The Cost of Discipleship - Luke 9:18-27
Gladstone Baptist Church – 31/7/05 pm
I’ve got a couple of questions to ask you?
How much does salvation cost us? Nothing - It’s free.
How much does being a disciple cost us? Everything we have.
There was once two cadets at West Point Military Academy. This is the officer’s training academy for the US military. However, these two cadets had very different abilities and talents. One was athletic and intelligent, while the other was an average young man without much athletic ability. The second young man had a problem. To graduate from West Point, seniors must be able to pass a physical fitness test, which includes push-ups, sit-ups, and a two-mile run within a set period of time. The two cadets took the test on the same day. For the first cadet, the test was absolutely no problem. For the second, however, it was not only a problem, it was the problem of his life. If he failed the test, he would not graduate from West Point. He could do the sit-ups and push-ups without a problem, but it was the two-mile run was the problem. I can relate to this guy. I hated sports that involved lots of running. I loved soccer, but I loved indoor soccer more. I’ve found my sport of choice though – Squash. Small court, not far to run and if you get good enough, you just stand in the centre of the court and make other people run!!! That’s my kind of sport.
Anyway, this second cadet had never run the 2 miles within the allotted time, and he had no reason to believe that he could do it now. As he was running, he was not full of confidence or hope. And it showed. The further along he went, the more he felt sapped of energy and strength.
Just about the time he was ready to give up, the first cadet noticed what was happening to his friend. He decided to go back and help him. This was not an easy decision, because it meant that he would lose valuable time, and that would cost him points in his overall standing in his class. The young man concluded that his friend was worth it. So he slowed down, waited for the second cadet to catch up to him, and then proceeded to encourage him down the track with shouts of, "You can do it." "Go for it." "You’re gonna make it."
The second cadet did not respond with any great burst of speed but he didn’t give up either. With the first cadet running with him, he continued to plod along, pushing himself for all he was worth. The first cadet kept yelling. And he kept running. And with all the energy he could muster, he finally crossed the finish line with the first cadet at his side. The second cadet was totally exhausted. It was a great moment for both men. There was only one thing wrong -- both of them failed the test.
This wasn’t the conclusion we expected was it? We expected a nice ending where both young men succeeded. The first cadet, though, discovered the cost of discipleship. He decided to become a follower, to give his all to help his friend accomplish something he could not have done on his own. And it cost him. Discipleship always costs.
Tonight I want to talk about the cost of discipleship. One of the purposes God has for our lives is that we grow to maturity in Christ. He wants us to become like Christ. Another word for this is Discipleship. What is a disciple? Can someone tell me what a disciple is?
That’s right a disciple is a LEARNER who FOLLOWS after a teacher. But it was not really like a pupil or student we see sitting in school. Disciples didn’t just learn knowledge from their teachers, but they were imitators of their teachers. Being a disciple involved knowledge, attitudes and actions. It was common in Jesus’ day, for people to attach themselves to a teacher or a rabbi or some other person of skill and influence. The disciples would follow him around learning from him, but also becoming his helper. In order to become like their teacher, they would seek to mould their attitudes, behaviours, values to model their teacher. How many of you would have classed yourselves as a disciple of one of your teachers at school?
Jesus was calling for his followers to be disciples not students. Would you open up your Bibles to Luke 9:18 …
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”
Pray
In this passage, Jesus quizzes his disciples about who they thought he was. This discussion between Jesus and his disciples occurred about 2 years into their training. The disciples had been with Jesus as disciples, not students, but disciples for 2 years. They’d been amazed by plenty of miracles. They’d heard some pretty radical teaching. They’d seen Jesus’ reactions to all manner of circumstances and I’m sure that as a result they were different men.
But now Jesus checks in on their understanding. He asks “Who do people say that I am?” He got all sorts of answers – a prophet, a good man, John the Baptist. Jesus then makes it personal … “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter went to the top of the class when he answered – “You are the Christ, the Messiah sent from God.”
Right on Peter – you have learnt something. It must have been great knowing that he was following not just an everyday prophet – as great as that would be. But he was following the Messiah. The one sent from God to rescue all people. Wow – what a privilege. What an honour to the disciple of one sent from God.
I’m sure the disciples were at that moment, starting to puff out their chests in pride. They were the lucky ones – disciples of the Messiah.
But Jesus brings them down to earth with a thunderbolt that they didn’t see coming. Jesus didn’t want students, but disciples. He wanted followers. Look at vs 23.
23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after (or follow) me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Jesus lays out before the disciples the cost of being disciples. They’d seen some amazing things, they recognised Jesus’ divine calling and they were keen to follow, but they needed to know the cost of that commitment. The cost involved 3 things - the same 3 things it costs us to follow Jesus today … Denying yourself. Taking up your cross daily. Following Him.
Let’s have a bit of a closer look at these three parts of the cost …
Denying yourself
What does this mean? Some people have looked at this and seen it in the context of denying yourself of anything good.
Anything that you enjoy, should be avoided they say …
- Food like a big juicy steak, like pavolova, like icecream, like Chocolate – Just say No
- Entertainment, leisure activities and Holidays are all evil and should be avoided
- Hobbies that you enjoy – need to be resisted.
But is that what it really means? I hope not, because I like all those things and life would not be as enjoyable if they were not there.
Jesus doesn’t ask us to give up everything that is good in this world. But he is asking us to SUBMIT everything I am to His control. Denying yourself is taking yourself off the throne of your life and putting Christ on it. It is saying, I’m not living this life to serve my own interests and pleasures, I’m here to serve the interests and pleasures of Jesus Christ. And what pleases God? When we live according to the purposes he created us for – to Worship Him, to fellowship with each other, to grow to become like Christ, to Minister to each other and to share his truth with those who are lost.
That is denying yourself. It is not denying things, but denying your right to live for yourself. Instead of being the ruler of your life you become the servant of Christ – you become a disciple who learns and then lives out their life to help Christ accomplish what is important to him.
In January of 1982, Air Florida’s flight 90 crashed into the freezing Potomac River. Initially six people survived the crash; they were seen in the water, clinging to the tail section of the airplane. A helicopter was brought in and hovered over the survivors, lowering a lifeline and flotation ring.
The craft could only handle one person at a time. Each time the helicopter returned and lowered the line, one of those in the water -- a man described as balding, probably in his 50’s, and with an extravagant mustache -- passed the line on to one of the others in the water with him. (We later learned that this man’s name was Arland Williams.)
When the other five had been rescued and the chopper returned for him, the man had gone under the water, another victim of the crash. The man in the water could not have anticipated this tragedy, nor the role he would play in it, but there must have been some earlier commitments in his life- to such things as caring and selflessness -- that equipped him to keep passing the lifeline to others when his own terror had to be crying out for him to cling to the line himself.
Arland Williams is an example of denying yourself. He had needs himself, but he put other people’s needs before his own. Christ calls us to deny ourselves and in so doing, put His priorities before our own.
What does that mean for us in practice? It means that we need to consider what is God’s will for us and do it even if it we are tired, or busy or simply want to do something else.
Have you ever heard of people trying to make priority lists. Because they want to look spiritual, they always put God at Number 1. Then comes their family at #2 and then it is a toss up between work and church for spots 3 and 4. Then comes their hobbies, etc, etc. I’m concerned by this, because what if God’s will is for you to throw yourself whole heartedly into a ministry for a time to the neglect of your career aspirations? Or what if he asks you to give up work and volunteer to help out in an orphanage in Africa – leaving your family hanging? Or what if he wants you to take up a job in another state away from your family? Or what if he asks you to spend more time with friends so you can witness to them?
Rather than trying to figure out the order of priorities, we only need to be concerned with what is #1. And that is God – If we are following God, the rest will be taken care of. Do you really think that God will ask you to do something that will damage your family? No of course not. So we don’t have to worry about looking after Priorities 2, 3, 4, etc if we are keeping God in the first place and following His lead. So denying ourselves means putting God #1 and leaving the rest blank for him to direct us.
Taking up your Cross
The second cost is taking up your cross. Again some people misunderstand this image. Some people think that if denying yourself is giving up the things you like, then taking up the cross it taking up the things you don’t like. So what it means is that you men should be volunteering to help out with ladies craft group. Ladies you should all be volunteering to mow the lawns around the church every week. And you young people, I haven’t forgotten you – there are toilets to be cleaned each week. See in taking up your cross, all you really need to is to think of the worst possible thing that God could ask you to do and go and do it.
If that is what you are thinking this means, I’m here to rescue you. If you lived in Jesus’ day, and you saw someone taking up their cross, you’d realise very quickly that this was a man who was going on a one way journey. People who were condemned to die by crucifixion were made to carry the cross beam on which they were to hang up to where they were to be executed. Crucifixion was a painful death, yes, but the key to this image is the death, not the pain.
Jesus was asking his followers to voluntarily PUT THEMSELVES TO DEATH. Now I’m not advocating that you all go and become suicide bombers or anything silly like that. This death is not physical – but metaphorical. Just as denying yourself was denying your right to control your life. Taking up your cross is putting to death your desire to life for yourself. Put to death your self-centredness. Put to death your desire to accomplish your dreams and goals and plans. And when you have killed these things off, don’t bring them back because something that is crucified never returns.
This second step is simply reinforcing the first step. Put Jesus on the throne and begin to live for him.
Jesus asks us to stop worrying about how we will pay the bills. It is a worry isn’t it. Where is the money going to come from? Heath – How am I going to manage my health problems? Young people – what are you going to do after school? Older people – will you have enough saved up to survive your retirement years? Lots of worries and concerns, but Jesus says …
Matt 6:25 … “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? … 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus says – deny yourself (step off the throne and let me on), take up your cross (put to death your worries and concerns – crucify them now – actually crucify them each day because they have a habit of cropping up each day), and lastly …
Follow Me
Follow Me – Follow the master. That is what a disciple is supposed to do. Follow their master.
Today’s world says to follow ourselves. Figure out what you think is best and follow your own preferences. But doing that is like a dog chasing its own tail. It is neither productive or healthy. It is funny though for those watching – so if you want to follow yourself – let me know, I’m always up for a bit of a laugh. But Jesus says – if you want to be a disciple of God’s chosen Messiah, you need to follow Him.
This entails we do 2 things …
1) We need to get to KNOW HIM intimately and personally. We develop a relationship with him whereby we know as much as there is to know about him. This only comes by spending time studying the Word of God and spending time talking to Him. When we get to know him, we’ll get to know what makes his heart beat and what he wants us to do.
2) We need to BECOME LIKE HIM in every way. We need to take his hand and follow His lead. We need to trust in God, believe in God, hear and know His voice, live out His will for your life, obey His Word and, last but not least, share His compassion and desire to see lost souls saved. All of these things are part of being like Jesus. I said at the beginning that being a disciple isn’t just knowing, it is involves action – Action that helps accomplish Christ’s goals for us, his church and his world.
These two things require firstly DISCIPLINE, HONESTY AND COURAGE – discipline to get up on a cold morning and have a quiet time. Discipline to get involved in a home group or go to the youth bible study or enroll in some bible college study so you can dig deeper into God’s word.
But they also require honesty and courage. Honesty to recognise that we are not like Christ and courage to make changes. That may be for some giving up some bad habits or some forms of entertainment which do not honor God or even perhaps it is something bigger like looking for another job which doesn’t hinder you serving God in the ways he has revealed to you.
Being a disciple is not easy. Christ suffered and it is likely that if we follow him, we will be called to endure some suffering also, but that is the calling – to mature and become a disciple of Christ. Are you prepared to call yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ? I want to close by reading a plaque that a young pastor in Zimbabwe has tacked up on his wall:
I am part of the fellowship of the un-ashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of His. I will not look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight-walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotion, or popularity. I do not have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor by power.
My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way rough, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not give up, shut up, or let up. I will go on until He comes, and work until He stops me.
I am a disciple of Jesus.
Tonight I have challenged you to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. Not an easy thing to do, but that is what is the task of being a disciple. As we sing this last song, I want to invite those of you who are serious about this task to come down the front and take a small bookmark from the table at the front. On one side is has our text for this evening. On the other, it has the commitment I have just read. If you are serious about this commitment, come down and take one and put it somewhere that you will see it regularly. Are you committed to be a disciple of Christ?
