What Happens When We Try to Follow Jesus Christ?
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 8:18-27
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared August 16, 2021)
BACKGROUND:
*Here in Matthew 8, Jesus has finished His Sermon on the Mount, and great multitudes followed Him down the mountain, on the way to Capernaum. During the Lord's ministry, Capernaum was a well-known city on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Albert Barnes called it the metropolis of all Galilee. (1)
*On the way to the city, Jesus miraculously healed a leper. Then in Capernaum, a Roman centurion found the Lord and pleaded for Jesus to heal his paralyzed servant. The Lord offered to go to the soldier's home for the healing. But in Matthew 8:8, with great humility and faith, the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed." When Jesus heard that, in vs. 10, "He marveled, and said to those who followed, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!'" The original word for "marvel" there means that Jesus was amazed, and He greatly admired the soldier's faith.
*The Lord miraculously healed that soldier's servant from a short distance, but Jesus could have done that from the other side of the moon, or the other side of the universe for that matter! Praise the Lord!
*Next in vs. 14-17, Jesus went to Peter's house. There the Lord healed Peter's mother-in-law with a touch. That same night, with just a word, Jesus cast evil spirits out many demon-possessed people. He also healed everyone there who was sick.
*But starting in vs. 18, the great crowd became a problem, and Jesus decided to take a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. We don't know all the reasons why Jesus left Capernaum, but He surely needed some rest. And wherever the Lord chose to go, was exactly where He needed to be.
*In tonight's Scripture we will see the Lord's disciples, and two men who were thinking about becoming His followers. All of these men help us understand what happens when we try to follow Jesus Christ. Please keep this in mind as we read vs. 14-27.
MESSAGE:
*Jesus Christ is the one and only eternal Son of God. Our crucified and risen Savior will reign forever as the rightful King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He deserves our utmost love and loyalty. But what happens to us when we try to follow Jesus Christ?
1. FIRST: HE WILL HELP US COUNT THE COST.
*When we seek to follow Jesus, He will help us count the cost of following Him. This is one of the lessons for us tonight in vs. 18-20:
18. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side.
19. Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.''
20. And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.''
*Why did Jesus say that? One reason why is that He wanted us to know the high cost of commitment to Him. The Lord never hid this hard truth from His would-be followers. And the high cost of following Christ is a recurring theme in the New Testament.
*For example, in Matthew 10:34-36 Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.' And 'a man's foes will be those of his own household.'"
*There the Lord quoted Micah 7:6, and ever since, Christians around the world have faced the most brutal kinds of persecution. By God's grace, believers in the United States have so far been spared from horrible persecution. But being a Christian is not always going to be a piece of cake. It can be very hard. People will stand against you when you stand for Jesus Christ, sometimes even people in your own family.
*Jesus wants us to know the high cost of commitment to Him. Of course, it's worth the cost! But when we try to follow Jesus, He will help us count the cost of following Him.
2. JESUS WILL ALSO REMIND US OF HIS SACRIFICE.
*This is another essential truth for us in vs. 19-20:
19. Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.''
20. And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.''
*Yes, in vs. 20 Jesus helped the scribe count the cost of following Him. But the Savior did that by pointing out part of His great sacrifice for us. Again: "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." The Lord who owns all of Heaven and this whole universe did not own a home during His earthly ministry.
*Another part of the Lord's sacrifice is seen in the name Jesus gave Himself on that day, He called Himself "the Son of Man." This is the first of 88 times this name is found in the New Testament. And there is much more to say about it, but here the name "Son of Man" highlights the fact that the eternal Son of God humbled Himself to take on a mortal human body. (2)
*No one else could have ever made a sacrifice like Jesus has made for us. He left His home in Heaven. He left His throne for us! And He died on the cross for us! Paul put it this way in Philippians 2:5-8:
5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7. but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
*After Jesus was brutally beaten, and mocked with a crown of thorns, He was nailed to a cross for us. Let that truth sink in more tonight: Jesus was nailed to a cross for our sins. And studying the Lord's sacrifice can strengthen our faith. The more we focus on what Jesus has done for us, the more we will see that we can trust Him.
*As Craig Nelson once wrote, "Jesus is the only one in the universe who has, once and for all, completely and totally proven Himself trustworthy by shedding His blood and dying on the cross. He no longer needs to prove He is trustworthy, yet He does so on a moment-by-moment basis in every circumstance and situation. By trusting your entire body, mind, soul, and spirit completely into His hands, you will experience His peace." (3)
*The more we focus on what Jesus has done for us, the more we will see that we can trust Him. And when we try to follow the Lord, He will remind us of His sacrifice.
3. JESUS WILL ALSO STRESS THE URGENCY OF OUR SERVICE.
*This is what the Lord did in vs. 21-22. There, "another of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' But Jesus said to him, 'Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'''
*Was the Lord saying that we shouldn't care for our parents? -- Of course not. Most of us know that one of the Ten Commandments is: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you." That's the Lord's Fifth Commandment, and it's found in Exodus 20:12. The Apostle Paul repeated it in Ephesians 6:1-3, and there he said, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'Honor your father and mother,' which is the first commandment with promise: 'that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.'''
*In 1 Timothy 5:8, Paul also said: "If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
*The Lord would never tell us to neglect or abuse our families. Rather, in Matthew 8, Jesus is trying to help us see the urgency of our service in His Church. Time is short. We must do what we can while we can.
*In John 9:4, Jesus said, "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work." And the Lord wants us to understand the urgency of our service.
*A 35-year-old woman from England woke up to this urgency in a remarkable way. Her name was Anita Goulden. In 1958 she went on vacation to visit her brother in Peru.
*Anita was a widowed, single mother who owned two clothing stores in Manchester, England. She was about to go home by way of the United States when she saw an unbelievable sight: Children with tuberculosis and meningitis lying neglected and abandoned in the street in pools of their own blood.
*Anita wrote in her diary: "In my wildest dream, I had never thought of human beings in such shocking conditions. The appalling poverty; the indifference of those around. I can only liken it to visiting a store and finding all the goods priced wrongly: Precious goods worthless. Worthless goods precious." So, Anita stayed to help. For the next 44 years she stayed, only returning home one time before her death in 2002, and that trip was to buy medicine.
*Anita started traveling by donkey to the nearby villages surrounding Piura, Peru to find more unwanted children. Her first stop in these towns was always the pigsty. It was the common place for leaving physically and mentally handicapped babies. They were left there because they were of no use to their families and thought to be sent as a curse from God.
*Anita's Peruvian assistant said of her, "She has a direct line to God." And "Thank God for the British." Anita herself merely said, "Thank God there is a God." (4)
*How did Anita Goulden get the faith to turn a vacation into 44 years of helping abandoned children in Peru? The Lord helped her to see the urgency of the work He wanted her to do. And that's what He wants to do in our lives. It doesn't have to be in a faraway place like Peru. It can be right here in Caldwell Parish. And it may deal with people who have big bank accounts, but empty hearts. Ask the Lord, and He will show you what to do.
*When we try to follow the Lord, He will stress the urgency of our service.
4. AND HE WILL REVEAL HIS GREATNESS TO US.
*One of our biggest problems is that we tend to underestimate the greatness of God. But the more we seek to follow Jesus, the more He will reveal His greatness to us, and that's what happened in vs. 23-27:
23. Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.
24. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. (The NIV says, "Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.")
25. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!''
26. But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?'' Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm.
27. And the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?''
*These followers were hit by a savage storm. The original word for "tempest" or "furious storm" is "seismos." It means commotion in the air or shaking like an earthquake. That's why the machine used to measure earthquakes is called a seismograph.
*They were hit by a furious storm. This reminds us that we will be hit by storms too. And notice that the storm hit when they got in the boat with Jesus. It hit when they were trying to obey the Lord and stay close to Him. God's lesson for us is clear: Just because we are trying to follow Jesus doesn't mean we will miss the storms. Following Jesus will even bring new storms into our lives.
*But just like those disciples in the sinking boat, we can cry out to the Lord! We will find that Jesus is right there with us. We will have the best company in the worst of storms. The greatest power in the universe, and the greatest Friend in the world will be there with us. And somehow, some way, Jesus will take us through the storms. He will reveal His greatness to us!
[1] WHY DOES THE LORD DO IT? FIRST, IT'S TO HELP US HAVE MORE FAITH IN HIM.
*Here in vs. 26 Jesus "said to them, 'Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?' Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm." Mark 4:39 says Jesus "arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm."
*Do you think it was hard for Jesus to calm the storm? Did He have to struggle or strain? No, of course not. It was just 3 words in English: "Peace, be still!" That's all it took to calm that raging sea.
*In the original language, it was just 2 words: The first word means "hush," like you would say to a whining child or a barking dog. It's been a long time, but I can remember lots of times I've said "hush" to a little child, without too much success. And our dog, "Freckles," used to start barking like crazy every time somebody came to the door. My "hush" didn't work on her either.
*But Christians, Jesus can calm the fiercest storm, with a little "hush." And just to make sure, that word for "be still" meant to put a muzzle on something. There is no storm too big for Jesus to muzzle! Nothing is too hard for God! And Jesus reveals His greatness to help us have more faith in Him.
[2] BUT HE ALSO REVEALS HIS GREATNESS TO HELP US HAVE MORE GODLY FEAR.
*In vs. 26-27:
26. . . He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?'' Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm.
27. And the men marveled, saying, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?''
*The disciples marveled at Jesus' command over the winds and the sea. But that's not all. Mark 4:41 tells us that "they feared exceedingly, and Luke 8:25 says "they were afraid, and marveled."
*At first, the disciples were afraid of the storm. But now they were stuck in the boat with someone much stronger than the storm! They had a righteous, holy fear of the Lord, and so should we! Jesus Christ is Almighty God! All power has been given to Him by the Heavenly Father. We must never take Jesus lightly.
CONCLUSION:
*Thank God that Jesus is as good as He is great! He deserves our reverence and devotion. He deserves our obedience. He deserves our all. And we can follow Him fully, knowing that Jesus will see us through the worst storms of life. We must believe that all good things are possible with God. We must believe that He is able to work any miracle. And God still works miracles in the world today!
*Many of us have testimonies about God's miraculous intervention in our lives. At home we have a copy of a Last Will and Testament from our old friends Bill and Chrissy. This will made us the legal guardians of their children -- if necessary.
*Captain Bill became one of my best friends when I worked for the Air Force in the late 1970s. We got a call from Bill in the fall of 1993. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. And he wanted to ask us to raise their two children if anything also happened to his wife, Chrissy. Bill and Chrissy chose us, because none of their close relatives were Christians.
*Bill went to Cleveland for a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save his life. The surgery involved taking his face off to get to the tumor. They did one last CAT scan just before the surgery. Bill was lying on the bed in pre-op when the doctor came in and said, "I am in shock and disbelief. And I can't justify the surgery." Bill asked, "Why?" And the doctor said: "The tumor's gone! We've been looking at the CAT scan for an hour. And we can't find it."
*Jesus Christ is able to work any miracle, and we must have faith in Him. But Christian, you may ask: "Where's my miracle?"
*Well, you may never receive a healing like Bill's. But God knows best, and He has a far better place waiting for His children. And even if you never get miraculously healed, I promise you that you have a miracle in your lap right now, -- if you brought your Bible to church.
*The Word of God is a unique book, sent to us from God through men who were inspired by His Holy Spirit. God's Word is able to guide us in every situation of life. God's Word is even able to save your soul, -- if you will put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
*Receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you will have the greatest miracle of all! You will be saved forever by the cross of Christ! Then get busy following Jesus. Do anything and everything you can to serve Him, as long as God leaves you in this world.
(1) ALBERT BARNES' NOTES ON THE BIBLE by Albert Barnes - Published in 1847-85 - Matthew 4:13 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019
(2) EXPLORING THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "Power Over Disaster" - Matthew 8:18-27 - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc.
(3) SermonCentral sermon "Trust and Obey - The Only Way" by Craig Nelson - Luke 3:22-25
(4) SermonCentral Staff. Citation: "Anita Goulden." news.telegraph.co.uk 1/03/2002 - http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/
-03/01/db0101.xml and "The Anita Goulden Trust Newsletter" - http://www.agtrust.org/left_option/anita_goulden.htm.
