So You Want to be a Disciple

Intro

Jesus brings Heaven on Earth.

He’s come to establish His kingdom, part of which is establishing His authority.

He did so as he delivered the sermon on the mount.

He did so when he healed the leper, the centurion’s servant, and Peter’s mother in-law. Not to mention the numerous people after that.

All this has seemed to gather a crowd. Too many times we can start to believe that something has value, is good, or is important if we see people gathering to listen, watch or be a part of. That’s not always the case. Let’s read our first passage of the night and lets look at what’s Selhappening.

Matthew 8:18 ESV

18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.

A crowd gathers at the mall in town, what do most people do? Run and make the crowd bigger, trying to see what’s going on. Right? Sometimes we can see people gathering around us, whether it’s a literal crowd, or followers on facebook or instagram, we feel like the more people that “like what we are saying” means we are doing somehting right.

If we are truly standing on God’s word and following Him obediently, we won’t always draw a crowd or have people happy with our message. The message of the gospel, as good as it is, is a divisive message. It confronts the sinner in his comforts and calls him or her to repentance and real change. It does not, nor will it ever meet us in our sin and condone, justify, or accept our desire to remain there or be comfortable in our sin. The gospel message calls us to a life of change, sacrifice and suffering, all the while enjoying it knowing that it’s for Jesus that we do these things.

Too many times we think of God’s gift of salvation as being free and you’re right to an extent. Here’s the polarizing truth though. A life surrendered to Christ as a disciple and follower of Him, will cost you everything! If you do it for the right reasons.

Here we see Jesus realizing he’s drawing a crowd and what is his natural reaction? He wants to get away from them. He realizes that drawing a crowd doesn't’ mean success. He realizes that some might follow or want to follow him for the wrong reasons.

The Scribe - Possible selfish gain

Matthew 8:19–20 ESV

19 And a scribe came up 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.”

Scribe - teacher of the Law.

Addresses Jesus as teacher so he recognizes his authority, at least as a teacher. His statement sounds good, but it seems that Jesus knows his heart. Either way, there seems to be a misconception of what’s involved in following Jesus.

Maybe he thought that with his schooling and back ground that he could be an asset to Jesus’ ministry.

Maybe he looked at all that Jesus had done and saw dollar signs and figured a partnership with Jesus would be a lucrative venture.

Regardless of what may have been, Jesus response tells us, the truth of what it means to follow Jesus.

all the things of life that we seek after to bring us comfort and security, that we can get form this world anyway, Jesus tells us to forsake seeking them.

he tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and we would have everything we would ever need.

Here he tells this scribe, I have no comfortable home, or ministry expense account to put us up in lavish accommodations.

Jesus is telling him, I don’t even know where I will sleep tonight.

Following Jesus means letting Him lead you and being okay and even joyful with where ever He leads you. It’s contentment in Him alone! The rest of the details are just that! Details!

Burry My Dad

Matthew 8:21–22 ESV

21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

This one hits home! On the surface, it seems almost mean for Jesus to say what he says. Doesn’t the Law command a son to take care of his parents, let alone be the one responsible for burying him?

That’s not the issue here at all. In ancient times people were buried the same day they died. They had to otherwise they’d really start stinking. They didn’t have all the preservatives we eat today.

This man’s father was not dead yet, and the problem here is that he really didn’t know what was going to happen or when he would die. The man wanted to follow Jesus but just not yet. He wanted to get his affairs in order. He wanted to wait for just the right moment. What was really happening was that somehting was holding him back.

Look at the calling of Simon Peter, James, John, and Andrew. They dropped everything to follow Jesus. They had already started to understand the cost of following Jesus. Peter left his occupation, his wife and his sick mother in-law to follow Christ. How? Because Jesus was the Messiah, he realized it and he realized the absolute value in doing just that! Casting all things aside as less important to follow the one true God.

Jesus pressed the man to follow Him now, and clearly stated the principle that family obligations — or any other obligation — must not be put ahead of following Jesus. Jesus must come first.

Jesus was merely being honest. This is what it meant to follow Him, and He wanted people to know it at the beginning.

“Much of the concerns of politics, party tactics, committee meetings, social reforms, innocent amusements, and so forth, may be very fitly described as burying the dead. Much of this is very needful, proper, and commendable work; but still only such a form of business as unregenerate men can do as well as disciples of Jesus. Let them do it; but if we are called to preach the Gospel, let us give ourselves wholly to our sacred calling.” (Spurgeon)

What Following Jesus is Like

Matthew 8:23–25 ESV

23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”

Jesus gets on the boat and his disciples followed him. We don’t have a list of names but we know it doesn’t include Matthew. That comes a bit later.

Sea of Galilee - known for its bad weather and sudden, violent storms.

It’s obvious that this storm was severe because the disciples were fearing for their lives.

“Was covered, hidden, the waves rising high above the boat, breaking on it, and gradually filling with water.”

Disciples who follow Jesus will encounter storms and waves. They will feel at times that they can’t see how they will last due to the relentless waves crashing down on them. So how is it that they were all fearing for their lives and Jesus was sleeping.

The disciples were looking at what was coming against them and lived out their fear, or lack of trust in God, instead of resting in peace in the one who holds all things together.

Jesus mind and heart were peaceful enough, trusting in the love and care of His Father in heaven, that’s how He could sleep in the storm.

Matthew 8:26–27 ESV

26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Jesus rebuked their fear and unbelief, not their request or waking Him. We shouldn’t think that Jesus was in a bad mood from being awakened. He was upset at their fear, because fear and unbelief go together. When we trust God as we should trust Him, there is little room left for fear.

They actually had many reasons to have faith, even great faith.

They had just seen Jesus do significant miracles, showing great power and authority.

They had seen an example of great faith with the centurion who trusted Jesus to heal his servant.

They had Jesus with them in the boat. And, they saw Jesus sleep; His peace should have given them peace.

Jesus didn’t merely quiet the wind and the sea; He rebuked the winds and the sea. This, together with the disciples’ great fear and what Jesus would encounter at His destination, leads some to believe that there was some type of spiritual attack in the storm.

Adam Clarke supposed that the storm was “Probably excited by Satan, the prince of the power of the air, who, having got the author and all the preachers of the Gospel together in a small vessel, thought by drowning it, to defeat the purposes of God, and thus to prevent the salvation of a ruined world. What a noble opportunity must this have appeared to the enemy of the human race!”

The disciples were amazed. Such a powerful display over creation led them to ask, “Who can this be?” It could only be the LORD, Jehovah, who only has this power and authority.

Psalm 89:8–9 ESV

8 O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? 9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.

In the span of a few moments, the disciples saw both the complete humanity of Jesus (in His tired sleep) and the fullness of His deity. They saw Jesus for who He is: truly man and truly God.

Setting Our Own Terms

Luke 9:61–62 ESV

61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

There is an operative word in this statement from this third follower of Christ. The word, but. I will follow you Lord, but seems to. Communicate that I will follow you, but on my own terms, at my chosen time, and in my chosen way. We don’t get to dictate what it means to follow Christ. He calls us to follow and we either will on his terms, or we won’t no matter how we might try to negotiate it.

In plowing a field in that day, a farmer kept the rows straight by focusing on an object in front and in the distance (such as a tree). If the farmer started to plow and kept looking behind, he would never make straight rows and do a good job plowing. In following Jesus, we are to keep our eyes on Jesus, and never take our eyes off Him. “No ploughman ever ploughed a straight furrow looking back over his shoulder.” (Barclay)

Ploughmen are not usually learned persons, nor are they often poets in disguise. But there is one virtue they possess pre-eminently, and that is the virtue of quietly holding to it.” (Morrison)

Where are you?

So, where are you? This is a question that God ask all through out scripture.

God asks it of Adam in the Garden after He eats the forbidden fruit.

God asks if of Cain in Genesis 4 when his countenance has fallen.

He asks it of Peter at the sea of Galilee before his ascension.

So, I ask you today. Where are you?

Do you find yourself, like the scribe, interested in following Jesus because of who he is and what he can bring you?

Do you find yourself, like the disciple, not ready yet, because you are holding on to some excuse that is holding you back from whole heartedly following Jesus.

do you find yourself, like the third follower, only willing to follow Christ on your own terms.

Or, do you find yourself, like the disciples in the boat, facing the waves and the storm. The will come. IT will happen. Is your savior worth it to you to follow him no matter what?

Here’s the thing to keep at the forefront of your mind, disciple of Christ, in the midst of your storm, Jesus is sleeping. Not asleep at the wheel, but sleeping. Knowing that nothing is out of HIS control. Not out of his will.

Psalm 9:10 ESV

10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Drop your nets, rest in Him as you follow Him!

Communion..