The Cost of following Christ

Have you ever been at a presentation and suddenly someone in the audience starts clapping and soon the whole place has given the speech a standing ovation only to discover that it was an experiment to see how many people group think and how many people are willing to be outliers and not just go with what everyone else is doing. Often times being a Christian means you have to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. It’s important to be a part of your group but to avoid group thinking or being a blind follower.

Recently my church had a sermon on the cost of following Jesus and how we have to be ready and willing to meet that cost. The sermon was based on Luke 9:57-62 and had 3 key points we must be willing to give up our comfortable beds, go against public opinion and leave our mortal families. 

The Scribe in the parable committed himself to Jesus because he thought Jesus would triumph over evil (opposing nations) with the sword and be an earthly King. Jesus’ response was to not speak about his power but his weaknesses – that the Son of Man did not have a place to lay his head. He was making the point that he will defeat the nations not as they think with power but with sorrows and through his weaknesses. The world though does not want a hero of sorrows. They had to be willing to let go of their comfortable bed. The Israelites were not allowed to speak against their rulers the Romans, so they often spoke in metaphors. The fox had a very derogatory meaning which was also political. Foxes were cunning, sly, deceitful creatures so they often used this to describe King Harold. The army of the Romans was called the birds of the air or eagles. Both these creatures have comfortable beds to lay their heads on. If you think you can follow Jesus know what you leave behind. The world seeks comfort on earth but Jesus offers us eternal comfort. In their world, the Son of Man walks and dwells alone. They are asked to choose between their world full of comforts now and his world where you have to give up comfort now for comfort later. If you want to enjoy the comforts of this world you can not follow Jesus. You must throw everything away and through your lot in with Him. This world hates Jesus. He is the rejected Leader. His views are too radical and his demands too great for the world. He demands everything, everything else is second to Him. The world does not want to follow a radical man.

The Lord commands the second man to follow him. He is a new recruit. When ordered to follow the man asks to first be able to bury his father, but his father didn’t just die he was still alive. The recruit wanted to finish serving his father until he died, bury him and then he can follow Jesus. That is what his community expected him to do, but Jesus expected him to go against the wishes of his community. His response was to let the dead bury their dead. The meaning behind this is to let the spiritually dead bury their dead. You have to go your own way. Your parents and community do not come first. Jesus does. He does not tell you to forsake your parents but they do not take prevalence over your kingdom work.

The third man boldly offers to go all the way in following Jesus but he has one condition. He asked to say goodbye to his family and home. In those days the father ruled the house and you did not make a decision by yourself especially if it involved your family. He is asking Jesus if he can go back to his family to ask permission to follow him. It was an excuse not to follow Jesus. He wanted the issue of following Jesus to fall to his parents basically saying that his fathers’ permission was higher than God’s. God requires your loyalty to Him. Whoever wishes to follow Him must not look back. You must break every single tie and link to the past. Put everything to the test of God’s word. We belong to Christ Jesus and his Kingdom. We must be willing to give up all earthly things so we can get every reward from Jesus forever. His Kingdom is beyond this world. It is coming on that last day. Heaven and earth will be united again. He is taking us to that time. Don’t follow the crowds, don’t get attracted to the things of this dark world. He will lead us and guide us. With him, we will never be led astray.

This sermon was so relevant to my life as I prepare for the race. I am giving up every comfort that I’ve ever known in my life. I’m leaving every person, friend, and relative behind to venture out where I feel I am being called to go. It is so scary to think about but to actually do it is oddly exhilarating. I am fully reliant on the Lord to provide everything I need for this trip and on this trip. From leading me to the people I am meant to talk to, to my safety and health, to helping me grow in ways I can only imagine right now. This opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity! As my first fundraising deadline of $5,000 approaches quickly (May 13) I am fully aware that if I was not meant to do this there is nothing I could do that would make it possible but with God, anything is possible even when to us it seems impossible. We are so focused on the here and now because that is all we can see but He sees every part of it and I trust that.

I know this was a little bit of a longer post but if you made it this far I want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, donations, and thoughts as I prepare for this journey. Every little thing counts and is so so so appreciated.

God bless

-G