Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.11UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.08UNLIKELY
Fear
0.14UNLIKELY
Joy
0.6LIKELY
Sadness
0.53LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.29UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.01UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.84LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.85LIKELY
Extraversion
0.12UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.9LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.73LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
What Happens When We Try to Follow Jesus Christ?
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 8:18-27
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared August 16, 2021)
BACKGROUND:
*Here in Matthew 8, Jesus has finished His Sermon on the Mount, and great multitudes followed Him down the mountain, on the way to Capernaum.
During the Lord's ministry, Capernaum was a well-known city on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Albert Barnes called it the metropolis of all Galilee.
(1)
*On the way to the city, Jesus miraculously healed a leper.
Then in Capernaum, a Roman centurion found the Lord and pleaded for Jesus to heal his paralyzed servant.
The Lord offered to go to the soldier's home for the healing.
But in Matthew 8:8, with great humility and faith, the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.
But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed."
When Jesus heard that, in vs. 10, "He marveled, and said to those who followed, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!'"
The original word for "marvel" there means that Jesus was amazed, and He greatly admired the soldier's faith.
*The Lord miraculously healed that soldier's servant from a short distance, but Jesus could have done that from the other side of the moon, or the other side of the universe for that matter!
Praise the Lord!
*Next in vs. 14-17, Jesus went to Peter's house.
There the Lord healed Peter's mother-in-law with a touch.
That same night, with just a word, Jesus cast evil spirits out many demon-possessed people.
He also healed everyone there who was sick.
*But starting in vs. 18, the great crowd became a problem, and Jesus decided to take a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
We don't know all the reasons why Jesus left Capernaum, but He surely needed some rest.
And wherever the Lord chose to go, was exactly where He needed to be.
*In tonight's Scripture we will see the Lord's disciples, and two men who were thinking about becoming His followers.
All of these men help us understand what happens when we try to follow Jesus Christ.
Please keep this in mind as we read vs. 14-27.
MESSAGE:
*Jesus Christ is the one and only eternal Son of God.
Our crucified and risen Savior will reign forever as the rightful King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He deserves our utmost love and loyalty.
But what happens to us when we try to follow Jesus Christ?
1. FIRST: HE WILL HELP US COUNT THE COST.
*When we seek to follow Jesus, He will help us count the cost of following Him.
This is one of the lessons for us tonight in vs. 18-20:
18.
Now 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.''
*Why did Jesus say that?
One reason why is that He wanted us to know the high cost of commitment to Him.
The Lord never hid this hard truth from His would-be followers.
And the high cost of following Christ is a recurring theme in the New Testament.
*For example, in Matthew 10:34-36 Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.
I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.'
And 'a man's foes will be those of his own household.'"
*There the Lord quoted Micah 7:6, and ever since, Christians around the world have faced the most brutal kinds of persecution.
By God's grace, believers in the United States have so far been spared from horrible persecution.
But being a Christian is not always going to be a piece of cake.
It can be very hard.
People will stand against you when you stand for Jesus Christ, sometimes even people in your own family.
*Jesus wants us to know the high cost of commitment to Him.
Of course, it's worth the cost!
But when we try to follow Jesus, He will help us count the cost of following Him.
2. JESUS WILL ALSO REMIND US OF HIS SACRIFICE.
*This is another essential truth for us in vs. 19-20:
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.''
*Yes, in vs. 20 Jesus helped the scribe count the cost of following Him.
But the Savior did that by pointing out part of His great sacrifice for us.
Again: "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
The Lord who owns all of Heaven and this whole universe did not own a home during His earthly ministry.
*Another part of the Lord's sacrifice is seen in the name Jesus gave Himself on that day, He called Himself "the Son of Man."
This is the first of 88 times this name is found in the New Testament.
And there is much more to say about it, but here the name "Son of Man" highlights the fact that the eternal Son of God humbled Himself to take on a mortal human body.
(2)
*No one else could have ever made a sacrifice like Jesus has made for us.
He left His home in Heaven.
He left His throne for us!
And He died on the cross for us!
Paul put it this way in Philippians 2:5-8:
5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6. who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7. but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
*After Jesus was brutally beaten, and mocked with a crown of thorns, He was nailed to a cross for us.
Let that truth sink in more tonight: Jesus was nailed to a cross for our sins.
And studying the Lord's sacrifice can strengthen our faith.
The more we focus on what Jesus has done for us, the more we will see that we can trust Him.
*As Craig Nelson once wrote, "Jesus is the only one in the universe who has, once and for all, completely and totally proven Himself trustworthy by shedding His blood and dying on the cross.
He no longer needs to prove He is trustworthy, yet He does so on a moment-by-moment basis in every circumstance and situation.
By trusting your entire body, mind, soul, and spirit completely into His hands, you will experience His peace."
(3)
*The more we focus on what Jesus has done for us, the more we will see that we can trust Him.
And when we try to follow the Lord, He will remind us of His sacrifice.
3. JESUS WILL ALSO STRESS THE URGENCY OF OUR SERVICE.
*This is what the Lord did in vs. 21-22.
There, "another of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.'
But Jesus said to him, 'Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.'''
*Was the Lord saying that we shouldn't care for our parents?
-- Of course not.
Most of us know that one of the Ten Commandments is: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."
That's the Lord's Fifth Commandment, and it's found in Exodus 20:12.
The Apostle Paul repeated it in Ephesians 6:1-3, and there he said, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
'Honor your father and mother,' which is the first commandment with promise: 'that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.'''
*In 1 Timothy 5:8, Paul also said: "If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
*The Lord would never tell us to neglect or abuse our families.
Rather, in Matthew 8, Jesus is trying to help us see the urgency of our service in His Church.
Time is short.
We must do what we can while we can.
*In John 9:4, Jesus said, "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work."
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9