Coming to Christ with Our Burdens and Learning from This Meek and Lowly One

This week we have been enjoying the Lord’s speaking concerning keeping the principle of the Sabbath, which doesn’t mean that you don’t work for God but rather you first enjoy God, are filled with God, and are one with God, and then you work together with God.

How can we bear this sign of the Sabbath, showing everyone that we belong to God? How can we live in the reality of Christ as our rest and enjoyment? How can we keep the Sabbath?

The Lord Jesus has the answer in Matt. 11:28-30, Come to ME! All we need to do is come to the Lord, and we will find rest for our souls! Just come to Him out of your toiling, struggling, striving, working hard, and come to Him with your burdens and toils…

He will give us rest. We will have rest for our souls and we will enter into the Sabbath rest today when we come to the Lord! We come to Him, He gives us rest, and we take His yoke upon us – His yoke is easy, and His burden is light!

We first find rest with the Lord, and then we labor with Him to carry out God’s economy and fulfill His purpose.

Lord Jesus, we come to You with all our toils and burdens – give us rest! Lord, we want to take Your yoke upon us and learn from You – You are meek, and You are lowly in heart! Lord, give us rest for our souls! Oh, Lord Jesus, we just COME to You!

All who Toil and are Burdened: Come to Christ!

What does it mean to toil? What does it mean to be burdened? Here the Lord refers not only to those who toil by striving to keep the commandments of the law and all the religious regulations but also to those who toil by struggling to be successful in any kind of work.

Many people today – most people today – toil to become someone, to accomplish something, and to achieve to a certain high position or result. Whoever toils in this way is always heavily burdened.

The Lord Jesus invites all those who toil and who are burdened to come to Him! We may toil to make a living, to get a house, to accomplish something outwardly, or to advance in our career.

We just need to come to the Lord and He will be the reality of the Sabbath rest to us. The Sabbath is just a shadow – the reality of rest and satisfaction is Christ! We need to get out of any unnecessary toil and get into Christ as our rest.

He is rest for our souls – He doesn’t only set us free from the toil and burden under the law or under any work/responsibility, but He also gives us perfect peace and full satisfaction.

Let us all enter into rest and enjoy perfect peace and full satisfaction by coming to the Lord as our Sabbath and enjoying Him!

Lord, we come to You out of all the unnecessary and heavy toils. We need You as our rest and satisfaction. Lord, there’s no rest, peace, or satisfaction in anyone or anywhere else but in You! We take You as our Sabbath rest right now by coming to You and enjoying You!

Taking Christ’s Yoke Upon Us

Taking any yoke upon us means we need to bear something heavy, something limiting, something that constrains us.

The Lord’s yoke is simply the will of the Father – it’s not to be regulated or controlled by anything outwardly, any obligation of the law or religion, and it is not to be enslaved by any work for God.

To take the Lord’s yoke is to be constrained the will of the Father – and His yoke is easy and pleasant!

The Lord Jesus fed on the will of the Father (John 4:34), and He did the will of the Father, caring for nothing else (John 5:30; 6:38). He fully submitted Himself to the Father’s will (Matt. 26:39, 42) and He asked us to learn from Him.

On the one hand we come to the Lord and enjoy Him as our rest, and on the other hand we take His yoke upon us by doing the Father’s will and being burdened to carry out the Father’s will.

God desires to dispense Himself into man, and this is His will. God’s will is fit for use, good, mild, kind, gentle, easy, and pleasant.

When we enter into God’s rest by coming to Christ, we will become one with Him in working for God to dispense God into others. We enjoy God’s dispensing, we are filled with Him as we rest in our soul, and we take His yoke to minister Christ to others for the Body of Christ.

What a Yoke! What a Burden!

Learning from Christ: He is Meek and Lowly in Heart

How can we take Christ’s yoke upon us? We need to learn this from Christ – He is meek and lowly in heart.

When the Lord Jesus was opposed, He did not resist but was rather gentle and meek. When others rejected Him, the Lord was not “holding to His self-esteem” but was rather lowly in heart, accepting God’s will.

The Lord Jesus submitted Himself to the will of the Father, not wanting to do anything for Himself or expecting to gain something for Himself.

When we take God’s will and allow God to limit us and constrain us with His will, we will have peace, rest, and satisfaction, and we will not desire to gain anything for ourselves but rather will give God all the glory.

We need to understand what the will of the Lord is – to be filled in spirit and overflow with Him (Eph. 5:17-18). When we come to the Lord and are filled with Him, we can join Him in His unique work in His recovery.

He wants to be one with us and to make us one with Him so that we would work together with Him by positively toiling for His economy. We just need to eat Christ, be filled with Him, and then we will be one with Him in toiling for God’s economy – which is a pleasure!

So many times we need to be saved from doing something in, of, or for ourselves and come to the Lord to enter into His rest, so that we may work together with Him!

Lord, we are here for Your economy, for Your dispensing! We just come to You, Lord, with all our toils and labors. We want to find rest in You and enjoy You until we are filled with You. Save us from doing things for You in ourselves and of ourselves. May we learn from You, Lord, to be meek and lowly in heart, that we may not resist opposition or have a high self-esteem… Lord, keep us coming to You!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from brother Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message and portions in, Life-study of Matthew (msg. 31), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Unique Work in the Lord’s Recovery, week 6 (entitled, Keeping the Principle of the Sabbath in Relation to the Work of Building).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # But God hath promised strength for the day, / Rest for the labor, light for the way, / Grace for the trials, help from above, / Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
  # Rest, rest thee, weary heart, / Let toil and anguish cease; / Take from Thy Savior’s hands / Thine heritage of peace.
  # ’Tis not a movement borne of man, / But by His power moving; / ’Tis not the deeds done outwardly, / But inward action proving. / ’Tis not the work of enterprise, / But ‘tis His life confessing; / ’Tis not to toil for our success, / But ‘tis Himself expressing.
• Pictures credit: created and edited by friends on Facebook.