207. Warning Against Idolatry: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

12 October 2021

The Lord’s anger burned against them.

Numbers 25

3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

Psalm 106

28 They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor

    and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;

29 they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds,

    and a plague broke out among them.

Warning Against Idolatry

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 

What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them

    and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

    and they will be my people.”

Therefore,

“Come out from them

    and be separate,

says the Lord.

Touch no unclean thing,

    and I will receive you.”

And,

“I will be a Father to you,

    and you will be my sons and daughters,

says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

From theologyofwork website/new-testament/2-corinthians/working-with-nonbelievers-2-corinthians-614-18:

"Here, Paul cautions us about working arrangements with non-believers, invoking a reference to Deuteronomy 22:10 which warns against plowing with an ox and a donkey yoked together. Perhaps this is because the donkey would struggle to pull the ox’s load and the ox could not go at the faster donkey’s pace. In 2 Corinthians, Paul seems to be talking about a deeper spiritual reality, advising God’s people to be wary of yoking with people who serve lawlessness, darkness, idol worship, and Satan himself (2 Cor. 6:14-15).

While we’re clearly called to love, serve, and work with non-believers, Paul says not to be “unequally yoked” with them. What does it mean to be unequally yoked? The answer lies in the contrast to being yoked with Jesus, who says, “Take my yoke upon you.” (Matthew 11:29). One part of the yoke is around us, and the other is on Jesus’ shoulders. Jesus, like the lead ox in a team, determines our bearing, pace, and path, and we submit to his leadership. Through his yoke, we feel his pull, his guidance, his direction. By his yoke, he trains us to work effectively in his team. His yoke is what leads us, sensitizes us, and binds us to him. Being yoked to Jesus makes us partners with him in restoring God’s creation in every sphere of life, as we explored in 2 Cor. 5:16–21. No other yoke that would pull us away from the yoke of Jesus could ever be equal to that! “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” Jesus tells us (Matt. 11:30)."

Matthew 11

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.”

Some 17 years ago, I was weary and burdened both in body and mind, I learned to cry out to the Lord and I found rest in Him for my soul. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

""Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 

Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 

for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land (Deuteronomy 6:13-15).

Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?

    He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.

Let those who fear the Lord say:

    “His love endures forever.”

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

    his love endures forever (Psalm 25:12; 118:4, 29)." This I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

5 February 2018"

May you be blessed with God's Word.

Maraming salamat.