The Cost Of Discipleship - Week One

 

It’s (Still)The Season of Pentecost!

We are launching a brand-new sermon series for September, entitled “The Cost of Discipleship.”  

The inspiration for this sermon series comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who resisted the Nazi regime and was arrested and eventually executed because he was part of a plot to kill Hitler.  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book entitled "The Cost of Discipleship," highlighting one of the key themes in his theology: Cheap vs. Costly Grace.  

While Bonhoeffer believed in the unconditional and expansive grace of God, he also did not think that it was something to be taken lightly or considered "cheap."  

For Bonhoeffer, the grace of God that came through the Cross was most definitely not cheap, and he believed there was a cost to embracing it and following Jesus.  

 “Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a [person] 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 [person their] life, and it is grace because it gives a [person] the only true life."

Today, we’re going to read an invitation from Jesus to intimacy with God, and we'll explore the cost of following Him on the path toward that intimacy. 

But first, let me ask a question that begs an answer in our current culture:  

Will The Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

Which version of Jesus do we prefer?  It depends on our social worldview.  

Let's take a look at some images that represent how people see Jesus.  

Lots of people these days are co-opting Jesus for their particular causes, political agendas, and their strongly held beliefs.  

There’s a confounding aspect to Jesus that is hard to embrace. 

When we think we have Jesus all figured out, He turns the tables on our certainty and our preferences, forcing us to confront ourselves.  

This is why it is so important to understand what Jesus meant when he called his disciples and said to them, "Come, follow me."  

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP MEANS PUTTING JESUS FIRST

Luke 14:25-53

25 Now large crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

 Jesus begins with a particularly unappetizing statement.  Seriously?  We have to hate our family, and even our lives?  This doesn't make much sense.  

This is jarring to us, but even more so to the crowd that hears it. Family connections in first-century Judaism were everything.  

Three ways to see it: Literally, Metaphorically, Spiritually.  

The literal approach doesn't work because it isn't congruent with Jesus' teachings about loving others, and the rhetorical gymnastics required to accept it are simply too ridiculous.  

Many interpreters have taken the metaphorical approach, but it softens what Jesus is saying here a bit too much.  The approach to understanding this is more spiritual in nature.  

Jesus means that following him may lead you to walk away from former beliefs and relationships that keep you from putting the Way of Jesus a distant second in your life.  

The word “hate” here means to “love less” (unfortunate translation). 

27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“The readiness is all…” The desire to please God pleases God.  

Taking up our cross - a constant reminder that dying to self is a daily exercise; we do not do this alone.   

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Counting the cost of following Jesus is vital to understanding what it means to be his disciple.  Are you willing to give up the things that bring you comfort, safety, and security?

What Do We Learn Here?

1.  Following Jesus isn’t easy; if it were, everybody would do it.  When your path to following Jesus affirms everything that you believe, and you find that Jesus is ticked off at the same people who offend you, you very well may not be following Jesus.  

2. There is love in even the most challenging demands he makes.  As harsh as this sounds, what we learn is that when we are truly following Jesus, our relationships with others deepen, we see them differently, and we can love without conditions.  

3.  Putting Jesus first ultimately leads to putting yourself last.  We have to die to ourselves every day, to our selfish desires.  We put the needs of others over our own.  We live sacrificially.  

When the dreams I had weren’t about putting Jesus first.  

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP MEANS PUTTING JESUS FIRST