The Lesson of the Yoke
To learn from Jesus and manifest His nature, we must take His yoke of submission and brokenness, dying daily to our self-centeredness and pride.
K.P. Yohannan emphasizes the importance of taking on the yoke of Jesus, which symbolizes submission and obedience to His will. He illustrates this by comparing it to the yoke used on buffaloes in his village, where the marks signify their brokenness and readiness to serve. By accepting Jesus' yoke, believers are called to surrender their own desires for God's purpose, leading to a transformation that reflects Christ's nature. Yohannan highlights that true manifestation of God's presence in our lives comes from our willingness to cooperate with Him in loving obedience. This process involves dying to self-centeredness and embracing dependence on God.
Text
"Come to Me" and "learn from Me," Jesus told His disciples. But there is a condition: "Take My yoke upon you."(1) You cannot learn of Him unless you take His yoke. What does His yoke represent? When I was growing up in my village, there were paddy fields everywhere. To plow these fields, farmers used a set of buffaloes with a yoke placed over their necks. The rear of the animals had several burn marks on them, like stripes. I remember as a youngster asking a man, "Why do all of these animals have burn marks?" He said, "It is the sign that they are broken and submissive." When Jesus said, "Take My yoke," it means He had a yoke. He was broken and submissive.
Now He invites us to come under that yoke of submission next to Him, choosing to give up what "I want," even in good and right matters, for His will. Once we are willing to do that, we begin to manifest the nature of Jesus. A.W. Tozer says it this way, "If we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face."(2) In the measure by which we open our life to Christ and bend our necks to the yoke, dying daily to our self-centeredness, independence, pride and reasoning, and instead depend on God, in the same measure we will manifest His nature in our lives. 1 Matthew 11:28-29. 2 A.W.
Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, Inc., 1982), p. 64.
Sermon Outline
- The Yoke of Submission
- What is the yoke?
- The yoke represents brokenness and submission
- Submission is key to manifesting God's nature
Key Quotes
“If we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.” — K.P. Yohannan
Application Points
- We must be willing to submit to God's will and give up our own desires for His guidance.
- By cooperating with God in loving obedience, we can manifest His nature in our lives.
- Dying daily to our self-centeredness and pride is essential for spiritual growth and transformation.