The Cost Of Discipleship

Prayer

Cost/Results Ratio

Johnson Electronic Systems, Inc.

Quote a fire alarm system

Underbidding

There a lot of factors that go into the bid:

price of product (including tax and shipping)

labor

gas

overhead

The end result is for the quote to be more than the total cost of the finished Job

Walter A. Henrichsen

As I mused over this concept, I thought how much the benefits of being a Christian exceed the cost. In fact, discipleship has been designed by God, with our best interests at heart. It was not designed to help God out, but rather to help us out. God does not need our help; we need His. Discipleship was designed by God to give us the help we need..... In discipleship, we are not doing God a favor; He is doing us a favor.

Count the cost!

Luke

(Chapter 14)

1 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.

As a disciple of Jesus we will be watched.

Wherever Jesus went, the eyes of people were upon Him. He claimed to be different..... And be because of His claim to uniqueness, people watched His every move to see if He was genuine.

Is your discipleship genuine?

Disciples must be morally pure.

explain morally pure

character vs. integrity

Becoming a Christian is free of charge.

But there is a cost attached to becoming a disciple.

The word Christian is mentioned in the nkjv Bible 8 times.

Disciple is mentioned 301 times.

Jesus did not tell us to go make Christians.

He told us to go make disciples.

There is a difference.

Luke

(Chapter 14)

2 And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. 5 Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” 6 And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

The disciple is one who is in constant touch with people in need.

You see the pharisees would would save their animals on the sabbath but considered it unlawful to save a human.

Luke

(Chapter 14)

8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; 9 and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The key to being first is being last.

Luke

(Chapter 14)

25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them,

Yes, the multitudes have always followed Jesus. But note who it is that hears Jesus Christ:

Luke

(Chapter 15)

15 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.

The multitudes followed Him; the tax collectors and sinners heard Him.

Christianity is a religion of rescue.

It is designed for the desperate.

doers not just readers

Joshua and the promised land.

Giants.

We must follow God even when it seems impossible.

Or risk being stuck in the wilderness.

The cost you will pay for not being a disciple is infinitely greater than the cost you pay will pay for being one.

luke

(Chapter 14)

33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.34 “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

It is God’s design that every believer be a disciple. But when one goes back on his commitment, he becomes good for nothing. You can’t save him; he is already saved. You can’t use him; he is unavailable. He is like savor less salt.

Week after week as you see him going to church, he becomes an example of what not to be. All you can say to your “Timothy” is, “See that man? He is a believer who has refused to pay the price of becoming a disciple. In making that decision, he has relegated himself to a life of mediocrity. To use the words of the Lord Jesus, he is savorless salt. Whatever you do, don’t become like him.

Invitation