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Why Are You Fighting the Yoke? (Matthew 11) · (Un) Common thoughts of Christ

• 0:00
  Bernard: The Lord Jesus used symbols to the people He was speaking to to bring forth a thought from His heart that you and I today can understand, appreciate and follow if our heart allows us.
• 0:12
  Bernard: One such symbol was a yoke of oxen which He describes for us in Matthew chapter 11.
• 0:18
  Bernard: There are 2 accounts following here showing what a new oxe tends to be being trained under the yoke for the first and second times.
• 0:27
  Bernard: The first account is from brother in the Lord Bob giving his recount of seeing this in Bolivia as he served there years ago.
• 0:36
  Bernard: The second account is from an older animal veternarian who shares what he saw when he was a young veternarian starting his practice working with an older farmer who liked to still use a yoke of oxen.
• 0:48
  Bernard: And here is Bob recounting the story from Bolivia many years ago.
• 0:53
  Mark: And I like to go back and thinking of this to Matthew chapter 11, where the Lord Jesus says,"Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me where I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls." I think that's so beautiful.
• 1:09
  Mark: Don't know if any of you have ever seen a yoke of oxen that the Lord Jesus speaks about the yoke?
• 1:15
  Mark: But in Bolivia, they still use yokes of oxen.
• 1:20
  Mark: One day I had the interesting experience.
• 1:23
  Mark: We were going through the little towns we came up on this fair in this particular town, and there on the edge of the fair there were training a new ox for the yoke.
• 1:34
  Mark: And I'd never seen it before, but they put an old ox on one side that is used to the yoke and then they put a new ox on the other side.
• 1:42
  Mark: And they just let it go.
• 1:45
  Mark: And that new ox charges forward, backs up- shakes his head.
• 1:50
  Mark: Poor old ox just suffers it all.
• 1:54
  Mark: And that went on for close to half an hour, and finally that new ox just got so tired that he finally just bows his head and accepts the yoke.
• 2:04
  Mark: I looked at that, I said,"Lord Jesus, I must give You so much suffering the way I shake my head and don't wanna accept what it means to be in the yoke with You." But that's where you're gonna learn true meekness and lowliness.
• 2:20
  Mark: Somebody has said meekness is not taking offense, loneliness is not giving offense.
• 2:26
  Mark: But they are to be learned as the Lord Jesus.
• 2:28
  Mark: He's the only one that has all lowliness and meekness.
• 2:31
  Mark: Think of it, the Creator of the universe- the God who made it all meek and lowly and heart.
• 2:39
  Bernard: And now here is the older veternarian sharing his account with handling the young ox on this farmers homestead.
• 2:47
  Mark: I wanna share with you an experience that shaped my life that happened to me as a young veterinarian.
• 2:54
  Mark: I had, I only been out of veterinary school a year or so.
• 2:57
  Mark: I started visiting a client named Mr.
• 3:00
  Mark: Lamitz.
• 3:01
  Mark: He was raised in the early 1900's.
• 3:04
  Mark: And he had continued as part of a hobby on his farm- farming with a yoke of oxen.
• 3:12
  Mark: He enjoyed the oxen, he enjoyed the training.
• 3:15
  Mark: He enjoyed the raising and nurturing.
• 3:20
  Mark: And he'd have me out occasionally to work on those oxen and his other animals.
• 3:25
  Mark: The first time I met with him, he had called me out to work on a young ox that he had just begin breaking to the yoke.
• 3:32
  Mark: Now, for you who don't understand what an ox is a a steer that has been allowed to grow to full height without being sent to slaughter.
• 3:43
  Mark: Some of these animals are massive.
• 3:48
  Mark: He would take them when they're about a year or two old and begin breaking them.
• 3:51
  Mark: And the way he did that was he kept an old ox named Clyde.
• 3:56
  Mark: Clyde was about 10 years old and had been around with him for many years.
• 4:01
  Mark: Clyde was steady and reliable.
• 4:04
  Mark: He never fought the yoke.
• 4:06
  Mark: He settled in and went to work.
• 4:10
  Mark: And the way he would break these young oxen is he would put them under the yolk and Clyde would take them with him, literally drag them around the field- teaching them how to pull.
• 4:21
  Mark: How to settle in under the yoke; how to be efficient and how to be a good farm animal.
• 4:29
  Mark: On occasion, Mr.
• 4:30
  Mark: Lamitz would have me come and treat these young oxen with pressure sores on their back.
• 4:38
  Mark: And these sores weren't just something little.
• 4:41
  Mark: They were big.
• 4:42
  Mark: They were the size of a dinner plate.
• 4:44
  Mark: You could actually put your fist down into it.
• 4:48
  Mark: And it was all because the yoke would rub the sore on the young oxe's back.
• 4:56
  Mark: After a couple of different visits and debriding the wound and wondering why this was all happening, I finally asked Mr.
• 5:04
  Mark: Lamitz, I said,"What can we do to prevent this?
• 5:06
  Mark: There's got to be a way to stop this from happening?
• 5:11
  Mark: Maybe we need to get the yolk to fit better?" He says,"Nope, that's not the answer." And he said,"Come with me." And I followed him into his barn and there on the wall were a dozen or more yokes that each one had been handmade, carved, and form fitted to the yoke that he was training at the time.
• 5:33
  Mark: He says it's not about the yoke fitting.
• 5:35
  Mark: It fits perfectly.
• 5:37
  Mark: It's about whether or not the young ox will allow himself to be yoked, and when they won't allow themselves, they're either half in or half out, but they're never completely under allowing Clyde to help them.
• 5:54
  Mark: And if it goes on long enough and they won't allow themselves to be yoked, then I have to get rid of them.
• 6:00
  Mark: They have to go to slaughter.
• 6:02
  Mark: They're of no use to me.
• 6:04
  Mark: And then he looked at me and he said, Sometimes it's a lot like you and I.
• 6:09
  Mark: We are yoked with the Savior.
• 6:12
  Mark: We are asked to work with Him in His vineyard and do His work here on earth, and we have to be all in.
• 6:19
  Mark: We can't be part in, we can't be part out.
• 6:23
  Mark: It's only when we're completely under the yoke that we feel of His strength, we feel of His direction." And we understand the scripture in Matthew,"Come unto Me all ye, that labor and our heavy laden and I will give you rest.
• 6:37
  Mark: Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls.
• 6:44
  Mark: For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
• 6:48
  Mark: And from that lesson I learned that we all end up from time to time with those sores on our back.
• 6:56
  Mark: And those sores are created when we refuse at times to be obedient- to accept counsel.
• 7:03
  Mark: We feel like we can do it on our own.
• 7:06
  Mark: We don't need the help of the Savior.
• 7:08
  Mark: When we change that attitude and allow ourselves to be yoked- to join with Him in the work- settle under it- and allow ourselves to feel of His strength- that's when we're the happiest.
• 7:23
  Mark: That's when we get the most accomplished and follow the Savior in His work.
• 7:29
  Bernard: And now let's return to our brother Bob who continues from his story in viewing the young ox in Bolivia.
• 7:36
  Mark: Beautiful.
• 7:37
  Mark: To walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." We are called in One Body, and so to walk as as prisoners of the Lord- worthy of that vocation- then means that we have to lay down our own rights.
• 7:57
  Mark: You're gonna walk worthy of the vocation which you are called, with all loneliness and meekness with long- suffering, forbearing one another in love.
• 8:12
  Mark: There's only One that has it all- it's the Lord Jesus!
• 8:16
  Bernard: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
• 8:23
  Bernard: Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
• 8:31
  Bernard: For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.