Tag Archives: Cost of Discipleship

Count the Cost

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For which of you, desiring to build a tower,
does not first sit down and count the cost,
whether he has enough to complete it?

Luke 14:28

Planning for retirement takes discipline, but it is worth it. 

When I got my first real job with salary and benefits, I was encouraged to put a little extra aside in for retirement savings each month, above and beyond what my employer was contributing. It wasn’t much, it wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t always possible, but the discipline of saving now to have something later pays off over time.

It requires a change of focus. When something shiny and new comes up, you can’t just run out and get it. You have to balance the now and the not yet. You tell yourself, “it’s okay to go without this now, in order to save for something better, later.” You assure yourself that its okay to drive a car with 150,000 or more miles on it, to stay in for the night rather than eat out, to delight in delayed gratification. 

I think everyone would agree, sound financial stewardship is good, and the benefit in the end is worth the cost now.

Why then do we think that our life in following after Christ (Matt 16:24), storing up a treasure in heaven (Luke 12:33), of growing and training in holiness (1 Cor 9:24-27) would come without a cost?

We are called in scripture to strive after holiness, for without it no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14), but many have come to think and act as if holiness is just something that will happen to you. The pursuit of holiness, and the reward of eternal life, is of greater value than all the financial security this world can offer. Why then do we spend so little time considering the cost, and committing to it? Why are so few willing to pay the price for holiness?

Partly to blame is our mishandling of the grace of God. We hold to the teaching of God’s Word that salvation is by “grace through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9). We are assured, rightfully so, that salvation is God’s free gift in Jesus Christ, and that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s grace or merit His gift of salvation. 

Still, we should remember, salvation is God’s free gift, but it did not come without a cost. Our salvation was purchased with the precious blood of Christ. 1 Pe 1:18–19 teaches, “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” This is echoed in Titus 2:14 and 1 Cor 6:20 and 7:23. Jesus said in Mark 10:45 that he gave his life as a ransom. Salvation is the gift without price, but not without cost. Our salvation cost the life of the sinless One who stood in the place of sinners, to ransom and redeem us from the wrath of God.

This is the gift we receive freely. But holding on to this gift will mean we have to let go of everything else. There is a cost that we bear, not for our salvation, but for growing in righteousness, in building up the treasure in heaven. There is a cost to following Christ. Jesus said, 

  • Lk 9:23  And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
  • Mt 19:29  And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

J.C. Ryle, in his book, Holiness, lays out the cost analysis for the followers of Jesus. Here’s the expected cost of discipleship:

  1. It will cost you your self-righteousness. You can only go to heaven as a poor sinner. If you come claiming any part of your righteousness is the result of your own doing, you will never be admitted. All our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isa 64:6). Unless you come clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and in Christ alone, you will be sent out from the wedding feast (Matt 22:12-13).
  2. It will cost you your sins. You cannot cling to Christ and still cling to your sins. You will love the one and hate the other. Would your husband be honored if you kept pictures of previous boyfriends?  Can you claim to love Christ while still loving the very sins that led him to the cross. If you would follow Jesus, you must repent, turn your back on the old life, and take up the new, through the power of His Holy Spirit dwelling in you.
  3. It will cost you your love of ease. Christ did not come that you would have your best life now; to comfort you in your prosperity, or to make good people better. Christ came to bring the dead to life, and to give us such a vision of coming glory that we would be willing to give up everything now for the sake of what’s to come. The life of faith is a race (Hebrews 12:1), and we are called to journey on in Christ, the trailblazer of our salvation. This is a marathon, not a spring, and it requires endurance, diligence, and perseverance. 
  4. If will cost you the favor of the world. If the world hates God but loves you, what does that say about your Christian life? Do you look and sound more like the culture than you do like Christ? Jesus said, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you (John 15:20).”

Count the cost!

I leave you with this from Ryle:

I grant it costs much to be a true Christian. But what sane man or woman  can doubt that it is worth any cost to have the soul saved? When the ship is in danger of sinking, the crew think nothing of casting overboard the precious cargo. When a limb is mortified, a man will submit to any severe operation, and even to amputation, to save life. Surely a Christian should be willing to give up anything which stands between him and heaven. A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing! A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown.

SDG

Ryle, J. C. Holiness: It’s Nature, Hinderances, Difficulties and Roots. electronic ed. based on the Evangelical Press reprinting, with new forward, 1995. Simpsonville, SC: Christian Classics Foundation, 1999. Print.

I don’t think that word means what you think it means…

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i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means

Yes, I’m quoting Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride.

This line has been going through my mind all weekend as I was reading through David Brooks’ book, The Road to Character.  This book was assigned for a reading group that I am a part of, and it was challenging, and lead to great discussion.  In case you’re interested, here is my summary:

The gift of David’s Brooks, The Road to Character, is that the reader can get a glimpse into the struggle of a worldly man to improve himself using entirely worldly means.  Brooks gives the reader a gospel, albeit stripped entirely of the holiness of God, the destructive capacity of sin, the redeeming and saving work of Christ, and the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit. His is a secular, humanist, nihilist, and moralist gospel that, while using religious terms like holiness, sin, and grace, strip them entirely of their meaning and power. His biographies, while interestingly written, betray his own personality: a skepticism of faith, a fixation on sex, coupled with an unfounded optimism in human potential. The Readers Digest version would simply say: “We’re all messed up. Try harder.”

I think what bothered me most about the book was how close Brooks comes to the truth, but how far he lands from it in the end.  Like that one voice in a choir that is just off the note, slightly out of tune, that it makes the spine tingle.

Brooks talks of sin, but in very unbiblical terms.  We are not sinners, we are simply victims of sin.  “Sin is communal, while error is individual. You make a mistake, but we are all plagued by sins like selfishness and thoughtlessness… To say that you are a sinner is not to say that you have some black depraved stain on your heart”* (Page 54).  Brooks does his best to show that sin is something that needs to be addressed, but refuses to identify clearly what sin is. For Brooks, sin is a part of our soul that must be battled in moral decisions.

Our confession clearly teaches us that sin is “any want of conformity unto or transgression of God’s law,” and the Scriptures show us that the “wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).  We know futility of trying to wage the moral battle in our own strength, because we are “dead in our trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1).  Our only hope is putting our faith in the sinless one, Jesus Christ, through whom we are counted as righteous in the eyes of God (Rom 4:23-25).

Throughout the book, Brooks also uses the term grace, but it is really hard to get an idea of what he means by that word.  In his conclusion, Brooks writes,*

We are all ultimately saved by grace,” but it’s what follows that makes me wonder if what he means by “grace” is what the Bible says about “grace.”  Brooks continues, “You are living your life and then you get knocked off course – either by an overwhelming love, or by failure, illness, loss of employment, or twist of fate… In retreat, you admit your need and surrender your crown… You are accepted. You don’t have to struggle for a place, because you are embraced and accepted. You just have to accept the fact that you are accepted (Page 265).

So close… and yet so far way.

Grace is that free gift of love, acceptance, and forgiveness that is the foundation of our hope for deliverance from sin, of security in this life and the next. I applaud Brooks in his insistence on grace as that which saves.  But any notion of grace that does not demonstrate the costliness of that acceptance, that is, grace without the cross of Jesus Christ, is a cheap, ineffective, and unsaving grace.

I read this and immediately thought of Bonhoeffer:**

Cheap grace is the preaching for forgiveness without requiring repentance; baptism without Church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchants will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

It is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son… and it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God (Page 45).

Ultimately, Brooks’ book makes me grateful. I am grateful for the blessing of having a Biblical Worldview, a God-centered perspective of the world and of myself.  I am grateful to stand in the Reformed Tradition, with the Westminster Creed and Confession that help me to define and articulate my faith. I am grateful for the saints of God who have gone before me, and who walk with me still, who help me to know the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and to rest in that grace as I continue to battle against sin in my own life, all the while relying on Christ who has conquered the power of sin and death for me.

Let us know what we mean when we say things like sin, holiness, grace, and salvation, so that we can be clear in our witness, and so that we can rest secure in the grace of God for us in Jesus Christ!

SDG

* Brooks, David.  The Road to Character. (Random House; New York, 2016)
** Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship (Touchtone; New York, 1959)

From the Pastor’s Desk

Here are some articles from the past week that have caught my eye:

Preaching the Gospel and the Law: As I continue to preach through the Letter of James, I try to maintain the balance between the Law and Gospel, between grace and obedience, faith and works.  These aren’t contradictory themes, but doctrines that, rightfully understood, go hand in hand.  This article came as a good reminder in the midst of the study.

10 Things to Know About Church Discipline: After a great time of fellowship and prayer with a group of fellow pastors, I was reminded of the importance of the ongoing, faithful, and prayerful practice of Church Discipline.  As this article points out, there are two main types of discipline, Formative and Corrective, and both need to be maintained for a healthy congregation, but also for healthy individuals within the congregation.

SmarterEveryDay: I try not to spend a lot of time on YouTube, otherwise I get sucked into a time-consuming vortex of videos.  Still, every now and then, you come across some videos that are terrific.  I love watching Destin with Smarter Every Day. His curiosity is contagious, and we all should have such a desire to learn and understand the world around us. I love that he involves his families in a lot of the videos too. Enjoy!