Several years ago I turned the key and started the ignition in my car so I could go to work. After I did, I tried to turn the steering wheel and noticed something was wrong. The steering wheel wasn’t turning easy; in fact, it was really difficult to turn. I could barely even back up and get out of my parking space! As I kept going I realized there was no way I would be able to make it to work safely so I called AAA and got my car towed. When the mechanic looked at it, he told me, “Your power steering isn’t working.” Several hundred dollars later he fixed my power steering and I was able to drive easily again.
I was thinking about that this week as I was preparing a message and thought, “Many people do the Christian life without the help of the Jesus. That’s like driving without power steering. You can do it, but man it is hard, and there is definitely a better way.” Look at Matthew 11:28-30:
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
In this passage, Jesus tells those who are weary to come to Him. If you’ve ever tried to live the Christian life in your own strength, you know what this feels like. Nothing is harder than trying to love your neighbor or walk in holiness in your strength instead of Jesus’s.
In verse 29, Jesus then tells us to take His yoke upon us and He will teach us how to work. Unless you have grown up in an agricultural society, a lot of this verse will go over your head so let me explain.
In Jesus’s day, farmers would yoke oxen together so they could plow their fields. A yoke was a wooden frame that fit over the heads of the two oxen and joined them together. They would then take a strong, experienced ox and yoke him with a younger, novice ox in order to train the ox. The stronger, experienced ox is a picture of Jesus. He does the heavy lifting and He is the one who teaches us how to do the Christian life as we pull with Him.
This means in the Christian life there is a work we are to do, but we we aren’t supposed to do it in our strength or our natural knowledge. We are called to work in the strength of Jesus and depend on His wisdom and insight to live our lives. The Apostle Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:10:
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Paul worked very hard, but not in his own natural strength. He worked by the power of the grace of God that was with him, which is the strength of Jesus. Paul is the perfect example of having to trust in and depend on Jesus because all his natural training under the Old Testament law did him no good when he gave his life to Christ.
Jesus, taught him, however, that the purpose of the law was to bring him to Christ according (Galatians 3:24) also He also gave Paul the revelation of the New Covenant. This meant in part that instead of Paul having to go to a temple to worship to gain a measure of God’s favor and power, Paul was now the temple of the Holy Spirit that overflowed with God’s favor and power at all times!
These are just a few of the revelations Jesus gave Paul as he became yoked to Jesus. Jesus also empowered Paul to share the gospel with the gentiles and see great revivals and outpourings of God’s spirit. How did that happen? How did God take a sophisticated, Jewish Pharisee and turn him into a man who successfully reached heathen with whom he had nothing in common?
That’s the beauty of power steering. If Paul would have tried to come up with deep revelations about God apart from his relationship with Christ or if he would have tried to minister to gentiles in his strength by preaching the Old Testament law, he would have worn himself out and not accomplished very much. Paul depended on Jesus, however, so Jesus taught and strengthened Paul to do the impossible!
Just like Paul, Jesus wants you to do the impossible. He just doesn’t want you doing it in your strength. He’s inviting you today to come to Him so He can put His yoke on you and do the heavy lifting. He’ll teach you everything you need to know and the work you do will almost be effortless. Look at Matthew 11:28-30 in the Message translation:
28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
How awesome is that? That is the beauty of power steering!
If you’d like to learn more, check out the last 20 minutes of this message I recently taught at Grace Life Church.
