Mark 1:16-20 : The Cost of Discipleship
The Cost of True Discipleship
"Salvation is open to all who will come by faith, while discipleship is for believers willing to pay a price. Salvation means coming to the cross and trusting Jesus Christ, while discipleship means carrying the cross and following Jesus." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:232].
Mark 1:16-20.
Luke 14:25-33.
UNEXPECTED CALL TO SERVICE (Mark 1:16-20)
17) And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
questions:
1. Are you following Jesus?
2. Are you fishing for men?
18) And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
Their obedience was prompt, sacrificial, and complete.
Repenting and believing the gospel (Mark 1:15) should result in abandoning one’s former life to follow Jesus from then on.
2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
19), 20) And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
Christ still calls men to forsake all and follow Him.
Luke 14:33, So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Our possession nor our families, we must not let them hinder our obedience to the Lord.
UNRIVALED LOVE FOR GOD
Luke 14:25, And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
When God not interested in quantity but quality.
Just a few of them can accomplish a great deal.
Requirements for discipleship.
Three times He will end the requirement with “cannot be my disciple.”
26) 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.
First, He calls us to love Him supremely.
UNCEASING CROSS-BEARING
27) And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
The cross requirement is one of service, suffering, sacrifice, and shame we must live as Christ lived here on earth.
If we are determined to go all out for Christ, we will experience the same kind of satanic opposition our Savior faced here on this earth.
UNFINISHED TASK OF A QUITTER
28) For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
There is a price to be paid for authentic discipleship, and you need to practice some investigation and introspection.
The first is to discover just what that cost can amount to; the second is to determine if you are willing to pay it!
29), 30) Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, 30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
How many have started out to follow Jesus and have turned back when the going got rough?
UNPREPARED FOR NECESSARY ACTIVITY
31), 32) 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? 32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
UNQUALIFIED RENUNCIATION OF EVERYTHING
33) So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
J C Ryle--The man who does well for himself is the man who gives up everything for Christ's sake. He makes the best of bargains; he carries the cross for a few years in this world, and in the world to come has everlasting life. He obtains the best of possessions; he carries his riches with him beyond the grave. He is rich in grace here, and he is rich in glory hereafter. And, best of all, what he obtains by faith in Christ he never loses. It is "that good part which is never taken away."