The Cost of Discipleship-The price is what you pay initially- The Cost is what comes later. You pay a price for a piano & music lessons. The cost is the hours of practice and work and rehearsal. Jesus paid the price for our lives. We must bear the Cost of Following Him.
“When Jesus calls a man, He bids him, ‘Come, and die’”. Dietrich Bonheoffer, the Cost of Discipleship
Illus. Bonheoffer was imprisoned and eventually executed for doing what he felt was the fulfillment of his calling to follow Jesus. He publicly and openly taught against the tyranny of Hitler’s regime as anti-Christian. He paid the ultimate price for his faith. He understood the Cost of Discipleship and wrote a book with that title from a German prison cell.
Luke 14:25 “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.”
There is a Relational Cost for Following Jesus
Illustration: Abdu Murray relates the story of his visit to an elderly Muslim man in the hospital. Abdu was a Muslim who examined the evidence for Christ and gave his heart to follow Jesus. He answered the man’s questions and perceived even with his best efforts at answering questions the man seemed to become harder hearted as the conversation progressed.
Finally, he shares, he asked the man a question that changed everything
“I swallowed hard and asked the question I feared might derail the discussion for good. “What would happen if you did become a Christian? What would your kids think or do?”
His eyes lowered as a slight sigh left his lungs. “They would disown me. It is unforgivable and a shame for me to become Christian.”
I knew that fear all too well. I had to face the possibility of such losses when I was wrestling with (and even against) the answers that Christianity offered to my toughest questions. “I know what it’s like to have to face that kind of rejection. I also know that the possibility of losing the people you love the most is a powerful reason to close your ears to the answers the gospel provides.”
The historical evidence, the philosophical and theological arguments—none of them—broke through the man’s stony veneer like the words I had just spoken. A tear escaped his eyes and rolled down his cheek. “Thank you,” he said, surprising me. “Thank you for understanding that I might lose everything if I even consider what you are saying.”
This kind of rejection is common here in India, and, I believe, it only will grow in very few years as the tensions against the Gospel and political and social pressures against Christians become more and more common. Following Jesus may mean losing popularity, losing privilege, and, even, losing the most valuable relationships in your life.
And this is not limited to those in religious communities where acceptance of the Gospel is tantamount to rejection of your family, heritage, and traditions. It is also the case in traditional Christian families where the calling of God on your life does not match the expectations of those you love.
You must love God and obey His calling, even when that means disregarding what everyone in your family thinks you should do. You have to value your relationship with God above all other relationships. God doesn’t allow you any other options.
The problem is we say we want God’s will, and His Truth, and want Him, but when it comes to the cost exacted we balk. AS Judith Viorst worded it so poetically:
“I made him swear he’d always tell me nothing but the truth
I promised him I never would resent it
No matter how unbearable, how harsh, how cruel
How come he thought I meant it?” -Judith Viorst’s play Love and Shrimp. Quoted from Abdu Murray’s article- http://www.rzim.org/just-thinking/what-truth-costs/
There is a Relationship Cost for Following Jesus; you must be willing to pay that cost if you want to follow Him.
“ 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
There is a Sacrificial Cost for Following Jesus
Illus. Albert Durer
Albrecht Durer Sr. was a gold smith. He had eighteen children. Though he had a good profession, the maintenance of his immense family was a daily struggle. Two of his sons, Albrecht Jr. and Albert, nevertheless, had a dream of becoming artists. There was no way Albrecht could afford to send his sons to art school in Nuremberg, so, after much discussion, Albert agreed to work in the mines to pay his brother’s way through school, and then, Albrecht would support Albert through school.
Albrecht, therefore, went to school in Nuremberg, and became a wondrous artist.
You may have seen some of his paintings [Slide 10]. His portraits are particularly famous [Slide 11], as well as his etchings. [Slide 12]
When he returned home after four years of study, he said to his brother, “Now it is your turn. I am more than able to support you. Now you study art. Albert spoke softly and replied “it is too late for me, brother [Slide 13]. Look at my hands. In the mines my hands have been shattered. Every finger has a bone which has been broken. My right hand has arthritis, and I cannot even lift a glass, let alone a paint brush”. To honor Albert’s sacrifice, Albrecht painted a series of paintings with his brother’s hands as the subject. Today his most famous and recognizable painting is one a painting of his brothers’ hands. Look up Praying Hands on the internet and you’ll get this image [Slide 14].
Surely there is a connection here.
The most powerful prayers are sacrificial. Jesus prayed “not my will but Yours be done”. As a result He endured the cross, and purchased freedom from sin for everyone who would believe in Him. We must be willing to make a similar sacrifice if we wish to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
There is a Relationship Cost
There is a Sacrificial Cost to following Jesus and
There is a Calculated Cost
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
There is a Calculated Cost for Following Jesus
Illust. Vietnam Garbage Dump
. . . as a young man trying to come to terms with God’s call in ministry, I stood by a garbage dump in Ban Me Thuot, Vietnam: it was the grave of six missionaries martyred in the Tet Offensive of 1968. All alone, I pondered the price they had paid for following Christ. I asked myself whether any of them would have answered God’s call on their lives if they had known that their lives would end in a garbage dump. God knows our frailties; how loving of Him that He does not allow us to know the future. I prayed there by that grave that God would make me faithful so that I would not focus on the cost, but rather, keep my eyes on the mission to serve Christ with all my heart, soul, and mind, and on the sweetness of the walk with Him, day by day . . . .
The greatest of loves will never come cheaply. The greatest of loves that you and I can ever experience is an intimate relationship with God, who has given everything for us. And yes, sometimes, it takes everything you’ve got to honor that love and it takes everything you’ve got to honor that trust. Look at any athletes who have succeeded. Discipline and perseverance are indispensable parts of their lives unless they cheat. When you have discipline, you have the marks on the body to demonstrate it. Ravi Zacharias http://www.rzim.org/just-thinking/think-again-6/ June 20, 2014
34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
There is a Relationship Cost; There is a Sacrificial Cost to following Jesus and;
There is a Calculated Cost, but
[Slide 21] There is an Eternal Cost for Not Following Jesus to the End. This is related what Jesus said, “No one setting his hand to the plow looking back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:66)
Illustration: [Slide 23] Walter Mischel published a study in which children between 4 and 6 years old were offered a marshmallow now, or two fifteen minutes later. The first marshmallow was left on a table in front of the child. [Slide 24] The average wait time before eating the marshmallow was 6 minutes [Slide 25]. Those children who sat on their hands, or hummed a song to themselves, or found some good activity to keep them busy [Slide 26] were much more likely to succeed at waiting for the double reward.
This group of children was tracked through their lives. [Slide 27] Five-year-old Children who can’t delay their gratification are more likely to be overweight at the age of 11. Children who can delay their gratification are, on average, happier, more attached socially, and do better on standardized tests. These factors remained constant on the children studied again in 2011-Forty-year-olds were much more successful human beings if they were able to wait for a greater reward when they were 5.
A recent study demonstrates that those who are able to focus on an anticipated future reward are more able to succeed at delayed gratification tests. www.scientificamerican.com keywords: delayed gratification
How are we doing on the Marshmallow Test?
Are we sacrificing eternity with God for a marshmallow now?
The cost of NOT following Jesus, or of setting your mind on the ministry, then turning back, is the loss of our relationship with God &/or missing His calling on your life.
How much is that relationship worth to you?
Is it worth as much as your relationships with others?
Is it worth as much as possessions, fame, power, and glory you may have to sacrifice to follow Him?
Are you willing to count the cost of your relationship with God as greater than the value of your own life?
It seems Jesus’ first disciples all were willing to count the costs and make the sacrifice.
Peter was crucified, head-down, at his own request because he counted himself unworthy to die the same way as his LORD.
Andrew was crucified in Achaia. A later tradition describes him as being crucified in a spread-eagled position the basis of St. Andrew's cross of Scotland.
James, Son of Zebedee was beheaded.
Philip was martyred at Hieropolis.
Bartholomew was skinned alive, and then beheaded.
Thomas was speared to death near Chennai on the East coast.
Matthew was killed for his faith in Ethiopia.
James the Less was martyred in Egypt.
Jude was killed in Persia along with Simon the "Zealot".
Paul was beheaded at a place now called Tre Fontane in Rome
John, was boiled in oil, but it didn’t work. He was banished to the island of Patmos. He was subsequently freed and was the only one of the immediate disciples of Jesus, including Paul, who died a natural death circa AD100.
There is a Relationship Cost; There is a Sacrificial Cost and; There is a Calculated Cost to following Jesus but, truly, we have nothing to lose, eternity with God to gain and a world to win for Christ.
