The Cost of Following Jesus

Introduction

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard from young adults, college age and beyond, is that they wish there was a class in high school centered on real life financial situations. From taxes to investments to retirement plans to interest rate advice, high schoolers are dropped into the “real world” with, in many cases, very little knowledge of how to “count the cost.” To alleviate this, I’ve seen several school districts have a “mock” work day for students where they get a pay check and then have to pay their bills. In talking with a few people who have led these types of days, they talk about how the kids light up whenever they get a paycheck for $1,000 and start to look at all the things that they can buy. A new car payment, a shopping trip, a vacation to the beach, the list goes on! But, before they can do that, the teachers give them their bills. $350 of the paycheck goes to rent, $50 for insurance, $200 for food, $100 for gas and car maintenance, $100 for utilities, $50 for essentials, $50 for extras, and suddenly that $1,000 paycheck is down to $100. So often, we fail to count the cost - and in our world, those things cost a whole lot more than they used to!

Several years ago there was a missionary, Karen Watson, who had to count the cost of following Jesus. That's why she left a letter with her pastor before going to Iraq. She went to provide humanitarian relief in the name of Jesus—but she was gunned down in the country she came to serve.

The letter began, "You're only reading this if I died." It included gracious words to family and friends, and this simple summary of following Christ: "To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, his glory my reward."

In our modern, western, Bible-belt ears that sounds crazy and far-fetched. We understand that there’s a cost to buy a car or own a home… but a cost to follow Jesus? I was always taught that salvation was free! We know that salvation is free - we can’t earn it and we can’t buy it at the store… but our salvation cost Jesus His life. May we never think that salvation will not cost us - Jesus commands for His followers to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him - this means that to follow Jesus requires you to die to self! It will cost you your pride. It will cost you your comforts. It will cost you your complacency. It will cost you your sinful passions. It will cost you your time, talent, and treasure… but as you follow Jesus you realize something, those things weren’t really yours to begin with. There is a cost associated with following Jesus in God’s Word. We see this cost in the early church. We see this cost throughout our world today! This morning as we continue to study the book of Hebrews, we see a call to follow Jesus and the preacher of Hebrews will tell us that there will be a cost - we leave earthly comforts behind and we bear His disgrace. As we prepare to dive into this text of Scripture, my question for you is simply this: Is following Jesus worth the cost? If you have the option to invest your hours and resources in either the kingdom of man or the Kingdom of God, which will you choose? As we read this passage, let’s commit to be a people who not only stand on God’s Word, but who follow Jesus where He leads us to go. (Page 1070)

Hebrews 13:9–16 CSB

9 Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established by grace and not by food regulations, since those who observe them have not benefited. 10 We have an altar from which those who worship at the tabernacle do not have a right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that he might sanctify the people by his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing his disgrace. 14 For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come. 15 Therefore, through him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.

Don’t be led astray - go to Jesus. Worship Jesus. Work for Jesus. Friends, our salvation is a miracle accomplished on a wooden cross 2000 years ago as our Savior took our place and suffered for sinners like you and me. This same Jesus, who does not change, calls on us to follow Him. To not go back to the things that we used to do before we met Jesus. To not give into false hopes and teachings, to trust in Him and to follow Him alone. Let’s pray that He would help us in this fight!

Jesus Came to Sanctify Sinners by Suffering (9-12)

Last week we saw how we are called as Christians to remember what God’s Word says. We are called to remember what faithful pastors of old have taught us about Jesus. We are called to remember that Jesus Christ stays the same, though our circumstances change by the minute! We remember, and as we remember we are able to remain true to God’s Word and not give into false and strange teachings that were creeping into this early church. Next month, we celebrate Christmas - the time where we remember that Jesus Christ came to be born as a baby in Bethlehem and grow up to live a sinless life to sacrifice Himself for sinners. That is the Christian belief according to God’s Word concerning Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done - He is the God-man who came to seek and save His people from their sins! Did you know, though, that there are many people who believe different things concerning Jesus Christ?

53% of Americans believe that Jesus was a great teacher, but He was not God

Let’s be honest about this - if Jesus is not God, you and I are still dead in our sins!

40% of Americans believe that Jesus is NOT the only way to receive God’s gift of salvation

Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet. Jews believe that Jesus was not the Son of God and some believe that Jesus was a damaging false prophet.

He came to live a perfect life.

He came to die so we’d be reconciled to God.

He came to rise to show His power and might.

He came to go and prepare a place for His people.

See, our fundamental problem as human beings is our sin before God! Jesus came to live the life that we couldn’t live, to pay the penalty that we all owed, to give us the victory that we couldn’t win on our own. This is Jesus! He saves us from our sins and He gives us access to God. How could He do this, though? In order for sins to be forgiven, a price had to be paid. In the Old Testament, which we see a picture of in our text, animals were sacrificed and the blood of these animals would cover the sins of the people for 1 year. There’s a bit of a problem here, though. You have all of these sacrifices for burnt offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings, trespass offerings, and peace offerings. Here’s the question: What happens to all of those animals? Verse 11 - the bodies of these sacrificed animals were taken outside the camp, outside the city, and burnt.

Leviticus 16:27 CSB

27 The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the most holy place to make atonement, must be brought outside the camp and their hide, flesh, and waste burned.

The high priest would take the blood into the holy of holies and make this sacrifice for sins inside the camp, while the body would be taken outside the camp. The blood was accepted by God, the body was rejected. This is the way that it worked for years and years and years, and here comes Jesus - Hebrews has shown us that Jesus is Greater. Greater than the prophets. Greater than the Angels. Greater than Moses. Greater than the high priests. Greater than Abraham. The list goes on! How can this be? John 1:29

John 1:29 CSB

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

From the get go, John the Baptist is saying that Jesus is this sacrificial lamb. Jesus came to suffer in order to not just cover, but to take away sins - something the blood of bulls and goats could not do. Jesus came to sanctify sinners by suffering on the cross. Where was that cross located? In the town square of Jerusalem? No… Outside the city walls. Verse 12, Jesus suffered outside the gate. Why? Go back to that picture of the Old Testament sacrificial animal: The blood covered the sins of the people inside, while the body was disposed of outside. The same picture exists here: The blood of Jesus saves - verse 12, it sanctifies His people! Only by having His body beaten and trampled upon outside the gate. To put it another way, Jesus, as the greater sacrifice for sins, suffered outside the camp and took on God’s judgment against the sins of the people who should have been rejected by God.

Why did Jesus come? To seek and save lost sheep. Not because we deserved rescue or salvation, but because God delights in saving that which was lost. He turns trash into treasure! If this is your story, if you have been sanctified by the blood of Jesus, if you have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, then, friend, understand that you have a story to share. Charles Spurgeon once put it like this, “My evidence that I am saved does not lie in the fact that I preach or that I do this or that. Jesus came to save sinners. I am a sinner. I trust in Him, He came to save me, and I am saved.” So many people want to place their evidence in feelings and emotions that will change by the day. Friend, look to the fact of God’s Word and see that Jesus Christ came to sacrifice Himself on the cross for our sins and to save us and to change us through His blood. If this is your story, which I pray that it is, we must remember that this isn’t the end of the story, a testimony has 3 parts: Before Jesus, when Jesus saved you, and how Jesus has changed you. Where are you at in that process? Are you still lost in your sin? If so, you need to be sanctified by the blood today! Maybe you’re a new Christian, by God’s grace we have several there today! Maybe you’ve been a Christian for years and years - if you are person 2 or 3, look at what follows in this text - this is your call

Jesus Calls on Us to Follow Him by Faith (13-14)

Remember the Hall of Faith back in Hebrews 11? Those saints of old who, “By Faith” followed after their God? Did that always work out well for them? Sure, we read about people like Abraham, Sarah, and Moses who were used by God in great and mighty ways… but we also read about Abel who was murdered by his brother. We read about prophets who died by the sword. Some who were stoned and thrown into jail. Some walked by faith after Jesus and through faith they seemingly escaped temporary suffering… while others walked by faith after Jesus and through faith they endured temporary suffering. What is the cost of following Jesus Christ? In some instances, in fact, in many instances, it will include suffering. This is literally what verse 13 tells us - as a follower of Jesus Christ, we are to join Jesus outside the camp and bear His disgrace.

For whatever reason, suffering is the line in the sand that many people draw where they refuse to cross. There have been recent false teachings in fact that argue that it is not God’s will for His people to suffer. We are not to be deceived, friends, Jesus calls on us to follow Him and to walk by faith and not by sight, and sometimes following Jesus means that you walk through furnaces and the flames inside those furnaces hurt… but you don’t walk through them alone. You don’t suffer alone. This is yet another reason why we need Christian community as we seek to follow Jesus together and endure through the good and difficult as a body. Doing so by ourselves is next to impossible. We remember those who have gone before us, we remember the truth about Jesus being the same and being present with us even in our suffering, we remember the truth of God’s Word. We remember saints of old like Eric Liddell. Many of you know the first part of his story as its been shared from this pulpit before. Liddell was an Olympic runner who won the gold medal in the 400m dash after not running the 100m because it was contested on a Sunday. Liddell was 22 years old whenever he won his gold medal - still in his athletic prime, likely with many more medal opportunities awaiting him in the years to come. But at the age of 23, Liddell joined his father in China (the country that he was born in) in order to preach the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people in large part who had never heard the name of Jesus in the first place. Liddell left a country that loved him for the county that God had called him to love - as Liddell himself said, “God made me for China.” He didn’t say, “God made me for running” or anything of the sort - running, athletics, was a blip on his radar, missions and the Gospel was his priority and focus. You could say that Liddell went to Jesus outside of the camp of earthly comforts and a society that wanted to see him promote self and country - He left that behind to bear the disgrace of Jesus Christ in a country that would eventually collapse and claim his life. Just before his death, Liddell was captured and taken into a concentration camp of sorts where most people are characterized by fear and their worst behaviors surface… Liddell was a moral compass for the camp. He met needs. He preached the Word. He pointed people to Jesus. He suffered - and just before the end of the war between the Chinese and Japanese, he lost his life in this prison camp. Why would Liddell do what he did? Because he was willing to follow Jesus out of the camp of complacency and into the camp of suffering. He was willing to take up his cross and follow His Christ. Look at what following Jesus got him - disgrace. An olympian killed in a prison camp? Look at what following Jesus got him - a crown with innumerable riches in glory.

We hear stories of Eric Liddell and Jim Elliot, these modern giants of faith of the 20th century and we wonder how we can follow suit. Do you have to go to Ecuador of China to follow Jesus? Maybe if that’s what Jesus is calling you to do. But do you know what Jesus always calls us to do before He calls us to the nations? To go to our neighbors. Jesus calls us to follow Him by faith. We join Him outside the camp by standing on the Word of God in a world that has lost its mind and falls for everything. How do we join Jesus outside the camp? 3 ways:

Standing on God’s Word

Sharing God’s Word

Suffering for God’s Word

Here’s the question: Are you willing to be associated with Jesus? Of course now we’ll say yes - we’re at church! But in the city of man, are you willing to live for the City of God in such a way that you reject the things this backwards world says should be our focus? Are you willing to identify with Jesus if it means that you suffer? Can I be honest with you? I’m tempted to not do this.

I’m a planner type person and whenever I have a difficult decision to make, sometimes I’ll make a chart with the advantages and disadvantages of both options. If I just look at the pro’s and con’s on the piece of paper, there are times where I’m tempted to stay where I’m comfortable and convenient. I don’t want to go outside the camp of all that I’ve ever known. I don’t want to bear the disgrace that Jesus bore. I was told that this was easy to follow Jesus, after all, it’s supposed to be free and make my life better! I didn’t sign up for something hard. These thoughts can flood in and there are times where we are embarrassed by Jesus - ouch! How can we say that? We don’t capitalize on the opportunities God gives us to share the Gospel. We don’t capitalize on opportunities to invite people to church. We don’t stand on Scripture when we should - we go with the flow and we find ourselves in the squishy middle. This is easy to do, church. We can list all the reasons why we should stay inside the camp of comfort. This was the same situation for these early Christians. It’s all we know. It’s what everyone else is doing. It’s easy. I don’t want to suffer. I’m too old or too young. We make this list… but then we consider the other side. Why should we leave the camp and go outside? Jesus is Better and He bids us come.

There is a cost associated with following Jesus and going outside the camp. These Jewish Christians were called to literally go outside the camp of Jewish tradition and the temple sacrifices of old. Stop running to these things that will not save. Stop living for the things of this world and seek the enduring city to come - live for Jesus and He will change everything. Stop marching backward to Sinai when Jesus brings you to Zion. Follow Him where He calls you to go. Even if that means you suffer, you have a living hope in Jesus Christ who has saved you, who will sustain you, and who will welcome you into your eternal home when your work here is done. We seek that enduring city while living in this world of change and we follow our Savior wherever He leads. Following Jesus is worth it for each one of us individually, but there is a cost associated with doing this.

Jesus Created His Church to Be a People of Praise (15-16)

We’ve looked at some of the negative aspects of identifying with Jesus Christ as there is an earthly cost associated with being a Christian and follower of Jesus. You don’t get to sleep in on Sunday mornings. You can’t live how you used to live before Jesus. To take it further, there are some people who will ridicule you for being a Christian. You might lose out on an opportunity because you’re a Christian. You might even lose your life for your identification with Jesus Christ - these are the costs… but the gains are immense as well! To identify with Jesus, to follow Jesus, to be saved by Jesus, means that you now have obligations and instructions. What are those things? We’ve seen them often throughout Hebrews, especially in chapters 10-12: We are to be people of Worship and people who Work for our Father’s glory. Because of what Jesus has done for us, paying for our sins by dying in our place, we are to be a people of praise! Verse 15 tells us to offer to God a sacrifice of praise - this isn’t a physical sacrifice as Jesus was the once for all sacrifice for sins… this is a spiritual sacrifice - praising the God who has saved us.

There are times where it comes naturally for us to praise God. We’re here at church - if you are not fired up to worship Jesus on Sunday morning alongside your church family as we sing songs that point us to Scripture and we study straight from God’s Word to see what Jesus has done for us and our response to Him should be, if this doesn’t fire you up then you might be dead. There are times where worship and praising God just come naturally. Whenever you get see God answer something that you’ve been praying about for years, whenever God opens a door that you’ve been waiting for, whenever God calls you to do something and you’re seeing fruit, these things are beautiful and we naturally praise God in those moments. But understand this, that’s not a sacrifice of praise… that’s natural praise. So what does it look like to have a sacrifice of praise to the Lord? Whenever the bottom drops out in your life. Whenever your worst becomes your reality. Whenever the test comes back negative. Whenever life knocks you down. Whenever praise is the last thing on your radar… in those times, when you come to Jesus when it’s hard, when you can’t trace His hand, when you don’t know what tomorrow holds because you can’t see past today, when you don’t know what on earth God is doing. And you worship - that is a sacrifice of praise!

When you can say this, “God I don’t know what you’re doing… but I know what you’ve done. I don’t know the WHAT but I trust in the WHO.” That is a sacrifice of praise. This is what God calls His people to do. This is WHO God calls His people to be. He calls His bride, the church, to be a people of praise when it’s natural and when it’s a sacrifice. To not just do this somedays, but continually, to confess His name when it hurts and when it’s the first thing we can think to do.

Consider this example of a sacrifice of praise in Acts 16 as Paul and Silas were imprisoned

Acts 16:23–25 CSB

23 After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully. 24 Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

We are to be a people of worship - a people who praise our Lord and confess His name even when that brings about a cost. Think of the testimony of Paul and Silas in this prison. How were they able to do this? Not because it was easy - it led to them being persecuted! But whenever they remembered what Jesus had done for them, all they knew to do was to praise Him, and as they did this God provided them divine opportunities to share the Gospel hope with a lost and confused world. This is what we do today! We bring to God a sacrifice of praise and we confess His name in the good days and in the bad days and as we do this, we worship and glorify Him, and we have the opportunity to influence and impact a lost and confused world.

Did you know that one day, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord?

Philippians 2:10–11 CSB

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As we worship Jesus today, our prayer is that other people would make that confession before it’s too late! We offer a sacrifice of praise because that’s all that we can do whenever we genuinely stop and remember what He has done for us. Worship is the natural response to redemption. Whenever I remember the pain my Savior went through to accomplish my salvation, my suffering, as real, painful, and stressful as it might be, finds purpose. We worship our God, and verse 16 tells us that we do what is good. What could possibly be this good thing? We share the Gospel. This is a theme throughout the New Testament

1 Peter 4:19 CSB

19 So then, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator while doing what is good.

Church, there is a cost to following Jesus and that cost is suffering - read John 16, Jesus promises this! There will be times where the reason that you are suffering isn’t because you’ve made a mistake - can we be honest here? Sometimes we suffer in life and we’re quick to blame someone else - another person, a bad situation, or everyone’s favorite: Satan, whenever the real reason that you’re suffering is because you went LEFT whenever God called you to go RIGHT - and you’re the one to blame. That’s our situation sometimes. But there are times where you’re on the right path. You’re doing the right thing. You’re praising the Lord. You’re sharing the Gospel. You’re running your race with your eyes on Jesus, and suffering strikes. What then? Is the problem you and your faith? Look at 1 Peter 4:19, look at Hebrews 13:15-16, what do you do? You do what is good. You trust in the Lord. You keep on offering that sacrifice of praise. You keep on pointing others to Jesus. You keep your eyes on Jesus. You keep doing what is good and, in doing so, you glorify Jesus and you leave behind a witness to a watching world to trust in Him.

Jesus never said it would be easy. One of the greatest problems the American church has had is this: We’ve swallowed a lie that says that following Jesus is as easy as repeating some magical words and sitting on a pew called blessed assurance until Christ calls you home. Is that what our Savior has promised us? Hey, come forward, raise a hand, fill out a connect card, say this sentence - leave the exact same way you were when you came, never come back, and because of what YOU did, you’ll be fine? Is that anywhere in God’s Word? Absolutely not. There’s a cost to follow Jesus. It’s a call to die to self. To stop indulging in sinful, selfish desires. A summons to walk in newness of life. A call to be born again. I simply ask you this: Is that your story? Have you followed Jesus outside the camp? Are you offering to Him a sacrifice of praise? Are you doing what is good, even when life might not feel good? Let’s look at 3 practical things that we must give to Jesus as we follow after Him

What is the Cost of Following Jesus?

Your Time

See Matthew 16:26

Matthew 16:26 CSB

26 For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?

Your Temporary Comforts

See Philippians 1:29

Philippians 1:29 CSB

29 For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,

Your Throne

See Galatians 5:24

Galatians 5:24 CSB

24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.