When Following Jesus Costs Something

"Shut Up, Peter!" That's what part of me wants to say when I read Matthew 19:27.

"Lord, we have left all and followed You. What shall we have therefore?"

But before we silence Peter, we should thank him...

Matthew 19 is the “leaving” chapter of the Bible: 

• For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother…

• Verse 21 he basically tells the rich young man to levae it all and follow Him.

• And in verse 27 Peter says we have left all, and followed you; what shall we have therefore?

That last verse has always impressed me.

We want to say, “Peter, that’s not an appropriate question,” but in the back of our minds, I’m thinking, “Get out the popcorn, this ought to be an epic answer!”

And Jesus does what He does so well. He flips the script.

Instead of a rebuke, He gives a promise:

"Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit everlasting life."

What an answer.

Jesus promises eternal life someday, but He also promises something for now.

Yesterday was Father's Day in America. Some of you spent it with your family. Some of you couldn't.

Many ministers know exactly what Peter meant. You left home. You moved away from parents. You raised children hundreds of miles from grandparents. While others worship beside family every Sunday, you often see yours only a few times a year.

My wife had never moved before we married. In the next few years she lived in three different states and seven different houses.

Peter asked, "Lord, we've left everything. What's in it for us?"

And Jesus answered.

Every congregation gives you another mother. Your children collect extra grandparents. There are homes across this country where the owners would tell you, "Make yourself at home. Come on, stay as long as you need." There are people who would answer your call at one in the morning and mean it when they say, "We're family."

Name the city. Name the state. Name the country.

God's got family there.

So do you.

Thank you, Peter.