The true cost of discipleship is perseverance
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “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.
I would dare say you have read this verse before; you have probably even heard this verse preached before, but as you continue to read on pause and spend some time reading over it again and really let its message sink in. Now that you have done that have a quick think, do you really want to be a disciple? It’s a tough question when we consider the reality of this request. Luckily if you are a Christian this question has already been answered for you. In reality it was never really a question to begin with.
Two points to begin with on discipleship. Firstly, if you are a Christian you are a disciple. If Jesus has saved you, then you will have no choice but to follow him due to Christ’s irresistible grace. So now you’re drafted into Jesus’ army. By this I in no way mean the strange lot of folks who drive around in their Jesus bus, you may have encountered them driving around in what could only be described as a strangely religious version of Scooby Doo’s mystery machine. No, instead I’m referring to Jesus Christ’s legions of committed and devoted followers which you are now a part of. So what does being a disciple actually entail? And no unfortunately it does not involve driving around in a VW van helping solve theological mysteries, no matter how much fun that would be. (I will cease with the Scooby Doo references) It involves a lot more.
This leads me on to my second point, and that is that discipleship is difficult men. It requires huge commitment and effort. I began this article with Luke 14:25-27 to intentionally highlight the huge demand which Christ has placed in your life. In this verse he does not mean that we hate our parents and friends, no, instead that these relationships don’t even come close to the relationship we have with him, so much so to the point all else appears as hate in comparison. He is describing the complete commitment needed to be a disciple. In other words if you want to follow me you can’t put anything else before me. From this it is clear that Jesus does not want a percentage of our lives, he wants the entirety of it. Christ should have complete authority over us and we should be willing and able to relinquish all these relationships and even our own lives to follow Christ if that is what’s required of us. We should be ready, literally to go to the cross for Christ’s sake. I know that it has nearly become an overused analogy and you have probably heard this hundreds if not thousands of times but consider the reality of this request. “Pick up your cross and follow me.” He doesn’t mean our everyday issues “oh I have to sit in traffic for hours every day to go to work, well I guess that’s just my cross to bear” No its not! The reality of the cross is staggering and to compare our everyday inconveniences to it is just plain shameful. To bear the cross was to be stripped nearly naked, beaten and paraded through town in front of everyone you know and then to be nailed to a piece of wood by your hands and feet. You would hang there for days on end, bleeding, urinating and crying while everyone from town, your work or your school would stand around watching you die slowly above a pool of your own blood and tears, all the time relentlessly mocking you. You would be humiliated and you would be broken. This is what Jesus is asking you to be willing to do for his name. If this is what it takes would you see it through or would you quit?
That’s a sobering thought for many if not us all, considering we live in a culture where it is widely accepted to consistently quit on anything which isn’t to our own personal liking, or if it isn’t giving us what we want. If anything is difficult then it’s deemed socially acceptable to quit, if it’s costing me something then once again it’s ok to quit. We give up on church, marriages, friendships, work and even God. The fact is so many of us give so little for the one who gave us so so much for us. It is as if we have forgotten or even that we have never fully understood what Christ did for us and what discipleship is actually about. We are a selfish, consumer generation of wimps. We spend our lives with the one ambition of making everything easier for ourselves, constantly taking the way with least resistance, the smoothest road or the shortest route, when in reality deep down inside us, I believe, that we know everything which matters, everything that is meaningful and everything which has real value will hurt, cost and require sacrifice from us. Jesus does not want you to quit on him. Jesus does not want you to quit on your discipleship but he makes us very aware that to follow him is no easy matter. We should expect opposition and ostracisation. It will push your limits and require more from you than anything else you can imagine, but also we know the reward for our faithfulness will ultimately far out way the cost and make every earthly strife appear pale and insignificant, if not forgotten entirely in comparison to the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (Romans 5:3-4)
Let me tell you this Jesus is not a con artist. He is not selling you a happy trouble free life with the hardship and suffering hidden away in the small print. I am not denying that we can enjoy our lives or be happy, I am saying that following Jesus is hard but ultimately we find our joy in Jesus Christ. We know what we are signing up to when Christ enters our lives, don’t believe me? Well it’s in the Bible and Jesus makes it very clear, so therefore what right do we have to complain and quit. It is made clear that people will come after you and at times life will be a huge struggle but he also urges us to stick at it and persevere, for we will be rewarded in the kingdom of heaven. We are not called to comfort or success here on earth, only obedience. Jesus does not want us to give up because he does not give up on us. It’s time to be disciplined men. It’s time to be disciples.
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