REQUIRED COMMITMENT TO OUR REIGNING SOVEREIGN

Introduction

-{Matthew 8}

-I read about a young couple who were newly married. The young groom wanted to give his new bride something special. As he was driving he saw someone selling a litter of puppies, so on a whim he thought that he’d get her a dog. He never really grew up with pets, but he thought that it would be this grand ole time having this cute puppy dog at their new home. He thought his wife would think he was some sort of hero, and it would be a fun addition to their lives.

~So, excitedly he brought the little furball home, and it was wonderful bliss for a day, and his wife seemed happy for the moment. But he made this rash decision without realizing that when you commit to a puppy dog you also sign up for a lot more than he was expecting—nightly walks in the rain, trying to train the dog, countless chewed-up shoes, vet bills galore, and so on and so forth. And then, the dog doesn’t stay a small puppy forever. So, you could say that this guy didn’t really think out the responsibilities that a commitment to a puppy dog actually entails.

-And I think that a lot of people don’t really think about the responsibilities that a commitment to Jesus Christ entails either. You see, being a Christian is about being a disciple, a follower. You can’t separate the two. If you want to be a Christian (a believer in Jesus Christ) then you are a disciple—one who is a committed follower. And I’m not sure that everyone wearing the moniker of Christian has actually thought that through.

-Yes, they want to go to heaven. Yes, they want to fill the void in their life. Yes, they want to have a sense of purpose. Yes, they want to have a moral foundation. Yes, they want to find a source of joy. And, honestly, the only source for any of that is Jesus Christ. But many people think that they can take and take and take from the Christ who gives generously, and they have no obligations in return.

-Yes, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But that doesn’t mean that we just sit back and reap the benefits and there be no obligation on our part. We don’t believe in Jesus and then just do our thing. There is a calling of a commitment to Jesus, because Jesus is our reigning sovereign, He is our God, Our King.

-As we continue our study in Matthew, our passage shows Jesus interacting with some guys who thought that they wanted to follow Jesus, but they didn’t really think through what that meant. So, Jesus tells them, and by extension tells us, the commitment we are making when we follow Jesus. So, today we learn that genuine discipleship to Jesus Christ requires commitment to Him above anything else. I want to lead us to seek genuine discipleship for the glory of Christ and expansion of His Kingdom....

Matthew 8:18–22 LSB

18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19 Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 21 And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

-{pray}

-Jesus has been in Capernaum and He did some miracles. This led people to then just constantly bring others to Him for healing and casting out of demons and the like. But Jesus needed to move on to other ministry and other opportunities for sharing the gospel. So, He orders His disciples to go to another part around the Sea of Galilee.

-And as they were about to depart, some folks came up to Him thinking that they too would follow and be a disciple of Jesus. That was normal in that day and time for someone to approach a teacher or leader to follow them and learn from them. But Jesus was no ordinary Rabbi. They had no idea what the requirements were for making such a commitment. And so, within the interaction that Jesus has with these men, we find some of these requirements to the called commitment to Jesus Christ. First, discipleship to Jesus Christ requires:

1) Self Sacrifice

-The first man wanting to follow Jesus was a scribe, a teacher of the law. He was well versed in the Torah, so he had a strong religious foundation. He saw what Jesus had done around the village—he saw the crowds, he saw the power on display, he saw what he thought would be prestige—so he wanted to be a part of that action. Maybe, in more modern terminology, he saw that Jesus was the hot item of the day, and thought that following Jesus would be like getting on board with the latest fad.

-I might liken it to all these video fads that come out on Tik Tok. Someone does something funny, weird, or crazy on a video and everybody else thinks they need to do the same thing because it’s just what’s cool at the time. The scribe thought that following Jesus would be cool and he might even get some personal benefit from attaching himself to Jesus.

-And there are people who want to claim to be followers of Christ, but do so that they can get some worldly benefits. And it’s not just the health and wealth people, but they think that attaching the name of Christ will allow them to get what they want out of the world, with enough spirituality sprinkled in to make them feel good about themselves. So, they have no problem compromising biblical truths if it gets them what they want. They want enough Jesus for the benefits, but not so much Jesus that their comfort and security is threatened in any way.

-And Jesus tells this guy, and us, that it don’t work that way. Jesus tells the scribe that FOXES HAVE HOLES AND THE BIRDS OF THE AIR HAVE NESTS, BUT THE SON OF MAN HAS NOWHERE TO LAY HIS HEAD. Jesus wasn’t saying that He was homeless so everybody else had to be homeless too. Jesus had a base of operation of some sort in Capernaum, and He had various friends that He would stay with in the different places He visited. So, Jesus isn’t saying that people need to sell everything they had and go move into a cave and live like a hermit.

-Jesus was saying that His life was sort of an itinerant ministry where He would go wherever the Spirit led Him to go, so it was not a lifestyle of comfort, ease, and security. Jesus’ life was one of constant movement—he was like a pilgrim roaming the earth focused on the mission that the Father had for Him. So, instead of the safety, security, ease, comfort, prestige that the scribe thought could be his, it would the exact opposite. It was a life of giving up worldly treasures to go wherever God told you to go, and build for yourself heavenly treasures.

-Discipleship with Jesus Christ is not one of self satisfaction but a life of self sacrifice—being willing to go and do what God calls you to go and do regardless of what it may cost you in the here and now. So, what it might mean, is sacrificing your desires, your dreams, your wants. It might mean sacrificing some comfort, some security, and in some cases even some safety. It means that we are willing to say not my will, but Yours be done. And it isn’t easy or comfortable. But I do have to say this from experience, when you follow God’s calling and will for you or your family’s lives, there is nowhere else you’ll want to be. You actually are more safe and secure following God’s will than being out of it.

-But this self-sacrifice can apply in many different ways. It applies to giving up authority and power in your life. You recognize Jesus as the One who makes the ultimate decisions of your life, not you yourself. The scribe came up and called Jesus TEACHER, but Jesus was no mere Rabbi like any of the others. Jesus is Lord, Master, King, God. And He tells us to take up our crosses and follow Him. Not take up your couch and follow...not take up your phone and follow...not take up your checking and savings and follow...but take up your cross. Don’t bring your comfort and safety, but rather die to self.

-Self sacrifice also means embracing that pilgrim mentality where your life is not so anchored to the comfort and ease of the world that you plant yourself in it and embrace the world’s mentality and priorities. It’s remembering that this world is not our home—it is a temporary layover. So, we can’t entangle our lives in so much worldly stuff because it’s all fleeting, temporary. If we tie ourselves up so much in the earthly, when will we ever live for the heavenly where we will spend a lot more time.

-This self-sacrifice also entails some relational changes—the way we look at earthly relationships. The scribe may have thought he could make a name for himself by being connected to Jesus, but in reality it’s usually the opposite. The world hates the true, biblical Jesus and hates those that follow Him. So, that might mean instead of making a good name for yourself, you’re willing to be misunderstood by others to follow Christ—even if it’s your own family. Or you’re willing to take a stand for Jesus even if it means being ostracized. Or, like so many of our brothers and sisters around the world, you face the anger and wrath of persecution from those who belong to the devil—following Jesus no matter the cost.

-Self-sacrifice also means that you are constantly available to fulfill God’s mission—being ready and willing to serve Him wherever and whenever He might call you. Too often we think that God would never call me away from this place or that place, this job or that job, this person or that person. We think that God would never call us to do anything that makes us uncomfortable or uneasy. But God might call you to give it all up to glorify Him somewhere else or in some other way or in some other context. It’s not just those we might consider the professionals that God calls to special assignments.

-Think about this, in the military you receive orders to go to a certain place and do a certain thing, you are in no position to say: NAH, I REALLY DON’T WANT TO GO THERE OR DO THAT. That’s ridiculous—and yet how many people who call themselves by the name of Christian have no problem looking Jesus in the face and telling Him: NAH, I’D RATHER NOT GO THERE OR DO THAT. That’s not an option if you are a believer/disciple of Jesus Christ.

-The scribe needed a bit of a wake-up call to see what discipleship actually meant, and we need that wake-up call too. But it doesn’t stop there. There’s someone else who said he wanted to follow Jesus who needed to learn what that actually meant. So, from him, we secondly learn that discipleship to Jesus Christ means:

2) Reordered Priorities

-The passage says that another of His disciples came to him. This may have been a man that hung out while Jesus was in or near Capernaum. And this is still somewhat near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, so Jesus may not have done a whole lot of traveling yet. But now that Jesus was going to move on from that area and go elsewhere, this guy might not have been ready to literally follow Jesus to other places.

-So, he approaches Jesus and said LORD, PERMIT ME FIRST TO GO AND BURY MY FATHER. From our modern, 21st-century ears that sounds like a reasonable request. But Jesus said to him, FOLLOW ME, AND ALLOW THE DEAD TO BURY THEIR OWN DEAD. We read that and think, man, Jesus is being kind of harsh. We think that way because we think that the guy’s dad just died and he just wants to take care of family business.

-And really, in that culture, burying one’s parents was considered a highly sacred and honorable duty, often taking precedence over almost all other responsibilities. It was a sign of filial piety and respect. It was also customary in that day and age to place someone in a tomb within 24 hours of death. So, our initial reaction might be: can’t the guy just catch up to Jesus in a day or two.

-However, that isn’t what happened here. More than likely, the guy’s dad isn’t dead yet. And what he is saying that once his dad dies (maybe years down the road) and he gets things in order, then he’ll follow Jesus wherever he wants. Let me stay with my family until my dad dies, and then I’ll follow Jesus wherever He wants.

-I read an article that also said it’s possible that what the man might be referring to is a custom of moving the bones of a family member from just laying in a tomb and placing them in an ossuary, a box left in the tomb, but then it makes room for others to be placed there. I think that the other option is more likely, but either way the point was that the man was allowing other obligations to get in the way of what was truly important—following Christ. The man was in essence saying: Give me a few years to do some things, and then once I get all my affairs in order, then I’ll seek you out.

-But Jesus tells Him: No, follow Me now. ALLOW THE DEAD TO BURY THEIR OWN DEAD. Most commentators believe that Jesus is saying to let the spiritually dead take care of the physically dead. Another option might be that Jesus was using a bit of sarcasm in saying let the physically dead take care of the other physically dead. But either way, the point was that the first priority of a disciple of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ Himself.

-Jesus is saying that let those who are still stuck on the earth take care of the earthly things. But if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, your first priority is the gospel, the Kingdom of God, the call of Christ on your life. Everything else needs to follow after Jesus—things need to be put in their proper place.

-Now, Jesus isn’t necessarily saying that you just forget everything else, let everything else take care of itself, abandon everything and everybody in your life, and follow Him without any regard for anything else going on around you. But what He is saying is that He comes first; His calling on your life comes first; His Kingdom comes first. There is an urgency here that you don’t put off Jesus and give Him the leftovers. He comes first, and then everything else follows after that. Jesus is your priority. So, you need to reorder your priorities to make the main thing the main thing. So this reordering of priorities can take place in several different ways.

-There is reordering the priorities of your time. I guess you can look at it from different angles. From the perspective of the man in our passage who wanted to put off following Jesus until another time, you instead reorder your priorities to follow Jesus now instead of later. There are some who might say I’ll follow Jesus fully later, I want to live my own life right now. I want to do my thing, I want to fulfill my dreams, I want to get in all the living in that I can before I’m burdened down by whatever Jesus wants me to do. But Jesus says follow Me now. Fulfill your calling now.

-But then there is also the perspective of time where you are a good steward of the time you have and let Jesus determine how you spend your time rather than you just doing whatever you want whenever you want. Yes, we have earthly responsibilities, but you can use that time for the glory of God. Your family, your job, your school, Paul says whatever you do, do it for the glory of Jesus Christ. If you disciple your kids, you’re prioritizing your time for Jesus. If you share the gospel with your friends, you’re prioritizing your time for Jesus.

-There is also the reordering of your priorities when it comes to relationships or allegiances. Jesus is to be above others and others are above self. When your relationship with Jesus takes precedence, your relationship with others will be in sync and things are where they are supposed to be. This doesn’t mean that you neglect or abandon your relationships. But when Jesus is first priority His will takes precedent and is set above your own life or even that of your family and friends. That’s why Jesus gives the hard statement:

Luke 14:26 LSB

26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

-Jesus isn’t saying that you ought to harbor malice or ill-will toward your family. He is using exaggeration/hyperbole to make the point that even above family Jesus is supreme. You are not to let them, or any other relationship, to become a stumbling block to your devotion and obedience to Christ.

-Then our passage also points to the reordering of our priorities when it comes to our focus or mission. While, yes, we need to have jobs and such to live on this earth, our focus is not merely on the worldly, but it is on the spiritual. Our focus is not merely on focusing on self, but on how we can be a part of spreading the gospel, expanding Christ’s Kingdom.

-And then there is also the reordering of our priorities when it comes to our resources—what it is that we invest our resources into. Jesus says to build for yourselves treasures in heaven where rust and moth do not destroy or thieves can’t come in and steal. Use your resources (whether time, talent, or wealth) for that which is spiritual. Invest in the kingdom more than you invest in yourself. It’s all about what it is that you think is most important, and Jesus calls for us to prioritize Him.

-So, a follower of Jesus Christ commits everything to our reigning sovereign, Jesus Christ, through self sacrifice and reordering priorities.

Conclusion

-I read a little blurb about how some people join the military without understanding the commitment that they are making. It seems that these people have a glamorized idea of the military from how it’s portrayed in Hollywood, and when they join the real military they get hit with the reality real quick.

~These recruits had visions of being some sort of action hero, and were disillusioned by the mundane, repetitive, and strict nature of daily military life. Some people didn’t understand the long-term commitment, thinking they could just get out when things were hard. Some recruits didn’t understand the reality of the 24/7 grind, always being on the clock. Some didn’t consider family impact. And there are so many other things they didn’t think about, and then when they get in it’s an eyeopener.

-In a similar way, there are some people who fall in love with a Hollywood style Christianity—get to live how I want and still go to heaven too. But Jesus is our Creator and Sovereign, and He calls people to complete commitment. Yes, there are many blessings and benefits, but there are also requirements and obligations.

-Christian, what is your version of Christianity? Maybe you had some wrong ideas like the men in our passage, or maybe you know someone who does. Come and pray that you or they would consider the commitment to our reigning sovereign.

-Maybe you realize you have not been a true believer, follower, disciple of Jesus Christ and you want to make that right today. Come forward...

-Maybe you are looking for a church home that will just give you the truth about what it means to follow Jesus without watering anything down. Come join our church family...