WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:05.040 Matthew chapter 8 is where we'll be this morning, verses 18 through 22. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.759 Let me go to the Lord one more time in prayer before we begin. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:12.400 Lord, we do ask for your wisdom. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:16.640 We ask for your conviction that can only be brought by your Holy Spirit. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:19.519 So you're meditating on the words as Don played them. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.199 It is sweet to trust in you. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.359 Yeah, we live in a world where the reality is often persecution. 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:31.920 As Tom mentioned, there's much of the world where the reality is who will go to jail today? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:34.159 Who will care for the kids of those who are in jail? 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:40.799 So we pray for the so sobriety of that to hit us as we look into this passage this morning, which is a challenging passage. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:46.399 Pray that we'd be convicted by it and that you would use it to cause us to love you more. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:48.479 We ask this in Jesus' name. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:49.359 Amen. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:57.600 When I was at the University of New Mexico, I went to a Bible study for athletes there that played for the school from all different sports. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:00.079 It was not an official, you know, like para-church Bible study. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:05.120 It was just a kind of an unofficial gathering at a home of one of the soccer players. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.599 And um, but people from all different sports came. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:09.680 And there was this girl I met there named Heather. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:19.439 She played volleyball at the university, and uh over the course of a few weeks I got to know her a little bit and realized that she is not a Christian. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:21.200 She had never given her life to Christ yet. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.319 And she she was coming to this Bible study week after a week. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:32.560 And I was a new believer, I'd been saved, you know, about a year at this point, and I was in this phase of my Christianity where I would witness to anything and anyone. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:34.319 You know, I'd share the gospel of the fire hydrant. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:36.480 You know, I wanted everybody to come to faith. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:48.959 And so I got to know Heather and was asking her to become a Christian, and and she wouldn't, and she finally told me that she would not become a Christian because of how much she loved volleyball. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:55.439 And my initial response to this was kind of, I guess, anger with it. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.519 Like, how that doesn't make sense. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:01:59.359 I mean, do you what do you mean? 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:06.719 You certainly God is uh more important than volleyball, and if the gospel is true, it should be more precious than volleyball is. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:19.919 I mean, the beauty of Christ's forgiving of your sins or the beauty of a sport, I mean, come on, and you know, she just said she loved it too much, and she was positive that if she became a Christian, that God would take it away from her because she loved it more than Christ. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:22.639 And so that made me upset for different reasons, too. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:32.080 I mean, what I tried to tell her God is not some kind of cosmic killjoy that will find what you take the most pleasure in in the world and remove it from you just to teach you a lesson. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:34.080 That's not the way God works. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:38.960 And um, I was pleading with her about this, and she she wouldn't listen. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:40.560 She loved volleyball too much. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:47.840 She thought that if she became a Christian, God would cause her to tear her ACL or something so that she couldn't play, and that way she would love Jesus more. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:54.719 And she disappeared, stopped going to Bible study after a few months, and I never saw her again, never seen her to this to this day. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:02.400 But I'll tell you this: over the years since then, I have actually grown more appreciative of her reasoning. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:06.240 Um, what I dismissed at the time with God's not a cosmic killjoy, rah. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:12.080 Now the sobriety of what she said is starting to settle in on my heart. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:14.159 It is true. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:19.039 She had a certain element of her objection that was absolutely true. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:26.000 If you love something more than Christ, why bother being a Christian? 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.560 I mean, that's what she saw through. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:48.560 If you have a competing affection and you say, you know what, at the end of the day, I actually do love this sport or this person or this job or this sin or this whatever, this X, I actually love this more than I love Jesus, then Christianity, frankly, is not your thing. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:50.080 It's not for you. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.280 And that's what I've learned from here all these years later. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:04:04.159 This morning's passage in the Bible, Matthew 8, verses 18 through 22, describes two different conversations with Jesus that very closely represent that conversation with Heather so long ago. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:07.199 And let me give you an outline as we go through these verses before you read it. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:10.639 This is a cautionary tale for almost Christians. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:13.919 A cautionary tale for almost Christians. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:17.839 And this phrase, almost Christians, it is a biblical phrase. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:22.720 I got it from Matthew Meade, the Puritan author who wrote the book, The Almost Christian Discovered. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:35.199 But it's a phrase that he borrowed from Acts chapter 26, you know, where Paul was in prison and he'd gone before Festus, and Festus determined that Paul was likely out of his mind and insane because of his whole vision of the light and his conversion. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:37.839 And the crowd outside wants Paul to be put to death. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:47.120 And so King Agrippa comes in and he tries to mediate this dispute, and he calls for Paul himself and listens to Paul, and Paul appeals to Caesar, and Agrippa decides, you know what? 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:48.240 Festus is wrong. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:49.199 Paul's not crazy. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:52.240 The crowd is wrong, he doesn't deserve any punishment at all. 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:55.360 And then Agrippa tells this memorably to Paul. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:05:00.079 He says, Paul, you almost persuade me to become a Christian. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:03.040 And you remember Paul's response in his winsome way. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:05.120 Paul says, Almost? 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:06.079 Are you kidding? 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.160 I don't want you to almost be a Christian. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:12.240 I wish you were like me in every way, King, except for these chains. 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:17.120 And King Agrippa goes on, never calls for Paul again. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.360 Lets him go his way, and that's how that story ends. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:22.480 A really sad ending. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:27.120 And we see two other similar stories like that this morning. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:29.680 Let me give you the first point of your outline before we read the text. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:34.560 The first of this cautionary tale for almost Christians is one authority. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:36.160 The story begins with one authority. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:39.680 I'm going to read all five verses for us here, beginning in verse 18. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:45.759 Now, when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:50.319 A scribe came up and said to him, Teacher, I'll follow you wherever you go. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:57.120 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. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:01.680 Another of the disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:07.360 And Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:11.519 There's a thread that unites all five of these verses. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:16.639 It's a refrain that is brought up in each of these verses, and it's the authority of Jesus Christ. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:21.199 You don't see it at first reading, but it is the really the only thing that's mentioned in all five verses. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:22.319 Let me draw your attention to it. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:23.360 Verse 18. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:24.959 Jesus saw the crowd around him. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:26.240 He gave orders. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:30.879 Jesus is the only one in this narrative that is giving orders, and this is typical Jesus. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.399 He speaks with authority. 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:34.240 He is the leader on the scene. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:36.319 He is the one that is charting the path. 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:38.720 Everybody else is responding to him. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:40.399 And this is the nature of his life. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:46.720 From the beginning of his baptism all the way to his arrest in the garden, he is always the one who is in charge. 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:50.240 He is the one that compels the response from others. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:51.920 He has unique authority. 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:53.279 He tells others what to do. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:54.079 And you see that here. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:55.680 He's the one giving orders. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:00.079 Verse 19: a scribe comes up to him and says, Teacher, I'll follow you. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:01.920 This is an unusual thing to say. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:09.199 Scribes might recognize the authority of a Pharisee or the authority of a religious leader, but you don't follow a person. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:12.800 But Jesus is not like normal people. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:16.720 And here the scribe comes up to Jesus and says, I will follow you. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:21.360 This shows the uniqueness, the really the clarity with which Jesus teaches. 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:23.519 He is the one with authority. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:28.720 You remember after the end of Matthew 7, after the end of the Sermon on the Mount? 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:37.600 The crowd is gobsmacked by the way Jesus taught, and they marvel and they say, He teaches like one who has authority, not like the scribes and the Pharisees. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:38.800 He speaks differently. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:40.000 And this scribe understands that. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:43.680 And so this scribe's takeaway is, Jesus, I will follow you. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:48.079 In verse 20, Jesus describes himself as a son of man. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:49.759 We'll talk more about that title later. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:51.040 Verse 21. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:56.560 This disciple addresses Jesus as Lord, which is a way of saying, I'm submitting myself to you. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:57.519 You are exalted. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:58.480 I am beneath you. 00:07:58.639 --> 00:07:59.839 Verse 22. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:02.399 Jesus said to him, Follow me. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:05.680 Earlier I said it would be strange to tell somebody, I'm going to follow you. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:09.920 It's equally strange and off-putting to command someone to follow you. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:13.519 You don't get to look at somebody and say, Follow me. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:18.720 Devote your life to me, or as Jesus will say later, love me more than father and mother. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:20.240 Love me more than family. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:22.319 Love me more than your possessions. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:25.680 Love me more than your very life, Jesus says. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:31.519 Lay down your life, pick up your cross, and follow Jesus. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:34.720 Taken together, do you understand? 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:41.039 Jesus presents himself here as the one with authority, and no one else has authority like him. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:43.840 The scribes had a derived authority. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:48.799 Even me as a pastor, if I have any authority, it's derived from accurately teaching the Word of God. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:50.799 My authority is derived. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:55.519 Jesus' authority is not derived, it is inherent in who he is. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:59.840 All of our human structures of authority are all delegated or derived authority. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:02.159 You understand this in the military perspective. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:12.080 Someone's authority is not based on who they are, it's based on their rank, it's based on their position, their job, their assignment, the task that they have been given by someone else. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:20.159 The top of the food chain is the commander-in-chief who has his position by virtue of an election being voted. 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:28.960 His authority is delegated from the people, derives not from his own personal identity, but as the result given to him by the people. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:33.519 And that flows all the way down through every delegated structure of authority in our society. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:41.200 Law enforcement has authority based on their uniform and their badge and the authority that's given to them by the government. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:43.519 Every form of human authority is like this. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:48.000 Do you appreciate that Jesus' authority is not like that? 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:52.399 He has authority because of who he is. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:54.480 Period. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:02.320 This is called the doctrine of Assyody, that God has life in and of himself, that he is the only one that doesn't need borrowed life. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:03.759 Your life comes from somewhere else. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:05.519 God's life does not. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:11.519 Therefore, Jesus' authority is based upon his eternal life. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:13.039 He is the Lord. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:14.320 He's the one who can say, follow me. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:20.480 And if you're here this morning and you're not a believer, understand that this command, this authority of Jesus Christ goes all the way to you. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:26.480 He can command you to follow him because he alone has that kind of authority. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:31.120 The authority is really what of Christ is what holds evangelism together. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.519 We're supposed to go into all the world preaching the gospel. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:34.639 This is the Great Commission. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:44.799 Go into all the world, preaching the gospel, baptizing people in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you, and I'm with you always, even to the end of the age, Jesus says. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:46.879 But did you notice I skipped a phrase? 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:52.960 The Great Commission begins with Jesus declaring, All authority has been given to me. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:11:02.159 When we evangelize, we go into the world and we tell people to follow Christ because he alone has the authority to make that kind of command. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:05.679 It's a cult leader who says, Follow me. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:10.000 It's Jesus Christ who can say it because it is true for him. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:12.080 You must follow him. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:16.799 In the middle of this, verse 20, Jesus identifies himself as the Son of Man. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:18.080 The Son of Man. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:20.639 This is his most common self-designation. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:26.159 Over 80 times in the gospel, he refers to himself, as in the Gospels, he refers to himself as the Son of Man. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:31.120 As I said, this is the title Jesus takes for himself more than any other title. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:36.480 When Jesus identifies himself to crowds or to individuals, he goes with this title. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:38.240 He is the Son of Man. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:43.519 That title is from Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:46.080 And Daniel says, I'll read it to you. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:48.240 I saw in his, Daniel was having a nightmare. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:53.440 It's translated in the ESV, a night vision, but if you know you're familiar with the story, it's a nightmare. 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:59.840 I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, Daniel writes. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:12.720 To him was given, listen to this, to the son of man was given glory, a kingdom, dominion over all peoples, all nations, and all languages, that they should all serve him. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:17.039 His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:20.399 His kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:24.240 I mean, that is very clearly a proclamation of deity. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:40.000 That the Son of Man, the one who Daniel sees in his vision, that Son of Man has a kingdom that has no beginning and no end, has dominion that is everlasting and has authority over every nation, every tribe, every language in the world. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:45.840 Have you ever even heard of somebody claiming that kind of authority? 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:52.480 The most despotic king or emperor might claim absolute authority over everyone in his empire. 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:57.759 Alexander the Great claimed authority over what he perceived as the known world. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:00.159 He thought he had conquered the entire world. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:02.000 But he didn't. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:07.440 But even Alexander the Great didn't claim authority over the very existence of languages. 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:11.919 But Jesus claims that kind of authority for himself. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:17.039 Language serves him, nations serve him, kingdoms serve him. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:20.559 Every human being is designed to serve him. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:22.399 That's the Son of Man. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:28.960 And so when he identifies himself as the Son of Man, he is claiming that authority. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:30.720 And it is a statement of authority. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.480 Remember, Daniel says in the vision the Son of Man was given dominion. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:35.840 That's another word for authority. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:38.799 He has authority over everyone. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:42.240 And it's all hinging on authority here. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:51.679 At the end of Matthew 7, as I mentioned, the scribes were flabbergasted about the authority of Jesus because he taught with not a delegated authority, it was his own authority. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:59.679 He said, Forget what the Pharisees said about the law, shred the Pharisees' statements about the law, replace it with my own statements, and everybody's wondering who has that kind of authority. 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:01.600 Well, the Son of Man does. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:06.480 Notice the title, Son of Man, just how comprehensive it is. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:10.720 It's certainly a Jesus attesting to his own humanity. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:12.320 He's the Son of Man. 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:14.159 It highlights his humanity. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:15.440 He is a human being. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:16.639 He has a human nature. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:17.840 He was born to Mary. 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:19.759 He's incarnate in human flesh. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:21.600 He is a human. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:24.639 It also highlights his deity. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:26.480 He is the Son of Man. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.240 You guys are all sons and daughters of Adam. 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:33.600 You're all sons and daughters of God in some sense. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:36.320 But none of you are the Son of God. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.039 None of you are the Son of Man. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:40.399 You aren't elevated. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:42.799 In other words, he's even better than Adam was. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:44.639 Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeds. 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:46.320 Son of man accomplishes that. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:51.679 It shows his unique relationship with God, and it shows his true human nature. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:15:01.279 It shows his humility, that God, the very God with all the glory and kingdom and dominion in Daniel's vision, becomes a human. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:05.440 And it shows his exalted nature and that he possesses all that authority. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:09.039 This is why it's the perfect title for Jesus to use of himself. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:14.960 It highlights his deity, his humanity, his glory, and his humility all in one title. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:19.360 If Jesus would have walked around saying, hey, just so you know, I am God, they would have killed him. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:23.360 In fact, the few times he did say it that clearly, they tried to kill him. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:34.080 I think in Matthew chapter 12, John chapter 7 and 8, where he says, before Abraham was, I am Yahweh, and they pick up rocks to stone him, saying, You being a man are always making yourself out equal to be God. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:41.600 The Jews were monotheistic in the sense they had no concept of the Trinity. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:46.960 And here comes Jesus, who says that he is the Son of Man. 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:54.799 So if you have a problem with Jesus making himself out to be God, by him using the title of Son of Man, your problem is really with Daniel, because he's the one that had that title. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:57.919 Daniel saw someone with the glory of God who looked like a man. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:05.200 And so by Jesus calling himself the Son of Man, he's telling the Jews, You want to pick a fight with me because I'm God? 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:07.279 You're going to have to go after Daniel first. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:13.360 Eighty plus times he refers to himself as the Son of Man. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:16.240 And do you know what's interesting about those eighty uses? 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:20.799 Almost all of them, he's talking to non-believers. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:30.320 It's his way of confronting non-believers or crowds with his identity as the authoritative God of the universe. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:32.639 And that's what he's doing here. 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:34.639 Now let's see the two people he's talking to. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:35.840 We've seen the one authority. 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:37.440 Now let's look at the two excuses. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:38.559 Two excuses. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:39.919 We're gonna find two people here. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:41.519 We read it earlier, you know them. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:43.840 And these two people are opposites. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:48.320 One of them says, Jesus, I want to follow you, and Jesus says, Go home. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:51.600 The next one says, Jesus, I want to go home, and he says, No, follow me. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:57.600 Let's see the first guy. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:00.399 First of all, verse 18, Jesus saw a crowd around him. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:02.559 He gave orders to go to the other side. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:03.840 Remember what's happening here. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:05.200 He finished his sermon on the mount. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:07.279 Thousands of people are following him at this point. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:13.680 He goes back to Capernaum, he heals the leper, the centurion servant, he preaches in the synagogue there in Capernaum. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:17.519 This is described in Mark chapter 1, casts out the demon-possessed man there. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.720 Then he goes to Peter's mother-in-law's house, which is where he was staying. 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:22.079 He heals all kinds of people there. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:24.480 There's the guy lower to the roof, he heals him. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:30.240 There's just everybody is the the gates have opened up, all the sick and all the demon-possessed people are flooding to him. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:34.319 And so he decides to get out of town because he didn't come to heal, he came to preach. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:36.960 And this is described at the end of Mark 1, the start of Mark 2. 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:42.799 He says, I've got to go to the other side of the lake where I can teach more in the open again and get away from these masses of people. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:50.559 And so he goes to the lake, and what's happening is as he's going to the lake, this crowd is still following him, but now it's excuse time. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:51.759 It's excuse time. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:55.119 Why they can't go to the 8 o'clock service, so to speak, excuse time. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:00.240 Everybody's got a story about why they can't go across the lake. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:04.559 Oh, I can't go across the lake because of this, and I can't go because of that, and I'm on the lake. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:06.480 It's and don't picture an ocean here. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:09.119 I mean, you can see across the Sea of Galilee here. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:13.279 It would take a day to walk around the thing, but they've got excuses why they can't go. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.279 And so this is the first guy. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:20.960 This guy actually starts out by saying he wants to go, and Jesus commands everyone to go over to the other side, by the way, in verse 18. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:24.319 So they're on the way to the boat, and a scribe comes up to him. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:26.799 And this is an unlikely convert here. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:30.640 You wouldn't expect a scribe to be following Jesus. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:36.240 And he says to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.119 Now, a surface reading of that, it sounds good, doesn't it? 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:43.119 Teacher, I'll follow you wherever you want to go. 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:43.920 That sounds so good. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:45.759 Let's baptize him right now. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:54.160 But as you start to peel back the layers of what he's saying, and you look at Jesus' response to him, you realize that all is not well in this scribe's soul. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:00.240 First of all, your first warning sign here is that he addresses Jesus as teacher. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.880 Now, a scribe is an academic position. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:08.160 He's familiar with a university kind of environment, you could say, and so teacher. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:12.559 It's a turn of phrase he would use and be familiar with teacher, he calls him. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:20.960 But it's noteworthy in Matthew's gospel, lots of people call Jesus teacher, and none of them are real converts to Christ. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:24.720 Usually it's an excuse to avoid submitting to Christ. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:28.400 For example, the rich young ruler, Matthew 19, 16, good teacher. 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:30.079 What must I do to inherit eternal life? 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:33.440 And Jesus goes right after him and says, Who told you I was good? 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:38.720 The Pharisees in Matthew 12, 38 refer to Jesus as the teacher. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.960 Tax collectors call him a teacher in Matthew 17, verse 24. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:48.640 The Herodians, the political party of the Herodians, dismiss Jesus as a teacher in Matthew 22, 16. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:53.519 The Sadducees call him a good teacher, I mean a teacher all over Matthew 22. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:20:01.200 So, in other words, all these groups of people that are antagonistic towards Christ dismiss his teaching by referring to him as a teacher. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:04.799 It's almost condescending. 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:17.839 Listen, if he comes on the scene and says that he is the Son of Man and He has authority over your life and over your soul, and you need to sell all you have and follow him, and your response is, wow, this guy is a good teacher. 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:20.160 You're not getting it. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:22.960 He's not trying to be a good teacher. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.440 He's declaring that he's the Lord of the universe. 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:30.319 So don't pat him on the head and say, oh, what a great, what a great lesson today's was. 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:32.799 See you back same time tomorrow. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:35.200 That's not what he's after. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:39.119 He's the Lord of the universe, not a good teacher. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:41.119 But that's how the scribe starts. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:46.000 And then he goes on to say, I will follow you wherever you go. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:51.279 You almost have to be Peter to say something that outrageous. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:53.599 Through thick or thin, Lord, I'm in. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:55.599 Nothing will separate me from you. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:01.119 I know out in the DC world we follow politics, but I got a little LA in me still. 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:05.200 Did you hear that last weekend Nicolas Cage got married? 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:09.359 You know Nicolas Cage, the actor from the Left Behind movie that you haven't seen, Nicolas Cage. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:16.160 Got married last weekend and filed for an annulment of his marriage on Thursday. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:18.880 He didn't make it four days. 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:23.279 And I read that story and I think, what kind of wedding vows did he say? 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:32.079 Like, I will be with you in sickness and health, for better or worse, richer or poorer, or until Thursday. 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:39.200 I love you no matter what, babes, but then Thursday happens. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:40.720 I mean, come on. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:42.640 That's this kind of claim from the scribe here. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.880 I will go wherever you go, Jesus. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:46.400 Through anything. 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:50.640 As I said, scribes are academics. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:52.720 They have soft hands. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:54.319 They parse Greek words. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:55.839 They don't work in a field. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:57.759 They are soft people. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:02.799 They're accustomed to they're experts at Their stories published in peer-reviewed journals. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:07.200 They're really good at being invited to be guests in all the right talk shows. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:13.359 They're really bad at enduring persecution. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:17.359 They're horrible at picking up their cross and following Jesus. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.160 But this scribe wants to try. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:24.240 And you think, what's going on in his mind? 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:29.519 After all, Jesus just exposed the scribes and Pharisees as frauds in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:33.440 And so it seems likely that this scribe sees that, and what's he going to do? 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:36.640 Go back to the synagogue at Capernaum like the Sermon on the Mount didn't happen? 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:42.079 Just go back to his normal, you know, Jewish teaching as if Jesus didn't just destroy all of it. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:45.440 So it might be in his mind like, hey, let me follow Jesus. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:47.519 He's a better teacher than the Pharisees are. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:48.240 He's a better teacher. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.559 I mean, the guy goes to a synagogue led by a Roman centurion who built it. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:56.400 I mean, this is not a good day for scribes in Capernaum. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:58.720 So he he sees the way to get out. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:00.880 Let me follow Jesus. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:03.920 After all, he has more authority than the Pharisees. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:08.720 If I get in on the ground floor of this, I can be in when he gets big. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.279 It's almost like that kind of thinking. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:14.160 So he wants to follow Jesus. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:29.599 And there are those, by the way, to this very day, I'm sure in this very church listening to this very sermon, there are those who come to church because they think it will help their lives. 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:30.960 And you hear it differently. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:37.440 It's not necessarily the scribe who says, you know, you destroyed my, you nuked my last job, so let me try to catch on with you now. 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:49.200 But the way you hear it today is by people who say, you know, now that my wife and I started having kids, we really wanted our kids to have a nice moral environment to grow up in, so we joined the church. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:57.680 Or, you know, the world is just falling apart, and the church has like a corner on morality, and there's such clarity on moral issues, and so we're we're gonna go to church. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:01.039 Or, you know, some of my boss goes to my boss goes to this church. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:10.319 It's a great opportunity to have relationships with him, and you know, it's a lonely world out there, and I need I need friends, and the church is such loving people and they're friendly people, and so I'm going to church. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:12.559 It'll help in those ways. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:17.039 And you hear people say things like that, and it really is. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:19.839 This is the what I call the best life now heresy. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:34.799 The idea that becoming a Christian or going to church helps you in this world, it helps you deal with your issues, it helps make your life more enjoyable, helps your relationships. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:41.200 I'll tell you, this is a unique danger to living in a country where it's acceptable to be a Christian. 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:42.799 It's cultural Christianity. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:45.440 Like it's okay to be a Christian for the time being. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:47.680 It doesn't cost you your job. 00:24:48.559 --> 00:25:02.000 You know, you might have a hard time finding a chicken sandwich every now and then, but that's I mean, what a contrast with the missionary we prayed for earlier, who's, you know, the church meets to figure out who's gonna care for whose kids that got sent to jail. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:03.599 Do you see the difference? 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:07.359 Nobody joins that kind of church to make their life better. 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:14.079 But it's a unique danger in this kind of American-style Christianity. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:16.480 You've heard the phrase, join the Navy, see the world. 00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:19.039 You almost see the expression in the church. 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:21.359 Become a Christian, improve your life. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:26.400 You should follow Christian ethics because it will make your life better. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:30.880 That's not true, though. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:34.880 By worldly standards, becoming a Christian can make your life worse. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:38.079 If you want to improve your life, join a country club. 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:40.400 You want to improve your life, move to a better neighborhood. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:42.480 You want to improve your life, get a hobby. 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:43.839 It reduces your stress. 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:45.200 It's great, I hear. 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.240 But following Jesus is not a hobby. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:51.279 Following Jesus is not designed to improve your life. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:53.440 You follow him because he's Lord of the universe. 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:55.680 You follow him, frankly, because you love him. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:01.680 A scribe is about to learn this lesson the hard way. 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:10.960 Jesus responds to him and says, Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:12.319 Oh, that's great. 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:14.000 You want to follow me across the sea? 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:16.559 Are you gonna are you prepared to sleep outside, Mr. 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:17.119 Scribe? 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:19.359 Scribes love satin sheets. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:22.880 They don't love sleeping on rocks. 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:30.240 And what's gonna happen when his you know high thread count pajamas get snagged on a thorn on the road of persecution? 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:35.680 And do you get in here that Jesus has no middle class comforts here? 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:37.039 Jesus doesn't have a house. 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:40.640 He doesn't even have a small apartment, he's got nothing. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:45.920 And the scribe says, Oh, I would love to, I would love to minister with a guy with this kind of authority. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:46.720 This is gonna be great. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:49.359 And Jesus says, You're gonna sleep on dirt. 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:52.160 And he says, Okay, peace out. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:54.559 Nice sailing. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:26:58.960 It's sad, but he goes away. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:00.240 Now it doesn't say he goes away. 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:06.000 It's I think it's more clear in Luke that he goes away with the contrast words in Luke, but the point is we don't see him again. 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:07.680 He's out the back door. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:17.039 Second guy we see, verse 20, or verse 21, another of the disciples, and this word disciple, remember, in the in the gospels, disciples abroad word, it doesn't mean the guy's regenerate. 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:18.480