For anyone who watches the America's Cup or follows sailing, Peter Burling will be a household name. Burling spent twelve years with Team New Zealand, but has recently, to the shock of many, parted ways with the team. He claimed, "The uncertainty and the control Team New Zealand wanted over me was just crazy," and so he has moved on.

When we encounter Jesus in the gospels, we find that his claims and his summons to obedience and discipleship were sometimes too much for people. The uncertainty of following Jesus and the demands he places on would-be disciples can prove overwhelming. Consider the rich young ruler, described elsewhere in the gospels, who comes to the Lord Jesus. Mark tells us that after Jesus tests him on the demands of discipleship, "he went away grieving, because he was one who owned much property" and why, well because the Lord Jesus challenged him, saying that if he was to inherit eternal life, he must first give up his possessions; the man went away. It was too much for him.

As we have learned, the kingdom of heaven has dawned in Christ; the eschatological rule and reign of God as foretold has broken into the world in the now. From the outset, Matthew showed us that the only acceptable response to the Lord Jesus and what he brings is, like the wise men from the East, to worship the born Messiah King.

And Matthew highlights unexpected people who are finding and embracing Jesus’ kingdom. It is not the religious zealots or the elites; it is the poor in spirit, like the leper we encountered last time, who had nothing to offer except to cry out, "Lord, if you are willing." Or it is like the Roman centurion, one who mourned, who believed Christ had the divine power with a word to heal. Or it is Peter’s mother-in-law, the gentle, raised from sickness so she might follow Jesus. These are the ones being welcomed in and embracing the kingdom of heaven.

These testimonies of Christ’s miracles point to him as the messianic servant spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. His power over the physical realm was to show his ultimate power over the spiritual realm; to move us from simply considering his ability to heal the body, to remember the reason why he came, to heal and redeem us, body and soul, to God. To witness Jesus’ miracles but then not become his disciple is to misunderstand the miracles entirely; they compel us to follow him in faith.

This morning, we are considering the theme of discipleship, and more specifically, how Jesus’ miracles point us to the urgency of following Christ. Matthew shows us that the right response to Jesus’ miracles is to come to him and follow on his terms, no matter what; to enter the kingdom because Jesus is the divine Son of Man who speaks with authority, even over the storm.

As the Dutch theologian Herman Ridderbos said in his book, The Coming of the Kingdom: "The miracle in itself is not the most important thing, nor even the sharing in Jesus' miraculous power, but much rather the participation in the redemption of the kingdom which is thereby revealed. We want Christ in his person for ourselves."

So, Peter Burling might be right to reject the demands of Team New Zealand, but we will never be without excuse for not committing to follow Jesus Christ on his terms at his demands, because he has uncontested right to do so.

The Two Would Be Disciples

The first man we encounter is a scribe. Here we are given a lesson on the inconvenience of following Jesus. We read, "Then a scribe came and said to him, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus said to him, 'The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.'" A scribe in first-century Israel was a trained expert in Jewish law, functioning as teachers and legal authorities. Interestingly, it is surprising to find a scribe, just as with some Pharisees, coming to Jesus in faith, because both groups are often pictured in a predominantly negative light as those who rejected Christ. However, this shows us that their unbelief was not universal.

Matthew seems to deliberately leave ambiguity about the believing status of this scribe. We do not know how he responds to Jesus. The onus falls on us as readers to answer for ourselves, since we too are challenged by the gospel to follow Jesus no matter the cost. Jesus says, in effect: "In this world, I have no permanent home to lay even my head. If following me meant the same for you, would you still follow?" John Calvin comments here, "He wishes indeed to follow Christ, but dreams of an easy and agreeable life and of dwellings filled with every convenience, whereas the disciples of Christ must walk along thorns and march to the cross amidst uninterrupted afflictions." 

How do we respond? We must consider how we understand the Christian faith to answer that question. Is our conception of Christianity one of our own making, or does it align with what Jesus taught? The scribe, like us, is to see that discipleship may be the most inconvenient thing imaginable. Our safety nets and crutches might be stripped away; all stability in life could disappear; comforts and convenience may have to go; and there is no room for autonomy either.

The Christian life, in fact, might be the most tremendously inconvenient thing—was that in our analysis beforehand? Those most susceptible to disappointment are always those whose minds are fixed on attaining and preserving earthly things for selfish purposes. This is the very challenge of discipleship. Jesus says, "Before you profess faith in me, stop first and consider whether you understand the gravity of what I am saying here." Do we know that Jesus was without a place to call home in this world, and are we prepared for that to be true of us should we follow him? He is saying: "Do you realise that your interests as my disciple will be secondary to my interests for you? Do you realise that following me requires the end of following the flesh, that you must lose your life so you might find it in me?" All of this is packed into what Jesus is saying to the scribe.

Some might ask, did Jesus perceive that the scribe was insincere in his expression of faith and so replied as he did? We cannot tell. While we do not hear the scribe’s reply, we can consider our own response this morning. Do we realise, and does our own perception and experience of the Christian life reflect, its inconvenient nature?

Notice, secondly, the second man who comes to Jesus. With him the lesson is not at all dissimilar; this time it is a lesson of urgency and the priority of discipleship. In verse 21 we read: "Another of the disciples said to him, 'Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.' But Jesus said to him, 'Follow me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.'" So if the scribe showed us how inconvenient following Jesus can be, this man's request demonstrates that discipleship ought to be our ultimate priority and of urgent concern. The man’s request essentially means, "I want to follow you, Jesus, but for now, let me wait until I can collect my inheritance and sort out family affairs." In other words, he is prioritising something above following Jesus. 

This request, though not strange for its original context, is met firmly by Christ. The size of the inheritance is irrelevant; what matters is that Christ was not yet the only inheritance the man valued. Christ denies the man his wish to defer discipleship and says, "Follow me now"; it is urgent and more important than anything else, even family matters. Christ does not forbid inheritance or cultural burial practices here, but he does state that the believers discipleship is of infinitely more value, even above this man’s familial duties. Daniel Doriani says, "Jesus is asking the man to give him greater honour and service than his parents." Don't miss Christ's strong language: "Allow the dead to bury their own dead", that is, let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. You man! Must instead, must prioritise life with me among the living.

Once again, the response is ours to make. Is following Jesus something urgent for us, or just a secondary concern? What things in life are creeping in between us and Christ? What stops us from being with God’s people in church on a Sunday, or from reading our bibles or praying during the week or from praying? Are we all for Christ with every fibre of our being? Remember, Christ was all in for us, and he calls us to be all in for him in discipleship. He lived for our righteousness; he died for our sins; he was raised for our justification. So the question is: How much of Jesus do you really want? 

JC Ryle summarises the message of these two men beautifully: "They teach us plainly that people who show a desire to come forward and profess themselves as true disciples of Christ should be warned plainly to count the cost before they begin."

Do We Understand?

Let us apply these things further. Do we understand them? The text asks us: What subtle excuses or naive views do we harbour about discipleship?

1 Firstly: are we counting the cost of discipleship? Just as any builder must sit down and calculate if he can complete a building before he starts, so when God confronts us with the gospel, he calls us to count the cost. Jesus said in Luke 14:31, "Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?" In other words, consider carefully whether you are truly ready to follow Jesus. Think about the shame you might experience, the suffering you might endure, the time you will have to sacrifice, the resources you will have to give up, and the sin to repent of; consider, consider, consider the cost. Do not lay hold of this plough, this kingdom, this gospel, this Christ, unless you have first counted the cost. Matthew 16:24 says, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.'"

2 Secondly: have we come to Jesus on his own terms as disciples? Jesus here gives a difficult lesson about true discipleship. Many are shocked to discover that Jesus alone sets the terms of this divine-human relationship—no ifs or buts. For the scribe, to follow Jesus might mean having no home; for the other disciple, it meant seeking first the kingdom and laying everything else at Jesus’ feet.

To follow Jesus on his terms means to follow in his likeness, to become like him. A true disciple lives in constant holy discontent with all in their thoughts, attitudes, desires, and actions that are not of Christ, crying out: "Lord, make me more like your Son. Give me the heart of discipleship to follow wherever he may lead, only that I be near to him." Paul echoes these things in 2 Corinthians 5:15: "and he died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf." Christ is the priority; we come to him on his terms, and for him.

3 Thirdly: is it our conviction that a person’s foremost duty is to obey Christ? Many things in our lives require commitment and discipline, but is the glory and honour of God in Christ the highest pursuit in our lives? Whole and undivided devotion to the cause of Christ and his kingdom is what Jesus commands. This does not mean we must all become full-time missionaries or ministers and gospel workers. No, this command is for mothers and wives in the home or at work; for men in the office or out on the worksite; to the athlete on the field; to the musician on the stage. Christ’s radical command, which he speaks with divine authority, is: follow me and prioritise me in every aspect of your life so that all you do, all you work for, and all you enjoy points back to me. That is discipleship. It means retiring for God's glory, farming for his glory, parenting for Christ’s glory, Christ has purchased it all for himself.

Occasionally, when watching sports on television, you will see the camera pan to the crowd and show fans in the stands. Sometimes, for example, at an All Blacks versus South Africa rugby game, you might see some people wearing an All Blacks shirt but also a Springbok beanie, and you are not sure which team they really support. In the Christian life, it cannot be like that; we are to be sold out for Christ, on his team, always wearing his colours.

The Reason to Follow

Thirdly, consider the reason to follow. Matthew, in the order of his narrative, places a further miracle after these two encounters, forming what I call a "miracle sandwich" around the teaching point of discipleship. In verses 23 to 27, Matthew again casts light on the true identity of Christ and thus our great reason to follow him.

In fact, we have already passed one of these identity markers. One great reason to see Christ as the priority for discipleship is in the very title he uses for himself: the Son of Man. This is the first of many times in Matthew’s gospel that this title appears. "Son of Man" derived from the Old Testament, has two connotations. In some Psalms or in Ezekiel, it means simply "human", it describes humanity. However, it is used most famously in the prophetic vision of Daniel 7:13: "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him." Son of Man in this sense is a figure of divine origin and commission, who will rule the people's and be worshipped by the nations, it's a prophecy of the coming Messiah. Jesus claims this title for himself, declaring, "I am this messianic figure whom Daniel foresaw." 

What must have baffled the scribe, well acquainted with this context, was that after claiming this powerful title, we find instead Jesus of Nazareth, meek and lowly, a wandering preacher without even a place to lay his head. But here, friends, is Christ the Son of Man, whose kingdom, through the shedding of his own blood, is already active in the world, gathering his redeemed from the nations, that on the last day there will be a great multitude before him. What greater reason could you need to follow Jesus? He is the Son of Man as foretold.

The passage continues with the Son of Man calming the storm with his word. Let's read from verse 23 to 27: "When he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. Behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus himself was asleep. They came to him and woke him, saying, 'Save us, Lord; we are perishing!' He said to them, 'Why are you afraid, you of little faith?' Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, saying, 'What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?'"

Here, we return to our original aim: Matthew shows us that the right response to Jesus’ words and works is to trust him and follow wholeheartedly in faith. Why? Because Jesus is the divine Son of Man, whose authority that astounded the crowds after the Sermon on the Mount, now stills even the storm. To grasp the significance of this miracle, we must recall its allusion to the Old Testament. First, note that Christ sleeps soundly while the storm rages. Often in the Old Testament, the ability to sleep soundly in danger is a sign of trust in, and the protective power of God. If you have ever struggled to sleep, it can help to remember God’s providence and care, that he holds us and will awake us.

Now if his sleeping shows Christ’s true humanity, see what happens next. The disciples, panicking and fearing for their lives, wake Jesus. Perhaps we are to recall passages where God's people call on him to awake and act: "Stir up yourself, and awake to my right and to my cause, my God and my Lord" (Psalm 35:23). Oh, God, awake, act on behalf of your people! So the disciples awake the sleeping Lord and cry, "Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?" Christ rises, and in a powerful display of divinity, he rebukes the winds and sea, and the storm is stilled. The disciples are amazed: "What kind of man is this?" 

Would you have feared the man or the storm more in that moment? You have just seen a man still the raging sea with his voice.

Who is this who rebukes the seas, silences the winds, gives sight to the blind, casts out spirits, frees captives, forgives sin, knows your name, carries your sin far away? We ask these questions of our beautiful, wonderful Lord Jesus Christ. The answer is that he is our God, the Lord of hosts; he has come veiled in humanity. Psalm 89:9 says, "You rule the swelling of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them." Only God can still the sea, and here is Christ showing us his true identity. Psalm 107:26–31 says: "They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, and were at their wits' end. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea were hushed... Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men!" (Psalm 107:23–31).

Conclusion

Who do you say Jesus is this morning? As you witness in his word the words and works of Christ, what is your response? Will you hold back, or surrender and come to Jesus, following him on his terms, wholeheartedly and forever? He is worthy of such. Is he not?