Discipleship 101: “Christ, Our Faithful Leader”

In Matt. 8:18-22 Jesus is approached by two would-be followers; one makes a statement, the other a request. One states his intentions to follow Jesus anywhere; the other asks for an exemption; for permission to not follow Jesus! Christ’s response to them is nothing short of amazing. Jesus denied both requests and in so doing set the bar for what it means to really follow Him.

What is clear in this text is that following Jesus is no casual matter – it is something of utmost importance that requires our utmost for Christ. Following is something we do because God empowers us to do so – it is only by God’s grace, based solely on His truth, enabled exclusively by & resting completely on the sovereignty and faithfulness of God. And God expects our cooperation.

The 1st man who approached Jesus that day was a scribe (a Bible teacher, an expert, a pro at handling Hebrew documents; not just someone who read and copied, but who taught, interpreted and applied the law). The scribe said "Teacher, I will follow you anywhere". Jesus knew his heart and knew he was saying one thing but was not fully on board with the kind of master-disciple relationship common in those days. A person would check out all the local teachers, choose one, seek them out and then ask to follow them – if accepted he’d commit to them completely. Being a disciple in those days was all-consuming, your life revolved around your teacher. This scribe was not in line with that way of thinking and Jesus knew it. In answer to him Jesus talks of foxes and birds, to make the point that He, the maker of the world, God-in-the-flesh, did not have a pillow of His own. What’s He saying? In effect - You really want to follow; you think it is all going to be all these healings and popularity? Soon enough the crowd’s admiration will turn into cursing and persecutions. If you come with Me you will have no comfort, no place to call home. Jesus did not come to make a comfortable place for Himself – He came so that His sheep might have life and have an eternal home with Him someday in Heaven.

Another would-be disciple came to Jesus and said, "Lord, first let me bury my father." Sounds like he really wants to follow Jesus but he needs to care for his family, but what he is really saying is, "I won’t follow You until my parents die and I get my inheritance". He called Jesus Lord but didn't want to follow Him. He had no intention of following Jesus. To this man Jesus says "follow Me and let the dead bury their own dead". Basically, let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.

What do we make of these 2 encounters? What was Jesus getting at? He spells out the cost, the rules, and in them we see the evidence of following Jesus & also some deep implications for our lives.

1st, the cost of following Jesus is your life. Jesus consistently made it clear that it costs everything to follow – pearl of great price, buying the field, denying self. It makes perfect sense since it cost Jesus His life for you to be able to follow. Jesus is warning the over-eager of the commitment He requires of His people & challenging those who make Him too low a priority to get their priorities straight. Both men let other things get in the way. John Piper "When humans forsake their Maker and love other things more, they become like the things they love---small, insignificant, weightless, inconsequential, and God-diminishing." C.S. Lewis said "the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self -all your wishes and precautions- to Christ...until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self."

2nd, the rules of following Jesus are you don’t stipulate the terms. God calls the shots, He stipulates the terms. Many today downplay the gospel message and offer what Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace". Down-playing the gospel message, trying to make it look less demanding or not demanding at all – puts us in danger of being guilty of twisting God’s Word & deceiving those we are to witness to. Jesus said things like “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves”; “you will be hated by all on account of My name”; “they will make you outcasts”. Paul said “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” 2 Tim 3:12.

Not following looks free and leads to slavery and death; following is hard and leads to life because it is based on grace and it rests on God not us. The Gospel of the grace of God in Christ is where Jesus, for God's glory and our good, substituted Himself for us, taking our sin and suffering our shame, so that we might live while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5:6; calls us to act now. Now is the day of salvation. We sign on His terms. They are simple, they cover everything: He leads, we follow & trust without reservation. He speaks, we listen & obey without question. He expects us to count the cost of following and not following. Follow Me doesn’t mean causal, maybe, later, someday, if I feel like it- it means get going!

In the early church there were expectations: Acts 2:42, they devoted themselves to teaching, prayer, breaking of bread, fellowship. There were instructions, creeds, they ascribed to a body of beliefs. At Grace Church there are expectations. Every church has them. We expect that you get connected with God in Christ by faith and live as part of God’s family; get in a group and get out and serve. There are no lone rangers, no independent contractor Christians – we are called to community – to identify and link arms together. So if you are a part of Grace and you haven’t yet done so, we'd like you to join the church - it is our way of acknowledging our common commitment and life together). Align yourself with the statement of faith and our mission, vision, values and goals. Get engaged at Grace. Get in a group so you can connect with people and then go and serve the Lord wherever He sends you.

3rd, the evidence of following Jesus is a loving, yielded heart that is willing to do whatever, whenever, wherever, and however Jesus chooses. Yielded. Put no confidence in the flesh; a true sense of our own weakness; God’s grace and not our ability. It didn’t happen for the 2 men who came to Jesus. It doesn’t happen for many who call themselves Christians. George Barna has found that only 9% of born-again believers have a Biblical worldview. John Piper said "Wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians. And wimpy Christians won't survive the days ahead... Those who will be left standing are those who have built their houses on the rock of great, objective truth with Jesus Christ as the origin, center, and goal of it all." John Stott said "The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for us. We…put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God…puts Himself where we deserve to be". Jesus allowed Himself to be the scapegoat so we could go free.

Jesus is our Truly Faithful Leader. Everything about Him is remarkable. There is so much love in Christ’s words to us. It is the same love that sent Him to the cross. CJ Mahaney said, “God’s love is revealed on the cross, crushing His Son with our sin and His righteous wrath against us, revealing His love for sinners like us.” Jesus loves us, works with us – challenges us strongly, lovingly, upholding the dignity of people made in His image to reflect His glory. So that we would do what God wants and please Him. If you believe make sure you believe what the Bible teaches. Be sure you know the Gospel story – for your own sake and the sake of those whom you are called to reach. If you don’t believe come to faith in Christ, you are in danger of dying in your sins. He wants you to follow, He will enable it. Grace draws us, His love is like a magnet, God takes us who were polar-opposites to Him, diametrically opposed, and makes us His friends by grace through faith.

Soli Deo Gloria