Two Yokes

 

A yoke is a wooden bar or frame by which two draft animals are joined at the heads or necks for working together. A yoke can also be an arched device formerly laid on the neck of a defeated person.

 

These sum up the two types of yokes mentioned in Scripture.

 

The first type that joins us to another to work together is the type Jesus is talking about in Matthew 11:28-30.

 

Jesus says, “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.”

 

The is a Jesus yoke. The purpose is to give us rest. It is meant for those who have been trying to do it themselves and are exhausted and are at the end of themselves. They can come to Jesus and put on the yoke with Him and He will do the heavy pulling. The result is that we will find rest.

 

The rest we find in being yoked with Jesus is not just physical rest. It is emotional rest. The world is an emotionally exhausting place. It moves our emotions in one direction and then in another direction and even in a third or fourth direction and we became confused and exhausted.

 

The rest we find in being yoked with Jesus gives us mental rest. We live in a world with so much information being thrown at us that it can become overwhelming. When we are yoked with Jesus, He filters out all the lies and useless information. He guards our hearts and minds and frees us to focus our lives on what is truly essential.

 

The rest we find in being yoked with Jesus gives us spiritual rest. There are many, many religious and spiritual views being expressed in the world. It can become frustrating and depressing to try and determine what is truth. Jesus shows us that He is the truth and that when are yoked with Him we are experiencing the truth.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about yoking ourselves with Jesus and resting in Him.

 

The second type of yoke is one where we are enslaved to sin and human based attempts to deal with sin, legalism.

 

Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

 

We can put on a yoke of sin. We can be enslaved to the power of sin to control and direct our lives away from God and to destruction. James 1:15 tells us that sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Our lives being yoked to sin will always lead to death.

 

We can also be yoked to human based efforts to deal with sin. When we try and deal with sin based on rules or rituals or traditions it will lead to us getting trapped in legalism. Legalism is human attempt to earn or deserve salvation.

 

Acts 15:10 says, “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?”

 

The yoke was for Gentiles believers to be circumcised and follow all the law of Moses. The people of Israel had never been able to do that, so it meant that the followers of Jesus would fall under the yoke of not being able to meet the requirements of the law.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being set free by God’s grace and not having to try and fulfill the law because Jesus has already done it. We can share His victory as we surrender our lives to Him as Lord and Savior.

 

Yoked with Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                           Joe