Beth-El Baptist Church

01/20/2008

Greg Tomlinson


How do you reconcile taking on Jesus' yoke with His promise of tribulation?


There is great difficulty by some in trying to understand how a Christian will have troubles and tribulation in this life while he is called to take up the yoke of Jesus which is easy. It is often thought that since Jesus' yoke is light that when you come to Jesus then life should be very easy without great difficulties. Isn't this a contradiction?


  1. Where does the scriptures talk about having an easy burden?

Matthew 11:28-30


Jesus calls those who are carrying heavy burdens to come to Him for rest and comfort. Note that Jesus says that we we take His yoke, that we are to learn from Him. The idea of a yoke is that which binds two together so as to be inseparable and so each bears his part of the burden. When we take His yoke upon ourselves, we are joining Him to carry His burden. Since the task is to 'learn', we are not expected to carry the burden but to learn to carry the burden. As we join Jesus in His burden, it is a light load.


  1. What is the burden that men will carry?

Matthew 23:1-5 Luke 11:46

Galatians 6:1-6 Job 7:20-21

Psalm 38:4-6


There are two types of burdens that men carry. There is the burden of trying to do all of the right things in order to please God, but you cannot succeed (Isaiah 64:6) since being right in the eyes of God requires perfect obedience in all ways and in all things. The second burden that men carry is the burden of the knowledge of great sin. The individual who knows of the burden of their own sin and that they cannot bear that burden, they come to Jesus seeking help for He is the only one that can bear them.


  1. What can believing men expect to encounter in this life?

John 16:33 Matthew 10:21-23; 24:9-13

Mark 13:12-13 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5

2 Timothy 2:3-5; 4:5-7 James 5:10-11


The scriptures clearly identify the reality of difficulties in this life. Life will be filled with trials and tribulations that will make life difficult. Many will even lose their life as a result of the difficulties. As a believer, the suffering will be the direct result of being a follower of Jesus Christ. In many countries throughout the world people are put to death simple because they believe and proclaim that Jesus is their Lord, savior, and God. This is what is to be expected in life.


  1. What is the purpose of the tribulations and difficulties of this life?

Hebrews 12:7-8 Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16

Judges 2:21-23; 3:1-4 John 6:5-6

Romans 12:1-2 1 Corinthians 10:13

Matthew 13:20-22 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

2 Corinthians 7:4-6 James 1:2-4


Difficulties can be found in this life in order discipline a disobedient child and to test the sincerity of the individual. When God's children disobey Him, he often sends tribulations in order to catch the child's attention so that they might repent and turn back to God. Tribulations don't always come as the result of direct disobedience (Job) but they often come to test or evaluate a believers desire to remain steadfast in the faith despite what comes into their life.


  1. Given that life will be full of difficulties, how can Jesus say that His yoke is easy and His burden is light?

Isaiah 64:4 1 Corinthians 2:9-10

Colossians 3:1-4 Romans 5:3-5

1 Peter 1:6-9 2 Peter 2:9

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:2


There are several reasons that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Of great importance is that it is Jesus who carries the load, we are just learning from the master how to carry our own load. The difficulties that we go through are nothing in comparison to what awaits us in the heavenly. They are but light affliction and they draw us to a position of more earnestly desiring the eternal things of God.


Summary:


The yoke of Jesus really is light for us since it is Jesus who carries the load and teaches us how to bear up under the load that He has given us. When the heavenly reality is kept in proper focus, the difficulties of this life no longer seem as great burdens but they serve as reminders that this is not our home. We are only here temporarily until Jesus calls us into His eternal presence. The difficulties of this world then simply act to draw us closer and expectantly wait all the more for Him.