The Cost of Discipleship

Jesus was followed by crowds during much of His ministry.  Those who accompanied Him were seeking many different things.

Some sought healing from disease, some wished for advice from a "good teacher", and others sought the sort of Messiah who would liberate them from Roman oppression.

Jesus on the other hand wanted people to see Him for Who He was - the Son of God.  And to follow the Son, there was a risk.  So Jesus told them exactly that.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.  Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.  For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’.........So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26-30, 33)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in his book The Cost of Discipleship - "Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has.  It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods.  It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.  

"Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

"Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.  It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.  It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.  Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.  Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

It would seem as if many churches now would define discipleship as nothing more than believing in Jesus as your Savior and attending weekly church services.  But when Jesus called His disciples, he did not call them into a favorable world.  He openly told them that the world would hate them - “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12)  What a way to be greeted into your new calling!  

"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." (Bonhoeffer)  This means that each day we put on more of Him, and cling less to the world.  It means putting your own name at the beginning of the Great Commission, as a friend of mine put it.  We should obey the commandments of Christ as if they were directly addressed to each of us - because they are.

If you're anything like me, when you first heard the phrase "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother......he cannot be my disciple," you thought - "What!?  I have to HATE my family in order to follow Jesus?"  Thankfully, by His grace we are given a better understanding as we mature.  

I've heard that those in the persecuted church refer to this verse more than others often do.   There are more homes, more countries in this world than we'd care to admit where a Christian would be killed if their family or neighbors knew what hope lived in their heart.  These believers have had to face more hard questions over this one decision (that is, to become a disciple of Christ) than perhaps many of us have to face over our entire lives.  

Theirs is the decision to hate decades (if not centuries!) of pagan traditions in order to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.  Theirs is the choice to run away from home in order to spread the good news to other souls.  They have counted the cost, and deemed Him worthy of every suffering they will undergo.  Upon one occasion, a friend of mine suggested that the third commandment should be viewed not just as a command not to swear/profane the name of the Lord.  Perhaps, he stated - we should make sure we do not take the name of the Lord in vain.  That is, we should not call ourselves "Christians" without ever acting upon that identity.  The Lord will not hold us guiltless if we let the good news of Christ's victory shrivel up inside of us.

"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord..." Paul says "but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me." (2 Timothy 1:8-12)

I am privileged to know people who are living out their faith in their own corners of the world with the same tenacity as Christians on the other side of the globe who are faced with death every day.  Others I know are forming teams to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and I am reminded of the words of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones -

“If we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten Son of God and that He came into this world and went to the cross of Calvary and died for our sins and rose again in order to justify us and to give us life anew and prepare us for heaven - if you really believe that, there is only one inevitable deduction, namely that He is entitled to the whole of our lives, without any limit whatsoever.” (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)