The Cost of Discipleship
By Teresa Bunting
I love Lord of the Rings - good versus evil, overwhelming odds, triumph in the end. In the third film, the good guys are facing impossible odds. They do realize, however, they can at least buy some time for Frodo and Sam if they confront the enemy at the Black Gate. After Aragorn, the would-be king, presents the plan, Gimli the dwarf replies, "Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?" Our courage rises, and we pick up our virtual sword to join the battle.
Let's leave drama behind for now and think about a real battle of good and evil. Lines are drawn. Sides are chosen. There is no neutral ground. When the certainty of death is real, it makes the choice sobering. If you have chosen the side of Christ, you have chosen loyalty to the death.
Our present comfortable situation may have shrouded the reality to which we are called in choosing Christ above the world. What is the cost of discipleship? Jesus is plain in His speaking of what is required in following Him. But we haven't yet literally laid down our lives on the line in His service.
Let's look at how Jesus expresses what discipleship means to Him by examining His words.
In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus gives the crowd a sobering contract of enlistment in His service by telling them three times you "...cannot be My disciple." Jesus calls them and us to consider the extent of commitment we will make in choosing Him.
The first thing He says is, "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 disciples" (vs. 26). He starts with the nearest and dearest on earth to us. Even considering our families, we can have "No other gods!" There is always a balance in our life in Christ and, of course, we are to love these people in a way that is actually beyond the world's comprehension of love. Love like Christ. But when the battle heats up, the decision must be made long before the "push comes to shove" moment when I have to choose my loved one or Jesus. I choose Jesus. Jesus also makes a particular point to the individual when He says, "...yes, and even his own life..." There's that commitment to the death. Revelation 12:11 tells us that the overcomers, "...did not love their life even when faced with death." And just as you are getting your brave on, let me throw in one more level of commitment. We are actually called to lay down our lives for the brethren. So there's not just a willingness to die, but we are actually called to sacrifice ourselves. It's ironic that John 3:16 gives us the example and 1 John 3:16 gives us our orders. What is the motivation for this commitment? Love. This is what love is.
Jesus' next exclusive statement of discipleship is "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple" (vs 27). The cross. That Roman instrument of supreme torture and execution. Jesus knew He faced one in His future, and He calls those who would be His disciples to carry one. Matthew and Luke actually document this requisite of service twice in their accounts of Jesus' teaching. In chapter 10 verse 38, Matthew records Jesus warning the Twelve that if they are unwilling to to suffer, then they are unworthy of Him, and that goes for us, too. He also tells us that key to this action of commitment is denying ourselves (Matthew 16:24). Luke also adds to this the word DAILY (Luke 9:23). What does that even mean? To deny myself is to give up my wants and wishes, my desires, my opinions, my way, to the glory of God. Paul draws some pretty good illustrations in Philippians when he instructs us in chapter 2 to have the mind of Christ. He says, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit...regard one another more important than yourselves..." Empty yourself like Christ. Be a bondservant. Have humility to the point of death... Even death on the cross (Philippians 2:1-8). Do you want to be Jesus' disciple? Well, you can't! Unless you are willing to bear your cross. Every. Single. Day
Jesus then takes a moment in our Luke 14 passage to give us some examples of what it looks like to consider this discipleship. Count the cost. Before you rush in, be aware of what it will take to see this through to the end. Before you build a tower or declare war, think carefully. Jesus wants us to take a moment to weigh it all out. Are we really grasping what He is saying before we agree to the terms of engagement in His service? Because if we don't, we cannot be His disciple.
Finally, Jesus' last pronouncement of who cannot be His disciple is in verse 33: "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." So, I'm willing to put God first over everyone, I'm willing to die, I'm willing to carry my cross... as long as I can do it from the comforts of home. Wait, what!? As Christians in the Western world, most of us live very comfortable lives. That’s not true for Christians everywhere, and there is a danger in those comforts if we don’t use them for the good of the kingdom. If you have things that make life here good - food, clothes, a bed, running hot water - be grateful for them as luxuries - not necessities. Jesus didn't say,"Be willing to give them up." His words are, "...give up all” or you cannot follow."
Okay, before you have the yard sale, let's look at this practically. Paul once again gives us excellent guidelines on how to carry this out. "...I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need" (Philippians 4:12b). The answer is simple: Christ. In chapter 3, Paul says he has counted all things as "loss" and "rubbish" to gain Christ and to be conformed to His death and ultimately gain a resurrection from the dead. The faith that it takes to lay down every earthly possession, everything that we hold dear, gains us Christ and an overcoming of that death to which He calls us! So anything that is classed as the "uncertainty of riches" as Paul discussed with Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17, holds us back from gaining all God richly supplies. I have to ask myself, is there anything in my life that controls me and makes me dependent upon the uncertainty of riches, that the loss thereof would make me, like that rich young ruler who encountered Jesus, go away sorrowing, because I have great possessions? All of our earthly blessings, be they many or few, must be viewed with a perspective of how we can use them for the glory of God’s kingdom. What will you do with what you have been given? Will you control your possessions, or will they control you?
Jesus knows the connection between our treasures and our hearts. In Matthew 6:19-21, He warned us about storing up rusty, moth-eaten thief bait. He says to put our treasure in heaven, "...for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
And that my dear sisters, is the true cost: my heart. My whole heart that holds nothing back from Him who called me to be His disciple. No person, no thing, none of self can stand in the way of me giving my whole heart to my Jesus in service to Him. If it does, I can't be His disciple. He said so. Actually, my heart is the only thing I have to give. He owns my life and my stuff. So He says, "Give Me your heart.
So as we fully absorb what Jesus' view of discipleship is and understand exactly what making this life, heart, and soul giving commitment to Him is, the only question, after counting the cost is am I willing? The majority of the world will say no. But the heart of a warrior fully given to the Savior answers with his life. Gimli the dwarf had part of it wrong. "Certainty of death." Yes. But EVERY chance of success! "What are we waiting for?"