What Sort of Man is This?

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0:17Well, it's good to be together. Praise God for our orchestra and leading us this morning. I love having them serve and I love covenant affirmation Sunday where we get to welcome new members into this church body. If you're new among us, we're really glad you're here this morning. Would you join me as I pray to ask the Lord for help? Father, we want to see more of your glory this morning, and so you have to take the blinders off of our eyes and off of our hearts. And so would you enliven us, convict us of sin, encourage the weary, build up the weak, and rebuke the wayward this morning and help us to behold Jesus in all of his splendor and glory.

1:07We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the pillars of investing is to diversify. How many of you have heard that advice before? Yes, I think so. Some of us, one investing website says, in an uncertain world, putting all your investment eggs in the same basket can be risky. And so the idea is just spread your risk in various sectors and assets. So don't just own one single stock, but own maybe an index fund or a mutual fund with hundreds of stocks. Or don't just invest in stocks, but buy bonds or real estate or CDs or even physical gold or for some Pokemon carts. By the way, let me give the disclaimer, none of this should be construed as investment advice, especially if you invest in Pokemon carts.

2:04There's the British proverb that says, have a second string to your bow, which means have a backup plan or there's the idiom. Don't tie yourself to a single horse, meaning don't rely on just one method or one person. There's even the African proverb that says, don't test the depth of a river with both feet. It calls for caution before commitment. While this is good investment advice, it is deadly advice when it comes to our devotion and our allegiance to Jesus and and our culture warns against becoming too radical or becoming a fundamentalist or a far right religious zealot, whatever that means.

2:52The world says to treat Jesus like you would treat life insurance. Just get enough of him and hope you never have to use him. But when it comes to our faith in Christ, we shouldn't hedge our bets. And yet that's what the world constantly calls us to be moral, just in case reincarnation is true. 'cause you don't want to come back as a cockroach, go to church once in a while and maybe God will smile upon that if he's in fact real. Yet, our passage this morning calls us against this worldly wisdom and calls for complete devotion among Jesus disciples. And what we'll discover in our passage is that Jesus demands devotion because he's the Lord of all creation.

3:44Jesus demands devotion because he's the Lord of all creation and he speaks some shocking and even off putting words in our passage this morning in order to encourage the disciples to count the cost of following him. And what he does is that he reveals to his disciples that their understanding about him is still in sufficient. Their perception of Jesus is still far too small. And so the question before us this morning is, do we this morning, see Jesus rightly, do we see Jesus as he's revealed in his word? Or have we somehow distorted or twisted Jesus to fit our own culture, worldview or sinful understanding?

4:39So our passage concludes with the question, what sort of man is this? And that's what our passage aims to answer this morning. So we're gonna walk through our passage in two main parts. First, we get the demands of discipleship, that's verses 18 to 22. And then we get the identity of he who demands in 23 to 27. Now, before we jump into this first section, let me just encourage you to have your Bible. And I want to just notice the structure of Matthew's gospel in chapters eight and nine in particular. So if you go to chapter eight, you'll notice that it begins with three miracles. Jesus cleanses a leper, there's the faith of the centurion, and then Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.

5:24And then we get this little section 18 to 22 where Jesus teaches about discipleship. And then what follows after that is three more miracles. Jesus calls a storm, he heals two men with a demon with demons, and then he heals a paralytic. And then from chapter nine verse nine, all the way to verse 17, there's more teaching on discipleship. And what follows after that is a girl's restored to life and a woman is healed. Jesus heals two blind men and then Jesus heals a man unable to speak. So we get three sets of three miracles. That is to show Jesus authority and power and nestled in between are these teachings on discipleship?

6:06And I think this is very intentional and we'll see why. Now we come to verse 18 of chapter eight and it says, now, when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. This could just be a throwaway phrase, but this is rather counterintuitive. Notice Jesus is trying to get away from the crowds rather to rather than to gain more of the crowds. They're flocking to him. They've seen his miracles. But Jesus is intentionally sifting between the interested and the devoted. He doesn't want the adoration of the crowds, he doesn't want to grow his following it. John chapter two, verse 24 says, Jesus did not entrust himself to them, namely the crowds because he himself knew what was in man.

7:03He didn't trust the crowds, he didn't want more of the crowds, they just wanted magic tricks. Jesus do another one. And Jesus wants devoted true disciples instead. So as Jesus is about to get into the boat, it almost has this picture of like one foot's in the boat, they're about to shove off, and then two men come to him. We get a scribe in verse 19, and then to someone that's described as another of the disciples in verse 21. So I think both of these people are possible potential or prospective disciples that want to follow Jesus. They've seen some of the miracles, they've heard some of the teachings and they're thinking, I want to follow Jesus first.

7:46In verse 21, a scribe says, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. At first glance, this seems really great. Uh, look at the devotion of this man. I will follow you wherever you go. And if you'll remember, a scribe in those days was highly respected. This was a cross between a lawyer and a professor. Someone we might think of today like a brain surgeon, just highly respected in the culture, looked upon like, oh, this is quite the catch for Jesus. If he could get this guy to be a disciple, his desire seems rather noble. And yet if we examine more closely, we'll see that something is wrong.

8:32He talks about what he will do for Jesus. I will follow you. It's a little bit like Jesus. It's your lucky day. You could have a trained scribe as one of your disciples. Look how lucky you are to have me follow you. Contrast this with how the leper came to Jesus last week. What did the leper say, if you will? The leper comes to him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. What is he putting his hope in, in the power of Jesus or the centurion? Well, how does the centurion express his confidence? It's in the confidence of Jesus. Teal, you just say the word. In contrast, this scribe asserts his own devotion.

9:21I think he comes with a high view of himself. Where else have we seen this attitude? With very similar words in the scriptures, right? I wonder if anyone is hearing, uh, any other passages come to mind if your spidey senses are going off. I I I think of the self-confidence of Peter when Jesus foretold his denial and the denial of all the disciples. Matthew 26, Peter says to Jesus, after Jesus said, you're all gonna fall away. Peter says, though, they all fall away because of you. Even if all these other disciples are a bunch of schmucks, I will never fall away. Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you three times.

10:03He points to his self-sufficiency, his self-confidence. I will follow you. And this man speaks very similarly, doesn't he? I will follow you wherever you go, instead of placing his confidence in what Jesus can do. I think that's at the heart of this scribe. It's this arrogance and it's this self-confidence rather than faith in Christ. And so Jesus responded in verse 20, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. This proverb like saying, is pointing to the fact that Jesus has no permanent home. So his ministry was itinerant. He traveled from city to city and place to place and it was rather uncomfortable.

10:51So Jesus is putting forth the demands of discipleship. It's not exactly a comfortable life. This is not the path to health, wealth and prosperity. This is not a get rich quick scheme. Uh, the point is not that Jesus is homeless, he probably stayed in the homes of his disciples, but his life was nomadic and itinerant in, in a sense, what Jesus is doing here is he's calling the bluff of the scribe. The scribe says, I'll go with you wherever you go. And Jesus says, are you sure? Because my journey, my path, my home is going to be comfortable. And in fact, Jesus, I think probably alludes to the fact I'm going to the cross.

11:34I'm going to the cross, I'm gonna die. So Jesus reveals that to be his disciple is not comfortable or easy. Jesus teaches that tribulation and even the cares of the world will cause many to fall away from him. Now I wanna pause here for a moment and talk about the use of the Son of man in verse 20. So Jesus calls himself the son of man, and this was the first use of the title in Matthew's gospel. And it's Jesus' kind of favorite way to refer to himself shows up 30 times in Matthew's gospel. And there's a lot of commentary and speculation, but it wasn't, uh, obvious to Jesus' original audience that this was referring to the Messiah.

12:24So how should we understand Jesus' use of son of man? You know, there's some ambiguity in the term. So the the title Son of Man is used in several places in the Old Testament. So Psalm chapter eight, verse four, it refers generically to a man. So here as I read that, what is man that you're mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him. So it's referring to a general man, or there's the book of Ezekiel. If you read the book, Ezekiel, the son of man shows up 93 times and almost all of 'em refer to Ezekiel, just again a normal guy. So you know, Jesus is tapping into the usage of this phrase, this term, this title, but most significant is Daniel chapter seven, verses 13 and 14, where this son of man approaches the ancient of days and then he's given a dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages should serve him.

13:21And his dominion is an everlasting dominion that will never pass away. And so if Jesus has that verse in view, clearly he's pointing to the fact that he's the Christ, he's the Messiah. So what is Jesus doing? Well, he used it both to veil and to expose his identity. Diego Carson writes, the simplest answer is that Jesus used the term precisely because it was ambiguous, it could conceal as well as reveal. So it had all of these humble undertones to say, I'm just a normal guy. Uh, I'm just the son of man, just like the rest of you and his disciples. After his resurrection or as he was heading to the cross, they would think back and be like, Jesus used the son of man.

14:07He called himself the son of man. He didn't mean Ezekiel or Psalm eights son of man. He was talking about Daniel seven where he would get authority and power. And so it was the perfect term to progressively reveal his authority as the Lord. And so we'll see this throughout Matthew. Every time Jesus uses son of man, he's trying to veil his identity to some, I'm just a normal guy like the rest of you. And then his disciples would hear it on the other side of the resurrection and say, Jesus was telling us he's the Messiah. Alright, now back to the story, verse 21, another of the disciples said to Jesus, Lord, let me go first, go and bury my father.

14:51So the term bury my Father is this Jewish idiom that just means to fulfill his family responsibility. So the best case scenario, the man says, I'll follow you, Jesus, after my dad dies, it's most likely that his dad hasn't just died. But uh, he would've been attending to the funeral arrangements and the funeral. Rather, he's asking for permission to finish the season of caring for his father's last days or years. So it seems rather noble, uh, we're commanded in scripture to honor our father and mother, but more likely the man is giving an excuse to Jesus. He, he's saying, well, let me go and finish the season of life in caring for my father, helping with the family business, waiting for my father to die, burying him, and then receiving the inheritance.

15:40And after I've gained that level of financial security now and only thou will I begin to follow you, Jesus. So one theologian says this, then would be a request for indefinite postponement of discipleship likely to be for years rather than days. He's using his family responsibilities to get out from under Jesus' demand of discipleship. That's what's going on in this section. And Jesus reply cuts right to the heart of the issue, follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead. Jesus is being intentionally provocative to illustrate a point at one level, he says, let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead, meaning only those who care about worldly matters are the spiritually dead.

16:39Leave it behind. What I'm calling you to is to follow me. Jesus is revealing that delayed discipleship likely leads to death. You can't just pick and choose when Jesus calls. You don't get to say in five years, then I'll start following you because in five years you will not want to follow him. You need to follow him. When Jesus calls, you must respond. You must decide in the present moment, is it total and complete allegiance to Jesus? Or is it, I go my own way because Jesus says, if you do that, you may not have another opportunity. It, it's a hyper kind of a hyperbolic saying where Jesus says, tear out your eye or cut off your hand or tells the wealthy young man to sell all that he has.

17:35We don't look at this to say that's the e exact way everyone is to follow Jesus. But what he's saying to this man is he's revealing that he's using his family responsibilities as an excuse to not follow Christ. Jesus reveals that the demand of discipleship is total commitment. You cannot be half-hearted or go halfway. So how do we apply this truth? I think what Jesus is warning against in this first section on discipleship is that we need to be aware of the temptation to become a lukewarm or nominal, quote unquote Christian. And to domesticate Jesus' call to discipleship. And there's many in our world to do this to today.

18:25They want all the good stuff that God offers. I, I would love the love and and the grace and the forgiveness of sins and even a community that loves and cares about me, but I, I don't want any of that stuff about holiness or judgment or that I'm a sinner or that I have to actually obey all that. Scripture teaches some see Jesus as a spiritual guru and a revolutionary figure. I was listening to a podcast earlier this week and two very famous podcasters, YouTubers were talking about Jesus' teachings and they were waxing eloquently about how amazing these truths are and how timeless they are. And both of them are unbelievers to the core because their lives do not follow or obey Jesus.

19:17They don't believe in the things that Jesus teaches. But like many others, they mix Jesus' teachings with a little bit of eastern me mysticism, a little bit of new age ideas, and they call that sufficient, or there's many others who would boldly proclaim Jesus is king. They might even release a music album titled with that phrase, Jesus is king. And yet their lives would show without a shadow of a doubt that they do not know the Jesus of the Bible. So I think this morning, this text is calling us to count the cost of discipleship. Is there anything that we're holding back that Jesus demands? It is, have we failed to surrender any aspect any area of our lives?

20:06Have we relinquished all other allegiances to Jesus? Growing up, I saw many treat God as a good addition to hard work, getting good grades and being successful. So success was the sundae. Jesus was just the whipped cream and the cherry on top. And Jesus in our text tells us in no uncertain terms, I'm everything. I'm the sundae, I'm the whipped cream, I'm the sprinkles, I'm the nuts on top. I'm the cherry. The whole thing is all about me. And if you put anything else above me, you're not worthy of me. And so Jesus calls us to complete surrender this morning. Now, as this scribe hears Jesus talk, what thought comes in his mind?

21:01Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to demand complete allegiance? The other disciple is probably thinking the same thing. It it, it's good and right for me to stay behind and care for my aging Father and to eventually bury him and and get the inheritance. Who do you think you are? Jesus. And I think that's exactly what our next section shows us. So look with me at 23 to 27, here we have the authority of he who demands. Jesus enters the boat, his disciples followed him. Verse 23. Now we don't know if the scribe or the other man came along or if they were left behind. That's not the point. The point was what Jesus was teaching.

21:43Now this fierce and frightening storm arises and threatens to capsize the boat. And so these must have been massive, massive waves. I remember, you know, boogie boarding or trying to surf in San Diego and you know, if the waves got above maybe three or four feet, it was like, eh, I'm gonna leave that for someone else to to ride just 'cause it gets kind of scary. And you can get your head bashed into the shore, and here they're probably facing eight to nine feet high waves. And these are experienced fishermen, the boat begins to fill with water. And so verse 24, that they wake Jesus up who is sleeping and they cry out, save us Lord.

22:25We are perishing. In other words, help we're gonna die. Jesus sleeping, I think is supposed to convey his lack of anxiety in this moment. Like Psalm five, I lay down and I slept. I woke again for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. So the psalmist Psalm three is saying, there's thousands of people trying to kill me and I'm gonna go to bed because I am not worried. I think that's the picture here of Jesus sleeping in the boat and he enjoys his peaceful power nap while the disciples fear. And then he responds in verse 27, why are you afraid?

23:06Oh, you of little faith. Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was great calm. And so there's two rebukes here. One of the disciples, he hides them for their lack of faith. And then he rebukes the wind and the waves. So Jesus doesn't say to them, it's okay guys. It's understandable that you're afraid of giant waves that threaten to capsize the boat. He says, oh, you of little faith. So have you ever wrestled with that? Like if we were in the boat like eight, nine foot waves, the boat's filling up, I would be afraid. I would be just like these disciples, they're experienced fishermen.

23:48This is like a severe disaster that is a threat to their lives. And yet Jesus rebukes them. It seems rather harsh, doesn't it? Why does Jesus rebuke them? I think it's this. They had just seen Jesus power. They've just seen Jesus teach on the mountain, say things that no one else has ever said. They had just seen Jesus heal three different people back to back to back. They had just seen Jesus cast out demons. And to their credit, they do go to Jesus. They wake him, they ask him to save them. So there is this kernel of faith, and yet they failed to see the fullness of Jesus identity. I i think the, the reality is a little bit like this.

24:39The disciples are like, we live down here. This is kind of like our level of normalcy, but Jesus is clearly bigger and better than us. So he's up here like Jesus can heal with a word and and he can cast out demons. And he's doing all these amazing things and he teaches like no one else has ever taught. And Jesus is saying, you guys don't get it. I'm way, way, way up. Here I am the Lord of heaven and earth. Their conception of Jesus is still too small, too domesticated, too pedestrian. They saw Jesus as greater than them, but they didn't see him in all of his fullness and glory. And that's what Matthew's gospel is trying to unfold for us and for these disciples, see Jesus in all of his wonderful splendor and glory.

25:35And so the question, what sort of man is this? Well, verse 27 says, the men marveled saying, what sort of man is this? That even the winds and the sea obey him? This man controls nature. This is the Lord of creation. So who is it that demands wholehearted devotion from his disciples? It's not just a mere man. This is Jesus Christ, Lord of creation, authority over nature. He speaks the word and the wind and the waves and the sea and the atmosphere all obey without hesitation. And so if, if the scribe and if the other possible potential disciple what we're thinking, who do you think you are? Jesus, to demand complete and wholehearted devotion and discipleship.

26:33I think the answer would be this. Jesus would say, I am the one who rules and reigns over heaven and earth. I ordained every single raindrop from the sky. I ride in upon the clouds. I cause the winds to blow wherever I will. I thunder forth from the clouds and send forth births of lightning. I send tsunamis and earthquakes and hurricanes on tornadoes and polar vortexes whenever I want. I rule over the depths of the sea. I orchestrate the galaxies. I control the stars and the planets, and I uphold every single cell in all of creation. In no uncertain terms. He says, I am the Lord of creation. This is the one in whom we serve.

27:27He demands wholehearted devotion from his disciples because he deserves it. He owns all of creation. And so what I wanna do in the time that remains is ask the question, how do we respond this morning? If this is Jesus who demands wholehearted complete devotion, and the reason he does so is because he's the Lord of creation who rules and reigns over all things, how do we respond? I I have three things I wanna point to. The first is do not fear. Do not fear I I know we live in a world where there are fears on every side in our own personal lives to doctor diagnoses, to stuff going on in the world to the economy and our retirement accounts and just even our families.

28:28And yet if God calls us to follow him, and if we are believers who are following Jesus, there is nothing to fear in the pathway of discipleship and obedience. There's nothing to fear for God's children. We should be afraid if we run from God like Jonah, we should be afraid when we stand in God's way, when we set ourselves up to be an enemy of God, we should be afraid if God is not on our side. But if God is our father and we are his beloved children this morning, there's nothing to be afraid of. Whatever comes in the next 10 days, 10 years, 10,000 years, we have nothing to be afraid of. God is on our side when we are afraid.

29:21We put our trust in God. This is one of the most spoken phrases. Do not be afraid In the scriptures we go to promises like Isaiah 43, many of you know this fear not for I've redeemed. You have called you by name. You are mine when you pass through the flood waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. He's calling to mind both the flood as well as the crossing of the Red Sea and any other flood wads or fi flood waters or fire that may come. He ends that by saying, for I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your savior. That's the note he wants us to remember. He is our savior.

30:13So we should not be afraid. Or Psalm 46, God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. So even in worldwide catastrophe, if everything in society is falling apart and that the very foundations of the order in which we live, uh, disintegrate, God says, you don't have to be afraid. You don't have to be afraid. I will be your ever present help because I rule and I reign and I have authority and power over all of creation. Second application is to fan the flicker of faith fan the flicker of faith.

31:07Notice the disciples are called those of little faith, and yet even the smallest of faith, God honors. So there was real faith at working the disciples. To their credit, they went to Jesus. They woke him up. And God honors those who trust and believe in him. We see it with the leper. Jesus says to him, I will and stretches out his hand. He says the same to the centurion, I will. And the disciples followed Jesus. And though they ended up in a great storm, Jesus used it to test their faith, but he also did it to deepen their faith. They got front row seats to something. Never ever seen this man commands the wind and the storms with merely a word.

32:01What a privilege to be in that boat to see that reality or, or Peter with just a little kernel of faith walked on water even if he eventually took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink. Jesus teaches Matthew 1720, if you have faith like a grain of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. That is such an amazing promise that he puts there. Nothing will be impossible for you. It's not about the size of our faith, but it's the object of our faith. Do you hear that? It's not about the size of our faith, but it's the object of our faith.

32:48Diego Carson tells a story about two men at Passover, and this is the very first Passover where the angel of death is coming. And he, he tells a story where the first guy I is anxious and afraid, he's nervous. And he's like says to his buddy, he's like, are you are, are you afraid of what's gonna happen? Like the angel of death is coming And, and, and I only have one child, I just have my one firstborn. Like I'm really scared. And and his buddy's like, no, my trust is in God. I I believe that he's going to deliver us. Look at what he did in all the other plagues. And he says, you, you've put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, haven't you?

33:34And the other guy's like, well, of course I've done that. I'm not stupid. But it it's still pretty scary. The angel of death is coming and you have several kids. I I only have the one. And and the story goes well, which one of them lost their child that night? Answer is neither. And because the angel of death doesn't pass over them because of the intensity or because of the clarity of the faith exercise, rather it's the object of their faith, which is the blood of the lamb. It's Jesus. And that's the point this morning, if you have a little kernel of faith, oh, cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ and he will be for you.

34:21Put your faith in Jesus, even mustard size faith this morning, oh look to Jesus. The third application is this, follow Jesus. He's worth it. Follow Jesus. He's worth it. Jesus just told his disciples the demands of discipleship, it's gonna be costly. I got nowhere to lay my head. Leave the dead to bury their own dead. You gotta relinquish all other allegiances. You gotta kiss that inheritance goodbye. Follow me in this moment now. And that's gonna deter many. It's just too costly. It's just too much. I remember doing the premarital counseling for an unbelieving couple where we read several, uh, we read the entire gospel of Matthew.

35:15We read several Christian books. We, we talked about how marriage was to be built upon the love of Jesus. And at the end of it, I asked them, what prevents you from trusting Jesus? And with lots of clarity, they said, we love the example of Jesus' love in the scriptures and we wanna build our marriage upon that. But it's just too costly to follow Christ. And, and so there is a very real cost in following Jesus. It's to abandon all else. And yet, what are the disciples rewarded with? They get to Jesus in all of his splendor and glory. They get to be in that boat. When Jesus stands up and he says, peace be still.

36:04And the rain stops right in that moment. The wind just cuts off. Every single wave falls to the ocean floor in that moment and their minds are blown. It's a image, it's a memory that will never leave them. They get to glimpse Jesus in all of his wonder and power and glory and, and that is true of us today. If you follow Jesus, it will be costly. And yet he will bless you far beyond you can imagine showing you more of his wonder, more of his glory, so that we would behold him in all of his fullness. So if you're not following Jesus this morning, he demands your wholehearted devotion, but he promises unparalleled joy, glimpses of his glory, hardship in this life, and then everlasting reward.

37:06It will be worth it. I say this often, but no one will ever get to heaven and say, I paid too great ACOs. And for those of us who are following Jesus, oh, let's continue to press on. It's so worth it. We get more of his grace. We get forgiveness of sins. No fear in this life, not of death, not of Satan, not of disease, not of cancer. Christ has each and every single one of us, and he's leading us exactly where he wants us to go. And we will be blessed to get more and more glimpses of his glory. What sort of man is this? This is the Lord of creation. A man that not only rebukes the wind but treads upon the waters.

38:01The man not only calms the storm, but ends are striving by saying it is finished. He not only sleeps through the tempest, but he ushers each and every single one of us into his own eternal rest. He's not only the maker of the heavens, but he's the one who will ride in on the clouds with a sword on his side, on a white horse, and he will rule and reign and establish his everlasting kingdom. He not only holds all authority in heaven and on earth, but he displays the glorious, wondrous compassion and mercy of God. So what sort of man is this? This is not mere man. This is God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Lord over all creation.

38:56Let's pray. Father, we want to see more of that glory. We wanna behold it in the very depths of our hearts. We wanna see your power, your spirit coursing through our veins so that we would be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. Do that and so much more in Jesus' name. Amen.

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