This Saturday, I watched OU defeat Tulane in NCAA football (barely), UT defeat Louisiana (handily), Georgia defeat Clemson (suspensefully), and Alabama defeat Miami (of course). Along the way, I monitored the third round of the PGA Tour Championship and watched the Texas Rangers play baseball (sort of).

In other words, it was a typical Labor Day holiday. Watching sports has become synonymous with the symbolic last weekend of summer, as have barbecues, family outings, blockbuster movies, and anything else we can do to create a few days of rest and retreat.

But the world is waiting for our return tomorrow, of course.

As the death toll from flooding in the Northeast climbs above fifty people, the Washington Post reports that nearly one in three Americans experienced a weather disaster this summer. Meanwhile, the hiring slowdown in August shows Delta’s impact as the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect every part of our lives. Here’s a surprising consequence of the pandemic: auto thefts have spiked as people have left their cars unattended for longer than usual.

The Labor Day holiday offers us a respite from all of this. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to find a source of rest and peace that sustains and empowers us not just for a weekend, but for every day of the year?

An amazing invitation

In Matthew 11, Jesus issues this amazing and encouraging invitation: “Come to me, all who labor 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” (vv. 28–30). Each word repays study and reflection.

Let’s begin with verse 28:

• “Come” is better translated as hurry or come hither.
• “To me” is Jesus’ invitation to hurry to him—not to the church, or religion, or other people, or ourselves. Go to Jesus now. Don’t wait until tomorrow or the end of this day.
• “All” means all. No person on our planet is excluded, including you.
• “Labor” translates the Greek word for working. This is active—those who are working hard to advance their careers, help their families, and serve God and his church.
• “Heavy laden,” by contrast, is passive, referring to burdens placed on us by other people. The original context was the Jewish law (cf. Acts 15:10) in which the people were given 613 laws to keep, but it refers to any expectations or requirements placed on us by someone else.
• “I will give you rest” could be translated, “I will rest you.” Note the word will—this is Jesus’ guarantee to us.

Verse 29:

• “Yoke” refers to the typical means of guiding working animals in Jesus’ day. The farmer used the yoke to tell the ox where to go, what to do, and how fast, far, and long to do it. The yoke guided every part of the ox every moment that it was worn.
• “Take my yoke upon you” thus means to submit to Jesus’ will completely. We are to bear no yoke but his. To take his yoke, we refuse the yoke of our own pride and ambitions, the yoke of others’ expectations, the yoke of cultural definitions of success. We can wear only one yoke at a time—we are to wear his.
• “Learn from me” repeats this invitation in a different way. The phrase could be rendered, “Enroll in my school.” In Jesus’ day, a student gave his life to his teacher, following him twenty-four hours a day. Students were not just learners but holistic disciples.
• “I am gentle” shows why we should enroll in Jesus’ school. “Gentle” translates praus, which describes the person who always does the right thing. Because Jesus’ will for us is “perfect” (Romans 12:2), we can trust him with every dimension of our lives and days.
• “Lowly in heart” points to his humility, the fact that he came to serve (Mark 10:45), and that he only and always wants our best.
• “I will give you rest” repeats Jesus’ promise of verse 28 for emphasis.

Verse 30:

• “My yoke is easy”—easy means that his yoke fits well. An ancient tradition says that Jesus the carpenter made the best yokes in all of Galilee, and that over his carpenter’s shop there was the sign, “My yokes fit well.” If the yoke is well-fitted to the animal, it is “easy” to bear. Jesus alone knows what purpose best fits our gifts, abilities, shortcomings, experiences, education, and future. His yoke alone fits well.
• “My burden is light”—if the strap fits well, the backpack is light. If the yoke fits well, the burden attached to it is light. If your burden is heavy today, check your yoke.

What happens when we wear Jesus’ yoke

You are wearing someone’s yoke today. If you are wearing any yoke but the one Jesus intends for you, you can find rest only by taking it off for a while, getting away for a holiday weekend, or finding other ways to distract from your stress and retreat from your pressures. But your yoke is always waiting for your return.

However, Jesus’ yoke will bring you rest every moment of every day. It will bring you rest in the midst of your work and the burdens you bear. It will lead you to a life of eternal significance and present fulfillment. It will produce the “fruit of the Spirit” in your life—the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control you will find nowhere else (Galatians 5:22).

Henri Nouwen expressed well the difference Jesus makes when we wear his yoke by trusting our lives completely to his leadership and care:

“Dear Lord:

“Today I thought of the words of Vincent van Gogh: ‘It is true there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.’ You are the sea. Although I experience many ups and downs in my emotions and often feel great shifts and changes in my inner life, you remain the same. Your sameness is not the sameness of a rock, but the sameness of a faithful lover.

“Out of your love I came to life, by your love I am sustained, and to your love I am always called back. There are days of sadness and days of joy; there are feelings of guilt and feelings of gratitude; there are moments of failure and moments of success; but all of them are embraced by your unwavering love. . . . O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and winds of my daily life, and let me know there is ebb and flow but the sea remains the sea.”

Whose yoke are you wearing today?

Denison Forum

Dozens of people are dead in the Northeast from floods and destruction caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. A toddler was among the victims. 

In other news, search-and-rescue efforts continued yesterday for five military personnel who went missing Tuesday when a US Navy helicopter crashed off the coast of San Diego. One sailor was pulled from the ocean. And police have been searching this week for a woman who allegedly dumped a bag of suspected human remains in a Virginia store dumpster. 

In an article on a Texas law restricting abortion, why am I beginning with these stories? 

You could say that I’m “burying the lede,” which refers to “hiding the most important and relevant pieces of a story within other distracting information.” 

But I’m actually not. 

Abortion is the leading cause of death in the US 

Our media focuses intensely and understandably on the victims of storms, military tragedies, and alleged crimes. However, since Hurricane Ida swept ashore in Louisiana six days ago, 14,172 babies have been aborted in the US (multiplying the rate of 2,362 per day in the US times six). 

This works out to 862,130 abortions per year in the US, making abortion by far the leading cause of death in our country. (Heart disease ranks second, at 659,041, followed by cancer at 599,601.) 

Here’s a related fact: the CDC reports that over 21,000 infants died in the US in 2018. This works out to fifty-seven per day, which is obviously tragic. But forty-one times more babies die from abortion each day than from all other causes combined. 

If 2,362 babies were to die today from any cause other than abortion, Americans would be appropriately appalled and demand that our elected officials do something to end such a tragedy. 

In Texas, with regard to abortion, they have. 

What a preborn baby cannot say 

Senate Bill 8 was signed by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott last May. The law bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can occur as early as six weeks after conception. 

As a result, the law would block approximately 85 percent of abortions in Texas. According to Texas Health and Human Services data, 53,000 abortions were performed in the state last year. This means Senate Bill 8 could save 45,000 preborn babies a year. 

Texas abortion providers asked the US Supreme Court to freeze the law. However, in a five-to-four vote, the Court formally denied this request late Wednesday night. 

The majority stressed that their ruling did not constitute a conclusion about the constitutionality of the law or limit other challenges to it. Rather, they cited “complex” and “novel” procedural questions that led to their decision. Chief Justice Roberts joined the three liberal justices in dissent. 

Protests have already begun. For example, President Biden announced yesterday that he had directed his Department of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department to launch a “whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi also announced that the House of Representatives would vote later this month on a bill that would “enshrine into law reproductive health care for all women across America.” 

In protests against the Texas law and other pro-life legislation, I have often seen people carrying signs declaring, “My body, my choice.” 

Of course, a preborn baby cannot say the same. 

A case study for effective cultural engagement 

I believe passionately that life is sacred from conception to natural death. (For my arguments based on Scripture, reason, history, and culture, see my paper, “What does the Bible say about abortion?“) As a result, I am deeply grateful for Senate Bill 8 and those who brought it into law. 

But I want to do more than report this historic news: I’d like us to make it a case study for effective cultural engagement. 

Some conservative Christians have become convinced that since our secularized culture has degenerated so far from biblical morality, continued efforts to make a difference are fruitless. We’re wasting our time trying to change society, we’re told. Better to focus all our attention on protecting religious liberty from its enemies while protecting future generations from the rampant sexualization and secularization of our day. 

Undoubtedly, we need to do all we can on both fronts. I praise God for organizations such as First Liberty, the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and others who are defending religious freedom from its enemies. And I completely agree that we should not take for granted our children and grandchildren—many are surrounded each day by radical secularism and must be discipled strategically and effectively in biblical truth and worldview. 

But Senate Bill 8 shows that we can do more. While protecting our families and defending our rights from those seeking to discriminate against Christians, we can also engage our secular culture in ways that make a dramatic difference. 

Why this bill is different 

In the decades since Roe v. Wade tragically legalized abortion, many have abandoned hope that it would ever be overturned. Numerous legal challenges have been attempted, but few have been sustained or made a tangible difference. When abortion advocates have filed suit against pro-life supporters, they have often won the day. 

However, the Texas law we’re discussing is different from other attempts. Instead of having the government enforce the law, the bill authorizes private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps someone get an abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. This person would not have to be connected to a provider or someone who had an abortion to sue. 

Consequently, there is no state official enforcing the law, which means there is no one for abortion providers to sue. This does not mean that Senate Bill 8 will not continue to face legal challenges, as we noted above. But it does show that this unique feature is important to its success thus far. 

Creativity is vital to cultural transformation. For example, a Chicago coffee shop owner who experienced healing from horrific trauma through therapy is using the proceeds from his sales to fund free therapy sessions for people in need. And the IRS caught an alleged dark web drug dealer by tricking him into sending more than $180,000 in cash to the agency in exchange for cryptocurrencies. 

Surprising examples of God’s surprising ways 

Such examples of surprising but effective strategies are found throughout Scripture. 

Joseph interprets his fellow prisoners’ dreams, the Egyptian Pharaoh hears of him, and Joseph interprets the ruler’s dreams, saves the nation from famine, provides for his family, and preserves the Jewish people through whom the Messiah would come. 

God calls Moses, a fugitive from Egyptian justice, to lead his people out of Egyptian slavery. He uses the Red Sea to destroy the Egyptian army. He destroys the fortified city of Jericho after his people march around its walls. He elevates an unknown shepherd to be king of Israel. He saves his servants in Babylon from a fiery furnace and a lions’ den. 

Jesus calls not rabbis or priests in Jerusalem but fishermen in Galilee to lead his movement. He restores a thrice-failed apostle and uses him to preach a Pentecost sermon that brings thousands to faith. He chooses a Jewish Pharisee to be his apostle to the Gentiles. He gives his Revelation to a prisoner on an island of exile. 

When you think about it, it’s hard to find biblical examples that are not surprising and even shocking. 

Here’s the point: if we will be led by the Spirit of God, we will fulfill the purposes of God in the power of God to the glory of God. He has creative plans for us we cannot imagine: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT). 

Our sovereign God will use us to engage and transform our culture for his glory and our good if we will trust him and follow his Spirit. 

An evangelist magician makes the AGT finals 

A putter used by Tiger Woods in 2002 sold at auction last Sunday for $393,300. It is believed to be the most expensive golf club ever sold. I can buy a similar putter for $399.99 today, but no one will consider it to be more collectible because it was mine. The putter sold at auction was valuable not because of what it was but because of whose it was. 

If Jesus is your Lord, you are the child of God (John 1:12). This is your unchanging identity, a fact no power in this world can change. In addition, you are made by God for a purpose that is distinctively yours. Your spiritual gifts, abilities, education, experience, and opportunities combine in ways that are unique to you. 

For example, Christianity Today recently interviewed Shoaib Ebadi, the founder of SAT-7, a Christian ministry that began broadcasting in Iran in 2002 and is now one of the few ways to reach people in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Ebadi was born in Afghanistan but became a Christian in 1999 as a refugee in Pakistan. Today he heads a company producing Christian media in various languages around the world. His experiences and capacities have prepared him uniquely for this moment in history. 

A magician named Dustin Tavella has advanced to the finals of America’s Got Talent. He is a Christian who uses magic for evangelism: “We want to be a bridge between the church and the not-church—to get the people not in church into the church, and to get the people in the church, outside of the walls.” His unique skills have garnered a national platform few could have imagined a few weeks ago. 

Stefen Wisniewski, an NFL kicker who won Super Bowls with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, is retiring to become a pastor. He explains: “The absolute best part of my life is my relationship with Jesus Christ, and I can’t imagine a better full-time job than teaching people the Bible and sharing the love of Christ with others.” His former career is giving him a platform for his next career. 

David Klingler made the cover of Sports Illustrated as a quarterback at the University of Houston and played several years in the NFL. As the new football season begins, the current edition of Texas Monthly is profiling Klingler—not for his athletic exploits, but because he is now an Old Testament professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. What he did makes what he does more appealing to the larger culture. 

What Fred Rogers said at Dartmouth 

If you and I will abide in Jesus, he assures us that we will bear “much fruit” (John 15:5). That’s because the love that changes hearts and lives will flow through us to touch those we are called to influence. Such love is a “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22), not a product of human effort. 

Frederick Buechner observed: “Love is not really one of man’s powers. Man cannot achieve love, generate love, wield love, as he does his powers of destruction and creation. When I love someone, it is not something that I have achieved, but something that is happening through me, something that is happening to me as well as to him.” 

Are you so yielded to God’s Spirit that God’s love is “happening” through you? 

David testified: “God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes” (2 Samuel 22:25 MSG). Have you “opened the book of your heart” to your Father today? Can he write the next chapter of your story in any way he chooses? 

Asked differently: Is there a place he cannot lead you? A task he cannot assign you? A person you won’t forgive? Someone from whom you won’t seek forgiveness? A person with whom you won’t share your faith? 

In his 2002 commencement address at Dartmouth, Fred Rogers concluded: “When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see, or hear, or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate. Peace that rises triumphant over war. And justice that proves more powerful than greed. 

“So, in all that you do in all of your life, I wish you the strength and the grace to make those choices which will allow you and your neighbor to become the best of whoever you are.” 

Will you ask God for such strength and grace right now?

Denison Forum

I have been writing The Daily Article for twenty-one years, but this is a first: I am reporting on an article in the men’s fashion magazine GQ. I have not read one of their articles before today, but this title caught my eye: “Prayers Up: How God Became the Hottest Thing in Fashion.”

The article tells us about an Instagram platform called “I NEED GOD” now offering a webstore with some interesting merchandise. For example, they are selling a sweatshirt bearing the message, “God loves me and there is nothing I can do about it.” And a shirt with a direct quote from Justin Bieber’s Instagram: “God is obsessed with you!” (Other products are far more ironic or, some might say, inappropriate.)

Here’s another story you might not expect: a church in San Antonio, Texas, recently held a mass wedding. This is not a cult—it’s actually one of the largest churches in the city. Their pastor and staff became concerned about couples who were unable to marry during the pandemic. So they offered to reimburse couples for their marriage licenses ($81 in their county) and gave them $500 in cash to go toward a honeymoon.

Their commitment had a condition, however: the couples had to go through premarital counseling with the church. Fifty-two couples completed counseling and were married in a joint service last month.

Pledging allegiance to the Pride flag

This week we’re discussing ways to fight fear with faith. Each day’s news reinforces the need for such faith.

For example, a California teacher has been removed from her classroom after instructing her students to say the Pledge of Allegiance, not to an American flag, but to a Progress Pride flag.

A dermatology professor at Harvard Medical School reports a spike of patients seeking cosmetic interventions. The reason: they saw their faces on conference calls all day during the pandemic and now want to make improvements to their appearance, a phenomenon being called “Zoom dysphoria.”

Consumer confidence is down; trust in media is cratering; religion is declining in many places around the world.

In days like these, believers need to use every means at our disposal to offer our culture the life-changing good news of God’s love in Christ. The apparel we discussed earlier is correct theologically: because God is love (1 John 4:8), he does indeed love you, and there’s nothing you can do to change his character or the fact that he is “obsessed” with you.

However, there’s another side to the story.

“The sine qua non of spiritual fruitfulness”

Jesus told his followers, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1). According to renowned Bible scholar D. A. Carson, our Lord employed a symbol found throughout the Old Testament describing Israel as a vine (cf. Psalm 80:9–16; Isaiah 51:1–7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:1–8).

However, Carson notes, “whenever historic Israel is referred to under this figure, it is the vine’s failure to produce good fruit that is emphasized.”

By contrast, Jesus calls himself the “true” vine, i.e., the one that produces true and good fruit. His followers are “branches” stemming from him as their source. As a result, he calls us to “abide in me, and I in you” (v. 4a).

Here’s the catch: “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (v. 4b). Consequently, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (v. 5, my emphasis).

Carson asserts: “Continuous dependence on the vine, constant reliance on him, persistent spiritual imbibing of his life—this is the sine qua non of spiritual fruitfulness” (his italics; the Latin phrase means “that without which there is nothing”).

The first time I heard the gospel

So, what does it mean to “abide” in Jesus?

We could take the rest of the year to explore this vital question, but for today we’ll note that it means at least the decision to surrender every dimension of our lives to his lordship. Whatever the cost, whatever he asks, whatever it takes.

Oswald Chambers describes such total surrender as the path to joy that repays its cost and more: when we abandon ourselves to Jesus, “the Holy Spirit gives us a taste of his joy. . . . the thought of self-sacrifice never crosses our minds, because sacrifice is the Holy Spirit’s ultimate expression of love.”

Here’s the problem: there is often a gap between surrender and the joy that repays its cost. A soul-numbing, faith-discouraging, temptation-amplifying gap. A gap between our fear of surrender and God’s transforming response to our faith.

I remember clearly the first time I heard the gospel. I was in the seventh grade; a friend invited me to ride his church’s bus to a Christian event in downtown Houston. The preacher seemed to be looking right at me when he challenged us to confess our sins and give our lives to God.

That night, walking home after getting off the bus, I looked up into the starry night and told God “no.” I remember being afraid that if I gave my life to him, he would make me miserable. He would probably make me a missionary to some distant land and keep me from doing the things I wanted to do.

I was afraid to surrender my life to him that night. I still feel that fear today. I am guessing you do as well.

“I believe; help my unbelief!”

However, here is how abiding in Christ works: we must pay its price before we experience its results.

When we order products online, we are usually required to pay for them before they are delivered. It works in the same way here: we must choose holiness before we want to be made holy. We must choose to abide in Jesus before we want to give up what it takes to abide in Jesus.

This is because Satan is a brilliant tempter, customizing his offerings to what our fallen human nature desires. We should not be surprised that we want what he is tempting us to do. If we wait until we don’t want to sin before we choose not to sin, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.

If alcoholics wait until they don’t want to drink before they start sobriety, most will never get sober. If we wait until we’re not afraid to surrender our lives to Jesus, most of us will never surrender our lives to Jesus.

So, a foundational key to abiding in Jesus is asking his Spirit for the strength to choose to abide in him. It is asking for the faith to have faith, echoing the prayer of the man who prayed my favorite prayer in Scripture: “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

It is asking for the courage to trust Jesus before we see the first results of such trust. It is stepping into the river before God stops the flood, marching around the fortified city before God destroys its walls, choosing the lions’ den before God stops the lions’ mouths.

Are you afraid that if you give your life fully to Jesus, he’ll make you a missionary to some distant land or otherwise keep you from doing what you want to do? The fact is: If he sends you to be a missionary, this is because being a missionary is absolutely what is best for your life. If he keeps you from doing what you want to do, this is because he knows that what you want to do will harm you in ways you cannot yet see.

So, what fears are keeping you from surrendering your life fully to your Savior? Do you need to ask the Spirit to help you choose such surrender today?

Why Satan lets us “get away with” sin

Here’s a second barrier to abiding in Christ: we must surrender every dimension of our lives to experience the transforming power of our Lord.

Our culture so easily separates Sunday from Monday, the spiritual from the secular, religion from the “real world.” From the time we begin attending church or doing anything else spiritual, our fallen society begins urging us to keep such activities to ourselves. God can be your hobby, they assure us, so long as you don’t force your hobby on anyone else.

As a result, we are easily deceived into believing that we can tolerate private sin with the confidence that it will never become public. But, like the sons of Samuel who “took bribes and perverted justice” in their personal dealings, our private sins will inevitably be exposed (1 Samuel 8:3–5).

In fact, if you are “getting away with” unconfessed and unrepented sin today, it’s likely because your enemy is waiting until your sins will do even more damage when they are made public. The further you climb up the cultural ladder, the farther you will fall one day, and the more your fall will injure yourself and others.

The Bible makes following Jesus incessantly and insistently holistic: taking up our “cross daily” (Luke 9:23), being “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), presenting our “bodies as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). Roman crucifixion killed every part of your body, not just your arm or leg; the Jewish sacrificial system required every part of the animal, not just its hoof or tail.

Are you leaving part of your “body” off your altar, separated from your cross? That’s like telling a surgeon there’s part of the cancer in your body you don’t want her to remove. God can heal only what we allow him to touch. He can lead into his perfect will only those who will follow.

Is there a part of your life you are afraid of submitting to Jesus? Once again, you are not yet in position to experience the results of such holistic surrender to your loving Lord, so ask his Spirit for the strength and courage you need.

And know this: the more we abide in Jesus, the more fruit we will bear for his eternal glory and our greatest good.

“You are the Beloved of God”

It comes to this: if we see ourselves as children beloved by our Father, we will see the price of obedience as the privilege of love. We will position ourselves to experience all he can give to those who trust fully in him. And others will see the reality and relevance of our faith and be drawn to its Object and Source.

Henri Nouwen observed:

“The world is only evil when you become its slave. The world has a lot to offer—just as Egypt did for the children of Jacob—as long as you don’t feel bound to obey it. The great struggle facing you is not to leave the world, to reject your ambitions and aspirations, or to despise money, prestige, or success, but to claim your spiritual truth and to live in the world as someone who doesn’t belong to it.”

As a result, Nouwen continues, “All the good things our world has to offer are yours to enjoy. But you can enjoy them truly only when you can acknowledge them as affirmations of the truth that you are the Beloved of God. The truth will set you free to receive the beauty of nature and culture in gratitude, as a sign of your Belovedness. That truth will allow you to receive the gifts you receive from your society and celebrate life.

“But that truth will also allow you to let go of what distracts you, confuses you, and puts in jeopardy the life of the Spirit within you.”

Will you claim your status as God’s Beloved today?

Denison Forum