Matthew 8:18-34

Have you ever stated watching a movie before realizing that you’ve seen it before? You know you’ve seen it and you recognize what’s going on, but you don’t remember what’s going to happen next.

I’m going to start this evening by quickly going over some material I’ve given before. For some you already know this. For some it might be the first time you’ve heard it. And for some it might be like watching that movie, you recognize it, but can’t recall everything about it from memory. The more we hear something the more likely we are to remember it. And the more we know about our faith the better, so I’m going to repeat it. Hopefully you’ll recall at least some of it.

What I want to go over are the Greek words for love. There are three Greek words for love make their way into the New Testament.

The first word is eros. We get our word “erotic” from this Greek word. Eros is a love of the senses: see, taste, touch, smell, or hear. When I say I love chocolate chip cookies this is the word I’m using. I love something because of what it will do for me.

The second word is philos. This word shows up in the name Philadelphia – the city of brotherly love. Philos is a friendship love. It’s a mutual love for what we can do for each other. You’ve had friends in your life that you talked to regularly and now you don’t know where they are. They were in your life because you shared some common interest, but that’s gone and so is the friendship.

And then there’s agape. If eros is what the object can do for you and philos is what you can do for each other, then agape is a love for what I can do for you. It’s the sacrificial love of a parent for a child. And at its supreme, it’s God’s love for us.

The question I want to ask you is what kind of love do you have for God? Do you love him for what he can do for you? Do you love him for what you can do for each other? Do you love God simply because of who he is?

I’m afraid too many people – even too many who call themselves Christians – never get past the first two loves and never reach the level of agape love for God. They want what God can give them, but if that stops then so does their love.

Isn’t that what Job’s wife suggested to Job?

His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9)

What has God done for you lately? If God loved you he wouldn’t have allowed us to endure this. So if this is the way he’s going to repay your devotion then just curse him and be done with him.

Have you ever felt that way?

This evening we are going to look at two short stories of people who came to follow Jesus. But in each case Jesus questioned the depth of their devotion to him. Occasionally we need to examine our devotion to God as well.

I remember when I was in high school trying to join the Key Club. That was the cool club in high school. I tried but I didn’t get in. My cousin Randy applied and he was accepted, but he was cooler than I was. Have you ever tried to join a club? I remember the quote about joining a club made by Groucho Marx:

I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.

Why do people join clubs? Most often we join a club for what we can get out of it. We need to make sure we don’t do the same when it comes to following Jesus. I think there are some who will say:

I believe in Jesus. I’m a big fan. But don’t ask me to follow him. I don’t want Jesus to interfere with my life. It’s all about what I get out of it a not about what I put into it.

Even Jesus noticed that he had lots of fans, but he didn’t have many followers.

Turn with me to Matthew 8. Our passage last week ended with lots of people coming to Jesus with their sick. Our passage this week starts with Jesus crossing over to the other side of the lake because of the large crowds. You would think Jesus would want to stay where the crowds were. If he wants to spread his message he needs to go to the people. But whenever Jesus sees a large crowd forming he backs away or he says something that will drive them away. That’s because Jesus doesn’t want fans, he wanted followers. Jesus is looking for devoted disciples who would be willing to give it all for him. Tonight we have three stories about those who would follow Jesus.

The first story is about a teacher of the law.

If you were a Marine recruiter and a young man came to you saying, “I’m here to join the Marines. I ready to be all that I can be,” how would you respond? You’d think that was great. You didn’t have to go find him, he found you. If only you had more like this guy.

If you were a coach for a women’s college basketball team recruiting players and the leading girl’s high school basketball player says, “I want to play for your team,” what would your response be? She’s made your day. This is kind of player you’re looking for to be on your team.

This is what happened in the first story. The first guy who came to Jesus was a teacher of the law. This is a guy who had excelled in school and was eventually accepted to doctoral level program to continue his studies. This guy knew the Old Testament. He probably had the entire Old Testament memorized. He’s among the elite. He comes to Jesus and says, “I want to throw in my lot with you.” And how does Jesus respond?

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20)

You would think Jesus would be excited to have this guy as a disciple. It would be like a famous celebrity becoming a Christian. Everyone’s happy to have him on our side now. But that’s not the reaction he gets from Jesus. Jesus starts telling him about how difficult it’s going to be. It’s as if Jesus is trying to talk him out of it. Does that sound like Jesus is happy to have him? Not really.

Why does Jesus respond this way? We know that Jesus is able to read the hearts of people so maybe he sees something no one else sees. Perhaps he understands that what this guy really wants from Jesus is whatever he can get from him, but he’s not really interested in following Jesus. It appears this teacher in the law is just a fan so Jesus just sends him home. Fans are a dime a dozen, Jesus wants committed followers.

Think about the way the teacher of the law addresses Jesus as opposed to the way the leper and the centurion address Jesus. The leper and the centurion call Jesus “Lord.” The teacher of the law refers to Jesus as another “teacher.” Jesus is equal. They’re both teachers.

Jesus certainly doesn’t think he’s adequately thought about what it will really mean to be one of his disciples. It will cost him everything. Too often we think we’re God a favor by believing in him. We need to make sure we understand the cost of following Jesus. And when we encourage others to become Christians we need to make sure they understand as well. Jesus isn’t looking for fans. He never told us to make converts. Jesus said to go make disciples – committed followers.

The second story is about a man who wanted to follow Jesus. He came to Jesus wanting to follow, but first he asked for permission to go bury his father. And Jesus told him no. Jesus told the man to follow him and let the dead bury the dead.

Doesn’t that seem a little cold? This guy seems sincere about following Jesus. All the guy wants to do is take care of his father as the Old Testament law commands. So what was wrong?

Did Jesus have a problem with taking care of aging parents? I don’t think so. Jesus made sure there was someone to take care of Mary. Dying on the cross he asked John to take care of his mother. Did Jesus just have a problem with funerals? I don’t think that was it either. Although, you can’t point to a single funeral Jesus attended that went as scheduled. Every funeral we know about him attending he interrupted the funeral procession by raising the deceased back to life.

The problem for us when we read this story is it’s hard to know just what the guy is asking. I think it’s a fair assumption that the man’s father wasn’t dead yet. Funerals were done immediately. There was no waiting a few days for family to come in. The dead were buried the day they died. So this guy’s father probably wasn’t dead or else he’d be at the funeral. So really we’re left So really we’re left with two options. First, his father could have been on his death bed so the man knew the funeral would be pretty soon. However, since the man didn’t say, it’s more likely that his father was in good health and he was just wanting to be with his father until he died which could have taken years. He felt an obligation to stay around and help support the family until his father dies. Then he’d feel free to go and follow Jesus. I don’t think we should assume the worst about the man, but it could be that he was interested in a possible inheritance that he’d miss out on if he wasn’t not around when his father died. As I said, with so little information given, it’s hard know exactly what the man was meaning by is request to go bury his father. He appears to genuinely follow Jesus, but not yet. He wants to follow Jesus, but in his own timing.

We don’t know the man’s heart, but Jesus did.

We need to remember that God puts a high value on the family. In a few chapters Jesus will rebuke the Pharisees for teaching others how to get out of their obligation to help their parents. However, it’s easy to put family ahead of God. And Jesus spoke about that as well. Jesus said that whoever loved their family more than him wasn’t worthy to follow him. And that’s what some do. Some place more value on their earthly family than on their spiritual family.

Jesus talked about it being better if someone didn’t marry because then they would be able to give more time serving God. It’s especially a problem if we care more about pleasing our earthly families more than we care about pleasing God. It’s been said that the biggest barrier for foreign missions is parents. Parents don’t want to see their children go to away. In the end they place their love for their child ahead of God’s will and calling. Jesus needs to be first and center in our lives.

The first story warns us not to be too quick to make promises to God. The second story warns us not to be slow in obeying. Don’t bury your allegiance to God in your attachments to this world because Jesus offers more than this world ever could.

Let’s look at one more short story that immediately follows these. Our passage started by saying that Jesus was getting in a boat to get away from the crowds. Now he is finally in the boat with his disciples. He’s worn out after all his time with the crowds so he takes a nap. While he’s sleeping a storm hits.

Isn’t that where you’d want to be in the middle of a storm? I rather sleep through it. Ignorance is bliss. Jesus is resting comfortably while the disciples are certain they’re going to die.

I don’t know how big the waves were, though you can be certain they weren’t as big as the waves you see hit the boats on the TV show Deadliest Catch. I don’t know how they survive that and not get sunk or washed overboard. The waves on the Sea of Galilee may not have been as big, but their boat wasn’t as big either.

Many of the disciples were trained fishermen. They’d grown up on the lake and they were afraid of dying as well. So that tells us this was a pretty bad storm. And Jesus was sleeping. The disciples did the only thing they knew to do, they woke him up. I’m not sure what they were expecting him to do, but they figured he should at least keep them company.

The first thing Jesus does is rebuke the disciples for their lack of faith. Then he rebukes the wind and the waves. And when he did they became perfectly calm. The disciples didn’t know what to think.

What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him? (Matthew 8:27b)

If the first men thought too much of what the world could give them, the disciples thought too much of what the world could take away. They didn’t trust Jesus enough.

It’s been said that when knights of the Knights Templar were baptized that the church would allow them to be baptized with their swords. However, they wouldn’t allow their swords to go under. It wouldn’t be good for the swords to get wet so they would hold them up in the air as they went under. However, symbolically, it was as if they were saying, “God I give everything to you except my sword. You can have control of me, but you can’t have control of this.”

If that were the practice today what might some of us be holding up? A wallet. A remote control. A picture of the family. If you were to say, “Jesus, you can have everything except blank,” what would you fill in the blank with?

Or let me put it another way. What is the one thing that if it were to be taken away from you, you’d think you had no reason to go on living. That’s your idol. We aren’t to put anything ahead of our devotion to Jesus.

In what ways to we overestimate what the world can give us or underestimate what Jesus calls us to? What keeps us from completely following and obeying Jesus.

In his book Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman writes,

The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but who aren’t actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them.

This idea that Jesus wants us to be fans not only obscures our mission – that our lives and the lives of others would be changed by the grace of God – but it reinforces the false idea that all this is really about me.

This passage tells us that we are not to follow Jesus because of what we get out it, we are to follow Jesus because of who he is. When Jesus calms the storm the disciples ask, “What kind of man is this?” So just who is Jesus?

In verse 20 Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. This was his favorite title when referring to himself. This is the first time we find it in the gospel of Matthew, but we’ll find it almost thirty times in Matthew alone. The title comes from the Old Testament where it simply means a human – a descendant of Adam. But the title is also used in Daniel 7 referring to a special person who will come as a representative of all God’s people having suffered at the hands of the enemy yet come out victorious thus deserving glory as king right alongside God.

13 In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

What sort of man is this? He is the King of heaven and earth who gave his life on the cross to defeat the powers of evil. He died on the cross to rescue us from our sins and now calls us to follow him.

But Jesus is also a man who has control even over nature. After this miracle the disciples are more afraid of him than they were of the sea. That’s because they know the only one what that kind of power is God. In Psalm 104 we read:

But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. (Psalm 104:7)

What sort of man is Jesus? Why is he worth following? Because he is God with us.

There are three primary titles Jesus is given in the New Testament. The first is Rabbi or teacher. Even those who don’t believe in God think that Jesus was a good teacher. They know he lived a good life and encouraged others to live a good life. I don’t know of anyone who would have a difficult time calling Jesus a teacher.

A second title for Jesus in the New Testament is Christ. Christ is not his last name, it is a title. It’s the New Testament form of Messiah. The two words mean the same thing – Anointed One. When we call Jesus the Christ we’re saying that he is the promised one who would one day come to save people from their sins. Unbelievers would have a difficult time calling Jesus the Christ. Either they don’t think they have sins that need to be forgiven by Jesus dying on a cross or they think there are other ways to be forgiven.

And then the third title given to Jesus in the New Testament is Lord. The word Lord can also be interchanged with the word master. A lord or master is someone who has the authority to tell you what to do. The master speaks and you obey. Even people who say they believe Jesus to be the Christ have a hard time accepting Jesus as Lord.

Almost all people are willing to allow Jesus to teach them. Many are willing to allow Jesus to die for their sins. But fewer are willing to allow Jesus to be their Lord. They don’t want Jesus telling them what to do. Which are we? Are we committed disciples of Jesus or are we just enthusiastic fans? Are we willing to follow Jesus no matter what the cost, or are we only interested in what Jesus can give us?