One of our teaching sessions this past week was on the cost of discipleship. We know that before we pursue a discipleship with Jesus, we ought to first count the cost (Luke 14:28-33). Here are a few of the costs that we discussed:
1) –We must love Jesus so much that our love for any other human being looks like hate when compared to the magnitude of our love for Christ. (Luke 14:25-27)
2) –We must love the other members of the Body of Christ and place others ahead of ourselves. (John 13:34-35)
3) –We must abide in His word and obey His commands. (John 8:31-32)
4) –We cannot be ashamed of Jesus or of the Gospel we profess. (Luke 9:26)
5) –We must abide in Christ (the vine) and remain in Him so that we might bear fruit as a witness to our discipleship. (John 15:5-8)
6) –We must be willing to renounce and give up all we have and do so if He asks us to do so- especially if those things might become idols in our lives. (Luke 14:33; Mark 10:17-22)
7) –We must deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily and follow Jesus by completely surrendering our will to His. (Luke 9:23-25; Matt 16:24-25)
I hope this makes those of you who are Christians think and begin to count the cost of your discipleship with Christ. It certainly has done so for me.
One other aspect of being a disciple of Christ (and these two things in no way cover the full spectrum of discipleship, but they do explore many aspects of it) is suffering. We know that as co-heirs with Christ, we will share in His sufferings (Romans 8:17). With this in mind, I looked up many of the verses about our suffering as Christians and wrote this summary of what I learned (I’m sorry this is not nicely annotated like the above notes, but the verses I used are Romans 8:17; Romans 5:3; 1 Corinthians 12:26; 2 Corinthians 1:5-6; Philippians 1:29; Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:24; Hebrews 2:18; 2 Timothy 1:3; 1 Peter 3:18; and 1 Peter 5:10):
Suffering is unwanted, unjust conflict that Christians experience as a result of their other-worldly nature and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is cause by the world’s lack of understanding of who we are as Christians. It is not self-inflicted, but is subject to the will of God in how He sees fit to distribute suffering amongst the body of believers. We are to share in Christ’s sufferings and rejoice therein. Because Christ suffered when tempted by Satan and overcame Satan, we too have the power to do so. Suffering is not worldly in its implications for Christians- we are only to suffer for the sake of Christ. Suffering is a fiery trial for the purpose to test us that we might display our obedience, receive and grow in our salvation, and experience the comfort of Christ. The Body of Christ is unified in its suffering, and the suffering of individual members fills up the suffering of the entire body. It produces patience, restoration, confirmation, and strength and establishes us in Christ. It allows us to know the power of the resurrection and become like Christ in His death and to receive salvation therein. The ultimate result of suffering is that we might be heirs with Christ and be glorified through and with Him. It’s all for the Glory of God!
I hope this makes you think, as it did to me, and to count the cost so that you might “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1).
