The Cost of Being a Disciple of Christ

Church, have you ever thought about what it actually cost to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?  Are you just a casual Christian, rolling through trying to accomplish your own goals? - doing your own thing? - living your life the way you see fit?:
And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
 ( Luke 14: 25-27)

Of course Jesus does not intend that you hate your family, but, the importance that should be placed on being His disciple compared to the importance of your family should be dramatically higher.

 Examples bad Genesis 3:17a: Adam chose to abbey his wife rather than God.

Example Good:  Abraham & Job

I believe Jesus means that He needs to be first in our lives. As he says in Matt 6:33,
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you

Unless you give up everything (31-32)

Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

With all the intelligence given us in this parable it seems the best course of action would be for this king with 10,000 to surrender and ask for terms of peace. In all intense and purposes the king with the larger army willdemand an unconditional surrender. Such a treaty will put the smaller king and its army completely under the control of the king with the larger army. This itself is a cost but it is choosing life at the hands of the other king rather than death at his hands.

Certainly Jesus is the greatest King of all. Jesus is coming to make war on his enemies. There is no escape to a neutral land. We either pay the cost of joining Jesus army or we steal ourselves to fight against him.  How then do we join Jesus army?  Let us read verse 33.  “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”  Our life goal while we believe in Christ should not be a goal to gain the world but a goal that allows us to give up everything to become a faithful disciple for Jesus.

Since Jesus Is Asking Us to Give Up So Much - What Has Jesus Given Up?

 Jesus was here to be our example for how we should live life. So did Jesus hate Father, mother, children, brothers, sisters, His kingdom, His throne, in comparison to bearing His cross to save us? Answer is yes to all of these things. What Jesus gave up so that He might save us who were lost is tremendous. Yet He valued us more than all He gave up.

First the book of John begins,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2)

Later in the 1st chapter of John verse 14 says..

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us..”

So right off we have Jesus giving up His place in Heaven as God of all to come here as the Son of man and be subjected to the same life that men live.

To accomplish his mission of saving the world he would end up leaving His mother, the rest of His family, and ultimately His disciples who depended on Him. I am sure that they all at some point must have felt abandoned by Jesus when he died.
So what drove Jesus to leave His throne to come here and live as a man? What drove Jesus to leave His mother and the rest of her family to begin preaching a message that would ultimately get Him killed? What drove the Lord to place Himself in jeopardy, when He could have called 12 legions of angels to rescue Him? Think about it. WHY all of this? There is only one answer. Us! You and me.

Why The Cost of Discipleship Is High

John 3:16 says,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

The answer is love. He loved us. And His love for us compelled Him to give up all that he had in order to save us. Our love for Him should drive us to give up everything to be His disciple. It is a response to the love that God has shown us.

Some of us are afraid to abandon all we have to follow Him because we are afraid of losing what we [think] we have.

2 Corinthians 5:15says And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

We are what He has gained. And if we give up everything to be His disciple we gain Him, and, all that comes with Him. The book of Matthew 19:29

And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. (Matthew 19:29)

So discipleship may cost us everything, but, we will also gain everything and much more. And according to this verse anything we lose because of following Him will be given back to us a hundredfold. God is a Great God!