Counting Costs

One of my professors is preaching this upcoming Sunday on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  His message is on discipleship, and that often the cost is great, as was the case with these three men and the fiery furnace.  However, as my professor pointed out, God spared the lives of these three men in the furnace, and it was the soldiers who bound them whose lives were consumed by the flames.  This led him to make the following statement: The cost of non-discipleship is even greater.

We live in a country where all the resources we could ever want often lay within an arms reach.  Instead of waiting a day for the paper to print out yesterday’s news, we can receive instant updates via cell phones, tablets, and the scrolling bar at the bottom of our televisions.  Magazines, internet pop-up ads, and television commercials all glaringly point out the things we are not doing or do not have.. 

Sadly, we are easily convinced we are missing out.

So, we fill our homes with more stuff, upgrade our current luxuries, join more clubs, and fill up our schedules with more activities.  Our budget is never too small to add another car, another outfit to our wardrobe, another form of technology, or another room to our home.  Our day is never too full to add another game, another event, or another television series to our schedule. 

Cost does not factor into our decision-making, nor does the amount of time we have in a day.  That is, unless we are talking about discipleship. 

Suddenly, we have too much do to spend with our Heavenly Father, too much to do to spend loving others, and not enough money to give to those in need.  After all, are these things really worth sacrificing what we have?

Jesus tells two parables in the last part of Matthew 13 to address this issue.  In each parable Jesus tell us the Kingdom of Heaven is worth more than everything.  It is worth selling all that we have; it is worth giving up all we do.  To make His point clear, I’ll repeat that again: The Kingdom of Heaven is worth more than everything.  It is worth selling all that we have; it is worth giving up all we do.

Yes, discipleship comes with a cost.  We are forced to lay down our idols, our preferences, our time, and our comfort.  But we gain so much more. 

Jesus is the only source of life.  He is the only source of love.  He is the only source of joy.  This means, we CANNOT find these things outside of Him, regardless of what we might be deceived into feeling or believing.  Consequently, a pursuit of Christ, and therefore a pursuit of discipleship, is the only way one might ultimately find life, love, and joy. 

Suffering, persecution, hardship, and rejection.  These are just some of the costs of a life pursuit of Jesus.  However, the absence of persevering joy, hope, and sacrificial love are just some the costs of non-discipleship. 

May we be of the former, who willingly sacrifice all that is asked of us, may we  count the costs of non-discipleship, may we join with Paul in this desire:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:8-11

In doing so, may we discover the ultimate treasure that is offered to us: Jesus Christ.