Knowing Jesus Part 1 with Athol Barnes | 01.05.26

When I ask people if they know Jesus, most people answer yes. But the reality is that their lifestyle and moral choices do not remotely reflect a relationship with Jesus Christ.What does it mean to know Jesus? Is he knowable?In Matthew 11, Jesus was teaching people in the region of Northern Galilee, a region where he had performed many incredible miracles. While the people had seen Jesus do amazing things, most of them did not know him. They loved what he did, but they had no desire to know him.Many people today know what Jesus did; they can explain the Gospel and that salvation is only found by repenting of our sins and placing our faith in Jesus. But do they really know him? Do we?Come to MeIn Matthew 11:28, Jesus offers an incredible invitation, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This invitation was so different from the teaching of the Pharisees, who taught a list of things to do and mandated endless rules to follow. Jesus knew the burden of the law of Moses. Instead of piling on more expectations, he invited the people—as he invites us today—to enter into a relationship with the God of creation, where he promises rest.In 2025 it seemed that burnout was all too common within Christian ministries. I believe that the feeling of ministry exhaustion can be a result of laboring for Jesus rather than with Jesus.At the start of 2026, Jesus invites us to come to him and rekindle our relationship with him—or perhaps get to know him for the first time. Take my YokeJesus continues in verse 29, “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.”A yoke allows two animals to share a load and pull together. The animals yoked together need to be close in size and weight for the cart or plow to pull evenly. In the Bible, the yoke is sometimes referenced metaphorically to describe the weight of a task or obligation (see 1 Kings 12:11 and Isaiah 10:27). When Jesus speaks of his yoke being “easy”, he means that when we let him share our yoke, our burden is no longer heavy because he is pulling with us. When you work for Jesus, it is a heavy yoke; when you work with Jesus, it is easy.Jesus invites us to take his yoke, and we will find rest for our souls (see Philippians 4:5b-7). When you are yoked with the Lord, you know the peace of God that passes all understanding (see Philippians 4:7).Learn from MeJesus invites us to learn from him. As we come to Jesus,submitting to his leadership in our lives, we learn from him. We learn his ways, we learn his nature, and we find peace. Do you know what it means to learn from Jesus? The best way to learn from Jesus is by meditating on his word. The Bible is the revelation of Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we see Jesus revealed in its pages.Developing and growing our personal spiritual disciplines is good, but what if this year, our goal is to know Jesus more and to learn from him rather than trying to do more things for him?His Yoke is EasyIn verse 30, Jesus continued, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The yoke that Jesus has for us is tailor made for us. God knows us better than we know ourselves, and when we are yoked together with Christ, it fits us perfectly.However, Jesus does not mean that the Christian life will be one of carefree ease. The Greek word for “easy”, can be translated as, “suitable fit” or “kind”. Jesus is saying that his yoke is kind and a suitable fit for our lives, and it will not weigh us down. This does not mean we won’t have challenges in life (see John 16:33); rather, we will be yoked with Jesus through the challenges of life.Read More and Discover More Sermons at https://gpchurch.us/