Matthew 8 (Part 2) :18-22

We are continuing our study in Matthew chapter 8 here. Actually the whole gospel according to Matthew we're in the 8th chapter. We're picking it up in verse 18 so I'm going to go ahead and read you guys follow along as I do and we're going to read through verse 22.

and then a teacher of the law came to him and said teacher I will follow you wherever you go.

Another disciple said to him Lord first let me go and bury my father

stop there. That's where we're going to take here for today let's pray. Heavenly Father open our hearts we are totally reliant upon you Lord for your Holy Spirit to illuminate to open our hearts to the things that are being said here use this these verses here today to minister to our hearts we pray and direct us and feed us today on your word we ask it in Jesus name amen. As we begin this section of scripture just these few verses here in Matthew chapter 8 we're going to be looking here today at Jesus having conversations with people as we've kind of dealt with last week we were dealing more with healing issues last week but now we're talking more about just some conversations and it's always good to pay attention when Jesus has conversations with people because you know we're hearing the heart of God. You hear Jesus talk you hear God talk. You see Jesus doing things you hear or you're seeing God doing things and and that's just the way things are so you know it's good for us to pay attention and what we're going to see in these verses are three lessons that we're going to bring out about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Notice I didn't say what it means to be a Christian because that can have such a broad crazy weird wacky sort of an application depending on who you are and what you believe about Christianity because it's almost worthless today to ask somebody if they're Christian. It's almost worthless because we've had so many years now of people being called Christians. You know they started off calling people Christians in Antioch. We read about that in the book of Acts. Well we've been doing that for about 2,000 years now and people have just gotten really weird on what it means to be a Christian or who is a Christian. You say are you a Christian? Do you know that in this country today like something like some crazy number like 80% of people claim to be a Christian which is ridiculous. I mean it's absolutely ridiculous because those very same people that claim to be Christian turn around and say that they don't believe you know in the Bible. They don't believe Jesus is who he said he is. You know they don't believe that he's the only way to be saved. They don't believe you know in any kind of a resurrection. You know they believe that all truths lead to God and you know all this weird junk but oh yeah oh yeah I'm a Christian all right yeah sort of a thing so it's just it's bogus. So I find that what we really need to do is we need to zero in. We need to kind of focus in on what we're really talking about here. Let's talk about being a follower of Jesus Christ and that means following him. What he said, what he did, you know do you believe that and are you following him? Well what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? We're going to see three very important things in in these verses that we're looking at. So we're gonna for those of you that like to take notes we've got a heading for you okay. So this is what you're gonna put on your your heading of your notes. You're gonna put what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Pretty simple huh? Okay well right away at the very first we find something in verse 18. Look with me and read that verse with me again. Verse 18.

Stop there. That's weird. I mean it's just kind of weird. Do you know do you see what the verse is saying? It's saying that people were showing up. Lots of people and more and more people were showing up all the time. So what does Jesus do? He says come on guys we're taking off. Now that's not what we do today. Can you imagine somebody going out to plant a church somewhere saying well I'm gonna start a church in this town because there aren't many churches there and we just want to you know so we're gonna go do is they will work the area and they talk to people and they get a building and people start coming and then when the thing starts when people start showing up they go all right we're leaving now. We're just shutting it down and going to another town. Everybody'd say you're stupid and one of the reasons is of course we are so fixated on what it means to have a successful ministry and you know the way the world does things is it it big is always good and it's frankly never big enough and we got to have a lot of people. We got to have a lot of money. We got to have a lot of this. We got to have a lot and Jesus shows us in this very first verse that we're looking at and asking the question what it means to be a follower of him that we just don't follow the rules and the guidelines that the world follows when it comes to what is successful and what we need to be doing and Jesus is basically showing that being led by the Spirit means doing things that the world frankly just isn't going to understand. So let's go ahead and put our first lesson up on the screen for those of you once again taking notes. Lesson one is that the wisdom of God will never make sense to the world. It just really doesn't make sense for Jesus to begin to amass a crowd and then just to leave but you know the things that God often tells us to do sometimes just really frankly just don't make sense and you know Paul had to deal with this issue of being led by the Spirit but being criticized by people who are thinking like the world. Do you guys remember in the book of 2nd Corinthians? Those of you that are familiar with that book. There's an interesting sort of a dynamic going on there because in the very first part of the book we see Paul defending himself against people who are criticizing him for the way he was doing things. Here's what happened. He told the people at Corinth that he was going to come visit them at a certain time and so forth but he didn't come. Well there were obvious reasons for that and Paul was doing his level best to always be led by the Spirit and everything that he did but and and things didn't work out. He told him hey I'd like to come and be with you guys and then da da da da da things happened and he thought better of it. He prayed so on and so forth. The Lord was opening doors closing doors and he didn't show up. Well so right away people start to criticize him. Well that that Paul you know guy he's not real consistent sort of a fella. So Paul writes his letter which we call 2nd Corinthians to the church at Corinth and he begins to address the fact of how he makes decisions in life and it's not according to the world. Here's what he says I'm gonna put this up on the screen for you. It's from 2nd Corinthians chapter 1. Paul writes now this is our boast. Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially in our relations with you in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have not and this is important. We have not done so or that's not right. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to grace. This is really Paul's defense for the people who are criticizing him about the way he was doing things and the fact that you know he didn't seem to be all that consistent. He said listen there's one confidence that I do have that we've conducted ourselves as it relates to you with sincerity and honesty and all those other things and we have not made decisions like the world makes decisions. We make decisions because the Holy Spirit is leading us and I have all the confidence in the world that we are doing our utmost at all times to do that very thing. But you know what when you do that when you follow Jesus which means following the leading of the Spirit not the leading of the moment or emotions or what the world thinks is right the world is not gonna like it and you're probably gonna get criticized. You know you're gonna get criticized maybe about where you decide to live. You may get criticized on how you conduct business. You might get criticized on how you decide to educate your children. There's all kinds of things that might come up that people would criticize you about but you're just being you're being led by the Holy Spirit. It's what it means to be a follower of Jesus to be led by the Spirit but you know what the world isn't gonna like it and it's not gonna make a lot of sense to them and they're gonna kind of look at you cockeyed like what is your problem and there's no problem I'm just doing my best to be led by the Lord. It's what it means to be a follower of Jesus and it means that the world isn't gonna understand and we better get used to that fact right here and right now because otherwise we're gonna start to deal with the pressure of that sort of thing. So let me let me put it up one more time can we put the lesson up here just as a as kind of a little reminder again lesson number one is the wisdom of God is never gonna make sense to the world. Let's go on and check out lesson number two it's in verse 19 look with me there in your Bible.

Now it's important that we understand who is making this statement to Jesus. It's a teacher of the law not not the law of the government means the law of Moses. This is a scribe. This is an individual with whom Jesus often had dealings Well, not individual but his group, you know, the scribes and the Pharisees didn't often receive a warm welcome from Jesus In fact, he often had some pretty Denouncing sort of things to say about them because they were always trying to put him down they were always trying to catch him in things that he was saying to get him into trouble and their hearts just weren't right before God and So it's surprising to us to see this teacher of the law just kind of come up to Jesus and Say hey rabbi just wanted you to know man. I'll be your follower wherever you want to go I'll follow you and so forth now. It's pretty hard for you and I To figure out the motives behind why someone might say that especially a scribe You and I can't look into the heart God can but what we can do is we can see kind of what's going on in this guy's heart based on how Jesus responds to him and if you'll notice here what Jesus says to him is

Now you'll notice that Jesus didn't say to him no, I don't want you to be my follower but he did call him to count the cost and He reminded him That when you follow me, this isn't going to be an extended stay at the Jerusalem Hilton This is going to be a faith walk. I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight. I Don't know exactly where my next meal is coming from Did you is that what you wanted to sign up for? I don't think so I think did you notice what Matthew said at the very first verse we looked at here? What's going on in the ministry right now? What is this scribe seeing? Well Matthew 18, excuse me, verse 8 18 says to us that the crowds were increasing Right. There's more people. There's more excitement. There's more glamour people. You know, there's something about crowds They're always going to just attract people. I Mean that sounds strange because crowds are people what I'm saying is crowds will attract a kind of person that is attracted to the dynamic of just the excitement and the sensationalism of being in a crowd and not only being in a crowd but being one of the the leaders, you know and All of a sudden, you know, it's funny when you're when you're in the early days of ministry And you know, we saw this even planning a church here 21 and a half years ago almost 22 years now In the first in the first days of planning the church boy the people who come out They are kind of the few the chosen and and the hard-working People not to say you guys aren't those of you that have come more recently I'm just saying that crowds can tend to attract people that are attracted to crowds and they like the excitement of being kind of in a crowd and they and they like the excitement of just You know and you get people coming up sometimes going hey, you know sort of a thing and they're all excited about this sort of a thing and It can really be a motivating factor. How does how did the crowd motivate Jesus? He saw the crowd and he said okay guys, we're leaving get the boat ready This guy how does it affect him? He comes up to Jesus. I'll be your follower Anywhere you want to go, but I think Jesus saw his heart. I think Jesus saw what was really going on in this man's heart It wasn't a real desire for ministry or really even truly to follow Jesus It was just the whole excitement aspect of what was going on at the time and he had to remind him Hey, listen, if you're here for the you know the buzz I Hate to be you know hate to kill it for you here, but I'm not sure where I'm sleeping tonight and And Not really sure when where the next meal is exactly coming from we're not even sure what tomorrow is going to bring Are you interested in that? Because that see people is really what our walk with Jesus is all about. It's a faith walk You guys remember Jesus said in their Sermon on the Mount, which we just covered here a few weeks ago. He said things like Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Is it any surprise that he Jesus isn't laying up any treasures like even a place to stay Jesus said things like take no thought of what you're going to eat or what you're going to wear But instead trust your Father in heaven. Don't worry about all those things Is it any surprise that he's basically conducting his own life and ministry in that same vein just living Trusting and going on every single day putting his faith in God. Is it any surprise? No, not at all. But this guy doesn't know that he just sees the excitement of ministry at the moment But you know what? Walking with Jesus. I mean being a real follower of Jesus means walking by faith Means living every day By faith, let me put that up on the screen as our kind of our second point here lesson Number two what it means to be a follower of Jesus is it's all about walking by faith one day at a time You know There was a time in in in our life some of you guys that have been around for a long time you'll remember me telling this story, but when I was Getting ready to leave Sue and I were getting ready to move away from Montana where I was on staff at a church as a youth pastor and We were gonna go to the Seattle area where I was gonna attend Bible College and it was it was kind of an exciting time But it was also mixed with a little trepidation but we felt the leading of the Lord and so what we did is we took all of our earthly belongings and we put them Up for sale and we basically prayed and said Lord, whatever you don't want us to take to Seattle. Just don't let it sell and Man, I tell you it was amazing. We ended up going with our bed and our clothes It was it just like everything's old and The church that was there in Montana was, you know excited about the the journey that we were about to take And I I don't remember a great deal about it as a long time ago, but I I do remember this I remember the sentiment of some of the people was interesting and it was verbalized by one particular guy who came up to me and kind of put his arm around me and said I'm envious of what you guys are doing right now, and I didn't really understand what he meant And in fact, I even asked him I said, what are you envious about as far as I was concerned life was kind of being thrown up in the air and we didn't know where it was gonna land and He just said I'm envious of the walk of faith Yeah. Oh, okay. Now. I'm kind of starting to understand There's something about the way we've learned to live here in the United States of America. We've taken the faith out of the walk You know and we've learned to be so sufficient That we can look into the days to come and we really don't have to worry. We really don't even have to pray I mean many times we don't have to worry about praying about where our next meal is gonna come from We've got our meals planned out for the next month. We've got enough food in the freezer We've got enough, you know stuff planned for day. We're not we're not all that concerned about it We're not worried about where we're gonna lay our head You know because we've just kind of developed this lifestyle of of living the way we live that really doesn't require Faith and that's one of the reasons, you know, it used to surprise me, but we'd send people out on Missions trips some of you guys used to do this years ago We'd send people down to Mexico or something like that and they'd come back just jazzed You know and and we take a big van or a couple of vans and run them down to Mexico and spend a week To Mexico and spend a week ministering down there and then they they'd come home and they're just like they can't tell me fast enough What happened? Oh, you know and then they start telling me stories about how you know, we were like man we were like halfway down through California and we were like in the middle of nowhere whether which is there's a lot of in California and They and they said and then the van broke down We didn't know what we were gonna do And so we all just kind of got out on the ground and we knelt down and we prayed and then God just supernaturally Telling me the whole thing and then we got down to Mexico and so-and-so lost his wallet. We didn't have any money So we're just saying God you gotta help us here and and the Lord just provided and they're coming back and they're just excited They're like I want to serve God You know, it's just like they're and you ask yourself the question what happened? What happened? Well, they got out of their comfort zone They took all the things that they would normally rely on in a given day week month or whatever left him at home Took a little bit of money a little bit of supply or whatever Hopped in a rickety old van or whatever and start heading down to Mexico. How dumb is that? But they went trusting God and they found out he's faithful They found out prayer really works they found out walking by faith is exciting and They come back and they're jazzed And then eventually they get back into their regular work and their regular routine and their regular stuff of You know going to the grocery store and buying groceries for the coming week or whatever and that whole element that whole issue of just Waiting on God trusting him just kind of evaporates and they're only walking by faith. That's why that guy said to me, I'm envious. Ah, figuring this out now. What is it about our lives that we just kind of stop walking by faith? We stop testing the waters, we stop taking chances for the Lord, you know? What is it about us that we kind of tend to do that? Because as we see here in the scripture, to follow Jesus is to walk by faith. To be a follower of Jesus Christ is to walk by faith, not by sight. To take chances once in a while and say, well, okay, God, I don't know how this is going to work out, but we're just trusting you, you know? And then, you know, you know what happens when we don't do that? What happens when we just kind of get comfortable and we live our lives? Then something happens in our life or maybe to someone close to us that is one of those things that just shakes us to our roots, and we find that we struggle to trust the Lord because we haven't been practicing. We haven't been doing it on a daily basis, and so then something happens to challenge our health or our financial well-being or our family or something, and we're just, we're a puddle. And we're just, you know, we're out of practice. We've kind of, it's like, well, what do I do here now? What do I do? Oh, yeah, pray. Gotta pray. Oh, man. It's like, Lord, help us to get back to trusting in you every day. I mean, putting our hope in you, looking to you so that when something big comes along down the road, we're doing this. It's kind of like you're in spiritual shape, you know what I mean? You're spiritually in shape, and now this challenge is not going to wreck you because you've been doing this. You've been walking by faith, you know? Sometimes you read about the life of Paul and some of the things that happened to him, and you wonder how a guy can walk out or can be in a city and get into so much trouble that they drag him bodily out to the outskirts of the town, throw rocks at him until they think he's dead, and then he gets up and goes back in the city. And you read that in the book of Acts, and you go, what is that? It's a life of faith. He was used to it. He was doing it every day, trusting God, putting his hope in the Lord. You can't throw rocks and hurt me anymore, you know? I'm just, it's like, hey, you know, this is, I'm the Lord's, you know, whatever happens. So we got to stop not living by faith. I know that's a double negative. I shouldn't have said it that way. We need to start living by faith. How about that? We need to kind of, you know, give a good jumpstart to what it means to putting our faith in God, and we need to start praying about that. Lord, how can I begin to do that? Here in my comfortable American version of following Jesus, let's look at lesson number three. This is kind of encompassed in verse 21. If you look in your Bible there, it says,

Now, what you need to know about this comment is that this man's father wasn't dead, because the Jews buried people the day they died, okay? There was no three days, no week, stuff like that. They got taken care of the day, the day of, all right? So this man's father is not dead. He's probably not even close to death. There's something going on here that we're going to see as we see the response of Jesus and what he says to this man, but essentially what he's saying is that he wanted to follow Jesus, but just not now. There's things, you see, there's things that I want to do. There's things that I need to do. There's things that I, you know, that I feel like I need to do or whatever and so forth, and maybe, you know, at a more convenient time, then I'm just gonna wait. I'm gonna wait till dad passes, and then we're gonna take care of the estate and, you know, and this and that, and there's probably some money coming my way, and I just want to make sure we get all these things taken care of and worked out, and then when life is a little more convenient and things kind of settle down, you know, hey, you know, I just want you to know when that happens, I'm your man, all right? But just, just wait. Just hang on. It'll be just a little time, but we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll get to it. And now you see the response of the Lord, right? In verse 22,

So you see, that's not Jesus telling this man he can't go to his father's funeral. Again, they did that on the very same day. What he's saying to this man here is that being a follower of Jesus means, let's go ahead and put it on the screen since, lesson number three is, following Jesus is all about letting go of the kinds of worldly concerns that motivate and control the people of this world, and instead putting the kingdom of God first. Now, people, listen, Jesus isn't saying, don't take care of your family, okay? Don't even, don't even go there. You guys remember what Jesus did, hanging on a cross? He took care of his mother. He was the eldest son, and you know, the responsibility landed to him to take care of mom. Do you guys remember? Hanging on a cross, nailed to a cross. He looked down and he saw Mary standing down below, and he saw John standing near her, and he said, woman, behold your son. And then he said to John, John, behold your mother. And we're told that John took Mary into his home from that day on, and took care of her. So, don't, don't even go there, thinking that Jesus is somehow suggesting we shouldn't love our family, take care of our family. Not saying that at all. Paul wrote to Timothy later on, and he said that any man who doesn't take care of his family, doesn't see to the needs of his family, is worse than an unbeliever. Okay? So, the Bible has a lot of good things to say about the responsibility that we have to family. That's not the point here. Jesus is talking about a person who's so keyed in to the concerns of this world, and the things that dominate the minds of worldly people, that we use them as a kind of an excuse, why we don't really have time to serve the Lord. You see? This is kind of like somebody who's, who's saying, well, you know, I'm just really busy right now. You're busy, really? You know? You're too busy to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Why do you think you were put on this earth in the first place? To do your menial little job so you can make money and, and, and, and, and have a boat and, and, you know, not that those things are wrong. I'm not criticizing. I'm just saying that when they become the focus of why we think we're here, and we become so dominated by the things of this life, that they become this ability to excuse ourselves from the timing of serving the Lord. That's when it becomes an issue. And that's when Jesus would step in. And he would say, your focus here is on the things that the world focuses on. And so those are the things of death. Those are the things that are passing away. Don't be fixated on things that are passing away. Be focused on my kingdom. What did he even told us? That when we pray, we're to seek first the kingdom of God. And then all these other things that we would otherwise spend our time praying about all those things, we're going to find those things just come along for the ride when we are focused on the kingdom of God. But this message kind of comes as a little bit of a, a wake up to, to, to some of us, myself included. Because it's so easy to just look at my life and think that this is, this is everything there is, you know, and this is, and I've got to do this, and I've got to do that. And we've got to learn the thing over there, whatever. And we don't even get around to saying, Lord, what do you have for me today? When's the last time you started your day with, Lord, what do you have for me today? What do you want me to do today? I'm yours. Tell you what God, I'll give you one day out of seven. How's that sound? What do you want to do on that one day with my life? The fact of the matter is, he ought to have seven days. You know, and one of the reasons we stumble over this is because we forget to whom we belong. I remember when I was growing up, it was a very popular phrase I heard a lot as a kid. And that phrase was basically, it's my life, I can do what I want with it. And that even kind of morphed over time to, it's my body, I can do what I want with it. You know what? As Christians, as followers of Christ, we can't say that. Now, if anybody in this room who is a born again Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ cannot say, it's my life, I'll do what I want with it. You know why? Because you've been bought with a price. Paul outlines it for us in first Corinthians chapter 6, here it is on the screen. Do you not know, he says, that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God. Look what he says. You are not your own. You were bought at a price. By the way, that price was the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, honor God with your body. Honor God with your life. Honor God with your time. Honor God with your words. Honor God with your energy, your effort, your days. Why? Because you see, as a follower of Jesus, we don't think like the world thinks. The world can go around saying things like, it's my life. I'll do what I want with it. As Christians, we have to say, it's his life. And he will do what he wants with it. You know? It's a whole different attitude. You see, being a follower of Jesus is completely different from just being a person in the world. And Paul said this so beautifully when he wrote to the churches in Galatia. In chapter 2, you guys know this verse, chapter 2, verse 20, he says, I have been crucified with Christ. And he says, you know what? The old Paul, the old me that made all my own decisions and said, this is what I'm doing. He said, that old man isn't even alive anymore. I no longer live. In fact, he said, the life I now live in this body, in this casing, I live by faith. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. You know, he gave everything for me. Can I do any less? We begin, you see, instead to see, as I said, our lives, our time, our money, our possessions and things like that as kind of, you know, an end in themselves. This is what life is all about. Being happy, having money, having things, having possessions and so forth, rather than seeing our lives as a means to an end, which is to serve the Lord. That is the end. That's the goal, is to give my life to God in such a way that I'm going to serve him with all my heart and stop thinking of my life as my own little stuff, my own little stash, you know. It's mine. Isn't it funny how kids, you know, they can hardly even talk. My oldest daughter sent me a note the other day on email, actually it was a couple, a few weeks ago, and she said that their littlest child, their little boy Liam, he learned the M word, mine. You know, he's got two sisters, you know, that will once in a while take something that he thinks belongs to him. So he says, mine. You know, don't you? You hate to hear that. But it's like, who taught that kid that, you know? It's just hardwired, let me tell you. And we as Christians, doesn't matter how long we've been walking with the Lord, doesn't matter how old we are, that whole gravitational pull toward mine is still very strong. We might not say it like an 18-month-old kid, but it's there, let me tell you. And isn't it amazing, I think it's amazing, that Jesus Christ purchased you on the cross, and he'll tell you in very gentle and gracious terms that you are his, but you know what? He'll let you live your life for yourself. In other words, he'll let you say about your life, mine, and he'll let you live that way. Which has probably got to be the biggest waste of time and energy known to man, to live my life saying mine, mine, mine. You know, the older I get, the more I want my life to stand for something, you know? I mean, I know that one day I'm going to stand before the Lord and give an account for what he's given me and what I've done with it. You know, as Christians, we're not going to stand before the Lord and account for our sin. That's already, that accounting has already been done at the cross, and it was considered paid in full. That's why Jesus said, it is finished at the end of that ordeal. But that doesn't mean that you and I aren't going to stand before the throne of God. We will stand before the throne of God, and we will give an account for how we have used our lives for the glory of God. And you know, the last thing I want to do is be ashamed. When I stand before the Lord and he says to me, Paul, I gave you this and this and this. What did you do with it? I hope my response isn't, well, I just kind of sat around saying, this is mine. I hope my response is, well, Lord, see, you gave me this and see how it is multiplied. And you know, the only way to do that is to give it away, to literally give it away. Whatever gifting, whatever ability, what life you have to give it to him, to give it back to him on a daily basis and say, you know what, Lord, I'm not going to put this thing on a level of my convenience or when I think I'm ready, I'm just, I belong to you right here, right now, today, I am yours and you can do with me as you see fit. Because you see, you purchased me. The blood of the lamb was the purchase price. I belong to you. And my life is not my own. I have been crucified with Christ, as Paul says. I no longer live, Christ lives in me. This life, this time, this energy, this effort, I'm now living by faith in the son of God. Who is he? He is the one who loved me and gave himself for me. And that's why. That's why you see, my life is not my own. You see, I've been bought at a price. And as Christians, that's just what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. So let's put these up on the screen one last time for those of you that just kind of want to see the lessons that we get out of these verses. Lesson number one, once again, the wisdom of God will never make sense to the world. Lesson number two, it's all about walking by faith one day at a time, putting your trust in him. And then finally, lesson number three, following Jesus is all about letting go of the kinds of things that the world is concerned with, the things that motivate and control the people of the world. And rather for you and I, putting the kingdom of God first in our lives and serving him with a whole heart. Amen.