Latest / Reformed Thinking / No Illusions, No Delays: The Costly Urgency of Following the Son of Man (Matthew 8:18–22)

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No Illusions, No Delays: The Costly Urgency of Following the Son of Man (Matthew 8:18–22) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome back to Reformed thinking.
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Today we're doing a deep dive into a very short but very
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potent section of scripture. We're in Matthew chapter 8, and
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we're moving past all the, you know, the sweeping drama of
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Christ's miracles. The first part of the chapter is
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just packed with these incredible healings casting out
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demons a. Huge display of power.
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Huge. And because of that, Jesus has
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drawn what the text calls great crowds.
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He's incredibly popular, but right here, in just 4 verses,
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Matthew 818 through 22, the whole tone just shifts.
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It really does. This feels like a turning point.
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It's where Christ seems to stop, you know, gathering the masses
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with visible benefits and start sorting them by their actual
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allegiance. Yeah, that's a good way to put
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it. This little passage is, well,
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it's a critical moment for anyone trying to get what
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discipleship is really about. We so often come to Christ
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looking for, you know, specific things.
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Healing, security, comfort, maybe just some clarity in our
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lives. Sure, the benefits.
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The benefits and our mission today is to really get the the
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stark difference between just admiring Christ for the good
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things he can give and actually submitting to as the ruling Lord
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of your life and that submission as we're about to see it demands
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that you immediately give up some of your most cherished
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things, your comfort and your desire to be in control of your
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own time so this. Passage is a kind of filter.
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It is. It acts like a sieve, really.
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It tests the quality of the faith that people are
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professing. OK, so let's get into it.
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The whole thing kicks off with a really, I think, a
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counterintuitive move from Jesus.
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This is verse 18. Jesus has this incredible
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momentum, a huge enthusiastic crowd.
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I mean, this is this is what every movement leader dreams of,
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right? And what does he do at the very
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peak of all this public excitement?
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He sees the crowd and he gives an order to leave.
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He can answer departure to the other side.
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So my first question is why? Why would Jesus just
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deliberately walk away from his own soaring popularity?
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Because he refuses to let the crowd manage his ministry.
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That's what it comes down to. I mean, this is such a brilliant
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display of his authority. The crowds are pressing in not
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because they fully get who he is, you know, his Kingdom
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identity. They're there because they want
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access. Access to the show.
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To the show, to the healing, to the advantage of being near this
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miracle worker. And Jesus's response isn't to
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accommodate them, it's to give an order.
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He commands movement. He demands obedience, departure.
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So right away, the first act of discipleship here isn't getting
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something good, it's doing something that seems, well,
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inconvenient. That's it exactly.
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The command. Let us go over to the other
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side. It immediately establishes that
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he is Lord, not just over, you know, the wind and the waves,
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which he's already shown, but over the direction and the
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schedule of the people who say they follow him.
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The crowds wanted to show that stayed in one place, a
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comfortable home base where all the benefits just flowed out.
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But Jesus commands a crossing, a breaking of camp and move
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towards something uncertain. And that command itself is the
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first filter, isn't it? It just forces this immediate
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choice. I mean, it's one thing to press
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close to Jesus when he's handing out miracles, but what do you do
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when he gives an order that goes against what you expect, what's
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convenient, or what's popular? And that's where the question
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just fundamentally changes right there on the shore.
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It stops being can He heal my sickness?
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And it becomes something much deeper and honestly more
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threatening. It becomes, will I obey his
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command to move? Matthew's structure here is just
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masterful. The very act of leaving, leaving
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the shore where Christ is popular and everyone loves him.
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That's the first quiet demand for actual surrender.
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Let's talk for a minute about what the other side even means
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geographically. We're talking about the Eastern
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Shore of the Sea of Galilee, And that area was, well, it was
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largely considered Gentile territory.
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Right, much less friendly. Much less friendly or receptive
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than the Jewish towns where they were at that moment.
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So it stands for difficulty, It stands for vulnerability, a move
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away from the safety of, you know, the established religious
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and social world. The other side is where the
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crowds get thin. OK, crowds on this side love
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Jesus for the spectacle. The other side is where your
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allegiance gets tested in quiet difficulty.
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And you know, this pattern is all over the Old Testament.
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Whenever Israel was called to obedience, they were called to
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move. Think about Abraham leaving UR,
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the Exodus, the Exodus across the Red Sea, the whole
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wilderness journey. Christ is bringing up that same
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kind of covenant challenge. He's demanding that your
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allegiance be proven right now in obedience, not just in, you
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know, passive excitement. So this departure, it sets the
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whole stage. Jesus is beginning to sort out
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the people who are just curious from the ones who actually obey.
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And this command to move is the door.
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And through it, 2 specific men step forward.
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And each one seems to represent a different kind of maybe half
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legions. One guy's way too eager and the
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other is way too hesitant. They both say they want to
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follow, but it seems like both of them want to set their own
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terms. And that's the core contrast we
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have to look at. They're like two sides of the
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same counterfeit coin. The first man, he tries to
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attach himself to the king, but he wants to hold on to his right
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to be comfortable. The second man, he tries to
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attach himself to the king, but he wants to hold on to his right
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to control the timing. And Jesus won't accept either
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one. Right, let's look at that first
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volunteer. On the surface, he seems like
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the perfect candidate for a disciple.
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He comes to Jesus with what sounds like just total devotion.
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His verse 19 a scribe says, Teacher, I will follow you
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wherever you go. Yeah, and the fact that he's a
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scribe is so significant. This wasn't just some, you know,
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wide eyed fisherman who had nothing to lose.
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A scribe was a trained expert in the law, a respected guy in the
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religious establishment. Had a position stability status.
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He had all of that. So when he says wherever you go,
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it has this feel of this big romantic pledge.
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He's probably looking at this growing movement and seeing, you
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know, a sign of this huge public triumph.
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He sees prestige and following this powerful new teacher.
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But that word he uses Teacher? That feels like the first little
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red flag, doesn't it? If he had said Lord, that big
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vow would feel totally different.
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But calling him Teacher suggests he's still holding something
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back. Oh, absolutely.
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You can admire a great teacher without having to surrender your
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whole life, your whole structure.
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You've just hit the absolute key to it.
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The category he's using is too small for Jesus.
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He's offering loyalty, but it's on his own terms.
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He sees Jesus as a very influential rabbi whose path is
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probably going to lead to power and public acclaim, the very
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things Ascribe would value. So he's making a calculated
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offer of allegiance. I'll attach myself to your
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movement as long as the movement stays, you know, respectable and
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convenient for me. Yes, and Jesus just refuses to
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to bless that kind of enthusiasm.
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He responds to this grand promise not with a, you know, a
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welcome hand shape with this radical, almost crushing dose of
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reality. He says to describe foxes have
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hold and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has
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nowhere to lay his head. That's verse 20.
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That response is just devastating to the scribes
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entire way of thinking. Jesus answers this vow of
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attachment with a statement about his own life, his own
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status here on earth, and he deliberately contrasts himself
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with the natural world. Even the animals have more
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security. Right.
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Even the wild creatures, the foxes and the birds, they have a
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predictable place to live, a basic security they can count
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on. But the son of man, the promised
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king, he doesn't even have that. He is constantly moving,
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dependent on others, and perpetually unsecured.
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This is about more than just being core, isn't it?
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It's a statement about vulnerability, about a total
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lack of control over his circumstances.
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Absolutely. Think about what a secure life
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meant for a scribe back then. It meant a stable home, a good
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library of scrolls, a place in the synagogue, a reliable income
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and high social standing. Everything Jesus is saying, he
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doesn't have. Everything.
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So Jesus's response is a declaration.
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Following me is not compatible with you insisting on your own
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control, your own predictability, and your own
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uninterrupted comfort. This allegiance requires a
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willingness to share in my vulnerability.
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It's an immediate rejection of the idol of comfort.
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Let's stay on that idea of homelessness for a second.
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What exactly did Jesus give up? It wasn't just a physical house.
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It was a settled identity, a place in the world.
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He gave up the right to have a fixed position.
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The King of Glory, the one who holds the whole universe
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together, is living day-to-day, dependent on the provision of
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others, sleeping where he's welcomed, and sometimes not
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being welcomed at all. So the scribe comes offering his
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reputation and his stability. Jesus offers the scribe
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identification with a master who has given up both of those
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things. Discipleship here gets
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completely redefined. It's not spiritual upward
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mobility. It's a reorientation to a
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Kingdom whose king chose the road of lowliness.
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And this just stands in such stark contrast to any movement
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that tries to measure God's favor by how easy or prosperous
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your life is. This speaks directly to a lot of
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modern distortions of the gospel.
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It does. I mean, look at certain
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teachings today, the kind that guarantee you visible,
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measurable success and comfort if you're just faithful enough.
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It promise a life where trials are the exception, not a normal
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feature. Matthew 8.0 just detonates that
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entire idea. Jesus speaks as someone who is
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materially unsecured, not because his plan failed, but
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because this lowliness was the deliberate path of his mission.
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If the King himself accepts rejection and hardship as
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necessary, then for us to demand an exemption from those things,
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well, it shows we haven't really grasped who the King is.
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So Jesus is essentially correct the scribes romantic picture of
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what following him would be like.
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He's saying before you promise to follow me wherever I go, you
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need to get that wherever I go includes being unwelcome, being
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rejected and having nowhere to call your own.
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It's a moment of what you might call spiritual triage.
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The scribe needed to realize that his allegiance would
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probably cost him the very social status and respectability
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he valued so much, the comfortable faith, the religion
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that assumes God has to guarantee our ease.
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It just collapses under the weight of this one sad
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statement. So this is where real
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discipleship begins. It's when we stop insisting on
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our own security measures and become willing to embrace the
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cross shaped life of our Master. OK, this whole exchange really
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turns on the title Jesus uses for himself.
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We have to go deeper into this phrase, the Son of Man.
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When Jesus, who is being mobbed by crowds and offered loyalty by
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a religious expert, calls himself the Son of Man who has
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nowhere to lay his head, what is he claiming?
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And what's the nature of this, this incredible tension?
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The title Son of Man carries just immense weight.
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It's deliberately reaching back into the Old Testament, and its
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most powerful connection is to Daniel Chapter 7.
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Right. Can you remind us of that vision
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in Daniel? Yeah, Daniel sees this divine
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apocalyptic figure. He calls him one like a son of
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man, and this figure is coming with the clouds of heaven.
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He's brought before the Ancient of Days, and he receives
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absolute, universal and everlasting dominion.
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It's a title of cosmic royalty. It is.
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It speaks of sovereignty, a final judgement.
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It is the clearest messianic title of ultimate authority.
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So when Jesus uses that title for himself, he is claiming to
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be that exalted universal king. Yes, he's claiming universal
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sovereignty. He's the one who is destined to
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sit on the throne of judgement and receive the unending
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allegiance of all nations. And so you have to hold those
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two images together in your mind, the 1 arriving on the
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clouds of heaven and the one who today has nowhere to lay his
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head. The contrast is just jarring.
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He's the king is here right now, but he's come in well, in abject
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lowliness. This is the central paradox of
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Christ's ministry, and it's something the Reformed view has
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always carefully articulated. The path to his glorious
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exaltation goes straight through deep humiliation.
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Jesus is showing that his authority doesn't come from
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earthly status or wealth or comfort.
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In fact, his authority is shown by his willingness to set all of
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those things aside to do the Father's will.
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Which means that following him isn't about attaching yourself
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to a successful popular movement after the victory is already
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won. No, it's about joining the King
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during his period of lowliness and rejection.
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That's the consequence. Real union with Christ means
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sharing His way of life, not just his benefits.
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It's identification with this Son of man whose path leads
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through rejection and vulnerability all the way to the
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cross before it reaches the throne.
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If we are joined to Him. If you're a member of his body,
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then you're joined to the whole story of His life, and that
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includes the necessary part about suffering.
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OK, let's connect this directly to the doctrine of salvation.
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Why does the gospel itself necessarily get rid of our our
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spiritual right to self rule, especially a self rule that's
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focused on our own comfort? Because the gospel declares that
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we are accepted entirely by grace through faith alone,
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accepted in the beloved, we're given Christ's perfect
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righteousness and this radical act of saving grace.
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It frees us from the need to earn or prove our own worth, but
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at the same time it takes away our perceived right to manage
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our own lives. If Christ has bought us, we
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belong to him. Completely.
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We can't, therefore, use the benefits of our justification as
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a reason to insist on our own creature comforts.
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We're rescued not just from the pallity of sin, but from the
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lordship of the self. Jesus is hard sayings like this
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one. They are instructions for how to
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buy your salvation by being a spiritual hero.
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They are divine X-rays that expose the remaining unbelief in
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our hearts. So a faith that says I'll take
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the justification, but I refuse to follow the Master into
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loneliness. Is not genuine faith.
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It's a contractual arrangement, not a saving union.
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You cannot worship the king and at the same time insist that his
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Kingdom has to conform to your definitions of prosperity and
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ease. The scribe's demand for security
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is really just a refusal to submit to this humbled king.
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He wanted a comfortable master, not a costly Lord.
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He wanted the glory of Daniel 7 without the shame of Matthew 8,
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and Jesus makes it plain you can't have one without the
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other. If you want the King, you have
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to accept the king on his terms, and his terms include
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vulnerability. OK, that was the first Test, a
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test against this romantic enthusiasm that didn't count the
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cost of comfort. Now we have to move to the
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second man and this one, this one feels much trickier because
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his request is covered in his deep moral respectability.
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This man is already identified as another of the disciples, and
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he dresses Jesus correctly as Lord.
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He says, Lord, let me first go and bury my father.
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That's verse 21. And this is the genius of the
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text. The scribe represented this, you
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know, overt pride in his status. This man represents a very
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subtle self rule that's disguised as virtue.
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Burying a parent was considered the highest, most solemn duty
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you could perform under the 5th commandment.
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Honor your father and mother. It was non negotiable in Jewish
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culture. Absolutely.
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So on the surface, he's not saying I want to finish my
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business deal first or I need to get my finances in order.
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He's citing the most sacred, respectable duty he could
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possibly think of. Is why the test is so piercing.
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It is the most powerful rival to immediate allegiance is often
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delay, and a delay that's wearing the mask of prudence or
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piety or some sacred duty. If you can use the most virtuous
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sounding excuse to put off Christ's command, you reveal a
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spiritual hierarchy in your heart where Christ comes second
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and. The whole thing hinges on that
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little phrase. Let me first.
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That one little word pretos in the Greek is just exposes the
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whole conflict. The man is trying to negotiate
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the schedule. He agrees to the what follows,
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following Jesus, but he wants to control the when he's holding on
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to mastery over his own calendar, He's trying to place a
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human duty, no matter how respectable, in the position of
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first over a divine command. So in the Kingdom, postponement
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is a form of self sovereignty. That's it.
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It's self sovereignty in slow motion.
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OK, let's talk about the interpretation of Bury My
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Father. Does this mean his father had
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literally just died and needed to be buried right away?
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Or, as some have suggested, was it an idiom for something like
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let me stay home and care for my father until he eventually dies,
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whenever that might be? Both interpretations are out
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there, but you know what? The precise family timeline
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doesn't actually change the devastating force of Jesus's
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answer. If the Father had just died, the
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duty was immediate and sacred. If the Father was still alive,
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the discipleship was being postponed indefinitely, maybe
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for years, right? In either case, the question is
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the same. Can any human claim, no matter
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how weighty or sacred, be placed in the position of first over
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Christ? The request is a competing
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priority that is trying to veto the King summons.
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In Jesus's reply is just startling.
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It's so severe he gives a royal command with no room for
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bargaining. Follow me and leave the dead to
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bury their own dead. That's verse 22 and that first
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part. Follow me is just absolute.
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It asserts that Christ is the supreme governing claim over
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this man's life. His call is not just one more
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duty to be scheduled in with all the others.
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It is the center and all other duties have to be arranged
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around it. If Christ issued a call, that
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call governs everything, including family
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responsibilities. OK, now we have to tackle that
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shocking proverb. Leave the dead to bury their own
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dead. It sounds so harsh, like Jesus
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is just canceling the 5th commandment, ignoring basic
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piety and making light of death. The rhetorical shock is the
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whole point. He's using hyperbole to make a
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distinction that cuts right to the core of what it means to be
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alive. He's contrasting 2 spheres.
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There are those who are spiritually alive, who have been
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summoned by the living Christ into the urgency of the Kingdom.
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And then there are those who are spiritually unresponsive, the
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ones who are the dead. He's telling the disciple, let
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the spiritually dead busy themselves with the temporal,
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ordinary but necessary duties of life in this world.
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So he doesn't mean the Father shouldn't be buried.
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He means the Kingdom mission has to take priority over arranging
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that burial. Somebody else will handle it.
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Exactly. Jesus is distinguishing between
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spheres of existence and priority.
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He's saying you are a man who's been summoned to the living work
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of the King. You cannot use a respectable
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worldly duty as an excuse to postpone the eternal call.
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The Kingdom has arrived, and its arrival introduces this gravity,
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this urgency that just reorders every single rival claim.
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It's meant to Pierce through our complacency.
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The complacency that hides behind acceptable duties.
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Yes, this is a direct challenge to the whole mindset that treats
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the Kingdom as, you know, a secondary thing, something
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you'll get around to once your personal life is all perfectly
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managed and settled. The sinful human heart is an
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endless factory of delays that feel prudent.
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They always feel responsible. We negotiate the timing under
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the guise of responsibility. I can't serve yet.
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I need financial independence first.
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I can't take that step of faith. I need to wait until my kids are
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settled. Jesus's response just cuts right
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through all of that negotiation. The man called Jesus Lord, but
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the word first showed that his own self still had sovereignty
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over the calendar. When the Son of Man calls, the
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response has to be immediate, no matter how heavy the rival claim
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seems to be. So this test is designed to
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expose the theology of later, which is really just
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disobedience in disguise. And This is why it's so relevant
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for us. We live in a culture that's
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obsessed with management and control and five year plans.
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We often schedule God into our lives, but only after we
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scheduled our careers, our security, and our family
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obligations. Jesus insists that he is not an
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elective course. He's the frame and all our other
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responsibilities have to be placed inside it.
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OK. Let's bring these two powerful
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examples together. Both men failed the test there
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on the shore, but in really different ways.
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The scribe demanded comfort and status.
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The existing disciple demanded control over the timeline.
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How do these two failures define the 2 great counterfeit forms of
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allegiance? Well, they expose the two main
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ways the sinful heart tries to hold on to self rule while still
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looking pious. Both men wanted the benefits of
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being with Christ, the scribe wanted the reputation, the
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disciple wanted the blessing of the king.
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But neither one was willing to actually surrender his own
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sovereignty. So let's synthesize the first
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time. Let's call it comfort preserving
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discipleship. This is the kind of allegiance
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that loves the idea of the Kingdom, but runs from the
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lowliness of the king. It's attracted to the miracles,
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the big crowds, the potential prestige of being part of a
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powerful movement. This person is willing to talk
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about sacrifice in these big sweeping terms wherever you go,
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but they have an internal non negotiable contract that says
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life has to stay stable, respectable and comfortable.
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So their faith is basically conditional.
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It depends on their life staying easy.
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Precisely this counterfeit wants the crown but not the cross.
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It confuses God's favor with constant convenience, and it
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treats any hardship as a sign of spiritual failure.
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And Jesus just shattered that illusion by pointing to his own
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path of lowliness. If the king chose to be
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homeless, then the disciple has no spiritual right to insist on
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a predictable path toward wealth or Social Security.
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This allegiance demands that we give up our claim to comfort and
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predictability. Yes.
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OK, now the second type delay preserving discipleship.
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This one is, I think, more insidious.
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It uses the language of courtesy and duty, but the heart keeps
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the ultimate sovereignty over the clock.
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Let me first is the declaration of a rival throne.
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This counterfeit allegiance says it accepts Christ's authority in
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theory, but it pushes the actual doing of it to some indefinite
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later date, usually when all the worldly obligations which are
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the real priority have died down.
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It's the trap of spiritual procrastination, but it's all
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dressed up to look like prudence.
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Indeed, the man uses his sacred family duty as a shield to
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protect himself from immediate obedience.
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And this kind of allegiance leads to a kind of spiritual
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deathliness, because the disciple spends all their best
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time and energy in managing the priorities of this world, and
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they only leave the leftovers, the margins for the Lord.
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And Jesus response asserted the absolute urgency of his command.
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The gospel call is always immediate.
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The time for following is always now.
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So the bottom line then is that both men were trying to manage
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the terms of their relationship with Christ.
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They tried to keep the spiritual rewards while refusing the
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central demand of real allegiance, which is the total
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surrender of their own self sovereignty.
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Allegiance to Christ is not a conditional attachment.
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It's a complete reordering of your life where every rival
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first gets kicked off the throne.
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The demand is costly because our King's path was costly.
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It's urgent because the King's call is always today.
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Real discipleship doesn't begin when the crowd is cheering.
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It begins when Christ commands departure and when we accept His
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terms, no matter what it costs, our comfort or our schedule.
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OK, so we've laid out the biblical case against these two
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forms of self rule. Let's shift now to the practical
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pastoral confrontation with these idols in our own lives
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today. Let's try to ground this with
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some specific modern dilemmas. The Lordship of Christ is the
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doctrinal key here. Since grace has rescued us from
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self rule, our lives are not our own management project anymore.
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And so pastors and all believers really have to be on guard
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against two big distortions. The popular one that denies the
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necessity of suffering, that's the idol of comfort.
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And the respectable one that denies the necessity of
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immediate obedience? That's the idol of timing.
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Let's start with confronting the idol of comfort, and let's tie
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it back to the Son of Man having nowhere to lay his head.
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How does that reality challenge, say, modern careerism or this
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idea of platform building that you see even within Christian
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circles? Well, it forces us to completely
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rethink what success and blessing even look like.
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The scribe wanted to join a successful settle enterprise.
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Today you often see leaders who prioritize stability,
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reputation, and growing their platform over an act of
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obedience that might lead to controversy or opposition, or
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even a reduction in their influence.
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If following Christ means being aligned with a rejected Messiah,
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then we have to be very plain that reputation, opportunities,
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and worldly ease are not guaranteed.
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In fact, they may often have to be forfeited.
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Can you give us a concrete modern scenario for that?
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Sure, consider the decision to take a very lucrative, high
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pressure job that you know requires frequent moral
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compromises. Or maybe it just makes
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meaningful engagement with your church and your family
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impossible. Often we justify that kind of
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choice by saying, well, I need to secure myself first.
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I need the money so I can do ministry later.
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That's the scribes mentality. It's the scribes mentality
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exactly. Pursue worldly security before
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submitting to the demands of the king.
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But the king himself declared his willingness to be utterly
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unsecured for the sake of his mission.
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So if our security, financial or professional has to be
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guaranteed before we'll obey, then comfort has become our real
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king. And this also effects how we
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interpret hardship. When a difficulty or a trial
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comes, let's say you lose your job or get sick, the comfort
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preserving faith often just collapses.
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It starts bargaining with God, assuming the trial must be a
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mistake or a sign that God has failed.
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That's the proof that the idol is there.
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Scripture, especially when you look at it through a lens like
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the Westminster Confessions teaching on Providence, it
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guides us to see trials not as abandonment, but as fatherly
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care and sanctifying discipline. Hebrews 12 tells us that
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hardship is a feature of being owned by God, and it's intended
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to conform us to Christ's image. So a real disciple interprets
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loss differently. A disciple whose allegiance is
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genuine will interpret loss through the lens of Christ's own
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lowliness, recognizing that the road to glory runs through
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humility. OK, let's switch now to the idol
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of control or delay anchored in that Levy first mentality.
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This one seems like the greater, more subtle danger, especially
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in our hyper scheduled, achievement driven western
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culture. It is the greater danger because
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it sounds so reasonable. The man in the story used filial
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piety, the sacred duty of family, as his shield.
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Today we use education or career stabilization or future
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planning. Delayed obedience is a way we
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keep Christ on the margins while we organize the vast majority of
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our time and energy around other masters.
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Can you give them illustrative modern example of this kind of
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delay? Yeah, think of a young Christian
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couple. They delay getting seriously
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involved in their local church ministry, or they delay having
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children, or they delay moving to a place of service because
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they're waiting for the perfect financial moment.
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Right where all the student debt is gone.
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When the debt is gone, the house is purchased, their careers are
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established, they say I will serve the Lord fully when I have
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managed my life perfectly. That insistence on management
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first is the sin of the man who said, let me first go and bury
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my Father. They're trying to veto the Lord
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of glory using the language of fiscal prudence.
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And Jesus, shocking proverb is the wake up call we need.
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It is. It forces us to distinguish
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between legitimate responsibilities we are supposed
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to care for our families and work diligently, and idolatrous
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postponements that use those responsibilities to claim
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spiritual immunity from Christ's immediate call.
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Jesus is not abolishing family duty.
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He is simply forbidding it from having the power to say no to
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the Lord. The Gospel call carries this
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urgency. It demands priority now.
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As the Scripture says today, if you hear His voice, do not
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harden your hearts. If you have the grace to hear
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His voice, you have the duty to respond immediately.
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And finally, we need to put up a crucial guardrail here.
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We're not advocating for some kind of reckless activism or for
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abandoning all ordinary responsibilities in a fit of
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zeal. Absolutely not.
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True discipleship produces a Christ governed set of
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priorities, not irrational abandonment.
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We're commanded to be faithful in our vocation, in our family,
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and in good works. But those responsibilities are
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not substitutes for Christ. They are the arenas where our
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obedience to Christ is tested, did, and proved.
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It's a reordering of priorities. The world says secure yourself
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first. The respectable heart says
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handle your life first. Jesus says follow me.
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And we have to order every legitimate responsibility under
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the immediate, urgent claim of the King, who is worthy of
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everything. The lesson here, then, is that
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discipleship is defined by the King's terms, not by ours.
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We have to remember the King comes as the son of man in
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lowliness and he demands that we submit to a vulnerable non
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guaranteed path and he is Lord over all time demanding
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immediate allegiance. We can't cling to comfort and we
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can't reserve the calendar for ourselves.
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Allegiance is total surrender of both.
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The scene on the shore of Galilee, as Matthew records it,
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is a it's just a stark display of the true demands of the
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Kingdom Jesus stripped away, the two common illusions that get in
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the way of genuine allegiance. He did.
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He told the scribe that discipleship is a costly union
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with the humbled Son of Man, which means rejecting the idol
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of comfort. And he told the seemingly pious
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disciple that discipleship is urgent allegiance, which means
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forbidding the idol of timing and control.
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In every case, true faith is tested by its willingness to
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submit without trying to negotiate.
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And that great dividing line of the passage is just as stark
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Today. The world says manage yourself,
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your security, and your schedule.
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Christ says follow me. He calls us to go with Him to
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the other side, wherever that obedience leads and whatever it
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costs. He calls us to a costly path
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because the King himself walked a costly path.
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Humiliation before exaltation. So something to consider as you
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move forward with your day. Is this.
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Where in your own life might you be cloaking self rule by trying
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to enthrone your own comfort or by trying to reserve the
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timeline for your full obedience?
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Where are you insisting on a first that belongs only to
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Christ? Christ is worthy of nothing less
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than immediate, costly, and wholehearted obedience.
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That is the necessary shape of genuine faith.
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Thank you for joining us for this team dive.