What does Tribe teach about excuses?
Drawn from the message where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on excuses starts with two short exchanges in Matthew 8 that most people read right past. Brian Hunter walked through them slowly, showing that when would-be followers of Jesus offered reasons they were not quite ready to go all the way, Jesus did not argue with them or soften the ask. He named the real cost and let them sit with it. As Brian put it, "He didn't tell him no, that you can't follow me. He was helping him to cost of what it really means to follow him."
The deeper point Brian pressed is that Jesus is not fooled by the reasons we give ourselves or others. The excuses we reach for can sound reasonable, even spiritual, but Brian was direct: "You might even have yourself fooled with saying things, but there is a secret, ulterior priority and motive in our heart. Jesus sees right through that." The teacher of religious law in the passage made what looked like an enthusiastic offer to follow Jesus anywhere, and Jesus responded not with a rebuke but with an honest picture of what following him actually looks like. The man's silence after that was its own answer.
What Tribe teaches from this passage is that Jesus is not cruel when he presses past our excuses. He is doing something more important than making us comfortable. Brian's bottom line for the morning was plain: "Jesus cares more about your transformation than he does your comfort." The relationship with Jesus is always on his terms, and the teaching here is that those terms, as costly as they can feel, are always the best.
Taught from Matthew 8:18-22
“Jesus cares more about your transformation than he does your comfort.”
From You're Not Being Very Sensitive, Jesus
The passage taught · John 14
1 “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.
3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
4 Where I go, you know, and you know the way.”
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- August 29, 2026 You're Not Being Very Sensitive, Jesus Brian Hunter walks through Matthew 8 to ask what it really costs to follow Jesus, and why his answer would get him canceled then and now.