Why Pay So Much (Matthew 19:27-30)

Introduction.

Salvation is free discipleship is costly. Jesus Christ warned people who wanted to be disciples to count the cost before they even contemplated becoming a disciple. Let  me remind you what he said just a couple of chapters ago.

““If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and forsake his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

(Luke 14:26)

In that passage Jesus says you cannot be my disciple unless something happens and here’s the something forsaking you own desires and surrendering your life to him, and that involves a cost, and here is what it is.

·        Number one, you must hate your father, mother wife and children brothers and sisters.

·        Number two, you must bear your cross and come after me.

·        Number three, forsake all that you have and then come after him.

That’s the cost of the discipleship. Now, obviously he doesn’t want you to literally hate your mother or father, or your children or your brothers and sisters, but rather this scripture is using a comparative sense that the love should have for him should be so much greater than any love you have for anything else.  

Then he says that you have to bear your cross and follow me. Some people interpret bearing the cross as death, but there’s a little more here than that going on here thatn just a reference to human mortality because he says, “bear the cross and follow me” So if bearing the cross is death, following me would be the resurrection, now maybe that’s possible, but I tend to think, along with many and western Christians that the call to bear the cross is something a different to just death. Bearing the cross as you follow him, on the path of discipleship must mean experiencing the struggling and suffering that’s involved in being a disciple. Many suggest and I think there’s merit in the idea that bearing the cross is an act of identifying yourself with Christ and his suffering. At any rate, no matter how wide reaching this is “bearing the cross”,  is what is involved in following him, that’s what we have to do when we follow him, and that is the real point.

Therefore, whatever the cost, you have to put him above all other relationships and place him above what you might  personally want to do and  instead choose to be obedient and follow him.

Finally, he says, and this is a staggering statement, forsake all that you have, which obviously relates at least to possessions. But it actually says, forsake everything, so you are not to put people or your own personal desires or your possessions above obedience to him. Wow, what a cost, and I what I would like to ask is why would you want to pay a price like that? Well, there are many answers to that. As matter of fact at one point in his ministry no less than the apostle Peter as a representative of all the disciples asked that very question. Why are we doing this, (I paraphrase) or what do we get because we do this. Jesus gave an answer that I think needs some serious and sober consideration. The answer might affect what you do with your life. So with that in mind would you turn with me to Matthew chapter 19I’m going to begin reading with verse 27.

27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore, what shall we have?” 28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, and you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children orlands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

(Matthew 19: 27-30)

That’s interesting passage of scripture to say the least. All kinds of interesting things in this passage. The outline of it is really rather straightforward. First Peter asked a question. Secondly the Lord answers the question directly and then at the end he goes beyond just the answer to Peter’s question, and he gives an application that applies to people way beyond Peter and the apostles time . So, let’s trace our steps back through this passage and see what’s going on here. First of all it starts with verse 27 with Peter saying.

Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore, what shall we have?”

(Matthew 19: 27)

What Shall We Receive.

Sounds a bit like a selfish question, maybe even bordering on being mercenary, but actually I don’t think it is really, let me explain.

What’s going on here perhaps that’ll give you some appreciation for why Peter asked this question The first word of this paragraph is, ”then”, which immediately should alert you to the fact that this is connected somehow to what was said just prior to this. So let’s me refresh your memory.  Prior to this Jesus had a conversation with someone called the rich young ruler, the rich young ruler wanted to know how to inherit eternal life and Jesus said to him, “I see you called me good does that mean you recognizing me as God”. He said, you know the law, you realize you’re a sinner, and when the young man didn’t get any of that, he said to him, OK then, sell everything you have and give it to the poor and then you will have treasure in heaven, and then after that come and follow me. Jesus had just told the rich young ruler in essence to give up everything. I think in his case that was because he was trusting all of that wealth and authority to make him right with God. Somehow thinking that because he had all of that sorted he had cracked the path to heaven. As today there were there was a popular proverb afloat in the day that said, “Who the Lord loveth he maketh rich”. We still hear that message today in some corners of the modern church. So, he thought because he had all this stuff, that that was evidence God favoured him. However, Jesus said, no, you have got to quit trusting in that so you can trust me.

At any rate what he said to him was, give it all away. After that conversation ended the young man walked away and Peter then says, See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore, what shall we have?”  Notice he didn’t say I’ve done that he said we’ve done that, so it isn’t a selfish question at all, it’s a very appropriate question given what Jesus has just said to the rich young ruler. You might say he is not just asking of himself he is asking of others, like the other disciples, and let me add he is in a sense by proxy asking for us today, who follow him. It’s clearly not a selfish question because what gives it a very straightforward answer and he doesn’t rebuke Peter for asking the question. So that ought to tell us it’s a legitimate question for Peter to ask, and it is an appropriate question for us to ask also. Peter is noting the fact they had left all they had to follow him, they have done that, and the Lord isn’t challenging that. So, they did something that could be called forsaking what they had, which Jesus had just taught this rich young rule as the thing to do.

Remember right from the beginning Jesus’s call to these men who became the disciples, then later apostles, to follow me and I will make you to be fishers of men. What that meant to these guys was they had to give up their business’s, they were fishermen, because Jesus told them leave your occupation and follow me ,and that happened. Most of them were fishermen but it happened to Matthew also who was a tax collector, and he left his very lucrative business to follow Jesus. So you could say yes, they all left their livelihood and furthermore  because Jesus travelled about the whole region this meant they uprooted and left their houses and homes and families and travelled about with Jesus. They literally gave up their homes to be with him. We know Peter had a house because we were told that Jesus and the rest went back and they spent some time there. We know Peter had a family because Jesus healed his mother-in-law.

When Peter says this in verse 27, he’s not being mercenary, he’s being realistic, we gave up our businesses our houses our livelihoods, our families, we gave up everything to walk around Palestine with you if we pay that kind of price then what do we receive because we have done that.

They are not alone; many others have done something similar in the history of the church. Over the years many people have literally walked away from everything to follow the lord. Asking the question Peter asked here is never the problem, accepting the answer is sometimes when it gets difficult. Here’s what Jesus said when he answers the question Peter’s just asked.

Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

(Matthew 19: 28)

An interesting statement, the word, now this word “”, is a word is only used twice in the New Testament. Once it refers to what we commonly call being born again.  Regenerate is an interesting term for Jesus to use, so he seems to be saying the whole earth is going to be born again one day. This is the new birth of the world which occurs when he institutes his Kingdom and, that’s clearly what he means because he says in the regeneration when the son of man sits on his throne and that by the way is an expression taken from Daniel Chapter 7. So, he’s clearly talking about when he comes back, and he sits on the throne in the future Kingdom to come. So this is what he says is going to happen is those who have followed him, they will also sit on a throne judging the 12 tribes of Israel. So, what in the word does that mean? In the Old Testament judging was not what we think when we hear the word judging today. These days we think of someone sitting on bench making decisions about legal matters, but in the Old Testament a judge was a political ruler, not just a legal judge sitting on the bench.

So what Jesus is saying to the 12 apostles here is that you are going to govern the 12 tribes of Israel in the New Millennium when God in Christ rules on the earth for 1000 years. The 12 apostles are going to rule and reign over the 12 tribes of Israel. Before I go on, I think I need to pause and say something. What Jesus does at this point is he goes beyond the 12 apostles and widens the perspective.

. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

(Matthew 19: 29)

An Inheritance in this life and Eternity.

Jesus is now going to take what he has said to the apostles and he’s going to apply it to anybody who gives up everything and follows him. Look at this passage you may have to literally leave your brothers and your sisters and your father and your mother ,that’s maybe OK when you’re a teenager, but what if you married, what is he saying, do you think he means for this to be taken literally. Obviously, he doesn’t want you to forsake your children, that would contradict everything the scripture stands for, just take the thing of leaving your wife, the Bible tells you to sacrifice yourself for your wife, so obviously it is not to be taken literally.  He is saying the relationship you have with him is to be supreme, above and beyond all other human relationships and possessions you might have.

This is really fascinating to me for this means to me, because this tells us that if we are going to be a disciple it seems to me that doing that is going to require some sacrifice. When you say it like that, when you see it like then we should recognise how hard that might be because it will run counter to everything we are and everything we’ve tend to do. We tend to gravitate toward comfort and convenience, we have a natural tendency toward that, all of our conditioning in life is about thinking that way. 

Jesus comes along and says to his disciples, it’s going to cost you, maybe everything you’ve got. Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is the most costly thing you will ever do. If you focus on comfort and convenience, rights and entitlements, you’re missing the point. Jesus says forsake your entitlement and become a servant a slave of Jesus Christ with no rights. Understand, Jesus demands everything of us, but he also says if we leave behind the things of this world we will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. This eternal life as described here is a present possession, there are other passages that say that our eternal life is something in the future embraced with a great hope and expectation, but this is one of the passages that say we are living that eternal life today, which is only logical if you think about it.

However, let me suggest that this little observation drives me to conclude there is still a difference between possessing eternal life now and the full possession of eternal life we will have in the future. In other words, I’m simply suggesting that the inheritance talked about here in Matthew chapter 19 is a reference to rewards. There’s a difference between receiving an inheritance and being given an inheritance, in other words. We receive it when it is granted but we are given it in the future. The point is that Jesus is teaching us that if we give everything to follow him then we will be rewarded by being able to enter the Kingdom of God. 

Jesus said I came to give life and life more abundantly; So I think that means we can share some of that now in this life but the full experience of it comes when we enter the kingdom of God. Jesus then concludes this passage by saying.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

(Matthew 19: 30)

In the context of Matthew chapter 19 the rich young ruler was at the head of the line, he was first, but he walked away, and he didn’t get eternal life in any sense. But behind him there were believers who already had eternal life in the sense of they were going to heaven and became the first in line. Those who boast about their good works, are going to be humbled later, those we consider winners, in the standards of men, are not the winners by the standards of God.

The first will be last and the last will be first, means that many who are first in wealth and prestige and honour in this world shall not necessarily be first in the next.

Imagine all the people in the world in a single line arranged by power and privilege in the world queuing to gain entrance to heaven. In a sense God stand at the back of the line and blows a whistle and askes everyone to turn around 180 degrees and the guy that was at the head of line is all of a sudden at the back, and the guy that was at the back of the line is all of a sudden, the head at the front of the line. That’s exactly what’s going to happen in the future.

Jesus is saying, look if you leave everything for me and you put me first, and you begin to learn what I’m teaching you, it will be worth it because in the regeneration of the world you will be given back 100 fold, beyond anything you can imagine, Let me be very specific that includes things like all the virtues mentioned in second Peter chapter two or Second Peter chapter one, gifts of the kingdom like grace, self-control and love.

One of the finest things I could possibly say to you about becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is if you invest your life in giving of yourself to other. Because what Jesus promises is that you will get 100-fold, in relation to developing Christ like gifts of the Spirit. What I’m trying to tell you is that Jesus promised you a hundredfold  of what you personally invest from your life into the kingdom of God. By giving your time, and your money, and your talent, you will receive a 100-fold back in reward. But if you squander your life you’re going to end up with a pile of ashes. Is it worth the paying the price in this life? I believe the right-thinking person would say I’d rather be rich in faith rich in life and rich in the Kingdom of God, than in anything this world can offer me.