The Cost of Non-discipleship

Communion: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Intro to series (maybe).

Luke 14:25–35 NLT

25 A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, 26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. 28 “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? 29 Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ 31 “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? 32 And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. 33 So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. 34 “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? 35 Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”

Prompt: pray

In economics there is an important term called “opportunity cost.” Opportunity cost is the idea that once you spend your money on something, you can’t spend it again on something else. It is an either-or, not both-and.

Usually, when we make decisions those decisions have constraints. Things like time, resources, and rules.

Illustration: Example: my wife taught me about the triangle of fast, good, and cheap.

Evaluating opportunity cost is considering what you can’t do based on each possible decision.

In this conversation, Jesus turns to the crowd and starts talking to them about following Him. He lays out the cost of following Him and then challenges anyone who wanted to follow Him to count the cost.

He uses terms that are economic in nature: compute (count) and cost. He does this to drive home the act of intentionality. This is not something to be done lightly nor rashly.

We could focus on the cost of following Jesus, but today we are going to focus on the cost of not following Jesus.

Non-Discipleship

Jesus said that if you wanted to be His disciple, you needed to count the cost. He laid out the terms in this brief message, but what we don’t see here is the cost of not being His disciple.

Have you ever looked at your decision to follow Jesus in those terms? What it costs a person who chooses to not follow Jesus.

Jesus used a metaphor for the path of discipleship and the path of non-discipleship.

Matthew 7:13–14 NKJV

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Jesus speaks in terms of life and death. Narrow and difficult—i.e. costly—is the way that leads to life (this word is the supernatural, eternal, indestructible zoe life of God). Not taking that way means things are wide and easy. Not taking the narrow and difficult way also leads to destruction (the sense here is eternal destruction).

John 10:10 NKJV

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The opportunity cost of going the wide and easy way is life. To put it another way, the cost of non-discipleship is the supernatural, eternal, indestructible life of God. If you choose the wide and easy way, you chose to give up the abundant life.

And that is not all that you would lose.

Grace Given in Christ

1 Corinthians 1:4–9 NKJV

4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Following Jesus leads to being enriched in everything by Him. It means to not come sort in any gift. It means that He will confirm you blameless. It means that you have fellowship with Him.

Non-discipleship means that you give up these things, and more:

Can elaborate on these as needed

Eternal life (John 17:3)

Abundant life (John 10:10)

A new life (2 Corinthians 5:17)

No condemnation (Romans 8:1)

Peace with God (Romans 5:1, Colossians 3:15)

Reconciliation with God (Romans 5:10)

The joy of the Lord (Nehemiah 8:10)

Great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4)

In His conversation with the crowds, Jesus made it clear: if you refuse to be His disciple, then you lose your effectiveness and purpose.

Luke 14:34–35 NLT

34 “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? 35 Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”

What is Your Priority?

When it comes to following Jesus, He tells us to count the opportunity cost.

What you gain or lose is a result of your choices. Will you respond to the goodness of God and choose to follow Jesus, all the way? Or, will you instead decide that it is too narrow, constricting, and difficult to follow Him?

As you make choices remember that for every choice you make, your yes to one thing is a no to another.

Conclusion

For sure there is a cost to following Jesus, but I would submit that the cost of not following Jesus is even greater.

“Non-discipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring.” — Dallas Willard

But if you choose to follow Him, you will experience all the good things that God has for you in Christ. Nothing that the world offers is worth what you lose if you do not choose Christ.

Take the time to count the cost of not following Jesus. I believe that you will find that it is not worth it.