Now there’s a controversial title. Though I must apologise, if you’re single and eager to discover my insights, you’ll be sorely disappointed. The unequal yoking I want to talk about is the invitation Jesus gives us to yoke to Him. Little ole’ me partnered with the Son of God - I’d call that unequal.
The metaphor of becoming yoked to Jesus is found in the last paragraph of Matthew 11, and it’s often seen as a stand-alone passage addressing the weary and burdened. In our Western culture we probably over identify with this invitation to rest. A closer inspection shows this is not an invitation to take timeout. Jesus is using an agricultural metaphor relating to work. He is inviting us to change the way we work, our approach to work and in the process find rest for our souls – that’s our inner being: our thoughts, feelings and decisions.
The true context of this beautiful paragraph starts back in Matthew 11:25, where Jesus gives out a spontaneous yelp of praise. Have you ever done that? Do you suffer from a type of spiritual Tourette’s? I know I do, the random realisation of a Bible truth, or simply a reminder of God’s goodness and – BAM! An audible sound is loosed, hopefully intelligent, though often not, basically an unintentional yelp of praise. In Matthew 11, Jesus is thinking how previously hidden things about God are being made known, and not through endless study, but by the will of the Son, revealing the Father. It’s wonderful to behold – Praise God!
From the book of Proverbs, we know that wisdom is to be highly exalted, treasured and pursued. However, there is a difference between inspired wisdom and academic knowledge, and over time the Pharisaical elite started to morph spiritual wisdom into increased religiosity and ritual. The expectations of such a pious lifestyle became way beyond the reach of your typical Josephine Bloggs. Therefore, to keep up with the ever-expanding detailed regulations of first century Judaism, honest God-fearing folk could easily become weary and burdened in their pursuit of God. In this context Jesus offers His invitation,
Come to Me and find rest for your soul.
It’s a great offer, though I suggest there’s more here than a solution to either spiritual or even physical weariness. The farming illustration of yoked animals often involved a pair of oxen. Where a younger and less experienced beast would be harnessed to the more mature animal. I believe, this invitation to yoke to Jesus is actually a key Kingdom principle. So, take your time and read the next sentence slowly. The extraordinary of God, chooses to link to our obedient humanity, in order that His manifestations produce effective fruit. If you want to, you can read that again. I’m not convinced I’ve got all the words right yet, but it’s getting there. Consider a Bible example, the events recorded in Acts 2. What would have
happened if Simon Peter had not got up and preached? The extraordinary of God would have still manifest: the sound of a mighty wind, the tongues of fire and the multiplication of languages, but would thousands have been saved?
I’m thinking that God’s strategy is for His extraordinary to yoke to our simple obedience for the effective release of power ministry. As often is the case, the outworking of a Kingdom principle is rarely ‘either or’ but generally ‘both and’. We need prophetic power evangelism in partnership with our outreach programmes. The power encounters of prayer ministry harnessed to our latest approach in pastoral care. This is not about being unprepared or naively overly reliant upon God; but preparing in an alternative way, yoking to Jesus, that links our human ability to minister with the extraordinary of God. Please church, listen up, we’re desperate for this!
Let me clarify, we still need skilled, talented and gifted ministries. Yet we also need to deliberately choose to harness to the extraordinary of God. For all the musicianship a skilled worship leader might have, they still need to be ‘gentle and humble’ (Matthew 11:29) to be open to the unpredictable anointing of an extraordinary God. So too, the skilled Bible teacher and the creative evangelist. We all need to learn to yoke to Jesus for our personal striving (or pride) to cease, in order for His glorious presence to envelope and enhance our abilities.
Jesus must have known this Himself; the weird yoking sensation of being fully God and fully human. It was God’s plan, that the Father would be made known to us by seeing the Son in action (John 14).
Here’s a simple example from my own ministry. For over twenty years now, if asked to lead a church weekend, be the guest speaker at a weeklong conference or facilitate a retreat day, I would only prepare approximately 60% of the material needed. I wasn’t under-prepared, I was (hopefully) spiritually prepared to follow God’s lead in the ‘now moment’. A professional educator may at times prepare most of their sessions, then after a brief Q&A the students, shape the final session linked to the questions raised. I’m doing almost the same, but with a spiritual twist. I may well be listening to conversations at the breakfast table or in the coffee breaks, but mainly I’m discerning stuff within the room. I note the work of the Holy Spirit (especially in times of worship), and even that of the Enemy as both may manifest in the body language of some delegates. These revelations will then start to shape both the content and my approach to future sessions. I long to see the extraordinary of God. I love it when people get slain in the Spirit. The shaking of bodies and the often weird sounds that accompany those touched by His presence. It’s not shallow, it’s the extraordinary of God. But! And I need to be careful here – this is not about quenching the Spirit or trying to control God, but wisely and intentionally learning to spiritually facilitate the presence of God within a room, where some people might be struggling with personal doubts, fears, cynicism, even questions about the biblical authenticity of what is being loosed. The reality is, sometimes someone needs to get up and say, ‘These people are not drunk…’ , and then very briefly find the words to help the more hesitant to engage with the breadth of healing that God is so often bringing.
Therefore, as a leader, learn to yoke to Jesus. As a worship leader, sing less songs, but sing more of what God wants to sow into the gathering. As a preacher, discern the need to stop and create more time for a response – perhaps this is my biggest regret in public ministry, never giving God enough space, how many times have I been guilty of grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit?
We need to learn to ‘read the room’ in order to discern the activity in the spiritual realm. For many this will be a fresh discipline, but I’m convinced it’s linked to learning to yoke to Jesus, in order to be open to the extraordinary of God by creating spaces where miracles can happen. Life’s too short to neglect this. Don’t weary and burden the congregation with crowded services of information content or even brilliant songs that sadly have no true personal grounding or authenticity in the present context. Stop doing the expected! Launch the spiritual, take the risk, yoke to Jesus and have a blast.
Let’s end with a positive story. Once as I was just about to start an evening service, a respected intercessor grabbed my arm and whispered the words, “Simon, there’s salvation in the house tonight, preach the Gospel.” I couldn’t just weave it in seamlessly, so without apology, I took three minutes to remind the congregation of the Good News of Jesus – two people gave their lives to the Lord that night.
As someone else prophetically said, ‘It’s time to give God back His church.’
Amen to that – let’s yoke to Jesus.
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