What's Your Yoke?

Thanks, Libby. Wow! Wow! That was fantastic. Thank you so much. Talk about footprints in the sand. We need to be carried once in a while, don't we? What a blessing it is that we have a God that will do that. There's something about music that just puts the logic of the word that we read on the page and the emotions and the heart. That just brings it all together. Really appreciate that. Thanks for all the effort to make that happen and inspire us all. Thank you very, very much.

I thought I'd begin this afternoon with a question for you, a little quiz. Are you very good at grammar? English isn't a strong suit, maybe. Well, maybe you can help me out here. If you're good at English, you're really good at grammar, maybe you know how to answer this correctly.

So which is correct to say that the yoke of the egg are white or the yoke of the egg is white? Neither! They're yellow! That was bad. I kind of set you up for that one, didn't I?

Okay, you've probably heard why you can't tease egg whites. Do you know why you can't tease egg whites? They can't take a yoke.

If they keep going, they get worse, so we better not go that direction. But what do you think of when you hear the word yoke? Not y-o-l-k, like egg yoke, but yoke, y-o-k-e. What do you think? What comes to mind when you hear that word? Now, maybe it's a donkey or a beast of burden or a horse or something that pulls a plow. Oftentimes, maybe oxen come to mind when you think of the word yoke. Or maybe perhaps you think of servitude, you think of slavery or oppression. And of course, if you were to look up that word in the dictionary, you would find a number of different references that point to those types of things.

In fact, throughout the Bible, you'll find that word used both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. But today, it's not really a word we use a whole lot in our modern language. We don't refer to it too many times. But as we see in the Bible, there are some very interesting connections that should be very meaningful for us today as well. So I'd like to pose the question in the sermon today. What's the yoke? What's the yoke? How does that term apply to each of us? Is there a time that we should be yoked? When is it? Or how is it? Or is there a time that we should not be yoked? How can we understand this? And how does it impact our relationships? How does it impact how we deal with each other in what we should be doing? And perhaps other relationships that wouldn't be helpful, that wouldn't be destructive, wouldn't be the best for us. What would we do? How do we handle these things? And what exactly is the yoke? Well, let's think about that for a moment. As you consider the word, it can be used as a noun or as a subject. It can also be used as a verb. It can describe different things. Now, if you looked it up in the New Testament, it's the word, sugos. It's Z-U-G-O-S. It's sugos. And it's from a root word that means to join. To join. To come together. And it can be used figuratively or it can be used literally. It can be a very literal, specific thing. There's an interesting example back in the book of Revelation of a literal use of that word, sugos. It's in Revelation 6, verse 5. In fact, we just recently went over this in our Revelation Bible studies that we've been having on Wednesday nights, every other Wednesday night here at the home office. Recently we went through the seals, and in Revelation 6, 5, it talks about the third seal. You must notice how this word for yoke applies in Revelation 6. In verse 5 it says, So here we're familiar with this third seal and the horseman. But the point I want to zero in on is what he's holding. You know, what is this person holding on this black horse? Well, in Revelation it says, a pair of scales. He's holding a pair of scales. Now the yoke is not the scales because that's the two parts where you put the weights. Or in this case you put the wheat or the barley or the oil, whatever. The thing that you measure and that holds those things are the scales. But the zugos is the bar between. It's what it balances on. So that scale can either be in balance or it can be out of balance. So that yoke is what connects those two weights. Is it equal or is it unbalanced? The zugos is the part that moves to tell you which one's heavier or which one's lighter. And so this is a very literal representation of what a yoke is. And it starts to set in our mind what it might appear like, especially in the scale. You know, as you're trying to weigh something. That bar between them that locks them together is the yoke. It's the zugos.

Now, it's also used in a figurative way in the Bible. Figuratively, there's a familiar use of it all the way back in 1 Kings. 1 Kings 12. Let's think about it in a figurative sense for a moment. Not a literal scale, not a literal yoke that you might harness an animal with. But here's a figurative use of that same word for yoke. Of course, this is the Hebrew version of it. But in 1 Kings 12, and right at the very beginning of that chapter, we'll begin. 1 Kings 12 starts the story of Rehoboam. Rehoboam takes over after Solomon dies, and there's trouble in the kingdom. There's trouble because the people are trying to figure out what kind of ruler is Rehoboam going to be. Is he going to be harsh? Is he going to be mean? Is he going to be overbearing?

Or will he take it easier on the people? So as he begins to reign, it says all Israel comes to him in verse 1. And the people, on Jeroboam specifically, on behalf of the people, talks to him. And he says in verse 4, Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke, which he put on us, and we will serve you. So he had taxed them. He had caused them to work. And a lot of the benefits went to the king, went to the kingdom, and not to the people. And so this word for yoke is used in a figurative sense. It wasn't literally harnessed, but there was a burden that they had to bear. And so in this sense, you see this matter of obligation. The people were obligated to serve the king.

And what obligated them? What held them to that obligation? Well, it was the king's law. The king's law. His command obligated him. And so as you see this figurative use, Reoboam has to make a decision. Well, should I be easier on them?

Should I be harder on them? Well, verse 13, after getting advice from the young people, the old people, the ones that aren't so wise, the ones that were wise, verse 13, it says, the king answered the people, roughly rejected the advice of the elders.

And he says in verse 14, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges. So even in this figurative sense, Reoboam continues that illustration. Because oftentimes you harness up a couple of animals, and they drive them. And they use a whip. And so he takes that figurative sense, and he makes it live even that much more in their mind, saying, It's not going to be a whip. We're going to have a scourge. We're going to put bits of metal on the end of this whip, and we're going to give it to the people, and I'm going to chastise you.

Well, this wasn't anything that was going to be helpful, and we know the results of that. Trying to drive the people harder than they were able caused a split, caused a division. And so the kingdom was divided from here on out. And so this heavy yoke, this heavy burden that Reoboam put on the people, caused a rift in the nation. And so they were no longer yoked to Reoboam. It was broken.

And so they went under Jeroboam in Israel and Judah under Reoboam. And so as you begin to think about this concept of being yoked, this becomes a little clearer here in this figurative sense that there is a master and a servant type of a relationship between those that are yoked. Of course, in this case, we've got Reoboam being the master, the people supposed to be the servants.

Of course, in a modern sense, there might be a contract that binds people to certain promises, certain obligations. In fact, why don't we talk about that for a minute? Think about a way a yoke is used even today. There are yokes of obligation. There are obligations. There are responsibilities that we all have when it comes to being yoked.

Do we have a yoke of obligation today? They've been talking a lot about it here in America. In the last couple of weeks, all I've heard about is the fiscal cliff, the fiscal cliff over and over. The survey was done with the phrase that most Americans are tired of hearing about is fiscal cliff. Well, why is that? Well, because it's about taxing.

They're going to be taxing us more. Is that a yoke of obligation? Yeah, I guess so. You see your paycheck. Someone was just telling me earlier this morning, I saw my paycheck. It was already less. They're already taking out more Social Security taxes before they even figure out what the other taxes will be. I mean, we live in America, and because of the benefits of living here, we have taxes.

And if you've ever been in a dispute with the IRS, you know who the master is, and you know who the slave is. They have control. We know who the servant is when it comes to paying taxes. And of course, it's become more and more obvious here in America. We are obliged to the debt that our country has rung up, that the government has spent the money on behalf of our children and our grandchildren. And so that yoke of obligation is not one we're going to be able to get out from under by just snapping our fingers. There are obligations.

There are legal liabilities that we all have just for living where we live, just for being here. And of course, it's a good reminder that there are contracts that we oblige ourselves to, that we sign on the dotted line. There's agreements that we have with our employers. If we're an employee, we're supposed to work for the boss.

And they expect us to put in the time that is necessary, what's responsible, what we are responsible for. So a yoke can be an obligation. It can be voluntary. We can choose to work where we want to. Or it can be imposed, like our taxes.

Now it's interesting that in both of those situations, whether it's in business, whether it's in employment, whether it's in our taxes, God does take an interesting view on that. What do you think God thinks about the taxes that the government is enforcing on us? There's an interesting perspective that Paul gives us in 1 Timothy 6, verse 1.

Right at the beginning of chapter 6 of 1 Timothy, Paul is inspired to give us a little insight into how God views this yoke of obligation, whether we have it to our country because of the debt, because of the taxes that are imposed, whether it's an obligation that we have in a legal contract, whether it's an obligation we have with our employer.

He gives us some insight, verse 1, 1 Timothy 6. It says, "...let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor." Now, of course, the Apostle Paul here is talking to church members who literally have slaves. Here he's talking to the slaves themselves, those bondservants, those indentured servants. He's saying to them specifically to look at their masters, not with contempt, but in an honorable way.

He says, "...count them worthy of all honor." You mean I'm supposed to pay my taxes? I'm supposed to honor the government by actually paying them? Well, that's the principle here, isn't it? Isn't that the spiritual principle behind this? Why would that be? Why would that be? Would God hold us to those obligations? Well, Paul goes on to say, "...count the masters worthy of all honor." Why? "...so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed." Then he says, "...those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them." Because those who are benefited are believers and beloved.

He says, "...teach and exhort these things." So even if we're not working for the church, even though we're not working for a church member, even though there's obligations that the government puts on us against our will, God says that our behavior could have a direct reflection on God. God could directly reflect on the church. And so does God expect us then to fulfill our obligations, even if it's just because we live where we live. I think God does. He's dealing with masters and servants here, but it certainly applies to us today as well. So if we sign a contract, we buy a car, you probably have to sign on the dotted line.

If you don't pay cash, you've got to sign on the dotted line for that loan. We obligate our...are we expected then to follow through and paying for that? Well, in America, a lot of us don't, but that's not a good thing. God expects us to follow through. That would be a voluntary obligation. That's something we're yoking ourselves to that credit union or that bank if we're buying a house, that we're saying we will pay it in a way we're partnering with the bank. And we know what happens when the bank gets stuck with the debt.

Boy, it causes a mess in the economy. And so a yoke can be a partnership. Two parties coming together, they're joining in a legal agreement. There are shared goals. If I buy a house, my goal is to own the house. The bank helps me by collecting extra money through interest. So they're benefited, I'm benefited. So there's mutual benefits from a situation like that.

And you think of other ways that we become obligated where there's wonderful benefits from. How about marriage? Marriage can be a yoke of obligation. Now it sounds funny when you say it that way. But it is, isn't it? Don't we contract with one another? We have a contract. We go before God. What does He do?

He binds us together. He joins us together. We have an obligation to each other, and we have an obligation before God. In a way, we have an obligation to God in our marriage relationships. So are we obliged then to make our marriages work? Sure. Are we obliged then to serve one another? Are we obliged then, as Paul said, to honor our mate so that the doctrine of God is not blaspheme? I think so. I think we have a responsibility to each other. We've taken this obligation upon ourselves. Nobody forced us to.

Normally, that's not the case at all. Ephesians 5 talks a lot about the obligations that we have to each other and how it should be done out of love and service. How we submit ourselves one to another, live submitting to their husbands, husbands loving their wives, a mutual contract, I guess we could say, that is for the benefit of both that brings honor and glory to God when we fulfill those obligations in the way that God wants us to. I was reminded of a...really it's a beautiful tradition that's in quite a few of the Hispanic countries. In the Philippines, it's in Mexico, Spain. During a traditional wedding, one of the things that they do is they have what they call a wedding cord, which is just kind of a pretty little kind of a lace type of string that's all decorated and everything.

And as the couple is being wed, they take this wedding cord and they wrap it around them. And they, in a way, join the husband and the wife around their shoulders. And it's representative of that union in a way that sugos, that yoke, that takes two and then connects them, which is really a beautiful thing. It reminds them of the unity they're supposed to have, the union of the bride and the groom.

It's supposed to signify their love and their devotion to each other. So it's not supposed to be a master-servant relationship. Of course, they do also call this little wedding cord the wedding lasso. So I don't know if they use that before the wedding to catch the bride or the groom or what.

But it is called the wedding lasso, but it's not to tie anybody up. It's supposed to be to mutually serve one another. A lifetime of unity and love is supposed to be that representation. And when you think about it, when we are mutually obliged in the yoke that is supposed to be for our good, it is a wonderful blessing, a wonderful blessing. And so that word yoke can be a blessing that God gives us when we fulfill our obligations. Now, a yoke is not always used like that in the Bible. There's another way the word yoke is used, and it means almost the opposite.

Almost the opposite. It is a yoke of bondage. A yoke of bondage. Leviticus 26, verse 3, talks about Israel. As they're coming into the Promised Land, God's going to give them instructions. Here they were under the yoke of Pharaoh, and that was a literal yoke. They were slaves in Egypt. They were captives. And as God brought them out, He freed them, at least freed them in one sense, and He gave them some guidance as to this yoke of bondage and how difficult and extreme it was for them. And yet, in a way, looking to the future in a figurative sense as well.

Leviticus 26, verse 3, God says, If you walk in my statutes, keep my commands, and perform them, then I will give you rain in due season. The land shall yield its produce, the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. That is a yoke, isn't it? That's kind of a contract. God says, follow my commands, I will bless you. And the connection between those, the yoke between those, is God's law, God's way. And so He says, you do these things, you will be blessed.

Verse 12, He says, I will walk among you, I'll be your God, you shall be my people. We have God on one side of the balance, the people on the other side. And they are joined together by the law of God. He goes on and He says, verse 13, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. I've broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright. Of course, God had told them they would no longer be under the yoke of Pharaoh, no longer slaves of Europe, of Egypt. But now they were to come out and be slaves to God, yoked to God.

And so there were parts of this contract that both sides were going to fulfill. And yet He points to a more difficult kind of yoke, one that the Apostle Paul talks quite a bit about throughout the epistles. One specifically in Galatians chapter 5, I will turn to, where he uses this whole concept of the master and the slave relationship, between the bondage of Pharaoh and now, in Galatians, he connects that to the bondage of sin. The slavery, not just of Pharaoh forcing the Israelites to work, but the bondage of sin. Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, Paul says, Paul says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. So there is freedom in Christ.

His yoke is not bondage. He's pointing out very clearly here, the bondage is from Satan. Pharaoh represented Satan in so many ways. He's pointing to the difference in that. He says, Do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. That cannot be our perspective. Don't go back into that. Just like the Israelites could not go back into Egypt, we cannot go back into sin. He's saying that's a yoke of bondage, and this is a heavy burden. Rehoboam's burden would have looked like nothing compared to this yoke of bondage, the bondage of sin.

Verse 2, Paul says, Indeed I, Paul, say to you, if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. In other words, if you think that's going to save you, if you think perfectly keeping the law is what saves you, you're mistaken. We're to be yoked with Christ, not with just law keeping.

And so he points this out so very clearly. He says a little bit farther down. Look at verse 19. He points to this yoke of sin, this burden, this bondage of sin. The works of the flesh are evident. Here's that yoke of sin. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry. This goes on and on. Sorcery, hatred, contentions. Are we bound to any of those? If we find ourselves connected to these things, we have to sever that connection. We cannot have that yoke of bondage over us.

God has called us out of that. He doesn't want us to have anything to do with these things. And so he says a little bit farther on, verse 24, Those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. So he's telling us, we can't plow up that field again. We can't go that way.

That is unacceptable. Don't turn back. Keep plowing a straight road. We've got to plow in God's direction. That's the way that we have to go. We cannot try to be justified by ourselves. We can only be justified through Jesus Christ. Anything else, any of these works of the flesh, brings about that yoke of bondage. It's oppression. It's domination. It's spiritual slavery. And God says, I don't want you to have any of this.

So how tightly drawn are God's reigns on us? Are we so close to God that we can't get off track? And we ask God to take the reigns of our life so that we continue to put off that yoke of bondage. But we need to make sure that we are that close to God, that He's guiding us.

He's our driving force, and not the slavery that could come from this yoke of bondage that Satan is constantly dangling before our eyes. Now, there's also another form of yoke that is mentioned in the Bible. And that's a yoke that sometimes looks like it's a good one. It sometimes appears that this isn't a bad thing at all. It's one that is connected both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It's talked about in Deuteronomy 22, verse 9. Because sometimes it is tough to come out of this bondage, this yoke of bondage of sin.

Sometimes it's hard to pull in the right direction. I was reminded of a story of an out-of-towner. This guy from out-of-town was driving out in the country, accidentally went off the road, went into the ditch, drove his car right into the ditch. He was stuck. But luckily, there was a farmer right nearby, saw the whole thing happen, came out with his big, strong horse named Buddy. And so he said, I'll give you a hand, no problem. So he hooks up Buddy to the car, and then he yells out, Pull Nelly!

Buddy doesn't move. So then he yells out, Pull Buster! Buster, or Buddy doesn't move at all. Then he yells out, Pull Jenny! Buddy doesn't move at all. Well then he yells out, Pull Buddy, pull! Man, he pulls that car right out of the ditch. Of course, the guy that drove the car to the ditch, he was kind of confused by it. He said, I don't get it. Why did you call your horse by the wrong name before you used his right name?

And the farmer said, oh well, Buddy's blind. And if he thought he was pulling all by himself, he wouldn't do anything. So it would be good to think that you're yoked, I guess, right? Okay, so if you made it over to Deuteronomy 22, it deals with the subject. It might not seem that it has anything to do with this concept of being yoked together, but it really does.

Deuteronomy 22, verse 9, God is giving instructions, specific things for the Israelites as they're coming into the Promised Land. And He tells them, You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you've sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled. What would you think if God gave you those instructions?

Like, so? What's the big deal? Then He says in verse 10, You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. Okay, why is that much of a problem? I mean, it seems like two are better than one, aren't they? But hard to maybe figure out for a moment. Then in verse 11, this seems totally out of left field. It says, You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together. So, I guess I couldn't wear this coat, probably, because it's mostly wool, but it's a little bit of other stuff as well.

Well, why would that be? Why would God give these instructions to Israel? Well, if you've got different kinds of seeds, and He says, Don't plant them together, what do you have to do? Well, you're going to have to sort out which seeds are the same ones. You know, we've got corn over here and beans over here, and I better plant them separately, because God says so.

Well, why would that be? When we throw them all together, is that going to make it a little easier or a little harder when the harvest comes? It's going to make it a lot harder if you've got a whole mixture of different things, right? So they were to sort out what was different. They were to make a distinction between the seeds. They were to make a distinction between the types of clothing. If they mixed up the fabric, especially in those days, it's not the same today, but can you imagine if you put cotton and wool in the way they might take a dye color, or the way they would shrink or expand when you wash it?

It could be a total disaster. So God says, be careful here. You need to distinguish between these different things. You've got to make a difference between this ox and this donkey. They're different-sized animals. They're different heights. It's an amazing thing if you've ever watched the Amish do some of their work. Back in Minnesota, we were in an area near some of the Amish farmers. Sometimes they'd have two oxen pulling a plow. Other times they've had two horses pulling that plow.

And it was always amazing they'd never mix them up. It was because the two animals, in fact, they would work to have animals that were almost the same, same size. Some of them were even the same breeding. Because the more alike they were, the easier they pulled that load together. And so here God is saying, you need to discern the difference. You need to take note of the distinctions and distinguish between things. Why seeds? Why oxen? Why fabrics? Because that was supposed to be a daily reminder that not only do you need to sort out the differences between those things, but you need to make a distinction between you as God's people and those pagan nations that are all around you.

Because that's the most important lesson that God was trying to show them, that they were unique. They were God's people. They were to be separate from the nations around them. They weren't supposed to just be all mixed together. Because we know that, as history tells us, when they mixed everything together, it was their downfall. When they mixed paganism with the worship of the true God, it didn't go. And ultimately they were carted off in captivity. And so it doesn't fit.

So he said, don't be unequaled. Don't mix those things up, because there is a distinctness that the people of God must have. There's a difference in seeds, in materials, and more importantly, there's a difference between those who are gods and those who are not. And you can't mix them all together and have a godly result. So God was teaching him that lesson. And it wasn't one that was just lost in the Old Testament, because back in the Epistles, Paul wrote to God's church in Corinth, 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. Here Paul specifically mentions that yoke.

And it certainly brings Deuteronomy 22 to mind with the way that Paul mentions that yoke and how being unequal, whether it's seed or whether it's animals or whether it's fabrics, it really comes down to people.

People do not be unequally yoked. 2 Corinthians 6, 14. That's how he begins. Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now that can apply in a lot of ways, can it? We talked about all the different obligations that we have, whether it's a contract, whether it's a legal agreement, whether it's a partnership, whether it's a marriage.

All of those things can apply. And it takes special insight to know the difference. He says here very clearly, what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? That word fellowship there is that same word that Christ used when He described the Passover, having the fellowship of the bread and the wine, the communion or the sharing.

The partnership. You see the connection with the yoke? There's a partnership. There's a yoke. But righteousness and sin, lawlessness, does that go together? Inequity? That doesn't fit. It doesn't fit. He says what communion, what sharing, what partnership has light with darkness? Well, you turn on the light, the darkness goes away. Darkness can't exist when you turn on the lights. It's not there.

And so Paul's comparing that with God's way. That if God's called us to light, if God's called us to the truth, how can there be a partnership with someone that isn't of that frame of mind? He's saying we've got to maintain that distinction. There's this distinction between what is God's and what is not.

What accord has Christ with Belial? What part has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? Ultimately, he says, you are the temple of the living God. So we can't have anything to do with idols. That's what the implication is here. He says God has said, I'll dwell with them, walk with them. I'll be their God. They shall be my people.

He says, therefore come out from among them and be separate. Be separate, says the Lord. Same instructions he gave to Israel, but now we've bumped it up to a spiritual implication here. He says, you do that. You don't touch the unclean. He says, I will receive you. I'll be a father to you. You shall be my sons and daughters. We'll have a connection. And so we have to stop and ask ourselves, what connection is most important in our lives?

Is a connection with an unbeliever more important than a connection with God? Does that apply in dating? Does that apply in our relationship? Absolutely it does. It's hard to escape. How can we read these sections of Scriptures and think that it must mean something else?

See, this is the word heterozoigo, oppositely joined, unequally yoked. If you looked up hetero, they're heterosexuals. They're opposite sex. They're opposite. Heterogeneous, they're opposites, or they're diverse. And so this is opposite of God's way of thinking. He says, don't be connected that way. Don't be improperly joined together. He said, that doesn't work. There's a difference. There's a difference. And God's people are distinct. If we claim to have the Spirit of God, there's such a difference between that and those that do not.

God says, don't have anything to do with it. It's not proper. It's not helpful. In fact, it will hurt. It will hurt. Certainly in ancient Israel, it caused them to compromise their relationship with God. In ancient Israel, it caused them to worship God in a wrong way.

In ancient Israel, it caused them to disobey God's law.

Are we so different today?

See, I think God gives us these instructions, even though maybe on the surface it might not appear that bad. But God gets right to the core of things to say, wait a second, there is a huge difference between my way.

And so He says, follow me. In fact, in these relationships, it's such a serious matter, and it might not seem that way. But what Paul is reminding us here, that even in physical relationships, it takes spiritual discernment. Isn't it? Physical relationships even require spiritual discernment. So our responsibility, then, is to look deeper, look beyond the surface, and look to the spiritual compatibility. Do these things go together or not?

Now, back in Amish country, when they would yoke these animals together, I remember seeing how they did that, how they harnessed these animals. Now, in order to harness them, they had to put a collar on the oxen or on the horse. And the collar was just kind of an oval-shaped piece of wood that they'd put some padding on, and then they would put leather around it and sew it all together. That would protect the neck of the animal, the horse, the oxen, and the forequarters that would actually do the pulley. It would protect them. And they would fine-tune those collars.

And, in fact, this particular Amish farmer had a specific harness for a specific animal. And they were different. This animal's, this oxen's, was slightly different than the other animal's. Why would that be? Because it was custom-made for that animal, just for him. It fit him. The other one fit the other animal just right.

And then they were able to hook them up. They put that collar on them, yoke them together, and then they were able to drive them. And by having just the right collar and just the way that it was yoked together, the pressure from pulling that plow was distributed just right. So it didn't injure the animal. Because you know what happens if you have a collar that's not fitted right?

Well, it can move. And as that moves, it starts to create friction. And friction on the animal's body, then, can start to rub all the hair off, and then it can rub the skin right off so that there's just this big open sore. Because that collar and that harness, that yoke is just not working right.

And what happens once you have a big open sore on an animal? You know what they call that?

That animal, because of the sore, is called stiff necked.

Stiff necked. You know why? Because if you're trying to drive that animal to the right, and that's right where that sore is going to be impacted, he is not going to go to the right. He is going to go any other direction to take away the pain. So it doesn't hurt, so he's going to go where he wants to go, because he is not going to go that way, because it hurts. There's a sore there, and so the animal becomes stiff necked, and so much so that you can't turn him any way you want.

And you see, the challenge is, if we put on that yoke of sin, what happens to us?

We develop an open sore, and then when God is trying to direct us, what do we do?

The oftentimes we fight against it. We don't want to go that way. The farther we go with that sore, the harder it is to get back on track.

And so we're reminded that we've got to have that harness and that collar fitted just right so that we are not stiff necked, so that we can be equally yoked.

In fact, there is a yoke that fits just right. And that's the yoke that's talked about in the Bible. That's a desired yoke. This is a yoke that we want.

We want this yoke, because ultimately, when we wear this, we can avoid all the sores. We can avoid the pain.

Jeremiah talked about this, prophesied about this time. Jeremiah 30, verse 8.

Jeremiah looks at the big picture, looks forward to the time that Jesus Christ will return, when ultimately the burden that's been upon all people can be taken away.

But it's also looking at a time that for us, this can be something that's going on right now.

Jeremiah 30, verse 8, says, The bonds of Satan break his yoke from our neck. We'll burst your bonds. Foreigners will no longer enslave them, but they shall serve the Lord their God. And of course, we can do that now. We can have the bonds of sin removed. We have the power of God's Holy Spirit. So we don't have to be yoked to sin. We don't have to be unequally yoked. We can take on the desired yoke, the godly yoke. Because that relationship with God is one that we're supposed to be connected. That's the most important yoke that there is. Could we have a better partnership? I don't think so. We're to be coupled together with God. And so we have this collar that we are yoked to God. We're held to Him by law, aren't we? By God's law of love. He is our master. Christ is our high priest. He is our soon-coming King. We have a covenant. We have an agreement. We have a contract with God. We are yoked to Him. So that's a legal obligation, in a sense, spiritually speaking. It's a moral obligation as well. And of course, the Apostle Paul described it in Romans 6. Notice how he describes this yoke that we should take upon ourselves. Romans 6, verse 16. In a way, Paul contrasts this bondage, this yoke of sin, versus the desired yoke of God. Let's notice how he puts it in Romans 6, verse 16. Romans 6, 16. He says, Don't you know that whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? So there's those two yokes, this yoke of bondage and the yoke that connects us and binds us to God. Of course, he's given us the choice, hasn't he? He says, God, be thankful that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. God's brought us to truth. He's opened our minds to His way so that we can be joined with Him. Verse 18, Having been set free from sin, you became yoked. You became slaves of righteousness. Slaves of righteousness. So we are servants. We are bond slaves, which really Paul is referring to that sense of being a bond slave, a servant of God, a servant of righteousness, a servant of law and love as God would direct us. And so what an amazing opportunity. We have the opportunity to be different. In fact, just over a couple of pages in my Bible, Chapter 8, talks about this yoke of bondage that God's relieved us from. Verse 6, Romans 8, To be carnally minded is death. Talk about an open sore. But He says spiritually minded, to take on the yoke of God, is life and peace.

Because normal, everyday, average way of thinking, carnal mind, He says, is enmity. It's not subject to the law of God and cannot be. But when we take on that desired yoke, verse 9, He says, You're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

If anyone doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, He is not His. So we can have God's Spirit. If we're not baptized, He says, Be baptized. Be baptized. Take on this yoke. This is the best yoke that there could possibly be. He encourages us to take this yoke, doesn't He?

In fact, Christ specifically says, He doesn't force us. He doesn't make us. And we can be around God's way and think we're yoked. I think we're with the program. But if we haven't made that connection, then we really can't claim to be bonded to God. But that's what God wants. That's what Jesus Christ encourages us to do. Matthew 11, verse 28, He specifically tells us that very thing. Remember what He said here, Matthew 11?

Matthew 11, 28.

Christ Himself says, Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So we can have that bond of sin broken. We can rest from sin. And yet, He says, verse 29, Take my yoke. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from Me. I'm gentle and lowly at heart. You'll find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So if you're weary and you're tired, burdened, tired of sin, boy.

Christ says, Be committed to Me. Take this yoke. Take my yoke upon you. So we have to willingly come before God. We have to willingly say, God, I don't know which way to go. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to lead my life. You know the best way. You know how to direct my steps. You know how to guide me. I need to follow you. I'm going to allow you to direct whatever field it is you want me to plow. I'm going to be led by you. And in every way, in every step, I'm going to let you guide me and lead me. And if He's not leading our steps, where have we gotten off? We've got to come back and say, wait a second. God, help me be submissive to you. Help me to follow your lead and your guide. Help me to take on that yoke and submit to you, because you know the best way. You are the best way. So help me and guide me. Help me to learn of you. That's what Christ said here. Learn of me, Christ said. He is our Master. He is our High Priest. He is our Savior. He is one to be obeyed. And so we not only hear Him, but we follow Him. Remember He who hears these sayings of Mine? That's a good thing. But the one that's blessed is the one that does them, is what Christ said. He that hears them and does them. So Christ said, learn of me. And that burden, that burden is light. Compared to the burden of sin, this is a light burden. It's an easy burden. But it still points to the fact that we're servants. We still have this harness, this collar on that God is guiding us and leading us. Because you've got to think, what's the purpose of this yoke?

As Christ said, take my yoke. Well, the reason you put that collar on the animals and you put that yoke on them, there's work to do. We've got some work to do? You bet. You bet there's work to do. So God says, take my yoke. My yoke is easy. There's some pulling to do. There's some pulling to do. Where's the best way to pull? How is the best way to get the work done? Being connected with Jesus Christ. He expects us to pull our part of the load. He's not going to do all the work. We're yoked to Him. He's going to make sure we're doing our part as well. That yoke is designed so that we'll do work that means something. This is meaningful. This is something that's appropriate, something that God's given us to do. And I say, well, wait a second. I thought I could just relax and my burden's light and ease him and kick back and not have to worry about anything.

No, that's not what Christ is saying here, is it? Ephesians 2.10 is sure a reminder of that. When Christ said, take my yoke, He has an expectation that there's a work to do. Ephesians 2.10, Paul says, we are His workmanship. We are God's workmanship. In other words, we're a creation of the Father and of Christ. He's molding us and shaping us into His creation. But then he says, create it in Christ Jesus for good works. So He's put that collar on us. We're to be yoked with Him. We're to choose to submit ourselves to our Lord and Savior and then get to work. Get to work overcoming sin in our lives, allowing Him to lead us. Get to work as His family, as His people that we work together. He says, create it in Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should plow in...well, walk. Walk in them! So God expects us to accomplish work.

No wonder in the end He can say, well done, good and faithful servant. Good and faithful servant. And of course, we're not alone either. It's not only that we're yoked to Christ, but He says back there in Matthew 11, He says, all you who labor. Well, that's all of us. That's the entire church. Sometimes it might feel like we're pulling alone, but don't ever forget Christ is right there at our side. The entire church is with us as well. We are pulling the load together. We're striving to accomplish the work of God together, right alongside each and every one who is faithful to living God's way. And you know, when we're harnessed together, we can pull a load that one or two of us could never pull. We can do it together, especially as we're led by our Savior Jesus Christ. So we can bear what another's burdens, can't we? We can accomplish the work He wants us to do. So as you think about this term, yoke, it's really not an outdated old concept, but it does apply today, just like it did thousands and thousands of years ago. Some of the human yokes, some of those obligations, we better be careful of. They can cause us problems. They can be a burden. And some, we don't even have a choice in regard to. But in so many situations, maybe most situations, we do have a choice. We do have a choice. God requires that we make decisions with the facts set before us, that we have spiritual discernment before us. And He requires now that we overcome the yoke of sin. We do not allow that to be tied around our necks. He's given us His word. It's a guide. It's a tool to help us in the pulling. So He guides us. He directs us. He expects us to come to Him for guidance, for direction, for wisdom, for intervention. That's what God wants us. He wants us to look to Him as we make our decisions. And of course, when we're faced with those unequal yokes, He expects us to walk away, to not be joined in that way at all. And so most importantly, let's take that spiritual yoke with our partner, our spiritual partner and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then we can pull away.