Discipleship How Much Does It Cost

Discipleship: How Much Does It Cost

11/5/95 Luke 14:25-35 Psalm 91 John 6:60-71

Everybody loves a winner. This year the Cleveland Indians drew crowds as never before. People everywhere were singing their praises and wanting to be identified with them. Why were people flocking to see the team? Was there a genuine heart conversion to love the team.

Well for some, in the beginning it wasn’t the Indians they were crazy about, they just wanted to see the new Jacob’s field. For others it wasn’t the Indians they were crazy about, but their own merchandise. The more games the Indians won, the more money they made from T-Shirts and gadgets.

There were some in Indian T-Shirts and Sweat Shirts, who had no love at all for the Indians, but they wanted to jump on a winning band wagon. If the Indians lose next year, they will quickly throw away their T-Shirts and claim they never were really Indian fans. For some, the Indians have always been there team, whether they ended in fifth place or first.

Whenever there is a winner on the scene, people try to get close. In the first century, large numbers of people flocked to Jesus. They came to him for various reasons and with different expectations. Some just wanted to see him, others wanted to be healed, some wanted their lives to be changed, and some wanted to be near him because he was a winner at the moment.

But Jesus had a problem of being truthful and painfully honest with people. When they came to him, he wanted to sit down with them and discuss such painful topics as, "the cost of discipleship". It was as though, he wanted people to follow him, but did not he want them to be surprised at the kinds of demands that He would make upon their lives.

There are many different things that attract us to Jesus Christ. Some are good, some are not so good. Jesus does not call out, "Hey, everybody, Yoo Hoo, come over here. It’s me. I’ve got the secret to joy and happiness, as well as to health and wealth." No, sometimes Jesus says things when he shouldn’t have said them if he wanted people to come hear him. One thing that Jesus appeared not to know was how to keep people coming to hear him preach.

Just when he had a large crowd following him in our New Testament reading, Jesus went and said something that the people didn’t like. They told him, "this is a hard teaching, who can accept it." A few verses later, the word says, "from this time, many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed him." Jesus still had not quite gotten the message, so he made matters even worse by looking at the 12 he had left and asking them, "Do you guys also want to leave."

Now Peter could have been bold enough to say, "Jesus you need to tone down these messages you’re preaching on discipleship. Give the people time to let it soak in, or there won’t be anybody left for you to preach to and all your work will be down the tubes. But I thank God that Peter didn’t say the wrong thing this time around instead, when Jesus asked them if they wanted to leave, Peter said, "Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.

Peter’s statement is critical. Either Jesus is the Son of God, the Way, the Truth, and the Life as Jesus Himself claimed to be, or we’re living in dream world by putting our faith in Him. If Jesus is who He claimed to be, then we may be in danger for taking the cause of Jesus Christ too lightly, yet if Jesus is not who he claimed to be, why bother with the cause of Christ at all. The cost of discipleship depends on whether Jesus is who he claimed to be. If He is the Son of God, the cost of discipleship is whatever he demands it to be. If He isn’t, we can set the cost as little or as high as we want it to be.

Let’s open our bibles to Luke 14 starting at verse 25. We will see what kinds of costs Jesus put on the privilege of being called one of his disciples. Luke 14:25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. I want you to keep in mind that Jesus is never inpressed with the size of the crowd. He is more concerned with the depth of a person’s commitment. God can do more with 10 people who are willing to do anything for Christ, than He can with 10,000 who are staddling the fence.