this. We may desire His gifts and His blessing, and yet not be doing His will. We may make our own plans, and set our hearts on our own ways, and then come to God for His blessing on all these. But this is not to seek His will.

“Take My will upon you,” means laying aside our own plans just seeking first to lie down into the will of God. Then we not only get the benefit of His merits to justify us, of His power to guard and sustain us, but of His wisdom to guide us.

2. His yoke means also His Rule. Liberty in Christ does not mean freedom from control — that would be lawltssness, Christ sets us free, by translating us, out of the reign of sin into the reign of grace. We are called into His reign. “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” Why? “For ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Grace is then over you; it rules you. You are under Christ’s authority. Deliverance from sin’s power is found in being under Christ’s power. The best way to be free from sin’s dominion is to be well under Christ’s control.

3. His yoke means His Discipline. We are under His correction and instruction as well as His protection. We are in His school, and the lessons to be learnt we must each one learn for himself. The master may teach, but he cannot learn the lessons for the pupil. So Christ

Rom. vi.

Heb. V.

Psa. xviii. was Himself the perfect learner. “He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” Here again we have to follow Him as our example. We have to take His yoke. “Thy gentleness,” or “loving correction, hath made me great.”

But if Christ’s yoke may be said to include His will, His rule, and His correction, what is it to take it?

We see at once that it implies a voluntary act. It is not something to be forced upon you. Conversion leads on at once to consecration. The first is receiving — an empty heart receiving God’s “unspeakable gift.” The second means dedicating — presenting our whole being unto Him as a living sacrifice.

But how many shrink from such a step! How many are afraid of yielding themselves unreservedly to the will of God! But can we doubt His love to us, when we see that He laid down His life for us?

To take Christ’s yoke means submission — unqualified submission to His sway.

“Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.” “Take My yoke upoti you.” You will know Christ’s saving power in its fulness — to meet your daily need in the walk — in proportion as you know what it is to be controlled by His will.

Once again, it means obedience. “Take” and “Learn” follow immediately “Come” and “Rest.” A disciple is a learner. “Learn of Me:” and the Apostle says, “Ye have not so learned Christ.” Christ is both the lesson and the Teacher. But the way to learn is to obey.

Then how great are the blessings secured in following this direction.

Standing at the head of every other privilege is that of fellowship with Christ. What is fellowship? It is union. But what kind of union? Regeneration is union of life, but fellowship is union of will. There is not only oneness of spirit, but identity of purpose.

To be yoked with Christ and to be

I Pet. V.6.

Eph. iv. 20 willing to follow His leading, is to have the benefit of Divine Guidance. How great is this privilege! Most of our troubles are the fruit of our own folly and sin in trying to guide ourselves, and choosing our own way. But in His path we know that all things work together for good.

Not the least of the blessings that come to us from a child-like compliance with the direction, is that of Rest. “And ye shall find rest for your souls.” It is “rest” indeed to receive emancipation from the burden and yoke of sin. But to be led into a path of deliverance from self-seeking and self-management, from self consciousness and self-glorying, is to be finding a rest which meets not only the need of the conscience, but of the soul. It means a living fellowship with a personal Saviour. The atonement of Christ satisfies the conscience; but we need the Person of Christ to satisfy the soul.