Peter and a Disciple's Consolation (Luke 18:28-30)

Children's Lesson (click here) 

I. The Cost of Following

What has it cost you to follow Christ? You personally. In certain places today, a person who confesses that Jesus is the Christ may be painfully shunned by his or her family, or his or her village. In other places, the man or woman who confesses that Christ is Lord may be dismissed by an employer or removed from public office. And of course, in still other places, a confessing Christian may lose their freedom altogether. Their faith may lead to imprisonment; maybe even death. But what about you and me? What has it cost us to follow Christ?

It's very common in discussing a topic like this to hear someone stress just how good we have it in this country, and in many other Western countries. And because that's generally true, it's also very common to the hear the accusation that we have subsequently become ungrateful, maybe complacent, maybe spiritually sluggish in light of such blessings. While I'm convinced that is true in many cases, and always presents a serious temptation for us, I'm also convinced that for the genuine disciple of Jesus, his or her faith always cost them something. Always. If that's true, then Jesus has wonderful consolation for us this morning. Let's look together at Luke 18:28-30.

II. The Passage: “Many Times More ” (18:28-30)

Before reading this short passage, let's set up the scene that's being presented here. A man described as “a ruler” (in verse 18) has just asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” But when, in verse 22, Jesus calls him to “sell all that you have and distribute [the proceeds] to the poor”, we read in verse 23 that the man, “when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.” This exchange is then followed (in verses 24-27) by a conversation about both the deception and shackles of wealth, and the power of God.

So, as we've already done twice this month, let's return to our fellow disciple Peter and listen to how he responds to this hard conversation about sacrifice and salvation. Verse 28...

And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” [29] And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, [30] who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Now, I don't know about you, the first question that comes to mind about this passage concerns Peter's motivation. Why does he say what he says here? In light of this rich man's failure, is Peter boasting about his own success; about what he and the other apostles have, in fact, sacrificed to follow Jesus? OR, is Peter looking for some assurance in light of their sacrifices... assurance that the very offer Jesus just made to this ruler is also applicable to them? So how might we figure this out? Well, since the writer here tells us nothing about Peter's motivation, the best clue we have is the response of Jesus in verses 29 and 30. Notice that Jesus does not rebuke Peter here for pridefully fishing for praise. No. He actually reassures Peter. He doesn't dissect Peter's statement, but instead, it seems like he simply recognizes that statement to be true and offers reassurance in light of their sacrifices. Of course, Luke has already told us that Peter's statement is, in fact, true. We heard about some of these sacrifices in Luke chapter 5.

The writer tells us that “when they [Peter, Andrew, James, and John] had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed [Jesus]” (5:11). A couple paragraphs later we're told this about Levi, a tax collector, and his response to the call of Christ: “And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.” (5:28)

But notice that for Peter in 18:28, the “everything” they left behind is simply described as “our homes”; “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” Does this mean that Peter and the others have liquidated all of their relationships and responsibilities back “home”, just as the rich man was (a few minutes earlier) called to liquidate his assets and give it all away? No. There's no indication that the apostles 'liquidated all of their relationships and responsibilities'. What they did do is not allow, if any conflict presented itself, those relationships and responsibilities to take priority over the call of Jesus. And so, in most cases, the relationships and responsibilities were not sacrificed, but instead, all the present benefits from and control over such blessings were relinquished. The blessing of a loving wife, the blessing of a supportive family, the blessing of a productive business, of a respectable position... all of these were sacrificed with trust that God would provide for all those relationships and responsibilities while these men followed Christ.

And yet for some, the relationships and responsibilities represented by that word “home” would be (or at least, seem to be) permanent sacrifices. Levi may have understood that he would never go back to his job in the tax booth. Some disciples may have understood that certain family relationship really were severed. Several chapters earlier, Jesus asked them...

“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. [52] For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. [53] They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51–53)

For some of these disciples, what Jesus described there wasn't a hypothetical. It was the painful reality of their own experience; of family members who were active enemies of the faith. But Jesus was not and is not insensitive to these often painful losses. That's precisely why he reassures them in verses 29 and 30. Notice how he offers this reassurance in two parts:

First, Jesus reassures every disciple that our life-needs will be met today. All of us know that as human beings we have deep needs related to life and livelihood, deep needs related to personal relationships... and purposeful relationships, deep needs related to connection, to fruit-fulness, to security and significance, deep needs that really do motivate so many of our choices, whether good or bad; whether healthy or unhealthy. Though Jesus does promise his followers a life of adversity, he doesn't want that hard reality to become a caricature that communicates something like, “Well, you just need to accept that you're going to be miserable and deprived until you die and arrive in God's presence.” No. When a man or woman follows Christ, they can be assured not only of his presence, but also the presence of other followers; of a faith family. That's good news in light of the Good News, right! And don't miss the emphasis of Jesus here in verse 30. How abundant is this present provision? We have received “many times more in this time”. Did you know that if you belong to God through Jesus (by grace, thru faith), that you have family members all over the world... in every single country? Did you know that you now belong to something so much bigger and so much better than any human family, than any special club, than any corporation, than any political party, than any movement, any cause, any tribe, any nation? No matter where you've come from, no matter what you've left behind, through Jesus, you can now experience the “many times more” of the kingdom of God. But there's more...

Second, Jesus reassures every disciple that our life-needs will be met eternally. Whatever loss we experience in this life, whatever privileges we forego, whatever rights we surrender, whatever hardships we endure, we can always find consolation in the promise that we will one day experience the perfect and lasting fulfillment of every genuine need you experience today. Without a doubt, the consolation of a new faith family and new spiritual purpose for this life right now is a true blessing. But we also know our present experience of such things is and will be imperfect. We struggle with one another, and we struggle with living a life that is truly surrendered to God's work in and through us. But... “in the age to come eternal life.” That's not forever life as defined by this age. That's forever life according to the God-filled perfection of the age to come. Brothers and sisters, no matter the cost, there can be no greater consolation than that.

III. Your Life-Needs

Think this morning about your life-needs. Think specifically of that area or those areas in which you desperately need to hear the consolation of Christ this morning. No. Maybe you weren't shunned by your family and/or friends for your faith... but you still have deep relational needs. No. Maybe you didn't lose a job because of your faith... but nevertheless, you're struggling with a sense of calling. Wherever that life-need is pressing down on you this morning as a disciple of Jesus, please hear the reassurance of Jesus. As I said earlier, for the genuine disciple of Jesus, his or her faith always cost them something. Always. What has it cost you? What has it cost all of us? Listen to where Jesus goes with his call to “count the cost” in chapter 14...

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. [27] Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (14:26, 27)

Of course, “hate” here does not simply mean “hate”. It means to displace from that position of ultimate commitment inside of you (repeat). As Jesus indicates in this passage, if any family member is in that ultimate position, they must be displaced in light of Jesus. But notice where Jesus ends up in v. 26. If your “own life” is in that ultimate position, that is, if your commitment is to meeting all your life-needs according to your own wisdom (and that's all of us), then that too must be displaced. Jesus addressed this same issue even earlier in chapter 9, where he also provided us with more words of consolation: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life [there's the cost] for my sake will save it. [there's the consolation]” (9:24) Just as Jesus provided consolation to the wealthy ruler in chapter 19 (“you will have treasure in heaven”), he provides reassurance to each one of us who has laid his or her own life on the altar and said, “This I entrust to you, Lord Jesus.”

Brother, sister, friend, this consolation is for the prospective disciple and the present disciple; that is, it's not simply reassurance to the person who is struggling with surrendering to Jesus for the very first time. It is that. But it's also reassurance for the person who struggles with 'un-surrendering' his or her life (sound familiar?); struggling with that daily temptation to once again meet all your life-needs according to your wisdom, and not according to God's “many times more” provision. So as you think about those pressing life-needs this morning, let us do what Jesus prescribed: let us bear our own crosses (that is, daily offering our lives to him); but let's do that remembering that Jesus first bore his cross for us. For through that once-for-all sacrifice, we can rest assured (the very thing Jesus wanted for Peter) that no matter what we've left behind, no matter what he calls us to surrender today, it will be okay. We are not alone this way (up/down), we are not alone this way (side/side), and we can trust that every other genuine life-need will be provided for, both now and forever. May each of us press into this provision today!