Discipleship Expectations

Intro

Today, we consider what it looks like to follow Jesus.

My younger brother this week began officer school in Rhode Island to be a fighter pilot for the Navy. My mom called me and asked us to be praying for him. She won’t be able to speak to him for three weeks, the longest in his life he has ever gone without a conversation from mom.

When you are interested in joining the armed forces, you might have two initial feelings. Enthusiasm would be one feeling. You might like some of what is offered. The opportunity to serve your country, keep the nation safe, follow in the footsteps of your relatives, have free healthcare, dental, and optical, get a college education with no debt, travel the world. A lot of good benefits exist for being in the military.

But beyond the initial enthusiasm, you need to assess how the decision to join the military will affect your life. You might not always like the decisions that your leaders make, you might not like the commander and chief, but you are committing to follow their leadership, even when you disagree.

Timidity could be another feeling you have. You might be on the fence. Or wondering if you can prioritize multiple things in your life. But to join the military is to fully commit is to prioritize it above all else in your life. Above family, above your dreams, above your goals, above your desires, above your comfort.

To make a decision to the join the military is not one to take lightly. You must set aside the initial enthusiasm, and the timidity, to count the cost and to fully commit.

Jesus has two people that come to him desiring to be his disciples in our passage today. One that is enthusiastic, and one that is timid. Jesus in our text today is not trying to dissuade anyone from being a follower, but he is asking his disciples to set aside enthusiasm and timidity to truly assess if we are really wanting to commit to him with our life.

The Main Point for us today: Jesus desires his followers to commit to him fully with our lives.

In verse 18, we see Jesus realizing the crowds around him and wanting to pull away from them. He is showing us that the disciples are different than the regular crowd. His true followers must be willing to follow him into difficulty. And here, they are going to gentile land, and we will soon find out, through a storm.

Jesus goes on a boat. Archeology from the time of Jesus tells us that these boats held about 12 people. They found one in the mud in the mid 1900s. So most likely, Jesus was going to be bringing his closest disciples of the crowd. So these two people in our passage appear to want to be on the boat of disciples who closely follow Jesus.

The two people in our passage today seem to want to follow Jesus, but are they really wanting to follow Jesus in what he has called them to?

I. Set Aside Enthusiasm v18-19

First today, Jesus asks us to set aside initial enthusiasm.

This might sound odd. We should be enthusiastic with the gospel right? We should be enthusiastic in following Jesus right?

Yes absolutely! But in this section we see people who are initially enthusiastic, but not totally committed. They are pumped up on good Jesus vibes, but unwilling to follow when it gets hard.

Like someone loving the idea of playing guitar, being super enthusiastic about the idea, but when it comes down to the discomfort of all the callused fingers and the memorizing of chord positions, nevermind!

Lets look at what happens here.

Verse 19 says:

Matthew 8:19 “19 Then an expert in the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.””

Despite Jesus being negative about scribes in his teachings, this scribe seems to have an initial enthusiasm to follow Jesus.

Verse 21 says that “another of the disciples” which might imply this scribe was also a disciple. Not one of the 12 that Jesus calls, but some of the many who wanted to follow Jesus.

There seems to be a few categories for Matthews audience. The crowds who liked Jesus, the disciples who followed Jesus, and then a third category, an in between category like the two characters in our story today. They seem more committed than the crowd, but not fully committed to Jesus. They live in the grey. One foot in, one foot out.

R.C. Ryle says that nothing has done more harm for Christianity than the practice of filling the ranks of Christ’s kingdom with every volunteer who is willing to make a little profession and talk fluently of their experience.

Scribes would have been viewed maybe like brain surgeons. They were elite in their career field. Not just doctors, not just surgeons, but brain surgeons.

Literary skills of reading and writing were a privilege at Jesus’s time. Because writing materials were expensive, if you dealt with them, you were important and well respected. Someone who copied and had access to the Biblical text would have been even more elite.

He calls Jesus teacher. This is an accurate title, but also simply adequate. Compare this against the Leper and the Centurion we talked about last week earlier in chapter 8. They called him Lord. Willing to submit to his authority.

But a scribe calling him teacher is also significant, because scribes were highly respected and knowledgeable people. After hearing Jesus’s sermon on the mount, he realizes Jesus has something to say and it is unique and fresh.

But calling Jesus teacher in Matthew is always done by outsiders, not true disciples.

Those who call Jesus teacher are often not his disciples. If you talk to even the atheist, they are willing to say Jesus was a good teacher.

Because of Jesus’s response, he likely had an immediate understanding of where Jesus was going rather than a long term commitment. He was willing to go across the sea with Jesus, but did he fully understand what he was getting into?

Maybe he liked the comfort of being close to Jesus, as a fellow higher thinker. But Jesus is going to challenge his view of comfortable discipleship.

Jesus’s response to him is offputting. We find it in verse 20.

Matthew 8:20 NET 2nd ed.

20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

What a weird response from Jesus.

You can almost hear peter whispering to Jesus, “um, hey Lord, this is not how we grow your kingdom. Please don’t say weird stuff like this.”

You would think he would say “oh wow, you are scribe? What a great addition to the team! Yes, thanks for wanting to follow me!”

Jesus loves to say offputting things when we don’t expect it. I love when the disciples come to him in John chapter for and ask him if he wants to get lunch and he tells them “I have food you don’t even know about.” And they say “who gave Jesus food?”

Jesus loves to say these sorts of these to stop us in our tracks and make us consider something deeper behind what we are saying. He is testing his followers to see if they really want to follow him.

Think back to the Military illustration. So you want to be in the military? You are initially enthusiastic to join, guess what happens first? Tests. Even before you join, you have to take tests. Then once you join, you have to go through tests. Basic Training. Boot camp. Rigorous phycological and physical and mental tests to see if you can really make it. See if you are really committed to this thing you were initially enthusiastic about.

Here, Jesus is doing that. What maybe seems discouraging is causing this scribe to consider what he is actually saying. He is testing this guy to realize the challenges he will face. We see what Jesus says in two ways.

A. To Realize Discomfort

First, Jesus wants this man to realize the discomfort.

Even though the foxes and the birds have home, they are animals, but people that follow Jesus will not have a life of comfort and ease. Even less comfort than foxes and birds.

This is contrary to what the jews were expecting from the Messiah. They wanted a military leader to bring them comfort, freedom, power, but Jesus says you might not even have a place to call home if you follow him.

Maybe this scribe thought Jesus would be earning his house and conquering for his house. But Jesus says he would be worse of than the animals who build for themselves.

Notice that Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. This is a title pregnant with meaning.

This term is a Christmas present wrapped up in mystery and wonder! It is hidden and knowable. By Jesus applying this title to himself, it is a bit unknown, but also means everything when we understand this title in the Old Testament context.

You might remember the figure in Daniel 3 standing with the three men in the fiery furnace and Nebuchadnezzar asking who the fourth person is, he looks like the son of man.

Daniel 7:13–14 NET 2nd ed.

13 “I was watching in the night visions, And with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man was approaching. He went up to the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. 14 To him was given ruling authority, honor, and sovereignty. All peoples, nations, and language groups were serving him. His authority is eternal and will not pass away. His kingdom will not be destroyed.

Someone walks up to God, the ancient of days, and is given all of this authority, honor, and ruling power? All people serving him? Daniel sees the son of man character as somewhat divine and far above us. Jesus is applying to himself, this character of the one who is divine.

The disciples would have also known about texts outside of the Bible like Enoch that would have filled the Son of Man title with even more wonder.

But ironically, the son of man figure is presented differently in Ezekiel. And in Ezekiel, we see the son of man appearing most throughout the entire Bible. We see a few obscure references in Job refering to suffering. And in Ezekiel, we see a lot of suffering as well. God addresses Ezekiel as son of man, telling him how he would suffer. Living in uncomfortable situations with birers and thorns, living amoung scorpions, tied up with rope. When God addresses Ezekiel as the son of man, he must have thought, “oh no, not again!”

Here is one example: Ezekiel 21:6

Ezekiel 21:6 NET 2nd ed.

6 “And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart and bitterness; groan before their eyes.

throughout the Book of Ezekiel, this term is consistent with the suffering servant of God who accomplishes his purposes.

This scribe would have known Ezekiel, more than most. He probably copied Ezekiel. He would have known the significance of this term.

This is Jesus’s favorite way to refer to himself. With this paradox of the magnificent one who is far beyond human, but also suffers as a human. And you can see from the chart that besides Ezekiel, Matthew has the most occurences of this term. Jesus slowly shows he is through this term. Here are the three ways we see Jesus use this title in the book of Matthew.

Son of Man as humble servant who forgives sins with his earthly ministry

Son of Man as suffering servant who redeems his people with his death and resurrection.

Son of Man as glorious King and Judge who will return to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth.

To be aligned with the son of man, to be his follower, is to follow him to a life of being a humble, suffering servant. An uncomfortable life. But one that will culminate with being glorified with Christ. Jesus asks the scribe if he really knows the Son of Man who he says he wants to follow. Just when people think they are beginning to understand who Jesus is, he introduces the idea that he is this Son of Man figure. Are you willing to suffer for this decision?

Consider a parallel commitment maybe to getting more fit. Often a consideration around the holidays as we eat all the Christmas cookies and sweets. Do you want to know what is compfy? Eating Christmas cookies. Maybe we want to get fit. This will require commitment. It will require work out attire, changing our habits, maybe getting a gym membership or workout equipment. Guess what else you will need to commit to? Leaving the cookies behind. Also, your time will be spend in less comfortable situations of home and loved ones, and more time spent through challenging uncomfortable work outs. Why? Because you know it will be worth it. Even through the discomfort.

Following Jesus is not a path to being healthy, happy, and wealthy in this life. Following Jesus is not a path to elitism and high-class society. Saying you want to follow Jesus is a call to give up comfort in this life.

B. To Realize Rejection

Not only does Jesus in his statement of not having anywhere for his head to lay; he want this would be disciple to realize the discomfort, he also wants him to realize the rejection he will face as a disciple of Jesus.

We think of Jesus’s advent in this season of Christmas. He came to save the world but was rejected by the very ones he came to save.

One of the reasons it’s uncomfortable to follow Jesus is because of the rejection of people. The people you once thought were a comfort to you might not accept you as you follow Jesus.

To be clear, I’m not saying we all need to live a life of asceticism and deprive yourself of everything good in life. God has created the world we live in and wants us to enjoy it and find pleasure in it.

But if those good things are causing us to make decisions that compromise our faith and the gospel, then they are wrong. Following the son of man is a life about suffering. Giving up what we think is comfortable for the sake of discomfort. The things of our lives that make us comfortably accepted by others, we give up to follow Jesus.

What about us? Do we love the shiny idea of Jesus? Do we love the initial good vibes and enthusiasm that comes with following Jesus? Do we love the idea of the initial emotions that come with following Jesus?

Or do we recognize him as the son of man? Do we know him as the son of man? Do we want to follow him as the son of man? The one who will ask us to leave what we think is comfortable, to live in the discomfort.

Erika and I have spent some time reflecting on our up-bringings. We both grew up in church, went to youth group and high school with a bunch of people that claimed they would follow Christ. Erika went to a large youth group of more than 100 teens. My youth group was smaller with 20 teens. But both of us would say the ones still following Christ today are 10%. 2 of the 20 teens I knew, 10 of the 100 that Erika knew are following Christ today.

Why? They were confronted with the discomfort of following Jesus. You mean I will have to give up sports to be with my church?

You mean I should set aside time in my day to read and pray? Don’t you know all this other stuff I have to do? It’s far more compfy to be scrolling on ticktock than it is to spend time following Jesus through prayer and reading.

You mean i should give money to the church? Don’t you know what else I could use that money for?

You mean people will associate me with those crazy religious people? I don’t want that kind of rejection.

You mean Jesus might want some of my time to serve other? Don’t you know it is compfier for me to keep serving myself?

Do you mean I will have to give up this sin? My life is so much easier if I don’t give it up.

Are we willing to follow the Son of Man into a life of discomfort.

II. Set Aside Timidity v21

Second today, we see that we must set aside timidity.

This is the second way that we come at being disciples of Jesus. It might initially be enthusiasm, Or it might be with timidity. Not yet sure if this is what we want to do with our lives. We are weighing out the options.

Let’s look at this next halfway disciple that comes to Jesus.

He says in verse 21 Matthew 8:21 “21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.””

Notice that this again, is a disciple, but maybe an on the fence disciple. He appears to want to come out of the crowd and go with Jesus. A potential disciple. He takes his faith a little further and learns from the last guy. He doesn’t call Jesus teacher, but rather Lord.

Not yet sure if he really wants to follow Jesus. He needs to make sure he knows what he is getting into. And he asks what appears to be a very reasonable request. To bury his father.

This seems like a reasonable request, but Jesus seems very frustrated by it.

Jesus responds this way: Matthew 8:22 “22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.””

And again I hear Peter: “Jesus, come on, this is a reasonable request! We are trying to build your people! This guy needs a bit of time, and then he will be commited? Don’t disrespect him in this way!”

But, we must understand this potential disciples request not with 21st century eyes, but in historical context. With modern eyes we think, Jesus could have delayed his departure for an hour funeral service right?

Burying in the 1st Century at Jesus’s time was much different. Some believe that this burial service could take a few days, even up to a week.

Another possible explanation is that historical records show that from 20BC to 70AD, burial rituals would last a year. The deceased was buried within 24 hours after death, with a ceremony that could take weeks. But then once all of the flesh had decayed, the bones would be gathered up and stored in a tomb.

If the father had just died, this man wouldn’t have been with Jesus and the crowds. He would have been working to make sure his father was in the ground within the 24 hour alloted period of time.

So if this man’s father had not just died, he is either in the weeks of funeral services, or waiting for the one year mark, for all of the flesh to decay so he can gather up the bones.

Some commenters say if his father had not just died, which is unlikely, he might even be waiting for his father to die knowing the time was close.

One parellel to understand this obligation to one’s father’s dead remains is Genesis 50:6

Genesis 50:6 NET 2nd ed.

6 So Pharaoh said, “Go and bury your father, just as he made you swear to do.”

Pharoah understands and allows Joseph to bury his father Jacob, just as he had sworn to do. This would have been a lengthy journey to which joseph would have been gone from his leader responsibilities for quite some time.

This was a respect and duty. It was the final responsibilities of the children for their parents.

Wherever this potential disciple was with his fathers funeral, weather it was a few weeks, a year, or even waiting for his father to die, Jesus’s words would have been offputting and almost seemingly rude.

So we should ask ourselves, Is Jesus condemning funerals? Am I making Jesus angry when I go to a funeral? No. Jesus goes to funerals and wants us to go to funerals.

I believe we can find three principles behind Jesus’s statement. About following him and letting the dead bury the dead.

A. Heavenly relationship above earthly relationships

First, Jesus wants us to set aside timidity to pursue our heavenly relationship above earthly relationships

Jesus is telling this potential disciple that a relationship with him and his father is far more important than earthly relationships.

Jesus is not calling us to go into the wilderness and it be me and God in a cabin in the woods.

Jesus is not calling us to get rid of family relationships in our lives. He has given them to us as a blessing. Even the ones you don’t think are a blessing. The New Testament teaches us that the one who does not take care of their own family is worse than an unbeliever.

But Jesus is calling us to assess our priorities.

Is our identity found in our family? Or is it found in our heavenly family?

Am I defined by what my family says about me or thinks about me, or will I be defined by what God says about me?

Do you want to know the hard thing about family? They are unpredictable. You can work so hard all your life to keep good family relationship, and one bad thing happens, or one area of disagreement drives you a part. It takes two people to work it out and the best you can do is half and wait for them to come the rest of the way to you. And even once you have a good relationship, it can be fragile and you never know what could upset it.

Do you want to know what is secure? Our relationship with our heavenly father. Do you want to know why? Because it is not two imperfect humans trying to make a relationship work. It is God stepping into to bring peace to a relationship that had no peace.

Our sin has broken our relationship with God. All of the good works in the world could not undo the sin we have done against God. So he sent his son into the world to redeem and restore what was broken.

Jesus left the glories of heaven to be born in a filthy animal manger, to come down and be rejected, spat on, mocked, beaten, put on a cross, for our sin. But he didn’t stay dead, he rose to bring us life. Life that we find in our relationship with God.

And guess what? This is not a relationship that is on shaky ground, it isn’t a relationship we have to try harder at. it is a relationship that has already been secured by Christ and through the Holy Spirit.

We reflected this last Wednesday about the peace that we have in the Holy Spirit and that he is our seal forever, of our relationship with God.

So why prioritize what you hope to earn and fix and resolve in human relationships, when you can prioritize the relationship that has already been graciously given to you!

Think about pursuing a significant other. There are tiers and priorities in all of our relationships. Genesis and Jesus says that you must leave your father and mother and cling to the one God gave you to be your spouse. It isn’t that you reject your father and mother and cast them out of your life, it is that now, your one hearts desire, the one that your decisions are made for, is your spouse. Your priority becomes that relationship.

If we think of relationships in tiers, Jesus gets tier one. And he is the only one on tier one, he doesn’t share first place with anyone.

Our family, might attempt to distract us from God, his word, his people the church. But we display for them that we follow Christ first, and our relationships to them second.

Christ being preeminent in our life means that he is over our kid’s sports and programs. Applicable to many moms, If we feel like everyone in our life is fighting for our time, our devotional and prayer time with Christ is not pushed to the side. When everything with people outside of the church seems to happen on Sundays and Wednesday, Christ and his people get first dibs on my time.

So what about us. Will we prioritize our heavenly relationship given to us or will we keep prioritizing our earthly relationships over the only one that is guaranteed to last?

B. Heavenly treasure above earthly treasure

Second, Jesus wants us to set aside timidity to pursue our heavenly treasure above earthly treasure.

One aspect of this man burying his father was his inheritance to be gained after the passing of his father. If he was away with Jesus, how would he collect his inheritance?

Is this relatable to us? Absolutely.

Consider if our decisions are being made by our bank account and portfolio or are we making decisions to prioritize our treasure in heaven? Remember we had a whole sermon on this a few weeks ago. Don’t store up for yourselves treasure on earth where it will degrade and can be stolen. Store up for yourself a treasure in heaven. It is already stored up for you because of the finished work of Christ! Jesus ends that section with reminding us that we cannot serve both God and Money. We have to choose one.

The sermon on the mount was theoretical information by Jesus, and here we are seeing practical application in narrative form.

I’m thankful for the narrative stories of scripture and how they relate to us.

Do you want to pursue treasure that is temporary or treasure that is eternal found in following Jesus? Treasure that is promised to us in our relationship with Christ?

C. Heavenly priority above earthly priority.

Third, Jesus wants us to set aside timidity to pursue heavenly priority above earthly priority.

This is kind of a more general way of wrapping all of this up. What will we pursue? What will we make priority in our lives?

We might like the idea of following Jesus, but we have some timidness about it. Maybe we think to ourselves that we need some time before we fully commit like the time that this potential disciple was asking for. Maybe we say “Yes Jesus, i want to follow you, but I just need to get this thing in my life done first. I need to secure this job, get to a better tax bracket, have a secure house, find a spouse, get through school first.”

Like this potential disciple, we say “yes Jesus, i want to follow you, but i have a few things i need to get into order first.”

But Jesus doesn’t want you to wait to get everything in order, he wants you to come as you are, and work with you. To walk with you through all of life to show you what it means to have abundant life found in God.

From our text today, Jesus is telling us that we should set all of these things aside for the priority of following him. The time to follow Christ is not tomorrow, next week, next year, or after this next life event. The time to follow Christ is now. We are not promised tomorrow.

James reminds us that our life is only a vapor, it is here for a little time and quickly passes away. We can’t grab ahold of vapor and we also don’t control over what will happen and when it will happen. But we can follow Jesus daily with our live choices. .

The kingdom commands of Jesus are absolute and immediate.

Beyond the Walls (Grace and Growth)

One of the teens we had in youth group is serving right now as an Army medical paratrooper in Europe. I was talking to him this week. He understands the difficulty and hardships that come with the military. Having to leave everything he loved and held dear to be alone in a foreign country. Leave the comforts of his home and country to go live abroad. Not what he would have chosen, but what he would have wanted, but he faithfully follows. And knows it will be worth it.

Maybe you are here today, unsure if you want to commit your life to Jesus. And like this man’s father being dead, you are spiritually dead. God is calling you out of your sin today. You don’t have to stay in your dead state. You are being offered true life found in Christ today. Will you accept him? Please come and talk to us.

To us who are believers. What areas of our lives do we need to change to better prioritize Jesus? What takes away from our time in the word, prayer, and coming to church? Are we too busy in all the comforts of life to pursue Jesus? Is our life so full of comfort and stuff that we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit?

At the end of this life, when this life is over, and we stand before God, we will not regret making Christ the priority over all.

Do you want to know what we will regret? That time we skipped serving someone around me because my life was too full. We will regret the time we chose this academic pursuit over time with God. We will regret the time we scrolled on other peoples social medias instead of praying for them. We will regret saving up for this item instead of using our money for the kingdom. We will regret giving up church for this thing we thought was more important when the people of God gathered.

Again, when we stand before God, we will not regret making Christ the priority of our lives.

Some of us are in the the half way house. Committed beyond the crowd, we are trying to board the boat with Jesus, but haven’t fully committed yet. Will you choose Jesus? Will you step out of the comfortable and the into the unknown to follow Jesus?

Let’s respond to the text in prayer together.

Father, forgive me for prioritizing other things before my relationship with you.

Jesus, help be to commit my life to follow you fully

Spirit, show me how i can more fully live for Christ this week.