Here are the notes and discussion questions from last nights LightHouse:
1. What are your expectations of what life will be like following Jesus?
2. Is Christianity just a psychological crutch? Why?
When Jesus claimed to be the Messiah through his words and actions he was immediately subject to a whole raft of expectations. The Jews expected the coming King, God’s long promised anointed Messiah to: kick the Romans out of Israel, restore Israel to prosperity and a prominent position in the international community, and make Jerusalem globally significant so that the nations flocked to it. But despite these expectations drawing on Old Testament prophecies and ideas they hadn’t connected them with any of the other themes linked to the coming of the Messiah; a need for repentance, a concern for a radical righteousness, or Isaiah’s picture of the Messiah as suffering servant.
When Jesus actions proclaim him as the Messiah there is a clash of expectations as Israel’s hopes and dreams come face to face with the reality in Jesus. And Jesus explodes their limited expectations and constraints on who the Messiah is, what his priorities will be, what he will do and what it means to have him as king.
But before we are too harsh on them I think it is worth thinking about possible ways that we limit Jesus. I wonder if there are ways we do exactly the same as they did; do we in our thinking limit Jesus. For example it is often popular to think of Jesus as our friend, or as a model for us to follow, and he is both of those but he is also our Saviour and Lord. If we only think of Jesus as our friend we will never expect him to ask us to do something hard, or to face suffering or persecution, because a friend doesn’t do that.
Or we might find ourselves thinking of following Jesus as being about gaining knowledge when Jesus claims it is about radical costly obedience. If that is how we think of Jesus it will have little impact on our lives and be rather dull, dusty and academic. Or we may limit Jesus involvement in our lives to outward behaviour modification rather than real heart transformation that affects everything because we haven’t really understood that Jesus concern is our heart not our behaviour. Or perhaps with Jesus coming we relegate the idea of fearing God to the Old Testament, ignoring the New Testament emphasis of the fear of the Lord, meaning we fail to reverence God or consider the importance of loving God wholeheartedly.
As we go through Matthew’s gospel we see the disciple’s journey as they come to and grow in their understanding of who Jesus and what it means to follow him. What they realise at this stage is very different from what they know of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, or after the resurrection. As we see Jesus reveal more of who he is and what it means for him to be the Messiah we see him exploding all the categories and expectations they have about his kingship and his kingdom and what it means to follow him. And as we see that it also challenges our expectations and reminds us again of who we are following, exploding any limiting notions we have in our think about Jesus and discipleship.
1. Our King must have our ultimate allegiance
Jesus is getting ready to cross the lake when two disciples come to him. The first makes a bold statement, **what is it? “I will follow you where ever you go.” The second says **what? “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Both are disciples, both are willing to follow Jesus, **how does Jesus react to these two professions? He raises the bar challenging their expectations and questioning their willingness to really follow him. In other words Jesus is saying if you want to follow me I have to be the priority in your life.
The challenge for the first disciple is about material comfort, following Jesus will mean giving up physical comfort because he is a travelling preacher, proclaiming the good news from village to village. But I think there is also another dimension to this statement, the disciple is an exile, this world is not our home, it’s not where we are to be comfortable or fit in, just think back to the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus call not to store up treasures on earth but in heaven and (6:33)”Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness...”.
**How does Jesus describe himself in his response? The ‘Son of Man’ Jesus is the authoritative figure from Daniel 7 he is the one who has the power and is due the allegiance and worship God is due. He is worth worshipping, worth following, worth giving up for.
Jesus response to the second disciple is more shocking, **why? Because Jesus appears to be saying that burying his father is unimportant. There has been lots of ink spilt arguing about whether this man’s father has already died and he wants to observe the months of mourning, or whether his father is alive but ill or elderly and he wants to wait until he has died before following. But the answer is we don’t know, Matthew doesn’t tell us, it’s not that he skips a bit of inspiration but that we don’t need to know. The point is clear; discipleship can’t be partial or qualified, Jesus can’t be one of a number of people or things to which you give equal allegiances.
Following Jesus means loving him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. But following Jesus will not be easy it means having his priorities and goals not those of the world around us or even of family and friends. Nothing must stop us or slow us down in our discipleship.
We feel that pressure don’t we? We feel the clash of cultures and values and have to resolve not to buy into materialism as a source of comfort. Or when we decide to follow Jesus and it instantly puts us on a collision course with non-believing family, suddenly we have different goals, expectations, norms, loves, priorities and commitments. In some families we face the pressure to be at family events which are always on a Sunday. Or it may be a career choice that they simply can’t understand but for us is a result of following Jesus. I think of a friend of mine who is a skilled surgeon and is about to, as her family see it, give it all up to go to Africa. It may be a different approach to money or promotions or the values we teach our children.
Jesus isn’t subverting the laws call to honour our parents, and we must be careful that we don’t do what the Pharisees did and say that following Jesus means we owe our families nothing. Rather Jesus is saying that he must have our ultimate allegiance, we follow him, we honour our parents but where the clash is one where to do so would mean putting them above following Jesus we choose Jesus.
2. Our King speaks and creation hears its Creators voice(23-27)
Discipleship is not easy, Jesus has just raised the bar and seemingly lost two followers, so why would you follow Jesus? You will follow him if you really recognise who he is! The chapter begins with Jesus showing his authority over sin as he removes illness. But now we see even more clearly who Jesus is.
The disciples in the boat are following Jesus but are still learning who he is. **How do they react to the storm? They are afraid they are going to drown. **What does Jesus say to them when they wake him up? “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Jesus describes them as little faiths, now little faith isn’t a problem, their problem is that fear swamps their faith just as the waves were swamping the boat, because they didn’t properly grasp who their faith was in.
**What does Jesus do next? “got up and rebuked the wind and the waves”. Notice the order in which things happen, he tells them their faith is flawed because they don’t fully understand who he is and then shows them who they have really put their faith in as he speaks and creation obeys the voice of its creator.
Jesus is showing the disciples who he is, revealing himself as God made man, God the Son. To a people steeped in the Old Testament they knew only God controls the wind and waves. Jesus actions would cause them to think of Psalms where God alone controls the elements, of Jonah where God sends and immediately stops the storm, of Job where when God challenges Job he reminds him that God alone controls the sea, charts the course of storms, commands the lightning and wind. Only God does that until now, now Jesus does what only God can do. It is no wonder that they are amazed and ask “What kind of man is this?”
Do you see the power and amazing majesty of Jesus? Jesus is not just a slightly bigger version of you and I like a divine superman. Jesus is God the Son and he calls us to follow him. To fix our eyes on him, on the real him, in all his splendour, power and authority, and follow because he is able.
3. Our King is the King of the now and not yet kingdom
One of the tensions of living as a disciple now is that we are part of the kingdom which has broken in in Jesus but it hasn’t fully come. We live as exiles in the world while we wait for his return and coronation when everyone and everything will recognise him as king and his kingdom is fully revealed and his reign begins.
We see this tension here as again Jesus authority and power as King are revealed in this confrontation with two demon possessed men. **What does Matthew emphasis about these men(28)? They are uncontrollable, no-one could pass that way. They are as uncontrollable as the wind and waves and are opposed to God and his kingdom.
But notice the way they speak to Jesus, **what do they recognise about him? He is the Son of God, he has authority over them and will be their judge at the appointed time. (31)So complete is Jesus authority that they are reduced to begging him to let them enter the pigs. Jesus is the Son of God, their defeat is inevitable, there’s no thought of putting up a fight they are simply vanquished with a word. Jesus speaks and they rush into the pigs, the men are free. Jesus has complete authority over demons, and we see here a small scale picture of what will happen when his kingdom is fully revealed and all opposition is done away with.
But notice that Matthew doesn’t just end there, he ends by focusing on the reaction of the people. **What would you expect them to do? Welcome Jesus, praise, thank, worship him. **What do they do? Ask him to leave. Seeing the miracle doesn’t bring faith just rejection, they seem more worried about the loss of the pigs than the liberation of the men.
Jesus is the king he brings the kingdom, a kingdom where sin is defeated, where the opposition is powerless to stand against him, and where there is the certain promise of victory and reign. Jesus is worth following, he is God the Son and you have to react to him. But you can’t follow him on your terms, we can’t pick him up and put him down when we want, he is no tame Messiah, conventional Christ, or soft Saviour. Jesus is the King of the Kingdom and he demands total allegiance, faithful following, devoted discipleship, whole heartedness and he is worth it.
1. How and where might we be limiting Jesus as Saviour and Lord?
2. Where do we feel the tension of Jesus kingdom being now and not yet? What here can help us remain confident in Jesus as we live as exiles?
3. Why do you think some people give up on being disciples? How can we encourage one another and spur each other on so that we do not give up?
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