THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP
Preached at Naylor and Wright's Chapel UMC -- 8 August 2004

I. Introduction

-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 16:24-27 [read vs. 24-27]

24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27. For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

-- have you ever had a "now what?" moment? -- do you know what I'm talking about? -- it's those times in your life when you look around and realize you don't have a clue what you are going to do next and you ask yourself, "now what?"
-- I have those moments all the time -- several years ago, I was hunting near my house up in north Georgia -- I had one of those two part deer stands -- you sat on the top part and you put your feet on the bottom part -- the way it worked was, you would stand up and put the seat up as high as you could stand -- then, you'd pull the base up to the seat and start over again -- so, over time, you were climbing up the tree
-- well, this stand had a belt that connected the top and the bottom parts and everytime I tried to move, it would make a noise -- I thought to myself, "that's stupid -- who came up with this idea -- the whole point of hunting is to be as quiet as possible" -- so I reached down and unhooked the belt and let it fall to the ground
-- now, I was up in the tree about 20-25 feet and I decided it was time to go -- so I went to turn around in my seat to put my feet in the straps on the base when I learned what the belt was for -- it was to keep the two pieces of the tree stand together -- I knocked the base loose from the tree -- it slid down 25 feet all the way to the bottom of the tree -- so, there I am, sitting on a narrow little piece of board 25 feet up in the air with no way to get down -- and I remember thinking to myself, "now what?"

-- everybody has those moments -- you see them mostly during major life changes -- I see it a lot in weddings -- I go to counsel the couple before the wedding and they aren't listening to a word I say -- they're sitting there, gazing into each other's eyes -- when they walked in they kind of floated into the room -- they're "in love" -- but then, when the ceremony's about to start and the bride comes walking down, I see that look on their faces -- or at least the groom's face -- it's one of those "now what?" moments -- and I know what he's thinking -- "we're getting married -- now what am I supposed to do?"

-- "now what?" moments are a part of life -- they're a part of growing up and maturing -- and they're good for us -- we all need those "now what" moments in order to help us figure out just where we're going in life

-- the same holds true in our spiritual lives as well -- when Christians get saved -- when they get justified -- when they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and their sins are forgiven and forgotten by God -- they are supposed to have one of those "now what" moments -- they are supposed to rise from the altar or get out of the baptismal pool -- and they're supposed to look their new life right in the eye and say, "now what -- now what am I supposed to do?"

II. Scripture Lesson

-- Jesus gives us the answer to that question in this passage
-- He has just told His disciples that He had to go up to Jerusalem and that He would be crucified and killed, but that on the third day He would rise from the dead -- in other words, He has shared with His disciples His mission on earth -- to pay the cost of our sins with His body and His blood -- to justify us in the eyes of God

-- and now He tells them what their next step should be -- what they should do after they are justified -- in verse 24 He says, "if anyone would come after me" -- the next step after justification is coming after Jesus -- following Jesus -- being His disciple -- following Jesus means becoming like Him in all our ways -- -- it means letting the Holy Spirit work through you and in you to change you -- to transform you from the inside out -- into the person God has called you to be -- we call this process sanctification or discipleship

-- Eph 1:4 says that God chose us to be holy and blameless in His eyes -- 1 Pet 1:16 says, "be holy because I am holy" -- in answer to the question, "now what?" God tells us to follow Jesus and to become holy like Him

-- Jesus never wanted us to be satisfied with just being saved -- He wanted us to be sanctified -- He wanted us to be His disciples and to follow Him

-- let's say you were in a burning building and Jesus is a fireman -- He comes in and pulls you out of the fire, through a window, onto a fire escape -- there you are -- standing on fire escape -- saved from fire -- Jesus goes down to the ground -- but we just stand there, happy with being saved -- but that's not what He wants us to do -- He wants us to follow Him, get suited up, and go with Him into the burning building to save some more souls

-- Jesus has called all of us to be His disciples -- He has called us to do more than come to church and do Bible studies -- He has called us to follow Him with our whole life -- but very few of us actually do it -- look at our churches today and see how many committed Christians there are -- look at the effect the church is having on the culture -- you can see that we don't have many folks following Jesus as He commanded

-- why? -- why won't we follow Jesus? -- I can give you one good reason -- it's because there is a cost to following Christ and very few people are willing to pay that price -- Jesus tells us here in this passage what the cost of following Him is -- look back at verse 24 [read vs. 24] -- He says that we are to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and then follow Him

-- the cost of following Him is to deny ourselves -- to lose our very life -- to put our wants and our desires and our goals and our dreams behind us and to follow Him and be obedient to His word

III. Cheap Grace

-- talking about being committed to Jesus -- we have a lot of people living a double standard in our churches -- claim to be Christians, but they are failing to follow Christ -- they may be saved but they are not living the life of grace and obedience that God has called us to
--there's a difference between just getting by and giving it all -- there's a difference between being committed and just making a contribution

-- one day a pig and a chicken were walking down the street -- they passed by a restaurant -- there was a sign in the window that said, "eggs and bacon wanted" -- the chicked looked at the pig and said, "we should go in and help" -- the pig said "I don't think so" -- the chicken said, "why not?" -- the pig said, "because for you it's a contribution -- for me it's a committment"

-- we have a lot of chicken Christians in our pews and on our membership rolls -- they're saved -- they have been justified -- but they are not committed to Christ -- this has always been the case -- people have always been attracted to the rewards of Christianity -- they have always liked the idea of salvation -- but they are just not willing to pay the price that Christ demands for holiness

-- flip over to Luke 14:25

25. Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:
26. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
27. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
29. For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30. saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31. "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32. If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
33. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

-- large crowds were following Him -- every where Jesus went, people wanted to follow Jesus -- they liked the miracles -- they liked seeing people get healed -- they liked getting a full meal out of only 5 loaves and 2 small fish -- they like the teaching -- they liked seeing Him confront the Pharisees and the religious right -- they were happy following Him, provided He just didn't ask them to do anything

-- look back at verse 25 again [read vs. 25-33] -- Jesus knew what was in their hearts -- He knew that they were not living the life He had called them to -- so He turned and shocked them with His proclamation -- "if you don't carry your cross and follow me, you can't be my disciple" -- there is a cost to being a disciple of Christ -- there is a cost to being a committed Christian

-- this large crowd was unwilling to pay the cost, and they left -- you see, they were living on cheap grace -- these were the folks who were "luke-warm" -- neither hot nor cold -- saved, but not willing to be on fire for Christ -- not willing to become holy as He was holy

-- we have a lot of folks in our churches today who are living on this luke-warm cheap grace -- cheap grace is the grace that doesn't require a commitment on our part

-- cheap grace is grace without responsibility -- grace without discipleship -- grace without sacrifice

-- "cheap grace is ultimately belief without obedience -- hearing without doing -- intellectual assent without commitment -- cheap grace says you don't have to be concerned about purity, holiness, obedience or following Christ

-- cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance; baptism without

church discipline and communion without confession

-- people living on cheap grace focus on the things of God rather than on God Himself -- as Paul says in 2 Tim 3:5 -- these people have a form of Godliness but deny its power

-- grace may be free, but it's not cheap -- grace is costly -- any time a cross is involved, there will be a cost -- the grace that came with the cross cost Jesus His life -- and if you are going to live in obedience to Him and follow Him, then you will have to pay a cost yourself

-- Jesus calls for us to deny ourselves -- to give Him our very lives -- and to take up our crosses and to follow Him -- we can't follow Him if we don't first offer ourselves up to Him as a living sacrifice

-- costly grace means becoming a follower of Christ -- and that doesn't just happen like magic -- sanctification is not automatic -- it takes work and desire

-- college football season is just weeks away -- there is a difference between being a spectator and being a player -- if you are going to play, then you have to get ready -- you have to sacrifice in order to succeed -- you have to work out and get in shape and practice

-- costly grace is like becoming a star player -- cheap grace is being content with sitting in the stands and watching others do the work

-- Christ didn't die for us to sit on the sidelines -- He died for us to get in the game -- Christ commands us to follow Him -- He commands us to become like Him -- we are obligated to follow Him -- no matter the cost

-- Hudson Taylor was a great man of God who understand what it meant to respond to God's call to follow Christ -- He was called by God to abandon his dreams and his desires and to go to China as a missionary
-- there was a great cost for him to go -- His father had already died -- He had to leave his widowed mother to go -- and he knew that the odds of him returning to England would be extremely low
-- during those days, when missionaries left home then, they didn't pack their clothes in a suitcase or trunk -- they had a coffin made for them and packed their clothes in it -- most missionaries in those days died on the mission field -- going to China might mean dying for Christ -- it would surely mean that he would never see his mother again
-- leaving home and family on a dangerous mission was a very costly step for Hudson Taylor to take -- but history reveals that God rewarded the faithfulness of His servant by reaching thousands in inland China with the gospel of Christ -- God promises that He will always reward obedience -- maybe not in this life -- but certainly in the next

-- in the passage we read in Matthew 16, Jesus said "The Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done."

-- we are not all called to be missionaries -- we are not all called to pastors or teachers -- but we are all called to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Christ
-- getting saved is not enough -- we have to take the next step -- we have to follow Him and be obedient to Him in order to become like Him

V. Closing

-- Nathan Schaeffer -- "at the close of life, the question will not be, "how much have you gotten? But how much have you given? -- not how much have you won, but how much have you done? -- not how much have you saved but how much have you sacrificed -- it will be how much you loved and served -- not how much were you honored?

-- are you loving and serving God today or are you living on cheap grace? -- if you are content with just sitting in the pews while others follow Christ, then you are living on cheap grace -- without discipleship, you turn costly grace into cheap grace

-- the Bible tells us not to just be hearers of the Word but to be doers of the Word

-- C.T. Studd said, "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice is too great for me to give for Him" -- Jesus is looking for men and women who are willing to sacrifice themselves for Him -- men and women not willing to settle -- men and women who are willing to stand up and pay the cost and follow Him -- men and women who consider a reward in Heaven as worth more than a cost here on earth

-- in answer to the question, "now what," Jesus says, "deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me" -- you have heard the words of Jesus -- now what are you going to do?

-- let us pray