Discipleship in Training
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
1. Let us consider the insincerity of the multitude. The last study closed with the crowds pressing upon Christ that they might be dispossessed of demons, and healed of all manner of sicknesses. The Lord did heal them all. We are sure, however, that He saw the real intent of the populace. They sought Him, not because they loved Him, nor because they received Him as the Son of God. They sought Him because of the benefits they would obtain.
Christ knew what was in man. He still knows. He knows our thoughts, whether we were baptized, and joined the church because we had felt His saving power, and received Him for aye as Saviour, Christ, and Lord, or, whether we joined the church with selfish motives.
Would that all believers were sincere and genuine. If they were we would have less of world-mixing than we have in many churches today.
2. Let us consider the need of others across the lake of Galilee. The people in other parts had the same need as the people this side the lake. The Lord Jesus Christ has laid down before the Church, the whole world as its parish. "Every creature" should be our quest, both in our prayers, our gifts, and our service.
We are in danger of becoming contracted in our view. We remember visiting a certain village that lay nestled in the mountain. Our vision was circumscribed. We could not see anything except the scattered homes of some 2,000 people. There was a big world beyond the mountain, but our vision was hemned in.
Not only so, but it seemed to us that the whole town was self-centered. You have heard the proverbial prayer of the selfish heart:
"God bless me and my wife. My son John and his wife, Us four and no more."
The heart of God is bigger than one family or one city. His vision takes in the world, and His command is, "Go ye into all the world." Christ gave commandment to depart unto the other side. Let us not, therefore, become onesided, or "this-sided."
On another occasion, the Lord said: "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also." We think: "The next towns also" would be a fine motto for many a self-centered and selfish heart.
During a holiday season the British general of the Salvation Army desired to cable his greetings to the Army in America. He sent just one word over the cables: "Others." Are there not others who need our testimony?
Is it nothing to you, oh, ye Christians at home,
That millions are passing each day
Into darkness forever, to sigh and to moan,
Not knowing that Christ is the Way?
Is it nothing to you who have much and to spare,
That lost ones are starving each hour?
Yet, it's not just alone of your bread they would share,
But of Christ and His glory and power.
Is it nothing to you who in luxury live,
That many have never once heard
Of the Saviour who died, full salvation to give?
O send them the truth of His Word.
Oh, ye Christians at home, up, awake, while 'tis day!
For the shadows of night hasten fast;
If you long for a part in the harvest display,
Toil on, ere the summer is past
Mrs. R. E. Neighbour.
I. A WOULD-BE FOLLOWER (Matthew 8:19-20)
1. A spirit of boasting. A certain scribe came unto the Lord saying: "Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest." He was ignorant of where the Lord was going. He knew nothing of the gathering cloud, nothing of the tempests that were about to fall upon his Lord. Nothing of the poverty which belonged to the Son of Man.
This scribe probably saw popularity and power ahead of him when he said: "I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest." He who would go with the Master should weigh well the cost thereof (Luke 14:27-28).
2. Making plain the demands of discipleship. The Lord Jesus never let down the bars to gain a disciple. Here was a man of prominence, and his name would have been quite an addition to the roll of disciples. The Lord, however, did not rush to enroll him.
When a certain rich young ruler prostrated himself at the Master's feet bringing with him both reputation and financial possibility, Christ quietly said: "Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, * * and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." Would that we in the churches were less anxious for members, especially members of affluence and power.
3. Forecasting His rejection of men. The Lord seemed to be saying to this certain scribe: "You want to follow Me then you must enter into My poverty, into My rejection, isolation, and death." The Lord was not ignorant of the fact of coming events. He knew that He would be cast off, spit upon, crowned with thorns, crucified, and knowing this, He did not want to secure a disciple under the false ideas which He saw gripped the scribe. He plainly said: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head."
II. ANOTHER WOULD-BE DISCIPLE (Matthew 8:21-22)
1. Putting other things first. This one said: "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father." The Lord did not deny any man the privilege of showing filial fidelity. He did rebuke this man for putting anything "first." It is written in the Word: "He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me." Let no one imagine that in such a statement the Lord Jesus was egotistical. He was asserting the fact of His Deity. It is the rightful position of Deity to be first, holding pre-eminence in all and over all.
2. Let the dead bury their dead. We wonder who "the dead" could be, who were to bury "their dead." They certainly were not the physically dead, who had been themselves buried, or were about to be buried. What Christ said was, therefore, "Let those who have never known the Light of life; let those who are spiritually dead, and not alive to things Divine, bury those who are physically dead."
This makes us think of a passage in Romans 13:1-14 where it is written: "It is high time to awake out of sleep: * * the night is far spent, the day is at hand." There is another verse which says: "The time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not, and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not."
With the Lord's death approaching with such rapid bounds there was no time for the disciple to tarry until his father died, that he might bury him. With the Lord's Second Coming now so nearly upon us, there is no time for us to turn aside for anything, that we may follow the Lord later on.
III. DISCIPLES WHO FOLLOWED HIM (Matthew 8:23)
1. Some disciples fell behind. As Christ entered into the ship to go across the sea, there were many who entered not. Perhaps the certain scribe and perhaps the disciple of Matthew 8:21 both lagged behind. We know not. There is one thing we do know, that there are many who run well for a time, because there is nothing to hinder them. According as it is written: "Ye did run well; who did hinder you?"
Again it is written: He "dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the Word, by and by he is offended." Such an one has no deep rooting in Christ.
There is another who heareth the Word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word and he becometh unfruitful. God give us men and women who follow on.
2. Other disciples entered with Him into the ship. They made the lot of the Lord, their lot. Where He went, they went. Whatever befell Him, befell them. This is the true position of every true follower. If we want to be with Him in the glory, sharing His crown; we must first go with Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
We remember how the Lord said: "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household?" If they hated Him, they will also hate us. If they despised Him, they will despise us. Can we expect the world to crown us with a crown of approval and royal dignity, when it crowned Him with a crown of thorns? If we must follow Him, we must follow also His shame and spitting.
The word "follow" carries with it a tremendous meaning. There is one thing it does not mean. It does not mean following afar off, as followed Peter in the hour of his defection. We must follow as Ruth followed Naomi, saying: "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."
IV. INTO THE STORM WITH CHRIST (Matthew 8:24)
There is a striking connection here. Read the closing words of Matthew 8:23, and the opening words of Matthew 8:24
1. The storm is suggestive of the lot which befalls all true disciples. Those who follow Him, do enter into a storm. They enter into a storm for the simple reason that there is always a storm gathering against the Son of God.
(1) There was a storm against Him throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. The devil was ever trying to destroy the Seed before it was born. In order to do this he fought continually against the line through which the Seed was to come.
(2) There was a storm against Him at the time of His birth. The devil tried to force Joseph to put away Mary when he discovered that she was with child of the Holy Ghost. The devil sought to bring about the death of the infant Son, the Holy Child, through the edict of Herod, when the innocents were slain.
(3) There was a storm against Him during all of His earthly life. It was seen in this study, when the tempest swept down on the boat as Christ lay asleep. It culminated on the Cross when principalities sought to overwhelm Him.
(4) There is a storm which is now seeking to overwhelm Him. That storm has gone so far as to deny everything vital to the birth, the death, the resurrection, the high-priestly work, and the Second Coming of Christ. The Lord is being attacked in the house of His friends, and in every great truth that surrounds Him and crowns Him Lord.
2. No one can follow Christ without entering into a great tempest. There is no way to avoid it. If we are one with Him, we must be one with Him in His persecution, one in the denials, and one in the attacks against Him.
V. THE ONLY HOPE OF SALVATION (Matthew 8:25)
1. The cry, "We perish." Yes, and they would have perished, so far as any possibility of any self help was concerned. The whole world would have perished. Each individual of the world would have perished if the Lord had not died, risen and come forth to save us.
John 3:16 comes in just here, "That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish." However, He who believeth not, will perish.
2. The prayer, "Lord, save us." The words: "Save us" express a plea of the heart. When Peter was sinking in the waves, while trying to walk on the sea, he cried: "Lord, save me." This was the cry of our own souls, when we felt ourselves lost and undone. Thank God, there is a Saviour!
When the angel spake to Mary he said: "Thou shalt call His Name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Human philosophies utterly fail to save the sinner from being engulfed in eternal death. Good works prove themselves to be a bed too short upon which we may stretch ourselves, and coverings too narrow on which we may cover ourselves. Salvation is indissolubly linked to the Saviour.
3. The word "Lord." The Saviour is our Lord. The disciples said, "Lord, save us." Paul said to the jailer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." This all carries with it the thought that the word "Jesus" is unalterably linked with the word "Lord." If Jesus were a mere man, son of Joseph and Mary, He could never be the Saviour. The angel, in announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds, said: "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
The Book of Isaiah, throughout, emphasizes the fact that the Redeemer is God, and that God, even the Lord and Christ, is our Redeemer. We quote but one verse: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."
VI. THE DISCIPLES' LORD IN ACTION (Matthew 8:26-27)
1. A gentle rebuke. "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" And why should we be fearful? There is no exigency in the believer's life that Christ cannot meet. If we go with Him, and bear His reproach, He will go with us, and share His power. He knoweth the things which concern us. He lives to meet our every need.
Why should we be fearful as to obtaining power to meet the exigencies which befall us in our word and work for Him? Our God and Christ hath said: "All power is given unto Me * * I am with you."
Why should we be fearful as to death? Our Christ is Lord. He faced our enemy. He died and was buried. He himself descended into hades, and He came forth with the keys of death and of hell in His hand; "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?"
2. A marvelous demonstration of power. " Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm." Such is the Christ whom we adore, and whom we serve.
"The winds and the waves obey His will,
Peace be still, peace be still,
Whether the winds or the storm-tossed sea,
Or demons, or men, or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean and earth and skies,
They all so sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace be still, peace be still."
3. A confession of Christ's glory and power. Matthew 8:27 reads: "But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!" We join with the disciples, to worship the Son of God. No one ever spake as He spake, wrought as He wrought, conquered as He conquered. What manner of Man is this? He is the God-Man God manifest in flesh. Him we love and Him we serve.
VII. THE MASTER'S QUEST (Matthew 8:28-34)
1. What went ye forth for to see? We have wondered, perhaps, why it was that the Master left the multitude, crossed the sea in the storm, and came to the other side of Galilee. We now discover the object of His quest.
Read Matthew 8:28. This was evidently the quest of the Master two demon-possessed, and devil-driven lunatics.
The disciples marveled when Christ calmed the sea, and they said, "What manner of Man is this?" We may all marvel as we see One so great and so mighty, God the Son, and Son of God, taking such a journey to touch two such vile and fierce characters.
However, if we would marvel, let us marvel that God so loved the world. Jesus took a journey far greater than across Galilee, when He came down from Heaven and its glory for you and for me.
2. The salutation which met the Master's ears. As the Lord passed by the place where other men dared not pass, the demoniacs cried out saying: "What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Whatever others may have thought or think of Jesus, the demons pronounced Him, Son of God. The men looked for torment because they believed in torment; and they knew they were fit subjects thereof. The Lord, however, had come to save, and not to destroy.
3. How the whole city met the Lord. He had come across the sea to save the demoniacs, and to be a blessing to the city that lay near by; but when they of the city saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart out of their coast. They did this because they lost a herd of swine, which were drowned in the waters. They were unmindful of the fact that two men who had been a danger to them all had been healed, and made worthy of trust.
The treatment which Christ received from the people of this Galilean village, did no more than bespeak the treatment that He received from the whole world: "He was in the world, * * and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not."
AN ILLUSTRATION
I visited a large hothouse once in which grew a great Acacia tree, I broke off a small twig and carried it home and put it in a vase. The next day I was surprised to find what great fragrance came from that small twig. Day after day it lasted and not until it had wholly withered and died and crumbled did the fragrance disappear. So much it reminded me of the really true Christian life that carries the fragrance with it from the vine of life until it is through with this life.
Aunt Dinah described a young member of her church as having "Jes' enough 'lijion to make her misable too much to be happy at a dance, an' too little to be happy in prair meetin'." Alas! the type is common a troubled spirit that halts halfway, afraid to go back, and unwilling to go forward. There is no place in the borderland. The halfway Christian is a torment to himself and no benefit to others. Forward.
There is a fable of an old lantern in a shed, which began to boast it had heard its master say he didn't know what he would ever do without it. But the little candle within spoke up and said: "Yes, you'd be a great comfort if it wasn't for me You are nothing; I'm the one that gives the light." We are nothing, but Christ is everything, and what we want is to keep in communion with Him and let Christ dwell in us richly and shine forth through us. D. L. Moody.