WHAT KIND OF MINISTER WAS JESUS?

In a word- not much like most ministers today. Lets see the differences by looking at the book of Matthew:

Matt 8v18: When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.

1) Jesus fled a crowd! He did not seek out popularity from men, for He knew what was in men (John 2v24-25). Rather than bask in the glow of what He fully deserved and what was due Him, He preferred to CONTINUE TO DO THE WILL OF GOD, WHICH USUALLY LED HIM AWAY FROM THE MASSES, TO MINISTER TO INDIVIDUALS. Just look at virtually EVERY passage that follows in Matthew, and you'll be extremely hard pressed to find EVEN ONE instance where the Lord is ministering to masses, instead of to individuals and to few. There were a handful of occasions all up that He ministered in that way, but very rarely. Today most ministers want as big a crowd as they can get, and they call it revival, but Jesus usually didn't minister in that way because He knew that the power of God wasn't heightened or lessened by numbers. Jesus fled a crowd the same way we should if suddenly popularity comes upon us, for two reasons; one, the temptation for us to become proud will be too much for us, and two, the temptation for men to start making idols out of us will be too much for them.

v19: Then a teacher of the law came him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

2) Jesus didn't advertise the Christian walk as one that would fulfil all peoples' hopes and dreams for absolute abundance and ease! Far from it! Instead, He put the HARDEST aspect of Christianity front and centre for those that were thinking of following Him. He told this potential follower that it was likely that not only would he likely just have the BARE ESSENTIALS, but at times even these may not seem to be enough (not even a place to live!). This wasn't an unkind thing for the Lord to do, rather a loving thing. After all, it makes sense to prepare a potential follower to know the cost of following Jesus before they begin, so that they'll have a chance to figure out it they really want to follow Jesus (not just in a day of popularity and provision, but in a day of storm, hardship and poverty), lest, after having started to build, they find that they can't give what they thought they could at the beginning (Luke 14v28). Most Churches today are continually going on about how God provides everything we need, and that He's present to continually bless us and prosper us, and while there's a place for that in the right context, but while that should be preached, that's not all that should be preached. Yes, God provides for our NEEDS, so let people know this, but in what context? -Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And this context necessitates hardship, and not only hardship, but often SEVERE hardship. And so this must be what is primarily put front and centre, because people must be warned and prepared before setting out with Christ. Most Churches now are often unwittingly advertising that following Christ will be one long life of Christ entertaining us and giving us fun times after fun times, and this is grossly misrepresenting not only Jesus Christ, but also just how hard it often is to follow Him. This is not helping, but hindering a walk with Christ.

3) Jesus didn't worry that the hard truth and hard reality of a following after Him would damage His popularity. Jesus couldn't care less if He had masses following Him or not, or if people thought that He was wonderful or not, in fact He often preferred to escape the masses in order to spend time with His Father and spend time in prayer, because He knew that the work of salvation was not enhanced by a hyped up crowd, but by the power of God alone. How many hard words do you hear from the pulpit today? How much of the hard reality of following Jesus do you hear? Those questions are good to use as a test of the truth you hear from any pulpit or any Church. If you hear those things, there's a good chances those places of God are legit in terms of speaking the truth, if not, there's a good chance that error and deception are going on.

4) v21: 'Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Follow me. and let the dead bury their own dead."
I can just hear most people today, "Wow Jesus, that is incredibly harsh! His father just died!' I wonder, if that was posted on Facebook today, just how many likes that would've gotten? Not many (if any) of course, because sacrifice is hard and uninviting. Jesus was a minister who, again, put out just how hard following God would often be. He showed the potential follower of God that there would be times when the calling of God on someone's life would necessitate them leaving even loved ones, would sometimes necessitate appearing harsh to others and those close to us and would necessitate making drastic sacrifices. Furthermore, sometimes following Jesus will necessitate us making a clear cut distinction between the natural and the spiritual, and sacrificing natural loves in order to follow spiritual ones. When Jesus said, 'Let the dead bury their own dead,' He was also alluding to a spiritual reality that even though sometimes we would care for those that are unsaved, sometimes in order to continue to follow God, we must part from unsaved people in order continue with the calling and mission God has for us (even those unsaved that we may dearly love). Also- the man who wanted to follow Jesus would even have to leave his family and the place He lived! Jesus didn't give an incredibly long speech in soft and soothing words to this man in order to console him about this, He simply said 'FOLLOW ME'. Sometimes God desires for ministers to just put it plainly to the people of God that in order to follow Him, they must make great and often painful sacrifices. The reward is sometimes only in the life to come! Let us never shy away from telling people just how hard it will be to follow Jesus!