The Cost of Discipleship

Matthew 8:14-22

March 2, 2003

 

Often businesses and institutions establish "minimum standards" by which they will operate. Those involved seek to subscribe to the minimum standard in order maintain their position. Such standards serve to motivate those with little commitment to their tasks to exert enough energy to keep the operation afloat. 

 

That is something of the mentality exhibited by many that profess to be Christians. They seek to find a "minimum standard" that will qualify them to be Christians while not seriously changing their lifestyles and personal ambitions. They certainly desire the benefits of the Christian life - no question there. But they are just not too keen on living like a Christian day by day.

 

Do you know of a greater problem in the present world of Christianity? Few people that we know are willing to bear the label of being non-Christian. Not that these same folks are very interested in being called disciples, yet they do want to think of themselves as Christians or at least worthy of God's favor. "Disciple" appears to be a label that is pinned on those choosing to be extremely serious about their faith in its public and private expressions. Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ, we might ask someone? We will probably hear a response, 'Well it depends on what you mean by disciple.' Then a string of excuses and rationalizing takes place so that such a person feels good about himself. But there is a completely different feel to this when we read through the Gospels and see what Christ demanded of those who would follow Him.

 

Jesus Christ offers no minimum standards for Christians. The more we read and study the Gospels we must conclude that those interested only in minimal Christianity for their daily lives really know nothing of true Christianity. Jesus Christ requires your all. That's what Lordship and discipleship implies. All that I am and all that I have I fully yield to Jesus Christ as Lord. Dare we offer less to the One that has borne our sin before God's wrath so that we might be forgiven and freed from sin's dominion? Discipleship is costly. Our Lord made no pretense about what it meant to follow Him. Let us consider the cost of discipleship.

 

I. Lord of disciples

 

Before addressing the situation involving two potential disciples of Christ, we have a story of Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law as well as a host of others. The four Gospels pick out various acts of healing and deliverance, not to be comprehensive in offering biographical detail, but to establish truth so that we might believe in Christ. We are not asked to follow as disciples some religious quack or self-proclaimed guru as we see so often in our day. We are called upon to look at the evidence and hear His command to "Follow Me," and then to faithfully follow Him as disciples. The Gospel writers given ample reasons to follow Christ, and in this case, Matthew explains that the fact of Christ's authority over disease and demons, and His nature revealed in the title, "Son of Man," give us reason to abandon all to follow Him. How is Jesus Christ the Lord of His disciples?

 

1. Demonstrated by His authority

 

We use the word "authority" in a number of ways: to explain someone that is an expert on a particular subject, to refer to an elected official's capacity to govern over particular jurisdictions, or to refer to the power that has been delegated to someone in a company or organization. But when we speak of the authority of Christ over our lives or over all creation, we mean His right to expect and command our obedience by virtue of His nature and His work. The Gospel of Matthew answers the question asked by the chief priests and the elders of Israel, "By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?" (Matt 21:23). How can You make such assertions, demand obedience, speak on behalf of God, define what pleases God? They doubted Christ's authority therefore they refused His commands to believe and follow. At the heart of a relationship to God through Christ is an understanding of His authority over our lives.

 

That's what Matthew succeeds in doing: demonstrating the authority of Jesus Christ in every realm. In this case he explains Christ's authority over the effects of the Fall.

 

"When Jesus came into Peter's home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever." In the ancient world, "fever" was a disease in itself rather than merely a symptom. Some conjecture that this lady had contracted malaria. Perhaps that was the case - we can only speculate. But whatever it might have been it had laid her low. The phrase, "lying sick in bed" is not quite that calm in the Greek language, rather it is the idea that the fever had so affected her that its physical power over her threw her into the sickbed without any relief in sight. In this case, the "fever" exercised authority over Peter's mother-in-law. But "He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him." Touching anyone with fever would have rendered one unclean, according to the Jewish Halakah that "forbade touching persons with many kinds of fever" [Don Carson, The Expository Bible Commentary, 204]. But just as we saw with the leper, "the touch did not defile the healer but healed the defiled," as Carson puts it [204]. The effect of Christ's authority over the fever was so powerful that Peter's mother-in-law got up immediately and began to serve Christ as a gracious hostess in the home. There was no need to rest and recuperate in order to regain her strength; the effect of healing was immediate and thorough. Christ's authority over the physical realm was clearly demonstrated.

 

Word got around, evidently, since "when evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill." As with so many of the healing and delivering works of Christ, we are not led to believe that all of these people became followers of Christ in the truest sense. Instead, we see evidence of His great compassion and kindness, even for those that had no intention of following Him as disciples. He served others selflessly, just as He taught us to do as His followers. Casting out demons and delivering those once possessed demonstrated Christ's authority in the unseen realm.

 

Matthew had an aim in explaining why Christ had authority to heal the sick and deliver the possessed. "This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 'HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES'." The sentence actually begins with a demonstrative pronoun meaning, "In order that it might be fulfilled what Isaiah the prophet spoke." The sentence is a purpose clause explaining the basis of Christ's authority over illness and demons. Here, Matthew quotes from Isaiah 53:4, a passage that very clearly refers to Christ's atoning work for sin. He clearly links Christ with the fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy. So the question that we must ask is whether or not healing and deliverance is in the atonement? The answer is quite clear, yes it is. The root of infirmities and demon possession is in the sin that originated in the Fall. Such maladies were not part of the original creation but came as a result of sin entering the world. This does not mean that each individual illness is the direct result of sin but rather that all of the maladies of mankind stem directly from humanity's fall into sin. So it is logical that when Christ bore the root problem - sin - in His body on the cross that the ultimate benefits mean the removal of all illness and demonic influence.

 

Some mistakenly take this to mean that we can therefore claim immediate healing of any disease due to this verse. But we must also consider that resurrection bodies and deliverance from the presence of sin are benefits of the atonement as well, and yet we cannot claim them until the time that God purposes to grant them in the presence of Christ. So while at times the Lord does heal and does deliver the demonized in order to demonstrate His authority over sin by virtue of His atoning work, we cannot "claim" these benefits carte blanche. Don Carson explains, "Thus the healings during Jesus' ministry can be understood not only as the foretaste of the kingdom but also as the fruit of Jesus' death... This means that for Matthew, Jesus' healing miracles pointed beyond themselves to the Cross" [206]. At this point in the narrative, it may have been difficult for original readers to grasp exactly how the authority of Jesus Christ was exercised, but this series of miracles, along with many others, serve to point to the culminating work of Christ in the cross and resurrection. Because Jesus Christ alone has authority over the physical and spiritual afflictions that are the result of mankind's sinfulness, He must be followed as Lord.

 

2. Revealed in His title

 

The next explanation of Jesus Christ's Lordship over all comes in the title He used to refer to Himself, "Son of Man." He told the would-be disciple, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." This title is used over 80 times of Jesus Christ, and with only three exceptions, it is always used by Jesus to refer to Himself. There appears to be three categories in which Jesus uses this title. First, He uses it most often to point to His earthly ministry. Our present text is a classic example of the humanity of Christ and His humble, servant ministry. Second, some of the passages speak of Christ as "a heavenly Son of man, and of the glory of Christ at His second coming" (e.g., Matt 24:30, "and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory"). The third category provides a contrast, showing Christ in His suffering on behalf of others (Mark 8:31, "And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again"). The primary background for this title comes from Daniel 7:13-14,

I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.


While "Son of Man" certainly shows the humanity of Christ and His identity with us, "the dominant idea is that of sovereignty," according to Leon Morris. "The Son of man rules with divine authority.... The truth is that 'Son of man' is a title pointing to deity rather than humanity" [Leon Morris, The Lord from Heaven, 25-27]. While other kingdoms and other lords fade away or face destruction, Christ's kingdom or kingship is eternal. Matthew's chiefly Jewish audience would not miss this point in Christ's title for it reveals His Lordship over a global and eternal kingdom, encompassing people from "every language" to serve or follow Him.

 

And so the question that each of us faces is in light of Jesus Christ's authority in conquering sin and ruling for eternity, are you following Him as a faithful disciple?

 

II. Feigning discipleship

 

Some had warm intentions to follow Christ, at least for the moment, but their feigning discipleship did not work with Christ. Luke adds a third person that says he wants to follow Christ while Matthew only mentions two. That third man wanted to put his hands to the plow but look back with longing to what he was and had before choosing to follow Christ, and Jesus would not accept such faulty discipleship (Luke 9:61-62). What does it look like to feign discipleship, i.e., to give the appearance of interest and desire but not really follow through?

 

1. "Comfortable discipleship"

 

As people crowded around Jesus, He has an encounter with two would-be disciples. It is interesting that the crowd hovered around hoping to receive something from Him but so few were willing to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). "Then a scribe [a teacher of the law, a scholar and teacher] came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go."" This kind of profession by someone among the scribes was a big deal! This would have been a strategic move for Christ to have someone of this caliber to join the rag-tag band of followers that were about Him. The scribe would have been singled out as one of the elite scholars in Israel, one that had studied, memorized, and copied the Scriptures. He even showed respect for Christ by calling Him "Teacher," because scribes were the teachers rather than followers of teachers. According to the practice common in our day, we would have signed him up, given him a class to teach, and probably put him immediately on the speaking circuit!

 

But Jesus perceived something about this man that is not noticed at first blush. Perhaps it was the tone of voice or the background or that Christ discerned the intentions of his heart. Whatever it might have been Jesus Christ did not extend the "right hand of fellowship," but rather spoke of the discomforts that He faced and challenged the man to re-think his offer in light of the discomfort that faces disciples.

 

J. C. Ryle, over a hundred years ago, points out a problem that has plagued the Church for centuries. "Nothing has done more harm to Christianity than the practice of filling the ranks of Christ's army with every volunteer who is willing to make a little profession, and talk fluently of experience" [quoted by Carson, 208]. This has become so commonplace at crusades that it is completely acceptable. If ten-percent of those making decisions at crusades "stick," crusade organizers are elated. A twenty-percent retention rate would be unbelievable! But Christ never fell for such techniques that serve to fill the ranks of Christianity with those that have no intention of following Him. Good intentions mean nothing. Words and vows professing to be Christian mean nothing unless we lay down our lives to follow Jesus Christ. Those looking for an easy way and a comfortable life need not apply. Yet our day has witnessed thousands of churches accommodating the unregenerate and calling them Christians because of mere words. As one writer put it, "Nothing was less aimed at by our Lord than to have followers, unless they were genuine and sound; he is as far from desiring this as it would have been easy to attain it" [Carson quoting Stier, 208]

 

2. "Procrastinating discipleship"

 

The other man was called a disciple - at least in a generic sense. The New Testament world used the word in a variety of ways with only the context determining the extent and intensity of discipleship. Both here and in Matthew 5:1, among numerous places, it is used in a loose sense of those that claimed to be following Jesus Christ or learning from Christ. "Another of the disciples said to Him, 'Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father'." Again, his intentions of following Christ appear to be good. He has plans, at least, we might say. The language of his request is interesting. It actually is in the form of a command or demand. He was dictating to Jesus Christ his own terms of discipleship.

 

At first glance this seems to be such a worthy request, burying his father. In Jewish life, it was a son's responsibility to bury his father on the day that he died and then to mourn him for thirty days while he settled the estate. Whether this man's father had a sizeable estate or not, we do not know. We certainly can speculate that the would-be disciple heard that there was scarce lodging for disciples so he thought that he would be better off with a little inheritance to tide him over! But in all likelihood, the man's father was not dead. John MacArthur explains this clearly.

The expression is still used in parts of the Middle East today. A few years ago a missionary asked a rich young Turkish man to go with him on a trip to Europe, during which time the missionary hoped to disciple the man. When the young man replied that he must bury his father, the missionary offered his sympathy and expressed surprise that the father had died. The man explained, however, that his father was alive and healthy and that the expression "bury my father" simply meant staying at home and fulfilling his family responsibilities until his father died and he received his share of the inheritance [MacArthur's NT Commentaries: Matthew 8-15, 25].


The man of our text may have had a similar thought in mind. He would follow Christ someday but not right now. It would not be convenient. He might miss out on something that would be satisfying and important to him. So he has no qualms in demanding (aorist imperative) Christ to permit him to depart and one day bury his father before returning on the rigorous course of being Christ's disciple. But Jesus did not accept this, knowing that the young man had idols of heart and mind - proved by his procrastination - that disqualified him from being a true disciple of Christ.

 

I fear that this same problem exists among us today. Some of you have good, noble intentions to one day follow Christ. And I believe that you are serious about your intentions. But you do not really know your own heart. When you see the need for Christ it is no time to procrastinate so that you might indulge in greater sin, and thus take the chance on calcifying your heart to the gospel.

 

III. Cost of discipleship

 

What does it cost to be a disciple? In a word - everything. I do not mean that we offer something to God as merit for salvation; that would be contrary to the entire meaning of grace. But to receive the grace of God in Christ, to be forgiven for our sins, to be adopted into God's family, to be given an eternal inheritance in Christ, to have an Advocate before the throne of God is never something that we can presume upon as though we deserve all of this anyway. To truly believe in Christ as Savior and Lord is to follow Him as a disciple follows His master. The response of Jesus Christ to the two would-be disciples gives clear-cut proof of this. Discipleship costs everything - and I say that with all gladness. For to be a disciple of Jesus Christ means loss, according to Christ, before there is gain. "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it" (Matt 10:39).

 

Some of the people that will read this sermon via e-mail and on the Internet live in the midst of great hostility against their faith in Christ. They understand the costliness of discipleship. By my own observations, I believe that the heat is being turned up in our own land on those that will claim to be Christians. It seems that everything is tolerated in our day except true Christianity. Unless there is a spiritual awakening in our nation, that spirit of intolerance against Christianity will only grow. And it is those that are serious-minded about following Christ that will endure the scorn and bear up joyfully under the threats and pressures. What does Jesus Christ demand of His disciples? While we have looked at this in more detail in our study on the Sermon on the Mount, our text identifies two areas of demand for disciples.

 

1. True discipleship demands loyalty

 

"Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." Will you really do that? Evidently Christ discerned that the scribe's intention sounded fine but his follow through would be empty. Like so many in our day, he was great at making promises and professions but had no passionate loyalty to follow Christ against all difficulties and discomforts. Jesus told him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Our Lord had no palatial mansion with a bevy of domestics to wait on Him. He did not even have a shack to call His own. He lived in borrowed lodging or slept in the open air. Even foxes and birds have more comfort and security than did the Son of Man. Would this scribe still be willing to follow Christ as a disciple - for that is what the word "follow" means [akoloutheso], or did his desire for comfort, security, and worldly accolades override his profession? Matthew does not tell us what happened so we need not speculate. Instead, he leaves us with the strong point that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ demands loyalty to Him, even when it is uncomfortable to be a Christian and even when there are no worldly securities to help you. The gospel is no call to comfort, but a call to death to our desires and will, and yieldedness to Christ alone. Do you know such loyalty to Christ?

 

2. True discipleship demands urgency

 

The next man demanded that he be allowed to delay following Christ so that he could take care of temporal affairs and have all the worldly security that comes with it. Jesus Christ would not accept such a stipulation. In terse words, Jesus commanded, "Follow Me [literally, follow Me and keep on following Me as a disciple], and allow [or better, let the dead bury their own dead - it is a command not a suggestion] the dead to bury their own dead." We have no reason at all to think that Jesus would deny this man the duty of putting his father in a grave if that was indeed a legitimate need. But the man's insincerity came through. So Jesus in effect tells him to let those that are spiritually dead take care of burying the dead, but on his part he was to follow Christ. The point Christ makes is just this: no allegiance and no earthly security is to be set above the urgent need to follow Christ. Waiting until all the comforts and conveniences of life are settled will not be acceptable to Christ. With urgency, He tells each of us, "Follow Me!"

 

Conclusion

 

The simple truths of our text serve as an effective antidote to the fluffy versions of Christianity in vogue. Look at the authority of Jesus Christ over all things - physical and spiritual. Look at the sovereign rule of the "Son of Man." Do you recognize His authority and rule over your life?

 

Have you approached Christ with strings attached? He demands your loyalty as His disciple, so clip the strings. He demands urgency in following Him so quit your procrastination.

 

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ demands your all but it is no less than what Jesus Christ gave at the cross to secure your eternal pardon. Follow Him!

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by South Woods Baptist Church.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:

Copyright South Woods Baptist Church. Website: www.southwoodsbc.org. Used by permission as granted on web site. Questions, comments, and suggestions about our site can be sent here.