Weary? Come to Jesus. [Mt 11.28-30]

Matthew 11.28-30 KJV

28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Some Christians describe Christianity as really easy: All we gotta do is believe Jesus is Lord. That’s all. We need do nothing more. Needn’t change our lifestyles or behavior; needn’t believe anything new; needn’t even study bible, pray, or go to church regularly. All we gotta do is believe Jesus is Lord. And we’re saved! And that’s all.

You’ll soon discover these particular Christians really suck at being Christian. Because they really don’t do anything more. They do the bare minimum so they can consider themselves Christian: They own a bible, which they only open when they’re trying to prove the bible says or doesn’t say something (and since Google is way faster at determining this, they now don’t open those bibles). They consider one of the churches in town to be theirs, even though they never go. They don’t know any Christian doctrine, or might, but only believe ’em if they like ’em. They pray when they’re in a jam, but otherwise don’t. Definitely don’t change their lifestyles or behavior; they’re indistinguishable from pagans. You don’t even know they’re Christian till you call them pagan, and they loudly object: “No I’m Christian!” Really? Couldn’t tell.

Then there’s the other extreme. These are the Christians who describe Christianity as really hard. Because they’re trying so hard to be Christian. Not necessarily follow Jesus, which is what it properly means to be Christian: They’re trying to do as their fellow Christians do. They go to all the church services and functions. They pray like Pastor encourages ’em to. They vote as Pastor encourages ’em to. They frown upon unpopular sins. They wear Christian T-shirts and sport Christian bumper stickers. And sometimes they get mixed up in white nationalism, which claims it’s really Christian nationalism, but since God’s kingdom includes every people, nation, tribe, and language, Rv 5.9 why are any of these “Christians” promoting anti-immigrant stuff at their functions? Y’all just swapped white hoods for red hats. But I digress.

The reason these Christianists think Christianity is so very hard is because they’re pursuing public approval. Not Christ Jesus. What’s he say about following him?

Matthew 16.24-25 KJV

24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Okay he does say that too. But he also says today’s memory verse up top: His yoke is easy. His burden is light. Way easier and lighter than society’s burdens and yokes, because Jesus is steering us in the right direction, and they are easily swayed by whatever angry preacher is most popular lately.

“You’re trying too hard!”

Back to the libertine Christians who are trying to do the bare minimum to call themselves Christian: Much of the reason they proclaim a cheap-grace “gospel” of not having to do anything more, is because of a misconception they spread: God’s commands are simply too hard. Didn’t Simon Peter say so? Ac 15.10 And God deliberately made his commands too impossible to follow, lest we think we can actually follow them and be saved by them. So we shouldn’t even try. Besides, Jesus negated their consequences, so we’re now free to ignore them altogether.

It’s with this false idea in mind that they read, “Come to me and I’ll give you rest” and interpret it as “Come to me and I’ll give you rest from God’s commands. Come to me and I’ll give you rest from religion and good behavior. Come to me and I’ll give you rest from resisting temptation. My yoke is just a token yoke; take it upon you and behave yourselves in public. But otherwise you needn’t be good anymore. Feel free to sin yourselves raw. I’ll bail you out of hell when that time comes.”

It’s devilish thinking, and not at all what Jesus means. Should you take up the challenge of actually memorizing this passage, I want you to be sure it does not mean that.

In fact Jesus’s commands are not hard. Yes there’s gonna be an initial period of discomfort as we ditch our old lifestyles and clothe ourselves with the new life of Christ-followers. Yes there’s gonna be backlash from people who don’t like that we’re repenting and reforming ourselves—especially if our new convictions, convict them any. (And yes, there’s gonna be backlash if we start criticizing their behavior as sinful—and that’s on us. Be gracious.) Jesus’s mindset has a steep learning curve. Initially it’s not easy. But ultimately, like he says, “my burden is light.”

So let Jesus teach you. Study his teachings. Learn how his way is the best way. Learn how to be humble and gentle like him. Learn the rest and peace he has in mind for all of us. Once you memorize this verse, you can bear in mind this is how we oughta think of Jesus’s teachings: Not as impossibly hard, but rest for our souls.

Don’t forget a yoke isn’t for one ox.

Following Jesus ultimately becomes easy, but like I said there’s a steep learning curve. Surrendering everything to Jesus is gonna be a struggle when we really love those things we gotta surrender; when they’re our idols. Some of ’em distract us from following Jesus. Some of ’em are antithetical to following Jesus. I used to think my sarcasm meant I was witty and clever, not angry, and that an angry man has no business representing Jesus. Had to give it up.

That was hard. ’Cause sometimes it’s hard. Our flesh is gonna fight Jesus hard. But our flesh has to lose—and once it does, it’s easy again.

We must shun everything this world holds valuable. The world is full of pagans gleefully marching to hell, thinking their evil and rubbish is precious. We gotta swim against them, and they won’t understand where we’re coming from, and react the usual way people do when they encounter something unfamiliar: Fear and loathing, fight or flight. We’re gonna become strangers and aliens to this world. And to our own self-centered instincts. All in the pursuit of Jesus.

It can be easy or hard; it all depends on how willing we are to surrender. Some Christians are gonna easily adapt; no trouble at all. Others are gonna find it the most difficult thing they’ve ever done. And sometimes they’ll mistakenly think it’s about good works, not surrender; about doing more for God, instead of quitting everything that gets in his way—and discovering once those distractions are gone, everything else we do is good works!

Likewise some Christians are gonna find it hard because they forget we’re not to do this alone. Fellow Christians are the support system the Holy Spirit granted us when he started the church. They can help! We can help them in return. You might notice Jesus makes reference to his yoke; you might’ve forgotten a yoke is for a team of oxen. And no, Jesus isn’t putting his head in the other oxbow; he’s the Lord; he’s the driver. He, plus the force of the fellow Christian, turns you the right way. He, plus you, turns the other Christian the right way. Teamwork.

Those Christians who worry following Jesus might be too hard, often aren’t plugged into a church any. Or shun other Christians, lest they actually encounter some level of accountability. Or think their spouse counts as the other Christian they’re yoked to—which is problematic when we’re talking about a Christian who doesn’t actually respect their spouse’s commitment to Jesus, or gender. It’s fantastic when spouses grow in Christ together, but y’all still need to connect with other Christians so Jesus can steer everyone together.

That’s what helps keep Jesus’s burden light: Lots of followers to share it. Christianity is not a responsibility-free relationship with Jesus, where we do absolutely nothing while Jesus does all the heavy lifting. He does a whole lot of work, but all of us have some duties in his kingdom. They’re light enough so that, in offering them to us, Jesus can actually call them “rest” in comparison to the heavy duties our world piles on. Even so: They’re duties. Christianity isn’t that easy. But it is rest.

And we need to share Jesus’s attitude as we follow him. Work on growing the fruit of the Spirit, and remember these are Jesus’s character traits too. Remember how Jesus tackled problems with humility; he never hypocritically claimed to be other than who he is. Remember how gentle he is; he controlled his emotions and responded with empathy and compassion. His burden isn’t so light when we bring our own lousy attitudes to Christianity. We gotta think like Jesus as well as obey him.

And this verse helps us bear in mind: Christianity isn’t easy, but it isn’t hard either. Christianity is light. Or at least it can be, once we follow Jesus.