The Cost of Following Jesus
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One of the things I’ve noticed in the body of Christ in recent years is that more and more Christians only partially surrender. They are willing to become a churchgoer, but don’t fully sell out for Jesus.
It’s like people want the benefits of being a Christian, the favor and blessings of God, but they don’t want to pay full price...
Jesus, of course, knew that this was a temptation that would hinder the children of God from fulfilling all that He intended for them.
He addressed it during His ministry while on earth by telling us what it really takes to have a sincere relationship with Him...
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Do you see that language there. They “sold all that they had” in order to make what was of great value to them, fully their own.
Truly walking with God is about going all in, and not looking back.
And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
All these people were willing to follow Jesus, but wanted the discounted version.
You’ve probably heard the expression, “You get what you pay for...”
If you only pay the cheap price, you settle for less than the best. It’s like someone gives you $100K to spend on a truck, but you spend $10K thinking you’ll just settle for less of a truck.
Instead of a 2027 GMC Denali with all the bells and whistles, you settle for a 2007 work truck with cloth seats, manual windows, and no AC!
If you don’t spend the full amount, you get a fraction of what God wants for you!
When a rich ruler came and asked Jesus what he had to do to obtain eternal life, Jesus tells him that he is doing pretty good by keeping the commands of God, but he is still lacking one thing...
Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Again, Jesus makes the point that following Him will cost you greatly.
I remember as a young Christian, only a few years old in the Lord, going to a conference down in Denver. The preachers were awesome. I got so filled up with the power and presence of the Lord. I had never experienced anything like it.
But toward the end, I distinctly remember a preacher having us turn to our neighbor and asking them what price they had paid for the gospel. I was sitting in a place where there was several seats on either side of me, so I turned around and talked with the 2 ladies behind me. They suggested I go first. I remember thinking this has got to be a trick question or something. I had always assumed the gospel was free, just “a gift to be received,” so that is what came out of my mouth. I said, “The gospel is free. It hasn’t cost me anything!”
Those ladies almost fell over. They said being a disciple of Christ had cost them everything. They had lost jobs or been turned down for jobs because of their faith. They had many relationships that ended when they gave their life to Christ. The entire direction of their lives was altered because of their faith in Jesus. Their entire list of priorities had changed. Their life was no longer their own to do with what they wanted. They had gone from free to serve self, to being a literal slave of Jesus Christ.
As they said those things it dawned on me that many of those things were true for me as well. Instead of being in a bar on a Saturday night, I was sitting in huge church worshipping and learning about my new master. I had lost many of my friends and rather than trying to get people to party with me, I was trying to get them born again and to come to church with me!
My point is that it is possible to get to that point where the cost doesn’t feel so expensive. My life had changed and my relationship with Christ was costing me dearly, but it didn’t feel that way to me. I simply saw it as my “reasonable service” like we talked about last week.
So it seems to me that you you can get to the place in your life when you can pay the price, and not feel like it costs much.
The other side of that coin though, is when people feel like it is not costing them much, because in truth, it isn’t. They may surrender a little bit of their time each week, without really laying their entire life down so it really is NOT costing them much.
This cost of discipleship is not evident in many Christian’s lives today. They may go to church once or twice a week, many not even that much. But the rest of the week it would be pretty hard to tell they have given their life to Jesus.
They still do things the way they did before they submitted to Christ.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Tyndale Bible Dictionary Persecution
PERSECUTION The infliction of suffering, injury, or death because of your identity or beliefs.
Your relationship with Jesus, should, according to this verse, cause you to suffer some sort of persecution.
Your relationship with Christ will cost you something
And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
When you surrendered your life to Christ, you signed your name on the line saying you will pay whatever it takes to maintain this relationship all the way to the end.
When you are sold out like I was at that conference I went to as a young Christian, it may not seem like much of a cost to pay. But the longer I have walked with Jesus, like those ladies that were standing behind me, the more you can look back and say, “My faith in Christ has cost me tremendously!”
Throughout your life you will be given many opportunities to recalculate the cost of calling Jesus your Lord, and more you sell out, the more locked in you will be.
Nothing has helped reinforce my faith in Christ like the persecution I have endured for it.
The more you are persecuted for your faith, the more you believe it was worth paying full price for.
