334 open THE EASY YOKE Responsive reading insert 618 close Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 11:29-30..... Now this certainly has its appeal to the blue-light special, bargain basement, cheap grace type of Christianity taught today. Something easy! But is this how you find your Christian life? Do you believe this to be true? Have you found the yoke of Jesus to be easy and light? The Bible also says, "His commands are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3). Have you found this to be true? Or are the commands of Jesus sometimes a bother? Have you not found that there is also, at times, some distance between what you know you should do, and what you're actually doing? Haven't we all struggled and become frustrated in trying to do and be the Christian we know we should be, but somehow don't have the strength to pull it off? Could it be that we reveal, perhaps a subconscious disbelief in the Lord's promises and power and plan for our lives when making excuses for our failings--saying things like, "I'm only human"--or "Nobody's perfect"? We attend the services of the church, give time and money, pray study the Bible, and witness--and yet make so little progress of "growing in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18). It's not a question of willingness or sincerity--but perhaps these things alone are not enough to accomplish what we know Biblically to be possible--and what we deeply desire. Remember when nine of the disciples together didn't have enough faith for God to work a miracle? Peter, James, and John had gone with Jesus up to the Mount of Olives and were privileged to witness the transfiguration. The next morning they come down to find a great multitude around the nine disciples, with a lot of commotion. Now Jesus had already given them authority over the demons to cast them out, but here was one that defied the disciples and left them helpless. After Jesus solved the problem, and the disciples could privately ask Him, they said, "Why could we not cast him out?" Jesus answered, "This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." It may not be a true story, but it's told of Thomas Aquinas and a friend who were walking together in Rome. The friend said, "We Christians no longer have to say to the world, 'Silver and gold have we none.'" To this Aquinas replied, "But neither can we say to the lame man, 'In the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk.'" What's missing--and can it be changed? I'm bothered by the trend today to disunite the Church by labeling people as the radical right, the far left (which are relative terms depending on their relationship to the other one, and with whatever may be between--which may not be the ideal or true center)--of conservatives and liberals--of perfectionists and gospel believers.. Not only does it dehumanize people (like people or governments or religions which approve or participate in violating basic human rights because someone is a Marxist, communist, or Christian)--but people are defining themselves by more of what they are not than by what they are. And regardless of my belief, what the world needs to see is Jesus in me. Hasn't it ever puzzled you how some people who have professed Christianity for half a century or more could be so consistently un-Christlike? And have you ever wondered why we take such notice of people of great faith as if they are an exception to the rule--that this is not normative Christian life? Does this not expose the disbelief of the church in its own teachings--that the call to discipleship--that to become like Jesus is an ideal and not a possibility? Are you not tired of bumper stickers that lower redemption to the level of, "Christians aren't perfect, only forgiven," or is this your comfort zone? For although it's true, redemption is more than just being forgiven--more than mentally agreeing to correct doctrine--more than just being able to say, "I've been saved." Is life to be one long chain of sinning and forgiveness, sinning--forgiveness--sinning--forgiveness--sinning--forgiveness. struggling along until we die. Are you satisfied with that? The Cross is the power of God unto salvation--to save His people from their sins! To focus on salvation as primarily the forgiveness of our sin, is to eventually debate about the type of death Jesus died, and the type of atonement accomplished on the Cross (substitutionary, appeasement...), and what effect it has on us now today (the degree of Christian growth possible or the method of its attainment). The Cross of Christ is more than an event that makes forgiveness of sin possible for us. The Cross was where the life of Christ was fully displayed and triumphant in breaking the power of sin! (Rom. 5:9,10). It was the resurrection of Jesus, not His death alone, that proved the truth of what He said about His Kingdom. The fact that when we die, we won't stay dead but will live again, is powerful good news. This is what motivated the witness of the early Christian believers--if Christ be not risen, we all would hope in vain. The comprehensive New Testament word for salvation is "life." Jesus says in John 10:10, "I am come that they might have life and that they may have it more abundantly." In 1 John 5:12 it says, "He that hath the Son hath life." Ephesians 2:5 says, "Even when we were dead through our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ." To be saved means that you are "delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His (God's) dear Son" (Col. 1:13). In Christ, you are a new creature. Suppose you purchase and plant a cherry tree. You take care of it for a few years, and finally it bears cherries. With great anticipation, you go out to pick the cherries only to discover that they are sour--and you don't like sour cherries. So you throw all the cherries on the compost pile, and make plans to have sweet cherries next year. You go to the grocery and buy 50 pounds of sugar. Once home, you dig a trench around the tree and fill it with sugar. Will it help? I don't know--perhaps the cherries will be sweeter than they were the year before--but they will still be sour cherries. The problem is not the cherries--the problem is the root. God can forgive you for what you do (sour cherries), but He can't forgive you for what you are (sinner) except for the Cross. You must be grafted in to Christ. He condemned sin that the law of righteousness may be made manifest in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Christ did not die so you and I don't have to die. He died so we could die. We died IN HIM! And when we accept His death and life, we die and receive the life of Christ. Then we can say, "Not I, but Christ"--"To die, is gain!" The kingdom of Heaven is like a seed--planted in the heart--it grows and brings forth fruit from the life in the seed itself. Here should end the dilemma over the relationship of faith and works--works don't prove faith or create faith--they are simply a natural expression of faith. THIS LIFE YOU MAY HAVE--"God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has life" (1 Jn. 5:11-12). THERE IS POWER IN THIS LIFE--1 John 1:7-9, Rom. 5:1-2, 2 Pet. 1:4-11 --He will "save His people from their sins." Those who will love Christ's appearing will not be a group of well-meaning idealists. They will "be like Him, for they shall see Him as He is" (1 Jn. 3:2). How can this possible? Can it happen for you? YES! Today is the first of a series in which we will study how to TAKE CHRIST'S YOKE AND LEARN OF HIM HOW YOUR SOUL CAN BE AT REST--HOW HIS YOKE IS EASY AND HIS BURDEN LIGHT. In the next few weeks, I would like for you to think about what it means to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." To seek this will require discipline. There are no short-cuts to sainthood. And to seek first His kingdom and righteousness may require changes in your life. You will have to count the cost. But there is also a cost of non-discipleship as well. And it costs you more to go to hell than it does for you to come to Heaven. Proverbs 13:25 says that the way of the transgressor is hard. Jesus says His way is easy. Your choice should also be easy. (Much of the thought/ideas of this sermon comes from Dallas Willard's book, The Spirit of the Disciplines.)