The Cost of Being a Disciple

The Gospel of Luke

Life is challenging.

The world is fickle.

Discipleship is costly.

But Jesus is worth it.

Luke 9:18–27 ESV

18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” 21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

v.18 Prayer was vital to the earthly life and ministry of Jesus.

It was about intimacy/relationship with the Father.

It was about dependence on the Spirit’s power and guidance.

This is one of the most important duties of leadership…to routinely go before God in prayer.

Jesus interrupts his own prayer time to ask his disciples a question: Who do the crowds say that I am?

The world has an opinion about Jesus. It also has an opinion about you and your attempts to follow Jesus.

vv.18c-19 How do you discern spiritual truth?

Jesus in the eyes of the crowd = A preacher (John the Baptist), a miracle worker (Elijah) an/or one of the throwback prophets of old.

It’s interesting that they say he might be one of the prophets of old…The prophets of old were not liked…Most of them were killed by their own people for proclaiming truth.

2 Chronicles 36:15–16 ESV

15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Matthew 23:37 ESV

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

So on the one hand, claiming that Jesus might be one of the prophets is an acknowledgment that he was sent by God, but on the other hand, as a prophet, he would eventually be rejected once he delivered an unfavorable word to the people. This fickleness is the fruit of worldly or natural thinking.

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

The crowds = the world. The world does not understand the things of God.

v:20 Again, how do you discern spiritual truth?

Jesus prayed often for his disciples.

The Lord prayed for the Spirit of God to help them.

And Peter was beginning to believe in the divine nature of Christ.

In verse 20, Peter declared that Jesus was God’s Christ; God’s Anointed One; the promised Messiah. Again, how did Peter discern this?

Spiritual discernment does not come from this world, but is a fruit of the indwelling Spirit of God applying the Truth of God to the mind.

John 14:16–17 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 15:26–27 ESV

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Again, Peter is starting to witness to the divine nature of Jesus Christ. This is astonishing because Jesus, up to this point in his ministry, has not plainly stated who he is, but the Spirit of God is working in Peter and others of Jesus’ disciples.

But, we shall soon see that Peter’s understanding and discernment is incomplete, he’s still developing. After this impressive spiritual moment, Jesus commanded the disciples to keep this revelation about his identity quiet until after he had been tried, rejected, and tortured for the purposes of accomplishing salvation.

Luke 9:22 (CBC Lk, Ac): rejected. The Gr. term (a-podo-ki-ma-zō [593, 627]) is “a technical term for a judicial and legal rejection of an argument or case . It implies that the hierarchy of religious and political rulers would consider Jesus’ claims but decide against him” (Morris 1974:185).

Matthews gospel filled in more details regarding Peter’s brash response to Jesus. Apparently, Peter felt that this response from Jesus about suffering and being rejecting as king, was discouragement and doubt talking. He felt the need to correct “God’s Christ.” And Jesus quickly let Peter know that something was terribly off in his discernment.

Matthew 16:23 ESV

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Peter went from the front of the class to the back of the class in a matter of moments. In one moment, he was being enlightened by the Spirit of God and the next, he became a mouthpiece for Satan. Some Christians believe this sorta thing could never happen to them, which is a sign that it already has. God has given us his Spirit, his Word, his Church and his work in history to safeguard us from the wiles of the devil. Don’t be an arrogant, Lone Ranger, keyboard warrior Christian.

Peter’s success in this story is because of the Spirit of God. Peter’s failure is that he slipped back into trying to discern the things of God, Jesus’s words about the suffering Christ from a natural, worldly perspective.

The sufferings of Christ seem like failure to Peter. Sometimes we are guilty of the same mistakes, viewing our suffering as failure. Like Peter, we end up here because of two things…

Whatever Peter’s rationale for rebuking Jesus included 2 things:

Worldly thinking.

Forgetting who Jesus is.

Worldly thinking considers the cross of Christ and suffering for the gospel as foolishness.

1 Corinthians 1:23 ESV

but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

The world thinking asks, “Why can’t we do something to prove our worthiness for heaven? Why does one man need to die?”

Romans 5:12 ESV

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Romans 5:18–19 ESV

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

The cross of Christ is foundational to understanding Christianity.

The cross points us to…

Salvation in Christ alone.

Sanctification to make us more like Christ.

Suffering as means of being glorified with Christ.

Luke 6:40 ESV

A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

And this is exactly Jesus’ point about following him.

To be a disciple of Jesus means loving Christ …

More than we love ourselves

More than our desire for a comfortable life

More than our desire to be rich, successful or respectable in the eyes of the world.

Suffering exposes what we truly believe about life and God, and it exposes the aim of our heart’s affection.

The thought of suffering lead Peter to rebuke Jesus. The thought of suffering has led many of us to, at various times and in various ways, to rebuke and repudiate the teachings of Christ.

As a young, unskilled minister. I remember very clearly a time when I shrunk back in fear and refused to honor Christ and the gospel.

Life is challenging. The world is fickle. Discipleship is costly, but Jesus is worth it!

Peter, the same apostle who was foolish enough to rebuke Jesus and who would, out of fear, deny Jesus three times, the Peter who wouldn’t eat with Gentile Christians in Galatia, this same Peter would for the rest of his life need God’s love and power to transform him into a more faithful disciple of Christ. And God did it. Peter, by the time of his death, told his persecutors that he was unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord and Savior. He asked to be crucified upside down.

And that’s exactly what the life of a disciple looks like to the world. We look upside down, but in reality, we have been made right with a Holy God.

Life is challenging. The world is fickle. Discipleship is costly, but Jesus is worth it! He is worth it because he makes us right with a Holy God. He makes us citizens of God’s eternal kingdom. He makes us dearly beloved, children of our God and Father. And Christ paid a great price for this. He is worthy of our devotion. Let us pray.