The Real Cost of Discipleship
A young boy bursts into his house one afternoon and begins a frantic search that takes him through the entire house for Rex, the family dog. Eventually he runs into his aunt who greets him with the sad news that she had found the gate open that morning and that the dog had disappeared. She had driven up and down the street, circled the block a few times but there was no sign of the dog.
For the rest of the day he was miserable, but the fact that the dog’s name and address were printed on its license tags seemed to make him feel better. He was sure that some good soul would find it and return it. As the day progressed, more and more hope began to fade.
Finally about six o’clock that evening the phone rang and his heart almost burst out his chest. He flew down the stairs almost throwing his aunt who was on her way up the stairs back down. Apparently his father had found the dog at the animal control center where it was dropped off after being found in a mall parking lot barking up a storm. So somebody had called the center and had had it picked up. Now the family would have to pay a redemption fee to the center for keeping the dog safely. Basically he had to buy his own dog back. That’s what redemption means doesn’t it?
That’s what God did for us. Because He created us, we belong to Him. But our sin has separated us from Him, so He had to redeem us or buy us back to himself by paying for our sin, and the currency He used was the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:7 reminds us that “in Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Jesus died so we could be forgiven and then truly belong to God. 1 Peter 1:18 and 19 puts it this way: “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed…but with the precious blood of Christ a lamb without blemish or defect.”
So suffering has always been a big part of the Christian faith and the Christian cross has always been a central theme of Christianity; it is a sign of Christ’s death but just as importantly, it is also a sign of the disciples way of life.
BE COMMITTED
In Luke 14:25. 26, Jesus when He was most popular and successful, uses a vivid even shocking Hebrew way of highlighting an important truth. In verse 25 we’re told large crowds were traveling with Jesus.
He had a way of doing that; of attracting large crowds; people who were so impressed with His authoritative and dynamic preaching technique, that they traveled many miles to hear Him, sometimes at the risk of foregoing meals. This must have been one of those times when they were eager to hear what great pearls of wisdom would come from this master preacher and evangelist.
But nothing could have prepared them for what came next. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and his mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes even his own life, he cannot be my disciple, and anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me, cannot be my disciple.”
Can you imagine the shock? How jolted these people must have been? Jesus had a way of doing that didn’t He? A way of shocking people; of shaking them out of their complacency. In the end that’s what got Him crucified. Surely there must have been those in their midst who thought he was crazy. But the point that Jesus was making was a fairly simple one. He was saying that human relationships are to be highly valued, but if it should ever come to a choice between even the most precious intimacy and our relationship with Jesus, the latter must always take priority.
There is no greater love than the one a man has for his family-for his wife, his children-it is great enough to drive some men to sacrifice their very lives for their families. Jesus is saying here, “love me like that.”
BE REALISTIC
Discipleship is a long term commitment that makes considerable demands upon us. We rightly emphasize the joy, the blessing and victory of Christianity, but that must not blind us to the fact that at the heart of every believer’s faith there is the cross.
Jesus was not comfortable with the crowds that thronged Him because their commitment was shallow and based on what they hoped to get out of Him. Jesus knew that the life He offered was worth more than anything of which they could conceive but were they prepared to pay the price? Verse 28 of Luke 14 asks the question “suppose one of you wants to build a tower, will you not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”
How many of us have really sat down and thought about what it truly means to be a Christian. How many of us have seriously considered the costs?
There are a lot of Christians that make a fast start, but have no real firm plan for how to overcome temptation and conflict, so they fail and before too long find themselves defeated and dispirited. They become the exact opposite of what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 9:26. (Men and women who run like people running aimlessly…fighting like people…beating air).
Like Paul we must learn to discipline ourselves and focus not on the pain of the training, but on the prize that awaits us at the end of the fight. In 2Corinthians 6: 1-10 Paul outlines his strategy for meeting the costs of discipleship, for enduring the spiritual battles that are bound to crop up. Very simply his strategy is to develop commitment, knowledge, stamina and love. Thelife of a disciple is full of battles. Are you training to win or lose?
BE HUMBLE
Another cost of discipleship is humility. It may sound funny at first but it may appear less so when you consider how difficult it is for some people. In great act of humility two thousand years ago Jesus Christ set aside his own reputation, His equality with God, in order to take on human form and to suffer and die for us.
Paul in the letter to the Philippians encourages us to imitate the humility of Christ. He left heaven’s glory behind so that he could die in our stead. He saw us trapped between our sin and God’s righteousness with no way to help ourselves and He offered Himself up as a bridge between us and God. He came as a servant in human form as a servant so that we could experience God’s forgiveness and receive eternal life.
When we are oppressed and persecuted because of our faith we must learn to humble ourselves enough to let others “walk over us” if needs be; to turn the other cheek as it were. It is not a sign of weakness. If anything it is a sign of real humility and strength.
In Philippians 2:2 “we are called upon to be like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose . Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself.
When we learn to think as Jesus thought, then we can begin to see people as Jesus saw them; through the eyes of humility and we can learn to humble ourselves for the benefit of others.
We need to examine ourselves and make sure that our hearts are in the right place. Do we acknowledge God in our daily lives or by the way we live? Do we even acknowledge our dependence on Him to survive each day? Do we acknowledge that all we are, all we achieve and accomplish are done through His mercy and His grace? Do we live as grateful servants, submitting ourselves to His will? The ability to do that is a sign of real humility.
BE DISTINCTIVE
Too often discipleship is interpreted negatively, but it is not so much a matter of what you do or do not do. It is a question of the quality of the way you live. What about you? Can you be recognized as a Christian by the way you live? It’s great to tell people that you’re a Christian; that you’ve been saved or that you’ve given your life to Jesus, but you must make sure that they can tell that you’re a Christian, by your attitude and by your actions.
People will recognize Christians by what they do as well as by what they say, or sometimes what they don’t say or do. We can’t expect people to recognize us as Christians if we swear and lie and cheat like everybody else. People should know us by our actions and words but more importantly by our attitudes and the actions should show that we belong to God.
