While the price for our eternal salvation was paid on Calvary’s cross, the Bible is also clear that there is a cost of truly following Christ. While this cost cannot be paid with money, Jesus told the disciples on more than one occasion that following Him would not be without some level of sacrifice. He also told His followers that He wanted them to calculate the cost and determine whether or not they truly wanted to do what was in front of them. He wants the same for us.
When faced with the fact that there is a cost for following Christ, most of us have a tendency to recoil at the thought. Doesn’t the old song teach us that “Jesus paid it all?” While it’s true that Christ paid the price for our sins, and in turn, purchased our eternal salvation, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a cost for being a follower of Christ.
We often like to view Christianity as a relationship in which one party paid for everything, so all we have to do is reap the benefits. For the most part, that’s exactly the way it works. God didn’t save you because He wanted you to repay your own sin debt. No, He offered His only Son because He knew that there was no way for you to ever pay the price that your sin required. He knew that there was nothing you could do to earn your way into Heaven, so He gave the very best that Heaven had to offer. Your ticket to eternity with God was bought and paid for at Calvary and in the empty tomb. However, there is still a cost that we need to consider when determining whether or not we want to accept the gift.
Discipleship is not free. This doesn’t mean that God needs your money, nor does He need you to do anything. God doesn’t need us, but He wants us anyway! However, when we fully embrace our role in His Kingdom, we must also embrace the cost that comes with it.
What is the cost of discipleship? Understanding the answer to that question can help you fully understand what it means to be a devoted follower of Christ. Follow the words of Christ and count up the cost today.
It Means Opening Up to Others
2 Corinthians 2:15-17 (TPT)
We have become the unmistakable aroma of the victory of the Anointed One to God-a perfume of life to those being saved and the odor of death to those who are perishing. The unbelievers smell a deadly stench that leads to death, but believers smell the life-giving aroma that leads to abundant life. And who of us can rise to this challenge? For unlike so many, we are not peddlers of God’s word who water down the message. We are those sent from God with pure motives, who speak in the sight of God from our union with Christ.
“What is that perfume you’re wearing?!” If you’ve ever been asked that question, you probably responded by telling the person who asked what the scent is that you’re emitting. Paul compared the way that people notice that we’re followers of Christ. Unfortunately, there are people who aren’t drawn to what we have in our lives, but instead, are repulsed by it.
One of the costs of discipleship is dealing with the fact that some people will not be interested in what it is that you possess. Moreover, they won’t exactly be naturally drawn to the God who possesses you. This is because they are following their own fleshly desires which are in direct opposition to God.
The cost of discipleship includes continuing to share your faith with people, even when they seem resistant to it. This doesn’t mean that you try to force your beliefs on someone. Instead, it means that you continue to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) to people who may ridicule you for doing so. The refusal to back down can open you up to rejection, hurtful words, and ostracization. However, when you embrace the cost of discipleship, you realize that your life is not your own, and you are constantly pursuing obedience.
It Means Denying Yourself
Matthew 16:24-25 (TPT)
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If you truly want to follow me, you should at once completely reject and disown your own life. And you must be willing to share my cross and experience it as your own, as you continually surrender to my ways. For if you choose self-sacrifice and lose your lives for my glory, you will continually discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will forfeit what you try to keep.
When you initially made the decision to accept Christ as your Savior, you probably didn’t really know anything about what it was going to cost you. Most people who get saved do so because they’re scared of eternity. As their relationship with Christ grows, they begin to understand what it means to truly love Him, follow Him, and the cost of those commitments.
While we may never face death for following Christ, it’s important to realize that there are millions of people around the globe who live every day with that reality. There are multiple countries where Christianity is illegal, and in some of the most extreme cases, they can be executed for refusing to denounce their faith. Christ knew that His disciples would face that level of persecution, which is why He discussed the importance of denying themselves to follow Him. He knew what He was talking about. Of the initial 12 disciples, only Judas, who betrayed Him and died by suicide, and John, who died on a prison island called Patmos escaped martyrdom. When you consider the final days of John’s life, you could easily make the case that he lost his life for the Gospel.
The point that Christ was making here was only partially about the risk of martyrdom. Instead, He was speaking about what it means to deny ourselves in pursuit of Him. Our flesh operates in direct opposition to God. Instead of choosing to please our fleshly desires, we are called to please God.
Are you willing to put your fleshly desires under subjection? Are you willing to deny yourself some of the things that you want because those things don’t align with Scripture? If so, you’re embracing the cost of discipleship.
It Means Making a Choice
Ruth 1:15-16 (ESV)
And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Ruth did not grow up in a Christ-following home. Since her story takes place in the Old Testament, it’s important that we realize that the only people who were following God were the Jewish people. In this passage, Ruth was faced with a difficult choice. Would she go home to her family? She could have walked away from her mother-in-law, returned to her old country, and to her old religion. Instead, she chose to follow Naomi, and in turn, chose to follow God.
Finally, the cost of discipleship includes choosing who you’re going to follow. You have options, and some of them are more appealing to your flesh than others. You can follow your own desires. You can follow the trends of society. You can follow what is popular in culture. However, you can also make the decision that Ruth made and be a follow of Christ.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help me to fully understand the cost of discipleship. Not because I want to walk away due to the cost, but because I want to make sure that I am completely committed to You in every part of my life. In Christ’s name I ask these things, Amen.