So here’s the deal. I’ve been on this personal journey for a bit. Essentially, as the small church plant my wife and I attend grows, so does the need and opportunity for leaders. At The Village we take leadership seriously. For a long time I’ve felt a leaning in this direction, specifically in the area of preaching and teaching. In just under two months, (actually now that I think about it, I probably wont post these until after the event) we will be hosting a preaching lab. Just under twenty men will gather, five will be selected to present 12 min mini sermons, that will then be critiqued by a panel of four pastors, Two within the Village, two outside the Village. Its incredibly exciting, and I am one of the five “lab preachers.” Assigned to me is Matthew 8:18-22
Because I love you, my notes are going to be posted here. If they seem brief or incomplete its due to the 12 min time limit. What’s difficult is boiling down the sermon to only its necessary points. No extra examples, very little practical application, just the idea, and the challenge, and the gospel, all while trying to still be engaging.
Mat 8:18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.
Mat 8:19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
Mat 8:20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Mat 8:21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Mat 8:22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
THE CONTEXT
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, he’s not there just yet, and at this point he hasn’t really ruffled too many feathers. His fame and popularity are growing as he passes through these smaller towns serving, teaching, and performing various miracles. During his trip we see this meeting with two would-be followers, who apparently miss something that is critical to what it means to follow Jesus, and we are going to see Jesus push back on them a bit, and as Jesus pushes back on them, he also pushes back on us.
What I want to do first today, is explain what the text plainly says. That is, what, on a surface level is it saying? Then I want explore with you what the text means as it applies to us today. To look for the meaning underneath the surface if you will, to see what the text might reveal about our hearts today.
TWO DUDES
The first dude is pretty excited about the notion of following Jesus, he says “I will follow you wherever you will go.” Jesus pushes back a little and tells the man that he has “no idea what hes asking for.”(paraphrase, I’m going to paraphrase a lot for the sake of time) “The foxes and the birds do their thing and get to go home, I do my thing and I don’t get that sort of luxury”. Plainly Jesus is saying that following Jesus is not all rainbows and sunshine, its not a “have your cake and eat it to” type of scenario, it is at times, in fact difficult.
Dude number two, at the notion of being a follower of Jesus, essentially tells Jesus that now is not a good time for him. And guess what, I know its a funeral he’s talking about, but without getting into all the speculation and nuance as to why this isn’t a big deal. Can we just skip ahead and quickly agree that no matter what you got going on, if Jesus calls you to follow him, that whatever Jesus ask is probably more important? Jesus is expressing to the second man, that he apparently, by passing up the offer, even if only temporarily, that he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.
That is you plain meaning. This is pretty much what the text is saying on a surface level. Following Jesus is difficult, but at the same time worth it. However, we still need to get to the heart of the text and find out what Jesus is trying to reveal to us today.
DIGGING DEEPER
These two men make different assumptions about following Jesus. In Jesus’s view, they apparently miss what following Him is all about. Something crucial is missing in their understanding, and some faulty desires are lurking behind their hearts. That being said, the bible says a lot about following Jesus, and you should take some time on your own, and read those verses, but for our purposes today, we only need to look no further that just a few more chapters in Matthew.
Twice in the gospel of Matthew, in ch 10:38, and ch 16:24, Jesus will lay two foundational elements for what it means to be a follower. He says this, paraphrased “if you’re going to follow me you need to first deny yourself, and then, take up your cross” to paraphrase the paraphrase, “you need to not be about your business, but be about my business, your desires should bow to my desires.” Jesus makes this point twice on two separate occasions, which means we should listen closely, and in his encounter with these two men we see it play itself out in two different ways.
SELF DENIAL VS SELF FULFILLMENT
Jesus informs us that a central ethic or posture of being a follower of Christ, to being a part of his kingdom, is self-denial. This immediately confronts the mainline thinking of our culture which is self-fulfillment. Everything about us, the air we breath is all about making yourself happy; finding your own path to self-fulfillment. It normally sounds like this. “Do whatever makes you happy!” Which sounds great, but some very clever people quickly found out that some people make themselves happy by hurting other people. So we amended the phrase, now it reads “Do whatever makes you happy, as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else.”
Unfortunately it still doesn’t work. You can’t remove all restraint, and then try to put the restraints back on when it all starts to go off the rails. It is like letting a wild bull loose in a crowd of people, then trying to subdue the same bull without anyone getting hurt. It simply can’t be both ways.
SAME SIN, TWO SCENARIOS
So, if following Christ includes both self denial and trading your desires for Jesus’ desires/cross, then the opposite is also true. When we are not following Jesus we are fulfilling ourselves and pursuing our own desires. What is revealed about these two men is that their desire is not to follow Jesus, but to look out for their favorite master, themselves. Their sin is the same, its classic self-idolatry, they value themselves and their desires first and foremost, and it plays itself out in two different ways. Lets look at these two guys with this new perspective brought into the conversation.
Guy one sees Jesus as a means to his self-fulfillment, Jesus is a step in the right direction to meet his goals and desires. Guy two, sees Jesus as an obstacle to his self-fulfillment, getting in the way of his desires, and so instead of delaying his own gratification, he delays following Christ instead.
Guy one thinks that following Jesus will gain him certain advantages. As a scribe, if he hooks up with a teacher as exciting as Jesus then this will be fuel for his career. For him Jesus is a means to getting what he wants, this is why Jesus tells him that this life is not all its cracked up to be. He’s not simply warning, or trying to scare the man away, he’s testing him a bit, in fact he testing both men a bit. What if it doesn’t work out the way you think? What if you don’t get everything you want? What if you do get everything you want but it still doesn’t satisfy? Am I enough for you? Am I you’re treasure? If so, then the potential difficulties won’t be an issue for you, nothing will be more important to you than being with me.
This particular way that self-idolatry sells itself to us is rampant even in our churches. In order to make our churches seem relevant we sell Jesus along side what we think people want. Do you want help with your finances, your marriage, your addictions, your lust, your family, your business, your anger, your happiness? Whatever you need just trust in Jesus and he will give it to you! Have “You’re Best Life Now”, “Be the Best You…” etc. Its completely antithetical to the gospel. And it breeds this idea of self-fulfillment in our hearts.
Now lets think about this particular type is self love. We want something so bad that we are willing to use Jesus to get it. Whatever it is, we love it more than Jesus, we trust it for fulfillment over Jesus, and then we go to Jesus, and expect him to help us get his replacement. It is insane, and it’s not going to happen.
Guy two reminds me of the dude who has been engaged for seven years and still hasn’t set a date. He keeps making excuses to keep delaying the commitment he knows he should make. Similarly this guy keeps pushing commitment to Christ down the road. “Once I do this thing then I’ll follow.” Notice that we normally try to mask our excuse, and act like we are being responsible. “I just need to learn some more, I need to be a little more mature before I give my life completely to Christ.” Whatever that thing is, he falsely believes that it is a more worthwhile pursuit, that it will ultimately satisfy him, more than Jesus.
My wife and I have five children, which leads to some pretty interesting conversations. Every now and then a newly wed couple will say something to us that usually goes like this. “We’re going to wait until its a good time for us, you know, until we are ready to have kids.” We always try to truthfully respond and tell them “If you’re waiting for the right time, or until you’re ready to have kids, then you’re never going to have kids, because there’s never a “good time” to have kids, and you are never going to be “ready” for them.” This is the attitude this man has with Jesus. By seeing Jesus as an obstacle, and choosing to seek what he thinks will satisfy him more, he simply delays the great joy he could have being with Jesus.
BRINGING IT HOME
There’s much to be discussed, and explored, and explained here, but given my time limit I must be brief. How do I know that self denial is key to being a part of this life, to being a part of this thing called Christianity? Because its exactly what our king did.
Philippians 2:3-11 ESV
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We are not better than our King that we deserve to seek our own desires when he sought after nothing for himself.
EXAMINE YOUR HEART
I want to ask the question that I think will challenge us, and dive the point home.
What ways are you only using Jesus to get what you want?
What ways are you avoiding Jesus so that he doesn’t get in the way of what you want?
What are those things you want, and how do you believe they will satisfy you more than Jesus will?
Jesus sums up the entirety of the law by stating two things. Love God, and love your neighbor. Not yourself. The first step to crucifying your flesh, to putting down your desires, to taking up his cross and receiving his desires is denying yourself. Bowing down to King Jesus. So today, wherever you may be, may we all kneel today to King Jesus and begin destroy the pride and love of ourselves.
Grace & Peace
So there you go, that was my lab sermon. I got lots of good feedback and would appreciate yours as well!
Theist the Bearded 