A Winnowing

So, the summer before third grade, um it was right after electricity was No, I'm just kidding. It went um um my family moved across town uh to a small suburb on the east side of Cincinnati. And then, uh that next summer, um my parents enrolled me in little league baseball. Uh, thus began my brief and quite unremarkable career as a baseball player. Over a couple of dece seasons, I developed into what I might characterize as a slightly below average but serviceable catcher with an underwhelming batting average. Now, there's a scouting report for you. that is um uh there were enough boys enrolled in this in the town that I lived in for us to field two teams and I was on team B which was great. I played, had a good time, but somewhere a couple of years in, enough kids had sort of fallen away that we no longer had enough kids to field two teams. And we had to combine the remainder into one team. And there was actually more kids than there was spots for one team. So from week to week, not everybody got to dress. Now, the starters dressed every week and the rest of us were supposed to be on some kind of rotation about whether we would dress for the game or not. The first couple of weeks of the season, I dressed, which I guess was good. Um, but I played a half an inning in right field with no at bats. Um, and I went home to my parents and I said, "I don't think I want to do this anymore." Uh, quitting was looked down upon in my home. It wasn't something we did much of, but I think my parents um had come to recognize that I lacked, you know, those fundamental skills that were going to make me a successful ba baseball player and that I had now lost all interest. And so after some discussion, they let me quit. Um, a number of years later, many years later, I actually went to one when I was in high school, I went to one of my high school baseball teams. There were three towns that made up my the high school. Um, and on that high school team were maybe two of the kids that I had played with that were the stars of my little league team. So, there were had been this winnowing, this sifting of kids along the way. winnowing as an ancient grain harvesting process where the harvested grain. So they would they would first they would thresh it. So they would put on the floor and they would bang it and that would separate the grain from the chaff. But then they would all be kind of mixed there together. And so when winnowing they would toss it in the air and let the wind carry away the chaff, the stalk and leave behind only the grain. Uh there had been a winnowing, a sifting, a sorting of kids. A uh the the the the kids of the highest level of talent, desire, and commitment remained, and the rest of us were kind of carried away with the wind. It isn't intended necessarily to be exclusive or cruel, but in every kid, uh not every kid's cut out to be a baseball player. Ronnie, if you didn't know, played in college. He's very good. I did not, as you know. Um, and if fielding a successful team at higher and higher levels is the goal, then a winnowing must occur. In the weeks before we paused our study in Matthew to go to 1 Samuel for a while, a large crowd had assembled to listen to Jesus sermon, sermon on the mount. And then as we returned to Matthew last week, Jesus was healing. And again, what did we have? We had a crowd. Both of these events, the sermon on the mount and healings were crowd gathering events. And in this week's text, we will see that Jesus does a bit of winnowing. The kingdom that he is building is revolutionary. It's not casual. He has said that the followers were to be a city on the hill giving glory to he him. He said that not committing adultery wasn't enough but that we should desire and pursue purity of mind and thought. He said that we shouldn't just tolerate our enemies but we should actually love them. He said that we should pursue the greater things of life and lay up treasures in heaven and not allow the things of this world to compete for our hearts affections. This kingdom demands something of its followers, not out of guilt or fear or shame or obligation, but in response to the invitation of a gracious and merciful father who was made a way back to him through his son, our savior. And he empowers us today with a spirit spirit to increasingly live that reality. It isn't that his kingdom is exclusive, but it is holy. The invitation has been extended to everyone, but the reality is that some, in fact, maybe most, will be unwilling to set aside the things that compete for our hearts and truly follow him. So before I preach an entire sermon and my introduction, let me pause, read our text for today and pray and then we'll jump in. Text comes from Matthew 8 18-22. Hear the word of the Lord. Now when Jesus saw a great crowd gathering around him, he gave orders to go 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 discip 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." Pray with me. Father in heaven, we come to you this morning in awe that you would in fact be here present with us today and that you have left your word to speak to us and that your Holy Spirit empowers us and and and illumines that scripture to us. And so it is my prayer that we would acknowledge that what we are hearing today comes from you and in that hearing that you would speak to each of us individually and that our hearts might be different. I say it often but if we were to gather and not hear from you and be changed by that there's little point. And so it is my prayer that we would in fact listen and that what you would find here today is hearts soft for the things of you in Jesus name. Amen. Our text opens today with this phrase. Now, when Jesus saw a great crowd around him and he knows that not everyone in that crowd is going to be uh at is going to last or be willing to count the cost and truly follow him. So, I see three things that he asks his followers to give up. The first here is in verse 18 when he says this. He says, "Now when Jesus saw the great crowd around him, he gave orders to go to the other side." In everything I read on today's text, this verse is hardly mentioned. I think that most see it as a narrative connector helping to sort of transition us from one scene to another. And it is certainly that. But something struck me that through this teaching and his healing a great crowd had been drawn to him and his reaction was not to celebrate but to withdraw to get in a boat and to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. And it made me wonder why would he do that? My modern evangelical instinct is to go where the crowd is. Jesus had um the one thing that most modern evangelical churches want and will do nearly anything to get an audience. And yet his instinct was to withdraw. As we read in the gospels, we will see that Jesus from time to time will withdraw to pray and to refresh. But we don't see that here. That's not what Matthew's telling us Jesus is doing. At least again, so far as Matthew has provided the details for us and filled this in. And after today's text, in the text in the weeks to come, they will get in a boat. They will begin to travel to the other side. There will be a storm. They all get scared. Jesus calms the storm. They get to the other side. Jesus uh heals a couple of guys who are um possessed with demons. They get back in the boat. They come to the other side. Back to the other side. Uh and there he um he heals a paralytic. He heals the bleeding woman who touches the edge of his garment. Uh he raises a little girl who had died. He heals two blind men and then heals a man who was unable to speak. All of those things except for the storm and the healing of the two possessed mans were basically in the same place he'd started from in today's text. They go to the other side and they come right back. And then at the end of chapter 9, we read this. I hope I'm not, you know, giving away Steven's sermon or something in the weeks to come, but you could read ahead. you're allowed to read ahead anyway. But um and Jesus went throughout the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And then he said to the har to the disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. What I saw in today's text was somehow an illustration of this. A crowd on the shore but a handful in the boat. I struggled to title this section. What what was it about these people that uh that were somehow attracted to Jesus were part of the harvest, the available harvest, but had not yet become workers? And I thought maybe I'd call them curious in the sense that they were curious yet weren't willing to let it go beyond that. Then I thought about calling it convenience. you know, they'd follow Jesus as long as it wasn't too inconvenient. And while maybe this is true, I actually settled on consumers because my sense is that they followed him as long as they knew what they were getting out of it and that there was something that they might be able to get out of being around Jesus. And frankly, the excursion across the lake was just too much. Again, something that landed here for me because I saw in the moment an indictment of what has too often become our modern church strategy. Draw a big crowd as big as possible. Make it convenient. Serve coffee, take care of the kids, inspiring music, and a sermon that just frankly doesn't ask too much of you. And then hope they come back. I love coffee, so I'm not indicting coffee. And coffee can be a great way for people to turn from sitting side by side to face to face. That's great. So, there's nothing wrong with coffee. And this and I'm committed to children's ministry, caring for kids in an environment that is more age appropriate and allowing parents to fully engage while modeling the message of Jesus to their children. But somehow of creating an environment that asks nothing of anyone, that only preaches what Jesus can do for them, that doesn't help them navigate the curious to disciple to worker, then I think maybe we've missed the boat. Pun intended. Maybe I'm squeezing a lot from a narrative connector sentence, so we'll move on. It just made me wonder why Matthew even included this. It made me wonder why Jesus even bothered to go to the other side. And I just had to ponder that for a minute. So the second point I'm calling comfort that he's asking them to give up comfort. This comes from verses 19 and 20. Says this, "And a scribe came to him and said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." Oh, 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." This is the first of two interactions that Jesus has with someone who expresses interest in becoming a follower. Verse 18, Jesus says, "Let's get in the boat." And they're not in the boat until verse 23. So, in my mind, they're walking towards the boat. and he has these conversations along the way. That's what's going on in my head, just so you know. I don't know. I wasn't there, but that's what's going on in my head. So, in my mind, again, these interactions are happening as he and the disciples are walking towards the boat. There's a fair bit written speculating about whether these two people ever actually became true followers of Jesus. When Jesus has an interaction with the rich young ruler in chapter 19, it tells him that he needs to sell everything in order to follow him. And it tells us in that interaction that he actually the rich young ruler goes away sorrowful. Sorrowful here. We simply don't know. But the message is pretty clear. I think maybe Matthew left the results out, sort of the follow-on story out on purpose because I think somehow when we don't know the end of the story, we sort of naturally put our feet in that person's shoes and ask, "Is this me?" A couple of observations. First, the man is described as a scribe. Scribes were sort of the Jewish religious experts. Uh they were the ones that would copy scripture uh for by hand because they didn't have they couldn't print. Um they were often included with the Pharisees. So you'll see that Pharisees and scribes a lot were kind of described together. or Pharisees was a group of uh Jewish uh leaders and followers that had a particular uh theological viewpoint and Jesus often condemns them for their narrow view of the law. And so the scribes are somehow law experts but they're not called teachers. So somewhere in there is where this man was and he addresses Jesus as teacher. This might be something akin to say rabbi, something like that. It is courteous, but it falls short of what the disciples often called him, which was lord. Um, which which would mean something like master or sir. We know nothing else about this man and the condition of his heart has to be inferred from Jesus response. Again, remember the rich young ruler. He was told he must sell everything. Why did Jesus tell that to the rich young ruler and not tell that to the scribe? Well, it's because Jesus obviously had some insight into the what this man the affections of this these different people's hearts was. And he was going right to their affections. And he says this, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head." I think the implication is is that G Jesus is unable to provide an assurance of security or position or honor to follow Jesus is a step of faith. And there's a lot of unknowns, seasons of want and of reordering of priorities as you do what the Lord asks you to do. Over 20 years ago, Lisa and I were asked to take a step of faith for me to quit my job and step into an opportunity to plant a church with a couple of other families without much hesitation. We did it. We saw God do so many miraculous things. his provision and care of us. Lives that were changed, people brought to faith, churches planted, people called to the ministry and to the mission field, serving the marginalized in our community. It was the faithful hand of God and unquestionably his calling for us. Yet at the same time, I can also tell you stories of financial hardship, of delaying doctor's visits and dental checkups because we frankly couldn't afford to go. I can tell you about uh betrayal and loneliness and delayed retirement and many many more. I wonder whether God if God had revealed those things to me at the time if I would have made a different decision. My first reaction is that if he had, we might have and I would have missed the opportunity to see him provide for us and use us and grow us. But but as I thought about it more, he kind of did tell us. He told us right here when he said, "Foxes have holes. Birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head." The following of Jesus is a life of faith that does not guarantee comfort. Yet, it is in that place where we can most clearly discern the generous and gracious provision of God. And I think I'd do it all over again. Uh before we move on, there's one more quick observation that isn't directly related to today's message, but I think it's important. In biblical commentaries, they call this an excursus. It's a fancy word for a rabbit trail, but it sounds so much smarter, right? So, you know, you can drop that in a conversation. Little excursus here. This is the first time Jesus addresses himself as son of man. It appears about 80 times in the gospels and nearly all of them, all but one or two are actually on his lips. The other two are people quoting Jesus who called himself son of man. It is his favorite title for himself. In the ancient Greek, it actually literally translates to son of man. There you go. That's helpful. Um, it was an idiom, an expression of the day that meant man. That's what it meant. So, as Jesus uses it, I think it carries this sense of humanity and loneliness. Of the 80 times that Jesus uses it, seven are used in reference to his earthly mission and another 10 are used when he talks about his rejection and suffering. But at the same time, for those who had studied their prophets in the Jewish scripture, there's an unmistakable illusion to Daniel 7, which says this in verses 13 and 14. I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there was one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory, and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed. It is such a contrast I think to this idiom that means man that we are now getting Daniel 7 that is clearly talking about the very glory of God and that in one title Jesus is combining both of them that there's this idea that he is both man and God there's a sense in which in this title encapsulate encapsulates the entire gospel that Jesus comes as a man yet as God to provide a way for us to know him unstained by his own sin qualifying him for it one who could die in our place and yet fully divine creator resurrector and king. Whenever I read the gospels and Jesus calls himself son of man, I try and pause for a moment and just think what is all tied up in that. It's it's it's a loaded title and I'd invite you to that. Of the 80 times that Jesus mentions son of man to refer to himself, 14 are in reference to his future glory. It's all tied together. Excursive over. We're moving on. The third thing that I think Jesus is calling us to set aside is control. Let's look at verses 21 and 22. Another of his disciples said to him, "Let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Follow me and leave the dead to bury the dead." Couple of observations. First, Matthew calls this person one of the disciples. So, he is presumably not one of the 12 or maybe even that sort of next layer of those that traveled with Jesus faithfully, but maybe part of this next broader circle of people that would call themselves disciples of Jesus. And this is further supported by his address of Jesus as Lord. Again, this is the word that we translate God or Yahweh with, but it doesn't it can also mean just sort of um teacher or or or or master. And I think that's the sense in which the disciples often used it when they talked to Jesus and they said, "Lord, so so this is a different address of Jesus than the one that the scribe had, right? He called him um rabbi or or or teacher. And here we call him Lord. So he's so he's somehow closer than the scribe was. And on the surface his request seems reasonable. Let me first go and bury my father. Jewish law and custom required that a dead father be buried within 24 hours and that the responsibility for that for those arrangements would fall to the eldest son. There's a reasonable consensus amongst scholars that there is a bigger question implied in his question here which is on and on on and and that on the surface Jesus response is pretty sharp. The sense is is that if this person's father was either dead or nearly dead, why is he here and not at home? And so most scholars believe that the question he's really asking is, can I delay my followers followership until a time that's a little more convenient for me? till my family obligations have diminished to a point that I can leave, you know, when my kids are out of school and I'll have quite so much to do. When I'm more financially secure and I can support some time away maybe when I retire that would be a good time. Can I control the conditions of my followership? I think teenagers can often have a similar response. Sometimes they think, "Oh, that's an adult thing. I'll worry about that Jesus stuff when I'm an adult. 20somes can sometimes respond with, you know, this is my time to have fun and to find myself. Young parents can often respond with, man, you know, work and the kids and all the activities. It's just really I I'll come to church as long as I can, when it's convenient, but when it's not, you know, I'll we'll just have to wait until the next season. Empty Nester's response is, you know, weekends are dedicated to visiting kids and grandkids. None of these are wrong inherently, but there's a similar vote motivation to this particular person's question. Can I control? Can I dictate the terms of my followership? And Jesus response is an interesting one and has always landed a bit harsh for me, made me a bit uncomfortable. Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But I think again Jesus is seeing the question behind the question. Jesus primary concern is one of gospel work, one of kingdom work. His admonition is that all of the things that do not require a follower of Jesus to do need to be left to those with lesser priorities. He is saying something more like the spiritually dead should be left to bury the dead. But those who follow me, those who are truly my disciples need to remain unencumbered by the world's priorities and remain committed to my work. from the thousands that were gathered for the spect spectacle of Jesus healings and Jesus winnowing out of those that were there to observe the spectacle or pursue their own healing and further those who were curious enough to examine Jesus so long as it didn't demand anything of them and further still winnowing those who are interested but wanted to dictate the terms the level and timing of their followership Jesus is left with a much smaller group that ends ends up in the boat. Jesus seems to be defying much of modern evangelical church growth philosophy where we lower the commitment, raise the comfort and the cool factor. We go easy on the life change demands in order to gather our crowd. Jesus concerns is much more about the quality of a person's heart and their willingness to truly follow him than it is about the size of the group we are able to gather. It is this very ideal that our values are trying to point us towards. Loving the king is an honorable pursuit. In fact, Jesus called it the first and greatest commandment. But to truly love the king is to be committed to being like him, to engaging with his people, to rearranging your priorities, to recognize that our walk with Christ is not a solo pursuit, but one we do in community, that we live the kingdom. And as our lives are transformed, we begin to see people the way Jesus did and step out of ourselves to serve not just ourselves or even our own community and friends, but the common good. Every one of us is prone prone to humanness and our redeemed but sinful heart. Finding ourselves fighting one or all of these consumerism, comfort, and control from time to time or season to season. Life gets hard and full. School, work, kids, grandkids, health, and energy levels can seem to conspire to demand our heart and our attention. None of these are inherently evil, but they draw our heart from truly loving the king, living the kingdom, and serving the common good. And they can serve as a vehicle to draw us from him. There's something somehow appropriate, I think, that we landed on this text during Advent or not during Advent, during Lent. It's a season of reflection and confession and dedication. And that as we approach the cross and the empty tomb, I pray every one of us that the Holy Spirit might reveal areas of our lives that are pulling us from something sim smaller rather than pressing on towards the upward call of knowing Christ Jesus. Pray with me. Father, our savior, your son Jesus, our brother single-mindedly a pursued the task that you had given him, not wavering to the left or to the right. And we are eternally grateful because without that that we in fact would be lost. And in that he calls us to be followers of him to allow your spirit to change us to uh have our lives aligned with you and your kingdom work. So it is my prayer that during this Lenton season and as we reflect on your scriptures that we would do in fact that that we would find ourselves following you to be a disciple. one who is getting in the boat and not allowing the cares of this world to reorder us in a way that has us pursuing something smaller. So do what you do in our hearts, Father. And I pray that this morning would not be useless words but words that you have spoken to the hearts of your people in Jesus name. Amen. Praise God from all blessings