Today we finish this message I began last week. Please refer to Unburdened (Part 1) to read the introduction and how people become so burdened. We begin today with the third place people turn to “unburden” themselves…
- We can go to God. Finally people get around to asking the only one Who can lift or carry our burdens and wants to do so. This is the one common denominator between people in the Bible who successfully dealt with their burdens: They turned to God (Father and Son)
Here the words of His promise through Isaiah,
“Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.” Isaiah 46:4
I wondered why God used two different words – bear and carry because they are similar. My study of the Hebrew words led to this conclusion: bear (nasa) has more of the meaning to lift up. Sabal means carry. Thus, we have a picture of God promising to both lift and carry our burdens throughout our lives even when we are old and graying!
The Invitation to All who heard Jesus teaching
“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Matthew 11: 28-30
Jesus says, “My yoke is easy.” The word easy in Greek is “chrestos”, which can mean well-fitting or manageable. In Palestine, the ox-yokes were made of wood and each ox was fitted with a yoke to make it more comfortable and easier for that ox to pull his load.
When training a new animal (such as an ox) to plow, ancient farmers often yoked it to an older, stronger, more experienced animal who bore the burden and guided the young animal through the learning process.
Jesus was using this analogy when He said we would yoke up with Him. “Learn from Me, he said. We would learn from Him by walking and working alongside Him. That would make the yoke easy and doing anything with Jesus would be considered “light” work, even if it looks difficult or heavy to the world.
The apostle closest to Jesus wrote this,
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5: 3
The Apostle Paul said this about our work with Jesus and any suffering that came with it,
“For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,”, 2 Corinthians 4: 17
So as Christians, we will never be completely unburdened this side of Heaven. We MUST remember what Peter told us (Isaiah said similar words)
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2: 24
When we are born-again in Christ, the total burden of our sin was been carried away by the blood of Jesus -His death and resurrection. God did not remove the burden of our sins that Jesus was forced to carry. That should have been you and me carrying that cross—brutally murdered for our guilt and shame, not Him!
Jesus carried His cross and told us to carry ours in obedience to His example and commands.
“And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9: 23
If we constantly feel like we are under the weight of the world and it is too difficult to bear – we cannot take another step – then we have to ask ourselves,
Are we yoked up with Jesus or still bearing under the weight of one of the many “yokes of this world?”
Finally, the spiritual burden all people carry is the weightiest of all—sin
To the those who have not received Jesus as Savior. He alone can remove that burden of sin. You must recognize you are a sinner in need of a Savior. That is why you are so burdened.
- “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3: 23
- “For the wages (weight) of sin is death.” Romans 6: 23
Come to Him humbly and confess your sin. He will forgive and receive you into His Kingdom.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
There you will find the rest and comfort you seek. Only then can you be unburdened for eternity! I could not find a better verse to close this message on burdens than these words of David:
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior who daily bears our burdens.” Psalm 68: 19
For Christ’s sake,
