There are several applications for the biblical concept of yoke. The one I want to talk about now is different than the one you read about in the Kingdom Training Grounds (see post below). If you think in terms of that yoke when you read this one, you will get confused. Single truths have multiple applications, and most Christians are aware that this understanding opens them up to the multi-faceted (and multi-dimensional) benefits of each truth. It is often a godly understanding of the appropriate application of a truth that sets us free. So let’s switch gears and talk about an application of the yoke which is common to many of us every day.
In order to function in society we often find ourselves “walking in the yoke” with others. This occurs in our everyday relationships at work, for example, where we might be “teamed up” with someone, or with several “someones.” Husbands and wives walk in a closer yoke with each other by virtue of their covenant together. Church members walk in the yoke with other Christians in close knit ways to accomplish kingdom tasks like missions, evangelism, pastoral care, eldership rule, Sunday School ministry, administrative duties, or diaconate service, to name a few. The list is endless.
My question to you is how is that going for you? Are you holding up OK, or is it becoming a grind at work, or at church, or at home? There is another more important question that I really want to ask. How is it for the other guy(s) in the yoke with you? Have you asked yourself (or better yet them) how they are doing? What is like for them to be hitched up with you? Any Christian who can step outside themselves enough to ask that question has just ventured into the hallowed grounds of sincere Christianity. They have begun moving forward in their walk with Jesus. This is at least part of what Jesus meant when He said, “Whoever wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). This concept is supposed to be a universal quality of sincere Christianity. If you are concerned about how the other person is in the yoke with you, it means there is a “self denial” dimension in your life that Jesus requires of all true faith in Him. If you have not thought about how things are going for others on the team, then it means you are probably more concerned with how good it is, or how bad it is, for you. That mentality smells of “self-life.” It’s the opposite of “self-denial.” The self-life is the way of lawlessness; self-denial is what I mean whenever I talk about a covenant mentality. The first is sowing to your flesh, making it ripped and glistening, resulting in corruption, of course; the other is sowing to the Spirit, which reaps eternal life with incredible abundance (after the pain of course).
Romans 8:13b says “if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” That, my friends, is the all important context to the next verse we all know so well that says, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). Your ability to live in sonship is determined by your ability to follow the Holy Spirit’s leadings in denying yourself in the ways He chooses. I don’t mean the ways we choose to deny ourselves (that’s religion); I am talking about having enough integrity to hear how God is leading us to deny ourselves, our flesh, our rights, our preferences, and our wishes, for the sake of the others in the yoke with us, or for the sake of others in the faith, or for the sake of those in the world around you. I’m talking about the “there’s no ‘I’ in team” thing. Kingdom sonship by its very nature requires “other orientation;” that is, an emphasis on the “one anothers,” you know, love one another, serve one another, prefer one another, encourage one another, etc. etc. etc. All those commands we constantly read about. The way of the world is to present yourself, to stand up for yourself, to flaunt your touchdown, and taunt your opponent. The world convinces itself that you cannot be competitive without it. You won’t have that “killer instinct” you need to be a champion. Hogwash, acting depraved after the fact, or even during it, does not ratchet up your talent level one iota. Jesus is the One Who equips us to be highly talented, totally focused, and incredibly godly at the same time. A godly mentality focuses on what is best for the team; a fleshly mentality focuses on how things impact me.
When your local church launches a new offensive in helping the poor, in evangelism, or in discipleship, or in whatever emphasis God is leading them, how are you responding? Do you react based how things are affecting you? Are you peeved that something is going to change that will inconvenience you, or deprive you, so initially you are resistant? That, my friends, is the self-life raising its hairy head. That is actually how some church splits emerge. One group cannot get past how the changes will affect them, while the other group is not only willing but eager to deny themselves because they want to go wherever God wants. In that case, when the ones who are willing to die to themselves continue with God, and those who refuse to deny themselves stay put, who is causing the church to split? Believe me, regardless of how the circumstance might make things appear, the ones who are not looking up (but at their navels) are really causing the split.
Yes, there are times when changes churches make adversely affect a valid principle of God’s kingdom. In other words, something God wants is being sacrificed to accommodate what people prefer. That too is the self-life, but in that case, the error is by leadership.
So what is the answer? It is to get our eyes off ourselves and onto the interests of God and others. Sometimes that is as simple as realizing you are the rub at work. You might even be right in what you are championing, but you are wrong in how you are doing it. In the name of the King you have become a royal pain! This too is the self-life.
Is your spouse aggravated with you? Learn how to walk in the yoke by being quick to examine yourself through their eyes to see what is bothering them about you. That is taking the log out of your own eye before you take the speck out of theirs (Matthew 7:3) Deal with what God considers the big thing (your sin issue) before you get all hyped up about what God considers the little thing for you (their sin issue). God is the One who teaches us to learn how to walk in the yoke with others. Our job is to humble ourselves by learning how to stop chaffing everybody by rubbing sores on their shoulders with our behavior.
I guess what I am saying is, if Jesus were to meet you walking down the aisle in a store, He might not ask how you are doing? He might ask how the folks are in the yoke with you? If you think about it, isn’t that what Jesus was asking Peter, “Peter, do you love me? Then feed My sheep!” Jesus was saying that if your love for Me is sincere, you will make sure the others are OK. I think it took Peter a while to get that. I know that is true of us. But don't worry, if Jesus has to, He will keep repeating it, just like He did for Peter.
