The Easy Yoke

See it

“Do we have any jelly?”
“It’s in the fridge!”
“I’m looking in the fridge. I don’t see it.”
“2nd shelf.”
“I’m looking at the 2nd shelf.”
“On the right.”
“I don’t see it.”

After getting up from her chair, walking over to the kitchen, and showing me where the jelly was, right there on the 2nd shelf, my mom would say; “If it was a snake it would have bit you.”

The jelly was right there the whole time, and I legitimately searched for it. I wanted to find it, but I needed help to see it.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” – 1 John 3:1.

The Apostle John begins chapter 3 of his first letter to the saints by encouraging believers to notice God’s great love. See the great love there! King James' translation reads, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.” Behold it! See it there! Notice. Don’t miss it.

Sometimes a good thing is right there but we don’t see it. Don’t let that be the case for God’s great love. Behold it, see it, notice that it is a foundational part of our lives and beings. And the thing John points to, as the example of God’s great love, is the truth that believers are children of God.

Take a moment or two to think about what being a child of God means. Consider why being in God’s family is such a blessing. Behold yourself being a beloved son or daughter of your heavenly Father. The truth is right there, don’t overlook it.

Pastor John Riley

by John Riley

Rest(less)

Have you ever heard the phrase, “I’ll rest when I’m dead”? Just reading that I felt my shoulders tense up with a sensation of anxious overwhelm. Why? Because my body (specifically my tense shoulders) holds memories of striving for constant forward progression. Admittedly, too often I find myself lying awake at night thinking of the things on my to-do list, remembering things that need to be added to the list, and hoping to drift to sleep quickly so that I get enough sleep to have enough energy to get it all done. So I lie there trying to rest, but end up restless.

Restlessness is an inability to remain or achieve rest in the mind, the heart, or the physical body. There are many restless people today as we search for satisfaction through a sense of personal accomplishment in the workplace, family life, or even recreation. While all of these are good things, the relationship with them will never ultimately satisfy. Their invitation is relentless leading to a cruel pace that depletes the soul. God has always had a better invitation, one that leads the soul to a place of renewal. Due to God’s good design of humanity's gift of free will, we are given the dignity to choose to accept the invitation to rest.

Hebrews 4:9-11 speaks of it. “There remains, then a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest”…The next part is key…“So that no one will perish.”

God has always invited us to find rest in Him. To trust that he will meet our deepest needs, care for, protect, guide, and lead us to life. Jesus reminds us again when he says “Come to me, all who are weary and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The list of things that God has for us starts with being with him so that he might give you rest. The cure for restlessness is being with Jesus.

Take a moment and think about the current state of your soul.
Do you hear God’s invitation to rest?
What’s getting in the way of your acceptance of that invitation?
How might you change your pace to enter the rest you were designed for?

Jessica Klootwyk
Groups & Women’s Discipleship Director

by Jessica Klootwyk

The Humble and Gentle Teacher

…. learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29b

The metaphor of a young ox being yoked to a more experienced one is a fascinating picture of the kind of relationship Jesus wants to have with us and the work he wants to do in our souls. This metaphor is an invitation to take the yoke of apprenticeship under Jesus. Now, saying yes to Jesus’ invitation won’t be easy, for it requires surrendering our will to him to be spiritually formed as we learn to live in his way. However, this is the best decision we can make.

Being yoked to Jesus implies being in the right place learning from the right person. Maybe you are wondering if the yoke of apprenticeship is the best option for you, if that’s the case, let me assure you that learning from Jesus is the most exciting transformational journey a person can take. The other option is to go through life relying on other people’s instructions or advice.

In best-case scenarios, we might learn from human experts how to make good decisions in some particular matters. The problem is that no human expert is infallible. Human experts fail. But Jesus, the God-man, never fails! His teachings are infallible and his intentions are pure. In a world where there’s so much manipulation and abuse, Jesus presents himself as a gentle and humble Teacher. He’s the Teacher from whom we can learn and trust so that our souls can finally find rest from our weariness and burdens. His words and actions testify to his character and reliability!

Pastor Esteban

by Esteban Tapia

Stay Yoked

In years past, one of the most fun annual events at church was the Sunday School picnic. Families gathered for a delicious potluck featuring each family’s favorite recipe. There were laughing conversations and contests of all sorts. Some were water balloon tosses, egg tosses, and relay races, but one that was fun to watch was the three-legged race. In this event, two people would pair up and the right leg of one would be tied to the left leg of the other. Sometimes the pairs were similar in size, but often there was quite a disparity. Getting from the start of the race to the end involved often a lot of falling and laughing. But the ones who won were the ones who stayed tightly connected, moving their conjoined legs at the same time, focused on the end, and choosing not to be distracted by the others in the race. Often, the partners would wrap an arm around each other’s waist to stay united. Usually, their purposeful steady rhythm led them to victory.

When Jesus in Matthew 11:29 says, “Take my yoke upon you…”, I was reminded of how that race was won. Jesus’ hearers would have immediately thought of the heavy yoke used for oxen, uniting two of them to work plowing the fields. Often a younger ox would be yoked with an older one to teach and steady the young one. The LORD Jesus is inviting us to yoke ourselves with Him and learn from Him.

To complete this race, we need to stay yoked with Him. This is ongoing, not just the work of a moment in time. But a choice we continue to make. Dallas Willard tells us it is a set of the will. We still have the free will God has given each of us and it comes into the choice to live with Him daily or not. How can we do this? The answer may be found in the following verses:

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Colossians 3:1-2
To choose to set the will involves the heart and the mind, it keeps us focused on the LORD Jesus and the life He has for us. What will you choose? Will you set your will to stay yoked?

Ponder: What other things might you be yoked to? Why does Jesus want us to “Take my yoke upon you”? Take some time over the next few days, asking the Lord to show you where your hearts and minds are set. Remember that His yoke is easy!

Francie Overstreet
EFCC Member

by Francie Overstreet

Weary and Burdened

Matthew 11

Life can be heavy. For some of you reading this, that’s an understatement. Some of you have walked through the tragedy of the death of someone close to you, the painful end of a marriage, or a life that’s been filled with shattered dreams. In so many ways, that’s a product of living in a fallen world. However, even though we live in a fallen world, we don’t need to live as faltering people. Jesus comes to people who are weary and worn out, and he speaks a better word over them.

It was right after John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he really was the Messiah that Jesus gave this great invitation. He knew John was going to die and that many were distraught by that reality. It was into that pain that he spoke these words,

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

The invitation for rest is quite wonderful, but the requirement to get to that rest is something I want to avoid: laboring and being heavy laden. The invitation to Jesus’ rest is open to all… all who are burdened by life and need to find a different way of being. See, until we realize that our old way of life isn’t working, we’ll never come to him to find a different kind of rest.

I think it’s important to realize that Jesus doesn’t promise that we won’t be burdened, he states that we will be burdened by his easy yoke instead of the yoke that sin and hopelessness cast on us. The yoke Jesus gives is light because it frees us to have confidence that God is good and trustworthy.The easy yoke affirms that we don’t have to have all the answers or always get it right. The easy yoke affirms that God’s grace is sufficient for us even when we are at our worst. The easy yoke doesn’t necessarily change the world we live in, it changes the way we carry the weight of the world.

I love the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases this passage in The Message when he wrote:

“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. 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. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Let’s do that today. Let’s keep company with Jesus and learn to live lightly; the way he designed and longs for us to live.

Pastor Ryan Paulson

by Ryan Paulson

Rest for the Weary

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Jesus says “Come to me.” That is his very personal invitation to all of us. We must be willing to lay all of our messiness in front of him and say, sorry Jesus. I’m a mess because I’ve made wrong choices, but here I am, broken, sorry for what I’ve done, and willing to let you change my life. I’m willing to stop trying to fix myself, earn God’s favor, and look for love in all the wrong places.

The word “rest” is the Greek word anapauo, it means to refresh, to rejuvenate, to reinvigorate, or to revitalize. And he says that “special rest” would come to those who labor and are heavy-laden. Who is that? It is those struggling through life without hope of an eternal home in heaven. Remember he isn’t talking to just the disciples here, but has proclaimed to many Jewish listeners that he can reveal the Father to anyone He chooses and He is the only one who knows God the Father. The religious leaders (Scribes and Pharisees) had placed enormous burdens on the people, yet Jesus said they don’t practice what they preach. In other words, they are hypocrites, who promote legalism or complicated religious rules added to the law of Moses, (with good original intent to help people), that with time, became something very different that they couldn’t even adhere to themselves.

So the people were laboring to carry those burdens with the hope of gaining God’s approval, and Jesus said “Come” and he will give them rest. Not necessarily physical rest, but rest for their souls. He offered an easier path to the Father, one not made up of impossible rules and regulations that left their souls weary, but through Jesus, they could lay down their load of sin at his feet and find hope of eternal life.

I met a lady once who had terminal cancer and she shared her story. She grew up in the church, but never connected. She’d never been in a small group. She’d never served or given, but now facing her mortality, she wanted to earn her way into heaven by serving the Father in some way. It was a blessing for her to learn over time that his gift of salvation and eternal life is a gift. There is no toiling, laboring, and carrying a heavy burden of sin, guilt, and shame, only accepting the gift and laying that heavy burden at his nail-scarred feet. Receiving that rest, mercy and grace is the first step to freedom in Christ and an abundant life of joy and peace, no matter where he finds you. He meets you where you are, even at the end of your earthly life, and offers restoration and hope in an eternal future.

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29)

Wishing you peace and rest in Jesus!

Deb Hill
Exec. Admin. Assistant

by Deb Hill