At What Cost…?
What is the cost of true discipleship? When I first surrendered to the call to the ministry a retired missionary offered to take my wife and me out to dinner. Her name was Grace and that name also defined her personality. She had spent most of her adult life on the mission field with her husband. They started off in Haiti then moved to Jamaica when most of those they ministered to fled their home land. She had lost her husband a number of years before in the field and never had a single minute of regret in a life given completely to God. She sat with us in a cheesy Italian restaurant near the nursing home that she lived in. It was there that she pulled out one of the smallest parables in the bible, found in Luke 14:28-30; “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
She simply laid it out to us that there is a cost to discipleship, and to not take that into consideration before entering in is foolish. For the longest time I thought that this was true for ministers only. Most other professions have a system that you are aware of when you join. They let you know of advancement possibilities and retirement, what kind of healthcare you can expect. In the ministry all those things are a little more up in the air. In the recent years I have been looking more and more into the true cost of discipleship. I am not done really examining it for my self, in fact I may never be done, but I have come to some conclusions. When I read in Revelation chapter 2 and He says that He has one thing against the church of Ephesus and that is that they have lost their first love that has gotten me thinking. I have been reading several books by Erwin McManus, Brennan Manning, John Piper and others, and I can say that I have been moved. My original cost that I thought that I had calculated to the best of my ability was way off. So far off that I might as well have been trying to hit a target three hundred meters in the opposite direction.
First we need to dispel the notion that there are ministers (said with a deep authoritative voice, eyes half closed and head titled so as to give the impression that one is speaking from a lofty perch) and then there is everyone else. We are all called to the ministry on some form or fashion. We are made stewards and priests of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God is no respecter of persons, He moves as He sees fit, through whom He chooses. He used Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar at the same time. For the most part polar opposites but each had skills and abilities that He needed to advance the His kingdom and bring His Son into this world. If we are all called to serve the Master then what has he called us to do?
In the Luke 9:56-62; As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” We see the cost delivered in such a way that there is no mistaking what Jesus is saying. In Luke 14:25-27; Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. He makes a singular statement again as to the cost. He is not some flashy grinning used car salesman trying to get you to by into his latest multilevel scam.
“Just agree to follow me, pay me $199.95 a month and you will get the Gold level discipleship plan, we call it the ‘John Plan’. That is you will not die till you reach the ripe old age of 95 and no weapon will harm you not even boiling oil. You get a large house complete with a two car garage to park your very own luxury car. If you think that this is too much then you can try the ‘Andrew Plan’ for $99.95 a month. You will be little known and a bit obscure but for the most part left alone as long as you bring at least three friends into the faith (family counts). Then for those of you that want the economy plan there is the ‘Paul Plan’ for a mere $19.95 a month. You get some used sandals and a walking stick. The promise of hard work and being very underappreciated and forced to defend your ministry every step of the way, and in the end you will be horribly killed. Act now while supplies last…”
There are no package plans for follow Christ. We are called to simply follow Him. We are to esteem nothing above him, not, our family, friends, good reputation, position, power, things. He is to be our only focus. He does add as a cherry that if we truly seek after the things of the Lord He will give us the desire of our heart. But you will find that those desires will not be totally your own, they will be a melding of you and God. This is not the end but rather the beginning, the larval stage if you will, of eternity.
I leave you with this question, “What has the Lord said to you lately?”
March 31, 2010
kyberhawk
Kyberhawk's Blog 