Week 23 The Author of Calm
The calm comes after the storm and we should not forget who stood beside us in our hardship
“Take Christ in with you under your yoke, and let patience have her perfect work.”
Samuel Rutherford
Passage
28“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29“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.
30“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28–30 (NASB95)
Background
Quote- Samuel Rutherford (also Rutherfurd or Rutherfoord; c. 1600 – 29 March 1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theologian and one of the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly. Samuel Rutherford was born in the parish of Nisbet (now part of Crailing), Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders, about 1600. Nothing certain is known as to his parentage, but he belonged to the same line as the Roxburghs of Hunthill (from whom Sir Walter Scott was descended) and his father is believed to have been a farmer or miller.
One of the classical figures of the Church of Scotland, Rutherford's influence during his lifetime, as scholar, preacher, and writer, was profound and wide, and after his death his name received a popular canonization which it retains to this day. Some forty editions of his Letters have been reprinted, and innumerable anecdotes of his sayings and doings are enshrined in the Scottish tradition. Among his last words were: "Glory shines in Immanuel's Land," on which Mrs Anne Boss Cousin founded her hymn, "The Sands of Time are sinking."
Passage- The book of Matthew is a Gospel that contains Narrative History, Genealogy, Parables, Sermons, and some Prophetic Oracles. It was written by Matthew (Levi), the Disciple of Christ around 48-50 A.D. The key word in Matthew is "Kingdom" and is used 28 times.
The personalities of this book include the Messiah Jesus Christ, His parents Mary and Joseph, the Twelve Disciples, the prophet John the Baptist, and other kinds of leaders. These leaders include those in government like Pilate and religious leaders such as the Pharisees (who attempt to hinder the work of Jesus).
The book of Matthew is the first of the synoptic gospels and it was written to reveal the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, the King of the Jews, from the line of David. It also was written to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was indeed their long-awaited Messiah.
Opening Statement
4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4–7 (NASB95)
Ask: Where do our burdens come from?
Point: Other people because if they were things we gave ourselves we would want to do them.
Ask: Do we “assign burdens” to other people and is that good or bad?
Point: Yes, we do, and it can be good or bad. Please read the following:
46But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
47“Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.
48“So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.
Luke 11:46–48 (NASB95)
Ask: That is Jesus talking to the Pharisees. Does that have bearing on our lives today? How did our fathers “kill the prophets” and we built their tombs?
Point: Consider who the Pharisees were and how they taught the Law of God. If we make the Law our path to Heaven instead of Jesus, we “weigh men down” and “build the tombs of the prophets.”
Ask: How do we avoid falling into the same old patterns and footsteps of the Pharisees of Jesus’ time?
Point: Re-read verse 28 of Today’s Passage:
28“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 (NASB95)
Ask: How do we “Come to me” as Jesus said?
Point: Please read the following:
37Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
John 7:37–38 (NASB95)
Ask: How are we “thirsty?” What does it mean to be “thirsty?”
Point: It means we have a need that must be filled. Please see the Definitions page.
Ask: What does being thirsty have to do with taking the yoke of Jesus?
Point: A yoke requires two animals to pull a cart. We are already “yoked” with something. If it isn’t Jesus, what is it?
Ask: How do we then take His yoke?
Point: Please read the following:
29Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;
30and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31“The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:29–31 (NASB95)
Deut 6:4-5; Leviticus 19:18
Ask: Does verse thirty-one mean the other commandments can be ignored?
Point: No. It means the other commandments follow after this. Please read the following:
16“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
17“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
18“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
19“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:16–19 (NASB95)
Ask: Am I then supposed to wag my finger at people doing what God says are bad things? Is that “loving my neighbor?”
Point: We are to work within our gifts as led by the Holy Spirit, but all our actions should be to the Glory of God and not the burden of Men. Please read the following:
33“He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true.
34“For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.
35“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.
36“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 3:33–36 (NASB95)
Closing Statement
The burden of Jesus is easy when we decide to accept the truth that God is real, that He is above all things, and that He is the author of a moral right and wrong. We have His decisions of what good and bad look like. We read those words through the voice of the Holy Spirit within our hearts and take direction from Jesus through God’s Word by the voice of the Holy Spirit. The things those words tell us to do become “light burdens” because we know they come from the Author of truth, the Lord. Our actions then reflect that truth to the world around us as we bear fruit for His Kingdom to His Glory, and we no longer place burdens on other people. Instead, we help them carry their burdens.
Questions for the Week
Question 1 Please read the two verses titled “Taking Up the Yoke of Chris” at the end of the lesson.
Question 2 Consider those two passages with the idea that we are task masters to those around us laying burdens upon them, or deciding not to give them work.
Question 3 Re-read Luke 11:46-48 at the beginning of the lesson and consider how we lay burdens on others that we refuse to touch.
Question 4 Consider the quote for the lesson, and contemplate how Jesus as a partner in your labors works with patience to produce “perfect work.”
Question 5 Write as much or as little as you are led to write in your journal about what your “perfect work” looks like when yoked with Jesus.
Definitions
Thirsty
thur-stee
adjective
thirst·i·er, thirst·i·est.
1. feeling or having thirst; craving liquid.
2. needing moisture, as land; parched; dry or arid:
the thirsty soil.
3. eagerly desirous; eager:
thirsty for news.
4. causing thirst:
Digging is thirsty work.
Taking Up the Yoke of Christ
3“O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
5“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
7“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 6:3–7 (NASB95)
13‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.
14‘You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.
15‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
16‘You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the Lord.
17‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.
18‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
19‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.
Leviticus 19:13–19 (NASB95)