The Cost of Being a Disciple
Everybody knows that nothing is really free. Whenever someone tells me something is free, the cynic inside of me goes searching for the catch - the fine print that says that they don't want any of my money but just one of my kidneys.
Today was communion Sunday at my church...the one Sunday a month that I get to stay in the service to listen to our pastor deliver God's message to us. We are in the middle of an ongoing series on discipleship and today we went over the cost of being a disciple taken from Luke 14:25-33.
Our pastor said he has never ever heard anyone preach on this passage for evangelistic purposes. Who would want to follow Christ when he tells us that we must "hate our father, mother, wife, children, siblings and our own lives?" That doesn't sound like a very appealing way to live. Thanks...but no thanks.
Looking at the ten commandments we see that 80% tell us what we shall NOT do. It's interesting because in our present time, we always focus so much on being encouraging and using positive reinforcement in our various relationships; to emphasize the good and not the bad. But a lot of God's instructions for us are things to avoid and things not to do...
The take home point was that Jesus wants our love, our life, and our livelihood. Nothing should take precedence over God and His will for us. That means if it comes down to a choice between God and our wife or God and our children, we must choose God and be willing to give them up. There is a big difference between living the Christian life and doing a bunch of Christian stuff. It's very easy to be a "bible carrying Christian" but how often are we willing to lay down our lives, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus? Can I be like Abraham and be willing to sacrifice the things that mean the most to me for the sake of Christ?
Sure, we are saved by grace, but being a Christian - a Christ follower - is definitely not free. It will cost us many things including our very lives. It is up to us to perform a cost-benefits analysis and determine how we should change our lives. Our pastor cited a book called The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Add another book to my long "to read" list.
Today was communion Sunday at my church...the one Sunday a month that I get to stay in the service to listen to our pastor deliver God's message to us. We are in the middle of an ongoing series on discipleship and today we went over the cost of being a disciple taken from Luke 14:25-33.
Our pastor said he has never ever heard anyone preach on this passage for evangelistic purposes. Who would want to follow Christ when he tells us that we must "hate our father, mother, wife, children, siblings and our own lives?" That doesn't sound like a very appealing way to live. Thanks...but no thanks.
Looking at the ten commandments we see that 80% tell us what we shall NOT do. It's interesting because in our present time, we always focus so much on being encouraging and using positive reinforcement in our various relationships; to emphasize the good and not the bad. But a lot of God's instructions for us are things to avoid and things not to do...
The take home point was that Jesus wants our love, our life, and our livelihood. Nothing should take precedence over God and His will for us. That means if it comes down to a choice between God and our wife or God and our children, we must choose God and be willing to give them up. There is a big difference between living the Christian life and doing a bunch of Christian stuff. It's very easy to be a "bible carrying Christian" but how often are we willing to lay down our lives, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus? Can I be like Abraham and be willing to sacrifice the things that mean the most to me for the sake of Christ?
Sure, we are saved by grace, but being a Christian - a Christ follower - is definitely not free. It will cost us many things including our very lives. It is up to us to perform a cost-benefits analysis and determine how we should change our lives. Our pastor cited a book called The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Add another book to my long "to read" list.
Labels: God Thoughts
posted by Matt at 11:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home