"True yoke-fellow!" So did the Apostle Paul describe one who was a co-worker with him. A higher recommendation is hardly possible to conceive, for Paul was a worker for God of the most earnest and self-sacrificing order. He stands before us in the New Testament as a pattern for us to follow. A true yoke-fellow, with such a servant of the Master as Paul was, must have had a spirit and an obedience to Christ like the Apostle had.
The yoke makes it necessary that one will and one spirit should govern the two who are under it. There would be no effective work performed by the oxen if one were to pull one way and the other another! In the case of the oxen, the mind and will of the man who guides enforces obedience, but in our case we know full well that our own will too often asserts itself so that our labor goes for nothing.
Our Lord says to us, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me." What is His yoke? Obedience to His Father, we may surely say. All His course on earth was perfect submission to, and perfect carrying out of, the Father's will. He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him. And in this obedience our Lord, as a Man, found rest and peace. And now He bids us take His yoke upon us, and to learn of Him. He tells us that in so doing we shall find rest to our souls. Rest to the soul, then, follows taking Christ's yoke upon us and learning of Him, even as rest from the burden of sin follows coming to Him, heavy laden as we are, when needing pardon and peace.
Everyone who has really come to Jesus has been received by Him, and all such may have rest of soul. But there is a condition attached to the obtaining of rest of soul, and that is taking the yoke upon us. This rest is consequent on our obedience to the Lord and His Father.
If Christ's yoke is on us, we shall walk where He would have us, and do the things which please Him. Our will and our mind will be under His.
When we see the oxen under the yoke we know they are there by constraint, but the Lord says to us, "Take My yoke upon you." We are called to surrender ourselves to the position of subjection to Him. When this surrendering of ourselves to Him is not made, rest of soul is lacking.
“My yoke is easy," says the Lord. It is gentle and it is good, as all who wear it prove, for the more truly a Christian is subject to Christ, the more truly peaceful and happy he is. And what is a greater blessing on this earth for a Christian than having rest to his soul? A calm and holy peace, a satisfied and restful state is a treasure indeed, beyond all price.
“My burden is light," adds our Lord. Heavy was the burden of our sins which He took away; light is the burden of obedience His love lays on us. He bore our burden on the cross, and when so doing was forsaken of God. He bids us take His burden on us to find in so doing His most gracious presence and companionship.
Perhaps we should have spoken of the true yoke-fellow of the Apostle after speaking of the taking upon us of Christ's yoke, for this is at the foundation of all our practical life. Working for God should follow rest of soul. Indeed, our work at the best will only be mistaken service if our souls are not at rest.
The yoke implies walking together and working together. What force, then, lies in the solemn exhortation, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Such a condition is utterly false to Christianity. In the old days God would not allow an ox and an ass to be yoked together in the plow. He regarded it as unseemly. How unseemly is the sight of Christians and the world walking together! The end always is that the strong world drags over the weak Christian to its side! So it is in working together, the world will gain its way and the simplicity of Christian purpose will be pushed out. We see the effect of the unequal yoke on every side in Christendom, for in various parts of the field the world has it all its own way. The name of Christian is kept, but the spirit of the Christian is not to be seen. The unequal yoke is one great cause of the worldliness of Christian communities.
If we desire to walk with Christ and to work for Christ, let us remember that two cannot walk together unless they be agreed. Christ will never agree with the world, and if we would take His yoke upon us, we must not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Young Christian