Gentle, but King

“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.” — Matthew 11:29 (KJV)

So far Sibbes has talked about how gentle Jesus is. Now he turns to the last part of his verse: Jesus will keep caring for the bruised reed “till he send forth judgment unto victory.”

Sibbes says “judgment” here means Christ’s rule in our hearts. Jesus is not only gentle; he is King. He doesn’t just forgive us and leave us as we are. He sets up his throne in our hearts and starts to change us from the inside.

Sibbes puts it like this: Christ “so pardons as he will be obeyed as a king.” The same Spirit who shows us that we need Christ’s forgiveness also shows us that we need his rule. And that is good news, not bad. His love makes us want to become like him.

Earthly rulers, Sibbes points out, can make good laws, but they can’t write them on people’s hearts. Christ can. He doesn’t only tell us what to do; he gives us the desire and strength to do it. People are not only told that they should love, fear and obey God; Sibbes says they are “taught love itself and fear and obedience itself.”

Sibbes also says that following Christ is the wisest way to live. It “standeth with the strongest and highest reason of all.” It isn’t blind or stupid. It is living with your eyes open.

He gives some practical advice for making wise choices. Ask whether something makes you more or less spiritual, whether it brings you nearer to God, whether it will bring peace or sorrow in the end. And judge things now the way you will judge them at the end of your life: “what was best in our worst times” is best now too.

So the gentle Jesus is also the King, and those two things go together. He is gentle so that we will come to him. He is King so that he can make us whole. His yoke, he says, is easy, and his burden light. Under his rule we find rest.

One thing to do this week: think about one decision you need to make this week. Use Sibbes’s questions: Will this bring me nearer to God or further away? Will it bring peace or sorrow in the end? What would I think of it at the end of my life? Then ask Jesus, your King, to help you choose.