O GOSH the Cost of Discipleship
I hope you can track with this, despite my poor english skills and abstract thought flow.
So recently I’ve been thinking a lot about following God. About what it means to be a, disciple. A follower of God. A lot of times I feel like we tame down the life we are really called to live. I read passages like Acts 19:19, and how these people went to such great lengths, behaved in such an extreme way, to receive God in fullness, and know God in wholeness. These people burned their valuable scrolls. They didn’t throw them away or sell them , but they made a huge bond fire and burned them publicly, and because of this extreme behavior the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. Wow, grew in power. Side note: could you imagine if Christians in the west went to such great extremes out of reverence to God? If believers sold their possessions and gave to people uncontrollably to make sure every one had what they needed? the state of the world might be a little different. maybe.
Also I think of when Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship in Luke 14:28. He tells a story saying, You don’t start to build a building with out first figuring out how much it will cost. You don’t start and then have to stop half way through with the building just being a skeleton of a building with no real substance or structure, because you ran out of money. But Jesus saying you count the cost. So you see what the labor will be and you see what money it will take. If you don’t then people will laugh at you and mock you for not being able to finish what you put out to do. We can’t forget the other parts in the gospel where Jesus says things like sell everything and follow me(Matt 19:21), Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man has no place to lay his head(Luke 9:57-62), You will be beaten and killed(Matt 24:9), even your family will hate you(john 15:18) , a profit is not welcome in his own home(Matt 13:57), And we see the disciples paid a HUGE price for their decision to follow Christ (rest of the bible, haha sorry not an easy one verse to pull)(sorry this last paragraph seems like a huge downer.)Lets not over look our brothers and sisters that even today are all over the world paying a price that causes most westerns to turn up there music or retreat into the realm of books, and TV. I could write many more pages just on bible examples as well as today examples of the cost...
So I was thinking about how western churches some times have a lack of zeal for the Creator of the Universe. Then I remembered what my friend said (something like this) “If you don’t pay anything for something, its not worth anything to you, but the things you pay a lot for, you take great care of” (wow, I just killed that completely! sorry friend) Its true that if you lose something or something gets stolen that you got for free your like, “ that sucks but all well I never paid for it, so all well.” So maybe thats one of the reasons the western world looses faith or don’t fight for beauty, the awe inspiring God. Because in the west we don’t usually have teachings on what its going to cost, the really hard teaching. Also in this western world there is such a minimal cost to follow Christ, or so I thought...
I used to think that the cost of being a follower of Christ was limited to just the physical and material cost. But the other night I found out it is so much more then that. Those things are just the begging of the cost.
(honesty time)
So the other night I was realizing some crap about myself,(more like this whole weekend but lets continue...) areas I really needed to tackle and deal with, If I wanted to live in the fullness of God. I called my friend and was talking to her, more venting my thoughts. Basically I was pretty broken. (the story of my recent life) I didn’t know how to fix the problems. The easiest thing for me to have done would have been to say “Im right or I can’t change because I’m a wrenched sinner, so I’ll learn to live with it.” But I believe Christ’s death was and is for more then a sin cleanser and a get out of hell card(some people who read might think I’m terrible after that. Tough deal with it haha ). I believe it was to bring wholeness and completeness to this whole world, the human race, all spheres of society and culture. So I want to strive to become more and more complete. Its a process. so after I got off the phone I went to take a shower...
When I was getting ready, all of a sudden it hit me. THIS IS THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP!! Not taking the shower, but I realized the cost is not limited to the physical and material hard times. The cost is so much more (oo great I have to pay even more? you might ask) The cost is saying I’m not always right and not stopping there but moving forward to say God I’m broken, I’m tired, and I feel like I’m finished, so please help me conquer this! The cost of following Christ is having those revelations that make us say “Go away from me , LORD; I am a sinful man”(Luke 5:8) but not stopping at that, but moving on to hear God say back “Don’t be afraid, I will make you fishers of men.” The cost is being an emotional wreck, not knowing what is going to happen next, obedience that sketches(or freaks) us out, cause we just quit our job and have a family to feed. It was quit an amazing moment for me. It’s easy for me to live with nothing and travel to the unknown but its not easy for me to break down and in those darkest moments dig deeper into the chasm, the unknown yet all to real darkness, to find the root and pull it out. To find the thorn that is the cause of this pain and one of the things preventing me from living in wholeness with Christ. That is some of the toughest costs we have to pay when we become disciples of the Living King of all of Creation.
Maybe you just read all of this and are now like “No daa chris, I have always known this.” I thought I did to until I walked into it. Then the revelation became real. Which is why I believe we were meant to walk out in community , and community is more then 3 day a week one hour meeting. but thats something that maybe I’ll Think about some other time.
But lets count the cost and not only Count it but say “Lord there is nothing I want more then to walk in the Fullness of you and bring your completeness to creation” It’s an awesome journey. And I hope when people read this message they don’t “walk away sad”(Matt 19:22) and hopefully we wont say “This is a hard teaching, who can accept it?”(John 6:60)
So recently I’ve been thinking a lot about following God. About what it means to be a, disciple. A follower of God. A lot of times I feel like we tame down the life we are really called to live. I read passages like Acts 19:19, and how these people went to such great lengths, behaved in such an extreme way, to receive God in fullness, and know God in wholeness. These people burned their valuable scrolls. They didn’t throw them away or sell them , but they made a huge bond fire and burned them publicly, and because of this extreme behavior the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. Wow, grew in power. Side note: could you imagine if Christians in the west went to such great extremes out of reverence to God? If believers sold their possessions and gave to people uncontrollably to make sure every one had what they needed? the state of the world might be a little different. maybe.
Also I think of when Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship in Luke 14:28. He tells a story saying, You don’t start to build a building with out first figuring out how much it will cost. You don’t start and then have to stop half way through with the building just being a skeleton of a building with no real substance or structure, because you ran out of money. But Jesus saying you count the cost. So you see what the labor will be and you see what money it will take. If you don’t then people will laugh at you and mock you for not being able to finish what you put out to do. We can’t forget the other parts in the gospel where Jesus says things like sell everything and follow me(Matt 19:21), Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man has no place to lay his head(Luke 9:57-62), You will be beaten and killed(Matt 24:9), even your family will hate you(john 15:18) , a profit is not welcome in his own home(Matt 13:57), And we see the disciples paid a HUGE price for their decision to follow Christ (rest of the bible, haha sorry not an easy one verse to pull)(sorry this last paragraph seems like a huge downer.)Lets not over look our brothers and sisters that even today are all over the world paying a price that causes most westerns to turn up there music or retreat into the realm of books, and TV. I could write many more pages just on bible examples as well as today examples of the cost...
So I was thinking about how western churches some times have a lack of zeal for the Creator of the Universe. Then I remembered what my friend said (something like this) “If you don’t pay anything for something, its not worth anything to you, but the things you pay a lot for, you take great care of” (wow, I just killed that completely! sorry friend) Its true that if you lose something or something gets stolen that you got for free your like, “ that sucks but all well I never paid for it, so all well.” So maybe thats one of the reasons the western world looses faith or don’t fight for beauty, the awe inspiring God. Because in the west we don’t usually have teachings on what its going to cost, the really hard teaching. Also in this western world there is such a minimal cost to follow Christ, or so I thought...
I used to think that the cost of being a follower of Christ was limited to just the physical and material cost. But the other night I found out it is so much more then that. Those things are just the begging of the cost.
(honesty time)
So the other night I was realizing some crap about myself,(more like this whole weekend but lets continue...) areas I really needed to tackle and deal with, If I wanted to live in the fullness of God. I called my friend and was talking to her, more venting my thoughts. Basically I was pretty broken. (the story of my recent life) I didn’t know how to fix the problems. The easiest thing for me to have done would have been to say “Im right or I can’t change because I’m a wrenched sinner, so I’ll learn to live with it.” But I believe Christ’s death was and is for more then a sin cleanser and a get out of hell card(some people who read might think I’m terrible after that. Tough deal with it haha ). I believe it was to bring wholeness and completeness to this whole world, the human race, all spheres of society and culture. So I want to strive to become more and more complete. Its a process. so after I got off the phone I went to take a shower...
When I was getting ready, all of a sudden it hit me. THIS IS THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP!! Not taking the shower, but I realized the cost is not limited to the physical and material hard times. The cost is so much more (oo great I have to pay even more? you might ask) The cost is saying I’m not always right and not stopping there but moving forward to say God I’m broken, I’m tired, and I feel like I’m finished, so please help me conquer this! The cost of following Christ is having those revelations that make us say “Go away from me , LORD; I am a sinful man”(Luke 5:8) but not stopping at that, but moving on to hear God say back “Don’t be afraid, I will make you fishers of men.” The cost is being an emotional wreck, not knowing what is going to happen next, obedience that sketches(or freaks) us out, cause we just quit our job and have a family to feed. It was quit an amazing moment for me. It’s easy for me to live with nothing and travel to the unknown but its not easy for me to break down and in those darkest moments dig deeper into the chasm, the unknown yet all to real darkness, to find the root and pull it out. To find the thorn that is the cause of this pain and one of the things preventing me from living in wholeness with Christ. That is some of the toughest costs we have to pay when we become disciples of the Living King of all of Creation.
Maybe you just read all of this and are now like “No daa chris, I have always known this.” I thought I did to until I walked into it. Then the revelation became real. Which is why I believe we were meant to walk out in community , and community is more then 3 day a week one hour meeting. but thats something that maybe I’ll Think about some other time.
But lets count the cost and not only Count it but say “Lord there is nothing I want more then to walk in the Fullness of you and bring your completeness to creation” It’s an awesome journey. And I hope when people read this message they don’t “walk away sad”(Matt 19:22) and hopefully we wont say “This is a hard teaching, who can accept it?”(John 6:60)
posted by chris at 6:09 PM
3 Comments:
I think it's amazing that we seem to be walking through similar internal struggles at the same time. I hate being "weak", breaking down, having my faults stick out like a sore thumb and when they do I want to run and hide. But I can't help it and I can't hide it. I am too broken.
I love you. Thanks for all the talks and for being one of my best friends. Lord knows we both need friends.
It is so amazing when God shows us his crazy revelations about things like this. So awesome to see what God is doing in your life. Thanks for sharing parts of this journey with me many a times.
straight jump, bro...good stuff...about the cost/value relationship concept: i leant my board to someone about three months ago and when i came back to the park someone else had taken it...today i went by and there was my old deck (still skateable) lying in the skatepark, stripped of trucks and wheels...so sad an end...so i brought the remains home anyways...peace
Post a Comment
<< Home