Scripture: Matthew 8:18-34

I. The real Jesus makes demands that are personal and costly.

A. In vs. 18-22 we meet two men who said they wanted to be Jesus’ disciples. A scribe, a teacher of the law, is quick to make a promise to Jesus in vs. 19: “I will follow you wherever you go.” The real Jesus instead shatters this scribe’s expectations of what following Him would look like. Jesus is homeless as he travels from town to town and often slept on the ground (vs. 20). If the scribe were to follow Jesus, he would be homeless also. “Count the cost!” Jesus says.

B. Another would-be disciple says to Jesus in vs. 21, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Sounds reasonable, right? Jesus says no. He says in vs. 22 what he would later say in Matthew 10:37: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” Real disciples make Jesus their top priority. If you make your parents an excuse for not following Jesus, you are not yet truly a disciple of Jesus. Being a disciple of Jesus will cost you.

II. The real Jesus is far greater than His followers expect.

A. When Jesus and the disciples get in the boat, they are met by a violent storm (vs. 24). Jesus somehow sleeps through the storm. He is human. He is tired from serving people. The disciples say to Jesus in vs. 25: “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” Their fear has driven out their faith. But vs. 26 says, Jesus “rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” The disciples asked in vs. 27, “What sort of a man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

B. They expected Jesus to help them as a man. But by calming the storm Jesus showed that he was God as well as man. Jesus did what only God could do. Psalm 18:15: “Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.” Jesus was Immanuel – God with us. He did far more than the disciples expected. And He can do far more than we expect.

III. The real Jesus puts spiritual and human realities above other considerations.

A. When Jesus and the disciples get to the other side of the lake, they are met in vs. 28 by “two demon-possessed men.” But Jesus casts the demons out of the men and sends them into the pigs (vs. 32). Jesus has authority over the demons and over Satan. We learn also that Jesus prioritizes two human souls over 2,000 pigs. People are more important to Jesus than money. Eternity is more important to Jesus than temporary treasures and pleasures. Saving two men’s souls, freeing them from sin and demonic power, was far more important to Jesus than profits.

Application:
Place the values of the real Jesus over the world’s values.

Sources:
The Bible
Commentaries by D.A. Carson, J.C. Ryle, and Charles Quarles

Sermon Discussion Questions

1) What demands did Jesus make on two potential followers in vs. 18-22? How would Jesus’ demands cost them? What demands of Jesus have cost you something?
2) How did Jesus go above and beyond the disciples’ expectations when the storm came upon them on the lake? How can asking, “Who is Jesus?” help you with your expectations of Jesus when you are in a crisis?
3) What was most important to Jesus when he came across the demon-possessed men? In what ways are our values out of line with Jesus’ values?