Scripture: Matthew 8:14-22
In today’s sermon, I want to focus on three things Jesus does for us—over and over—as his disciples. Number One: Jesus Confronts Us. Number Two: Jesus Comforts Us. And Number Three: Jesus Changes Us.
Twenty years ago, billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced that he was giving away 85 percent of his fortune to charity. At the time, that amounted to more than $37 billion. And when asked about this extraordinary act of generosity, Buffett said, “There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.”
Of course, that’s not true. First, there’s only one way to be saved—through faith in Christ. And no amount of charitable giving—or anything else we do—can earn salvation. Even Elon Musk—who became the world’s first trillionaire last week—could give it all away to charity, yet apart from faith in Christ be separated from God forever.
But good news: Christ has already earned eternal life for us through his life, death, and resurrection.
Having said that, suppose Warren Buffett, who is still alive at age 95—or even Elon Musk—came to Five Forks Methodist and said, “Pastor, I’d like to join your church—and give away a large portion of my fortune to it. After all, there is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.”
Would I be tempted to overlook the bad theology? Would I be tempted to soften my message in order to keep such a powerful, influential, wealthy member around? Would I be so flattered by this V.I.P.’s attention that I would fail to tell the whole truth and nothing but…?
I’d like to think I’d do the right thing. But I would feel the temptation.
Jesus, to say the least, is not like me…
And this brings us to Point Number One: Jesus Confronts Us.
In verse 19, a scribe comes to Jesus and says, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” As a scribe, he was one of the elites—one of the most prominent and respected people in society. He would have been the highest-profile disciple Jesus had attracted so far.
Yet instead of welcoming him with open arms, Jesus immediately challenges him: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Jesus refuses to lower the bar of discipleship. He refuses to make it sound easier than it is.
Why does Jesus do this?
In regards the first man, some commentators have noticed that in verse 19, he begins with the word “I” and doesn’t even use the word “Lord.” Not a promising beginning to his life of discipleship!
In his commentary on this text, Dale Bruner says that the scribe’s words have overtones of, “Jesus, this is your lucky day; I have decided to be your disciple!”[1] There’s likely some pride there.
Regardless, I think it’s fair to say that Jesus discerns that this man may actually have at least one other priority than following Jesus. When Jesus says that unlike foxes and birds, “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” he likely discerns that this man might be overly concerned about his home… or his comfort… or his safety… or his material wealth.
The man will follow Jesus anywhere so long as it doesn’t threaten those things…
Jesus is saying, in so many words, “To be my disciple, you’ve got to be willing to put me ahead of yourself and any other consideration!”
Now let’s notice the second man in verse 21: Jesus says to him, “Follow me.” And this man seems as if he wants to. “But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’” Do you see the language of priority? The word “priority” literally means “what comes first.” And the first thing this man wants to do—before following Jesus—is to bury his father.
This probably doesn’t even mean his father’s already dead! If he were, this son would already likely be preoccupied with funeral arrangements. More than likely, his father is elderly or dying, and the man is saying, “After my father dies, then I’ll follow you.”
“After all, Jesus… my family comes first… You understand, right?”
Jesus then responds with some his harshest words in all of the gospels: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead.” In Luke’s longer version of this event, Jesus then tells this second man, “But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”[2]
Now, this isn’t quite as harsh as it sounds: Jesus understands that our greatest need in this short span of time that God has given us on earth is forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Apart from faith in Christ, we are spiritually dead. That’s why proclaiming the gospel—in order to give spiritually dead people new life—can never take second place… even second to the closest, most intimate, most loving of human relationships—that of a parent and child!
If this man waits around until his father dies before beginning to fulfill the Great Commission, who knows how many people might fail to find eternal life in Christ and be saved?
That would be a terrible failure of love! When we put Jesus first in our lives, we are actually better able to love others!
If we’re parents, for example, and Jesus is first in our lives, then our highest priority in regards to our children is to do everything we can to introduce them to Jesus, to communicate to them the good news about Jesus—to show them exactly how important Jesus is to us.
I mean, think of the sacrifices parents are willing to make in order to ensure that their children are successful in life—that they succeed in school, that they succeed on standardized tests, that they participate in the right extracurricular activities—like swim team—that they get into the right colleges…
Remember poor Lori Loughlin—“Aunt Becky” from Full House? She loved her daughter so much that she tried to bribe the admissions officers at USC—the other USC… She and her husband shelled out a half a million dollars to make sure her daughter got into the “right college.” And she was in prison for a couple of months!
In retrospect, she probably wished her daughter had become a Gamecock instead!
My point is, parents are deeply concerned about their children’s future success in life, and rightly so…
But you know as well as I do that even the most successful life in this world is only the tiniest blip of time in light of eternity.
We know that… yet we can often be so haphazard about churchgoing, about reading scripture, about praying with and for our children, about living out our faith for our children, not just for one or two hours on Sunday morning but 24/7!
Parents, what are our children learning from us about the priority that Jesus has in our lives?
As if this weren’t challenging enough, do I need to point again to Luke’s version of this same event, which Jesus summarizes by saying, in Luke 9:62, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” In other words, when you follow Jesus, you ought to desire him and his kingdom and his glory so much that you would never be tempted to want anything else more than you want him! And if you do want something more than Jesus, well… he says, you’re not fit for the kingdom of God.
These words should terrify us, right? I’d be willing to wager that for most of us, when we hear Jesus speak these words, there’s at least a tiny part of us that wonders, “Do these words apply to me? After all, haven’t I often made people other than Jesus my life’s top priority? Haven’t I often put money, possessions, and other treasures in life ahead of the treasure I have in Christ?
If so… am I in trouble? Am I among those who are not ‘fit’ for God’s kingdom? Does this mean I’m not even a disciple? Not even a Christian? Do I even have eternal life? Am I even saved?”
Hold on! Don’t be discouraged, dear brother or sister… because Jesus shows us not only the cost of discipleship… but also the grace of it. Even a hint of grace in today’s scripture…
And this is Point Number Two: Jesus Comforts Us.
Remember the ridiculous question James and John once asked Jesus after a Samaritan village rejected him: “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” We almost laugh because the suggestion is so outrageous. Jesus came to save these Samaritans, not destroy them. Yet James and John completely misunderstood him. Worse, their words revealed hatred toward their enemies—a sin Jesus places on the same spectrum as murder itself.
And these aren’t just two of the Twelve. Along with Peter, they are the Big Three—the disciples who make up Jesus’ inner circle, his three closest friends. Yet look how badly they failed to understand him.
Then there’s Peter, whose failures as a disciple are legendary. During the Last Supper he boldly declared, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). Sound familiar? “I will follow you wherever you go!”
“Oh no, you won’t, Peter.”
Like the first man in verse 19, Peter promised more than he delivered. He denied even knowing Jesus three times because, in that moment, he valued his own safety more than faithfulness to Christ. How is that not an example of putting his hand to the plow and looking back?
Yet none of us worries about whether Peter, James, and John are saved. In fact, Jesus assures them that they belong to him despite their many failures.
So if Peter, James, and John are not a lost cause, why do we assume these two men are? And why do we worry that maybe we are, too?
Because please notice Jesus doesn’t reject any of them. No, he challenges them… with additional teaching. “Are you willing to follow me now… with this new information… or not?”
Notice that Matthew doesn’t include words like, “And this scribe walked away sad… because he owned a nice home and was unwilling to be homeless.” And he doesn’t tell us, “And the man whose father was dying left Jesus in tears because he really, really loved his family.”
No!
Jesus allows each of these men to decide whether or not they will continue to be his disciples.
And that’s right… I said “continue” to be his disciples…
Even though many smart people often refer to these two men as “would-be” disciples, that’s not doing justice to what Matthew writes. Why? Because of verse 21: “Another of the disciples said to him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’”
“Another of the disciples…”?
This means that Matthew is saying that that first guy… the scribe, the proud man who was unprepared to sacrifice comfort or luxury or status symbols to follow Jesus… Matthew is telling us this same man was already a disciple… just like the man after him was already a disciple!
Will these two men continue to be Jesus’ disciples? We don’t know. Matthew leaves the question unanswered. They could go either way.
But isn’t that true for all of us disciples?
Being a disciple of Jesus, after all, isn’t a one time event or decision, which happens, for instance, when we go through confirmation class or stand up in church and make a public profession of faith. It doesn’t happen when we get baptized. It doesn’t happen when we walk down the aisle and pray a sinner’s prayer.
That may be a necessary start… but that’s hardly discipleship…
Because discipleship is a lifelong process of trusting in Jesus… of continuing to say “yes” to him when he calls us to follow him!
And this brings us to Point Number Three: Jesus Changes Us…
Like the two men in today’s scripture, every single one of us—if we are disciples—will follow Jesus to a crossroads, or a turning point, or a fork in the road—probably many, many times in our lives… And when we face a turning point in our journey of discipleship, we will either choose to be faithful to Jesus and follow him down this new, risky, scary, uncertain road…
Or we won’t. But Jesus puts the ball will be in our court… And then gives us all the grace and power we need to take the ball to the goal. So that we will be able say with the apostle at the end of his life, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”[3]
That’s not guaranteed apart from continuing to live as a disciple… continuing to listen to the word of our Lord and say “yes” to him over and over again…
And as we do so, the Holy Spirit changes us from the inside out…
Thank God he changed me!
After all, when I first answered God’s call into pastoral ministry twenty-two years ago, I said yes. And I meant it. I was willing to follow Jesus—anywhere—so far as I knew at the time. But I didn’t know much! And if I’m honest, I had a certain picture in my mind of what that would look like. I was entering a denomination with so-called “guaranteed appointments.” Which meant, as long as I didn’t mess up too badly, I had tenure. I could hardly be fired! There was a clear path forward. Start with smaller churches, work your way up to larger churches, take on greater responsibilities, earn a larger salary along the way.
There was every reason to believe that by following Jesus into pastoral ministry, my future would at least be stable and predictable and respectable. Retire at 65, be recognized at annual conference alongside other retirees, give a speech, make a few jokes, be patted on the back—“Well done, good and faithful servant.”
That’s what I expected!
But what I did not foresee twenty-two years ago were denominational battles. I did not foresee disaffiliation. I did not foresee uncertainty about ordination credentials. I did not foresee leaving the UMC. I did not foresee joining the Global Methodist Church. I did not foresee arriving at a church like Five Forks Methodist and helping lead a congregation through an unexpected season of ministry—a rewarding season, but a challenging one by its very nature.
None of that meant my original “yes” to follow Jesus into pastoral ministry was insincere or that I was failing to be a disciple; it just meant my understanding of discipleship had to grow; it just meant that the Lord had to change me from the inside out.
Which will always be the case for us disciples… if we’re going to continue as his disciples.
It’s like marriage: This month, Lisa and I will celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary.
And I can honestly say that when Lisa Blancato married me in 1993, she deserved a better man.
I’m serious. Looking back, I was not nearly as prepared for marriage as I thought I was. If a trusted friend had pulled me aside on my wedding day and said, “Brent, I’m not sure you’re ready for a lifelong marriage,” I would have been shocked. But looking back, that friend would have been right.
In fact, to borrow Jesus’ language from Luke 9:62, I wasn’t really “fit” for a lifelong marriage.
But here’s the good news: the man Lisa married thirty-three years ago is not the man she’s married to today.
God has changed me.
Not overnight. Not all at once. Not enough yet… But over thousands of ordinary days, through his Word, through his Spirit, through joys and failures and repentance and grace, Jesus has been changing me.
That’s what discipleship looks like… It’s a process of God changing us.
There’s even a good theological word for this change: sanctification. Even… holiness.
And here’s where the “miracle” of our “Miracle Season” sermon series comes in…
The miracle of verses 19 to 22 remains to be seen… But if this miracle comes to pass, it will be a miracle far greater than taking away the fever of Peter’s mother-in-law in verse 15… or even a miracle greater than casting out evil spirits and healing “all who were sick” in verse 16.
I mean… it’s one thing to be healed of some illness, but if Jesus can heal that scribe of his pride… and teach both men to trust in Christ alone, regardless of consequences… and teach both men to be willing to sacrifice everything, even their own lives, for the sake of Christ, well… I would say that’s far bigger miracle.
And listen… I’ve been thinking about our near future… and what our church will be like on “opening day” in March of next year—God willing… and how our church—given its particular set of gifts—can distinguish itself in a sometimes crowded church market.
Not that we’re “competing” with any other church—I mean that… we need to get that out of our heads… There are so many people who need Jesus in our community… It’s not a zero-sum game: one church’s success is not another church’s failure… In fact, all of our churches can do our part to fulfill the Great Commission and there will still be plenty of people to reach with the gospel…
But I’ve been thinking about what can we offer as a church to our new community near Godfrey Road… what we can offer perhaps more effectively… than many other churches in the area.
And I think what we can offer more effectively is the very thing I’ve been talking about: our historic, very Wesleyanemphasis on this process of change by the Holy Spirit that happens in the lives of believers as they continue to trust—however imperfectly—in our Lord Jesus.
By the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ at work within each of us… a power most manifest when God’s people gather together—live and in person—in church… for worship on Sundays…
By this same power… our lives really can change for the better!
Which means none of us is simply stuck being the people we are today!
Did you hear that? You can change… not by your own power, but the power of the Spirit of Christ!
Do you want to be less fearful person… a less anxious person… less afraid of other people’s opinions and judgments… and for that matter, less afraid of “big things” like dying? You can be!
Do you want to be a less angry person—a person who loses your temper less easily? You can be! Do you want to have greater capacity to forgive people, even your enemies—so you’re not continuing to be re-injured over and over by hurtful things that they’ve done to you…? You can have that!
Do you want to overcome your addiction to smartphones and screens—to say nothing of drugs and alcohol…? You cando that!
Do you want to be happier… more joyful… with a happiness that transcends the circumstances of your life from moment to moment…? You can be!
Do you want to be a more faithful person… someone who loves Jesus more… someone who lives a life of victory over habitual sins that have so often knocked us down? You can be!
God’s Word promises… Jesus promises…
And I think there are more than a few people in our new community who who need to hear this message… Don’t you?
And who’s going to tell them—if not the new Five Forks Methodist Church at 516 Godfrey Road?
Listen… If the Spirit of Jesus Christ will do in our lives what God’s Word promises he can do, look out Five Forks… Look out upstate… Look out South Carolina… Look out world…
If the Holy Spirit makes these changes in our lives… I mean, sure… we won’t have as much as the world’s first trillionaire, Elon Musk…
We will, in fact, have infinitely more…
As Paul says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.”[4]
[1] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Christbook: Matthew 1-12, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 394.
[2] Luke 9:60
[3] 2 timothy 4:7-8
[4] Philippians 3:8