Matthew 8:1-4
“The Touch of Truth”
Vs. 1-4 Touching the Untouchable
Intro.
We have just concluded one of the greatest messages ever uttered, “The sermon on the Mount.” Now if I had been there with Jesus, I would have been like the rest of them, amazed for He taught as One who had authority. You will remember that before this 30-minute message, Jesus, according to Matthew, was going “about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.”
He specifically took up those of His kingdom to instruct them on how to reach the multitudes. The question that would have come to mind is, “Lord, this is great stuff, but does it work?” There is unfortunately a great gap in most of our lives between what we say and what we do. Mere intellectual awareness of truth is not enough. Belief in truth must take action and bear fruit!
I’m the kind of guy that has a lot of good ideas. I come up with all sorts of things that I think will work. I decided that it would be a good idea to put all new lights in our house, so we went up to Modesto and bought some. Now, most of them were no problem for a do-it-yourselfer like me, but there was this one evil light that did not want to go together; it had a twin brother that went together just fine. I had Mike cut it twice to help it fit, and still to this day, if you come to my house, you will see this evil light with all of my good ideas does not fully work as I intended it to.
The sermon on the mount is beautiful, but does it work? Here we shall see the “principal in power” in the lives of ordinary people. In this section, we shall see three specific miracles and one general account of Jesus’s work with what He had just taught. I want you to know that these are not in chronological order; that is not what Matthew is doing here; he is painting a picture that ought to bring hope to every human being who is not now whole.
Before we get into each section, may I make a brief observation? Jesus treated every person with such love as if they were the only person He dealt with each day. Sometimes the calling is so great, the needs so overwhelming that we don’t know where to begin.
The story is told of an elderly man. He walked with a cane, carefully surveying the beach that the receding tide had left exposed. Every now and then he bent to pick something up and toss it into the ocean. A curious bystander watched with fascination as he carefully scanned the beach before him. As he watched, he realized that the old man was looking for starfish.
Every time he saw one lying helpless in the sand, unable to get back to the ocean on his own, he would lovingly pick it up and toss it gently back into the sea. Curious as to why he was doing this, the observer approached him. His reply was, “The starfish are left behind after the tide goes out. If they don’t get back into the ocean, they will dry up and die beneath the hot summer sun.” The curious observer replied back:
“But there are endless miles of beaches, and there must be millions of starfish.” “Surely you don’t think you can save them all. What difference can your efforts possibly make?” Slowly, the old man bent over and picked up another starfish. As he tossed it into the ocean, he looked at me and said, “It makes a difference to that one.” How easy it is to become so discouraged by the sheer magnitude of the task that Christ has set before us that we fail to focus on the value to Him of each one. Jesus never did that, for He saw the value of each one!
Vs. 1-4 Touching the Untouchable
Vs. 1 It is interesting that though He had been speaking to the disciples as he came down the mountain, “great multitudes” followed Him. I believe that Jesus is still the most captivating person that has ever been. I saw last night that they were doing some sort of TV show about the most entertaining folks in the last 100 years. How sad that we would even have such a thing.
Yet, we would choose folks who never really did all that much in the scope of life except try to make us forget the mess we are all in. Today, a great many churches are out there trying to make Christianity more entertaining. I’m not interested in that; I just want to do what Jesus did in “all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.” The way to do that is not to try to be entertaining but rather to focus on doing the work of Jesus.
Vs. 2-4 Now as Jesus comes down the mountain, He is met by a leper. Now it is important that we get some view of what leprosy is and what it meant to the person who had it.
1.) The word means to be “smitten.” It included any and all infectious skin diseases. Today the actual disease is called Hansen’s disease, named for the man who first isolated the vaccine for it.
2.) It was and is incurable, though today the vaccine can keep it controlled. It begins with specks on the eyelids and on the palms, gradually spreading over the body, bleaching the hair white wherever they appear, crusting the affected parts with white scales, and causing terrible sores and swellings, actually causing numbness of the nerve endings. From the skin, the disease eats inward to the bones, rotting the whole body piecemeal, starting with the loss of digits on the fingers and toes. The smell was so bad from the rotting flesh that it is said that you could smell a leper 100 feet away.
3.) “In Christ’s day, no leper could live in a walled town, though he might in an open village. But wherever he was, he was required to have his outer garment torn as a sign of deep grief, to go bare-headed, and to cover his beard with his mantle, as if in lamentation at his own virtual death. He had further to warn passersby to keep away from him by calling out, ‘Unclean! unclean!’ nor could he speak to any one or receive or return a salutation, since in the East this involves an embrace.”
4.) For the Hebrews, it was a dreaded malady that rendered its victims ceremonially unclean—that is, unfit to worship God (Lev. 13:3). Anyone who came in contact with a leper was also considered unclean. Therefore, lepers were isolated from the rest of the community so that the members of the community could maintain their status as worshipers.
Thus, putting this all together, you get the picture of the complete shame and isolation of this poor man. Perhaps he had a family, and one day he goes off to work, and while at work he notices a little white spot. On the way home, he stops by the priest, who puts him apart for a week to see if he has leprosy. A week later, it is discovered that he does.
Then he would never be allowed to see his family up close again. Never again would he be able to hug his wife and children. Can you imagine? Never allowed to worship in the temple? The Talmud taught that leprosy was second only to death. In fact, you were as good as dead. Now back to how Jesus dealt with this person. Leprosy is a typology of sin, for like sin it is:
a.) Lies deeper than what you can see on the service
b.) Corrupts man and spreads all over every aspect of a person’s life.
c.) Makes him dead while he is still alive, for it separates a person from both God and man.
1.) First, notice that this leper came to where Jesus was at. This tells us something’s
(A) He was desperate, for he was violating the law.
He was not the only leper in the area, for they lived in colonies.
He had heard of Jesus and was convinced that Jesus could heal him.
Vs. 2 Look now at what this leper says to Jesus: “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
1.) The word “Lord” here is quite important as it is the first time it is used for Jesus. It is the translation in Greek of the Hebrew word “yahweh or Jehovah.” In fact, last week we saw Jesus use the word in 7:21–23. Simply put, this leper comes to Jesus as God or supreme master.
2.) Second notice the leper does not doubt Jesus’ ability to cleanse him. He does not ask if Jesus is able to do it but rather is He “willing” to do so. It is, “I know You can make me whole, but will You?”
I think that there are a great many people stuck in their rotting sinful lives who know Jesus is able to take away their sinful habits but aren’t sure He is willing. Perhaps you’re struggling in your marriage right now, and you know Jesus can change it and make it the way He has designed it to be, but you’re not sure He is willing. Might I suggest to you that you need to come forward to Jesus right now and allow Him to cleanse you? There are several things that this leper did that we too must do.
1. He hated his condition. He was past the stage of self-pity and embarrassment; he just wanted to be cleansed. No more excuses. He came out in the open, remembering there were most likely other lepers around, but they did not come forward; he did.
2.) He asked the right person for the right thing. He knew Jesus was the only one able to cleanse him, yet he also knew that his condition was what separated him from healing.
A lot of people say, “Well, I will come to the Lord with this area after I get it cleaned up.” “When I deal with this area or that area, I will let Jesus touch me.” Don’t make this same mistake as the other lepers who stay away from the touch of the Lord, because they are unclean. You will never be able to make yourself clean apart from His touch!
Vs. 3 Do not miss the beauty of this: “Jesus put out His hand and touched him.” To outcast the unlovable, He puts out His hand and touches. Are you in need of His loving touch today? This was against ceremonial law to touch a leper, but as soon as he touched him, he was no longer a leper. Can you imagine what it must have felt like for this man who was untouchable to be touched? Do you want to be changed? If so, His touch is available for you! I do not know a person who does not want a loving touch.
Note: Jesus did not give this man the third degree. “Now, what is it that you did that got you in such a mess?” No! He just took hold of that sinful, decaying life and said, “I am willing.” Yes! The man’s question was on Christ’s willingness, to which He answers, but more than that, He affirms this by saying, “Be cleansed.”
Vs. 4 In light of the above, what He tells him to do in this verse is a bit puzzling.
1.) He tells him not to tell everybody something that we are told in Mark’s gospel that he did not do. Instead, he went out and proclaimed it freely. Now I’m amazed today if you watch some of the TV evangelists today, as they do exactly the opposite of what Jesus did in light of healing. They go out and tell everybody what they are doing. Jesus would teach openly and preach before thousands, but when it came to miracles, He told people to keep it quiet. He wanted to draw people to Himself by the truths He proclaimed, and the miracles just testified to the truths. They were not for the crowds; they were the individuals He touched.
2.) He tells the cleansed leper to go and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony to the priests. Lev. 14 was that portion of the law, yet for 1500 years not one leper was ever healed until this man came forward. What you will read there is that he was to bring two doves to the priest; one dove was killed and its blood was spilled into a basin. The other dove was then dipped into the blood and then turned loose to fly away to freedom. Is that not what Christ has done for us? We have been dipped into His blood and set free to fly!
Look again at what Jesus did for this man:
A.) Here was a man outcast from all social and religious privileges.
B.) He requests the Lord to cleanse by faith.
C.) He is touched by one who was forbidden touch.
Matthew 8:5-17
“The Touch of Truth”
Vs. 5-13 Serving the Servant
Vs. 14-17 Freeing the Afflicted
Intro.
I came across a 1991 quote of Florida Gators’s famed football coach Steve Spurrier as he addressed fans at a press conference concerning a fire in the football dorm of their rival Auburn Tigers. He stated that the dorm was a total loss and had taken some 20 of the football team’s class books in the blaze. He went on to say that the real tragedy was that 15 of the books hadn’t been colored yet! This goes a long way in giving you an idea of how the Jews saw certain groups.
There were three such groups that most Jews had nothing good to say about. The first, as we saw last week, was the Lepers. They believed that they were “smitten by God,” and they were banished from society. They were as good as dead because of their disease. The second group that they totally despised were gentiles; it was thought that they were created by God to fuel the fires of hell. Of course they would hate those leaders and soldiers of the occupying country even more.
Lastly, they did not have a high regard for women. They were necessary to further the race, but beyond that, they were of little value. In fact, whenever it came time for a baby to be born, all the family and friends would gather, bringing gifts, waiting to celebrate if it was a boy, but if it was a girl, then they would pick up and leave gifts and all. So who does Jesus touch? The lives of those who were outcasts in society!
Vs. 5-13 Serving the Servant
Vs. 5-6 Capernaum is mentioned 16 times only in the gospels. In Mark 2:1 it is called Jesus home, and in chapter 9:1 it is called His own city. It stood on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and was one of the most prosperous and crowded districts of Palestine. The importance of the city is further demonstrated by the location of a military installation there under the command of a centurion.
This city lay on the great highway from Damascus to Tyre. It has been identified with Tell Hum, about two miles south-west of where the Jordan flows into the lake. They have dug up extensive ruins of walls and foundations and also the remains of what must have been a beautiful synagogue, which it is conjectured may have been the one built by the centurion, the same one that Jesus frequently taught at.
We are given three main people in this story: “a certain centurion,” “a paralyzed servant,” and “Jesus.”.
A.) A certain centurion: To obtain the position of centurion, one would have to prove themselves in battle. This man was placed in charge of 100 men because he was a valiant warrior. Luke tells us that he was wealthy and that he loved the nation of the Jews, for he had built them a synagogue. We are further told that he himself did not come to Jesus but rather that he first sent elders of the Jews to Jesus, and when Jesus got close to the house, he sent out some friends with the message. Thus he was a man not only acquainted with Jewish customs but a humble man as well.
So we have:
A wealthy Roman seeking a poor Jew.
b.) A powerful centurion reaching out to a meek carpenter
c.) A mighty man of war looking for the Prince of Peace
He did not do this for himself, nor was this some casual request but “pleading for his servant.” This word means to “call alongside to help” and is also used for the word pray. This centurion sent some of the leaders to pray that Jesus would come and help.
B.) Vs. 6 A paralyzed servant: The word for servant here tells us that he was a young servant and that his paralysis was of sickness that left him in great pain.
So this centurion sends leaders to plead on his behalf, not for himself but for some young servant who is tormented with being unable to move. Why would he bother? God had touched this centurion’s heart, and this gentile, who was a warrior and hater of people, had now come to the place where he cared for a lowly servant boy. It is this man that God uses to touch this tormented boy. What if this man would not have bothered?
C.) Vs. 7 Jesus: Before He is ever asked to come, Jesus says, “He will come and heal him.” He does not say, “I will see what I can do.” There is that perfect confidence in the Lord.
Folks, the Lord is willing to take a hold of any area of your life that is causing you to be paralyzed and unable to serve the master. He will come and heal you!
Vs. 8 Notice the centurion’s heart: “I am not worthy that you should come under my roof.” Jews could not come under the roof of any gentile, nor were they allowed to even talk to a gentile. Yet with that said, there was still the need for this servant.
Next we see two things about this centurion verses 8-9:
1.) He was a man who understood that those who exercise authority must themselves be under authority. No one can rule others well if they themselves are not ruled!
2.) He was a man of great faith, for he understood who he was trusting in. Notice his words here in verse 8 and the illustration of this in his own life. “Only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.” Let’s be careful here with this; there are some who put all the emphasis on what is said rather than who said it. There is no formula here; it is simply that the centurion understood who it was that promised that the servant would be healed. The word is not an activity nor some formula; the word is a person, and His name is Jesus! There is no need for the Lord to be in the exact presence of this servant, for He is the Word, and He won’t go back on His Word!
Vs. 10 There are only two times that Jesus marveled at any person, and both times it involved faith. In this case, he admired the faith of this gentile, and in Mark 6:6, he was taken back by the unbelief of the Jews. I find this interesting, for this is the way we often treat the Lord with our unbelief, not trusting in His word. So here is this gentile totally outside the covenant of Israel demonstrating such profound trust not for himself but for another.
Vs.11-12 Jesus now goes on to say that God would like this centurion to bring forth many from the East and the West into faith like that of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Hey, we are not Christians because of our heritage; we are believers because we have trusted in Christ; just like this gentile, we have been transformed. Oh, how sad it is to see many professing believers not trusting in the Word of Life. Whole churches turn to all sorts of things instead of trusting in the Word of Life.
This centurion was a man whose faith and trust were based upon his philosophy of life. It was true that he ordered his life around; it was not mere talk; it was his walk!
As we have been all praying this week, this is what keeps coming back: “Lord, make us at Calvary Chapel people who have surrendered our lives to your Lordship.” We don’t just want to be about playing church.
Vs.13 Is this not great? There is no great big deal out of this, as this man believed it was done. The servant was not in the presence of the Lord; in fact, the centurion was not in the presence of the Lord, yet he trusted Jesus at His word. Folks, do you trust Jesus at His word?
Vs. 14-17 Freeing the Afflicted
Vs.14-15 Now we come to the last group of outcasts, women.
Note: Some content that Peter was the first pope and that he was celibate. Clearly Peter was married because it was his mother-in-law who was sick.
Just a side note: here we are told in John’s gospel that Peter was from Bethsaida (the house of fishing), yet here we see that he now made his home in Capernaum. What this shows us is that after Peter started following the Lord, he picked up and moved everything to do so. He left his livelihood to be closer to Jesus. There are a great many today that do this the other way around. People move to prosper their businesses yet never seek the Lord as to whether or not this is going to cause them to be closer to the Lord. May I ask you, do you want to be nearer to the Lord? Do you want to be in a place where it is most conducive to your spiritual growth?
Now in this story, no one asks the Lord to heal this lady. It just says, “He saw.” Don’t you love it? A great many people get all mad at the church for not reaching out or not touching them the way they wanted. I will agree that there is a mandate upon the church to do so, but that is not what we want to bring people to a dependence upon; we need to keep people focused upon the fact that it is Jesus who meets their needs, not Calvary Chapel. He sees where you are; are you looking to Him or someone else?
Next, we see Him again touching her, a lowly woman. Now look at what happens next; yes, the fever left, but what else does it say? “She arose and served them.” In the revised version it says that she served Him; now I think both are true, for when you serve “them,” then you are serving “him.”.
Folks, I think that you ought to always be able to tell who Jesus has touched, for if He has touched them, you will always find them serving. Have you been touched by Jesus? How would we know, are you serving Him? Are you signed up to help in Sunday school?
I don’t know about you, but this hits me right between the eyes! If I’ve been touched with His soothing, loving hand, then the natural thing is that you will find me serving. I see this attitude in our retired guys in this fellowship; you will always find them serving in some way or another. Man, I love these guys. I came across this the other day, as in a few months I’ll be 40. The benefits of old age:
Although pounds are harder to lose as we get older, our teeth begin to fall out, so you can’t eat as much. And when people say that you look terrible because your teeth are falling out, you tell them that’s OK because your eyesight is going so you can’t see your teeth falling out. But when others start to tell you how bad you look, you tell them it’s OK because you are losing your hearing as well, so you don’t have to listen to them, and even if you could hear them, your memory is getting so bad you can’t remember.
Vs. 16-17 As evening came, thousands came around this house, and Jesus healed ALL. I love that Jesus touches all who come to Him. All who come to Jesus will be healed! Now wait a minute, you say. Are you telling me that all who come to Jesus who are afflicted will be healed? Yes, that’s what I’m saying, and that is what verse 17 says. But let me clarify this. All will be healed one day, for there will be no more sickness or death, but it may not be in this body.
I believe that this prophecy of Isaiah 53 refers to both spiritual healing as well as physical healing. Yet He does not always heal us of our infirmities because when we are weak, then we are strong, for His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Ultimately though we will be healed, for we are told in Rev. 21:4 that “God will wipe away every tear from our eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Matthew 8:18-22
“What It Costs To Follow Christ”
Vs. 18-20 No Where To Lay Your Head
Vs. 21-22 Let the Dead Bury Their Own
Intro.
In light of Father’s Day, I came across this little story. A man just came home from work. His son was waiting for him at the door. As he came in, his son asked, “How much do you make an hour, Daddy?” Being tired from work, the man was very angry that his son had asked him this. He said, “Your mother doesn’t even know that!” “But please, Daddy, how much do you make an hour?” The man said, “Fine, I make $20 an hour.”
The boy then asked, “Then can I borrow $10, Daddy?” The man yelled no and left the room. That night he felt bad for the way he treated his little boy. So he got out of bed and went to his son’s room. The boy was still awake. He went over to him and gave him the $10 he had asked for. The boy took another $10 out from under his pillow. He said, “Now I have enough; can I buy an hour of your time, Daddy?”
We come now to a brief interlude in this story as Jesus was demonstrating the principals He taught His disciples on the mount. Matthew tells us two events that took place where Jesus shared upon the cost of following Him. I find it interesting in light of the fact that these are the same two things that hinder me from following Christ closer: comfort and obligations. Next week we will look at two other roadblocks in following Jesus closer in the story of Jesus asleep in the boat, that of not trusting Him in the midst of our trials. And Jesus casting out the demon’s into the swine.
Vs. 18-20 Nowhere To Lay Your Head
Vs. 18 What curious verses this is to us. There was great success in His early ministry; “great multitudes” were about Him. What Jesus was saying—and more to the point, that which the multitudes saw Him do—was very attractive. The persecution in His later ministry had not yet survived, so there was this swell of popularity. It was cool to follow Jesus; it was the thing to do in Israel. That is the background of His comments to these two followers.
With that said, look at what Jesus does with this new-found popularity: “He gave command to depart to the other side.”
It is very interesting to watch the trends in modern Christianity today. A lot of what goes into making the local church—its mission statement, its programs, and so on—is centered around numerical success. The bottom line for some is found in “HOW MANY ATTEND.” Here Jesus is having that great numerical success that so many today crave, “great multitudes” following Him.
I contend that in light of what Jesus did here, what we ought to be concerned with is not making followers but rather disciples! So many of the trends today ask the question, “How can we make Christianity and church fun and entertaining so that people will want to come?” I object to the question! Jesus never said to make followers of all people, and He never said that all the world should come to the church. Rather, He said that we are to go out into the world and make disciples’s “learners” of all nations!
Vs. 19 There is no doubt in my mind that following Jesus was quite glamorous at this time. All the working of miracles and the great popularity that followed made ministry seem greater than it was.
Now with this we have a “certain scribe,” who is swept up in this moment of time, who, as they are readying to leave, comes to Jesus with that great statement, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
First, I’m inclined to believe that this scribe was sincere in this statement. Furthermore, I think that even after Jesus’ statement to him, he got in that boat, for in verse 21, Matthew refers to him as “His disciple’s.” The word “follow” here means “to be in the same way with,” and it is the word that describes the act of being a disciple. “Jesus”; he said, “I want to go wherever You go.”
With that said, I think a lot of people are misinformed about being a Christian or being involved in ministry. They see all the glamor, all the attention and respect that some people pay those who have up front ministry. The other day I got a glimpse of what true ministry was in the eyes of Paul. Paul considered himself an under-rower in Christ. That is to say, He thought himself on the bottom deck of a slave ship.
I went in to use the men’s room, and some clown thought it was a good idea to put in the toilet bowl a bunch of paper towels, and then they proceeded to go # 2 in them so you could not flush the toilet. I thought, “I’m not going to clean this mess up.” Then I thought of Paul, a servant putting up with the messes of others; that’s what I’m called too. So I breathed through my mouth and cleaned the mess up.
Let me say this with all the joy I can: “It is great being a Christian!” I mean, I can’t imagine where my life would be now if I had not met the Lord 17 years ago. He has changed my first 21 years of death into the greatest years of life I could ever have dreamed of.
Vs. 20 Now notice how Jesus answers him. First from the perspective of how effective Jesus’ ministry was, and second from the perspective of comfort in this world, He says:
“Fox’s have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay His head.”
1.) In other words, you see success in numbers, but the truth is, success is in poverty of spirit! Jesus said in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The key to being used by God is not in some program; it is in the heart of the servant that God uses. Oh, that we would measure success on the yielding of our heart towards the Father; that is success!
2.) Second, there is a price to pay; it is called the comfort of riches. Following Christ simply means that you are going to have to let go of anything that is now on the throne of your heart besides Him! To be sold out for God means you must be empty of the world! A great many people would have no problem saying, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You Go.” But if the Lord said, “Well, I’m going to the Sunday school class,” they would not follow. Or if it meant that they were to be inconvenienced in some way, they would not go. How about you? Have you counted the cost?
Jesus calls himself the “Son of Man.” He loved to call himself by this phrase. The very words of it speak of His humanity and sacrifice. Jesus looked at this scribe who had been captivated by His words and impressed by His works and asked, “Why are you coming after me?” “For as you see me, so must you be!” The “Son of Man,” the master of the spiritual and physical realm, the One who spoke and the universe leaped into existence.
The great and glorious One whom “great multitudes” followed was HOMELESS. To those of us who wish to follow Christ, not the effects of His words and works, but Him, He shows the cross. Wow! What a challenge! My way must hit the highway if I am to follow Jesus. Anything that would hinder me must be left behind.
Now again we are not told what this scribe’s decision was, and I think that God does not want us to know what he did for the greater question, “What are you going to do?”
One of the greatest hindrances to our greater growth in His grace is our refusal to be uncomfortable. We don’t follow Him closer because it would mean less of us!
Vs. 21-22 Let the Dead Bury Their Own
Vs.21 Here again we have another “disciple” attracted to what’s going on around Jesus, and he too wants to follow the Lord but makes a small concession, which seems to us quite a reasonable request. Luke’s telling of this event says that Jesus was the one who initiated this response when He said, “Follow me,” then came the disciples request.
In light of this, the words of Jesus in verse 22 seem very harsh. It is here where a bit of Hebrew culture helps us in our understanding. In Jesus’ time, people were buried the same day that they died. Thus, if the father had already died, then the disciple would not have been here with Jesus at all; he would have been preparing the body. Normally the responsibility to care for the body fell upon the eldest son. Burial was considered a holy act to Jews, so Jesus would not forbid such a thing but instead would have joined the mourners.
What this disciple is saying is that he is obligated to care for his aging father, and after his father has passed away, he will follow Jesus. So here we see yet another hindrance to following the Lord’s relationship obligations. “Yeh, Lord, I’ll follow you, but can I still date so and so who does not know the Lord?” A great many folks won’t grow in His grace because they refuse to give up a relationship with some non-believer that causes them to compromise their walk before the Lord. This disciple’s father was not near death; he was fine, yet his family’s responsibility was over that of following Jesus. There was no time set upon when he would follow Jesus, just some time after his father died.
Vs. 22 The fact that Matthew calls this man a disciple tells us that this was a call to service! Let those who are spiritually dead bury those who are physically dead. Jesus is not saying to be disrespectful but rather to keep the right priorities in life. It is far better to preach the gospel and give life to those who are not yet dead than to wait until they die and then bury them.
In Mark 10:28–31, Jesus responded after the rich young ruler refused to set aside his wealth to follow Him. Peter spoke up and said, “See, we have left all and followed You.” So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s sake, “who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time; houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.” We must be willing to put Jesus first before any other relationship. Practice follows principal, and principal must not be compromised if it is to be practiced.
Folks, are we willing to count the cost and follow Jesus? What in your life needs to be taken off the throne? Hey, you will never regret it. The slain missionary Jim Eliot said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose!” May those words burn into our hearts this morning!
Matthew 8:23-34
“Calm for the Tormented”
Vs. 23-27 You of Little Faith
Vs. 28-34 What Have We To Do With You?
Intro
Last week we were looking at the four things that keep us from following Jesus.
First, there was in the story of the “certain scribe” the truth that often we do not go on in our spiritual growth for the sake of riches or comfort.
Second, in the story of the disciple who wanted to bury his father we see that relationships that are ahead of our relationship with Jesus will hinder us.
Now, this week we shall see two other reasons yet from a different perspective. The first two came about during a brief interlude between His fourth and fifth miracles. These last two come during His fifth and sixth miracles, where Jesus demonstrates His power over nature, and then He shows that He has power over the unseen spirit world.
I am always amazed to see in the gospels little things that reveal just how foolish we who follow Jesus can be. I hope this won’t offend anyone, but we are all at times kind of like the Three Stooges disciples: Moe, Larry, and Curly. I don’t want to go too far down this path, but look just for a moment at two phrases here in this morning’s text and who said each:
1.) “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
2.) “Jesus, you Son of God?”
First, you have the statement of those who were followers of Jesus, who just saw nature submit to His word, and they can’t figure out who He is!!!
Second, you have those who are totally against Jesus and all that He stands for, and they submit and know for certain who He is!!!
For people who had never read the Bible, if you asked them to match the sayings with who said them, I’m certain that they would reverse these. Paul Harvey, in his book “For What It’s Worth,” tells about a county jail in Florida where jail officials discovered prisoner Jimmy Jones trying to escape. Nothing unusual about that happens all the time, but Jimmy Jones had a brilliant plan: every so often the prisoners would dump their garbage into a large plastic bag that hung at one end of the cell block, and several of the prisoners would take it out to be dumped right after roll call.
Old Jimmy Jones just dumped himself into the trash bag and waited for the end of roll call. Only one problem with his plan: as the names of the prisoners were read off and each prisoner responded, they came to Jimmy’s name, and from inside the garbage bag, a bit muffled came Jimmy’s reply, “Here!”
They caught him right then and there. Sometimes our replies give us away too, don’t they? Perhaps this morning you are living as if you are not too sure who this person Jesus is. Oh, you know intellectually who He is, but your response in the way you are living shows that you are just hanging out in a bag from the end of your cell.
Folks, let us this morning agree together that we are going to move on in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
Vs. 23-27 You of Little Faith
It is always good to read of these same events in the other gospel, as you get a clearer picture as to what took place.
Vs. 23 In Luke 8:22, we read the words Jesus said to the disciples prior to them getting into the boat, and we are told that they did so here in Matthew. Jesus said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. ”These words will be very important to us, as they should have been to them. So often our failure is due to our not trusting Jesus’ words to us! If we only would trust and obey, how much more peace would fill our day!
Vs.24 There are a few important details that are helpful for us as we consider this story.
1.) Several of these men were accomplished fishermen. I mean that they sailed on this very lake for a living. They knew of its ways. Simply put, they were going to have to take Christ’s words to them over and above their own since. All about them was going to scream at them one thing, yet the words of Christ and His action, or lack of action, were going to say something else. Folks, life is a choice; we cannot change our circumstances, but we do have a choice of how we are going to react. We can react in panic or peace; it’s our choice!
2.) This lake is prone to these sudden violent storms. The word used here “great tempest” is the word “seismos,” which we use for the study of earthquakes, “seismology.”.
Simply put, this storm was a real shaker! Permit me to give you the geography of this lake. It is located some 60 miles from Jerusalem and 30 miles from the Mediterranean. The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake that is fed by the Jordan River. It is 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. Its depth is from 80 feet to 150 feet. As best we know, they were traveling across this lake on a trip of some 5 miles. This lake is 680 feet below sea level, yet with mountains around it that go up to 9,280 feet above sea level.
So what happens is that cold air comes off of Mount Herman through a narrow ravine into the Sea of Galilee, hitting the warm air that comes off the lake; thus, storms erupt in seconds. Waves can reach higher than 25 feet with a face of 40 feet. These guys were terrified; they had no doubt been on this lake during storms before, and this time they felt that they were going to die.
Note: Allow me some practical insight for a moment. Have you ever felt that as you were going through some circumstance, some real shaker in your life, Jesus was asleep in the boat? I mean, it feels if He is not awake to what we are going through. I believe all of us believers can relate to their reaction here. I’m not justifying it, just relating to it.
Folks, the boat was covered with waves, but Jesus was asleep! Let me state the obvious. Jesus knew the storm was going to come up and certainly could have prevented it from ever happening, but He did not. Our Lord is more interested in our growing closer to Him, then He is making sure that our life is (pardon the pun) smooth sailing. We can only grow closer to Him as we learn to trust His words through the trials of life!
Then, we have the fact that He is asleep in the boat with all of the commotion going on. This tells us two things that deal with His nature:
1.) He was fully man, for he was very tired, not even waking up during all the noise of the disciples panicking.
2.) He was fully God, for He was at peace. He was not panicking like a man does. He was not worried; no, he was at rest. We often think the Lord is indifferent during our circumstances because we don’t since He is panicking as we are. Just relax; if He is not doing anything, it means that He is resting, and so should we!
Vs. 25 First, I want to commend these guys, for at least they were honest with the Lords, and they did come to Him. The circumstances of the storm overwhelmed their thinking. Jesus did not rebuke them for having no faith, but rather for having little faith. Their faith was that they knew that they were in over their heads and that Jesus had the answer. What they failed to realize was that he was in the boat with them, and he had already said that they were to go to the other side.
Remember that at one time man was over nature, and now nature is over man. Nature is not over the Son of Man, though.
Vs. 26 “Why are you so fearful?” Those are the words He spoke to them at first. Now I would have said, “Lord, this is the worst storm I’ve ever seen; now I know you’ve been asleep, but clearly you can see why I’m freaking out!”
Again, I believe that they exercised some faith in coming to Him as they did, but there is a higher faith that waits upon the Lord and trusts in His word for deliverance out of the storms of life. If Jesus is here, then it is all right; let the waves crash and the sea toss, for he is right there with us.
Remember those words that are recorded in Luke? Jesus did not say let us go under to the other side; He said, ““Let us cross over to the other side of the ake.”
Now notice the threefold calm that trusting in the Lord produces:
A.) There is first and foremost a calm that comes over us because we have trusted afresh Jesus and His words.
B.) There is a calm that comes over us having been delivered from destruction.
C.) There is a calm that sees a change in the circumstance or trial.
Jesus just tells the wind and sea, “Be muzzled.”
Vs. 27 Here then is the problem they, as well as us, face in fear; we do not understand “who” it is that is in the circumstances with us. Psalm 89:8-9 tells us, “O LORD, God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds you. You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them.” Only the Lord God Almighty has this kind of power!
Vs. 28-34 What Have We To Do With You?
Again, as you read the other accounts of this, you will find that Matthew tells us that there were two demon-possessed men, whereas Mark and Luke only mention one.
I believe that Matthew records the fact that there were two, but only the one was recorded as having the dialog with Jesus, thus the differing number. There are several things to be noted concerning the area in which this took place.
A.) This area is where the tribe of Gad settled, which was on the wrong side of the Jordan. It was often invaded by gentiles and seems to be primarily inhabited by them at this time.
B.) We are told in the other accounts that the community had tried to restrain these demon-possessed men with chains and shackles, yet nothing held them. They had tried to tame them, and eventually they just isolated them from the rest of society. Folks don’t miss this, for we see some truths here about what Satan and sin do to human life, as well as what society does for them.
Satan: Robs him of his sanity, takes away self-control, fills him with anger and violence, takes him away from the joys of life, and lastly, if he can condemn him to an eternity of judgment.
Society restrains him, threatens him and isolates him. What it cannot do is change him.
Jesus: Restores them sanity, society, and service.
Vs. 28-30 Here we see that these demons have the power of a yielded life, but they have to ask permission from Jesus to go into 2000 pigs. We also see that they know that their time is short and that their ultimate end is to be tormented in the lake of fire.
Vs.31-34 Here we are told the outcome.
First, the outcome of the demons was that they were permitted to go into the 2000 swine and run down the cliff and parishes in the sea. No big deal, for pig farming was an illegal occupation for any Jew. Even if they were not eating the pigs themselves, they could not raise them for others. So in this, our Lord got rid of any illegal activity.
Second, the outcome of these two men was that they were restored. One of them we are told wanted to follow Jesus, but our Lord put him into the ministry, going back into the city with the testimony of what only God can do.
Lastly, we are told the reaction of the city; they begged him to leave, to which Jesus obliged. Again, people will refuse to grow in Christ if it means that they may have to change their occupation. Our society values pigs to people! But Jesus values us over everything else. Money was more important than peace to the community.
Folks, there is only one thing that limits Christ’s power in our lives, and that one thing is us. We have been given the power of choice, and you can choose not to grow in Him any longer. What will your choice be?