August
3, 2003
Matthew 8:18-22: When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders
to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to
him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
The pictures that came across the ocean of Lance Armstrong’s winning his
fifth consecutive Tour de France show a beaming Lance exalting and celebrating
his victory. His statement after his victory is revealing, “I love cycling,
I love my job, and I will be back next year.”
Lance looks at his training as his job. Job is a word in our vocabulary
that is not very glamorous. Job has about it the idea of doing something
over and over again, day in and day out. It means responsibility, difficulties,
hard work and commitment.
By referring to cycling as his job, Lance communicated something about the
reality of what it takes to be standing where he was standing. The world focuses
on Lance once a year, but the commitment that got him that victory is a job.
It’s a commitment everyday. I don’t have to know the details of his training
regimen to know that it would be astounding.
His total body fat is 4%. His heartbeat at rest is 32 bpm, less than half
the average of most people.
If you could observe Lance in his training, you would be disabused forever
of the notion that there is much glamour to his job. Relentless agony would
probably be a more apt description.
When Lance talked about cycling as his job, he introduced a note of reality
into the glory of his moment.
Jesus was doing the same thing here. He has been healing many people. He
has been driving demons out of people. And He knows that the excitement of
that scene would cause many people to wax eloquent in their proclamations
to follow Him.
So Jesus introduces a note of reality into what it means to follow Him.
He is warning here that the glory of that moment is not the normal day-to-day
life of His disciples.
The first warning is directed toward a teacher of the law. The man in a
moment of inspiration says, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
There is probably no profession in our society today that could precisely
compare to what being a teacher of the law was at that time. If we were to
try, we might say as far as esteem and honor, it would probably be close to
being a doctor in our society. They were usually well-paid as well. The teacher of the law looked around at all the miracles
going on. He saw the disciples’ involvement and their joy at being a part
of this ministry. And he was inspired.
But Jesus was reminding him that the moment he was looking at was not necessarily
representative.
I am sure the disciples could have spoken on behalf of that truth. Following
Jesus for them had meant a lot of things. Not much earthly security. They
did a lot of just plain walking. Their eating was sporadic and unpredictable
at best. The travel and the separation from family and friends was a constant
strain. The people who hated Jesus hated them.
Jesus reminds this man that following Him meant that he would have to forego
some of the normal securities and lifestyle that many
took for granted.
In light of what Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount, there is a
certain irony to the words Jesus uses here.
Remember Jesus instructed the disciples before that, when you live in the
kingdom, your commitment to the reality and power of the kingdom means that
you will not constantly be asking the same questions that everyone else is
always asking:
What shall we eat?
What shall we drink?
What shall we wear?
Not that these are not important, or that you never think of them at all,
but that these are no longer the main focus in your life. There are more important
things in life now because you are in the kingdom.
Also, we don’t think about these things as much because Jesus has told us
about God’s commitment to us as His disciples. He will provide. This is to
be our assurance, our insurance, our pension, our whole orientation about
how we live our lives. God will provide. It is His sacred promise. We are
to live by it.
Earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus used animals and the natural
world to assure us that God will take care of us. Remember, even Solomon
is not clothed like the lily of the field. The birds do not sew or reap,
and yet they are cared for by their Father, the One in the heavens.
Now he used the same kind of analogy but sort of in the reverse direction./Even
the animals have a place to lay their heads, a place to call home. The foxes
have dens. The birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to call home,
no place to lay His head.
So on the one hand, Jesus says that you will always be better taken care
of than the birds and the flowers. So don’t worry!
But now He is saying that there will be times
when, because of your commitment to the kingdom, because you want to see things
happen that would not happen otherwise, you may live in a manner that is
less than what the animals do.
In this case, animals usually have a place to lay their heads. But the Son
of Man did not always have this.
Why? Because it was necessary to forego it for the sake of the kingdom.
How could He heal people? How could He preach? How could He teach and do
miracles unless He went to the people and made the sacrifice of home and
hearth to do so? He couldn’t.
And so Jesus is simply reminding this man that if you follow Him, you will
have to voluntarily lay down your rights, even your basic needs in order to
see the kingdom achieved and made manifest.
This is
simply the nature of things. And just because we follow Jesus, this law is
not suspended.
Anything that is worth doing, anything you do of value, requires commitment
and some sacrifice. It’s the nature of accomplishment and impact on any level
or situation.
If Lance Armstrong had not been willing to suffer the hardship of long grueling
hours of training, he would not have been in the winner’s circle that day.
It’s just that simple. He had to make the commitment to see it happen.
(Incidentally, many, many other men in the Tour de France made equal sacrifices
and underwent equal hardship, but they did not finish first in the race. That
is not to say they weren’t rewarded. But that is another thing, isn’t it?)
The second man who came to Jesus said this, “Lord, first let me go and
bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury the
dead.”
Although the man who said these words is called “another disciple,” sometimes
the word is used very loosely as simply designating anyone who is in some
sense of the word trying to learn from Jesus. Certainly that is the case here.
Jesus boils down discipleship into two words as he often does, “Follow
me.”
It’s a powerful and personal challenge that comes to every single person.
Following Jesus means simple beginning to walk as He walks. It is always
a concrete expression, not something theoretical.
Many feel this is a harsh response on the part of Jesus. Some have said
that the man is not talking about a situation where his father has recently
died, and he needs to attend the funeral. Rather, what he is talking about
is waiting for his elderly father to live out his life, and settling the
estate. If this is the case, then it might be that the man was saying that
he wanted to wait until his father died, at which point he would be free
from responsibility of care for his father and maybe also financially better
off. From what I have read about the text here, it is not certain which way
it should be taken.
However, either way, it seems the meaning of Jesus here is the same. Jesus
brings the same issues up quite often.
First of all, we have the issue of the personal nature of his call. The
call to follow is not dependent on anyone else. The closest people to you
cannot answer the call for you. Your parents, your brothers or sisters, even
your husband or your wife cannot answer the call to follow Jesus. The call
comes to you alone. You alone have to decide whether you are going to walk
in His way or not.
Secondly, we have the issue of favorable circumstance. Because of who Jesus
is, because His call takes precedence over all other calls, you cannot wait
to answer the call when it is convenient.
The only moment we really have to follow Jesus is this moment. Today. And
so Jesus challenges this man as He does us to begin immediately. Begin to
walk in His steps today.
Many people think they will follow Jesus at some point in the future after
they have fulfilled their own plans. They want to accomplish some particular
things, and then they think they will be ready to follow.
But the flaw here is not just that we do not know if we will have tomorrow.
The deeper flaw here is in not recognizing what the call of Jesus is. The
call of Jesus is to life. Abundant life. To think that there is something
better out there that we must do or accomplish before we follow Jesus is
to misunderstand what Jesus is offering. It shows that in our heart of hearts,
we think that walking in the way of Jesus will not really lead to our ultimate
good, our best and most complete happiness, and our sure contentment.
There is nothing better than what Jesus offers. To understand Who He is
and what He says can lead to no other conclusion.
Imagine if you somehow came to know that a certain property had a vast underground
reservoir of oil underneath it. No one else knew about it. The oil reserve
lies under a rather large tract of land, and it will take everything you have,
everything you possess to buy it. Do you really think for a moment that you
would feel sulky, depressed, and deprived because you have to spend everything
you have to purchase that property?
This is why we cannot postpone following Jesus until a more convenient moment.
If we are thinking like that, then it only shows that we really don’t understand
what it is that Jesus is offering. As long as we think there is something
out there that is better than following Jesus, then we really haven’t understood
the vision of life that Jesus is presenting.
Jesus demonstrated this in His own life. Jesus made a great sacrifice in
our behalf. He knew His whole life that His life would end in death on a cross.
Do you think Jesus went around sulky and depressed and feeling deprived because
of the sacrifice He was making?
Turn with me to Hebrews 12:1-2: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by
such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders
and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the
race marked out before us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter
of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus, far from being some sort of stoic, Who sacrificed Himself for the
sake of sacrifice, as if sacrifice was a good thing in itself, was energized
and motivated because of the joy that was set before Him. He knew the joy
He would have when He had given Himself for us. What exactly is that joy?
We are. Jesus looks down the road at us, the ones who will be redeemed through
the centuries, and He is joyful. He is filled with joy because He looks at
us and thinks, “It is worth it. I will endure the pain and the shame of the
cross, because by doing so I will redeem them.”
Think about the sins you struggle with. Again, let’s define sins as anything
that would fall short of the life that Jesus set forth in the Sermon on the
Mount. Anything that is keeping you from that kind of life, or is at least
hindering you from a full participation in that life, is it worth it? Do those
sins really satisfy? Do they bring you lasting pleasure and fulfillment?
Of course not. They never do. Start thinking about the joy set before you,
the life of Jesus that you will experience as you throw off those sins and
enter into life.
Now let me read more of this passage in Hebrews, because it relates to what
Jesus said in our passage in Matthew about following him.
Hebrews 12:3-13: Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful
men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against
sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you
have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My
son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when
he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes
everyone he accepts as a son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating
you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not
disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate
children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined
us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father
of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as
they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share
in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant, but painful. Later on, however,
it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained
by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level
paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
There is a lot of good food for thought and life in this passage. But I
just want to hit on some high points. First of all, there is a command here
that can really transform the way we look at life.
In verse 7, “Endure hardship as discipline.”
Hardship is an interesting word, isn’t it?
Hardship is a very relative word. After all, what is considered hardship
is different for everyone. It is a function of your personality, your life
experiences, etc.
For instance, what all of us in this room would consider hardship would
be very different for someone who lives in a Third World country where having
enough to eat each day is a major concern.
But the very fact that hardship means something different for everyone is
what makes this command so profound. Endure hardship as discipline.
Hardship might be defined as anything that comes into our lives that makes
our lives more difficult. It usually has the idea that it is something that
we didn’t expect or something that we perceive other people don’t have to
experience.
Sins can be a hardship. Some of us struggle with anger more than others.
In fact, all of us have certain sinful tendencies that for other people are
not temptations at all. So our particular sinful predispositions are a kind
of hardship.
Circumstances can be hardships. Teenagers often feel this way. They look
around and see things they don’t have that other people have and they feel
like they are hard done by, in other words, they feel like it is a hardship.
Some of these things might be God-given qualities they have no control over.
Athletic abilities or the lack thereof. Academic abilities or the lack thereof.
Parents. Some teenagers think that the particular set of parents they have
are a real hardship.
Other circumstances are socio-economic factors. Most teenagers probably
wish their parents were a little better off financially. They can think of
all kinds of hardships in their lives that could be eliminated if their parents
were wealthy.
Now I use teenagers because they usually are so open about what they think
is a hardship. But adults think much the same way about their own hardships,
although they usually don’t wear it on their sleeves so commonly.
For us it may be a lack of ability that would make our lives better. Or
it may indeed be dissatisfaction with our income. Or it may be dissatisfaction
with our own personality. Or it may be any number of internal weaknesses in
our selves that exasperate us to no end.
Probably the biggest category of all is just our circumstances. We think
that if we could just eliminate this or that circumstance from our lives or
bring some other circumstance into our lives, then our lives would be better
and more satisfying.
All of these things are, to us, hardships. Now, the command here is to endure
our hardships as discipline from the Lord.
There is no doubt that discipline contains within it the idea of punishment.
But discipline is not just punishment. It simply means training and learning.
We discipline our children continually. But only occasionally does that discipline
entail punishment such as spankings, or being sent to a room, or a suspension
of privileges. In fact, if our discipline is constantly about those things,
then there is probably something wrong. Most of the discipline we do as parents
is simply training our children how to live.
We teach them the importance of being polite, thinking of others, sharing,
etc. We teach them to respect others and their property. We teach them that
work and discipline and learning are important. We teach that hard work and
keeping at a schedule or a task will reward us in the end.
Nancy and I have been surprised of late because both of our girls have been
saying more and more things such as, “Dad and Mom, I am so glad you instilled
this thing or that thing in me because I now see other people who didn’t learn
those things, and their lives are so difficult because they didn’t learn
those things as kids.”
Let me ask you a question. Do you ever think to yourself, “I wish God would
speak to me more often?”
Right here is a very profound thing to consider.
All these
hardships, all these unique set of circumstances that we deal with in our
lives, are to be considered as God’s way of helping us to learn to live.
So if you are looking for God to speak to you, begin to listen carefully
to how you relate to these areas of your life. The things you consider your
hardships. This is when God does much of His training us.
One of the areas in which I have been trying to hear God better is how I
react to things throughout the day that go awry. You know, little things
that go wrong or that are unexpected setbacks.
Just this
week, I was working one evening on the repair of a ceramic tile in my kitchen.
I had four tiles that I had measured carefully and had cut at Lowe’s. And
my plan that night was simply to mix the adhesive and set them into place.
I laid them down to check their fit, and the last one was cut wrong. I instantly
became angry and let out an expletive.
Why? My plans were messed up. Now I would have to take an hour to take another
tile, measure it, and take it to the store to have it cut.
I blew it. I failed to see that God was in that setback. I failed to allow
for the fact that this was a way God was training me to trust Him in the everyday
challenges of my life. And I totally failed that test.
Now I had to apologize to God and to my wife for my attitude. And if I had
handled it differently, who knows what else might have gone differently. I
will never know.
Endure hardships as discipline. Pay attention to the way God is working
in your life through the things you consider hardships.
Then verse 10: “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they
thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his
holiness.”
The writer here acknowledges what all of us parents know. We often discipline
and train our kids in a way that suits us. We sometimes do this task out of
self-centered motives. We sometimes deal with our kids in ways that are more
about what is good for us rather than good for them. Even the best parents
do this at times. Even James Dobson.
But God never does this. Everything He brings into our lives He does so
for our good. For our training. Never for His convenience.
And what He defines as our good is that we would share His holiness.
Remember what holiness is. It’s not ritual and legalisms. It’s not simply
keeping rules.
Holiness means simply to be set apart for God’s purpose.
Jesus defined holiness in the Sermon on the Mount by giving us a vision
of what our lives can be like if we walk in His ways.
We can become people who become more and more aware of Christ’s presence
with us. We can become people who are being gradually and relentlessly transformed
from the inside out. We can become people whose disposition is that we treat
other people with respect and even love our enemies. We can become people
who are salt and light. We can become people whose greatest desire is to
seek first the Kingdom of God./Holiness is what we as redeemed people, in
our best moments, long for with all of our hearts. It means becoming the
kind of people who walk in the ways of Christ day in and day out. The kind
of people who are characterized by love, joy, and peace.
That is holiness.
And that is what God wants to bring about in our lives. And one of the ways
He does this is to use hardships to train us.
Just as Lance Armstrong knows that the pain and hardship of his training
regimen are what make him able in the long run to do what he could not do
otherwise, so it is with God’s training us through our hardships. As verse
11 says, “No discipline seems pleasant, but painful. Later on, however,
it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained
by it.”
That righteousness and peace is of more value than anything else in the
world. More than anything else. It is nothing less than experiencing the
life of Jesus in us.
It is all part of what Jesus means when He says, “Follow me.”