For the Matthew 8:18-20 PODCAST, Click Here!
18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." 20 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." ~ Matthew 8:18-20
Today, we continue our study of Matthew 8 where the Lord Jesus is inculcating His culture into His disciples as they traveled by boat from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other. The Lord Jesus and His followers were on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The crowd was becoming so massive, the Lord Jesus decided to go to the other side. While on the water in the boat, the Lord was weary in His physical body. In fact, on the boat ride across, He fell asleep down in the hole of the boat on the wood planks.
Today's passage highlights discipleship. Not everyone that the Lord Jesus met did He implore to follow Him as a disciple. Of course, when we all enter a relationship with Him we enter into the process of sanctification which essentially is discipleship. Many confuse justification and sanctification, but a careful look into the two helps us to see that one gets us into heaven and the other gets heaven into us now.
In v.18-19 of today's passage we read, "18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, 'Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.'"
At this point in the ministry of the Lord Jesus His popularity was quite high. Large crowds were following Him, and they were pursuing Him because of His miracles. In fact, a Scribe, one of the religious leaders of Israel expressed his approval of the Lord Jesus. The scribes were the authorities in the law and they were qualified by Jewish authority to teach. The scribes were highly educated and they were loyal to the traditions of Judaism. They were the teachers, they weren’t the followers of teachers. This particular Scribe was drawn to the charisma and the power of the Lord Jesus. He was a thrill-seeker, and so, he made his desire to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus known.The problem for this religious leader of Israel was that there was no evidence that He was poor in spirit. He had not come to the end of himself. There was no evidence that he had come to understand his spiritual poverty. Thus, he didn't see his need for the Lord Jesus to be his Savior. Long before the Lord Jesus is our Lord, He our Savior. Down through the centuries there have been who have said, "Lord, Lord." And He will say to them, "Depart from me for I never knew you."
In v.20 of today's passage we read, "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.'"
In response to the Scribe's request, the Lord Jesus drew his attention to the fact that His followers did not enjoy much comfort. The phrase "The Son of Man" first appears in Daniel 7:13. There, Daniel prophesied that the Messiah would be the Son of Man, and the Lord Jesus came and said, "I’m Son of Man." This phrase is used 80 times in the Gospels and it is a term of humiliation. Son of God speaks of Christ's deity and the Son of Man, His humility. Essentially, the Lord Jesus said, "In my humiliation, I don’t even have what foxes and birds have." And the foxes were very common in those parts of the world in those times, and they would burrow little holes in the ground. And birds were everywhere and they had their nests.
Today's story began with a man who was impressed by the power of the Lord Jesus to heal and to teach. Once he heard there would not be all that much to gain from following the Lord, the Scribe was not mentioned further. Sadly and rightfully so, many underscore that this guy didn't come to faith in the Lord Jesus. But, in drawing this conclusion, they insinuate that we must be a disciple of the Lord Jesus in order to be saved. They are often heard wrongfully saying, "If Jesus isn't Lord of all, He is not Lord at all." This is not biblical because in order enter the process of sanctification or discipleship with the Lord, we must first be justified in God's sight. In addition, the process of discipleship or sanctification takes a lifetime to happen and no-one fully surrenders to the Lord this side of heaven.
It is only when we have entered the only door, the door of the cross of the Lord Jesus that God grants us His forgiveness. It is after our justification that we begin the process of sanctification. I will say that once we have become believers in the Lord Jesus we will become His disciples. But, we must be careful to highlight the fact that our growth as followers of the Lord Jesus does not get us into heaven. No, we only enter into heaven through the work the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin. Once we have become justified through Christ before God, it is then that we enter into discipleship with Him.
Christianity is not a self-help religion, but a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ who brings to us new life by the Holy Spirit. Discipleship is simply the working out of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in, to and through us as we live our everyday lives. We become in ourselves what we are in Christ. After the very righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us by faith do we begin to realize His very life being expressed in, to and through us. And that is essentially discipleship or sanctification.