Jesus was not ‘controlled’ by anything or anybody.
He was ‘governed’ by the Holy Spirit.
What made the difference?
He walked in an ‘agape’ relationship with His Father.
He was solely desirous to please His Father.
Therefore He did everything orderly and obediently.
In doing so, His Father’s kingdom was manifested on earth as it is in heaven.
Let me explain.
[The two words in the title of this post are not original.]
These two words were taken from a, Lifechanger’s 72, video teaching by Bob Mumford, entitled ‘Governed, Not Controlled’.
Over the past fifty plus years, the Lord has used Bob Mumford as a teaching mentor in my life, and Christine, my wife.
For a few months, I have been reflecting upon the prayer that Jesus gave as an example of prayer to His disciples answering their inquiry to teach them to pray.
See Luke 11:1-3; Matthew 6:5-15.
I have also, for many years, reflected upon, prayed, and sought to live by the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 11:28-30.
Matthew 11:28-30 comes in the midst of much controversy.
See the context in Matthew 11.
If you are a regular reader of the posts at livingwordsofencouragement.com, then you may recollect that the previous two passages of scripture have been important to us as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Recently, I have been asking the Lord to help me understand clearly the meaning of Matthew 11:28-30.
I have known it in measure; but I would like to more clearly understand the wholeness of the passage.
I asked the Lord, ” What does it mean that Your ‘yoke is easy and your burden is light?’ “
The teaching of Matthew 11:28-30 is bracketed by ‘weary and heavy laden’ and ‘easy and light’ and each is related to Him giving us rest.
These two phrases appear to be polar opposites of each other.
The rest spoken of receiving in Matthew 11:29 is the result of taking His yoke upon me, and learning that He is ‘gentle and lowly’ in heart.
Picture this, between the first rest, and the second rest, is the heart of God.
{Note: I recommend that you read Dane Ortland’s book, ‘Gentle and Lowly’ The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers }
In this passage of scripture, there is a rest that is given to us, from Him (vs.28); and there is a rest in Him (vs. 29).
What is the difference?
The difference is found in understanding the distinction between being ‘controlled’ or ‘governed’.
The emphasis of the teaching by Bob Mumford emphasized that God doesn’t ‘control’ us; He ‘governs’ us.
I concur with his understanding.
Q: What is ‘controlling’ your life as a follower of Jesus Christ?
Q: Is coming to Christ, daily, the focus of your life?
Q: What gets in your way and takes precedent over you spending time with the Lord?
Not spending time with the Lord will bring weariness and heavy burdens.
I am becoming more disciplined regarding coming to the Lord at the beginning of my day; therefore, I can testify, that I as I begin my day with the Lord (this works for me), intentionally coming to Him, and casting all my cares upon Him because He cares for me (I Peter 5:7); then, as I walk with the Lord, I am experiencing Him ‘governing’ my life, and that His ‘yoke is easy and His burden is light’.
This does not mean that I am without personal struggles.
This does not mean that I am not confronted with challenges.
This does not mean that I do not face temptations, trials, or stressful situations.
What I am learning is that having come to my Father and casting all my cares upon Him, I am experiencing His care for me.
Q: What am I talking about?
A: My cares are the worry, the anxiety, the stress, the depression, the stressful interactions that I face throughout my day that seek to ‘control’ my life.
Those cares are influenced by the world, the flesh, and the devil.
But ‘in Christ’, we can overcome.
See I John 2;15-17; Ephesians 2:2-10; James 4:7-10
All of our cares, were crucified at the cross, when Jesus died for the sin of the world.
Several years ago the Lord gave me a clearer understanding of Philippians 4: 5b-7. “The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (NKJV)
[From that understanding has grown into what this post is sharing.]
The ‘work of the cross’ is finished.
I am justified ‘in Christ’.
The ‘way of the cross’ is now being fulfilled in me as I ‘abide’ in Christ.
Please read John 15:1-11. The word ‘abide’ in the NKJV is used ten times.
At the conclusion of John 15:11, NKJV, Jesus says, “These things I have spoken , that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
I am experiencing that joy.
Jesus’ death on the cross put to death the ‘controlling’ influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Please read Romans 6,7,8.
God ‘governs’ His children by the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God.
Please read Romans 8:12-17; John 14:25-28; Ezekiel 36:22-27; 2 Corinthians 3:8-18.
Believers ‘in Christ’ experience the government of God in their lives as the Holy Spirit ‘governs’ their lives, and bring them into rest ‘in Christ’.
Christ is our rest!
SELAH.
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Q: What did the nation of Israel rebel against in the wilderness?
A. The government of God.
He had brought them out from under the government of ‘control’ in Egypt and brought them to Himself to ‘govern’ them.
Q: What was in their heart?
A. Discontent. They grumbled and complained and wanted to return to Egypt.
As I have heard it said, God had brought them out of Egypt; but Egypt still existed in their heart.
Q: What was God seeking for them to understand?
A. God, our Father, wants to care for His children as a loving Father. He does not want to ‘control’ our lives but ‘govern’ them. That has always been His original intention.
(I recommend DeVern Fromke’s book, ‘The Ultimate Intention’.)
How is this accomplished?
Please read Hebrews 4:1-16.
Entering into God’s rest is stated in Hebrew 4:10 NKJV, “For he who has entered His rest has himself ceased from his works as God did from His.” (emphasis mine)
Consider this: I cease from my own works, when I yield to the government of God, submitting myself to be ‘governed’ by the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God.
SELAH
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I will explain it this way. religion ‘controls’; relationship ‘governs’.
Q: What do you worship?
Q: What do you give ‘worth-ship’ too?
Q: What do you consider more important than your relationship to God?
Anything more important to you than God is an’ idol‘in your life; and by definition that is ‘religion’.
Read Exodus 19:1-4.
The truth is, it does not have to be a carved image to be an idol.
Jesus said you cannot serve God and mammon.
Please read Matthew 6:19-34.
Consider His teaching in light of everything shared so far in this post.
We need to ask the Lord if there is something in our lives that we serve, give our attention too, that robs us of our relationship to Him.
If there is, then my ‘attention’ given to that is idolatrous; so then by definition a religion that ‘controls’ me; and I am not ‘governed’ by God.
I John 5:21 NKJV, the Apostle John instructs us, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
SELAH
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Strong words, B.U.T. (Believer Understand This) …hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Remember: religion controls; relationship governs.
Galatians 5:1 NKJV, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again in the yoke of bondage [not yoked to Christ]. (emphasis mine, emphasis mine, [insert mine] )
Romans 8:1-2, NKJV, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit [‘governed’ by the Spirit] For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. ” (emphasis mine; [insert mine])
John 8:31-32, NKJV, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (emphasis mine)
These verses do not advocate a teaching that instructs us to ‘do your own thing’.
Judges 21:25, NKJV, “In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Israel had put off the ‘governing’ authority of God and lived their lives unto themselves.
They lived an ‘ungoverned’ lifestyle, or was it?
Not really, they ‘governed’ themselves!
And they were enslaved to their own ‘control’ of themselves.
Q: What did Jesus say to His followers regarding following Him?
A. Luke 9:23-24, NKJV, Jesus explaining the true cost of being His disciple said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let Him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake shall save it.”
See Matthew 6:24, John 8:31-32, I Peter 2:21, John 10:27.
The ‘governing’ factor of this teaching is found in the following statement spoken by Jesus to His disciples.
John 13: 31-35 NKJV, [the night of Jesus’ betrayal] “So, when he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’, so now I say unto you. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (emphasis mine) [inserts mine]
Jesus did not share His love with anyone or anything that was more important than maintaining His ‘unshared love’ for His Father.
He lived out that relationship with His Father. What He is instructing His disciples is that, in order, to love another, it begins with an unbroken love relationship with the Father. You cannot love one another if you do not abide in Him, as He abides in His Father’s love, and His Father’s love for Him.
Anything that you allow to come between yourself and your love for God, the Father, is idolatrous. That idolatry prevents His disciples from loving one another, and/or loving any other person.
Q: What does the history of the relationship between God and His chosen people show us?
A: His ‘unshared’ steadfast love for them was never ending; but their love for Him was a ‘shared’ love, worshipping other gods.
Q: What does God, the Father desire from His children?
A: Their ‘unshared love’ for Him, and Him alone.*
(*source: Bob Mumford)
Please read Exodus 20:1-6; Exodus 34:10-16; Deuteronomy 4:23-24; Deuteronomy 6:10-15; Joshua 24:14-28.
The Book of Judges follows The Book of Joshua.
Compare what you just read to the last verse of The Book of Judges.
Judges 21:25.
Q: Did they keep their promise to God?
SELAH. END OF PART 1.
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BEGINNING OF PART 2.
Vision yourself in the Upper Room.
Jesus is instructing His disciples for the last time as a group the night of His betrayal, His arrest, His trial, and His crucifixion.
These words are prior to the Cross.
On the cross, He fulfilled completely what the Father had sent Him to accomplish.
Jesus said, hanging on the cross, “It is finished”.
John 19:30, NKJV, “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”
Jesus has died. He has been buried. Three days later, He was raised from the dead.
We are now on the other side of the cross, on resurrection ground.
I encourage you to read, two previous posts. “The Other Side of the Cross, Part 1″; and” The Other Side of the Cross, Part 2″.
On the cross, the ‘work of the cross’-justification: our position ‘in Christ’ is finished.
After Christ’s resurrection,and our acceptance of Him as our Lord and Savior, we embark on learning the ‘way of the cross’-sanctification: we embrace being conformed to the image of Christ; growing in our relationship to God the Father; maturing as a son of God; learning to please our Father; and completing the work that He has purposed for us before the foundation of the world.
See Ephesians 2:1-10.
With this understanding, as a son/daughter of God, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, as a member of the Body of Christ, let us consider the prayer that Jesus spoke to His disciples when they asked Him to teach them to pray.
See Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4.
Please turn to Matthew 6:9-10.
In this prayer, it begins giving our attention to our heavenly Father who is in heaven.
Next, we declare that our Father is Holy and totally separate from all other gods…”Hallowed be your name”.
Jesus then says these words, “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
What is the implication of praying these words?
In heaven, there is no disorder, or disobedience.
Every thing is in ‘order’ and done in ‘obedience’.
Is that true on earth?
No.
Q: Before Adam and Eve sinned, was everything being done according to God the Father’s ‘order’ and ‘obedience’ on earth as it was in heaven?
Yes.
Q: Were Adam and Eve ‘governed’ by God or ‘controlled’ by God?
A. They were ‘governed’ by God.
They walked with God exercising the government of God on earth as it was in heaven, ‘orderly’ and ‘obediently’.
Q: What was Satan’s purpose?
A. To change that.
Q: Was that accomplished?
A. Yes
Jesus came to do what His Father required to reconcile that broken relationship between Himself and humanity.
Jesus came to satisfy the wrath of God against sin; to provide atonement for mankind; and to restore His Father’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
That is the message of the Gospel.
This is what is being accomplished now in the age in which we are living (between the ascension of Christ and His return ). Ephesians 1:20-22.
How?
All authority has been given unto Him in heaven, and on the earth (Matthew 28:18-20) and by inference under the earth (Philippians 2:10).
Q: What does it mean, then, when we pray to the Father, “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” ?
Remember, in heaven, everything is in ‘order’ and ‘obedient’.
A. It means that whatever the Father asks to be done on earth is to be done in ‘order’ and ‘obedience’.
This happens all the time.
Absolutely, yeah right!
I am, we are, never negligent knowing what God asks us to do, correct; nor, am I,nor are we, disobedient to what He has asked us to do?
Q: Has such a life ever been lived on the earth in human flesh?
A. Yes.
Jesus did it!
How?
God’s A.I.-‘Adonai’s Incarnation’.
Please read Philippians 2:1-11.
The Son of God, came, took on human flesh, set aside His prerogative as God, which included His Glory, and became fully human, as the Son of Man.
Jesus said of Himself, as the Son of Man, John 8:28-29, NKJV, “Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father has taught Me, I speak these things. For the Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”
See John 12:49-50; 14:10; John 5:19-21.
Jesus only said and did what His Father told Him showed Him.
He did it according to His Father’s ‘order’ and in ‘obedience’.
Therefore, when He did that, His Father’s Kingdom came; and His Father’s will was done “on earth as it is in heaven”.
Well, that was easy for Him to do, He is the Son of God!
Q: Was it?
A. He did this as the Son of Man in human flesh.
On the night on which Jesus was betrayed, before His arrest, Jesus went to the garden of Gerhsemane.
Q: What happened there as Jesus prayed?
Q: Did the Son of Man struggle in the flesh of His human body to do the will of God on earth as it is in heaven?
Q: In the garden was Jesus being ‘controlled’ by God, or struggling to please His Father ‘governed’ by the Spirit, knowing what His Father told Him to do, and that it required His obedience?
He absolutely knew what the Father had asked Him to do; and He was struggling in the flesh of His human body to obey the Father.
Q: What did Jesus verbalize as He prayed in garden?
Q:What words epitomize His struggle?
Q: What was Jesus’ desire?
A. To obey His Father’s will.
He loved His Father; and His Father loved Him.
The Father and the Son are One.
See John 10:22-33.
Jesus and the Father have always been One from before the foundation of the world.
Now Jesus, the Son of God, who became the Son of Man in human flesh, is struggling.
Hebrews 5:5-11.
Please read His words as recorded in the gospels of Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42;or Luke 22:40-46.
Q; What was Jesus’ petition, His concern, His struggle?
A. Matthew 26:39, NKJV, Having entered the garden, and instructing His disciples, Peter, James and John, “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless , not as I will, but as You will.”
He was struggling in human flesh, completely desirous of pleasing His Father, experiencing everything that we experience when we walk as a child of God wanting to please our Father in our earthly body struggling to be obedient.
We know there is a difference.
That difference is stated in Hebrews 12:3-4.
What Jesus did for us, we will never experience.
That is the grace, mercy, and love of God sending His only Son to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Doing the will of the Father, as it is done in heaven on earth, brought about the Father’s kingdom, His rule, and ‘governing ‘authority into a world of darkness to be released “in Christ”, through the body of Christ, governed by the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God, not controlled.
SELAH
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It is time to intersect these two passages of scripture.
Matthew 6:9-10 and Matthew 11:28-30.
I am coming to understand how meaningful Matthew 11:28-30 is for us as believers ‘in Christ ‘walking out our journey with the Lord from the day of my salvation until the day that I will stand in His Presence (Jude 24-25).
Between the two words, REST, exists the pathway of discipleship, growth, and understanding of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the heart of the Father for His children.
Prior to the first word, rest, Jesus says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That rest is from what ‘controls’ our lives. Without that rest, we are not free from sin, the world, the flesh,and the devil. In the ‘finished work of the cross’ we are free from their ‘control’. This is our objective position ‘in Christ’.
The second word, rest, is preceded by entering into the ‘way of the cross’.
We are to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.
Doing this we embrace the ‘work of the cross’ experientially.
How?
Jesus calls us to abide in Him,meaning to take His yoke upon us, and to learn that He is ‘gentle and lowly’ in heart toward us.
He is not out to ‘control’ us.
He wants us to respond to His love for, to submit to His love, and allow that love to ‘govern’ our lives.
The positive result of our response to Him is that we will experience the ‘way of the cross’ that is not ‘controlling’ but ‘governing’ us by His Spirit, according to the Word of God.
Our relationship will not be governed by ‘control’ but through the realization that His ‘yoke’ is easy’ and His’ burden is light’.
Our rest in Him is found being delivered from our adversary’s ‘control’ and being ‘governed’ by Him.
During the final week of Jesus’ life in Jerusalem, prior to the Passover, Jesus made it very clear that the Pharisees were controlling the people through their religion.
Jesus’ life was the complete antithesis of being under the control of religion.
He lived His life ‘governed’ by the Holy Spirit and fulfilled the written Law, in human flesh, and offered Himself as the spotless Lamb of God as an atoning sacrifice to His Father.
What love, what grace, what mercy!
Religion (idolatry) ‘controls’ , what do you worth-ship.
Relationship with God, the Father, longs for His ‘governing’.
In Christ, we have been set free, from ‘control’; and made free to be ‘governed’ by the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, shares that the fruit of wisdom from below is demonic; it ‘controls’ us negatively; however, the fruit of the wisdom from above does not control us but ‘governs’ us positively.
James 3:13-18
The Lord is speaking to His Church.
“He that has ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”. Revelation 2:7
He wants His Church to focus on Him, set aside everything that diverts us from being attentive to Him, meaning allowing Him to reveal to us, what He sees ‘controlling’ our lives as a believer, setting it aside, renouncing it, and repenting and asking forgiveness as necessary; and learning to be ‘governed ‘by His Spirit, according to Word of God.
I encourage you to seek the Lord while He may be found.
We are living in days of Seismic Spiritual Shaking.
It has come; it is coming; and it will come with greater intensity.
The Body of Christ needs to be ready.
Are you ready?
Are you rest-ing ‘in Christ’, yoked to Him, learning to be ‘governed’ by the Spirit according to the Word of God, surrounded by His love.
I am reminded of these words.
“There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God. A place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of God; hold us who wait before thee, near to the heart of God.” (If you know the tune, then sing these words.)
In this place of rest we are like a weaned child laying on the breast of his/her mother.
Read Psalm 131.
blessings, your brother in Christ, deo
Living Words of Encouragement 