Are We Willing To Pay The Price? 6-7-26 AM
I. Discipleship comes with a cost.
a. Jesus says that if we will follow Him, we have to deny ourselves.
b. What does it mean to deny ourselves?
i. It does not mean hating our personalities.
ii. It does not mean ignoring our needs.
iii. It does not mean pretending that we don’t matter.
c. It means surrendering ownership of your life.
d. It means saying, “Jesus, you are Lord and I am not.”
e. We all have a tendency to want to be preeminent.
i. This is what is behind the statement of Jesus found in Matt. 5:5.
ii. A meek person puts his will underneath the will of God.
iii. Blessing from God will only come when we put ourselves out of the lead seat and insert the Lord there.
f. Jesus does not call us to add Him to our lives as an accessory.
g. He calls us to hand Him the keys.
h. The first price of discipleship is death of self-rule.
i. We sing “take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to the” but do we really mean it?
j. If we die to self, this means following Jesus will challenge our priorities.
i. It may cost us a sinful relationship.
ii. It may cost us popularity.
iii. It may cost us habits or attitudes we’ve defended for years.
iv. It will cost us control over our time, money, speech, attitudes, and desires.
k. The question is not, “Can I follow Jesus and keep most things the same?”
l. The question is, “What must change because Jesus is Lord?”
m. Following Jesus begins when self stops being in charge.
II. Discipleship is constant.
a. Mark’s account records Jesus as saying, “take up his cross and follow me.”
b. Luke’s account adds one very important word – “daily” (Lu. 9:23).
c. Jesus is not describing one very emotional moment.
i. I’ve heard people say something like, “I’ll never forget giving my life to Jesus in the parking lot of the church building” or something like that.
ii. It is a very emotional moment followed by little to no change in actions or attitudes.
d. Jesus is describing a life from new birth until physical death (Rev. 2:10).
i. The cross is not something we pick up once and then put down.
ii. It is something we carry daily.
e. The Hebrews writer states we are to encourage one another daily (Heb. 3:13).
i. It is not a Sunday only exercise.
ii. It is an everyday exercise to get help us get to heaven.
f. This is not a job where you clock in for several hours a day and then clock out and can forget about it til the next day.
g. This is not something we can remove around certain people and take it back out when we are around people like us.
h. Some people are willing to cede control to Jesus in a crisis but not in everyday life.
i. It is easy to give control to Christ when we realize we can’t fix it, but keep control until we are going off the cliff.
ii. It is easy to confess Christ when we enter the church building, but not so much at work or play with friends outside of Christ.
i. Jesus calls us to everyday discipleship.
i. Every day in our homes.
ii. Every day in our decisions.
iii. Every day in temptation.
iv. Every day in good times.
v. Every day in hardships.
vi. Every day in every aspect.
j. Discipleship that involves carrying our cross is not a moment; it is a daily way of life.
III. Discipleship is complete.
a. When Jesus said “take up his cross,” the first-century people hearing Him did not hear a religious slogan.
b. They saw a Roman execution scene that was very familiar to them.
c. The cross was not some fancy decoration.
i. It was not jewelry.
ii. It was not a cool, new tattoo.
iii. The cross was an instrument of torturous death.
d. To take up a cross meant you were walking to your death.
e. Jesus is saying that the disciple must be so surrendered that even life itself belongs to God.
f. Then Jesus states… (Mk. 8:35).
i. Jesus is not calling us to lead reckless lives, not thinking at all about our physical lives.
ii. He is calling us to complete loyalty.
iii. There is no area in our lives where we can say, “Jesus, you can have everything but this.”
g. This is where discipleship becomes uncomfortable.
i. Jesus gets our public and private lives.
ii. He gets us on Sunday mornings and Friday nights.
iii. He gets our worship and our money.
iv. He gets our words and our thoughts.
v. He gets our plans and our relationships.
vi. He gets our bodies and our futures.
h. Yes, if faithfulness demands it, the disciple must be willing to die for the Lord.
i. Remember Paul on his way to Jerusalem?
ii. Acts 21:12.
iii. This is to be our attitude if it ever comes to that, which is much easier said than done.
i. Jesus is not asking for part of us, but all of us.
IV. Discipleship must be done with consideration.
a. Jesus asks two very searching questions in Mark 8:36-37.
b. Jesus is using financial language.
i. He is talking about profit and loss.
ii. We have to sit down and do the calculations.
c. I heard a clip from Dave Ramsey the other day.
i. A guy called in with about 2 million dollars in low interest debt.
ii. He and his made 1.5 million and had 5.2 million in assets
iii. He was wondering if it was better to pay off the debt or invest money that would bring in more percentage wise than his debts cost.
iv. Dave Ramsey said he needs to do the math and factor in risk, which the guy had not done.
d. Jesus is inviting us to do the math on our soul’s eternal value versus the value of the here and now.
i. This was not the only time Jesus would tell His hearers they needed to do the math.
ii. On another occasion where Jesus was speaking about the cost of discipleship, He had this to say… (Lu. 14:25-33).
iii. We have to count the cost.
e. What if we could gain all that this world has to offer?
f. And then lost our souls?
g. Jesus says that is not success – that is the worst trade-off imaginable.
h. The world is always offering trades:
i. Trade truth for acceptance;
ii. Trade holiness for pleasure;
iii. Trade worship for busyness;
iv. Trade conviction for comfort;
v. Trade eternity for now.
i. Jesus tells us to think very carefully.
j. Count the cost but take in consideration all the numbers.
k. Yes, following Jesus costs something, but not following Jesus costs far more.
l. The world is far too small a payment for our souls.
V. Discipleship involves confession.
a. Jesus says that is possible to be ashamed of Him, which will lead Him to be ashamed of us (Mk. 8:38).
b. This is not just about private belief.
c. It is also about public allegiance.
d. To be ashamed of Jesus is to distance ourselves from Him when identifying with Him becomes costly.
i. It is wanting His salvation but not His name.
ii. It is wanting His promises but not His words.
e. A true disciple confesses Christ (Rom. 10:9-10).
f. Confession is not empty religious language.
g. It is expressed allegiance, saying “I belong to Jesus.”
h. We definitely confess Christ by what we say, but also by what we refuse to hide.
i. We confess Him when we speak the truth in love against error.
ii. We confess Him when we refuse to be embarrassed by His teaching.
iii. We confess Him when we identify with His church and not man-made traditions.
iv. We confess Him when we repent instead of excuse sin.
v. We confess Him when we are baptized into Him.
vi. We confess Him when our lives make it clear that Jesus is Lord.
i. A disciple cannot be secretly loyal to a public Savior.