Passage: Matthew 8:18-22
Intro: As a kid growing up in the church, there were certain songs that seemed dishonest for me to sing. Here was one:
1) “Earthly pleasures vainly call me, I would be like Jesus. Nothing worldly shall enthrall me, I would be like Jesus. Be like Jesus, this my song, in the home and in the throng. Be like Jesus all day long. I would be like Jesus.”
2. it is the song of the fully committed disciple, and it’s still a tough song to sing as an expression of the heart still infected with the flesh.
3. the gospels are full of passages like this one where following Jesus as a disciple is the theme, and where the requirements are very challenging.
4. in this story, we’ll discover the reason why discipleship is so challenging, as well as two very specifics areas where that challenge is seen.
I. Following Jesus Goes Beyond the Flesh
1. sometimes the time and place connections in the gospel are tough to see.
2. but I believe this one is quite clear.
3. in vv14-17, Jesus is in Capernaum
4. Peter’s home, some healing took place in the evening.
5. small town and a few people, but easy to see that the news spread quickly and a crowd appeared in v18
6. now here is the challenge of having a “common grace” ministry; one that ministers to the needs people have and want met.
7. it is God’s desire to meet them, and it is good to do so.
8. but just like a ministry of proclamation of the word only without demonstrating the love of God in meeting needs is incomplete, so is only the meeting of felt needs only and not addressing the spiritual condition.
9. people know what they want, but don’t always know what they need.
10. Jesus could have set up a clinic in Capernaum and healed for the rest of His life. But there were other needs to meet.
11. and there is no doubt that he saw the crowds, drawn by the promise of healing, and formulated a quick escape plan.
PP Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, “other side” (east side)
12. v 28 tells us where he ended up..Gadara.
13. this was not a place where your good Jew would go on purpose.
14. for the crowd to follow, would have to go the long way around the Sea, or ford the Jordan carrying their sick person.
PP Jordan River entering Sea of Galilee
15. no doubt that Jesus deliberately cut off the healing service, but those who had watched it were drawn to it.
16. our ministry needs to be careful to meet physical needs, but not stop there.
17. you can draw a crowd with healing or food or appeals to the flesh.
18. but true discipleship goes beyond the flesh, and that is often where the attraction stops.
19. this understanding is critical, because we will see in specifics now the principle Jesus is teaching.
20. that is, that discipleship is a call to live in the world of death but walk in a new way; the way of life.
II. Following Jesus Challenges our Earthly Security
1. a teacher of the law confronted Jesus before the boat departed for the other side.
2. wanted to be a follower, the phrase is a typical one that might be used to initiate the teacher-student relationship.
3. we might think his offer was quite good, “I’ll go wherever you go.”
4. Jesus’ response reveals something about the original offer that we need to see, because Jesus looked beyond the words to see the heart.
5. the Jewish teacher said he would go “wherever”, greek word “opou”
6. Jesus’ response is incredible! He said the animals have places that they retire to at night, but that the “son of man” has no “place” to lay his head.
7. the word translated “Place” is not the normal word for “place.”
8. what Jesus literally says is “the Son of man has no where to lay his head.”
9. “you want me to tell you where, and I am telling you that following me only has a who, not a what or a when or a where.
10. this man wanted some earthly security, he wanted a destination.
11. and Jesus did not have one for him, no earthly security, just a relationship of trusting God.
12. we have seen this before, haven’t we?
PP Matthew 6:33
13. this is one of the most challenging parts of the call of discipleship.
14. it is a relationship of trust in which the where’s and the when’s and the what’s and the why’s are not laid out for us.
15. it is a relationship that takes place in the world but is disconnected from the typical worldly value system.
16. the focus in on the journey of faith, not a known destination.
PP Google maps searching “God’s destination for me”
17. disciples follow, the leader has the map and the provisions.
III. Following Jesus Challenges Competing “Firsts”
1. another disciple to be came up, some translation say “disciple of his”
2. his request seems reasonable, “first let me bury my father.”
3. and Jesus’ response seems pretty heartless, “let the dead bury their own dead.” Hmmm
4. let’s break this down. Burying a parent was a big responsibility in Israel.
5. we don’t know if man was dead yet, perhaps dying. So time is unknown.
6. after death, body was buried in the ground. Then one year later, dug up and put in the family “bone box.”
PP Ossuary
7. and lastly, he wanted to follow Jesus, but “first” he wanted to take care of this business.
8. following Jesus is a life-changing event, and that relationship changes everything.
9. we see other statements like this one about the dead burying their own dead in other places in Scripture.
PP Luke 14:26
10. there is a principle that lies behind these statements that we cannot miss.
11. Jesus is calling us to step outside the culture of death, the normal human culture, to another way of living.
12. this new way of living breaks up funerals, brings life in the face of death.
Il) I have participated in many funerals, and I will tell you that some, in the midst of sorrow, are an absolute delight when you look at the way a person lived, and remember his new residence. And some are just very sad.
13. so Jesus is saying here, “don’t choose participation in the same old ways of death over following me.”
14. but this goes far beyond funerals.
15. Jesus calls us out of the old ways of relating to each other, of worldly pursuits that will leave us with nothing.
16. others may want to participate in the old ways that end in death, but I am calling you to not make that same old mistake.
17. “follow Me, because I bring life, joy, eternal values.”
18. and you will be a better son and father and wife and mother and brother and sister, because I have taught you to look for the welfare of others instead of your own.
PP Philippians 2:6
Conc. It is a new way of life, a new way of thinking that Jesus calls us to.
1. we can come up with excuses, but in the end we will be choosing the temporary and foolish over the eternal and wise.
2. Jesus calls us to a life of great challenge, a life that our sinful flesh will always resist.
3. there will always be reasons why we should not follow, why we should choose the way that everyone else is on.
4. but in the end, Jesus says, “Follow me”
