Luke 9

The Cost of Following Jesus

⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." ⁵⁹ He said to another man, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." ⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." ⁶¹ Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."

⁶²Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."  

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As I think you know by now, one of my real issues with modern Christianity is that we have propagated a spiritual attitude which minimizes the expectations God has on us for faithfulness to Christ. The modern Church has so emphasized God's grace that far too many Christians are blind to the very real and clearly stated expectations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here in these verses and in many other places Jesus makes it quite clear that each of us be fully aware of and willing to commit ourselves to the demands of Christlike living.

Some of the ways we see this "soft" approach manifested in our time are: 

• Christians believing that each of us can set our own morality without sincere and serious connection to the truths and moral guidelines of the Bible;
• People becoming members of churches without any real expectation of faithfulness to the vows of commitment and service;
• Churches focusing more on self-maintenance than on self-giving actions on behalf of a hurting world;
• People proclaiming readily that Jesus is Lord without solemn reflection on what it means to let the life and truths of Jesus rule our lives, our words and our actions;
• Resourceful persons focusing on applying their resources to personal desires and not so much to Christ's Church and to God's work in the world; in other words, selfishness over generosity;
• Christians talking about loving the unlovable but only if it doesn't pull us too much from our comfort and convenience;
• Etc.

I think each of us understands that there is a cost to discipleship, as I've recently indicated. It, again, is a common theme in the teachings of Jesus. I do believe that a high percentage of us want to be fully faithful to Christ but many may not have taken the necessary spiritual steps to make such commitment a dedicated part of their prayer life and faith growth. It doesn't happen by osmosis. We become more dedicated followers of Christ as we regularly and intentionally seek God's strength and God's power to be all that Christ calls us to be.

I read recently this definition of being a faithful disciple and I like it: A disciple is one has made a firm commitment to the Lordship of Jesus, putting him first in every aspect of his or her life. This commitment is for a lifetime and covers every area of one's daily life. A disciple is committed to a life of obedience. What about you?