3.8.20 - The Unexpected Cost of Discipleship (Kenny Camacho)
SCRIPTURE: Mathew 8:18-22, 10:6-39
After the Sermon on the Mount ends, Jesus gets to work in the community: he heals the sick, casts out evil spirits, and befriends the outcast and despised. As he does this, he begins to attract potential “disciples,” or those who wish to follow in his footsteps. But again, Jesus defies expectations: instead of welcoming them aboard, he calls their commitment into question and lays out a high cost for real discipleship: those who follow Jesus have to put their relationship with God above all else. This week, we want to explore this cost in the context of Jesus’s earthly ministry and its implications for us today. Are we willing to put God first in all aspects of our lives? What does it really mean to be a part of Jesus’s inside-out Kingdom?
REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Read Matthew 8:18-22 together. What are your reactions to this passage? What do you think Jesus is trying to communicate to these two men? To us?
Why do you think the story of Jesus calming the storm is placed immediately after this passage? What might be the connection between the two stories? What can we learn about Jesus, or about discipleship!, from this passage?
Read Matthew 10:9-32 together, when Jesus sends out the twelve. What similarities do you see between the mission Jesus gives his disciples and the mission of the church, as we have been discussing it?
What warnings does Jesus give to the disciples about what they can expect? How do you feel about these warnings, especially as they might relate to us, as modern-day Christ followers?
How do verses 34-39 relate to the series we have been in over the last 6 weeks? How do they relate to the passage we looked at in chapter 8?
What parts of your own identity are you “holding back” from your relationship with God? Why do you keep them separate? How might surrendering them to God change things?