Under law, man tries to please God and fails. Under grace, God works within us and enables us to please Him (Phil. 2:12,13). Those who are trying to please God and failing to do so, while sincere perhaps, are still under the law. Most of them are weary and heavy laden with their struggle to keep the commandments. Such weary and heavy laden people are the ones whom Jesus invites to come to Him and to exchange their heavy yoke for His light one (Matt. 11:28-30). The yoke is a symbol of partnership - whether in a marriage or in business. Jesus invites us to enter into a partnership with Him where He supplies the capital and we get the profits!

John calls the miracles of Jesus 'signs' (Jn. 2:11). In other words, each miracle was a parable with a message in it. Essentially, the one message that comes across in the miracles recorded in John's gospel, is this, that Jesus wants to enter into a partnership with us. At the marriage at Cana, Jesus could have filled the water pots with wine - from nothing. But then there would have been no partnership. It would have been a one-man show. The servants therefore were invited to share in the miracle by doing their part - the easy part - of filling the pots with water. Then Jesus did the difficult part - of turning it into wine (Jn. 2:1-11). Likewise, in the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus could have produced food from nothing. But He did not do that. He invited a little boy to give Him his lunch packet; and in partnership with that little boy He fed the five thousand (Jn. 6:1-13). The little boy did what he could; and Jesus did what He could! The man born blind too was first asked to do what he could (Jn. 9:1-7). He had to wash in the pool of Siloam. Then Jesus did the difficult part of opening his eyes. We see the same principle in the raising of Lazarus. His friends did the easy part - removing the stone that covered the grave. Jesus then did the difficult part - of raising Lazarus from the dead. His friends were then once again given the opportunity to do what they could - to unbind Lazarus and release him (Jn. 11:38-44). After the resurrection, we seethe disciples going fishing one night. "And that night they caught nothing" (Jn. 21:3). That is a picture of man striving under the law! Then Jesus came. He could have filled their boats with fish without their casting their nets into the sea. A God who commanded the fish to come near Peter's boat on that lake, could just have easily commanded those very fish to jump into his boat. But then there would have been no partnership. So man had to do his part. They had to cast their nets into the sea. Thus in partnership with Jesus the miracle was done. Man does the easy part and Jesus does the difficult part. But they did have to cast their nets. That is the obedience of faith - that Paul speaks of in Rom. 1:5.

This is the gospel of the new covenant that the apostles proclaimed. Where this gospel is not understood, man tends to swing either to one extreme of legalism (striving all night forever and forever, with empty boats and no victory) or to the other extreme of a false grace (where there is no striving at all and no victory either!). Many sincere souls are weary and heavy laden because they are groaning under the burdens of self- made commandments. Like Pharaoh's taskmasters whipped the Israelites to produce more bricks, the devil (disguised as a "preacher of righteousness" -2 Cor. 11:14,15) whips many sincere believers saying, "You are not reading the Bible enough. You are not fasting and praying enough. You are not witnessing enough, etc". Many a preacher too has unconsciously taken sides with Satan in bringing God's people under condemnation through such preaching. All such condemnation is the result of ignorance of the new covenant gospel.

Jesus is a Shepherd who leads His flock by going ahead of them. He does not use a whip and chase them from behind, like a hireling. All preachers who whip their flock are hirelings. True shepherds are those who lead, by being an example themselves. Many have come into bondage because they have listened to hirelings. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save it (Jn. 3:17). Those who minister condemnation to others are therefore not sent by God. God's servants always lead people to salvation. In all our life, Jesus wants to be a partner with us. When Peter came to Jesus to collect the temple tax, Jesus told Peter to throw a hook into the sea and catch the first fish that came up. In its mouth, Jesus said, would be a shekel, which would be sufficient to pay the tax for both Jesus as well as Peter. "For you and Me", were the words that Jesus told Peter (Matt. 17:27). Think of that phrase "For you and Me". This is partnership. Jesus is interested even in helping us to pay our taxes. From the mundane things that affect our everyday life here on the earth, on to the things that will abide forever, Jesus calls us to live by the principle of "You and Me". Jesus said that when we took this yoke of partnership with Him we could find rest in our souls (Matt. 11:28-30). This is the rest that we are exhorted to enter into, by ceasing from our own works (Heb. 4:10,11).

At the age of 95, having walked with God for over 65 years, the apostle John decided to write a letter - inspired by the Holy Spirit. The theme of his letter was 'fellowship' (1 Jn. 1:3). Having seen churches and leaders who had left their first love (Rev. 2:4) and who now had a name that they were alive (with all their varied Christian activities) but who were in fact dead in God's sight (Rev. 3:1), John certainly saw that the great need was to lead Christians into the joy of fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, inside the rent veil. There may be joy found in several fields of activity. Some find it in sport, some in music, some in their profession, and some even in Christian work. But the purest joy in the universe is to be found only in fellowship with the Father (1 Jn. 1:4). The psalmist says, "In Thy presence is fullness of joy" (Psa. 16:11). This was the "joy set before Him" that made Jesus willing to endure the cross daily (Heb. 12:2). The fellowship with the Father was Jesus' most prized possession. He did not value anything else in the universe in comparison with that. This fellowship was what Jesus knew would be broken on Calvary, when for three hours He would have to endure the agonies of an eternal hell for lost humanity (Matt. 27:45). Then the Father would have to forsake Him and the fellowship that He enjoyed with the Father from all eternity would be broken for three hours. He dreaded that break of fellowship so greatly that He sweated great drops of blood in Gethsemane. The cup that He prayed to be removed from Him was just this: A break of fellowship with His Father. If only we could see this and be gripped by it! How lightly we speak and sing about following Jesus! To follow Jesus means to value fellowship with the Father like He did. Sin would then become exceedingly sinful to us, for it breaks our fellowship with the Father. An unloving attitude towards another human being would not even be tolerated, for it would break our fellowship with the Father, etc.

May the Lord give us revelation so that we see clearly that true Christianity is nothing less than a life of unbroken fellowship with a loving Father in heaven.