Encouragements for our troubled times No. 58
COVID-19 Series | Date: 29 April 2021
The Elders and Deacons want to encourage the members and those who regularly meet with us through this weekly letter. If you have news which you would be happy to share with the fellowship or request for prayer, then please let us know.
A message from our Pastor
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
These verses are first and foremost gospel verses. Here the Saviour is inviting, encouraging, and urging unbelievers to come to Him. All those who labour under sin and self-righteousness; and all those who are loaded down with guilt and shame and sorrow, are invited to come to Him and find rest from it all in Jesus. He will take the sin, the guilt and shame, the condemnation, upon Himself, and pay the price. Our load will be lifted off us and carried to the cross by our Saviour. And if anyone reading this is still unsaved let these verses be an encouragement to you to seek the Lord while He may be found and to call upon Him while He is near.
But these verses should not be limited by us to the gospel, for the Lord is still the same gentle and lowly Master to us now as He was when we first came to know Him. Let’s look then at these verses and see what encouragement they can give us.
Verse 28 Solomon reminds us that ‘all things are full of labour.’ And as Christians, we labour and are heavy laden in this world. We labour in our chosen profession, we labour in the Lord’s service, we are heavy laden under the troubles and trials of life, we feel laden down with grief and sorrows, and too often we feel the load of guilt pressing on our souls because we have fallen back into sin. For whatever reason we find ourselves weighed down and oppressed the Lord promises us that if we come to Him with them, we will find rest. He will lift all the troubles and fears off our shoulders and help us. He will comfort us in all our sorrows. He will take away all our guilt and shame with all our sins, far from us. And He will give our weary souls rest.
Verse 29 To be put under the yoke is to be under the oppressive rule of a demanding master. The Lord does not put us under His yoke, He will not do this because He is gentle and lowly in heart. Instead, He encourages us to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him. We are His servants but He does not make us serve Him. He wants us to serve Him willingly and out of love, not because we are made to. And when we do submit to Him and serve Him willingly; and when we humble ourselves under His instruction and learn from Him, we find rest for our souls. He helps us, cares for us, carries our load with us; teaching us, strengthening us, comforting us, and guiding us all the way.
Verse 30 Some masters can be oppressive, demanding their pound of flesh, and inflicting heavy burdens upon their subjects. But when we take His yoke upon us, we find that, far from being odious, it is easy. The Lord never asks anything of us that He knows would be too hard for us to bear with His strength and help. And when we take His burden upon us it will never crush us for, He will carry it with us. And when the burden is too much for us, He lifts the load of our backs. He is the best of Masters, and the kindest of Lords; His yoke is indeed easy and His burden so light.