Sermon Tone Analysis

We lay no greater burden that this...

We lay no greater burden that this…

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“Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.

They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.

Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.

For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.

If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.

Farewell.”

So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.

And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.

And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.

But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.”

“Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.

They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.

Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.

For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.

If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.

Farewell.”

So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.

And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.

And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.

But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.”

30)?

, “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.”

What does it mean when Jesus says, 'my yoke is easy and my burden is light' ()?"

The saying “my yoke is easy and my burden is light” is part of a larger passage (), in which Jesus tells all who are weary and burdened to come to Him for rest.

He isn’t speaking here of their physical burdens.

Rather, it was the heavy spiritual burdens of the system of works that the Pharisees laid on the backs of the people that Jesus was offering to relieve.

Later on in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus will rebuke the Pharisees for laying heavy burdens on the shoulders of the people.

The “yoke of the Pharisees” is the burdensome yoke of self-righteousness and legalistic law keeping.

The Pharisees adhered to other over 603 regulations founded in the Pentateuch.

That is a heavy burden!

Do you recall the story of the lawyer who asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment of the Law ().

You can almost read between the lines of the man’s question: “What law, of all the laws we have, do I absolutely have to keep?”

Jesus was saying that any kind of law keeping is burdensome and amounts to a “heavy yoke” of oppression because no amount of law keeping can bridge the gap between our sinfulness and God’s holiness.

God says through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah that said, “ We have all become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment, we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” ().

Paul reiterated to the Romans “no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law” ().

The good news is that Jesus promises to all who come to Him that He will give them rest from the heavy burden of trying to earn our way into heaven and rest from the oppressive yoke of self-righteousness and legalism.

Jesus encourages those who are “heavy laden” to take His yoke upon them, and in so doing they will find rest for their souls.

The yoke of Jesus is light and easy to carry because it is the yoke of repentance and faith followed by a singular commitment to follow Him.

As the apostle John says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.

And his commandments are not burdensome” ().

This is why Jesus says in that His yoke is easy and His burden light.

Now, we might think that there is really no difference between the commandments of Jesus and the Jewish Law.

Isn’t the same God responsible for both?

Technically speaking, yes.

If anything, I would argue that the commands of Jesus are even more burdensome because His reformulation of the Mosaic Law in the Sermon on the Mount () actually goes above and beyond a mere outward conformity to the Law and deals instead with the inner person.

But, what makes Jesus’ yoke easy and what makes His burden light is that in Jesus’ own active obedience, Jesus Himself is the (is perfect fulfillment of the Law of God for us), Jesus carried the burden that we were meant to carry.

It was Jesus’ perfect obedience that is now applied (imputed) to us through faith in Him alone.

Just as it was Jesus’ righteousness which was exchanged for our sin at the cross ( ).

Our obedience to Jesus then becomes our “spiritual worship” ().

Furthermore, we are in dwelt by the Holy Spirit who works in our lives to mold us into the image of Christ, thereby making the yoke of Jesus easy and His burden light.

The life lived by faith is a much lighter yoke and a much easier burden to carry than the heavy and burdensome yoke of self-righteousness under which some continually strive to make themselves acceptable to God through works.

And because of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ which, He made once of all on the cross; we need lay no greater burden than faith on those who now come to Jesus Christ by faith alone through Him alone.

Let us pray...

We lay no greater burden than this.. that you accept this letter.

Let’s look at the first verse of our passage this morning, it is found in .

22 “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to chose men from among then and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers.”

The resolution of the problem concerning people being circumcised before becoming a Christian and adhering to the custom of Moses instead of embracing the power of the gospel, involved a decision by the whole assembly (the apostles and elders, with the whole church.)

They to send their representatives Barsabbas and Silas back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas with an authorized answer about the issues at hand (vv.

22–23a).

It was in the form of a letter, a letter conveying the proposals of James, which was to not trouble the Gentiles anymore but to persuade them to abstain from what has be sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality (vv.

23b–29).

Choosing some of their own men to accompany Paul and Barnabas, they hoped for a clear explanation of their intentions in writing the letter (v.

27) and a healing of any strained relationship between the churches.

Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas were chosen because they were leaders among the brothers (and presumably also because they were prophets,).

Nothing more is known about this Judas he is only mentioned in this passage, but Silas became the companion of Paul, in succession to Barnabas.

Let’s look at this letter for a moment, which says, in v. 23 with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.

24Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul.”

The whole assembly made the decision concerning circumcision, but the letter was actually sent in the name of the apostles and elders, “your brothers.”

It was addressed specifically to ‘the brothers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia, who are of the Gentiles, meaning that they are from among the nations that were not Jewish’ There is then an acknowledgement that the problem created by the Judaizers originated in Jerusalem, without any official backing from Jerusalem, we see this acknowledgement by the words, Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you, with unsettling you minds, although we gave them no instructions.

The fact that they call them persons rather that a brother gives you the indication that they were of a fringe element and not true brothers of the faith.

The fact that they came from Jerusalem might have given them some authority in the eyes of some, but their message was not clear by the church in Jerusalem.

Their harassment of Gentile believers is further defined as unsettling your minds, troubling your souls, leaving you out of balance.

Do we understand my brothers and sisters that any teaching that compromises the simple message of the gospel will rob Christians of their assurance and leave them feeling abandoned and confused?

Do we understand that what you teach has consequences, it either clouds people’s judgment or it clarifies their judgment?

Now comes the notification of two formal decisions, from the church at Jerusalem, the first of which this an understanding of unity.

Look at what they said, ‘it seemed good to us having come to one accord [in unity]’.

Their first decision was to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul.

Now this time they assured them that not only is the message from them this time but also the messengers are from them, men that were trusted and are beloved.

The word beloved is very important whenever it is found in any text of Scripture.

The word beloved it the Greek is “agapetos”, which means, to be cherished, to be preferred above all others, to be treated with partiality, and to be the object of one’s affections.

Let’s look a few passages which expressed the power of the word beloved or agapetos.

, “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

, “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.

And be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

I want you to also remember that in the definition of the word “beloved” I said that God shows greater partiality towards His beloved.

You might say that the Bible says God shows no partiality; God shows no partiality towards those that are His, but He shows great partiality towards those that are not His compare to those who are His!

These men whom the church sent were beloved men of God—men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This statement is the noblest compliment anyone could ever receive.