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I am sure by now that everyone is certain or at least certainly thinking that we are in the Revelation Times. With those thoughts come thoughts of introspection. We wonder if we have done everything that we were supposed to and if we did those things to satisfaction. When I get into this mode of thinking one of the most frequent questions in my mind is whether or not I witnessed to everyone I could have about Jesus. Believe it or not my greatest weakness was being able to share the salvation story with someone I am not sure knew Jesus. This was not due to any kind of shyness or shame of the gospel on my part. It was merely due to the fact that I did not know what approach to take with a person or exactly how much to say. I have seen so many good intentioned Christians step out to tell someone about the saving grace of God only to see them shot down on approach. I have often wondered if maybe that person who the Christian wanted to minister to was indeed to ready to receive the good news but the approach the Christian took was all wrong. By approach, I mean to say more than personality or attitude. I am certain that any person whose heart and actions were based in the Spirit of God would certainly know how to approach someone they were directed to. By approach I mean what is said to the person you are ministering to. Often we hear people called to the altar after the salvation message has been preached. We hear the speaker say that this saving grace is free to anyone that wants it and all they have to do is say this little prayer and their lives will be changed forever. Or I am sure we have also heard the more no nonsense speakers say that if you don't know Christ and haven't said the sinner’s prayer that will change you life forever then you are bound to burn in the fiery depths of hell. These are the kinds of scenarios that I was most familiar with. Upon thinking about the times we are living in now and what I have been commissioned to accomplish by God, I began to wonder, is that all it takes to follow God--a free, little prayer that will change my life forever and keep me out of hell? After thinking on the question, looking to the Bible, and praying, I came to the conclusion that the question was only half right. Deciding to follow God and saying the sinner’s prayer would change my life forever and change my destiny. Under no circumstances, however, was I ever to be led to believe that it was free. It would cost me everything. Looking to the Bible it has been this way since Jesus started his ministry.
When
Jesus first started his ministry he was walking along the see of Galilee and
saw two brothers (Peter and Andrew) they were fishing in the sea. When he
approached them he said Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
The Two brothers immediately left their nets and followed Him. Walking from
there he encountered another set of brothers (James and John) who were also
preparing their nets to fish. When he called to them they, too, immediately
left their father, their boat, and their nets to follow him. (Matthew
4:18-22NIV) I often imagine myself talking to these men. Out of curiosity of course I would ask why they just walked away. What did they feel? What moved them? I am sure we all know the answers to those questions if we know that god has a Will and a plan. But more importantly I would ask them the same question I am asking myself now, what does it cost to follow Jesus? All I imagine hearing is a resounding everything. These men knew that cost and chose to pay it. This brings to mind the story of the man who fell at Jesus feet while he was teaching in Judea and asked him what he needed to receive eternal life. Jesus told him of the commandments and the man replied that he had honored the commandments since he was a child. Jesus told him he lacked on thing, he needed to sell off all of his riches, give to the poor, lay up his treasure in Heaven and then go and follow Him. Jesus asked the man to give up all he had worked for, everything he had earned and had laid away for himself in exchange for treasure in Heaven. The mad got up and walked away with a sad heart. He knew the extent of his wealth and decided that it was too great of a sacrifice to make. (Mark 10:17-22NIV) I often think of talking to this man. I wonder if he knew what he ultimately ended up sacrificing was far greater that what he refused to sacrifice. Yet I still imagine the answer to the question posed to this man (What does it cost to follow Jesus?) would result in the same answer--Everything. To approach a person who may not know Christ with a Norman Rockwell version of Christ's life changing abilities without telling the cost of accepting him is to do them a disservice. Think back to your own churches and congregations and to just the people you know. People who come to church and just sit there. They don't join any lay ministries. They come to church and sit there. They are the new Christians (or maybe the old ones who have managed to hold on) who said that free little prayer. Now they come and wonder if this is the day that God is going to change their life. Maybe today is the day that God is going to deliver them from all the trials, tests and temptations that often greet and challenge new Christians. As time goes on they begin to think that maybe that rush of peace they felt as they prayed the prayer was self induced and really nothing has changed at all. Is adding numbers to the souls saved board really as important as saving a soul? When all is said and done and people appear before God for judgment and they begin to say See God I witnessed to that person and that person and that one too. What will their reaction be if he says, "And see how many continue to serve me now?" And he begins to show them the people who fell by the wayside because they didn't know they had to make a sacrifice too. Jesus never made a secret the fact that there was a sacrifice involved on the part of his followers. He never said the cost of eternal life or the cost of becoming one of his followers was free. He made mention several times that the cost was indeed everything. He let his followers and those who wanted to be his followers know that the sacrifice was great and that it would change their entire lives forever. They were required to give up life as they knew it and begin living a life completely based faith. He said that if anyone was to be his follower that he must deny himself and take up his cross on a daily basis. (Luke 9:23NIV) In the New Living Bible He says that anyone who wants to be his follower must put aside their selfish ambition. (Luke 9:23NLB) To ask someone to deny themselves could not be more self explanatory. He was requiring that they give up anything that they would put before the Kingdom of God. Whether it is their family, their jobs, their desires, or hopes or dreams--they had to sacrifice it all to follow Him. The cross in that time was a known execution method. So it was understood when Jesus used this analogy in his teachings that he meant that whoever wanted to follow him must sacrifice themselves on a daily basis. He went even further to say that whoever chose not to deny themselves and carry their own cross could not be one of his disciples. He said that whoever made that choice was not worthy of him and not worthy to be his. (Matthew 10:38NIV, NLB; Luke 14:27NIV) It could not be more explicit. Jesus said I have eternal life to offer but the cost is your life. This is what you need to do gain eternal life. He made it clear that his followers were to continue to do His will and give everything even after Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice and carried his own cross to lay down everything he had. To be human is to listen to this and think that this deal is kind of one sided. People are asked to give up so much, in fact everything, in this lifetime for something that has yet to occur in the next. Jesus made no secret of the fact that this choice was going to be a faith walk. That is what Jesus was telling the rich man in Judea when he asked what he needed to do to gain eternal life. If he would sell all his goods and give them away he would lay up treasure for himself in heaven. (Luke 18:22) Jesus never said that the faith walk would have to be done alone. He promised to be their guide as opposed to letting people try and figure their own way to eternal life. He would be their light that leads to life. (John 8:12) And according to their faith his people would learn his voice and would follow him. (John 10:27NIV) Even in the natural God turned the everything sacrifice into merely an exchange program. What he was asking was for his followers to give up and sacrifice those things that came before him and service of him. He promised that those who gave up their lives as they knew would receive in this present age a hundred times what they gave up. (Mark 10:28-31NIV) He would take the things that were holding them back from service of him and replace them with a more glorious and godly life. And on top of that add eternal life for their service.
Looking
at the word and at the lives of the disciples it is obvious that the cost of
following Jesus is everything. But is also apparent that by our faith and
trust in him that he takes what we sacrifice recycles it and multiplies into
a better more righteous version of what we gave him. And on top of that he
sprinkles eternal life for good measure. But it is the sacrifice we have to
make and decide like the rich man if it is something that we want to do.
When talking to a potential new Christian we have to let them know of the
eternal glory with God and also the sacrifice they have to make to follow
him. In these times we don't need any more pew warmers. There is no routing
section or grandstands in these last days. Every one is on the playing
field. You are playing on the field or playing a support role on the
sidelines, but no one is on the bench or in the locker room when the game is
being played. The cost of playing in the game is everything. The cost of
following Jesus and the cost of discipleship is everything.
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This site was last updated 10/16/07
