“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.” (Matthew 11:29, ESV)
As I was rereading the verse above from the Gospel of Matthew, I saw a new insight. If you look at this one sentence from Jesus, you will see an order of progression. To truly follow the teaching of Jesus that this verse contains, you need to follow the order that Jesus sets forth in this verse to arrive at the conclusion Jesus intends for you. Let me show you what I mean about today’s scripture verse.
As you read through the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 11:29, you will notice several phrases set off by commas. Each phrase set off by commas contains an order of progression, a series of steps you need to do to fulfill Jesus’ teaching. Think of it this way…. If you “take Jesus’ yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29a), you become a believer in Jesus as the Christ. This is step one. With step one, you will begin to follow Jesus’ teachings. You will start to grow in your relationship with God in Christ. Some people never get to step one of this teaching of Jesus. They never fully commit to Jesus. They never place their heart and soul in Jesus’ hands. They hold back. They lack faith to even begin a real relationship with Jesus.
If you follow Jesus completely, you will move on to step number two in the order of progression of this verse. You will “learn from Jesus” (Matthew 11:29b). Not wanting to simply make promises to Jesus, you also set aside time and devotion to learn how to live in relationship with Jesus, to read the Bible, to follow through on your promises in Christ, and to live out Jesus’ commands. Not content with just saying you are a Christian; you progress to learning of Jesus and living out your faith. Though many people make promises to Jesus, get baptized, join a church, or go to the altar at a Billy Graham concert, not everyone takes Jesus to heart enough to learn from HIM and thus live out their faith.
The verse for today ends with a final progression. If you follow step one and two listed above by committing yourself to Jesus and then learning from Jesus how to live out your faith, Jesus promises a conclusion to your efforts. That is listed in the third step of today’s meditational scripture: “you will find rest for your soul” (Matthew 11:29d). I find it interesting that many people who call themselves Christian seek rest for their soul WITHOUT FIRST following steps one and two of the verse for today. They desire to find rest for their souls but do not keep their promises to Jesus, learn from Jesus, or live out their love of Jesus. They want the results and blessings but are not committed to the work.
Only six months after getting married, a couple in Hollywood called it quits. Their wedding was all the news for weeks. Nobody expected it to end in divorce a few months later. Why did their commitment, which was meant to last a lifetime, only last six months? When asked about what happened, the man replied, “I liked the idea of marriage, but when it came down to it, I was not ready to do the work required to make it last. I just wasn’t committed enough to see it through. Maybe we weren’t meant to be.”
I don’t think the man interviewed had it right. The marriage could easily have been “meant to be”. However, if he was not willing to commit to the relationship, get serious in his commitment, learn how to make it work, and stick to what works, it was doomed from the start. The same thing happens in a relationship with Jesus. You can have all the best intentions to become a Christian, but if you are not willing to commit to the relationship and learn what works, your faith will be doomed from the start. Today’s scripture makes clear that connection. You can’t get to the blessings of a soul and mind and heart at rest unless you are willing to stick to steps one and two. You need to commit yourself to a relationship with Jesus. You need to get serious about your dedication. You need to learn from Jesus how to live out your faith and then follow through and do it. Any failure in steps one and two and your soul will NEVER find real rest or peace.
I attended a wedding where the pastor seemed off. I couldn’t nail down what was wrong in the service, but I had a few ideas that were mulling around in my mind. After the service, I asked the pastor where she got her seminary degree. She mentioned that she received her training online. When I asked where she got her sermon idea from, she mentioned that she downloaded the sermon from a wedding sermon database online. “It only cost me $1.99! You should check it out!” she mentioned with a smile. Mistakenly, she thought I liked her sermon. I thought it lacked passion. Ever had a pizza with a crust that tasted like cardboard? You expect the pizza to taste good upon viewing all the yummy toppings but then find that the crust lacks any flavor whatsoever! Well, that!
The pastor at the wedding had a certificate to preach. She had a legitimate sermon from her trusted online source. The problem was that the service and sermon and her education didn’t connect with her soul. She was “providing a service” for people who wanted weddings. She used resources online to provide this service. An atheist could have done all this. A person who hated God could have pasted together this sermon and service to fit the audience. A real faith was not required, and it showed.
I do believe this pastor at the wedding service thought she was a good Christian who was providing a needed service for people. She made it easy to find a pastor to do a wedding at any venue with “no preparation needed!” In essence, this pastor was advocating that you got to experience God at your wedding without the need to be a church member or even a believer. In truth, she was jumping to step three of the scripture for today without even mentioning steps one and two. Sadly, you will never get true rest for the soul without following through with steps one and two. Your marriage won’t be blessed by Jesus unless the commitment and learning are there. If your heart and soul and mind aren’t engaged, just saying appropriate “faith words” doesn’t imply anyone has real faith. Just having a wedding (a partial step one), never means you will have a lasting and true love (step three!)! Without step two (learning), the marriage is doomed.
Can you imagine a doctor who says you will be healed but don’t need to follow steps one and two in the process to get there? Can you imagine an electrician who doesn’t have an intimate knowledge of electricity fixing your electrical problem without any need to follow the steps involved to get to completion? If the electrician showed you an online site where you could find a video to fix your problem, would that make him or her a good electrician? Would it fix your problem? Would it take care of your problem? NO! Then why would anyone advocate that a person can find true rest for the weary soul without doing the work involved or steps involved to get to that point?
If you want to find rest for your soul, follow Jesus’ words and steps of progression in the scripture for today. If you have a lack of commitment to Jesus, recommit to step one. If you haven’t taken the time and put in the effort to learn from Jesus how to be faithful, commit to step two. If there is something you still need to learn about Jesus in order to find peace, you will need to broaden your work with step two. But if you are not willing to fulfill steps one and two, you are doomed to a faith that will never find step three; a genuine and lasting rest for your soul.
As you read through the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 11:29, you will notice several phrases set off by commas. Each phrase set off by commas contains an order of progression, a series of steps you need to do to fulfill Jesus’ teaching. Think of it this way…. If you “take Jesus’ yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29a), you become a believer in Jesus as the Christ. This is step one. With step one, you will begin to follow Jesus’ teachings. You will start to grow in your relationship with God in Christ. Some people never get to step one of this teaching of Jesus. They never fully commit to Jesus. They never place their heart and soul in Jesus’ hands. They hold back. They lack faith to even begin a real relationship with Jesus.
If you follow Jesus completely, you will move on to step number two in the order of progression of this verse. You will “learn from Jesus” (Matthew 11:29b). Not wanting to simply make promises to Jesus, you also set aside time and devotion to learn how to live in relationship with Jesus, to read the Bible, to follow through on your promises in Christ, and to live out Jesus’ commands. Not content with just saying you are a Christian; you progress to learning of Jesus and living out your faith. Though many people make promises to Jesus, get baptized, join a church, or go to the altar at a Billy Graham concert, not everyone takes Jesus to heart enough to learn from HIM and thus live out their faith.
The verse for today ends with a final progression. If you follow step one and two listed above by committing yourself to Jesus and then learning from Jesus how to live out your faith, Jesus promises a conclusion to your efforts. That is listed in the third step of today’s meditational scripture: “you will find rest for your soul” (Matthew 11:29d). I find it interesting that many people who call themselves Christian seek rest for their soul WITHOUT FIRST following steps one and two of the verse for today. They desire to find rest for their souls but do not keep their promises to Jesus, learn from Jesus, or live out their love of Jesus. They want the results and blessings but are not committed to the work.
Only six months after getting married, a couple in Hollywood called it quits. Their wedding was all the news for weeks. Nobody expected it to end in divorce a few months later. Why did their commitment, which was meant to last a lifetime, only last six months? When asked about what happened, the man replied, “I liked the idea of marriage, but when it came down to it, I was not ready to do the work required to make it last. I just wasn’t committed enough to see it through. Maybe we weren’t meant to be.”
I don’t think the man interviewed had it right. The marriage could easily have been “meant to be”. However, if he was not willing to commit to the relationship, get serious in his commitment, learn how to make it work, and stick to what works, it was doomed from the start. The same thing happens in a relationship with Jesus. You can have all the best intentions to become a Christian, but if you are not willing to commit to the relationship and learn what works, your faith will be doomed from the start. Today’s scripture makes clear that connection. You can’t get to the blessings of a soul and mind and heart at rest unless you are willing to stick to steps one and two. You need to commit yourself to a relationship with Jesus. You need to get serious about your dedication. You need to learn from Jesus how to live out your faith and then follow through and do it. Any failure in steps one and two and your soul will NEVER find real rest or peace.
I attended a wedding where the pastor seemed off. I couldn’t nail down what was wrong in the service, but I had a few ideas that were mulling around in my mind. After the service, I asked the pastor where she got her seminary degree. She mentioned that she received her training online. When I asked where she got her sermon idea from, she mentioned that she downloaded the sermon from a wedding sermon database online. “It only cost me $1.99! You should check it out!” she mentioned with a smile. Mistakenly, she thought I liked her sermon. I thought it lacked passion. Ever had a pizza with a crust that tasted like cardboard? You expect the pizza to taste good upon viewing all the yummy toppings but then find that the crust lacks any flavor whatsoever! Well, that!
The pastor at the wedding had a certificate to preach. She had a legitimate sermon from her trusted online source. The problem was that the service and sermon and her education didn’t connect with her soul. She was “providing a service” for people who wanted weddings. She used resources online to provide this service. An atheist could have done all this. A person who hated God could have pasted together this sermon and service to fit the audience. A real faith was not required, and it showed.
I do believe this pastor at the wedding service thought she was a good Christian who was providing a needed service for people. She made it easy to find a pastor to do a wedding at any venue with “no preparation needed!” In essence, this pastor was advocating that you got to experience God at your wedding without the need to be a church member or even a believer. In truth, she was jumping to step three of the scripture for today without even mentioning steps one and two. Sadly, you will never get true rest for the soul without following through with steps one and two. Your marriage won’t be blessed by Jesus unless the commitment and learning are there. If your heart and soul and mind aren’t engaged, just saying appropriate “faith words” doesn’t imply anyone has real faith. Just having a wedding (a partial step one), never means you will have a lasting and true love (step three!)! Without step two (learning), the marriage is doomed.
Can you imagine a doctor who says you will be healed but don’t need to follow steps one and two in the process to get there? Can you imagine an electrician who doesn’t have an intimate knowledge of electricity fixing your electrical problem without any need to follow the steps involved to get to completion? If the electrician showed you an online site where you could find a video to fix your problem, would that make him or her a good electrician? Would it fix your problem? Would it take care of your problem? NO! Then why would anyone advocate that a person can find true rest for the weary soul without doing the work involved or steps involved to get to that point?
If you want to find rest for your soul, follow Jesus’ words and steps of progression in the scripture for today. If you have a lack of commitment to Jesus, recommit to step one. If you haven’t taken the time and put in the effort to learn from Jesus how to be faithful, commit to step two. If there is something you still need to learn about Jesus in order to find peace, you will need to broaden your work with step two. But if you are not willing to fulfill steps one and two, you are doomed to a faith that will never find step three; a genuine and lasting rest for your soul.