The King of Discipleship

Good morning. You can find Matthew chapter 8

Matthew 8:18–22

verses 18 through 22 in your book.

The Bible is underneath your chair on page 763.

The cost of following Jesus. Now when Jesus saw a crowd

around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side, and a

scribe came up and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you

wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, Foxes

have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man

has nowhere to lay his head. Another of the disciples said to

him, Lord, let me go 1st and bury my father.

And Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury

their dead. This is the word of the Lord.

What's going on? Port City family and friends, I

hope you were doing well. My name is Tanner and I am

pumped to be with you. Y'all.

I've been following Jesus about 15 years.

I've been married, 11 now. Praise the Lord.

Both those statements blow my mind.

There was a time where I wanted nothing to do with Jesus and I

wanted to do my own thing and, and I didn't want to be tied

down all that stuff. And I viewed everybody as a

burden to my greatness. OK.

But God and his great mercy saved me.

Now you save me for myself, for my sin.

And he used texts like today to blow my mind.

So I'm so excited for God to open our eyes to what he has for

us in, in, in this short little text.

So I'm going to say a short word of prayer and then we'll dive

in. OK, Our Father, what we know not

here today. Would you teach us what we have

not? Would you give us and what we

are not? Would you make us?

God, let the words in my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be

acceptable in your sight. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.

We all the fall is officially here.

Can I get an Amen? OK, so I don't know about you

all, but in our house it fills us with nostalgia for like saga

movies. OK?

Now used to be a hater on the saga stuff.

I couldn't get into it, but I have gotten more into it, OK?

Now when I say saga, I mean long journey movies, maybe multiple

parts, OK. And what they do to us

emotionally is some kind of way, you know, your life is like a

marathon. You know, your life is sort of

like that. It feels like it's going

somewhere. It feels like you could win or

lose. It feels like the stakes are

high. It feels like you're not going

to live forever. And all those things are true,

OK. Now, what secular culture would

tell you is the saga is whatever you make it, and the journey is

whatever you want it to be and where it goes after you get to

choose. The good news of the Bible is

that's not true, OK. The good news of the Bible,

there is genuinely a saga going on.

You are not the hero of this story.

Amen. OK, we have learned those who

are in Christ, that we are not the hero.

Christ is. OK, We get to play the side

character in a victory. He's already won and he's going

to finish off soon and all things will be made new.

Which brings me to my favorite saga is Lord of the Rings.

OK, now you might not be into that.

I'm explaining the whole movie to you in one sentence.

They take a ring and they drop it somewhere hours later and it

saves the world. OK now listen, in the first

movie there's this dope scene. OK?

You're not going to guess it's my favorite scene, but in the

first movie, the dude who is like the hero, his name is Frodo

and his main homie is Sam. OK, now they are leaving their

hometown called the Shire. They're leaving it.

And Sam pauses in this cornfield.

Some of y'all know the scene I'm talking about.

And he goes, if I take one more step, it'll be the furthest from

home I've ever been. Which again, weird way to say

it's first from home I've ever been.

But I like it, OK, I like it. It sticks with me.

And here, here's what Sam was doing.

He was counting the cost. Sam understood I've said I'm in

with Frodo and I am. He wasn't saying I'm out, but he

knows now the stakes are higher than I realized when I first

said yes. So y'all, I can't think of a

better illustration as we go into today's text because what's

happening is these two people serve for us that moment where

we pause. And if you're on the outside,

you are a Jesus fan but not yet a follower.

This gives you the opportunity to count the cost, make a break

with the world and get in line and let's go, OK.

And if you're in Christ, this is going to offer you one of those

moments where, what did you think this was?

Now let's keep moving. Are y'all with me?

We need those moments from our good God and King.

So my hope for us is we all walk out of here eager to walk in

this saga that is following King Jesus, who is our champion.

Amen. OK, we're going to look at this

from three different angles. We're going to talk about the

overeager scribe, the underestimating disciple, and

the Son of Man. If you are ready, let me hear

you say I'm ready. I'm ready.

OK, let's talk about the overeager scribe.

OK? Verse 18 said this.

Now, when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go

over to the other side. What you need to know is that

since Matthew chapter 4, he's had a few followers with him.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

OK, followers, disciples, learners, people saying I am

rocking with you to the end. OK, he's had a few of them right

around him, but he's also been teaching crowds.

He's been healing many people. We've zoomed in on a few

healings. And so the disciples were there

the whole time, all that was going on, which is an important

principle right off the bat. To be a disciple is always

keeping the crowd in mind. He calls the individual with the

crowd in the picture. Some of us think I get Jesus to

myself and that's all I want. That ain't how it works.

Jesus calls you with the crowd in mind.

There's a time and a place where he says let's go to the other

side and let's get some, let's get some alone time.

But y'all, if you want Jesus and no crowd, that ain't Jesus.

That just ain't how it works. He calls the individual with the

crowd in mind. So he dismisses the class if you

will. And like any class that gets

dismissed, the kids come up to the teacher and then we

breakdown with two interactions Jesus has with them.

Are y'all with me? OK, look at verse 19.

And a scribe came up to him and said to him, Teacher, I will

follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes

have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man

has nowhere to lay his head. Let's look at this through the

interaction and then the implications of the interaction.

Let's talk about the interaction.

This man is a scribe. Somebody say scribe, scribe.

A scribe was a highly educated, highly respected, think, PhD

person in this culture. OK.

So if you've been following with us in Matthew, this is kind of

the most elite person who's approached him.

Everybody else had no status. He has a lot of status, OK, and

he comes as an eager applicant, right?

Like I'll, I'll do whatever. And right away, if you've been

paying attention, you'll notice that even the term he uses to

address Jesus is different than the other terms that other

people have been using. They don't call him teacher.

They have referred to him as Lord.

They've been on the ground. They've been posturing

themselves in utter desperation. He comes up to him almost like

an equal saying, what's up teacher?

I'll follow you wherever and Jesus response about foxes and

all this stuff, y'all, this is a he's he's nudging him, as we'll

see to count the cost. And through his nudge to this

man, he's been inviting people all over the world for thousands

of years to do the same. So let's talk about the

implications of what Jesus says first.

Jesus didn't come for fans, y'all.

This man hits him with some flattery.

I follow you wherever teacher. He responds to that flattery

with clarity and he says this might not be what you think it

is. What Jesus basically says back

is will you follow me for better, for worse, for richer,

for poor, no matter what to the end of the to the end of the

end, even if it cost you everything.

So behind Jesus's words is not a harsh rejection like I'm done

with you. He's just kind of inviting him

with clarity. He's saying, OK, if I could

break his response all the way down to 2 words, Jesus basically

saying, you sure? That's really what he's asking?

So the first guy says I'll follow.

And Jesus says, you sure. And y'all this is not a text we

go to to get a theology of possessions.

OK? This is a text we go to for a

theology of allegiance. All right, this is about am I

your everything? OK, The man comes to him and

he's eager and Jesus responds, not questioning a skill that he

lacks, but he's, he's really begging the question about his

desire. He's not giving him something to

do right away. You might notice, which leads us

to the second implication. Jesus came to build followers.

You know, Jesus won't settle for fans.

He came to build followers. The question must be asked, why

does Jesus not just let this guy be his fan?

Why is flattery not enough? Why the big deal?

Why does he nudge him here? One of the verses I encourage

you to memorize is Matthew 4. Verse 17 says this.

I'm going to read it over you. It really gets to the heart of

why Jesus came. Jesus's first public words in

the book of Matthew are this. From that time Jesus began to

preach saying repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Somebody say repent. As we try to tell you often that

word in our vernacular just means rethink.

What Jesus is saying is I came to the earth, I brought the

Kingdom and you need to rethink everything about everything.

If all you think Jesus came to do was get people out of hell,

you got a lot more to rethink. OK, what Jesus is saying, OK is

you need to rethink everything. The the I, I encourage you to

think about a compass. OK, somebody say compass.

What Jesus came to do OK, by his very appearing, by his showing

up and saying the Kingdom is here.

Rethink everything the claims he's making about humanity is

that we are a compass less people just wandering y'all to

be a Sinner. What the Bible teaches when we

fell into sin through Adam and Eve is to blow it, OK?

It's to make mistakes is to not do right.

It's to offend a holy God. It's to error.

But it's also to settle for less than what God wants for you.

And it's not just to error and it's not just to settle, it's to

wander. You have no idea what you're

doing. That's what that means.

He says the Kingdom is here. Rethink everything.

Translation. You have lived a compassless

life. Walking around the woods doesn't

mean does Sinner mean you're a bad person the way you've lived?

Yes. Does it mean you've blown it

against God and you're his enemy?

Yes. It also means you're just

wasting your life. You're wandering around the

woods and Jesus just lays a compass on the table and says

Norse that way. One 5th century theologian was

the first to say salvation is sort of like being handed a

compass and knowing what N is. For the first time he gets to

say what N is, which means we didn't know.

OK, so now you see when somebody approaches him in flattery but

thinks they know where north is, this ain't going to work because

what they want is some help as they go about that which they

already are convinced of, they know how to do, if that makes

sense. A fan approaches Jesus to get

where they want to go faster. They want enhancement, they want

help. That's what a fan wants.

They're not coming. They're saying, teacher, we're

equals. I need a little help.

You could coach me, help me, motivate me, inspire me.

Fans tend to be in. They even want to be told what

to do. Give me 3 things to do, I'll do

it. But a follower approaches Jesus

for total transformation. A follower comes to Jesus at the

end of the rope. And the ropes gone.

They don't need a little help. It's game over, y'all.

So we've really got to process what he's doing with this man

right now. OK, so here's the third

implication. Being a follower isn't about

trying harder. Listen to me.

I fear we hear this is about trying harder.

This man wasn't willing to try hard enough.

Listen yo, there is a sense that the believing life following

Christ is hard and you're going to have to learn to deny

yourself. There's no doubt that the self

must be denied, but before the self is denied, the Bible

teaches the self must be crucified.

The idea is, before you think about what you have to do, you

have to agree with Jesus about why you come to him in the 1st

place. And when you come to Jesus, it's

not about you. Fans actually come to Jesus to

be told what to do. They want activity.

Give me 3 steps to tackle anxiety.

Give me this, give me that, give me something I can use to

enhance my life. But what Jesus is looking for is

not to give you something to do first.

He's asking, do you agree with him about why you need him?

Y'all. And what the Bible says you need

from Jesus is total overhaul. You're dead in your sin, you're

wandering, you're wasting your life.

You're wrong about everything. That's what the Bible is calling

you to is to come to grips with looking the face of God and

saying God. I'm wrong about everything and

without Jesus I have no hope. What I need to be made well is

the God of the universe to step into my place and die on a piece

of wood from my sins. He lived perfectly.

I blew it. He's right about everything.

I'm wrong about everything. What Jesus is looking for is do

you agree with him about that? He is everything that you need,

but he's not just an enhancer. If you come to be enhanced you

will leave disappointed. So I think he's not saying

you're not worthy to follow me. He's just begging the question.

Why are you here my man? But we bout to go to the other

side. Let me know Jesus.

We'll talk about how smooth Jesus is in a little bit.

I love that song, I thank God. I don't know if you've heard it

but it goes wandering into the night, wanting a place to hide

this weary so this bag of bones. I tried with all my might but I

just can't win the fight. I'm slowly drifting a Vagabond

and just when I ran out of Rd. I met a man I didn't know.

I can't hit those notes and he told me that I was not alone.

He picked me up, turn me around, place my feet on solid ground.

I think the math Y'all think about the song.

Listen to me y'all. That is not the experience a fan

thinks that they need from Christ.

Y'all. The point of the song, the point

of the prodigal son story, the point of following Jesus is

you're done, you're lost, it's game over.

I know nothing. And just when I ran out of Rd.

the idea is he picks me up 180. You need total overhaul.

Do you agree with God about that?

For some of you who've been walking that line for a long

time, because fans tend to think they're getting the best of both

worlds. That's kind of why you, you,

you, you, you straddle the line. You think I got a good life?

Let's add Jesus to it. I need my life enhanced.

And he pushes back on you and says you need your life

transformed. So the question we're going to

pose to you by the end of this service is just will you make

the a clean break? Will you trust Christ and agree

with him about what you need from him and why he was

crucified for you? OK, now let's talk about the

underestimating disciple verses 21 and 22.

Another of the disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and

bury my father. And Jesus said to him, follow me

and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

OK, just so you know, there's kind of a like long standing

theological debate of was this man a genuine Christ follower?

The second man, everyone agrees the scribe is at a moment of

application. He's eager to apply the second

person. One of two things is going on.

Either he also had too low of a cost and it's just another you

miscalculated the cost was higher.

He wasn't a real follower. OK, so in John 6 it says that

some disciples walk away from Jesus.

So even the use of the word disciple doesn't necessitate

that he was like a saved Christ following disciple the way we

think about it. But y'all, I stand with the

tradition who says that he is a genuine disciple.

OK, look at verse 23 with me. So where we'll go next week is

immediately after this, after these two approach.

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.

OK, so we're going to do the the famous storm passage next week.

So y'all, this is kind of the the the first ever.

Don't miss the boat. If you ever heard that

expression, I think it came from right here.

OK, I think I think it came from this disciple.

He's saying get on the boat, my guy.

And I view him as a genuine follower who needs to be nudged

to get on the boat. Are y'all with me?

OK, so let's talk about their interaction and then the

implications. Their interaction.

This dude's a follower who needs a nudge.

He needs help, or he would not get on that boat.

OK, now this phrase. Follow me and leave the dead to

bury their own dead. You're like, what does that

mean? OK, from what we know of the

cultural context, the man's dad was not dead at the moment.

He was right in front of Jesus. OK, I'm a shock you and say even

if he was, I think Jesus could have said what he said.

But what is happening there is he's appealing to the Jewish

custom of the time where honoring your father and mother

was such a high thing that they'd kind of taken it to an

idolatrous level. Look how much I can honor.

But there's a lot of self honor wrapped up in honoring them.

So he could be asking to go back home for a period of time to

watch his dad die, handle all of the burial stuff, all of the

stuff, and get his inheritance for a period of up to one year.

He's basically saying I'm a bounce, I'll go do my thing and

then I'll be back. And Jesus says, let the dead

bury their own dead. Let those who are spiritually

dead not following me, not understanding the moment of

history they're in, who don't know me, handle that.

You need to follow me. OK, so let's talk about the

implications of that first. Jesus is the great reorienter of

everything. Everything gets reoriented

around who he is. This is not a one time statement

on funerals, OK. This is a statement about his

value and about how that moment in history, everything needed to

be rethought in light of the fact that he'd come.

If to the first guy he was saying, Are you sure to this guy

he's saying, what did you think this was?

Who did you think I was? Like do you not understand what

you're a part of right now? Y'all?

To follow Jesus is to continually reinterpret

everything you think is normal based off the fact of who Jesus

is. So y'all check this out.

Just think about this logic for a second.

He's literally saying Jesus, I'm going to leave and then come

back. I'm going to leave Jesus and

then come back, y'all. For those of us who are in

Christ here today, our experience of following Christ

is a little different. We're not physically following

him on a boat to the other side. But if you are in Christ, the

Spirit has sealed you. And let me tell you something

called the doctrine of union with Christ.

It quite literally means that you are united to the Father

through the Son by the Spirit. There is no you apart from him.

Let me explain something to you. You can't leave Jesus.

Let me say that again. There is no you believer apart

from Jesus. This man said, let me leave and

I'll be right back. And I think many times we

function the same way. We think we're with the Lord at

8:00 AM reading our book. But on that Zoom meeting with

that boss, he has all the power. It's not practical to follow the

Lord here or on my singleness dating app or on my volleyball

team or whatever it is when I'm operating with that neighbor

that that's just, we need to be realist here and life don't work

that way. So I'll get back to you, Jesus.

Jesus, you don't got my boss, OK?

You ain't handling my situation. Jesus, I'll be back, OK?

And I just want to reintroduce to us that there is no us apart

from him. Praise God, which means that

this big Christianese word, discipleship, Discipleship is

just internalizing the truth of that doctrine.

It's growing in your realization of the reality that Jesus is

always the reorienter of whatever moment you're in, which

means you're not just being discipled when you're reading

the book. You're being discipled when you

live with God in the midst of anything and the spiritual

formation, habits and practices and all the things we do off the

clock. I love that expression.

You know, you do things off the clock, meaning when the game is

not on, it's the extra reps you get when the The thing is not

going on. Remember last year, couple years

ago in the NBA playoffs, this one player claimed he was

shooting an extra thousand shots a day and live on air and that

he's saying like during the playoffs and all of the

commentators like he's lying like 'cause his shooting

percentage was dropping like every game.

They're like, you're not shooting 1000 shots a day or you

wouldn't be shooting 25% in the game.

Are you with me? And so the point is, what you do

off the clock shapes who you are in the moment.

Are you with me? So spiritual habits and rhythms

aren't things that are the end. They are the means to live with

Christ in the moment. So if you've begun to believe my

boss is the most powerful person in the world, you need habits

and practices to actually believe.

No, he's not. So yes, you memorize verses, you

tell friends. You ask for accountability.

Maybe you do a meditative practice before you go into that

meeting. All of that is for the purpose

of in that moment. You're not saying I'll be right

back. Jesus are y'all with me.

The goal is of your life, if you are in Christ, is to live with

God every second and to actually believe he's with you, He's in

you, He abides in you and you and him.

Which leads us to the next implication.

Jesus is the great empowerer. Y'all catch this?

This is my favorite. Just the just just so dope.

Check this out. The first scribe comes to Jesus

and says I'll follow and Jesus responds with you.

Sure the second guy says I'm bouncing and he says follow,

check. This first guy says I'll follow

in my strength. You sure the second guy who is

following? I'm out.

Follow. Y'all listen to me.

If you are in Christ, that is about the most encouraging thing

I could ever tell you. Y'all listen to me?

Jesus is telling him to follow. Gets him on the boat.

Are you with me? What we need is a King who

empowers us even when you don't Orient things right.

He didn't view the situation right.

He didn't view his union with Christ correctly.

And we do that all the time. So here's the good news of the

gospel. God doesn't look at you and say

you bum. He tells you get on the boat and

you figure it out later. Does that make sense?

We survey God, The gospel is not if you do it right, you get to

follow. It's his call that makes you the

follower. The first person says I'll

follow and it's just a fan and in their own strength and Jesus

just says, you sure? The second person who is

following in the strength Christ provides gets on the boat, not

because he's a good follower, but because Christ told him to

get on it. I don't know if you all know

this, but good coaches, good parents, they know when to tell

you to get on the boat, right? I remember my senior year

football 2A days early in the season, coach is just like

appealing to you, giving you vision, showing you videos every

day, just motivating you like crazy.

Dudes are dropping like flies. They don't want to come in for

2A days. He's just giving you the vision,

right? Then later in the season, and

he's so kind early in the season.

I mean it's hard, the practice is hard, but later in the season

when it's November and it's cold and you about to get hit and it

hurts your bones and I'm in a practice on a Tuesday night and

I'm a coroner and I got burnt by a freshman 3 plays in a row,

three. I was embarrassed, I was in my

feelings, I'm throwing my helmet, I'm pouting and I wanted

to quit the team after that whole.

How dumb does that sound y'all? And you know what coach knew to

do in that moment? You know what I don't need

Tanner. Tell me about it buddy.

Was it hard to get burnt by the freshman 3 times?

You know what he said? He said get on the bus, pick up

your helmet and get on the bus. You ain't quitting.

Stop. Hopefully you have that friend

in your life that knows when to say just stop.

Just get on the bus, get on the boat and Jesus knows when we

need that. Are y'all with me?

Even when we blow it, Him telling us to follow is what

keeps us following. Believer, you need that.

You need to remember that even when you think you can leave and

come back, He's going to look at you and say, get on the boat and

praise God that we don't serve a God who says you blew it.

Next man up, Amen. Let's talk about the Son of Man.

Matthew 820 said this. And Jesus said to him, foxes

have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man

has nowhere to lay his head. OK, two comments about Jesus, 2

challenges, and we're done. First thing about Jesus.

He is the secure king. You crave somebody say secure,

secure. Can we talk about how Jesus

doesn't look at this eager applicant and just like tell him

what he wants to hear? Yo, we are insecure so it shocks

us when we see somebody. So OK, Jesus is OK with this man

being a fan and walking away. Isn't that amazing?

He's so smooth, so relaxed. He doesn't panic.

Can I tell you something? There is nothing more unsettling

than following something or somebody who's insecure.

I don't understand the stock market for the life of me, but I

know it's insecure. I just look at the I just look

at this. That to me represents if you

don't know what you're doing, don't put no money in that

because you're going to lose it. Like, I don't get how we're on

the verge of recession and it's we're the richest nation ever

every day. You know what I mean?

Like that to me screams this is insecure, OK?

Things like people liking you is not secure because one day

they'll hail you, the next day they'll nail you, OK.

I don't know even your skill set.

You can reach the highest level of your craft in the world and

the pros will tell you one day they got it and the next day,

man, I just something ain't right.

They're off. It's not secure.

Dopamine comes, dopamine goes, y'all Jesus is secure.

Let me tell you why that's good news.

Your soul craves to be secured by that which actually is

secure. Listen to me.

A lot of times the focus is on whether people are secure or

insecure, y'all. The point is, is what are you

attached to and is it secure? You can be securely attached to

something that is not secure, right?

I don't care how secure you are. If your security's in money,

you're insecure. And on the flip side, you were

created to be secured by somebody who is secure, y'all?

God is secure. He gave us free will and a lot

of times that conversation focuses on our part of that and

how we have free will, which is true.

But the other reason God doesn't make us robots who have to

choose Him is because He's secure.

He's overflowing. He wants you to choose Him.

He loves you, but He is not needy of you and that is good

news. You do not want an insecure God.

Some of you have an insecure God and that's why your life looks

the way it looks. That's what hit me when I was 18

years old is I was insecure because nothing I trusted in was

secure. You are designed to be secured

by that which is itself secure. Second thing, Jesus is the

authoritative king. You create, you crave.

I'm struggling with words. God bless you.

He's the authoritative king you crave.

Y'all son of man, somebody say son of man y'all.

This is a a title of Jesus, one of his favorites to describe

himself as it comes from the book of Daniel.

It's basically him saying I am the God man.

I am the one who will judge all. All people will be judged by

this king. I'm the one who made all things.

I am the one who is the beginning of the end, the alpha,

the Omega. He is saying I'm the guy.

I'm the new Adam. Y'all, there's this since in

which we need somebody who ends the conversations.

You know what I mean? Like anytime there's a debate,

you just need somebody to say this is what we're doing.

Like these are all you. There's something about life

that needs clarity and needs authority, and Jesus is that

clarity. Jesus is the authority.

Things take their place when he takes his place.

When he walks in the room, he's the one who gets to say who's a

fan or a follower. He sees us, he knows us, he's

the one who gets to judge, he's the one who is the head honcho.

Confusion is over when he speaks up.

Arguments are done when he talks.

Priorities are set when he takes his place.

Y'all, some of our lives are in shambles because the Son of Man

is not at the center of your life and there is no process

that makes it secure as long as you ask him to be on the outside

orbiting you. It just don't work like that.

Two things I want to challenge us with and I'm done.

If you are not a follower of Jesus, count the cost and make a

clean break with the world. It's time to once and for all

some of y'all. It's time once and for all to

make the break and say I'm in trust Christ, agree with him,

follow Him y'all. Is the cost of following Jesus

high? Yes it is.

Is the cost of not following Him higher?

Yes it is y'all. Ask any Christ follower in here.

What's more chaotic? What's more costly, trusting in

Christ or continuing to trust yourself?

Y'all, if you can do life, this ain't the place for you.

I'm just going to go ahead and tell you that Jesus ain't your

king. If you can handle life without

him, sorry, You can learn a couple things.

You can learn that life's just better when you give money away.

That's a fact. Anxiety.

We can give you some just facts about how life works, but if you

can handle life on your own and you want an enhancer, he is

going to disappoint you big time.

That's just big facts. But y'all, you are a follower.

I think another way to reverse engineer this whole process is

what are you currently looking to as a follower?

Not a fan. The reality is probably if you

pull all the layers back as I did at 18 years old, at the

center of my life, what I put all my trust in was me.

And I just got to a point where I was like, I'm done doing that.

Have you come to the end of yourself?

Do you thirst for a drink from the well, Jesus is calling

y'all? There is this sense in which you

got to get to the point. You're like, I'm done, I'm done.

And if you are there, if you've come there, if he's brought you

there. Because a lot of times what the

counting the cost language can do, because that's a phrase

that's come from this text. And a lot of times what we do is

we think about the cost. It's going to cost you to follow

him. There's a couple other costs I

want you to count, OK? One of them again, is how much

it's costing you not to follow him.

How is your relationship life going when you keep doing it

your way? How is how is doing life your

way going for you? Keep counting that cost.

Mine was too expensive to stay with.

Trusting Christ was a lot better than continuing to trust me.

OK. The other cost you got to count

is the cost of His great love for you.

Nothing else treats you the way the King offers to treat you.

He died in your place. Stock market ain't doing that

for me. I ain't putting my trust in

money no more. My teammates ain't doing that

for me. Christ is the one who went the

distance so that you could be in all the way in everything you

crave He wants to give you for free.

So counting the cross requires you Look at you, it's true, but

you also got to look at the cross.

You do OK, look to the cross and count the cost.

It's time to break it off to some of y'all.

In the name of Jesus, I want to say please don't miss the boat.

Don't miss it. And what's different for us that

I think a little bit is an advantage for the scribes.

So I'm just going to be honest with you is because your life

circumstances aren't changing. Like I can count that cost next

week. I can count it when I'm in

college. I can count it when I got a kid.

I can count it when I'm just just just just just just just

just keep in mind that that whole time you are saying I

trust me more than him. That is what you are saying, and

again, that's a mindset that is I get the best of both worlds

while I count the cost. And the answer is no, you are

bankrupt and you just don't know it yet.

OK, so I just want to invite you into the inner psychology I had

15 years ago and it's still true and many people have gotten

saved through. Just count that cost.

OK, Second group of people, my followers of Jesus, y'all, this

is the journey. You were made for this y'all,

you were made for this. You were made to get on the

boat. You were made to reorient.

You were made to reinterpret everything in light of who he

is. So the first thing I want to

tell you is get on the boat, OK? Some of y'all just get on the

boat. There's something in your life

right now that just it's disorienting you.

Maybe it's emotional pain, maybe it's a suffering, maybe it's

just life's just not going the way you thought it would And you

start to just you, you just pause and I just want to just

keep moving. It will make sense as you move.

What we tend to do is we stop and we say prove it to me and

I'll take the next step. Don't do that.

Don't get in that headspace where you need God to do that.

That's not how you got in this game with Jesus.

So don't, don't go there. Now Paul says in Second Timothy

47. I have fought the fight, I have

finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Y'all, it's a fight. It is, it is a fight, it is a

race, it's a marathon. It ain't how you start, it's how

you finish. Victor, don't go to the one win

in 7th inning. You got to get to the 9th.

We got to make it. We got to keep holding on to

faith. Reorienting is costly, but it's

worth it. What happens when you need to

reorient is it's just the old lie, a new way.

This would be better if you were at the center and just Jesus

helped you. You're just making this harder

than it needs to be. So just come on back to you are

in charge and just follow his advice.

But he's not savior, Lord King crucified shot Calla.

You could get your own boat and go near him.

You know, like we just we rationalize in our head.

But I'm still near him. I'm not I don't hate him.

Y'all the the the self wants to make you think that you can

finagle it anyway as long as you still call the shots.

OK? And Jesus is saying just trust

me. So y'all reorient everything in

light of who Jesus is. Keep your feet moving.

Want to know how you keep your feet moving?

What does that mean? Look to the crowd #2 don't

forget about the crowd, y'all? Don't forget about the crowd.

This, this, this text is also in the book of Luke.

And in that context, the phrase that Jesus adds, he says to his

disciple, he says leave the dead to bury their own dead.

You go and preach the Kingdom of God, y'all.

The idea is I've got something for you to do that if self goes

at the center won't be done. Y'all listen to me.

The great equalizer believer follower of Jesus is if you just

keep trusting him and do the next thing to give your life

away in the power of the Spirit. Not self righteously, but if you

just do the next thing he has in front of you, you will reorient

in time. That's called waiting on God.

The way you wait isn't by sitting around demanding with an

attitude that he proves something to you.

It's you. Keep obeying and trusting and

submitting and asking for clarity.

But your feet don't stop moving while your heart is waiting.

Does that make sense? Keep the feet moving, keep

preaching Christ, keep living Christ, keep giving the money

away, keep doing the stuff, keep resting, keep trusting, keep

Sabbath thing. You've got work to do and it is

that that in time makes sense of that moment, but it rarely works

to stop and demand the clarity while your feet are stopped.

It's not coming. Does that make sense?

And y'all, what an honor it is that God himself wants you to

follow him. God who made all things, put you

in that job. God who made all things, put you

on that street. God who made all things, wants

to live with you and parent those kids.

Amen. Somebody God who made all

things, sees you and wants to live with you and is inviting

you through the painful process of remembering.

He's central, not you. That it is worth it.

It will all make sense in time. I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back, no turning back.

The cross before me, the world behind me.

No turning back, no turning back.

If you follow Jesus, get on the boat.

If you don't, please count the cost.

And I pray you get on the boat with us.

Amen. Let's pray.

Our Father, we love you. Thank you that you sent your Son

to pay the cost to die in our place, that we might have life

with you. God, what a joy.

Just the liberation from self, the liberation from being our

own king or queen and just God, you take your rightful place.

I pray that would just be a breath of fresh air.

I pray by the power of the Holy Spirit, somebody's chains will

break today, that you would save them from their sins, from

themselves. God, have mercy in this room.

And for the followers of Jesus, help us to see the crowd.

Help us to look up. Help us to remember that you're

good and that you will show us in time.

We love you. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.