Counting the Cost of Discipleship

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.”

There is a cost to being a disciple of Christ. A high one.

If it hasn’t cost you anything at all to follow after Jesus, you’d be wise to question if you truly belong to Him. There is a counterfeit version of the faith that deceptively lures the undiscerning into a false sense of security. These deceived ones believe they can gorge themselves with the pleasures of the world and walk hand-in-hand with Jesus at the same time.

This is a lie from the enemy.

In an iconic scene in the film “Heat” a career criminal sits across the table from the LAPD detective tasked with bringing him to justice. The criminal, Neil McCauley, recounts the advice he’d received early in his career, “A guy told me one time, ‘Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner”. Moments later Detective Vincent Hannah asks if he really is willing to walk out on what he cares about most without saying goodbye. McCauley does not hesitate even a moment when he replies matter-of-factly, “That’s the discipline”.

The word disciple means to be a pupil or student of a Master teacher. It implies not just one who merely studies, but one who applies what they have learned. Discipline is the practice of training a person to obey rules or a code of behavior.

The root word of discipline is disciple. The two go hand in hand.

A disciple of Christ will be disciplined in the ways of Christ.

How did Christ demonstrate his commitment to us?

Simply, he willingly gave everything he had. Everything.

The golden rule of “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not merely a life principle for us to live by. It is a literal picture of God’s nature and character. He modeled for us how he Himself wants to be treated.

How does God want us to demonstrate our commitment to him?

Simply by being willing to give him everything we have. Everything.

Are you willing to give up EVERYTHING for him?

Put another way, is there anything you are unwilling to give up for Him?

In the Gospels of Matthew (4:18-22), Mark (1:16-20) and Luke (5:2-11), we see a picture of Jesus’s call on his first disciples. How did these first followers of Christ respond to His invitation?

They immediately left their livelihoods.

They immediately left their families.

They left everything behind to follow Him.

They sought FIRST the Kingdom of God.

Most of them gave their lives for it.

In Luke 14:26-27 and later in 33, Jesus said, “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….So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

In Matthew 10:37-39, he said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

If your Christian faith has cost you nothing at all, you need to ask yourself why…

“For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Matthew 7:14